Mother's Day Gift Idea From Thymes

Mother’s Day is coming up and I know that I’m definitely looking forward to our little ritual around here -  breakfast in bed, complete with lots of bacon and mimosas, followed by an afternoon of snuggles and the kids on their best behavior. It is one day out of the year that I feel completely spoiled and I love it.

I know that not all moms are as lucky as I am though, for various reasons – and I don’t ever want to forget about those moms who may be by themselves on that special day, so I try to think about doing something a little special for them – one mom in particular – and I've found Thymes.  

I was given the opportunity to gift some products to another Momma that may need some extra love this Mother’s Day and I picked some products from Thyme’s Aqua Coralline line. The scent is a mixture of pure water lily, dewy white cyclamen, crisp driftwood, brilliant lemon pulp and intriguing bamboo. 

The Aqua Coralline Body Scrub is also Allure’s 2014 Best of Beauty Award Winner.

"Thymes is known for creating beautiful, one-of-a-kind fragrances. They take pride in thoughtfully curating every product and infusing touches of charm to make them truly special and uniquely Thymes."

About Thymes:

Nearly 30 years ago, Thymes was founded by two friends with a mutual curiosity and a common desire to make something meaningful and beautiful. Since then, the company has flourished thanks to a shared passion for creativity, botanical ingenuity, beauty and friendship. 

Today, they’re an independent company committed to artisan craftsmanship and dedicated to deepening connections through a love of fragrance — and, most of all, to creating fragrances that enrich the quality of your daily experience.

Thymes fragrances are crafted in their on-site fragrance studio,

where chemists and perfumers blend nature, art and science to create outstanding products.

They strive to design fragrances that balance familiarity and

intrigue, rooted in botanical perfumery — nature, refined with

a sophisticated air. They are dreamers and doers, dedicated

artisans driven to create beautiful things for others to discover, appreciate and share. 

Thymes has always formulated fragrances with the utmost of care. Drawn from nature, their unique formulations are artfully crafted to create products that are skin-compatible, environmentally friendly, effective and a pleasure to use.

Thymes opts for natural, high quality, plant-based ingredients instead of chemical ingredients whenever possible. They use botanical extracts with health enhancing nutrients, vitamins and vital antioxidants.

Mother’s Day should be a special day for all moms, and Thyme’s has a large variety of products and scents that will make any moms heart melt!

Right now if you buy $25 or more through Thymes you can receive a free Fragrance Studio Sample kit (includes 15 fragrances)!

~Melissa

7 Ways to Show Your Kids You Care this Holiday Season

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NorthPoleFun #CollectiveBias

So I’m sitting here this morning writing a list when I realized that I must really enjoy creating lists because I do it quite often (and share them with you!) I guess it’s my way of staying somewhat organized and it helps keeps my thoughts in order.

This morning was the unofficial start of the holiday season in my opinion, being December 1^st and all, and I knew that I wanted to do something special for the kids to ring in this magical season, so I threw together a little surprise box with Hallmark Northpole items that I found at Walmart. They have a cute new storybook called “Once upon a Northpole Christmas “(Have you seen the movie on the Hallmark Channel yet?) Fun little magic snowballs that light up when you throw them, Find Me Snowflakes that mesmerize kids with the changing colors as well as let Santa spot the right house to stop by when children hang them in their window.  The item that was my children’s absolute favorite though was called The Northpole Communicator. Every day from December 1^st- 25^th the kids can ‘call in’ and talk to someone from the Northpole. Noah was SO excited today!

 I was glad I bought these sweet gifts to get everyone excited to countdown for Christmas, but there are so many ways to get everyone in the holiday spirit and show them that you care this season, so  we do a variety of traditions each year,  and here’s a few of my favorites:

7 Ways to Show Your Kids You Care This Holiday Season

1. Friday night dance off parties // It’s really just an excuse to blast Christmas music and drink eggnog, but the kids love being able to show off all of their fancy footwork and see mom and dad get silly.

