Make a smoothie on the go with Popbabies!

When I wake up for work in the morning, I get up pretty early, in fact I wake up two hours before anyone else in my household. So of course, I try to be as quiet as possible while getting ready so that I do not wake anyone up. Sometimes in the morning a homemade smoothie sounds delicious, but our blender is very noisy, so I never make one and I'd prefer not to spend a bunch buying one. So, when I found a small portable blender by a company called Popbabies & was offered one to review I was very excited. Popbabies is a portable smoothie blender that comes in a few different colors & can be purchased for $36.99. For a review I received the portable blender classic version in black. 

Your package will come with the blender base, blender bottle, a silicone funnel, a small ice cube tray along with a charging cord + manual/recipe book. The bottle that comes with this blender is 17oz however the available volume for smoothies is 14oz. There is a built-in blender blade at the bottom of the glass bottle, the base of the bottle does not open. Only the top of the bottle opens so you will need to either add hot water + soap and shake the bottle around or purchase a bottle scrubber to get down to the bottom. I picked up a bottle cleaner which has been helpful to make sure the blades are clean, if I am out & about after I finish my smoothie and have access to a sink I will give it a quick rinse until I can get home and wash it. The bottle is just the right size to fit into a lunch bag. This would be great to take on a road trip or even camping! All you need is some fruit and some ice. 

Does it actually work? Yes! I do need to work out the right proportions though, I usually like my smoothies pretty thick however this blender requires the liquid/smoothie to be slightly thinner. According to the suggestions in the booklet you will need to keep your fruit pieces as close to about half an inch as possible to help everything blend properly. I find that most pre-made smoothie mixes have pieces that are a little too big so I either cut them up a little before adding them to this or I pre-make my own smoothie mix the night before with fresh fruit then let it sit in the freezer overnight before adding it to my blender bottle. So far, I've used ice, bananas, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, pomegranate, and dragon fruit in this blender & everything mixed up just fine. 

The blender isn't completely quiet, it has a little bit of noise but overall, it isn't very loud at all. It will blend your smoothie for thirty to sixty minutes before turning off, however if the smoothie is to your liking, you just need to hit the button a second time to turn it off. The bottom portion of the bottle fits into my purse perfectly & can be stored in my glove box if I do not feel like bringing it into work with me. The smoothie bottle has a carrying handle at the top which is convenient for on the go travel. I have used this out at the park, at work, & in my car. It is a great & easy way to make smoothies when you are in a hurry or don't want to wake others in the house up. I look forward to using this more & being able to have smoothies for breakfast in the morning more often. If you have been looking for a small blender for similar reasons, I suggest checking them out. They have the classic version, an improved version & they also sell a protein shaker. 

🍓 Does this sound like a helpful travel appliance you would use? What kind of smoothies would you want to make with a blender like this?

Disclaimer- The product mentioned above was provided by Popbabies for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Tesalate sand free towels are perfect for the beach or poolside!

 

Temperatures are rising which means it is water season! Whether you are hitting the pool, beach, or river/lake a good towel is important to bring with. A towel brand called Tesalate has recently been popping up all over the place & I was given a chance to try out one of their towels for myself to see what all the hype is about. Tesalate towels are not only absorbent but they are designed to be sand free so you won't be bringing back half of the beach into your car & home. 

There are a lot of nice designs to choose from so it took a moment to narrow down which design to select, I ended up going with Ripple because I like how it is a wave design done in tie-dye. Their regular sized beach towels are 63 x 31 inches, & if that isn't big enough they sell a XL beach towel meant for two that measures 63 x 63 inches. Regular towels are $59 each, and XL are $99, they often have sales so keep an eye out for those. They have a two sided design, the underside has a black & white design so it is like two towels in one. Tesalate also offers workout towels which are a smaller version of their regular towel great for the gym. 

Each towel comes with a free carrying bag & has a small handle attached to the towel itself so you can hang it up anywhere you'd like. Sometimes before I get into the pool I like to sit by the side & soak up a little sun and this towel is really nice to sit on. It helps protect my skin from the heat of the pavement and any dirt, rocks or other assorted things that might be on the sidewalk around the pool that I wouldn't want directly touching my skin. You can fold it in half to put next to the pool for a little extra cushion or lay it out completely flat so that someone can sit next to you.

