I’m still in Los Angles… and having a great time!

September 26, 2011 By

I pre-scheduled a post to go “live” Saturday morning to let everyone know that I was heading of Los Angeles for a few days for a couple of press junkets. I never realized that the post failed to go “live”. Ugh! Sorry about that.

I’m still in California. I’ll be home Tuesday night. I’m hoping to get back into blogging and telling you all about the trip on Wednesday as I’m sure I’ll be super tired when I get back to New York.

I am having an amazing time. I cannot wait to tell everyone about it.

So far we’ve seen a screener of a movie that doesn’t come out until 2012. We also had the Real Steel press junket where we got to meet and interview the writer, director and producers of Real Steel, actor Anthony Mackie (he was hysterical!), boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard and super hottie Hugh Jackman (he’s just as gorgeous in person and incredibly nice!). Some where in the Four Seasons Hotel where the press junket was held was George Clooney and Ryan Gossling who were there for a press junket for their new movie, The Ides of March.

The photo shown above are two of the robots used in the movie, Real Steel. They purple one (Noisy Boy) is over eight feet tall! The other Robot is Atom.

Today we’re heading over to Walt Disney Studios for a bit, then we’re going over to Jim Henson Studios for a Muppet Movie press junket. That is going to be a lot of fun. I cannot wait.

I have so much to share with everyone. Sadly I can’t do it now because I have to get ready to leave soon. I also need to transcribe some of the audio files I have from the interviews. That is going to take me a bit.

I hope everyone is having a great week. I”ll post again soon.

 

Kimberly

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FREE Dumbo Games & Activities

September 23, 2011 By

 

This past week I have been posting FREE games, activities and more that you can download, in honor of Dumbo’s 7oth Anniversary.

I have the DVD and Blu-ray. I’m going to be posting my review for it next week when I get back from California. I cannot wait to check out the bonus features.

In honor of the movies 7oth anniversary (seventy years! WOW!) I have some more fun things you can download including the printable gliders template, recipes, puzzler sheets, and scrapbook template sheets and more!

Click on the photo (below) to be taken to the download page. ‘

Have fun! And don’t forget to check out Dumbo, now available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download.

Kimberly

*I was not compensated for this post. I posted this information for the benefit and enjoyment of my site readers.

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ABC’s Suburgatory

September 23, 2011 By

 

Have you seen the promos on television for the new series debuting on ABC called Suburgatory? I saw a trailer for it over the summer and it looked funny. My daughter keeps talking about it because she says it looks funny too.

Here is the show’s synopsis.

Single father George only wants the best for his sixteen-year-old daughter Tessa. So when he finds a box of condoms on her nightstand, he moves them out of their apartment in New York City to a house in the suburbs. But all Tessa sees is the horror of over-manicured lawns and plastic Franken-moms. Being in the ‘burbs can be hell, but it also may just bring Tessa and George closer than they’ve ever been.

Tessa (Jane Levy) and George (Jeremy Sisto) have been on their own ever since Tessa’s Mom pulled a Kramer vs. Kramer before Tessa was potty trained. So far, George has done a pretty good job of raising Tessa without a maternal figure in their lives, but suddenly he’s feeling a little out of his league. So it’s goodbye New York City and hello suburbs. At first Tessa is horrified by the big-haired, fake-boobed mothers and their sugar-free Red Bull-chugging kids, but little by little, she and her dad begin finding a way to survive on the clean streets of the ‘burbs. Sure, the neighbors might smother you with love while their kids stare daggers at your back, but underneath all that plastic and caffeine they’re really not half bad.

Emily Kapnek (Hung) writes and executive produces this bitingly ironic single-camera comedy that combines Juno’s heightened reality with Father Knows Best’s heart. Tessa and her Dad may be out of their element, but at least they’ve got each other. When you descend into Suburgatory, it’s good to have backup.

I had the opportunity to check out the pilot for the series. From the start the father, George, was driving me crazy. He looked VERY familiar but I couldn’t place where I knew him from. I kept thinking of the movie Clueless. Sure enough I was right. He played the part of Elton in the movie. He was also in the movie Wrong Turn and Thirteen. Wow… he got older.

