Reviews | A Day in Mollywood

Minted Giveaway!

March 4, 2013 By Molly

I know I’m not the only one who loves everything on the Minted website. I am a sucker for cute and stylish paper products! I’ve recently landed a couple of great freelance writing jobs (more on this later!) so I’ve been wanting some new business cards. They were all so cute but I eventually picked this one:

card

I think it will look great with a picture of me and my name with “freelance writer” underneath (yay!).

Wedding season is upon us and I found this great couple’s shower invitation. I’m a big fan of couple’s showers!

couples

Now for the fun part! Do you have any paper needs coming up? Then you’ll definitely want to enter this giveaway. If you win you’ll get a $50 credit for anything on the site. It ends Friday so enter asap!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Giveaway, Reviews 19 Comments

SnapBOX framed canvas review + giveaway!

December 12, 2012 By Molly

This post is sponsored by SnapBox, transforming your photos easily and affordably into framed stretched canvas prints, perfect for gifts or decorating your home. SnapBox prints as easy as one, two, three through the EZWay. Try now by sending your photos to snapbox@snapboxez.com!

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We are currently in full-on decorating mode in our house. We moved a year and a half ago and still had bare walls so I’m making it my mission to fill them up with photos. We have had many photo shoots of our family over the years and these beautiful photos deserve to be displayed for people (and us) to see.

When I realized I would get to try SnapBox, a new way to have your photos printed on canvas and framed in a pretty box, I tried to think of which photos I would want to give someone. Although we have two kiddos now, the photos we had to mark Landon turning one went unprinted. They were some of Naaman’s favorite photos so I decided to have three 8×10 photos printed by SnapBox.

It was so easy, you guys. All I did was email SnapBox my three photos and within minutes there were proofs of all three sent back to me. Easy peasy! After receiving the proofs, I ordered them and they arrived quickly.

I can’t wait to wrap these up and give them to Naaman for Christmas. The quality is superb and I love that they are framed, which is different than the other canvas we have in the house. I think they will look perfect on the wall and I plan on ordering some SnapBox canvases of Brigham to even it out.

Even better news for you – Today, one of you will get a chance to win 3 boxed canvas prints of any size you choose with free shipping!

Use the rafflecopter below to enter. The giveaway will run for three days. I will email the winner when the giveaway ends with the promotional code and announce via facebook/twitter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Filed Under: Giveaway, Reviews 17 Comments

My “can’t live without it” beauty items

October 16, 2012 By Molly

I’ve seen this done before so I thought I would show you some of my “can’t live without it” items.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

I super duper pink puffy heart this lip stain. It goes on buttery smooth but doesn’t feel sticky. And the color lasts a long time because it is a stain. I have two colors, romantic and sweetheart. I love both.

Suave Almond & Shea Butter Shampoo and Conditioner

Okay, okay, I’ll admit it. I’m pretty cheap when it comes to beauty products. But believe me when I tell you I’ve tried A LOT of shampoos and this works better than any of the fancy brands. My hair is always so shiny and soft and it also tends to grow really fast, which I think means it’s healthy. I also love that I can just buy it wherever. Even at the grocery store! Love it.

Eucerin Aquaphor Healing Ointment

I’ve mentioned this before but I have seriously dry skin. It’s really bad. My feet and hands crack especially in the winter. This is a really quick fix for anyone who wants to feel like they just got a pedicure. Wash your feet in warm water. Pat dry. Slather this stuff all over your feet. Put socks on your feet. In the morning your feet will feel brand new. It’s like magic! And do it three or four times in a row and the cracks are healed.

Neutrogena Deep Clean Cleanser/Mask

I use this morning and night on my face. I tend to get breakouts here and there. So I need a deep cleaning face wash. For someone who has dry skin, this never dries me out even though I use it twice a day. It also tingles while you’re cleaning. I think the longer I leave it on the cleaner my face feels. It can also be used as a mask.

GNC Ultra Mega Green Women’s Active Vitamins

I’m not usually one to buy things in specialty stores but this is a must for me. I love how on the back it shows what you’re getting with a centrum vitamin as compared to this vitamin. Lots more goodies in there for me. And when you’re sometimes lacking green in your diet a little extra goes a long way.

