Burt's Bees - Intense Hydration

As many of you know, I am a dedicated Bzzagent!  Recently, they asked me to try Burt's Bees new Intense Hydration line.  As someone with pale, delicate and dry skin, I was thrilled.  Here is what I got when I received my Bzzkit:

Woo-Hoo is right!!!!

Look at the amazing items!!  We've got an Intense Hydration Mask, a Cleanser, Night cream, and samples for day and night cream.  The samples have amazing coupons, too!   $3 off!  I saw them at CVS for $9 ea. so that is 1/3 off.  Not bad, not bad!!!

I love this.  See the tabs on the side, sealing it?  That means NO plastic cap underneath, NO extra foil seal to break, etc.  Just a simple tab to break to ensure the seal!  As an environmentally friendly person, I LOVE this addition to keep unnecessary items out of our landfills!  Simple and yet so effective.  And it removes the slight annoyance I get when I go to open something new and it takes five different ways of removing this and breaking this seal and cutting this...etc.

Nice and creamy.  No extra lid inside, no foil seal!  Just more reasons to love Burt's Bees.

Day lotion and night cream samples!  My friends are going to LOVE me!!

Before, sans make up.  See my pale and dry skin?

After.  I dare say the extra moisture has given my skin a healthy glow!!

I DO wish there was some other anti-aging/anti-wrinkles, etc with this product.  If it had that, I would be sold year round.  For now, I will very much use this during winter along with my other anti-wrinkle lotion.  I'm approaching 40 and I don't want to look like it!

Glade Expressions!

As you all know, I participate in product reviews for Bzzagent.  Recently, they sent me coupons for a free Glade Expressions oil diffuser, and a spray.

Their website states:

The first refillable fragrance mist from Glade®

Glade Expressions® Fragrance Mist comes in a stylish holder and releases a longer-lasting, finer mist of fragrance.  The gentle mist creates layers of true-to-life fragrance that open up note by note, eliminating odors and freshening the air.  The artfully designed holder blends with your decor and can be left out, letting you have a burst of fragrance that's always right at hand.  Just squeeze the next of the bottle to spray, and refill the holder with your favorite Glade® fragrance.

I have to admit, I love that it is re-fillable.  The holder is stylish and blends in with just about any and all decor.  I put one in my kitchen, and I put one in my bathroom.  I had one in my living room, but my 9 month old son got a hold of it (still not sure HOW), but much to my surprise... he was not able to make the mist release, due to the design.  You have to be able to wrap your entire hand around the top part and squeeze.  As his hands are too small, he was unable to do that.  As a Mom, this makes me pretty happy to know that if my baby gets it on accident, he won't be able to do much.

I like how it just blends into my regular decor and does not stick out as an air freshener.

These misters were readily available in my local grocery store and my local Walgreens.  I found them easily, although I only found two of the four scents in any of the stores.   Here are the four scents that are available:

Cotton & Italian Mandarin - Open your home with the bright, breezy blend of cotton and sparkling citrus, honeydew and sandalwood*

Fuji Apple & Cardamom Spice - A ripe, spicy blend of sweet pears and crisp apple with a dash of cinnamon and clove that warms and invigorates

Lavender & Juniper Berry - Lush lavender blends with fresh juniper berry, eucalyptus and rose to relax the senses and open your home

Pineapple & Mangosteen - Evoke a tropical paradise with the blend of freshly cut pineapples and hint of tangy mangosteen, creamy coconut and passionflower

*Available in Glade Expressions^® Fragrance Mist only.

While I really liked the Pineapple & Mangosteen (who knew what a Mangosteen was before this?) and the Cotton &Italian Mandarin, I was really disappointed that I could not find Fuji Apple & Cardamom spice.  As it is fall, I thought it would be perfect for the season!  I tried no less than six stores looking for it over a period of 4 weeks.

The oil diffuser was another story.  Not readily available, I could not find it in any drug store and found out it is mostly only available in grocery stores.  Okay, I can work with that, it's not like I don't buy groceries  I found it at my local Stop & Shop, and unfortunately, they only had the Pineapple & Mangosteen.  I held out for a few more weeks, hoping that they would get the Fuji Apple & Cadamom spice one in.  No luck.  I purchased the Pineapple & Mangosteen, which came with the wood grain design.

This is what Glade says about their oil diffuser:

Stylist new oil diffusers that release long-lasting, true-to-life scents.

Glade Expressions® Oil Diffuser releases a long-lasting fragrance for up to 30 days without needing to plug it in.  The spill-proof oil diffuser infuses layers of true-to-life scents throughout living spaces, making them feel fresh and inviting.  The trendy holder matches decor perfectly, making it a convenient and stylish home-fragrancing option.

The design is light and the wood cut out was a little thinner than it looks to me in the commercials, but it is still once the nicer looking ones I have seen.
 It didn't work so well in my very large, open air kitchen; I could only smell the scent if I was right next to it.   I moved it to one of my bathrooms,  the scent was then noticeable and enjoyable.   I also appreciate that I don't need to plug it in, and that it is spill proof (remember that very active baby I mentioned..?).  I also like that there is a money back guarantee, although I am not sure that as a consumer I would have the purchase receipt on hand if I didn't like it after a few days.  Maybe I need to get better at keeping that stuff.


