Hello Fresh Update, FAQs, and GIVEAWAY

It's been a while since I've written about Hello Fresh, so I wanted to do a quick update. We took a break from the service when Eloise was first born because I didn't feel like doing much more than assembling sandwiches. As time went on, though, Stephen and I both felt like cooking again. We're now on our second box since bringing home baby -- and it's lot of fun!

My favorite meal so far is this week's Charred Scallion + Corn Flatbread. Each portion was actually two huge pieces like this one. The pizza dough it came with was so bubbly and amazing. I wish I could get the recipe for it. You put the tomatoes and chives (mixed with lime juice) on after baking.

Yum!

Here's how we made this meal work for Ada (who HATES anything resembling pizza):


Basically, we put the veggies and salsa on the side with a serving of pasta (well, two servings -- we saved some for today's lunch). That's sort of our go-to substitution for her. That or some other side like rice. It helps make the box for two stretch to serving two adults and one child. However, there are also many meals she'll eat as they are.

Here are some other meals I've really enjoyed:

FAQs

I've received some questions about the service, so I thought I'd briefly answer the most frequently asked.

Is the food cold when it gets to your house? 

Surprisingly? Yes. For some reason, our UPS doesn't deliver until nearly 6PM, and even in the summer our food has stayed cold and fresh. They pack a lot of ice in the box, which seems to do the trick.

How long does the food stay fresh? Has anything been bad when you got the box?

The food seems to stay fresh for a week, so that's the time frame in which you should be cooking the recipes. I will say that some of the ingredients have gone south sooner (summer squash, for example), so we try to cook first whatever looks like it needs to be used. It's just a matter of peeking inside the box and planning accordingly. That being said, it's really not been much of an issue.

As far as ingredients being bad when we're received them -- it happened just once. The cilantro with one of the recipe was just mushy, gritty, and unappealing. But nothing else since then. Thankfully we had some extra herbs in the garden that week.

How long do the recipes take?

They all seem to be just 30 minutes with maybe 10-20 minutes of that being prep time. That's one thing I find so appealing -- it's FAST. I don't have any more time than that these days to cook. And, as a result, I'm able to learn some good recipes (I keep the cards) to make in the future to increase my library of fast meals.

Are the recipes repetitive?

They can be. Or, rather, ingredients can seem to be. I remember there were two weeks before Eloise was born where it seemed like feta was in each and every dish. I got a little tired of the cheese after a while. They also seemed kind of heavy on the tostadas, quesadillas, taco notes for a while. I didn't mind that terribly much, though, because each recipe did taste different with different ingredients.

The good news: You can see what recipes are coming up ahead of time and choose to pause delivery if something just looks boring to you. I am doing that for the next week because I see that they're serving a Mexican quinoa bowl, and I know how to make that myself.

Anything you don't like about Hello Fresh?

I wish they had more choices for vegetarians. You get what you get versus with the original box where you can choose which recipes you want for the week. Even if they had just one extra meal on the table so you could choose three of the four choices -- that would be great. There are some weeks I just say NO to the meals because I'm not enthused about one of them.

$40 Off Code + FREE Box

So, that's my update. I hope it helps. Like I've said in the past, I don't normally do box service things like these -- but I really think they serve a great purpose if you hit a rough or busy patch in life. We will probably do some more weeks of it during the school year when Stephen's coaching schedule is particularly heavy.

If you'd like to try it for yourself, you can get $40 off your first delivery.

Visit Hello Fresh and use code YCEAHR at the checkout.

I also have a FREE box of food to give away to one lucky winner.

• Leave a comment below telling me what your favorite summer meal is.
• I'll need your email address or some other way to contact you. 
• I'll announce the winner next Wednesday, August 10th.

Happy Wednesday!

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Lately + Hello Fresh Winner(s)

Stephen and I went out for what we think might be our last date for a while on Friday night. We hit up a restaurant that has tons of beer on tap and some pretty cool BBQ foods (with tons of vegetarian options). I even got an alcohol-removed malt "beer" beverage because, well, I miss the ritual of it all.

We snapped this photo which has all my friends and family thinking the baby is so low that I will go a.n.y day now. I assure you, though, it's got to be an illusion. Though I carry low to begin with, it's not exactly as intense as this photo makes it seem! (I decided to preregister with the hospital for delivery just in case.)

