Aurorae Northern Lights Yoga Mat Review

Practicing yoga is a gift that I give myself almost every day. It has become a ritual that is comforting to me and allows me to feel peaceful even on days when my life isn't going quite the way I would like it to. A great yoga mat is key to having the best experience possible from your yoga practice. Aurorae Yoga is a company that sells yoga mats, props and accessories.

Started over ten years ago by yoga lover Dennis Ingui, his company's yoga mats are the best reviewed and number one rated on Amazon. com.

I was very excited to receive the Northern Lights, Sky colored yoga mat for review. These mats are extra long, extra thick, and have a Golden Sun Focal Icon. They are also eco-safe, biodegradable and free from phthalates.

I love this mat! I can honestly say that this is the best mat I have ever used in my six years of practicing yoga. Beauty, function, and comfort are all present in my new Northern Lights mat. I appreciate its extra length and love that it is slip resistant, even in some of the more challenging poses.

I am extremely happy with this new mat, and it adds pleasure to my commitment to yoga. If you are considering buying a new yoga mat, or maybe buying one for a yoga loving friend, then go to AuroraeYoga.com and check out their mats. They come in many different and spirit enhancing colors. I am so happy to have discovered Aurorae Yoga and I'm sure you will be too!


You can learn more about Aurorae Yoga by following them on Twitter and being a fan on Facebook.


*I was not paid for our review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary   from others. I was provided the yoga mat mentioned in this post to review for free from the PR company that represents them. 

Valentines Love from HIT Entertainment Barney I Love My Friends & Angelina Ballerina Sweet Valentine Movie Reviews

Being the movie fans we are, I think having themed DVDs for a holiday is cute and fun. I like my son to be able to learn about things like Love and Friendship around Valentines. He knows about hugs and kisses and mutters his version of I Love You back when we say it to him. I adore that he kisses his stuffed animals and hugs them before bed. He is a wild monkey but also very caring. I enjoy showing him movies since they are commercial free and I can preview something before he watches it. To me movies are an investment well worth it to be able to monitor what ideas and images he is exposed to.

For me HIT Entertainment is one of the few movie companies I enjoy watching movies from. We love Barney, Thomas and Friends, Fireman Sam, Timmy Time and all the fun characters! 

To celebrate Valentines Day we have been watching Barney I Love My Friends. One of my favorite parts is the bonus sing along of "If you happy and you know it" My son has loved this song since he was a few months old. I would clap his little hands and stomp his little feet for him when he was an infant. Now he claps like crazy and jumps up and down during the song. This was a cute movie about the value of friendship and expressing how you feel. Of course my son loves to hug when they sing the trademark Barney song, its so sweet! This is a great Barney movie for your little Valentine.


Movie Synopsis:
Come join in the fun as Barney takes his friends on a super-dee-duper adventure that shows just what it means to be a friend. Princess Baby Bop has a royally good time when she sees that a key to being a friend is keeping promises. Riff goes to great lengths to make up for a big mistake and prove he's a friend who sees things through. BJ feels left out when he's not included in a drawing and learns the importance of being honest and expressing his feelings. With singing, dancing and lots of monkey-ing around, Barney brings kids on a friend-tastic adventure and shows that everything is more fun with friends!

The more I watch the Angelina Ballerina movies with friends and family members kids I realize they are not just girl movies. There are great male characters in the shows too. I think the little girl in me who took ballet for a bit loves these movies as well. They are sweet and cute and a great addition to any little girl's movie collection.



Movie Synopsis:

Love and friendship take center stage in these sweet stories. Angelina uncovers the mystery of her secret admirer with some help from her friends. Angelina and Alice help Marco realize the true importance of helping his friends. The students celebrate Ms. Mimi, and although it may have been for the wrong reason, they do it with a lot of heart! And when Angelina and her girlfriends try to make a girls' club, they realize a friendship club is much sweeter. Spread the love with dancing, skating, singing and best friends forever! 

Episodes:

• "Angelina's Secret Valentine"
• "Angelina and the Hearts on Ice"
• "Angelina's Big News"
• "Angelina and the Mouslinghood of Dancing"
• "Angelina and the Laughing Poet"

*I was not paid or compensated for this post. The opinions in this post are 100% mine and may vary from other opinions. I was provided for free a copy for my review. 

Hallmark Valentine’s Day Gift Pack Review and Giveaway

Hallmark and Valentines day is a perfect pair. What says I love you to anyone more than a card or gift from there. They have cards for everyone to a romantic love, your kids, your parents and grandparents. We got a cute dog card from Hallmark and my son is in love with it!