Here are some of the benefits, as Glade states:

* Long-lasting, true-to-life fragrance opens your home and invites life in.
* Fragrance lasts 30 days and doesn't require electricity.
* No-spill design fits with any decor in your home.
* Fragrance satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.  Mail the original UPC and purchase receipt within 30 days.


The only thing that would make this product better overall, is if it was not just a scent, but cleaned the air as another major competitor does.  However, we all enjoy a pleasant scent, which these absolutely are.  I will likely buy this product again, especially if I can find that blasted Fuji Apple & Cardamom spice scent!

Don't they look nice in my bathroom?

Win a Ball Park bag and coupons!

Now that we've established that we all love Ball Park, time to give away the re-usable shopping bag I got and some of the $2 off coupons! (exp: 10/31/2012)

Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment!  On Friday (6/8/12) of this week I will do a random drawing and contact you for your mailing information so I can send you your prize.  

Contact me if you have any questions.

Ball Park Flame Grilled Patties - Grilled Beef Fast.

BzzAgent has asked me to review Ball Park's new Flame Grilled Patties.  Here is my Bzzkit I received.  Technically, I got a free product coupon to get the bag with, but I thought you guys might be more interested in seeing the product, instead of a shiny new coupon.  My husband is in the Army, and loved the bag!

 We all know and love Ball Park for their juicy hot dogs that plump when they cook.  Now  they've upped the ante with their new Flame Grilled Patties that are available in three flavors; Beef, Beef & Cheese and Beef & Onion.  All ready in just about a minute, which is perfect for my hungry husband who works a demanding job and sometimes is just ravenous when he comes in the door.

At first I was skeptical... I've had frozen patties before and sometimes they just kinda... paint the grill marks on their patties.  Or they come all broken and impossible to separate, resulting in needing a chisel and hammer to get them apart.  This only results in a grumpy cook and/or husband.  Ball Park has raised the standards in frozen patties by pre-grilling their 100% beef patties and freezing them individually.  That's what keeps them from sticking together.

I was eager to see what I would find when I opened the bag.  Want to see too?

Interesting packaging.  I would have thought they would be broken, or laid in a different arrangement, but truth be told, this seems to work.  Personally, being earthy and crunchy as much as I can, I would have preferred to have seen packaging that can be recycled.  Getting a burger out was easy, too, and it took minimal effort to free the patty I wanted.

Now, in case you Moms are wondering, these really are 100% real beef... and NO pink slime!  I swear, they clearly state this on their website.  

So how do these cook up?  In just about a minute.  I've made a few of these now, and some took just a minute, others took a minute twenty.  A quick touch to the center will tell you if it's done.

I cooked mine for one minute here, and here you can see the end result.  There is some grease.. but let't be honest... if there was not any grease, it would not be 100% beef!  If you look at the frozen pic and the cooked pic, you'll see there was no shrinkage either.  Now, we all know burgers shrink when they cook, so why didn't these?  Because they have already been pre-grilled and we are just heating them up.

I thought about adding a slice of cheese, lettuce or tomato, but that is not how I eat them.  Instead of prettying it up for you guys, I left it how I actually ate it.  Taste?  Gotta admit... I was impressed.  It tasted like a hot, beefy burger.  You gotta admit... that looks good.  My husband agreed.  Having worked late the other night, he wanted something a bit ..more than the pasta I had made.  I suggested a burger, which got his attention.  He made it and was also very happy with how it tasted and it is now his go to quick fix meal.

Additionally, if you go to BallPark's FB page, you can enter to win a year's worth of groceries and the "Ultimate Grillout" prize pack in their new "Great Moments in Guy Time" sweepstakes.  'Like' their fb page and upload a photo or video for a chance to win!

Disclosure - A product was provided to me in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion by the manufacturer, BzzAgent or representing PR firm.  All opinions are my own and not influenced by monetary compensation.  Any questions?  Feel free to email me.

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Recently, through an Ellen Promotion, I got a chance to order a FREE photobook.  What do you think of my project?

I'll let you guys know what I think when I get it!  I know coming from Shutterfly, it'll be great in quality.

Ball Park Flame Grilled Patties!

So, as you all know, I am a Bzzagent. Recently, they sent me a coupon to get a FREE bag of these burgers to try! What do you guys think? Can a burger out of the microwave taste as good as one from the grill? More to come on this soon! Stay tuned!

Are you Smarterer?

I had the chance with BzzAgent to try and review Smarterer.  A cute name for a website that wants to help you show everyone what you know.  It's a website that has you take quizzes about popular social media or other products, get your score and then you get to show what you know.  And as anyone who is on social media, we all know we all loves to take quizzes and share the results.




I logged in and took the Bzzagent quiz. I didn't know everything there was to know about being a bzzagent, so it was a great learning experience, as the same question, posed in various forms, would come back up, giving me a chance to show that I had learned from my errors. As I went, it showed me what the right answer was and where I stood compared to other people. That really got me going and I strived harder to get a good score.

The only thing I did not like was that each question was timed, not allowing for a chance to look anything up. Current knowledge on the top of your head only! Not a bad thing, to be honest. Too often we rely on a quick fix and we as a society don't really know nearly as much as we think we do, because quick information is always right at our fingertips.

They've got quizzes for Facebook, Twitter, {hotoshop and much more! Give it a try and see just how Smart(erer) you are.

Are you Smart(erer) than me?