The next day, when we asked Ada what she'd like to do for a family date, she immediately screamed "Chuck E. Cheese!!!" You're just as surprised as we were! I guess she heard about it from friends and we pass it on the road quite often. So, we sent tons of dollar bills down the token machine and played games. In the end, I think we spent like $30 and she "won" a cheap slinky I could have bought at the dollar store. (Oh, and she broke it already. LOL.)

But she had fun! And I am really good at this game:


The next day, I got pretty crafty. More nesting, I suppose.

I had been seeing all these photos of hospital door hangers, and it gave me the idea to do door hangers in the upstairs hallway for my girls (!!!). We piled in the van and headed to the craft store. Ada helped me pick out the flowers, prints, and ribbons. Then during nap time, I gave myself a ton of burns with the glue gun.


I love how they turned out.


Oh, and today I am also announcing the winner of the Hello Fresh giveaway. I decided to choose TWO winners -- CONGRATS!

Sarah N. says "I would love to try a meal service like this but they are so expensive I haven't been able to justify it. I can see it being useful during an especially busy or stressful time though. The meals look delicious and just a few meals from a service like this might be enough to get my cooking creativity going again and break me out of a dinner rut."

Angie L. says "I have never tried a food service like this, but I'd love to! I'm also pregnant and losing motivation to make and create meals. This would be so helpful!"

I am planning to do a review of last week's box sometime soon -- hopefully tomorrow or Friday. I liked it even better than the first. Some of you were also asking about the size box we get. We do the one for two people versus four and then we do supplement (very little) to make it feed the whole family.

Happy Wednesday!

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Trying Hello Fresh (Again) + Giveaway

It's no secret that we've been pretty busy these last several months. What I haven't told you is that many nights it's felt like we were drowning. I've been really tired, Ada's been cranky, and Stephen's been, well, coaching late nights and Saturdays. Nothing the typical family doesn't deal with -- but it was really taking a toll on family dinner time, which I think made the situation so much worse. Gathering together at the dinner table even just a few nights a week helps our family stay connected and sane.

Truth time: I slacked on making dinners, big time. And the dinners I was making were the same old ones I've been making for the last several years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But with food -- a rut is never good. We were bored. In desperation I went searching for help one night and then remembered that years ago I had reviewed Hello Fresh when they first unveiled their vegetarian meal options.

So, I decided to sign up for the service myself (so, this is an unsponsored review, just FYI) and see how it's changed over the years. I actually used a code from a friend and got $40 off my first order (more details later). Here's what we've been eating, what we think of the freshness/quality, and if we'll sign on to do more weeks.

Our Meals 

What I noticed first and foremost is that the packaging has majorly improved from when I reviewed them back in 2012. Everything used to be wrapped in plastic. Now much is in recyclable cardboard and some stuff, like kale, is just out within the box. So, that's a huge step in the right direction.

We get our UPS deliveries very late in the day (6PM), so I was concerned that the food wouldn't be fresh/cold enough with the heat wave, but it was just fine with the cold pack. And another change from 2012 is that I didn't need to be around for delivery. Score!

Here's what we got in our box. Everything was separated by recipe and all the instructions were clearly indicated on easy-to-follow recipe cards.

#1: Sweet Potato Niçoise Salad

I'm not big on eating a salad for dinner. But with all the variety in this mix -- and the lemon-dijon dressing -- I didn't feel like it was lacking. The veggies included: Sweet Potato, Persian Cucumber, Lemon, Red Onion, Parsley, Garlic, Chickpeas, Green Beans, Dijon Mustard Glass Jar, Grape Tomatoes, Spring Mix. The only thing with this dinner that frustrated me is that I didn't feel like it came with enough greens. This meal took less than half an hour to make and had 22 grams of protein per serving.

You can read more details here.


#2: Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl

This one was Stephen's favorite of the bunch. It was bursting with olives, feta, and kale chips. So many different flavors and textures. And then you have the quinoa, which is something that Ada loves to eat. This meal only took about 20 minutes to make and had a nice 17 grams of protein per serving.

You can read more details here.


#3: Rigatoni Al Forno

Oh, man, oh, man. You guys. I loved this recipe. And I don't really like pasta. Roasted eggplant is such a rich ingredient. Add that to big noodles tossed with homemade tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella? AND then you add a crispy topping of panko and parmesan? I was in heaven. This meal took around a half hour to make and boasted a whopping 32 grams of protein per serving.

You can read more details here.

Verdict?