Lacura Day Cream and Night Cream

Hold onto your horses, friends. This is going to shock some of you. I buy my day and night cream from Aldi. That’s right. The cheapest grocery store on the planet. You see, I was reading a blog post about Aldi and someone did a review on their skincare line. I didn’t even know they had beauty products! They said that it is the generic of Olay just in different packaging and much cheaper. Same product but for $1.99 each. So I reluctantly found it, hidden between the toilet paper and dish soap. Guess what? It rocks. When I put on the night cream I wake up with a fresh, glowing face. I doubt I’ll ever spend full price at the pharmacy again. Oh, and I’m not the only one who thinks this. In fact, in other countries it is the #1 skincare line!

Well, that’s it for my “can’t live without it” beauty products! Hope you enjoyed!

Filed Under: Mommy Moments, Reviews, Stuff I Love 2 Comments

Ross Dress for Less + giveaway

October 11, 2012 By Molly

Last Friday I was invited to a VIP event at the new Ross Dress for Less store in my hometown. I gathered with about twenty other Kansas City bloggers on Friday morning. Most were fashion and bargain bloggers. Now we all know I am not either of those. But I love new clothes and a good bargain as much as the next person so I was excited to participate!

I got a chance to talk to my bloggy friend, Rachel as well as meet other bloggers, which is always a fun time.

They took us to The Big Biscuit for breakfast and it was all set up so nice. Flowers and a nice tote bag with a $50 gift card in the side pocket for me! Yippee!

There were a couple of Ross executives there to explain what their stores are all about. Women’s, Men’s, Children’s, Shoes, Home goods, seasonal products, furniture. You name it and they’ve got it! It was just a nice conversation about a store that I had been waiting a long time to come to our area.

Next up, we went back to the store to shop to our heart’s content. I headed straight for the scarves since it’s such a big trend and I only have one. This is the scarf I ended up buying.

It was truly a great shopping experience and I’ll definitely be back!

And now for the good news . . . I have a $25 Ross gift card to give away to my readers! Just leave a comment telling me what you would buy with the gift card and I will pick a winner in one week.

Good luck!

Filed Under: Giveaway, Reviews, Stuff I Love 32 Comments

Oreck Air Purifier Giveaway

July 19, 2012 By Molly

You may think it’s just another Thursday on the old blog. But it’s not. Why not? Because I’ve got an Oreck AirInstinct 200 air purifier to give away to one lucky reader!

I was so excited when Oreck contacted me and wanted us to try their newest air purifier. The first time I really started to think about what was in the air was when we moved.

We had so much trouble with Brigham during his first year. Wheezing, coughing, sneezing. We had no idea what was wrong but one doctor even suggested reactive airway disease!

But the strangest thing happened when we moved from our old home to our new home. He no longer wheezed, coughed or sneezed at all and began sleeping through the night for the first time ever. Now we know that there must have been something in the air at our old house.

So I have been really in tune with keeping the air inside our new house as non-toxic as possible. The Oreck AirInstinct 200 helps me feel like I’m doing that.

My favorite thing about it, besides the fact that it is so white and pretty, is the turn it on and walk away™ technology. It has a “monitoring” mode, which takes the guess work out of the settings. It continually checks the air and adjusts the speed accordingly. Um, hello. Busy moms rejoice at not having to do anymore work!

Even if I think the air smells great we really have no way of knowing what is floating around. The AirInstinct keeps me at ease knowing that my kids are breathing clean air.

An air purifier may not seem like a necessity but if you have kids I think it’s a great thing to have in your home. And if you enter my giveaway you have a chance to win an Oreck AirInstinct 200 worth $499.99!

You can just smell the fresh air already, can’t you?

Mandatory Entry:

Visit Oreck.com and tell us one thing you learned about the AirInstinct

Additional Entries:

Follow @oreck on Twitter
Like Oreck on Facebook
Tweet about the giveaway, mentioning you and @oreck with a link to your post

Please use a separate comment for each entry.

The giveaway winner must be a resident of the U.S. 48 contiguous states. I received the product to review for free from Oreck. Oreck Corporation provided the prize for the sweepstakes but is not the sponsor of the sweepstakes.

Filed Under: Giveaway, Reviews 58 Comments

chicken noodles for the sick toddler soul

December 19, 2011 By Molly

Briggy was a sickie yesterday. He woke up on Saturday night with a high fever and an upset stomach. Some type of virus, I guess. He was not himself the next morning. He would not budge from my lap and just wanted to be cuddled. It was cold and windy outside so we nuzzled into each other and sunk into the couch.

