Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways, where we round up all of the best giveaways on the web. This is the spot where you can share your blog contests or where you can find oodles of fun stuff to enter!
While you are browsing around, be sure to read our, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” movie review and scroll to the bottom to find out how to score a free ticket to the show. I wouldn’t want you to miss this one! It has been one of the best kid’s movies that I have seen in a long time!
Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Children’s Movies).”
Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!
I had the unique experience of attending a fantastic movie premiere of a great family film that I know you are going to want to see! I was given the opportunity to have a round table discussion with the stars and directors of “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” and earned a small place of honor on the red carpet to interview and photograph the stars.
Sony hosted a wonderful event for bloggers to learn more about their products and offer in-depth photography tutorials from the amazing Me Ra Koh. For someone who is still figuring out the world of photography, I was more than willing to participate in such a fun event. We got to take our cameras out on the Sony Studio Lot and even gained a little behind-the-scenes access on sets that were being built for future movies.
All that being said, I really want to focus on what a wonderful movie this was for children and adults alike.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is about an aspiring inventor, Flint Lockwood, who is the socially awkward genius behind some pretty bizarre contraptions. His inventions include everything from a pair of spray-on shoes to a monkey thought translator. Flint is determined though to create something that will make people happy.
When Flint’s latest machine, designed to turn water into food, accidentally destroys the town square and rockets up into the clouds, he thinks his inventing career is over. Until something amazing happens… cheeseburgers begin raining from the sky.
Unfortunately, the people in the town become increasingly more greedy and the mayor decides to change what the town was once famous for (sardines) to a town that is famous for raining food. The greed and demands from the people force the machine to begin making more and more food and the town is threatened to become buried in a food avalanche. To save his town and reputation, Flint has to figure out a way to stop it and save them from certain disaster.
The movie is a delight for the eyes and will make you hungry just watching it. The animation is superb and food highlights include the raining cheeseburgers and a fantastic animation sequence with orange Jell-O. In other words, be sure to have lots of popcorn to feed your children or suffer through the whining for food through the entire show!
Anna Faris
Mr. T
Neil Patrick Harris
The film features the voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris, Al Roker, Lauren Graham, and Will Forte. The film is written for the screen and directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller.
The directors were fantastic and truly kid’s at heart. Sitting down with them and hearing the excitement in their voices was contagious. It was truly a delight to see the pride that they felt about this project and see their favorite childhood book in animation form.
What Parents Need to Know:
– The character of Sam Sparks will be a winner for your daughters. Sam Sparks, played by Anna Faris, is the local weather girl who is hiding just how intelligent she is. This movie will show your little girls that it is totally cool to embrace your inner geek and that you should never hide how smart you are for anyone.
– There are no death scenes. Many children’s movies have death scenes which frighten my small children. The mother is in a scene in the beginning of the movie and then it is later said that she has passed away, but no heart wrenching scenes that you wish had to fast forward through. Of course, no death is ideal, but Flint’s sequence with his mother is an important one and shapes the character of Flint.
– This movie is timeless. The directors purposefully decided to create a movie that could be enjoyed years and years down the road so they omitted pop culture and anything that would not be enjoyed for years to come.
– Your whole family will love this movie. I appreciated the funny sense of humor and comedic timing in the scenes. I know that my hubby will appreciate the fantastic graphics that can truly be appreciated with those 3-D glasses, and I know my kids will love just how cool it is to be smart!
Catch this flick with your entire family when it premieres on September 18th! In the meantime, be watching for some great reviews and information from the other participants at this event:
I give this two mommy thumbs up for fun entertainment and a thoughtful discussion about how cool it is to be smart and believing in yourself!
HOT TIP: Get a FREE movie ticket to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs when you purchase any Spot Shot product! Great deal, there’s even a $1 printable coupon you can use on your purcha
se. (Courtesy of Heather at Freebies 4 Mom!
(Disclosure– My travel and airfare were covered by the Sony team. To read more about how things are handled by MomAdvice.com, be sure to read our full disclosure.)
Sometimes a girl needs a fantastic dish that she can whip up in no time and look like a superstar in the kitchen. I dusted off some old recipes and remembered this delicious pot roast I had for just such an occasion. My grandparents were visiting from Florida and my husband was out of town for the day so I knew I would need to come up with some that would be easy and impressive enough to showcase my cooking skills.
My Pot Roast Italiano is guaranteed to knock your socks off! At the end of the cooking, you whisk in a can of tomato paste, which finishes off the delicious gravy. I served the roast with my favorite cheesy orzo pasta, my lemony roasted green beans, and my fast peanut butter cookies.