Overall, we were impressed enough with the service to give it another week's try. We should be receiving our food tonight -- which means dinner is already planned! I have had mixed feelings about trying a service like this because I really do know how to meal plan. I've done it successfully for years. I also love and know how to cook my own meals. But I will say that the variety and fresh recipe ideas did inspire me to branch out a bit with the other meals in the week.

I guess I think these sorts of services serve a purpose. Like, right now we are really stretched to the max -- and I need help in this area. Once the baby comes, I could also see this being a good option for the first several months versus getting caught up in a takeout cycle. I also like that there's no huge commitment. If we decide to get back on track on our own, we simply pause/cancel the service by Wednesday. Done.

$40 Off Your First Delivery

Are you interested in giving a meal service like Hello Fresh a try? Like I said, I was resisting this whole trend because I felt like it was too expensive, especially considering I'd need to spend time cooking anyway. But it has turned out to be a bit of fresh air that we've needed to get back into the cooking routine again. It's definitely less expensive than takeout and -- being in my third trimester -- it helps motivate me to quickly throw something together so we can get back at family dinners.

If you'd like to try it for yourself, you can get $40 off your first delivery.

Visit Hello Fresh and use code YCEAHR at the checkout.

Or Win a FREE Box

I also have a FREE box of food to give away to one lucky winner.

• Leave a comment below telling me what meal services you've tried or how you've otherwise fought your way out of a food rut. 
• I'll need your email address or some other way to contact you. 
• I'll announce the winner next Wednesday, June 8th.

More soon!

Many of you seemed interested in this whole concept when I posted my meals to Instagram. I'll probably do another post on this week's delivery soon. I'll cover more about how we're fitting it into our tight food budget, as well as how we're modifying the meals to meet the needs of an athlete, a third trimester pregnant woman, and a hungry preschooler.

I may also pause my service and try out Blue Apron or another service sometime soon to compare. Do you have any suggestions?

Read more...

10 Cups a Day // GE Water Filters

Ever since we started trying to conceive number two, I've been particularly picky about the stuff I put in and on my body. For example, we swapped out more conventional body and beauty products with natural counterparts (and I even make some of my own, like my DIY face scrub). We started eating fewer fruits and veggies from the dirty dozen. And I even started getting more concerned with that beverage we all consume in gallons each week -- water.

I mean, seriously. Pregnant women are supposed to drink a whopping 10 cups (2.4 liters) of fluids (mostly water) each day according to the Institute of Medicine. If you're active, and I try to be, you should guzzle even more. The reason why so much isn't incredibly surprising. Hydration is important no matter your walk of life.


For pregnant women, lots of water helps to prevent:

• Constipation
• Hemorrhoids
• Excessive swelling
• UTIs and bladder infections
• Premature or early labor

I'd like to avoid all that . . . so, I'll grab another glass. Today's post is in partnership with General Electric (GE) and SheKnows. The topic? Water filtration. While I used to heartily source my cups directly from the tap, I started thinking more about water filtration when I upped my intake during pregnancy. We now filter our water through our refrigerator, and it's a system that works well for us.

Let's take a quick step back. What about bottled water? Well, I'm glad you asked. I've long shunned bottled water for environmental impact reasons. Who wants to waste all that plastic? When I researched a freelance article for Wisebread a few years ago, I learned a ton about this 11 billion dollar industry and water in general.

Here are the highlights:

• Bottled water costs 240 to over 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water.
• Water -- even poured in the same area -- can have wildly different contents depending on a building's pipe age, material, etc.
• 25% (to as much as 40%) of the bottled waters consumed in the U.S. come from municipal water supplies.

So, I think you can see how filtration beats out the bottle on a variety of points. You can use your own container (mine is the Lifefactory 22-ouncer -- this bottle goes with me absolutely everywhere). You can pay your regular water bill. You can drink clean water. Those are all positives in my opinion.


Did you know that there are three different ways you can use water filters in your home?

• Refrigeration filtration (this is the kind that fit conveniently into your fridge if you have a water source like we do)
• Under the sink filtration (systems that filter water at your sink – Check out this new under the sink model (it doesn’t require an added tap and is super easy to install. You turn the controller when you want filtered tap water! )
• Whole house filtration (as it sounds, this system filters water directly at the source for all your cooking, cleaning, drinking, bathing, etc. -- we have particularly hard water in my town, so this is something we're investigating.)

GE offers a variety of water filters that fit right into all these systems -- from GE appliances, reverse osmosis systems, and more. (They even make a water filter specific for select Keurig machines!) These filters contribute to better-tasting, safer water that will also save you big bucks in the long run.

