Maricopa County Home Show!

 

When it comes to the weather in the summer here in Arizona, inside events are a must! Instead of being stuck in the house all day hiding from the heat, going to an indoor event can be a great way to get out of the house while avoiding the sun. The Maricopa County Home Show is a family friendly event where you can not only find services for your home such as yard maintenance, or blinds but there are also small local businesses selling things like soaps, bags, plants and more. You'll also find spots like hotels, dog training and more offering specials for anyone who signs up at the home shows. 

While you are walking through looking at all the booths, you'll also be able to test out certain things like massagers that can be placed onto any chair, full massage chairs, mattresses from some local mattress stores and depending on if food vendors are there, you'll have the chance to try out some treats as well. The vendors at the home shows can vary depending on which location the show is hosted at. When it was hosted at the fairgrounds there seemed to be quite a few more local small businesses selling assorted goodies vs bigger vendors like electricians, windshield replacement, etc. The three main spots the events seem to be hosted at are the Statefarm Stadium, The Fair grounds downtown and Westworld in Scottsdale. 

We enjoy going to the home shows because we like browsing the range of plants sellers have & we usually purchase several while we are there. We also like that they put on live demos and classes showing you different aspects of gardening which can be very helpful for beginners. You can find a list of seminars & workshops on their website prior to the show so you can figure out what time everything starts & where to be. Some of the workshops are simply demonstrations you will watch, and others are hands on with small freebies you can take home like potting succulents or creating small projects. 

If you have children under the age of twelve, they offer a kid's craft corner that has everything your child needs to complete a project they have set up for the day. If you have older kids attending, they also have a handmade headquarter that is similar, but with crafts that are more advanced. Each show last for three days, you can attend just one day or all three days if you want to go back. The next event will be September 27th-29th at Westworld in Scottsdale, tickets are $6 per adult and children under the age of twelve are free. Find more information on their next show on their website!

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page). 

Disclaimer- Maricopa County Home Show provided tickets for us to visit 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.

Win a box full of books!

 

Where are the book lovers at? In case you aren't follow me on Instagram or Tiktok, here is a small announcement to let you know I am hosting a giveaway for a box stuffed full of books! I will be dual hosting it between Insagram & Tiktok, you can enter it on just Insta or just TT or you can double your entries and enter on both socials. When the giveaway ends all of the entries will be put into a randomizer & the winner will be messaged directly via DM on either TT or IG depending on which app the winner is on. 

To enter visit either:

The Giveaway on Instagram!

or

The Giveaway on Tiktok!

Operacaffee Authentic Italian food in San Diego!

 

When we were in San Diego for the fourth of July, we wanted to find a spot to eat dinner that looked delicious & was open as many spots were closing early due to the holiday and fireworks shows. We found a Italian spot called Operacaffe, located at 835 Fourth Ave San Diego, CA 92101. This isn't a sponsored post, I just like sharing delicious eats, fun destinations & more with my followers, so let's dive into this spot. There is limited parking along the street so you'll need to look for one of the public parking garages and walk to the restaurant. The area itself isn't the greatest, however the restaurant itself is lovely inside. 

The staff were all friendly & the service was quick, our food was prepared quickly and was delicious. The prices are a little on the higher side ranging from $16 for a pizza to $20+ for pasta dishes and $40+ for steak dishes but we all really enjoyed what we had selected for our dinner. 

The Gnocchi asiago was so good and very filling. The Penne carrettiera had quite the spicy kick to it, but it was delicious as well. The pepperoni & salsiccia pizza was full of flavor, our only qualm about the pizza was that is was slightly difficult to eat how you'd normally eat pizza because all of the cheese & toppings were sliding right off as soon as you went to lift it up.

Most of our dishes came with a pretty purple flower on the side which adds a little pop of color to the plates when they are brought out. The desserts looked and sounded delicious, but we were too full after dinner to try any. Over all it was a lovely Italian restaurant, the food was worth the trip to the restaurant & we had a nice time eating out together. So if you are near the area & in the mood for Italian food, this is a good spot to keep in mind.

Trekking Through History Review!

 

Back in May, I wrote a review for a board game called Trekking the World from Underdog Games. Today I will be covering another great board game from Underdog Games called Trekking Through History. This family friendly game is not only fun to play, but it is also a great way to learn about some historical moments or people of the past that you may not have heard of before. 

This game is designed to be played with one to four players over the course of thirty to sixty minutes, it is recommended for ages 10+ & can be purchased for $49.99 from the Underdog website. The game features visually pleasing artwork on the game cards, we enjoy viewing each of them as they are played out onto the game board. I also like how the individual player pieces look, the colors are vibrant & bold. 

Over the course of the game your goal is to collect "Treks" of your adventures through time, you want to start out with the earliest date possible on your turn, then collect later years as you take turns. If it isn't possible to pick a card that is at a later date than the previous card, then you can either visit a ancestor which acts as a "blank card" and can be any date, or you start a new trek. 

Each time you select a new date in history to add to your Trek, it cost hours of your time which are tracked using the large clock shown in the photos above. Once you reach 12 o clock, you are done for that round so you'll want to use "time gems" to lower the cost of the cards which will allow you to gain more cards for your trek before the round is over. Certain cards also give bonuses like extra time gems, and tokens which are placed onto a player mat that grants bonus experience. 

After three game rounds, the game is completed & you will tally up your score based off of how long each of your Treks are. This is a fun & easy to play fast paced game that is wonderful for an assortment of ages. We think this makes a great addition to our board game collection & have played it several times already, we look forward to playing it more and seeing more cards we haven't played with yet. 

If you want to find more great board games like Trekking the World head over to check out my Board Game Reviews section.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Underdog Games 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.

