NoNetz Swim Trunks Review!

**This was not a paid post. The products mentioned below have been provided by NoNetz for the review & free of charge however my honest opinions were used. The opinions expressed below are solely my own & they may vary from others.**

It's been hot enough lately that the kids have been swimming almost daily for the last two and a half weeks, when the warm weather hits they both turn into a couple of water bugs and will spend hours in the pool. Kids grow like weeds so generally the swim suit they wore the summer before will no longer fit the following summer which can be a pain trying to find something that fits comfortably. A lot of the swim trunks we've tried for our son either sag too much and his butt crack is always popping out or they start to ride up and hurt his nether regions. A company called NoNetz is helping prevent chafing and riding of swim suits by removing the inner net layer most swim suits have and instead have replaced it with a fabric liner which is almost like a pair of boxers.

My son was in need of a new set of trunks so NoNetz was tubular and sent me a pair of their trunks called The Shore which are red and blue. The inner liner feels like it would be quite comfortable to wear both while swimming and out of the water because the fabric is soft versus how grainy swimming nets can be. Let's be honest, which would you rather have rubbing on your bare butt? A scratchy netting material or a soft fabric material similar to your normal boxer briefs? I know I'd personally prefer the soft fabric.

Along with the soft inner layer their trunks are also Chlorine Proof which will help the shorts last longer than a summer or two, even if your child outgrows the trunks they will still be in good enough shape to pass onto someone who can use them and for the Men's shorts this means not having to buy a new pair because the old pair is starting to fall apart.

Sizing wise the trunks are true to size, they fit well in all the right places and my son really seems to be enjoying them, he hasn't had one complaint yet! Plus they seem to be staying in place which is great for everyone, and they are easy for him to take off even when wet. The trunks cost $35-$40 each which is a bit pricey yes but they are well made and to me not having an uncomfortable wedgie is worth it especially for the men's trunks since they will last longer. 

Plum Paper Planner Review + Giveaway!!

**This was not a paid post. The products mentioned below have been provided by Plum Paper for the review & giveaway free of charge however my honest opinions were used. The opinions expressed below are solely my own & they may vary from others.**

I like to keep organized lists because I am not a person who is able to remember all of the important dates, appointments, etc that I have through out the month off the top of my head. When looking for new planners to use I like to look for planners that offer a great layout and plenty of space to create to do lists, write out event information and notes. I recently came upon a company called Plum Paper who offers a selection of planners, notebooks and more that can all be customized.

I was offered the chance to review one of their twelve month planners and was able to use their website to create the perfect planner for me. The website is very simple to navigate, the first step is just deciding on which size & layout you'd like, I went with the 7" x 9" planner with the notes and dates layout. If you are unsure about any of the options they have it to where you can preview everything before making your final decision which is a fantastic site feature. Next you'll pick out the cover design you want, they offer nine different sections such as floral and repeat shapes with over seventy designs to select from. The front cover can be customized several different ways, you can add a photo or text. For my cover I went with the turquoise butterfly pattern with the year in the top corner and added a Disney quote to the bottom.

Next up in the process is customizing the interior of your planner! You'll be able to adjust the layout of the pages, select the month you'd like your planner to start/end in and select the binding you want. The last step in the creating process is to select add-on pages if you'd like them, they offer a large variety of extra pages including to do lists, wedding planning pages, meal plan pages, budget planner and tons more. I opted for the to do list pages and a blog pages section for my planner.

 


My planner arrived significantly quicker than I expected, considering that several aspects of the planner were customized.The cover is pretty sturdy on it's own being both water proof and tear proof, but to add an extra level of insurance they also included a clear plastic cover on the front and the back of the planner to protect it from harm. For being a pretty hefty planner (about two inches thick due to the add-ons I selected) it is surprisingly light and easy to bring with me on a day to day basis. Each month starts off with a section to write goals, birthdays,events, and things to remember followed by a lined page for notes. It also includes a calendar for the month, plus each week has it's own section of pages for more notes and reminders. I do wish I had selected a different add-on instead of picking the blogging section because although it is extremely helpful I have a separate book I like keeping my blogging notes in and I don't see myself using this section as much, but that was my own mistake not Plum Paper. For the planner I selected and the add-ons I selected the total of my planner came out to $47.50, the planner itself is a base price of $32 and the add-on's range in price from $3 to $12.50. I've had several planners in the past but they usually end up torn up or dirty because I am constantly carrying it around with me, but I don't see that happening with this planner because of how well made everything is. I am very happy with this planner and I look forward to using it over the next year.

