Hi, guys! In this video, we attend a fun Pac-Man Pop Launch Party that includes food, bowling, games, and, of course, Pac-Man! I hope you enjoy the video, and as always, thanks for watching! 🙂
blogging events
Clever Kitchen Switch Ups Using Viva® Vantage® Paper Towels
I’m excited to be working in collaboration with Viva® Towels on this sponsored blog post. I truly love the way
the Viva® Vantage® paper towel stretches to scrub everyday messes. 🙂
Paper towels are one of those must-have items in our home.
Why? Well, because my husband, kids, and I use them every single day to cleanup in so many different ways. I know that there are some families out there who can live without paper towels, and to them I’d say the same thing I’d say to families who keep their houses free of absolutely all clutter: more power to you. 🙂
That is not me. I’ve accepted this fact, and I’ve embraced my laid-back, paper-towel-loving, Type B personality in recent years. It’s who I am.
Plus, we’re a homeschooling family of seven, which means we spend a lot of time at home, and we need a good, reliable paper towel to take care of our everyday messes.
Viva® Vantage® Live Event
Now we’d been using a brand of paper towels that I thought worked just fine, but after attending a fun Viva® Vantage® live event last week, I decided to switch up our normal routine by trying Viva® Vantage® paper towels for seven days to see what I may have been missing with my regular brand of paper towels.
By the way, the event was amazing! I learned about Viva® Vantage®, tried them for myself, ate delicious food, and enjoyed a great time with blogging friends.
I vlogged my experience, and you can check out that video here:
The Great Scrubbing Power of Viva® Vantage®
One of the ways I found you can use Viva® Vantage® is as a fruit and vegetable scrubber. It does a fantastic job! At the event, I scrubbed my apple clean so that I could make a homemade caramel apple. 🙂
At home, we’re going to use Viva® Vantage® to scrub our carrots and other veggies. We’ve started juicing again and like to leave the skins on our veggies for added nutrition, so the stretchy-strength of Viva® Vantage® is going to come in handy on juicing days.
Here are more clever kitchen switch ups you can try using Viva® Vantage®:
- Instead of a bulky colander, use a paper towel. Place fruits and veggies on a sheet of Viva® Vantage® paper towels and wash under running water. The Viva® Vantage® paper towel will function as a strainer, and the added bonus is that you won’t have to wash a colander afterward. 🙂
- Keep refrigerated produce fresh longer by wrapping a paper towel around it to soak up excess moisture.
- Hand wash and dry delicate glassware using the cloth-like texture of Viva® Vantage® paper towels. This is one of the ways I love using these paper towels, and they get the job done without leaving behind little fibers…unlike my old brand.
- Chill drinks quickly using Viva® Vantage®. Simply wrap a damp paper towel around the drink and put in the freezer to chill faster.
- Slip a damp paper towel under your cutting board to prevent it from shifting. The sponge-like absorbency of Viva® Vantage® will also be there to absorb excess water that runs off the cutting board from freshly washed fruits and veggies while you’re chopping.
Overall, I think Viva® Vantage® paper towels get the job done and beyond. They get a big ‘thumbs up’ from this mom. 🙂
You can experience the stretchy-strength and great scrubbing power of Viva® Vantage®, recently named a 2015 Product of the Year, by printing off a coupon and taking your own 7-Day Switch Up challenge with Viva® Vantage® here.
Then after experiencing Viva® Vantage®, you can revisit the website to talk about your switch and enter for a chance to instantly win a $100 gift card.
What’s your favorite way to use
paper towels?
This is a sponsored blog post written by me on behalf of Viva® Vantage®.
What I Learned at a Fun Sprint Event in Chicago and an LG G4 Smartphone Review
I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Sprint. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for my participation. #SprintMom #MoveForward
Today, I’m going to share about a few of my favorite things: Chicago, LG Smartphones, and Sprint phone plans.
Yes, you read that right. Besides the Windy City and beautiful LG phones, I also love Sprint’s smartphone plans. And I’m not saying that because they’re giving me a special discount or anything. They’re not. My husband and I pay $105 per month for a plan that includes both of our smartphones and absolutely meets our needs. 🙂
The Sprint Chicago Event
As a long time Sprint customer, I was already familiar with their plans and how they work, but I got to learn even more about them, including their new plans, at a recent Sprint event in Chicago. Along with several other bloggers, I had the opportunity to visit Sprint’s Chicago office and talk to some very happy and knowledgeable Sprint team members. It was a lot of fun!