You can find their entire selection of filters and options on their website.

Not only does the water coming out of a filter (from experience) taste cleaner and clearer than what comes out of the tap, it's also far lower in common contaminants, minerals, and other hard deposits that even "safe" tap water contains. And if you're drinking a lot of it like I am, it's also good to know that fresh, filtered water only costs a few cents per gallon versus upwards of $5 with bottled counterparts.

How do you guys handle water in your homes? 

Do you do bottled?
Drink directly from your tap?
Or do you use a filter?

Answer below for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card!

Entry Instructions:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

• Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post 
• Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
• Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post 

For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska).

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

 The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 3/22/16 – 4/21/16.

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An Old-Fashioned Christmas // Review

Christmas is coming. I’ve even started decorating early this year. I usually wait until after Thanksgiving, but I’m just in the spirit. Maybe it has something to do with reviewing Ellen Stimson’s new book titled An Old-Fashioned Christmas. The setting is Vermont, the snow is plentiful, and there’s certainly no shortage of amazing food in this book.

Take a look:

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for giving me a copy of this book to review. I enthusiastically said YES because I have a special connection with Vermont and Christmas. Now, I’m from Pennsylvania . . . but almost every year I can remember from my childhood, my parents would pack us up the morning after Christmas. We’d drive a good five to six hours to Vermont on snowy back roads stopping at rogue antique shops along the way. Each time we’d get out of the car, my fingers and toes would freeze.

We’d snake our way through Bennington, Rutland, Killington, and Woodstock, staying a night or two. Then we’d advance to Burlington and usually make it to our final destination in Stowe at the base of Mount Mansfield. The memories I have of Christmas are unreal. Cross-country skiing through a mountain village as the snow spits down all around. Horse-drawn carriage rides with hot cocoa and wool blankets. Countless cozy fires and ice sculptures lining the walkways at the Inn at Essex.

(Stowe, VT)



I mean, seriously. Vermont IS the definition Christmas. So, this book speaks to me on many levels. It’s full of those hearty and wholesome recipes you just want to splurge on for the holidays. In fact, everything in this book exudes warmth and coziness. The minute I opened the cover, I started hearing holiday tunes in my head.

And bells!


Throughout the text, Ellen shares bits and pieces from her own holiday home. We even get descriptions and memories tied to different ornaments and some treats to give our four-legged friends. There’s also a wealth of human food to feast your eyes on.

I already have a few of the recipes on my to-make list, including:

• Aunt Loraine’s Brady Bunch Cheese Ball
• Cheddar Chive Biscuits
• Mock Cheese Soufflé
• Pea Garlic Mascarpone Galette 
• Salted Caramel Turtles 
• Spicy Hot Cocoa

So, if you’re looking for a way to get into the spirit, consider picking up a copy of An Old-Fashioned Christmas. I think it would even make a great gift (I’m probably getting a copy to give to my parents because I know they’ll appreciate it). I don’t know. There’s just something about getting a physical cookbook for Christmas that is like a tradition every year. This one has been on shelves since November 2nd, but the best price I can find is on Amazon.com.

Ellen Stimson is the author of best-selling memoir Mud Season. She’s a self-proclaimed bread-and-butter home cook who lives and writes from her farmhouse in rural Vermont. 

// GIVEAWAY

Now is your chance to take a peek! I am giving away a copy of An Old-Fashioned Christmas to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment with your favorite holiday dish and some way to contact you. Entries from the U.S. and Canada only, please.

I’ll announce the winner in two weeks. (And, yes, I will soon announce the winner of the Barefoot Books giveaway -- sorry for the delay!)

You can check out the whole schedule to see more great reviews on this book.

Also visit Ellen on Facebook and Twitter.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Barefoot Books // Giveaway

Jess contacted me about Barefoot Books quite a while ago, so I’m excited to finally share with you more about the company’s adorable books for kids.

Barefoot Books started up in 1992. Their titles are all about having your child “step inside the story.” They carry books for children ages birth to 12 years and up. What I like a lot about these books is that their topics range from the ABCs and 123s to folk tales, world cultures, poetry, and beyond. They also carry more than just books.

Ada’s favorite product that we reviewed? The Yoga Pretzels deck.

I have a similar deck of cards with basic yoga poses, but this one breaks them down into terms kids can understand. Every night, Ada wants to pull these out, go into my yoga nook, and do a few poses. I love seeing her get so interested in something I like -- but I think a lot of it has to do with giving names to the poses like “gorilla”!