July Beauty & The Book Giveaway!

 

It is always crazy when I start writing the prompt for the new months Beauty & The Book Giveaway because it means another month has passed by, we are now past the half way mark for the year! Some months seem to drag on so slowly & others simply fly by, How was your June? On my end, we had a good month. We finished settling into our new place, we celebrated my husbands birthday & Father's day, we also went on a short trip to visit my father-in-law who lives in the Northern part of our state. So far this month has been going great as well, we took a short trip to San Diego for the fourth of July weekend & we went to check out the newly updated Ringling Circus. 

I always have fun picking up new products for my monthly giveaway & putting everything together. Some months have themes & others don't, this month I didn't go into it with any theme in mind but as you can see I ended up with lots of purple & pink hues of product packaging. If you are new to my blog, welcome! This is a monthly giveaway I put together as a way to give back and say thank you to everyone who follows & supports my page. 

💙 Included In This Month's Bundle: 💙

★ Paper copy of "The Fault in our stars"
★ L.A Girl Eyeshadow Palette 
★ Morphe Lipstick
★ Maccibelle New York Cuticle oil 
★ Essence Makeup Brush Set
★ Creme Shop Face Mask
★ Candle
★ Wet N Wild Eyeliner
★ Two Pink hair ties that double as bracelets
★ Real Techniques Sponge
★ Sweet Tooth perfume by Sabrina Carpenter
★ Fake Nail Set
★ Bath Soak
★ B Pure Peach hand cream
★ Pair of fake lashes

This is open Worldwide! 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 is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 08/10/2024

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment answering at least one of these questions.

Which item in this bundle are you most excited about?

Do you have any fun upcoming plans?

What is something you are looking forward to?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It is easiest if you log onto Rafflecopter using the Name/Email Address option. 

You can complete as many entries as you want, there are several one-time activities and daily activities that can earn you more entries into the giveaway. Be sure to keep an eye on my site & social media pages for more giveaways headed your way. 

Dubious Board Game Review!

 

We recently received a fun board game by Arcane Wonders called Dubious. This game not only allows you to test out your detective & deduction skills, but it will test your skills of story telling as well. This game can be played with anywhere from three to six players over the course of half an hour. You can pick this game up on the Arcane Wonders website for $44.99.

Every player will be given a random occupation & a random secret, from there you will come up with a character and answer five questions about your character. The ultimate goal is to try & get about 50-60% of the players you are playing with to guess either your occupation or secret. However, you do not want every player to guess as you will get no points for making your secrets too obvious. Over the course of the time, five questions will be asked that will help each player figure out what the rest of the players are. So your goal when answering questions is to come up with fun answers that only semi give away either your occupation or your secret without coming right out with it. Get adventurous as you want with your character! This game has been a lot of fun to play & we've been using different accents and just being silly while playing which makes it an even better time. 

While listening to others answers you will be trying to match up their subtle hints with what you think their occupation & secret might be. You are lucky enough to be able to remove two occupations & two secrets from the list right off the bat, as each player is given two of each at the start and they get to choose which two they'd like to use then the other two can just be crossed off your list helping you narrow down the list of possibilities. This game is perfect for family game nights, or a night with friends, you are sure to have a few laughs and a wonderful time together. 

If you want to find more great board games like Planetfall head over to check out my Board Game Reviews section.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Arcane Wonders 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.

Lovepop Review & Giveaway!

 

It is easy to pop onto facebook & wish someone a Happy Birthday, but it is still a lot of fun to send and receive physical mail. Depending on whose birthday it is & how far they live from me, I may mail them a card or give them one in person when we get together to celebrate their birthday (or holidays).  I recently received a bundle of awesome cards from Lovepop cards. Lovepop sells a wide range of cards that have pop ups inside or physical products that can be removed from the card once open and they sell cards for every occasion. I received several cards to keep for review & a handful of cards to give to one of you! 

I let them know a list of occasions we celebrate & what some of our likes are and they sent me an assortment of cards based off of that. I love all of the cards they sent, so it is hard to choose a favorite, but I already know who some of the cards will go to once the time comes & I look forward to seeing their face once they receive it.  

If you know someone who likes suncatchers, they have some fun cards that have small stunning suncatchers that can be removed & hung up on a window or wall. The suncatcher itself feels like it is made out of a thin yet durable plastic which catches the light just right. At the moment they have five different suncatcher cards, they cost $13 each. The suncatcher above is from the "Thinking of you" hummingbird suncatcher card. 

There are so many birthday cards to choose from it might be hard to narrow your options down to just one that you want to buy! I received a Capybara pop-up card, A Pizza Love pop-up card, and A woodland birthday party pop-up card. All three have a fun scene that unfolds when you open up the card & all the cards have a pull out paper on the side where you can write your greetings. 

I also received some fun Halloween themed cards, one of which has a large wreath in it, plus the two cards shown above. One has an adorable pair of ghosts and I love the design on the inside of the card as well, and the other has a Halloween town that expands out so you can use it as décor in your home. There was also a pack of really neat 3D dragonflies included in the bundle, I put one together and used a magnet to add it to my fridge. All of the cards are well made & seem quite sturdy to allow you to open them over and over again while enjoying the surprise inside. I also like that the cards are affordable and fun. When I need fun & interactive cards in the future that also double as part of the gift, I will 100% be shopping Lovepop. 

💜 GIVEAWAY 💜

One lucky winner is going to a win all of the cards shown in the photo above. 

This is open to US 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 is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 07/12/2024

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment letting me know which card shown above is your favorite, or let me know another from the Lovepop website you'd love to have. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

** Note: With Rafflecopter it is easiest to log in using the Name + Email method as the facebook log in doesn't work from time to time.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by LovePop 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.