2. Leave little notes // Create a sticky note trail, or a scavenger hunt for them to discover after school with a holiday surprise at the end (hot cocoa and cookies perhaps?) Putting a little creativity and thought behind simple holiday treats will help make them more memorable.

3. Handmade ornaments // The kids have SO much more fun decorating the tree when it has ornaments they've created - in fact we made some salt dough ornaments a few days ago and they are patiently waiting to place them on a tree.

 4. Holiday game night // Many people have holiday movie nights, but you can also do a themed game night for the kids! The Peppermint Ring Fling and Rooftop Drop are a couple of fun ones to get your started.

5. Christmas light drive // Once a year we load everyone up in the care with candy canes and stop at a local coffee shop for peppermint mocha's and cocoa, then we take an hour and explore, hunting for lights and displays. The kids say "Oooh" and "Aaah" and then we all vote on our favorites.

6. Storybook countdown // Just one more way to get the kids excited for the big day, plus the holiday stories get them excited about reading. The Lights on Lights Off storybook and The Northpole City storybook are good ones to add to your collection.

 7. Show more affection // Sometimes it gets so busy this time of the year that we forget that it's often the smallest acts that have the largest impact. I dare you to run up and kiss your kids to no reason or make a point to say "I love you" a little more often - your actions are the best present they will ever receive!

Here's a short video with a little more information about the new Hallmark Northpole story and products:

~Melissa

Chocolate M&M's® Butterscotch Popcorn Ice Cream Sandwiches

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MovieNight4Less #CollectiveBias

Two posts in one day? Yep, I've had two cups of coffee, the girls are in school, and Noah is busy playing so I decided to catch up on posting more things that I've been up to lately! After I came home Saturday night (we were home by 9:30) I decided to have a little girl’s movie night, so I hopped into my favorite flannel pajamas and pulled out a few movies that I bought at Walmart last week. They have a huge selection of $5 movies, many of which I haven’t seen yet because, well, I’m a busy lady. J I of course grabbed one of my favorites of all time The Notebook, and a couple of others – The Blindside and Horrible Bosses.  When I purchased the movies I also stocked up on Orville Redenbacher’sPopcorn and M&M's® because what lady doesn't want to snack on those while relaxing on the couch??

But you know me, sometimes I tend to get a tad creative and find myself coming up with new ideas…and so somehow I thought, ‘Popcorn…popcorn is good….caramel popcorn is better….butterscotch popcorn might be good – oh and with M&M's® mixed in….wait, what about with ice cream….like a popcorn ice cream sandwich??’ – Yes that’s truly how my mind rambles, and anyways Chocolate Butterscotch Popcorn Ice Cream Sandwiches were born – and they are pretty darn good.

I made them Friday afternoon, so they were all ready for my movie night on Saturday. If you've never made caramel corn before, it’s seriously one of the simplest things to create. I just altered it a tad bit, and thankfully it turned out! J

Chocolate Butterscotch Popcorn Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients:

½ stick of butter

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon butterscotch schnapps OR you can use vanilla extract (or another flavor!)

2 bags of Orville Redenbacher’s Salty and Sweet Popcorn

2 boxes of theater sized M&M's®

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, cream, and salt.
2. Bring to a boil and boil for 4 or 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the sides of the pan down.
3. Meanwhile, pop both bags of popcorn and pour into a large mixing bowl.
4. Remove the butterscotch sauce off of the heat and stir in butterscotch flavoring. Pour into popcorn bowl and mix thoroughly.
5. Add the M&M's® and then pour mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper. Spread evenly and transfer to the freezer to cool completely.
6. When the popcorn is cooled completely, cut into desired size squares and place a scoop of softened vanilla bean ice cream in the center of a bar, topping with another bar. Wrap with parchment paper if desired. 

 And there you have it! The perfect movie night in treat!! I had some extra butter flavored popcorn so I made a double batch, but held the M&M's® and added ½ pound of cooked diced bacon, then shaped the popcorn mixture into small balls and inserted a toothpick. They had just enough sweet and salty combination to be rather addicting!