Ada’s favorite book we reviewed is Millie’s Chickens.


The art in the book is so whimsical. And beyond just a story about Millie’s chickens, we also get to read all about the different breeds, steps to taking care of chickens, information about eggs, and a lot more. It brings the story to real life and gets Ada asking lots of questions. We actually have been reading this book every day because she likes it so much.

But there are so many more books in the Barefoot catalog. And I think it’s also important to note that the company is big into sustainability practices with its printing and production. For example, the paper in these books does not contain pulp from illegal or unsustainable sources.

Here are some of the Bestsellers.

// GIVEAWAY

Now is your chance to check out Barefoot Books!

The giveaway is for a copy of the Yoga Pretzels deck.

To enter, please browse the digital catalog and leave a comment with the name of your favorite book. You get an additional entry if you order a product by October 31. For a third entry, you can “like” Jess’s Facebook Page (just leave an additional comment below).

Sound good? I’ll announce the winner on November 1st.

// CODES

If you just can’t wait, Jess has included a few codes for you.

Use the code FALL2015 for 20% off your order through October 31st.

If you’re interested in joining Jess’s team, use the code FALLSTART15 for 15% off your starter kit.




GOOD LUCK!

* Disclosure: I was given a few books in exchange for my honest opinions on Barefoot Books.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Magformers // Review + Giveaway [Closed]

I think by now most parents know about the whole magnetic blocks craze, right? We were given a small set of Magformers when Ada turned two, and we’ve been hooked on them ever since. In fact, we expanded our fleet last spring. Out of all of Ada’s toys, the Magformers have stayed in the rotation, growing with her as she as gone from toddler to preschooler (and I’m sure well beyond).

Magformers recently contacted me to see if we’d be interested in doing a review of their 100-piece Inspire set. Since we’ve been buying and using their brand for years, I felt it would be a good fit for the blog + something I’d love to share with you. The set comes with 13 different geometric shapes, including diamonds, sectors, arches, mini sectors, super squares, super triangles, super sectors, super arches, and mini arches.

It’s also features . . .

• BPA-free plastic
• "Neodymium Rare-Earth Magnets for guaranteed connectivity"
• Compatability with all other Magformers sets
• Fun pastel colors

You know, so you can build stuff like THIS:


I’ve purchased other types of magnetic tiles before, and -- as I wrote on Instagram -- I wasn’t impressed. We’re definitely solidified as a Magformers family by now. I especially like that the blocks are open for easy handling, which makes them good for a wide range of ages. Oh, and Ada had a ball with the larger blocks in this set since we’d never played with them before. Heck, I think Stephen and I enjoy making things with them as much (if not more so!) as Ada does.

Of course, Ada's really into pink and purple these days (they were my favorites at age 4). So, she likes to build all pink thinks or all purple things. She’s also tried cramming her Barbies into the castle. It doesn’t work out so well, but we’ve built a few large towers that

Above anything else, we all love the multicolor light-up pieces! You can have them go through a rainbow of colors or switch them on to just one. They are rechargeable using your computer and a USB cable.


Seriously. The first time we used them, we all Ooooooooooo’ed and Ahhhhhhhhh’ed.

Here’s just some of the different shapes. (Ada wouldn’t give up the rest!)


The set also comes with a handy instruction book with lots of design ideas. We made a lot of them, but then Ada wanted to go rogue and build a barn for some of her figurines. I love watching her creativity when she plays with Magformers. And she’s definitely engaging in more than simple play -- her fine motor skills are getting a workout. She’s also getting some basic geometry, among other concepts.

OK. They are also just FUN.

(Pieces from our other sets -- classic rainbow -- are also mixed in:)


Cleanup is a breeze with these guys. We have a bin in our living room and just toss them in there each night. Come to think of it, the Magformers are the only toy we keep on the main level of our house. And that’s probably because you’ll always catch our guests playing with them, too. (My father-in-law is a huge fan.) And when we choose toys to bring on vacation, we always bring along a good number of these.

// GIVEAWAY

The kind folks at Magformers are giving away a 62-piece Rainbow Set (!!!) to one lucky reader!

Simply leave a comment with your name, an email address (or other method of contact), what you’d build with your child, and check back next Friday (9/18) for the winner who will be chosen using a random number generator.

PS: You can connect with Magformers on Facebook.