PRIZE ALERT:
One lucky reader is going to win the 7" x 9" planner shown above. It is a twelve month planner that has June 2018 to May2019, it has a contacts section, a pocket, plus two graph pages and a passwords page.

Please note that although this giveaway is open World Wide, Plum Paper only ships to 28 countries so if you'd like to place an order please check their list of the countries they serve. 

This is open WORLD WIDE!! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 05/11/2018
 
 Giveaway winners are announced on FACEBOOK, If you would like to see who won my latest giveaways please visit and like my facebook page.
 
Giveaway entry question: Please leave me a comment letting me know how this planner would be helpful to you. 

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disney On Ice Frozen Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions are used (both good and bad), they are solely my own & they may vary from others. I received four passes to the event for promotional purposes. It was provided by Disney On Ice & The Encore Agency for the review free of charge.**

If you haven't been in attendance at a Disney On Ice performance then you are really missing out! I remember going to Disney On Ice once when I was younger, it was during a girl scout outing and it was a lot of fun. My kids have been to Disney Live and Disneyland but they've never been to Disney On Ice so when I was presented with a chance to promote the upcoming show in exchange for tickets to go I was all in. My son and husband weren't super interested in going because the theme was Frozen so we decided to turn it into a girls night! My SIL and my daughter's best friend joined her and I for the show.

Like with most big events if you are wanting to eat at the show or purchase souvenirs be prepared to spend a decent amount such as $10 for a box of popcorn, though some of the treats are well worth the cost. We decided to eat before the show seeing as it started at 7pm, but we did pick up some pretzel bites and a drink to share. Seating was easy to get to and if you get lost they have plenty of staff at the venue to help direct you to the right place.

I have to admit when it comes to events like this I am a big emotional baby, as soon as the show started my eyes started to water and I felt like I was going to cry. Not because I was sad but because I was so excited and happy that my emotions just got the best of me. I was the same mess the first time we were able to visit Disneyland, I had never been there myself and I was so excited and amazed we were able to save up to take our kids there so I cried a lot during the day but happy tears. Before they jumped into the story of Frozen, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy came out to introduce a number of Disney characters who all performed a dance together to kick off the ice show. I was extra impressed by the performer in the Pumba costume because they were ice skating on all fours! (Baby Sven was also on all fours).

The show was a lot of fun, there were so many performers all skating at once it was amazing to see how well choreographed they all were. I was amazed at the size of some of the costumes and the fact that they had so many pieces of the show that were remotely controlled from off stage, I honestly would be a little frightened about being on top of a stair case being controlled by someone via a controller. Everyone worked so well together to keep the story flowing, keep the crowed entertained and make sure everyone was safe from tripping over props. The crew really has everything down to a tee to keep the audience focused on a certain area of the stage so they can set up the other area like sneaky ninjas.

Along side graceful ice skating, gorgeous costumes (Disney does such an amazing job!) and fun sing along songs they also included some surprise firework like explosions when Elsa uses her magic, fun lighting and a blow up monster that was a lot of fun to see. They perform the movie in two segments giving you a break in between to use the bathroom, get a soda refill or just stretch your legs which was nice because of how restless kids can be. All in all we had a great time and the girls had a blast they are sure to remember for sometime.

My favorite part of the show was when Olaf started singing about summer because a variety of performers came out dressed as different summer themed things like bees and flowers. I have now officially seen Frozen live at Disneyland and have watched it on Ice, but I still haven't seen the movie itself. The girls and I really enjoyed the costumes as well, I know Disney always puts a lot of effort into making their costumes look as similar to the movie costume as possible but it is mind blowing what their designers can do. Take Sven for example, this large costume piece could have turned out looking kind of creepy or just plain ugly but he is so adorable it makes you want to run up and hug him.

The practice and training the performers do really pays off and shows in the performances that they provide, instead of just watching the show they encourage you to sing/dance along and it helps make it feel like you are part of the show.  The next time Disney On Ice comes to your home town I highly suggest attending the show.

True Chews from Chewy.com!

 **This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Chewy for the review free of charge.**

The pets in my family absolutely love that we get to work with Chewy on almost a monthly basis because it means they get treats and goodies. I spoil my family’s pets as much as I spoil my kids, I grab toys from the store, get items for reviews and more so every time I head over to my mom’s the animals look for treats. Each month I have an opportunity to review two items from Chewy.com which provides a large assortment of pet products (and books/coloring books for their humans).