Instead of spending the day in the kitchen, the kids & I decided to spend the day at our dollar movie theater and caught a movie together instead. I love when I can spend more time with my kids and less time in the kitchen! This dish will do just that for your family- I promise!
Pot Roast Italiano
3 pounds beef chuck roast 1 can diced tomatoes – drained 1 can tomato sauce – 12 oz 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 medium onions- sliced (I omitted these because of personal taste) 1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon basil 6 oz. can tomato paste Grated parmesan cheese Salt and pepper
Place sliced onions on bottom of crock pot. Place roast in crock pot. Season with salt and pepper. Pour diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, vinegar, and spices over roast. Cook on high for 1 hour, and then low for 8 hours. Transfer meat to cutting board and cut into chunks. Meanwhile, whisk tomato paste into the gravy in the pot roast and add parmesan cheese to taste. Gravy will get thicker after a minute or two. Add meat back to gravy and serve.
Leftover Tip– If you have any meat leftover (which will be highly unlikely), shred it for sandwiches. Serve the shredded meat on hoagie rolls with chips and fresh veggies. Yum!
Happy Freebie Friday, everyone! All the thanks in the world goes to Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom, for her wonderful site. We love Heather’s site and featured her among a list of our top bloggers moms should read. Be sure to read her post on how to join Nielsen Homescan Panel!
Our Apron Full of Giveaways is up with lots of great giveaways this week. Be sure to check it out!!
It is eighty degrees and we hike our warm knee-high socks up. She swings them while she eats her breakfast. Her purple socks make her the best ice skater across our hardwood floors and her ballerina moves are just a little more flowing with these purple wonders.
I understand it. I am a girl.
I hold this moment in my heart for as long as I can as I watch those purple hearts swinging.
I am heading out of town in the morning and am frantically packing and preparing to leave the family for a few days. I hope you will enjoy this notebook experiment repeat and can give this recipe a try! Experiment: Can I make Starbucks Coffee Cake at home?
Materials Needed: Please see Divine Domesticity for the full instructions.
Results: I have been looking forward to finding an opportunity where I could try out this copycat recipe for Starbucks Coffee Cake. I have never eaten it at Starbucks, but I have heard it is quite divine and I can never resist a good coffee cake.
I followed the instructions for this recipe exactly. I did bake the cake about five extra minutes to make sure that the topping wouldn’t ooze into the cake. I also prepared the crumb topping with a pastry blender that I have in my kitchen for crumb toppings on cakes & muffins. It worked beautifully for this job and then I didn’t have to get out the stand mixer to make the topping.
I waited until the cake was completely cool and then gave it a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and then prepared for my event where I could serve it.
What event was that? Well, I actually hosted the first meeting for a little knitting club that I have been wanting to put together for quite some time. We had nine women who showed up for coffee, cake, and time to just sit in my living room and knit to their hearts content. We had women who were just starting out and plenty of experts in the group to offer guidance.
Everyone loved the coffee cake, but I think if I make it next time, I will probably reduce the crumb topping to half because it was a little too much topping for me. It was quite delicious though and looked very impressive for a get together. Best of all, the ingredients are always fully stocked in the pantry so it makes a true winner in my book!
The knitting night was a complete hit and it warmed my heart to look around and see all my friends knitting and gabbing together.
Conclusion: I can’t wait to make this cake again and host another knitting night at my house. Next week I will show you what I have been knitting on! Thanks again to Alli, at Divine Domesticity, for sharing this recipe with me!
********************
I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Thursday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.
We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.
Rules for Participation:
1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas. 2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster’s blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way! 3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)
I can’t wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!
I gain the most inspiration for my blog and my life through other bloggers. In order to fill our notebooks each week and to keep things fresh on here, I read a variety of blogs!
I wanted to highlight just a handful of great bloggers that make my world go round. I will continue adding to this list, but these are just a few of the people that have made my life better. I encourage you to add them to your daily reading to help breath inspiration into your life. As I write this I realize how many special friends I am overlooking. I promise to try to do this regularly so I can include each and everyone of you that have done so much for me!
Simply Simple Living
Small Notebook– Rachel is one of my absolute favorite bloggers and has been for a long time. Her blog is clean and easy to read with simply great information on simple living to help inspire you. I would say that the blog helps me to maintain my focus to spend less, organize more, and prioritize better. She is also a fantastic person and I look forward to reading her blog each week!
Simple Mom– Tsh has truly been one mom that I admire greatly because of her dedication and focus on simplifying life. Her tagline, “Live simply, stay sane.” really resonates with the person I strive to be. Her posts inspire me to declutter, to look at playing with my children in new ways, and challenge me to be a better home manager. Her community is fantastic and I love to read the comments that are generated after her entries. If you are not reading Simple Mom, I encourage you to add it to your reader for inspiration.