Good luck! 

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Super Cool Canvas Art // Gallery Direct

I spend a lot of time moving furniture and painting rooms to get our house looking more like a home. One area that I haven’t paid much attention to until recently is the art hanging on our walls. I’ve been rocking the same posters and prints we had in our apartments just after college. (Yes. Even the whole “Keep Calm, Carry On” thing -- yikes!)

Slowly, we’ve been adding some fun art pieces to our collection. For example, my parents gave me an awesome vintage map of my home area for my birthday this year. They got it professionally framed and matted -- it was the perfect gift. We also recently picked up a unique wooden art piece for our dining room.

GALLERY DIRECT

Since I’m an amateur photographer, I also love the idea of getting some of my photos printed. We’ve given canvas prints as gifts many times before, but have never snagged anything for our own walls. So, when the folks at Gallery Direct in Austin, TX, contacted me about their fine art and canvas wrap services, I was super excited to check them out.

Here’s my print:


This is a photo I took of the Pine Creek Gorge (a.k.a. Pennsylvania Grand Canyon).

It’s a slice of home right in my living room.


I actually think we’ll be hanging this piece in our family room (with the map of my home area), but the lighting is better in this space, which is why I photographed it here. My piece is a huge 40 inch by 27 inch size that’s awesome for hanging over a couch or other large piece of furniture.

Oh, and here’s how to create your custom print with text!

• Just take the full resolution (biggest) of the photo and put it in an editing program (I used PicMonkey). 
• It’s great if the photo has some good white space and I chose to convert mine to black and white.
• Then find a quote and type it onto the image. 
• Play around with fonts and sizes until you get it just right.

I went from this:


To this:


More info:

You can learn about Gallery Direct on their website. I was particularly impressed with the quality of my canvas print. Like I said, we’ve ordered ours from drug stores and big box stores . . . and the quality is adequate. But this was a huge step beyond. The print even came ready to hang on the wall.

• All pieces are made with love and shipped in Austin, TX.
• Art is printed on state-of-the-art HP printers atop top-of-the-line canvas, paper, birchwood, aluminum, and acrylic.
• The process is completely customizable -- if you dream it, they can print it.
• Turn around (from experience) is extremely fast. No 4 to 6 week turnaround time like with many other companies.
• If you order a print from their site, you’re supporting small artists.
• And check out the amazing reviews on Resellerratings.com.

I personally had a wonderful customer service experience. I wasn’t sure if my photo was high resolution enough to print in such a large format. But they helped me figure it out every step of the way.

INFO + GIVEAWAY [CLOSED]

Think you have something you’d like to print on canvas? 

Visit Gallery Direct’s Photo Upload Page!

The site is running an amazing sale TODAY through MONDAY (8/3) where you can get 75 percent off uploads on canvas gallery wraps and a whopping 45 percent off site-wide!

Better yet, I have a #giveaway for you guys. Leave a comment below telling me what you’d print off for a chance to win a $200 gift card to spend on the site. You can choose a piece from their photography or art galleries or print your own piece. It’s up to you!

This giveaway is open to anyone. And -- this is important -- I need you to leave an email address (or other contact info) so I can send you the code if you win. The winner will be announced on Friday, August 7th.


CONGRATS TO GRACE, commenter #19, for winning the giveaway. 

I’ll be in touch with you soon regarding your prize.


You can also follow Gallery Direct on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest for the latest news, inspiration, and deals.

Thanks to Gallery Direct for sponsoring this post and providing such an awesome giveaway.

Good luck + happy Friday!

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Phone Photos // LG G4 Sweeps via AT&T

This post is part of a sponsored campaign with AT&T 4K Seconds Blogger Program. All opinions and experiences are my own.

Summer means adventure. We’re often out hiking, biking, and otherwise running around outdoors. I don’t love lugging my bulky DSLR with us to, say, the beach on vacation because it’s a pain. At the same time, I am usually disappointed with the quality of the photos I take with my cell phone. LG’s G4 has definitely improved on this whole experience by including a manual mode (!!!) and a F/1.8 lens.

On a phone.
Seriously.

Here are three simple tips for snapping better summer photos with you phone while you’re out and about. Don’t miss the sweepstakes and contest info at the end of this post for your chance to win one of these guys to try for yourself.

Tip #1: Have Fun

I think the worst thing about my childhood family photos is that we all look so stale. We’re posing in at least 90 percent of the shots. With digital photography, you can really shoot as many photos as you want, so have fun with them. Get a good mix of posed and action shots to remember your moments by.