This Valentines Day Hallmark is introducing a new product Blooming Expressions. Its a flower that blooms to surprise someone special at the press of a button. Show your love in a fresh new way by unveiling sentiments like “I love you” and “There’s only one you" My son said Oh Wow when I showed him the blooming flower. I am sure it will wow anyone who gets this cool item as a gift. This would be great for Moms, Sisters, Aunts, Grandmas and daughters. Its a flower that can bloom to remind you that you are loved.

Watch the video below to see how it works.

Hallmark has also added some new titles to the Recordable Storybook products. I can go on forever how much I love the recordable stories. They are sweet, personal and precious. We were sent one of the new titles Under the Same Moon. This book is perfect for us. I am teaching my son more and more about what it means to have family that is not close by but still his family that loves him so much. The book talks about how the Moon shines on all of us near and far. It has animals too which my son loves! Other perfect titles for Valentines day are Guess How Much I Love You, All the Ways I Love You and Counting Kisses. These would also be great to send to a loved one to record than mail back to your child.

Hallmark wants to show how much they admire you by having you enjoy 30% off any Hallmark.com order of $10 or more, plus free stamps! Simply use VAL30 at checkout. And if you’re heading to a Hallmark Gold Crown Store anytime soon, they have some fun new innovation and paper craft greetings for Valentine’s Day this year that you’ll want to check out. There are cards that light up, cards that play your favorite songs and some really unique paper craft designs.


GIVEAWAY

 
Win a Hallmark Blooming Expressions and Recordable Story Book.

To Enter This Giveaway:  

Which Blooming Expressions saying would like to give as a gift? 

(there are 4 listed on the site mid way down on the page)

 *Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address if its not public in your Google account*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry. If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on. 

-Like on Hallmark Facebook +1

-Follow Hallmark PR on Twitter +1

-Follow Frugal Family Tree on GFC ( right hand side) +1
-Like our new fan page on Facebook Frugal Family Tree +1
-Follow FrugalFamTree on Twitter +1

-Share this giveaway on Facebook ONLY, using the Share Button at the bottom on this post. +1 for each share you do. (can be done once a day)

-Copy and Paste This Tweet on Twitter and leave me the link (to find the link click on the time stamp under your tweet. Can be done once a day for the duration of the giveaway) +1 for each tweet

#Win a Hallmark Blooming Expressions and Recordable Storybook from @HallmarkPR  at @FrugalFamTree #Giveaway ends 2/20 http://www.frugalfamilytree.com/2012/02/hallmark-valentines-day-gift-pack.html

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts February 7, 2012 and ends on February 20th , 2012 at midnight PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize

Bormioli Rocco Nettuno Small Bowls and Dinner Plates Review

Since I am a mom now I find myself dining at home more and more. The more we eat at home the more I realize how nice it is to have great dinnerware to serve a meal made with love on. We are planning a Italian themed dinner at home for this Valentines Day and I knew we would need better dishes then our plain white ones.

Planning our dinner reminded me of one of our first Valentines living together. I worked all day making an awesome spaghetti dinner with great bread. I decorated the kitchen to look like a restaurant and even made hand written menus. It was perfect! Except for the part when my husband came home form work and had food poisoning from the lunch he ate at work and went to bed right away and could not even eat a bite of my dinner or sit down at my mock restaurant.

We laugh about that time and now that we have our son we want to make a restaurant Valentines family dinner for all of us at home. We were looking for great dishes to serve our meal on and read about Bormioli Rocco Nettuno I thought it would be just what I need to make our night fancy and still great for other dinners. I love the shape of the Nettuno line. They are functional but also pleasing to the eye. I used the plate and bowl for serving dishes when we had friends over. I plan on using them a lot when I blog too. They make great serving dishes to display my culinary adventures. They are a little pricey but a great investment into a high quality product.

You can buy these fabulous dishes at Amazon.com

Bormioli Rocco Nettuno Dinner Plates, Set of 12 (Available in blue and clear) $97.86

Bormioli Rocco Nettuno Small Bowls, Set of 12 (Available in blue and clear)$62.04



*I was not paid for our review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others. I was provided the items mentioned in this post to review for free from the PR company that represents them.

Eco-artware.com Earrings Review

If you want to shop for beautiful jewelry that is also handcrafted and eco-friendly, then check out Eco-Artware. This is a web-based gallery of unique works of art, with gift items that are available for women, men, and items for your home.

With the company's deep commitment to use green products, each item is made from natural or recycled materials. Over 25 artists offer beautiful and original work, and each artist is unique in regards to using their own vision to create their work.