I happen to live in the suburbs of New York City. People around here are nothing like the people depicted in the series. The people in the series remind me of the “beautiful people” (attractive, rich…) you’d find living in Southern California. I’m not positive but I believe this series takes place in Connecticut.

My daughter (who is home sick) watched the pilot with me. She loved it. She says that she can totally relate to Tessa because kids are like that in her school.

The show is funny. I didn’t laugh out loud, but I did chuckle on several occasions.

 I like the way Tessa thinks. A lot of the show is narrated by her character.

Tessa’s “buddy” at school is a girl name Dalia. Dalia is about as fake as they come. She’s a snooty, spoiled rich girl. Her mom, Dallas (played by Cheryl Hines), has a thing for Tessa’s Dad. It’s so obvious that even Dalia told Tessa that the only reason why her mom is being nice to him is because she wants to “hook up” with him.

Tessa feels like she’s be relocated to suburban hell. The way Tessa sees it you know you are in Suburgatory (Suburban Purgatory) when…

- Your dog’s haircut is more expensive than yours.

- The drinking fountains offer sparkling or still.

- The school cafeteria serves tuna tartar.

- The majority of medical procedures are elective.

- ”Brunette” is a dirty word.

- The top three industries are tanning, spandex and peroxide.

I think I need to add to the list that people in Suburgatory drink way too much Red Bull. They put the biggest coffee addict to shame with the amount of Red Bull the people on the show drink.

George has a stalker in the pilot. I’m curious to see how that plays out.

From what I have seen from the pilot this is going to be a fun and entertaining show. I’m not sure it’s OK for young children (the pilot talks about condoms), but I am OK with letting my teen daughter watch it.

I’ll be tuning in for future episodes. It’s nice to see an actual comedy series on TV. I’m tired of reality shows and crime shows.

Suburgatory premiers on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 on ABC, 8:30 PM (EST) / 7:30 PM (CST).

You can also follow the show on their official web pages.

Official website  http://abc.go.com/shows/suburgatory           

Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/SuburgatoryABC                

Twitter  http://twitter.com/#!/SuburgatoryABC

Kimberly

*I was not compensated for this post. I did receive a few product samples and an advanced online screening of the pilot. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own.

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“Bridesmaids” Movie Night Bridal Shower Party

September 23, 2011 By

I love getting together with family and friends. I also enjoy movies and hosting parties. Recently I had the fun opportunity to host a Bridesmaids Movie Night for a few friends and family members. I had never seen the movie before but a few people I invited over to my place did. I asked them not to make any comments about the movie until everyone had a chance to see it.

I thought it would be fun to make the movie viewing party more like a make believe bridal shower party. I made up invitations that I sent out to a few people, and handed in person to others. I used an image from the movie so that the invitation went with the Bridesmaids movie theme.

Next up I needed to come up with some fun party favors. After all, you can’t come home from a bridal shower without some cool favors.

I used to make party favors. I had a home business for just over 7 years making personalized candy bar wrappers, buttons, magnets, key chains and more. In honor of the movie I made up a Bridesmaids personalized Hershey bar wrapper (I wrapped the bar in specialty foil that I have to give it that classic Hershey bar too). I also made up some bridal theme magnets and a bridal theme key chain.

I found some candy tins in the favor section of the store. I purchased some mints and created a Bridesmaids theme label for the candy tins. I also lucked out and found some Tic Tacs in Pink Grapefruit and some matching pink organza drawstring bags.

Inside the bags I also included a fun party theme pen to be used for the party games I had planned.

Now that I had the favors all ready to go I had to create some fun party games. I Googled bridal shower games and was amazed at just how many games there are to play at a bridal shower. It makes me wonder why people tend to play the same games over and over again.

I made up a word scramble page which turned out pretty good. I also made a Bridesmaids Bingo game and game cards. Unbeknown to me at the time I used the word “ring” twice on EVERY game card. Ugh!!! So everyone got another freebie because I goofed up. I guess it was because I had a hard time coming up with so many wedding theme words. I should have made the cards smaller with less words.