You want to capture what you were doing, the essence of the experience, versus just what you looked like, who was there, etc.

Tip #2: Look at the Whole Picture

When my friends ask me for suggestions on taking better photos, one of the first tips I give them is to look beyond your subject. For example, if I took this photo from the other direction, there’d be a bunch of piled toys in the background. The person or thing you’re photographing is -- of course -- the most important, but try to keep the focus on them by choosing visually neutral settings. (Unless, of course, the background is the focus, like with a mural.)

In this case, the trees/grass provide a nice green backdrop.

While we’re on background, I’ll mention that it is best to get nice, even lighting whenever possible. But, c’mon. Being outdoors and trying to capture moments, well, IN the moment can be hard sometimes. That’s where manual mode comes in. You can completely control the shutter speed, f-stops, and more. Once you get the hang, you’ll be shooting in all different lighting like a pro!

Tip #3: Get In Your Photos

Don’t pull out the album 20 years down the line and ask “where was I during all this?” I am usually the designated photographer wherever we go. So, I need to remember to hop into the photos so I don’t get cut out of all our memories.

The LG G4 also has this cool Selfie Mode that includes a skin smoother. I set it up pretty high so you can see the effect, but you can do as little or as much as you want. The other Selfie features are pretty neat too! For example, there are different voice commands you can use (like saying “CHEESE!” or “SMILE!” or even “WHISKEY!”) to take your photo without hitting anything. There are even gestures, like opening your hand and then making a fist, that start the photo timer.

In other words: The selfie just got a whole lot easier.

CHEESE!

PHONE INFO

As far as the phone goes, I’ve never owned an Android -- but it’s surprisingly intuitive! The body of the phone itself is large (5.5” display) and curved for better ergonomics. This also means that there’s more viewing area for web browsing and picture taking. I’ll admit it takes some getting used to, but there are more positives than negatives in that regard.


More:

• OS: Android 5.1 (Lollipop) OS Dimensions: 5.86 x 3.0 x 0.38” (min 0.25”) 
• Battery: removable 3,000 mAh that provides up to 21 hours of talk time 
• Camera: Rear: 16MP with F/1.8 lens; Front: 8 MP 
• Memory: Internal 32GB, 3 GB RAM; MicroSD up to 2TB capable (MicroSD card sold separately)
• Processor: 1.8 GHz 64 bit hexa-core processor 
• LG’s first IPS Quantum Display (5.5″ Quad HD) is brighter, more colorful and has excellent contrast 
• LG exclusive Color Spectrum Sensor uses white balance detection to determine accurate colors 
• Broadcast 4K content from P1 to an HDMI enabled TV using a 4K slim port adapter 

SWEEPS + CONTEST

Now’s your turn to see for yourself! The LG G4 4K Seconds Sweepstakes runs through June 20th. And in order to celebrate the awesome 4K capture capability and 2TB of storage, AT&T is giving away one LG G4 every 4K seconds (66 minutes) until June 20th, totaling to an incredible 500 phones!

For a chance to win, you need to:

1. Register at http://4kseconds.att.com/
2. Upload a picture you take on your phone. (This can be done from a mobile device, tablet or computer.) Images need to be .jpg or .png and less than 1 MB.

In addition, there’s a contest component to this program. All submitted photos (deemed eligible by the Official Rules) will also be housed on a gallery on the sweepstakes website. These will be open to public voting in order to determine a public appeal score. The photos will also be judged by a panel of judges. The photo with the highest combination score from the judges and public appeal will be deemed the Grand Prize Winner and will receive a 55” Class Smart Curved 4K OLED 3D TV with webOS 2.0 and a 3D-Blu-Ray Disc Home Theatre System with Smart TV and Wireless Speakers. The second and third highest ranked photos will be deemed the First and Second Prize Winner. These winners will receive a 65” Class IPS 4K UHD Smart LED TV with webOS 2.0 and 3D-Capable Blu-ray Disc Home Theatre System with Smart TV and Wireless Speakers. The winners will be announced upon completion of the Judging Period, which ends July 9th.

Thanks to AT&T for this amazing offer. And good luck!

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Freshening Up with Cat’s Pride

I know a lot of you have cats like we do. I actually can’t believe how long Scully has been a part of the family. I found her at the SPCA almost 10 years ago the month after I graduated from college. Rivey came several years later when one of Stephen’s coworkers found a litter of kittens in the barn behind her house. I never saw myself as someone with a multi-pet household, it just sort of happened.