This month one of the products I received is from a brand called True Chews who sells a selection of natural dog treats. I selected the Premium jerky cuts made with real steak in a 10oz bag (it also comes in a 20oz bag).  Here is the description from the website "Because only the best will do for your best friend, reward her with True Chews Premium Jerky Cuts with Real Sirloin Steak Dog Treats. They’re made with U.S.-sourced beef for a high-protein jerky treat that satisfies and nourishes in every bite. Since they contain zero corn, wheat, soy or anything artificial, you can truly feel good about treating your pal every day. Make your canine companion’s journey a little better each day with a delicious, premium-quality treat you can trust because it’s made right here in the USA using only the finest natural ingredients"

The treats look just like beef jerky you’d buy at the store for yourself only larger, if they weren’t in a dog treat bag you could easily get them confused with actual beef jerky. The smell wasn’t bad either, some dog treats and dog good can smell horrible but this had a normal smell to it. Sulley Monster was quite happy with his treats, and was very anxious to the point where he almost wouldn’t sit for photos.

This bag of treats retails for $12.99 which may seem a bit high, but seeing as how they used real steak the price is justifiable plus there is a decent amount of treats in the bag enough to last a week or so depending on how often you give your dogs treats. We generally only give him treats if we are trying to get him to do a trick or during training so this bag will last us a week which is pretty good for him. As always their shipping was super fast so there wasn't a large wait time between when our order was placed and when it arrived to our front door, I can always count on them to be on time.

Baseball Season is Here!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions are used (both good and bad), they are solely my own & they may vary from others. I received a tour of the ballpark and was able to watch the game plus will be able to attend another game for promotional purposes. It was provided by The Arizona Diamondbacks for the review free of charge.**

This year's Baseball Season is officially in full swing! I wanted to write up a quick post to let all of my Arizona readers who are fans of The Diamondbacks know that I have been invited to work with their promotional team this year.

Earlier this month I was invited to one of their Diamondbacks VS Dodgers games to go on a hour long tour of the ballpark where we were able to take photographs of different areas and learn about some of the promotions they will be doing.

I will be providing information through out this Baseball season about the different promotions and events that will be happening with The Diamondbacks and Chase Field. You can check out this seasons schedule above!

New Ninjago 4D movie @ The AZ Legoland Discovery Center .

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions are used (both good and bad), they are solely my own & they may vary from others. I received four passes to the center to see the newest Ninjago 4D clip for promotional purposes. It was provided by The Arizona Legoland Discovery Center & The Encore Agency for the review free of charge.**

Did you know that the Legoland Discovery Center locations have a small movie theater inside of them? I knew they had the movie area but until now I had never been inside of it and I was quite surprised how many people fit into the theater.

What is the difference between a 3D movie and a 4D movie? 3D movies are just a visual that make it seem as though objects on the screen are popping out and are close to you. During a 4D movie you get the same experience except they add in extras effects to make you feel like you are in the movie which can range from wind gusts to smells.

Normally on a regular day you can buy a Legoland Discovery Center pass and they show different 4D shorts through out the day and you get to see as many of them as you'd like. For the preview night we attended they were showing just the Ninjago short so we decided to go into the second showing a play with the Lego brick bins while we waited.

 

The short was about twenty minutes long which is close to the length of the Ninjago show so the kids were pretty happy. My kids have never been in a 3D or 4D movie before so they were both blown away, in fact my son kept trying to grab the objects that were popping out from the screen. What 4D effects did they add? During one scene they have snow that spreads out across the screen so they had two bubble machines pumping a small amount of bubbles into the room to make it look like it was snowing. They also had wind and some light water misting going on to match up with the short. Ticket prices into the center are $20 walk in or $15 if you buy them online before going. 

New Wildflower Bread Location in AZ!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions are used (both good and bad), they are solely my own & they may vary from others. I received a tour and was able to test out several food items from their menu for promotional purposes. It was provided by Wildflower Bread & Bridges Media Group for the review free of charge.**

I was recently invited to an opening event for the company Wildflower Bread at their newest location in Gilbert located at 75 East Rivulon Boulevard Suite 101 Gilbert, AZ 85297. It officially opened on Tuesday and is in full operation and ready to offer you a unique environment for a meal. I was invited to a media night to come and see the new location and to try out some of the food, I was pretty excited because I had never been to one of their locations and the food they offer looked appetizing. 