Of everything discussed, I think I enjoyed learning about Sprint’s prepaid plans the most. Maybe that’s because I have two teenagers who’ll need their own phones someday, and the Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile prepaid plans that Sprint offers sound like great options for when Nathan and Breanna finally need phones of their own.
Oh, and I also had no idea that Sprint offers a super convenient program called Direct 2 You. With Sprint Direct 2 You, a Sprint team member will bring your new or upgraded device right to your home, office, or wherever and set it up for you while you wait. Wow! 🙂
LG G4 Smartphone Review
Before we left the event, all the bloggers attending were given a brand new LG G4 smartphone to review. I was particularly excited about this because I love my current LG G2 smartphone (You can read my review of it here.), and I can’t wait to upgrade to the LG G4.
Before I knew I’d be attending the Sprint event, I’d watched a review of the LG G4 on YouTube and knew it was an amazing device. My husband, Ruben, occasionally watches a certain YouTuber that reviews different smartphones and electronics, and he had a lot of great things to say about the G4.
From the stunning display to the genuine leather back, this smartphone is fabulous.
The LG G4 is the first smartphone from Sprint with a total of 24 megapixels. It has a 16MP rear-facing camera and an 8MP front-facing selfie camera. While I’m definitely not a “selfie person,” I did take one with my 3-year-old daughter and was very impressed.
Here’s a picture I took of dinner one night. 🙂
And finally, here’s what the new LG G4 looks like next to my current LG G2 smartphone. As you can see, the G4 is larger and has a super sleek design. I love everything about it.
Making the Switch
The LG G4 smartphone was given to us with three months of free Sprint service, so I’m using it daily, and I can’t wait to try it out as a wireless hot spot during future drives to Chicago. While we live in the suburbs, we visit Chicago regularly. Just watch some of my vlogs, and you’ll see that’s true. 🙂
Then after the complimentary Sprint service is up, I’m looking forward to switching my current phone over to the LG G4 smartphone.
What kinds of features do you look for in a smartphone?
Why I want to attend SoFabCon: An Amazing Conference for Bloggers
Last year, I had the opportunity to attend SoFabCon 2013. It’s a blog conference organized by Collective Bias, so that bloggers have the opportunity to connect with brands, learn from their representatives, and master how to become highly-skilled professional bloggers.
We made the trip to Arkansas to attend the conference a family road trip, and it was a lot of fun. Ruben took care of the kids while I attended sessions and did some networking. In between sessions, I’d head to our hotel room to nurse Elisabeth, and hang out for a little while before the next session.
During one break, I even prepared a meal for my family. I was working on a campaign for Collective Bias and created these super easy chicken sandwiches:
All that to say, I’d love to attend SoFabCon again this year.
Why? Because first and foremost, it’s an outstanding conference. Collective Bias ‘gets’ bloggers AND brands. This is so incredibly important, if blogging is more than a hobby for you, and you consider it your career.
Secondly, I need to get away. Life has been rough these past six months because of David’s illness, and I’d love just a few days to be able to slip away to a place where I know SO MANY of the people who’ll be there. My favorite part of the conference last year was meeting new people and getting to know them and their blogs.
SoFabCon = The best place for networking among bloggers
What Attending SoFabCon This Year Would Mean to Me
Going to Bentonville, Arkansas to the Social Fabric Conference would mean a time of refreshing for me. It would mean that I’d get to spend time with people who understand what I do in this online space. It would also mean that I’d have time away from home, by myself. I need a little of that right now.
What the Experience Would Empower Me to do Afterward
If you do pretty much anything online, you know that things change. This is definitely true when it comes to blogging. There are new things to be learned and new opportunities out there.
Going to SoFabCon would give me the tools I need to be a better blogger and business owner. It would enable me to become a more fabulous Social Fabric member, and the experience might even push me just a little further out of my introverted shell. 😉
I’d love to attend SoFabCon 2014!
#CollectiveBias is giving six bloggers the opportunity to win a trip to #SoFabCon14. This post is my entry, and I’m entering because I #LuvSoFab14.