My prize package is a wonderful Healing Spa Basket from Baskets-N-Beyond valued at $69.99.

My thoughts: This is the basket I received and I loved it. It was so beautiful to look at I almost (I say, almost!) didn’t want to open it. But, open it I did of course. I had been working particularly hard that week and this was heaven in a basket. After dinner, I was able to find that coveted “ME” time, and took a wonderful bath in candlelight. All cell phones off!

The mango scent I received was not too strong and had a light fruit scent. I found it very refreshing and enjoyed breathing it in as I unwound from the stresses of the week. I love the sea sponge. It felt very natural on my skin unlike those with artificial fibers. I dried off with my new bath towel, then moisturized my skin with the lotion. I felt renewed.

The tea, truffles and cookies were a treat as well! The massager felt great on sore muscles.

The next day I gave myself a pedicure and found that my heels were rougher than I thought, painted my toenails and wore my sandals this past weekend with a flowery dress out for dinner. I felt lighter and much more relaxed.

I love the presentation with silk flowers and beautiful colors and the tray which I will surely be using.

And, I have to add that I am really happy with the gel eye mask. When I stay up late (often!), either working or otherwise, my eyes sometimes are puffy or even hurt the next day. I love the way the gel beads can be easily cooled and when I rest the mask over my eyes, they feel wonderful and so soothed.

Please see my review post about this wonderful company here and check out their website, facebook and twitter to find wonderful Mother’s Day gifts and baskets for every occasion.

Disclaimer: I received a sample to facilitate my review however all opinions expressed herein are my own.

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 Are you in college or do you have a kid in college? If so, you know how expensive college tuition can be. Add to that the price of textbooks and it gets even more out of hand.

I wish I had known about CampusBookRentals when I was in college. I would have definitely used them. It’s a great idea and was started by a student himself who knew there had to be a better way.

You can save 40-90% off of bookstore prices and get free shipping both ways. When you’re finished with them, you just pop the books into the pre-paid shipping envelopes. Super easy and quick. The rental periods will accommodate you and your courses. You can also extend your rental period if it turns out you need them longer than anticipated.

And, though you may be renting, you can underline, highlight and take notes in them just as though these were your own books that you’d bought. The only difference is in the money you’ll save!

I really love this idea and will be suggesting it to any students or Moms with students.

CampusBookRentals was one of the first companies to begin renting textbooks to students. They’ve rented over 1,000,000 textbooks at over 5500 campuses nationwide.

They’ve been mentioned in the New York Times, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek and have the largest selection in the nation.

Here is an example. Pick the book you want. You can search by author, title, keyword or isbn number. Check out Statistics for Management and Economics. The list price for this book alone is $211.95.  Your price to rent it for an entire quarter would be only $42.28. Again, rental times are flexible and all books are sent in good condition. They also have a 30-day return policy for a full refund should you change your mind, no questions asked

And, here is one of my favorite parts. CampusBookRentals  has  teamed up with Operation Smile, an awesome organization that performs life changing cleft lip surgeries on children whose families could not otherwise afford it. For every book rented, they will donate a portion of those proceeds to Operation Smile with the goal of meeting and exceeding 1,000 lives changed.

Saving money and helping others at the same time, what could be more perfect?

Connect with Campus Book Rentals:

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The Cure – Friday I’m In Love

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

Series: Book #1

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins

Release Date: May 3, 2011

Book Summary:

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Series: Book #2

Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books/ HarperCollins

Release Date: May 1, 2012

ONE CHOICE

A CHOICE BECOMES A SACRIFICE

A SACRIFICE BECOMES A LOSS

A LOSS BECOMES BECOMES A BURDEN

A BURDEN BECOMES A BATTLE

WILL YOU SURVIVE OR WILL IT DESTROY YOU?

To celebrate the release of Insugent, Harper Collins is sponsoring a click through challenge. 50 Blogs have been selected to promote the release of Insurgent by driving traffic to specific links.