I had a couple of other games I wanted to play which didn’t involve cards. One of them was to watch the movie then tell the group which character in the film was most like us and why?

Now that the favors and games were squared away it was time to figure out what to serve. Since this was a middle-of-the-week party (it was the only time I could arrange it since I’ll be gone all this coming weekend) I didn’t want to go too crazy. I had the usual chips and drips set up. I also picked up a coffee cake and some Munchin donuts from Dunkin Donuts. I put some candy on the three tiered candy dish that I had including Hershey’s Air Delight Kisses, After Eight Mints and a variety of chocolate candies I picked up the store (one of those jumbo Halloween variety packs). After all, most women love chocolate so I figured having chocolate on hand would be nice. :-)

To drink I had some sparkling rose wine from [Yellow Tail], coffee, tea and hot apple cider.

There was a tasty cocktail I wanted to try using the [Yellow Tail], the only problem is that I didn’t have the peach vodka it called for. I do have blueberry vodka which I was going to substitute, but I wasn’t sure if that was going to change the taste of the cocktail. Here is the original recipe.

2 ounces of [Yellow Tail] Sparking Rose’ Wine

1 ounce of Peach Vodka

1 ounce of Cranberry Juice

1 ounce of Lychee Syrup (or puree)

Strawberry to granish

Add ice to a cocktail shaker and add in all the ingredients EXCEPT the wine. Strain into a glass then top off slowly with the [Yellow Tail] wine. Garnish with a strawberry.

I think the blueberry Vodka could have worked, but I didn’t want to waste the ingredients in case it didn’t.

I loved the [Yellow Tail] Sparkling Rose Wine. I prefer rose wines over reds because I think they are less “meaty” (for lack of a better description). I tend to prefer white wines but rose’ wines are a very close second. I tend to like wines that are light, yet flavorful. They don’t have to “pack a punch” like some red wines do.

The bubbles (sparkling) effect made the wine so much more enjoyable. It made the wine more fun. It’s a party wine more so then a wine you’d serve at a fancy dinner. This is the perfect wine to have when you are getting together with the girls. I’ve reviewed other [Yellow Tail] wines before and this one is my current favorite.

FYI… I have A LOT of chocolate left over. If anyone wants some stop by. Ha Ha. No biggy, I’ll just save it for Halloween, if it makes it that long.

The last thing I had to do was decorate for the party. Lesson learned – cats and paper streamers don’t mix. I had pink and black streamers set up around the dining room and some in the living room where we watched the movie. No sooner did I put it up the cats found a way to pull it back down. I have four adult cats and a very active kitten. Needless to say it was hard to keep up with them tearing it back down so I just had to remove it all. I didn’t want to but I felt I had no choice. I would have spent the entire time chasing the cats away instead of enjoying myself.

My friends are not keen on having their pictures seen on my blog, sad to say (frankly I’m not one to show pictures of myself on my blog either). I also didn’t have as much time as I’d like to because it was a weekday night. If it was the weekend maybe people would have been more relax and more open to the idea. :-(

As for the movie Bridesmaids I loved it! It was hysterical. I heard it was funny but I had to see for myself.

Many people told me it was like the female version of the Hangover. I can see why people would compare the two. In a way it could be seen as that, but over all it’s a different movie.

I was also forewarned that it had a lot of raunchy humor. That it did (just like in the Hangover). Some of it was funny, other times I think they went a bit too far. You can be funny without crossing boundaries.

Melissa McCarthy’s (Mike & Molly) character Megan stole the show. She was hysterical! I love how sassy she was. I’m going on an airplane this weekend (to/from California). I hope I don’t get seated next to her. Ha Ha.

I love how all the characters in the movie each had their own distinct personalities. Yet they complimented each other very well.

Here is a special peek at the movie.

Even my husband enjoyed the movie. He laughed at it too. He said he liked it MORE then the Hangover (and this is coming from a guy).