At our old house, all the cat stuff was relegated to the basement space. It could be smelly down there because we only bolted down to do quick loads of laundry or to grab things from the upright freezer. Now that we live in a house with a fabulous, mostly finished basement, we’re spending a lot more time in the cats’ domain. And, guys, it smells sometimes. I fixate on it.

Over the past eight or so months since we moved, we have tried basically every cat litter known to man to tame our odor problem. The issues we’ve faced? Ones that don’t clump enough, ones that don’t absorb odors, many others that mask odors with awfully artificial scents (which -- to me -- is so much worse than cat smell). The list goes on. So, when BlogHer offered up a chance to try Cat’s Pride® Fresh & Light® Ultimate Care™, I was both desperate and intrigued.


Up to this point, we hadn’t tried any of the light litters on the market. Honestly, I had assumed they might not work as well because, uh, they’re light. It sounded like a gimmick to me. Like attention put in the wrong area, because with multi-cat households, it’s all about the stink. On top of that, I was really hoping to find an unscented alternative that controlled odors with gusto, and Cat’s Pride boasts a 10-day odor control guarantee.

Here's a little video I made about our cats and trying out Cat’s Pride® Fresh & Light® Ultimate Care™:

Field Notes:

1.) Ultimate Care is different from other lightweight litters because it doesn’t use fillers (paper, wood chips, light density rock, etc.). Instead, it’s made entirely of high absorbing clay, the same kind used to filter impurities out of cooking oils and absorb moisture from major league baseball fields. Pretty neat, huh? And it’s 99.9% dust free, which I noticed right away when pouring it into the box.

2.) As far as the unscented staying fresh: It actually did. Now, I didn’t test the 10-day stench thing to the max, but with routine cleaning (once a day), it stayed fresh. I love how an artificial scent didn’t linger on our family room side of the basement -- all while keeping the kitty odors out as well. (The unscented variety I tried is also hypoallergenic, by the way.)

3.) On top of all this good stuff, the clumps are mega-tight. I hate cleaning the litter box, but when it isn’t as messy a job, it’s much more bearable. The cats appreciate this as well (and I like that the clean litter stays clean so I don’t feel like I’m wasting it all).

Have you guys tried Cat’s Pride Fresh & Light Ultimate Care?

Do you have any tips for sharing space with cats?

Leave a comment below to enter for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card!

Entry Instructions:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 3/3/2015 – 4/12/2015

Be sure to visit Cat’s Pride brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

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The 3-Day Reset // Pooja Mottl + Giveaway

When I started my most recent quest to eat better, I was surprised to find an email in my inbox asking if I'd like to review a new book by healthy living expert Pooja Mottl. The 3-Day Reset is a wonderful tool meant to help you "Restore Your Cravings For Healthy Foods in Three Easy, Empowering Days."

And with a quick glance so far (a full review is forthcoming), if you're in the same spot with craving those healthier eating habits -- this book might also interest you.

Check out the book trailer:


Resets include: sugar, wheat, salt, chocolate, yogurt, chicken, beverages, breakfast, salad, and takeout. The book is packed with delicious recipes and nutritional information to support why you should eat whole foods like quinoa instead of processed, frozen, or packaged foods.

Really, it's full of useful reminders for those of us who know what to eat, but sometimes need a little urging in the right direction. Or for those who are totally new to eating this way.

Take, for example, this helpful sugars chart. Sugar is in . . . well . . . everything!


I love how Pooja's goal is to help readers "enjoy eating the way Mother Nature intended." As much as I try my best to eat whole foods, I do find it easy to slip -- which is why a reset is such a common theme on this blog. So, I'm excited to make my way through this new book and wanted to let you guys know about it.

By framing the experience in just three short days, I feel like it's all very doable.

I'll report back soon!

// GIVEAWAY

Oh, and you can WIN a signed copy of The 3-Day Reset! Simply leave a comment below with the words "RESET ME!" Also tell me a bit about your vice (sugar, salt, carbs, etc.). 

• This giveaway is open to USA/Canada only.
• I'll need an email address or some other way to contact you if you win!
• I'll choose the winner on Tuesday, May 13th.

For more stops on this book tour, check out this page. And if you'd like to connect with Pooja, you can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

* I was given a copy of this book for review purposes. I have not been compensated in any other way. My opinions are my own.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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