Wildflower Bread is a bakery and a restaurant, you can come in to sit down and enjoy a meal or you can simply stop by to pick up some freshly baked bread and goodies. Everything is handmade by the company, each loaf generally takes four days to properly make and it shows in the quality of their products. They mix the dough and let it rise at a facility outside of the bakery before they deliver it to the store and bake it fresh in store.

During our dinner we had the pleasure of meeting the owner who spoke about the company, his life and the menu which was a neat and fun experience. As we were all talking the staff who are known as Bread Heads were coming around with samples of menu items for the media staff to try and test out. We were able to try six different menu items, three desserts and were offered wine, beer samples and lemonade,/tea/soda depending on our preferences. I will go over the food items below, in order of how we tried them out and will include the description on the menu. (Note we didn't try an entire plate of food, their portions are large yet affordable so we received about a quarter of a portion to try.)

  Chorizo Frittata - cheddar,potatoes,roasted belle peppers,scallions,avocado,cilantro & salsa. $8.69

This is one of their breakfast items and both my husband and I loved this. It came with toast and potatoes that were seasoned perfectly. I enjoyed the fact that they added salsa and avocado to the top of the frittata it really brought out the flavors of the dish. This is a menu item I would get again on another visit to Wildflower.

Chopped Salad - Wild Alaskan salmon arugula, pearl couscous, feta, red peppers, dried sweet corn, dried cranberries & toasted sunflower seeds with presto vinaigrette. $9.69

I am normally not a big seafood fan, I will eat salmon and shrimp from time to time but I generally don't go out of my way to eat fish products nor am I a fan of feta cheese. That being said I absolutely loved this salad! It had a slight fishy taste to it because of the salmon but it all came together rather well. My husband is the one who is more into seafood but oddly enough he didn't really enjoy this salad and didn't finish it, he was surprised I liked it so much and that I finished my portion. I really liked how well the sweet corn, cranberries and sunflower seeds went with the salmon for a balanced salad.

Reuben Sandwich - corned beed brisket,caramelized onion,sauerkraut,Swiss cheese & thousand island dressing on Marble Rye bread. 


This is not a regular menu item, it is seasonal and will appear around St. Patrick's day until early June. My husband is a huge Reuben fan and this ranks as one of the best Reubens he has tried. The meat was tender and juicy, some corned beef can be a little stringy but this was perfect. The toast was a little well done but that wasn't a big issue, we both loved this sandwich and plan on going back to buy another before it is out for the season.

V12 Kale Salad - roasted Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, red peppers, eggplant, red onion & tomato; carrots, celery, jicama, zucchini, petite peas, dried sweet corn, feta & toasted sunflower seeds with Mediterranean Vinaigrette. $9.69

Sadly neither of us were a fan of this salad, not because it wasn't made well but simply because there are several food items in it that we don't like. For my husband he didn't like the amount of eggplant in it and stated he didn't really taste anything but the eggplant. When it came to my dislikes it was the feta, celery and eggplants they aren't things I enjoy eating and I usually tend to avoid them. However if you are a fan of all of these ingredients this salad is jam packed with nutritional goodness and is quite a filling meal.

Mac and Cheese - cavatappi, three cheese sauce, Mama Lol's peppers & bread crumbs. $7.99

This isn't your typical mac and cheese, it has a bit of a kick to it and is made with thick swirled pasta that is very filling. The three cheese sauce is thick and creamy and with the added handmade bread crumbs on the top it gives it the perfect texture consistency when eating it. This dish comes with a side of yummy garlic bread. They also offer a kid friendly mac and cheese that does not have the peppers.

Pesto Chicken with Linguine - linguini, feta, roasted red peppers, spinach, pesto, parsley & grated parmesean $10.29


We enjoyed this creamy and delicious pasta dish, unfortunately by this point we were so stuffed we weren't able to fully finish this dish otherwise we would have ate the whole plate. The chicken is cut extremely thin, to the point where I was confused where the chicken was until I realize that the green of the pesto had given the chicken a bit of a green hint. The pasta and chicken mixed with a side of garlic bread was a nice way to finish off a lovely dinning experience.