For my review I was sent the Cascading Tagua Disk Drop Earrings. These pretty and colorful earrings are made from tagua nuts that are carved into 1/2 inch disks. They are then painted with brilliant water-based dyes by Columbian craftspeople.

These crafts people are artisans, farmers, and natives from displaced Colombian communities who work to produce and market their collection of natural and eco-friendly tagua nut jewelry. The eco-artware.com website offers a complete catalog of all their products. You will find an extensive selection of jewelry, along with women's accessories, household items, toys, baskets, and more.

 

You can learn more about Eco-Artware.com by following them on Twitter and being a fan on Facebook.


*I was not paid for our review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary   from others. I was provided the earrings mentioned in this post to review for free from the PR company that represents them. 

Rayman Origins by Ubisoft for Wii Video Game Review

Adventure Platform games can be super fun to play. They can be fun to play a bit then put down without too much pressure of having to play for hours on end. I heard rave reviews about Rayman Origins but I did not care for it too much. It had some cool interactions but for me I like more classic cartoon type of games. I did love that it is a side scrolling game those are classic and fun to play. I am just not much of a Rayman fan.

One neat aspect was the four game player mode. I am sure kids will love that. To be able to play with their friends on an adventure platform. My husband told me I must be getting old if I am not a fan of Rayman lol. As with most games though everyone likes different ones so definitely rent it to try or if your a Rayman fan already I am sure you will enjoy the game.

*I was not paid for our review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary   from others. I was provided the game in this post to review for free   from the PR company that represents them.

Super Bowl Fun and Twitter Parties

We had a blast watching the Super Bowl. The excitement of the game was awesome, the commercials hilarious and one new thing this year. I attended a twitter party on the side of #teamcoke  It was fun to tweet about the Coke vs Pepsi topic and discuss classic coke commercials and favorite flavors. I took some fun pictures of us enjoying our Polar Bear Coke during the game.

Twitter parties can be fun. You get to meet new people and have the chance to win cool prizes. I did not win any prizes but still had fun and the Giants beat out the 49ers at the chance to be in the SB, so sad! so my husband rooted for the Patriots just to spite the Giants but I rooted for the Giants and they won. Only because I think its cool that there are brothers who were both quarter backs, their parents most be so proud!

I hope you had a great Super Bowl Sunday too!

International Delight Iced Coffee Tasting Party #IcedCoffee #Cbias

A couple of nights ago I had some family members come over for my International Delight Coffee Tasting Party. I was excited to see how much everyone would like the iced coffee. I had already tried it and loved it. I set up the table with the coffee and the lemon bars I has made.

International Delight Iced Coffee comes in three flavors, Original, Vanilla, and Mocha. Unfortunately, not all the flavors were available in my area. But no problem, we would have a great event with the Original and Vanilla flavors.

Pouring out the coffee. I used large glasses because I know everyone is a coffee lover here.

International Delight #IcedCoffee

It looks so delicious!

I put whip cream on whoever wanted it for their coffee. It made it seem more like what you would order in a coffeehouse.The original flavor got more votes than the vanilla, which surprised me. I liked both flavors equally well. The kids were having milk, not coffee, but they knew it looked tasty.

Everyone helped themselves. Our family has tried other coffee drinks and not always liked them, so I was happy that everybody liked the International Delight brand. My son-in-law said he liked the vanilla the best. When I told everyone how inexpensive the coffee was, they liked it even more!

The #IcedCoffee was a definite hit, and they all said they would be buying it for their own households. My lemon bars were a hit, too. By the end of the night both the half gallon cartons were empty.

Thanks everyone. We had great coffee and a great time!

 
You can read my Google+ story on my shopping trip to Walmart to buy International Delight Iced Coffee and about the wonderful Dairy Manager I met.

To learn more about International Delight Iced Coffee you can follow International Coffee on twitter and facebook.





*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.   
#collectivebias #CBias #IcedCoffee
All opinions expressed in this shop are my own and your experience may vary.

This Time Last Year Valentines

You know the saying time flies by when your having fun. Well we must be having a blast around here because everyday it seems time is going by faster and faster. This is my little guy last year eating some Valentines goodies. I adore this little angel and he makes me a better person everyday.

Today in the store he spotted some Valentines teddy bears and ran over to them and hugged them and gave them kisses. He is such a sweetheart! He even listened when I asked him to put them back since they lived at the store and it was their nap time lol.

Organic Wacky Apple Review and Giveaway

My family loves apples. I like to make sure I eat an apple a day, but my son does not like to eat apple slices. He does like apple juice and apple sauce. He is picky about the brands he will eat. He has to have them sweet and delicious! I was happy to be able to offer him Wacky Apple treats for Valentines instead of lots of candies. I don't like him to eat hard or gummy candy and he can only eat so much chocolate so he was please when I let him eat as much Wacky Apple fruit flats and apple sauce that he wanted.