Team Abnegtaion’s goal is to get the most clicks to these links:

Faction News Site: http://bit.ly/abnegationfaction

HarperTeen Insurent Page: http://bit.ly/choose_abnegation

To help Team Abnegation reach our goal I Am A Reader, Not A Writer has organized this giveaway for a $100 Amazon Gift Code.

This giveaway runs from April 18th to 30th. You can enter daily to increase your odds of winning.

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Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. Especially when it’s for something you really truly need! I honestly amaze myself, because basically I can lose just about anything. One minute it’s there, the next minute gone, almost like magic. Whether it’s a pen or my keys or a shopping list, I marvel at this phenomenon. And, one of the worst things is when I lose my cell phone.

“But…. I just had it.” And, there goes the tracing of steps or digging through my purse. It’s awful when you hear it ringing and don’t know exactly where it’s coming from!

But, hey, there is a solution to all this and it’s pretty simple and works great. I recently received a PhoneFetcher to try out. I chose blue, but it comes in black, silver, yellow, red, green, white and purple as well.

Madelyn Goldberg, the creator of the PhoneFetcher, is herself a busy mom and business woman who created her product because she was tired of wasting time searching for her cellphone, whether at home, in her car or at work. She realized, if she had these problems, there was a really good chance others were going through the same hassle.

PhoneFetcher is made of a stretchable bungee cord, which means you can check your phone, text, even play Angry Birds, without having to disconnect it. It feels good to actually know where my phone is! PhoneFetcher is simple to attach and  detach! You just connect one end of the PhoneFetcher securely to the inside or outside of your bag, for example, and connect the other end into the 3.5mm headset/earphone outlet on your smart phone or mobile device. It works with  your iPhone, iPod, Android, Blackberry, and mp3 player.

So, no more leaving my cell at a friend’s house, at the coffeeshop. If I see the cord attached to my bag without my phone, I’m not leaving till I have it.

It attaches easily to my phone and also to a purse, back pack, gym bag/baby bag, or belt loop.

Coming soon: Silver Chain PhoneFetchers!

This would be a great gift for mom, dad, your kids, a forgetful friend, or a stocking stuffer for the holidays.

I am attached to my phone, and now it’s attached to me. It’s clipped on to my t-shirt as I write this review.

Would you like to win your own PhoneFetcher? Simply follow the Rafflecopter!

You can purchase the PhoneFetcher online in your choice of color for $9.99.

Connect:

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Also! For all blog readers, you can use the code: review2012 and get a  20% discount on any orders for PhoneFetcher.

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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Welcome to the Honor the Earth Giveaway Hop, hosted by Happy Mothering and DeDa Studios. Each of the participating blogs has a prize package worth at least $20 that will help you live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. After you enter my green giveaway, be sure to visit all of the other amazing blogs listed below the Rafflecopter form.

As part of this wonderful event, I am offering a great prize package!

A Sampler Case of cheribundi with 12 bottles of all their different flavors. Amazingly good and healthy tart cherry juice.  You can read all about them in my review here.

A $25 gift certificate to Goat Milk Stuff where they have amazing pure and natural soaps and other products! You can read my review about them and their products here. 

To enter to win, please complete the Rafflecopter form below! Best of luck and have fun!

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From the Jonases:  As our goats might say, our goat milk soaps contain nothing Baah-d. Ever. We use only natural fats and oils. The colors are all natural too, never from dyes or synthetic colors and we only use high quality essential or fragrance oils to scent our goat milk soaps.

Just look at this beautiful array of colors in the bars of soap. And, yes, you get a really good-sized bar at a very reasonable price.

The Kool Koala with essential oils of eucalyptus, peppermint, and spearmint was refreshing and I loved just breathing it in.

Disclosure: I received samples from the sponsor to facilitate my review but all opinions herein are expressly my own.

 Did you know cherries (especially tart cherries) are one of the red superfruits providing benefits that range from cardiovascular to anti-inflammatory to helping with sleep?

cheribundi knows. Odd name? Perhaps! Abundance of cherries? Absolutely. Great juice? Definitely!