Desserts - For dessert we were able to test out three different treats, we ended up trying them at home though because we had no more room after all the food we tested out. The three desserts we were able to take home was their new sea salt brownie, their carrot cake and cheesecake. My personal favorite was the brownie, the sea salt really brings out the delicious and moist chocolate flavor of the brownie. My husband on the other fan didn't like the salt which meant more brownies for me! Both the carrot cake and cheesecake were moist, didn't have too much or too little sugar and were delicious. The cheesecake reminded me of my great grandmothers cheesecake recipe.

Drinks - All of the wine and beer they offer are made and sold by local breweries and vineyards. My husband tested out the wine and highly enjoyed it because it didn't leave a harsh after taste. Wildflower also offers a coffee bar and they have sofa plus different teas and lemonades. My favorite was the Blackberry Orange Lemonade, I have four cups there and I took one home! I think I am love with it and wish I could buy it my the gallon.

I really enjoyed Wildflower Bread, it had a very warm and welcoming feel. They take pride in their customers, community and employees and it adds to the atmosphere at each location. We don't go out to eat often but when we do I can see this being a place we stop at often, especially since there is a location just up the street from our home. Wildflower Bread has fifteen locations state wide with another opening around June.

Before we left we were given a Thank you goodie bag with the goodies you see above. My daughter claimed the hat as hers and we were lucky my husband and I both received bags because both my daughter and myself wanted the cup.

My Harry Potter Bathroom!

Almost every room in my home has some kind of decoration on the walls aside from the kitchen and bathrooms. Our kids bathroom which doubles as the guest bathroom is a decent size and was fairly boring so I decided I wanted to pick a theme and decorate it.

There are a lot of cute bathroom decorations out there such as Mickey Mouse and Jungle theme but I wanted something different that we all enjoyed. What is the theme we decided on? We decided on Harry Potter!

 

My first step was to replace a towel fixture on our wall, the way it was added to the wall made it to where it was in an awkward spot and made our towels sit on top of the bathroom counter. Instead of keeping a second towel holder in this spot I moved the towel holder to the other side of the room and added a hand towel ring instead (paint is still wet in the photo). You can see in the "before" photos that we didn't have much on the wall in the form of décor.

Next I wanted to find a shower curtain that would fit in with a Harry Potter theme, I checked on Etsy but couldn't find anything I liked. When searching on Amazon I found this magical shower curtain that features several shelves of books, a witches broom and a lamp post. It reminded me of Dumbledor's office, plus I love books and have always wanted a large library in my home so this curtain was a perfect fit. I looked on Amazon but can't find this exact shower curtain again but this shower curtain is very similar minus the broom.

We have another spot for towels to hang on the other side of the bathroom, so I decided to use the one above the toilet for decorative towels. I switch between two different Harry Potter themed towels and two Harry Potter themed hand towels when ever a set get dirty from the kids using them to dry their faces and hands (even though there is a hand towel right next to them). The towels are from Etsy shop MandaPandaBagsandMore  whom I've worked with on a review in the past.

For the wall I decided to hang up a few prints that are inspired by The Daily Prophet, I also found these on Etsy however I won't be linking to it as the shop owner ignored my messages with their giveaway winners information and ignored the winner as well. 

I found the little shelf at the .99 cent store, although contrary to the name they do sell many things for more than a dollar. This shelf was $2.99 which is still a great steal and is the perfect size for the little figures I wanted to add to the shelf.

The Deathly Hallows wooden ornament was gifted to me and it has our wedding date on the back.

For the shelf I decided on several small figures that represent different parts of the wizarding world. I found the Newt Scamander's Case on amazon for $9, when you lift the lid of the brief case up small niffler hands pop out and it makes niffler sounds.

The Funko pop Niffler & Dobby were also found on amazon and the owl came out of a Harry Potter blind box that I was gifted and the dragon statue I've had for several years after my grandfather gifted it to me.



To tie in with the theme I added some decorations to the counter top as well. My husband bought the boho inspired candle holder on amazon for me as a Christmas gift (found here) which I put a false battery operated candle in. I placed a dragon my grandmother gifted me along with a purple candle I picked up from Walmart to match the dragon. Both the candle holder and the purple dragon light up which is relaxing to have on at night especially if you are soaking in a bubble bath with a bath bomb.


* Note: My bathroom is poorly lit, I will take some better photos soon and replace the photos on this post. I have provided links to where I found some of these items, but none of them are affiliate links I just wanted to share as I know some may ask where certain items came from.