We tried several of the Wacky Apple products and liked them all. There is something about the flavor of organic foods like apples that just taste so much better than conventional apples.

The first product we tried was the Wacky Apple Fruit Flats. He loved them and wanted to eat them all in one sitting so I had to hide a few! I liked them as well. The Apple Cinnamon was my favorite and his was the Wild Berry. The Wild Berry even has organic blackberries in it, YUM! This is a sweet treat I feel good about giving him. Its organic and good for him.

Next we tried the Wacky Apple Applesauce. My son loves to eat apple sauce. He takes it out of the fridge and brings it to me almost daily. He liked the Cinnamon one the most and oddly he did not like the Wild Berry one even though he loved the Fruit Flat in that flavor. Hes such the critic lol. I tried a flavor that made me say "Wow" and I had to keep it all to myself! The Apricot Applesauce was unlike an applesauce I have tasted. It was so sweet with the flavor unique and balanced. The best part about Wacky Apple Applesauce is they use locally sourced apples and there is never any added sugar or artificial ingredients or colors. Just pure organic deliciousness!

Enjoying his Wacky Apple Cinnamon Applesauce

The last item we tried was the Wacky Apple Juices. My son LOVES juice. He asks for it all the time. I try to monitor his intake so when I do give him juice I want it to be quality and of course tasty. We tried the Grape, Fruit Punch and Apple Grape juices. His favorite was the Apple Grape. The juice comes in a little cup with a foil lid that you can poke a straw into. This was great since it made it easy for him to hold and not squeeze everything out like he does with some juice pouches. Plus the little cups are great to save for painting crafts. Upcycling is awesome!

We love that Wacky Apple is family owned and operated. It feels great to support a company who values family like we do at Frugal Family Tree. You can buy Wacky Apple products online and you can find a local store near you using the store locator.  Many Walmarts are starting to carry them and hopefully will be at a store near you soon!

GIVEAWAY

Win Wacky Apple Fruit Flats

 To Enter This Giveaway:

What flavor of Fruit Flats would you like to try?

 *Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address if not in GFC profile*

 

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry. If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on. 

-Like on Wacky Apple Facebook +1
-Follow Wacky Apple on Twitter +1

-Follow Frugal Family Tree on GFC ( right hand side) +1

-Like our new fan page on Facebook Frugal Family Tree +1

-Follow FrugalFamTree on Twitter +1

-Share this giveaway on Facebook ONLY, using the Share Button at the bottom on this post. +1 for each share you do. (can be done once a day)

-Copy and Paste This Tweet on Twitter and leave me the link (to find the link click on the time stamp under your tweet. Can be done once a day for the duration of the giveaway)

#Win Wacky Apple Fruit Flats from @WackyApple at @FrugalFamTree #Giveaway ends 02/20 http://www.frugalfamilytree.com/2012/02/wacky-apple-review-and-giveaway.html

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts February 6 , 2012 and ends on February 20th , 2012 at midnight PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize

Sibu Beauty Review

Sibu Beauty is a line of skin care and personal products that contain a super ingredient called Sea Buckhorn. This is a berry that is harvested exclusively for Sibu Beauty in the Himalayas of Tibet.

The Sea Buckhorn berry contains over 190 bioactive compounds and is a powerful source of Omegas 3, 6 and 9. Sibu Beauty products also contain Omega-7, an essential fatty acid vital to collagen production and healthy skin, hair and nails. All products are 100% natural and PETA Certified.

I was sent the Facial Cream for review. It is made for all skin types and has a wonderful citrus fragrance. The packaging is pretty and I like the pump bottle. I have used it for seven days now and and I like it very much. It rubbed into my skin very smoothly, and left it feeling soft and refreshed.

I love knowing that it moisturizes and protects my skin from UV rays. It is perfect for daily use under makeup or all by itself.

I can't wait to try other Subi Beauty products, especially the Facial Soap and the Body Cream.

I admire the company's philosophy of treating it's workers well and paying them a fair wage . I also like their spirit of generosity and giving back.

You can go to their website at sibubeauty.com to learn more about the company and the amazing Sea Buckhorn Berry. You can also order products on line and find them at select stores.

You can learn more about Sibu Beauty by following them on Twitter and being a fan on Facebook.


*I was not paid or compensated for this post. The opinions in this post are 100% mine. I was provided the products mentioned to review for this post by the Company / PR Company.