My teen daughter really wants to watch the movie but it’s certainly NOT for young teens. It’s too crude.

If you haven’t seen the movie yet and are looking for a fun movie to watch this weekend pick up a copy of Bridesmaids, now available on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download.

I also have a giveaway where three lucky readers will win a copy of the movie. The giveaway ends on September 27, 2011. Here is the link, http://www.shescribes.com/2011/09/one-of-the-years-funniest-movies-coming-to-dvd-bridesmaids-giveaway.html.

For more information visit www.BridesmaidstheMovie.com. You can also follow the movie on Facebook, www.Facebook.com/Bridesmaids.

Kimberly

*This is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

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Adopt-a-Less Adoptable Pet Week

September 23, 2011 By

I am a “mom” to six pets. We have four adult cats, a dog who thinks he’s a cat and a foster kitten that we will be officially adopting next Thursday after she’s fixed.

I have always loved animals. My dream is to own a farm with horses, cows, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats and a variety of other critters.

I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn’t have pets. At one point we had a horse, three dogs, two cats, two birds, fish and seven hamsters.

My family visits the local animal shelter often. We like to visit with the animals, pet them, play with them and take them for a walk. We feel the need to do this because we want the animals to know that someone DOES care about them. We also try and donate whenever we can whether it’s money, pet food, blankets or something else the shelter is in need of.

I am also a volunteer at our local shelter. I take photos of the available pets that are used in local publications and online at PetFinder.org in hopes that the animals will find a forever home and a family that will love them always.

Here are a few of the pets I have photographed. Some have been adopted (YEAH! :-) ), but sadly, some are still there waiting for someone to love them.

It’s hard to resist an adorable fuzzy kitten or a bouncy, friendly dog. These are the animals that almost always find homes. Sadly there are many animals that people overlook simply because they are not “perfect”, or they are older. I’m referring to senior animals and animals that might have something wrong with them like they are blind, deaf, missing a limb and so forth.

Animals love you unconditionally. They don’t care if you have a few gray hairs showing, or that your shoes don’t match your purse. They don’t care if your shirt has a few wrinkles in it or if you walk with a limp. Animals don’t have the capacity to discriminate against people. They only have the capacity to love.

Senior pets are often over looked because they are not “cute” like kittens and puppies. Have you looked at some of the senior pets before? They are equally as adorable. Plus you don’t usually have to train them and most senior dogs would be house broken. I remember potty training our dog when he was a puppy. I would be outside at 3:00 AM because he would cry to go out and go to the bathroom. 

When my husband and I got married we didn’t have pets. I had two cats that lived with my parents. We felt it was not fair to move them from the house they have know their entire lives to a condo. Plus they liked to go outside and we don’t have any property. Unfortunatly I really felt the need to have a pet in my life again. I would go to the local shelter weekly looking for a cat to adopt. One day a large, gray male cat (20+ pounds!) that was named Pixie stole my heart. There was something special about him. The moment the cage was opened he jumped into my arms purring and rubbing his face against mine. It was love at first sight. Pixie was 6 years old. Pixie was just as wonderful, loving and special as my other cats we’ve adopted over the years as kittens. In fact Pixie was as playful as a kitten right up until the end.

Special needs pets are often the hardest to place. People see “flaws” with animals and automatically assume they are no good. We had a dog with three legs. One of his legs was removed due to bone cancer. I loved Sparky just as much with three legs as we did when he had four.

Animals have an amazing way of overcoming their handicaps. Just because a dog is blind doesn’t mean he can’t function. And a deaf cat is just as good as a hearing cat.

We had a cat who had Diabetes. She required two shots of insulin daily. When she was first diagnosed we thought she was going to die within months. She lived four years with Diabetes and lived to a ripe old age of 22.

I highly recommend reading the book Oogey. It’s the story of a dog who most would consider ugly and unadoptable but one family saw past that and gave him a home. Oh my! The story made me cry. It’s truly an amazing and inspiring story.