I have not had the chance to test it out in sand yet, but it has done a great job staying clean. It absorbs well, I've used it to dry off after getting out of the pool and it dries quickly as well which is a plus. Washing it is simple, it just needs to be added to your normal washing routine, they do recommend taking it out to dry as it dries quickly anyways, but I haven't had any issue with it in the drier. I like the soft materials the towel is made out of & how light weight it is, you can either roll it up or fold it up small to fit into it's carrying bag or your beach bag which makes it great for travel. I look forward to using this towel more & it has definitely become a staple in our beach/swim bag. 

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Tesalate for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Pokka Pens - Smooth, All weather pens for travel. + Giveaway!

 

I like keeping a pen in my purse for when I need one, but it is always a bummer of they end up coming open or breaking which can end up getting marks or ink on the inside of your bag. I wanted to find something that was more durable, easy to store, and writes nicely. I came across a brand called Pokka Pens that creates pens that are durable and fun to use. 

Pokka Pens are made to be a durable, all weather pen that is light weight and compact for travel. We enjoy camping and going on trips, so I will be putting one of these in our bug out bag that we take on trips with us. They are compact enough they can be carried around in your pocket or added to your keychain. Pokka Pens start out at $4.95 and go up to $15.95 depending on the design and color selected, they also sell refill ink 3 for $2.95.

 

The pens are created so that the top half of the pen stores inside of the bottom half. Before using it you will need to "pop" the top out of the bottom, flip it around and then snuggly click it into the bottom, giving you a full pen. You could also just use the bottom half as a cap and write with just the top portion if you want, I have been doing that with my Krytek Pontus (pen on the far right of the image above) so that I can keep the keychain attachment on it. Getting the separate halves apart does take a small amount of force, enough that the pen won't come open in your pen or pocket, but not enough that the pen is hard to open. If you buy more than one pen you can mix and match the tops/bottoms to create your own unique pen.

 

So we know that it is easy to carry around with you and it is durable, but how does it write? After all that is the main purpose of why you purchase a pen. I usually write pretty small, so I like pens that write smoothly without bleeding into the paper or smudging if it gets touched too soon. I enjoy how these write, the pen flows smoothly and the ink comes out bold without bleeding. It also dries quickly so it won't smudge if your hand happens to run over it.

The pens are made to also be used when they are wet, if it is raining you might be wondering how you are supposed to write on wet paper? Pokka also sells water proof notebooks that go along with their pens which is perfect for hikers, campers and those who enjoy traveling outdoors. You could even write notes in the shower, if you are a person who does a lot of thinking in the shower.

Prize Alert:  One winner is going to win a pen of their choice from the Pokka site. (Any pen that is in stock)

This is open to U.S Residents ! 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 09/21/2021

Giveaway entry question: Leave me a blog comment letting me know which pen design you'd select if you won.  See their collections on their site by clicking HERE.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer-  Pokka Pens provided me with the products mentioned above for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

These headphones are great for road trips with kids!

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

Finding the perfect pair of headphones can be a pain sometimes, you might find one that has a great sound quality but the shape of the ear bud hurts your ear. I personally like headphone ear buds with the little squishy covers that can be shaped but they can be kind of pricey and the covers may pop off or become ripped. I recently found a different alternative to traditional headphones, they are called Cozy Phones which are small round ear buds concealed in a fabric head band.



For a review I was sent a black cozy phone ($18.97) from their original line plus the Unicorn and Panda ($19.97) from their kids line for my kids. The headbands have a soft mesh material on the inside and fabric on the outside giving you a comfortable experience. They are corded which some may not like but they do also offer a new line of cordless Cozy phones, I personally don't mind because I am not doing anything super crazy while wearing them so the cord doesn't get in the way.

Everyone has a different shaped head which means not everyone will have their ears in the same place as others so how do you make sure the ear buds are actually on your ears? There is a small slit and opening in the back of the headband where you can user your finger to move the ear buds to the exact spot your ears will sit while wearing the headband. I haven't had any issues with the ear buds moving or slipping away from my ears while wearing these which is nice.



The headband itself isn't too tight, I found it to be a wonderful fit. My ears didn't feel like they were being smashed nor did I feel like the headband was going to fall off which was nice for working out plus it helped hold my hair in place and keep my head cool. If you feel like your headband is getting to nasty due to sweat you can remove the ear buds and machine wash the headband, due to the mesh inside I would probably air dry them but thus far I haven't needed to wash it.



Since the headbands are fabric and the ear buds are flat disks you are able to fall asleep while wearing these and wake up without sore ears from having head buds in for too long, which makes them perfect for road trips with the kids. The sound quality is fantastic, when I have my mp3 player turned up all the way it keeps it loud but still at decibels that protect your ears.