He wouldn’t eat or drink anything, which was obviously worrisome. I figured I might as well try to fix him something for lunch. And then I remembered that I needed to review a Marie Callender’s meal. I had both a pot pie and the chunky chicken noodle meal. Well, who couldn’t use some chicken and noodles when they’re sick? I also wasn’t feeling great since I was up all night and it was the only thing that sounded yummy to me. You can either microwave or bake them in the oven but I decided to microwave it because it’s less time and work.

Sure enough, my sick toddler was scarfing down the warm noodles! Brigham loves to eat and it made me feel much better to finally get something in his stomach.

I ate mine pretty fast too. It was the perfect meal for a cold (and sick) Sunday. I shouldn’t have been so surprised. I’ve bought Marie Callender’s pot pies before and they are wonderfully scrumptious. Naaman is a pot pie kind of guy.

Just look at all the different pot pie varieties they have:

Chicken Pot Pie
Turkey Pot Pie
Beef Pot Pie
Creamy Mushroom Chicken Pot Pie
Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie
Honey Roasted Chicken Pot Pie
Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

So on a cold winter’s day, Brigham went down for a long nap with a full tummy and woke up a little happier. I think the sentiment is correct. Comfort foods like chicken noodles really do help you feel better when you’re sick.

Filed Under: Brigham, Reviews, Sickies, Stuff I Love 4 Comments

The cutest little iPhone case and app ever

December 12, 2011 By Molly

God knows I love my iPhone. I think this love for my phone has rubbed off on my children. Because they often want to play with it too.

Of course this poses a problem. They are tough phones but Brigham thinks it’s edible and they could both drop it at any time. I hate to say no to them. So when Infantino was offering up their new HappiTaps Beary Happi Case for review, I jumped at the chance!

The case makes your phone look like a fuzzy teddy bear! You slide your iPhone down in it. Then you download the free HappiTaps app from the iTunes store. Once you have the phone in the case, click the app and bam – you just created a really fun toy!

The bear sounds like he is talking directly to the kiddos, which is what keeps their attention. He blinks and sings and eats and laughs. They forget it’s your phone and won’t let you have it back.

There are seven games and activities to choose from. But if your kids are too young they have what’s called the “toddler” mode where it automatically keeps going to keep the kids happy. This is hands down my favorite feature.

I don’t think I rave about too many items on here. But I’ve tried a lot of apps for kids and this is by far the most creative and fun one I’ve found. Landon is obsessed with it. Wanna see some evidence?

The bear told him a story and he listened to every.single.word while sitting completely still. Unheard of.

Brigham got curious about it too but Landon did not want to share.

Brigham finally got a chance to use it while Landon cried “Bear! Bear!” in the corner.

He got it back and all was right with the world.

Any app that can make my son do this is a winner in my book!

I am so taking this to the salon this week when the boys get their hair cut! I also wouldn’t mind using it for longer car rides. If you still need a stocking stuffer or a gift for someone else please check this out. I promise your child will LOVE it.

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Infantino HappiTaps and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Filed Under: Landon, Reviews, Stuff I Love 5 Comments

Who Still Needs Holiday Cards? I do! I do!

November 25, 2011 By Molly

It feels like I’m always late to the post office with my Christmas cards. Yeah, I’m just that girl. I guess you could say I’m happy if I get them out at all. This year, the fabulous company, Invitations Consultants is here to help! I am forever grateful to them for sponsoring me to go to BlogHer. And now I’m grateful that they are supplying one of my readers with 20 of their wonderful holiday photo cards! If you’re always late like me then you’ll want to enter this giveaway!

Here are just a few of my faves . . .

This one might actually be my favorite. LOVE the chevron pattern!

Or how about this colorful cutie? It might be because I love Glee but I really like this one!

Or you could go classy and simple. If that’s your mood this year.

If you would like to win 20 beautiful holiday photo cards simply: like Invitation Consultants on Facebook!

Really wanna win? For an extra entry please like A Day in Mollywood on Facebook.

Leave a separate comment for each entry please. I will choose the winning comment at random on November 30th!

Disclosure: I was provided with holiday photo cards and given the opportunity to giveaway the same to one of my readers! All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this post.

Filed Under: Giveaway, Holidays, Reviews 3 Comments

a fun new toy for the kiddos!