If you have been considering adopting a dog, cat or other kind of animal, could you PLEASE consider adopting a less adoptable pet? Whether it’s a senior pet or an animal that has medical issues or “flaws”, they need your love and affection just as much as you need theirs.

Here are some senior and special needs pets currently looking for forever homes. Click on their photo to learn more about them.

To learn more about adoptable pets in your area please visit www.PetFinder.org.

Local animals shelters tend to get very little funding and therefore rely on donations from the community to care for the animals until they find homes. Most every shelter could use donations of food, litter, treats, toys, leashes, bedding and old towels, sheets and blankets for the animals to sleep on. Animals shelters also need office supplies and cleaning supplies.

If you see a buy one get one free sale please consider picking up the free item and donating it to the local animal shelter. Or if you see pet food or litter on sale consider picking up a few bags or cans for the animals at the shelter.

Shelters always need a donation of time too. The dogs need to be walked and all of the animals need socialization and clean cages. Even if you could stop by once a month to say hello to the animals, pet them and let them know that someone DOES care about them would make a world of difference in their lives.

 

Kimberly

*I was not asked to post this, nor was I compensated. I am an animal lover and feel that all animals deserve a loving home.

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“Mom Energy” Bag from Happy Belly Bags

September 22, 2011 By

 

The more I watch the news or read it on the Internet the more convinced I am that everything is going to “kill” you eventually. Take coffee for example. I hear it’s good for you… then bad for you… then good for you… then bad for you. Ugh! Which is it? Is it good for you or bad for you?

I watch a lot of documentaries. I’ve watched several pertaining to the food we eat. After I am done watching them I honestly feel like tossing everything out of the kitchen and only eating foods from the local farms. It’s clear that natural, organic foods are much better for you. The more natural the better.

There are plenty of shops both locally and online where you can purchase natural and organic products. One online shop, Happy Belly Bags, carries many products that cater to those looking for foods that are glu

ten free, nut free, kosher, dairy free, egg free, soy free and even raw foods. They even have starter kits and gift sets which I found to be unusual, but certainly a great idea.

I’ve been dabbling in natural and organic foods for a while now. I still buy most of my groceries at my local grocery store, but I have been sampling other foods and slowly replacing some of the foods we normally eat with better options.

I was always under the assumption that natural, organic, egg free, dairy free (and so forth) foods were also flavor-free and tasted like cardboard. That is not the case at all. I do find some foods to be a bit bland, but mostly I have been very pleased at some of the new foods I have been trying.

Happy Belly Bags sent me one of their Mom Energy bags, over flowing with a variety of products from bath products to energy bars and from beverages to coupons. There was a huge sampling of a variety of products stuffed into one bag.

The Mom Energy bags come in three sizes, small, medium and large. The contents of the bags are approved by Ashley Koff, RD.

To give you an idea of what you can find inside one of the Mom Energy bags check out my photos.

That is A LOT of stuff! I was pleasantly surprised at just how much products there were in the bag.

The bags are an excellent way to introduce someone (or yourself!) to the products available at Happy Belly Bag. Some of the products I have never heard of before and I was super excited to try them.

Here is a small sampling of what was in the bag I received…

- Nature’s Path Organic Optimum Slim cereal – 9 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein per serving. Tasted pretty good, especially with a sliced up banana on top.

- Organic Mary’s Gone Crackers Sticks & Twigs – These wheat and gluten free pretzels with sea salt were really good. I was concerned about how they would taste being wheat free but they were pretty good. This was the first product I tried (they loook so good on the bag). My kids even like these.

- Natural Calm Sports Bath – This spa quality bath product is made to help you feel calm and stress free. I haven’t had a chance to try this out yet. I’m anxious to give it a try. As a busy mom I can use some R&R in a nice, warm tub.

- Purely Elizabeth Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix – This mix is gluten free, vegan and free of refined sugar. My kids wanted me to make these right away. They were good, but totally unlike other chocolate chip cookies. You could tell they were “different”. At first my kids were not very keen on them but after trying them a bit more they seemed to like them. I don’t know if I would buy the mix again. It seemed like it was missing something.

- Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts – I had NO CLUE what these were. I have never heard of Hemp Hearts before. They are suppose to give you energy and make you feel great. They contain protein, fiber and Omegas. You sprinkle these on your cereal, yogurt, salad or you can eat them right out of the bag. I chose to put them on my cereal. Alone they taste OK (they really don’t have much of a taste). You don’t really notice them in your cereal at all. I guess this is a sneaky way of getting extra protein, Omegas and fiber into your diet. I was surprised that 3 tablespoons had 170 calories in them and 13 grams of fat. These may be healthy but if you are watching your weight I would keep that in mind. They also have 10 grams of protein per serving and a lot of important vitamins and minerals like iron, calcium and folate.

- 22 Brand energy bars – I received Hut Butter Buddah Crunch (YUMMY!!!!) and Cherry Chocolate Bliss ( also YUMMY!!!). These are gluten, dairy and soy free but certainly not free from flavor. These were very good. Mmm!

- Pure Organic Chocolate Brownie Bar – This was pure heaven! It had walnuts in it and was made with dark cocoa. It was packed with Omega-3 and antioxidants. If eating healthy means eating this like this I’m all for it. LOL!

- Eden Organic Gomasio Sesame Seed and Sea Salt – I guess you are suppose to use this in place of table salt. I don’t use table salt in my home. The only salt is found in the foods that we eat. I haven’t tried this yet only because I’m not sure what to use it on.

- Better Than Roasted Almond Butter – I haven’t tried this yet. Smells good though.

- FREE Coupon for Stony Brook Farm Activia Yogurt plus 10 coupons for .50 cents off other Stony Brook Farm yogurts.

- Natural Vitality Energy 28 – This energizing drink you can enjoy straight from the package or mixed with water. I mixed it with water. It contains 28 organic and natural foods to help give you an added boost of energy. As a busy mom I welcome anything that can give me energy. Especially this morning (I’m half asleep right now – ha ha).

- Natural Vitality Natural Calm Anti-Stress Drink – I haven’t had a chance to try this yet. Sounds interesting.

- Ultima Replenisher Health Drink – This tastes just like one of those other packets you add to water to give it flavor. In this case it’s grape. The only difference is that this one has vitamins and minerals in it that your body needs.

- Mom Energy by Ashley Koff, RD and Kathy Kaehler – I haven’t had a chance to read this book yet. I am thinking about bringing it with me for my trip this weekend so I can read it on the plane and at the airport.

This is just SOME of the products found in the bag.

The bag it’s self is nice and I know I can reuse it when I go food shopping. It also has an interesting grain (or oat?) like scent to it (for lack of a better description). Whatever it is my cats are obsessed with the bad. I have to keep the bag high on top of the pantry. If I leave it down the cats hover around it. I don’t know what it is about the bag that they seem to really enjoy. It’s something to do with the scent. It might be from one of the products that was in the bag.

The contents of the Mom Energy bag is to do just that – give mom energy. I think the bag would make a great gift for a new mom or a not-so-new-mom who is a bit stressed out and frazzled. I can also see giving this as a gift to someone who is recovering from an illness and trying to get well, or someone who is tryin to eat healthy and get in shape. It’s also a great gift for YOU or anyone who is interested in eating healthy, natural foods. This is a great way to sample a variety of products to help you decide what is best for you.

The only “downside” is the price. The bags might be a bit pricey for some. The large bag is about $322. The medium bag is about $122 and the small bag is around $80.00. Keep in mind there is A LOT of products (both full size and sample size) stuffed inside the bags. I’m just thinking for the average person the price might be a bit high. Other then that I think the Mom Energy bags from Happy Belly Bag is a fabulous idea. I’m loving the idea of being able to sample so many interesting products all at once.

To learn more please visit www.HappyBellyBags.com. You can also follow them on Twitter (www.Twitter.com/HappyBellyBags) and on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/happybellybags#!/pages/Happy-Belly-Bags/140804272633180).

Kimberly

*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.

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