I’m always looking for products that are both healthy and taste great. Also, living with fibromyalgia, and trying to maintain an active lifestyle, I’m always excited to find products that can help me naturally.

So, when cheribundi was kind enough to offer me a sampler to do a review on, I was thrilled. I love cherries and cheribundi Tru Cherry has the equivalent of 50 cherries (1/2 pound of fruit) in each 8 oz bottle.

The taste? I love it over ice, though feel free to drink it straight from the bottle. It has a nice balance of sweet and tart and the best part for me is the short list of ingredients. Tru Cherry has simply tart cherry juice and apple juice. There are a lot of interesting recipes on their website and I’m already thinking of how I can add it to my marinades and fruit smoothies!

cheribundi begins with Montmorency cherries grown in Michigan and NY orchards. They use a proprietary juicing process developed with Cornell University to make a beverage that preserves all the benefits of the antioxidants and nutrients found in the fruit. The gentle process doesn’t boil away nutrients – instead they’re in the bottle.

It’s great for athletes and those working out, great for armchair athletes too. Tested in the lab and on the field by amateur, college and pro athletes, tests show that a daily regimen of cheribundi helps everyone from the pros to those trying to stay fit, active, and healthy.

Ah, the wonderful cherry! Full of fiber, potassium, magnesium, vitamin C, flavonoids and carotenoids.

Newsmax Health reports that According to ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), which measures the antioxidants in foods, for instance, fresh tart cherries contain more free radical-busting agents than strawberries, its more popular cousin…

The phytochemicals in cherries may help combat inflammation (great news for me!) which is responsible for a lot of different types of pain including fibromyalgia and arthritis.

Tart cherries also contain high levels of melatonin, which is a naturally occuring compound that helps with sleep quality and duration. It’s like a lullaby in a bottle.

 Visit choosecherries.com to learn about all the benefits tart cherries may hold.

Here are the flavors I was sent and my thoughts on each:

 
 TruCherry – the Original. Full of antioxidants and nutrients, this has a rich flavor, with a balance of sweet and tart. I love this one over ice and would add it to salad dressings and marinades.

SkinnyCherry – if you’re cutting down on sugar or calories, this may be the one for you. It has 40 cherries and 90 calories, 1/3 fewer than the Tru Cherry. It’s sweetened with Stevia which is an all-natural low calorie sweetener.

I enjoyed the SkinnyCherry. It’s a tad lighter and a bit less tart.

Whey Cherry – Whey Cherry is great  if you play sports or train for athletic events and has a powerful ratio of nutrients, carbs and protein. It helps reduce recovery time. I often want a great tasting protein drink before I work out or tackle something strenuous. I really like the flavor. The tartness is a bit less with the Whey Cherry and my energy stayed solid throughout the day after drinking it.

Ginger Cherry – This one is my favorite because I am a ginger fanatic. I put it in my tea, my lemon bread. I put it in my omelettes. I love the health benefits of ginger as far as anti-inflammation and it’s great for settling an upset stomach. I also love the taste. The Ginger Cherry was just perfect to me though if you don’t like ginger, perhaps it’s not for you. The ginger was not too strong in it though, so I would recommend giving it a try. It’s a delicious blend and the two tastes complement one another.
 

Cacao Cherry – This one goes out to all my chocolate-loving friends (Hello Linda!) It really tasted to me like dark chocolate covered cherries. A healthy and delicious treat.

If you’d like to experience cheribundi for yourself, you can go to their website. You can also send the gift of health to a friend there or purchase a Trial Pack or a case of your favorite.

And, cheribundi has been very generous in offering one of my readers a full case (12 bottles) Sampler with every flavor I received.

So, please join me back here on April 12 to enter to win a case of cheribundi in the Honor the Earth Giveaway Hop.

Meanwhile, you can connect with cheribundi:

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pinterest
blog

Disclosure: I was provided samples by the sponsor to facilitate this review, however all opinions expressed herein are my own.