October 30, 2011 By Molly

We are big LeapFrog fans in this household. We already have My Pal Scout and My Own LeapTop. We are also big fans of learning while playing. Any toys that promote learning the alphabet are perfect because right now Landon is learning what each letter means in preschool.

My boys are already showing a huge interest in technology. They like to feel like they’re doing the same things as their mommy and daddy. LeapFrog My Own Story Time Pad looks like a personal reader that is kid-friendly. They can choose to read a story and “turn the page” with the push of a button. They can receive personalized emails. They can sing along to the songs.

Unfortunately Landon had a rough week and wasn’t interested in being in front of the camera. But Brigham was more than happy to play with a new toy. He is almost 18-months-old. I know it is recommended for ages 2+ but he is soaking up information fast. New words fly out of his mouth every day so he is very curious when a toy talks to him. I love how hard he was concentrating each time he pressed a letter button.

I’m not going to lie. It is difficult to keep this little guy’s attention for any amount of time. He is all about changing things up every five minutes. A mover and a shaker, that one. But he was into the Story Time Pad for much longer than five minutes.

I think the first thing I thought when I unwrapped it is how perfect it would be for long car trips. Landon is notorious for asking “are we there yet” about 100 times if you don’t keep him busy. I suspect we will be bringing this baby along to keep him entertained (and us sane).

Thank you to LeapFrog for sponsoring this review. While LeapFrog provided the product to me for this review, the opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest point of view.

Filed Under: Brigham, Landon, Reviews 1 Comment

Hallmark Moments + giveaway

October 20, 2011 By Molly

Last month I was invited to attend a wonderful event at Hallmark Headquarters called Moments Between the Milestones. Hallmark has a brilliant campaign right now where they are helping us to appreciate the small moments in life. And if someone summons me to Hallmark? Well, I’m definitely there. In fact I was actually early which never happens.

I seriously felt like a rockstar

They want us to see beyond the birthdays and graduations and anniversaries. We all make it a point to celebrate and send cards for those. No, we’re talking about those unique moments that only happen to us. They make us smile. They make us laugh. And sometimes they even make us cry like I’m about to show you in a *somewhat* embarrasing video.

This was a special gathering of about 20 bloggers (local blog buddies, yay!). We had breakfast and heard some of Hallmark’s creative minds speak about their jobs and little moments. Then we were asked to share our favorite moments between the milestones. Oh, the pressure! We were sitting in front of some awesome Hallmark creatives!

They gave us purple t-shirts and we were supposed to fill it in with a word that described our moment. I filled it in with “I forgive you.” They recorded each blogger speaking and if you want to watch me talk just click the link below:

here is me trying not to do the ugly cry face.

trying to hold back tears

Who knew that my most difficult moment as a parent would end up in the Hallmark Moments Mosaic? Not this girl! But I now see that it was a lesson I had to learn. My son taught me the importance of forgiveness.

p.s. I made everyone else cry too so it wasn’t just me, okay?
p.p.s. I realize I use the word awesome more than once in this post.

After that we did a writing exercise and put together a collage. I felt like I was back in my college creative writing courses, which were the most awesome classes for me. This was the first day that I actually felt good about myself after coming home from BlogHer. Since I wasn’t able to handle the pressure of that conference I wondered if I would freeze up at this event too. But it was the exact opposite. I felt like this is where I really fit in. This small intimate group of bloggers and creative minds. It was perfect and dare I say it, the best opportunity since my blogging debut five years ago. Yep. It was that good for me.

A HUGE thank you to Hallmark for giving me a chance to get my creative confidence back.

Don’t fret, readers. I’m not leaving you guys out! I’ve got a nice little Hallmark package to giveaway. Here is what’s included:

Cooper’s Big Bear Hug – interactive story book and bear
Guess How Much I Love You – recordable storybook
An awesome collection of Hallmark cards – a part of Life is a Special Occasion
Your very own “____ is a special occasion” t-shirt

In order to win simply follow my blog through google friend connect (if you’re not already). Then comment with one of your favorite moments between the milestones. I will pick a random winner on November 3rd! I will contact you if you’re the winner!

This post is in no way sponsored by Hallmark. These opinions are my own. I was invited to the Hallmark Tour but received no monetary compensation for my time. I did, however, have an awesome experience. See, there’s that word awesome again.