Simply Beautiful Decor
A Soft Place to Land– Kimba is one of my favorite bloggers to read to breathe inspiration into our home decor. When I see her projects and easy DIY tutorials, I think to myself, “I could totally do that!” Whether it be ping pong wreaths or decorating my front step, I am constantly inspired by her approachable nature towards home decor. She is about the sweetest person I have ever met and I am so proud to call her one of my friends. Run to her blog today!
Nesting Place– The Nester is a legend, in my book. When I saw her at a conference, I think I gasped a little because I was seeing her in person. She was so famous in my eyes- hundreds of comments and the most fantastic home decor I had ever seen. I never said anything to her and I felt a little sick about it when I got home…to which she apologized to me later and said she was afraid to talk to me because she thought I was big time. Seriously? Which is exactly why we all should talk to the people we think are big time because they may think you are big time…which is a vicious and horrible cycle. Even though I am kicking myself for not seizing my moment with her, The Nester has given me the opportunity to look at my home decor in a whole new way. In fact, I will never look at window treatments the same again. She is thrifty, humble, and a generous giver of advice on her blog.
The Inspired Room– Melissa’s blog is full of her life’s theme…authentic living. I love an authentic life and you immediately get the feeling that Melissa is just as authentic as her blog. She offers thrifty advice on home decor and achieving the coveted look of magazine-living in a budget-conscious and real-life design.
Simply Amazing Foodies
goodLife {eats}– If you are looking for some inspiration in the kitchen, look no further than Katie and her beautifully designed blog. I love that Katie’s recipes inspire me to incorporate fresh foods in our diet and that she makes cooking easy and effortless. There is rarely a recipe that I see there that I don’t want to try. You will love her blog- I promise!
Dine & Dish– I have been reading Dine & Dish for a long time now, but only recently had the opportunity to finally meet Kristen in person. I don’t know how to explain this, but hugging her felt a little bit like coming home. She immediately feels like an old friend and is so generous and warm in spirit. She has a way of weaving stories of her home and life into beautiful recipes that you have to share around your dinner table. Her food photography is stunning and she is just one of those bloggers that shares what she knows without hesitation. I love people like that! Please be sure to visit her new Clicks 4 a Cause and find out how you can help her sweet friend Ann (or raise funds on your blog for a cause of your own)
Simply Crafty Mommas
Make & Takes– If you haven’t visited this site for crafting inspiration, then you need to. Marie is a fantastic momma who inspires me to create with my kids. Her crafts are simple and straightforward. She isn’t afraid to get a little dirty with the glue and scissors and she inspires me to craft with my children. I love that her projects are approachable for those of us who were born without that crafting gene.
zakka life– This is a blog that is often featured in our weekly Notebook because I get so much crafty inspiration from it. Jessica has some of the best crafts for kids and I just love her tutorials for families. I wish I had a creative mind like her, but I just don’t. I will settle for reading her fantastic blog each week though to get ideas that will score me the coolest mom on the block points.
Simply Great Deal Finders
Money Saving Mom– Crystal is a good steward of her finances and I adore her blog for just that reason. She has a knack for finding the best deals and offers sound financial advice on how to get those finances back on track. She is as genuine as they come and I guarantee you that if you add her to your reader, you can rest assured that she can find those deals for you and guide you down a positive financial path.
Freebies 4 Mom– Heather is a fantastic blogger who shares all of the best freebies on the web. She not only shares information about freebies, but also about great deals you can score with coupons when you hit the grocery store. I am a huge fan of her Money 4 Moms section which shares creative ways that moms can make a little extra cash on the side. Add her to your regular reading and you will definitely benefit from it!
Not enough blogs to read? Be sure to add some of these blogs to your weekly reads!
Zen Habits for productivity The Simple Dollar for better money management Soule Mama for crafting and creative parenting inspiration Design Mom for design and decor inspiration Daily Danny for eco-friendly living, crafting, and decor
Share the love today! Who are some of your favorite bloggers to read? Who makes your blogging world spin around?
Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways, where we round up all of the best giveaways on the web. This is the spot where you can share your blog contests or where you can find fantastic stuff to enter.
I just wanted to share with you some BIG NEWS for the MomAdvice community. My husband has been hard at work on a link-list alternative and we finally have an awesome product for you to use for your blogs. Simply Linked is just that- simply an easy way to set up link lists. It is clean and beautiful… and FREE! We will be offering paid memberships for bonus features as we add to the page, but I wanted to share this with all of you! Give it a try- I am sure you won’t be disappointed! Thank you so much for all of your support!
Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Children’s Movies).”
Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!
I love these invitations for a chef birthday party (@ Design Mom)