 After a full night of having a ladies night out, and then a movie night in, I fell asleep pretty happy and relaxed that night! I’m pretty sure I should make at least the movie night more of a routine – as well as making recipe creations. It’s fun to just let loose and try new things!

~Melissa

You can find these fun movie night displays with special movies discounted through the 24th at the locations HERE.!

15 Reasons Why You Should Respect Your Feet (and excuses to have a pedicure!)

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

I have always been the kind of person that has to have painted toenails and a pretty pedicure for my feet. I'm that kind of girl that shows my feet off approximately oh, 49 weeks of the year in my flip flops. I only have a few exceptions, like snow, 5 degree weather, when I'm working, or when I'm exercising. 

Yes, I know I'm slightly weird. ;)

Even as a kid I can recall running around everywhere barefoot - quite the opposite from my sister, who always laced up to venture outside and play. I guess I've always been that dare-devil, care-free, wild-spirited girl all along.

Often times I will pay a visit to the salon and get a pedicure there, but sometimes I don't have the extra time or money to do that, and sometimes my feet start looking bad in between visits, so I like to pamper myself a little bit and give myself a pedicure at home. I like to do it after I've taken a bath or a shower, then I can put my bathrobe on and a face mask at the same time. I then will soak my feet in a foot bath, and then use my foot file to remove any extra dead skin off of my heels (I know, it's gross!) I then trim my nails and cuticles and finish up with some nail polish. I used to use a manual foot file, but last week I found a new gadget while I was shopping at Target. It's called a Pedi Perfect Electronic Foot File from Amopé, and it was in the foot care aisle. I bought it along with their Daily Moisturizer For Feet because it intrigued me so much. 

Let me tell ya, it was amazing! I will never go back to a manual foot file again! It was very easy to use, it even had batteries included. I even got brave and had Wayne soak his feet so I could try my new gadget out on his feet (which I think haven't seen a file in YEARS)...and it helped them so much! 

I believe we should all love and respect our feet - treat them good, and take care of them well. After all, they are a pretty important part of our body. In fact, so important that I've came up with 15 Reasons why you should respect your feet and treat them right!

1. They get you from place to place everyday.

2. Each foot has 26 bones in it - for a grand total of 52 in a pair. That's a quarter of your entire body's bones!

3. Most likely if you'e a lady, your poor tootsies get tortured in some kind of a high heel. 

4. Respect them because of their uniqueness. No two feet are alike, and it's rare that both of yours are even the same size!

5. Sometimes back pain actually originates from foot problems. 

6. They keep us moving - on average 10,000 steps a day!

7. Your pair of feet have 66 joints in them.

8. They hold up a lot of pressure when you stand on them - up to 4 times your weight when you run.

9. Your feet mirror your health. Often times conditions like diabetes, arthritis and nerve disorders show up in your feet first.

10. They are pretty popular, even Socrates quoted them: "When our feet hurt, we hurt all over."

11. Your feet feel so much better when they are soft and taken care of...who wants that scratchy feeling when you put your socks on?

12. They sweat - a lot. (that's probably why I prefer mine to be open to air). Each foot has something like 250,000 sweat glands, and when we wear shoes all of the time we inhibit the process of sweating. 

13. They each leave a special footprint. Like our hands, no two foot prints are alike. How cool is that?

14. The skin on the soles of your feet is the thickest part of skin on your body

15. They aren't just for walking - they're handy too. I don't know about you, but my feet are also useful for picking up random things off the ground. Why not?

 Check out the new Pedi Perfect Electronic Foot File and Daily Moisturizer from Amopé, and let me know what you think! There's also a couple of deals happening at Target, so make sure you check them out before you go!

• Target gift card offer: 11/9 - 11/22 purchase one Pedi Perfect and receive a $5 Target gift card
• Cartwheel offer: 11/2 - 11/22 for 10% off: http://cartwheel.target.com/offer/20183

Thanks #CollectiveBias and #RespectURFeet for letting me share my fun tips today!

~Melissa