Reviews Archives - Page 8 of 23

HomeSav Home Decor Savings

March 7, 2013 By Michelle Barneck Leave a Comment

I was recently introduced to a cool site that has discount home decor deals that rotate every few hours! It’s called HomeSav and I have had a lot of fun surfing through their deals!

I saved 20% on this cute square tray. It is the perfect way to present fun food and make my family feel special. I used it for some dressed up strawberries for Valentine’s Day. Mind you I live in a house full of boys.

And also pulled it out for these mini cheesy chicken cups we had for dinner a couple of nights ago. (We’ll be sharing the recipe soon, so easy and so tasty!)

I love how it takes family dinner up a notch and how it cleans up in a snap! I was worried it would be a nightmare like stainless steel, but it totally isn’t.

I also snatched up a kitchen scale ($25 off!) because I am trying to become more proficient in the kitchen and actually be able to use the recipes that give you quantities by weight without totally guessing.

I love that it is completely flat so it can store pretty much anywhere and it has a glass surface so you just wipe it clean. No awkward nooks or crannies for food gunk to collect.

I was focused on kitchen, but they have tons of stuff from rugs to furniture to art and it’s never the same. Kind of the thrill of the hunt.

I am used to two day shipping so the two to four week shipping timetable seemed long to me, but happy mail is the best so I didn’t mind too much.

Keep an eye out for my shiny new tray in posts to come! It is a new food styling favorite!

Disclosure: I was provided a gift card to write about my experience with HomeSav.

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Nivea #SharetheSensation Challenge & Giveaway

February 28, 2013 By Michelle Barneck 1 Comment

Valentine’s Day brought the delivery of a dozen roses from my sweetheart, but also the delivery of a challenge from Nivea. They asked me to switch out my usual lotion and try out their Smooth Sensation lotion for 7 days. “If they want to tackle my winter skin” I thought, “bring it on!”

Winter for me means spiky dry legs. I’m being oh so real here. I am known to shave only once a week and with no sun on them for months my poor gams are as white and dry as the desert we live in. No one knows right, I wear pants all the time. Ya, no one knows except for my husband who gets to share sleeping quarters. Poor guy. I even whine to him about how itchy my legs get from not seeing the sun in months.

So I tried the lotion and you know what. It was great. I even shaved my legs multiple times this week. Impressive right?! My skin was smoother, my legs didn’t itch and my feet saw a vast improvement. I even noticed how awful our new sheets are (I bought cheap ones because the color was right, but everything else is oh so wrong.) because my feet were so much more sensitive lacking the layer of dry ugliness. I’m rather pleased with the whole experiment and well, so is the hubs! He is all smiles. I even got a foot rub! Woot woo!

Want to try out the “Share the Sensation Challenge for yourself? Enter to win a Challenge kit of your own valued at $225!

Share the Sensation Challenge Kit ($255+ value)

2 bottles Nivea Smooth Sensation lotion
$25 Fandango Card
Samsung ST200 SMART camera

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was provided with the Share the Sensation kit to participate in the challenge.

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Zermatt Resort #getawaytomidway

February 7, 2013 By Michelle Barneck 1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago, we were asked to visit Zermatt Resort in Midway Utah. We were excited to have a mini vacation and with some stressful things brewing on the homefront it could not have come at a better time!

We checked in and first thing hopped on over to Matty’s Bistro. We were starving and overjoyed to see the size of the raspberry lemonades! I tried out the fish and chips (pictured below) which were great and Jared was pleasantly surprised with his steak.

We went on locals night (Thursday) so it got really busy by desert time and they seemed short handed. Luckily, our waitress Angie was fantastic and took good care of us even in the rush. We took a brownie sundae to go, which looking back we would have skipped. It didn’t measure up to the rest of the experience.

I am happy to report to those who want to know that the pillows in our room were karate chopped with precision. 😉 Having heard general things about Zermatt, I was wondering if it would be fancy for kids. You know, the worrisome items around the room that you just know your little guys will destroy before the end of the night. I am happy to report that our room was totally family friendly and nothing was overly ritzy.

There was pure amazement by a phone that plugged in to the wall. I learned that the going rate to rent a movie in a hotel room is $15.99!!! What the?! My parents informed me it was the same on their trip to St. George. Luckily, with two small boys we travel with out portable dvd player in tow.

The little one couldn’t have been happier in his “big bed” with an unlimited supply of ice to chomp.

The next morning we tried out breakfast at the bäckeri and eis café. The breakfast biscuits were a delight and reasonably priced.

And of course the best part of any hotel stay with little ones…the pool.

My two year old daredevil taught himself how to swim, jumping in and flailing to the top of the water for one big breathe. Once all fingers and toes were properly pruny, we swapped swim suits for snow clothes and headed to Soldier Hollow for tubing.

This ain’t your mamas tubing hill. (Well I guess it’s my kids’ mama’s tubing hill.) This has a lift that takes your tube to the top of the hill where you have your choice of five different runs. I loved it, the kid loved it, the hubby loved it. They even have a tiny hill where your toddler can ride since you have to be three for the big boy slopes. This wears the kids out just in time for the ride home. Ah, peace. Now to unpack.

Disclaimer: I was provided with dinner, hotel room, and tubing passes to review.

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My Windows Phone #MeetYours

December 21, 2012 By Michelle Barneck 4 Comments

Christmas came a little early at our house. My Windows phone arrived and I didn’t even get the chance to open it. My husband was so excited he just couldn’t wait. I had to steal it away before he started pinning his favorites. After all it is MY windows phone.

I got right to setting it up just right for me. Wanna know all the cool things I found out?!

It takes all your friends profiles from contacts, facebook, twitter, etc and merges them all in to one “people” place. All of their info is right there in one spot whether I want to talk or tag them they are just a tap away! You can also create specific groups like family which is awesome.

You can post to your facebook and twitter all from one spot. It keeps track of all my accounts under the “me” tile. See how I have 102 notifications in the pic below, that would drive my husband batty.

You can customize your start screen with anything you want including live updates on game scores, celeb gossip, etc. With all my social media connections for friends and myself in two tabs that left a lot of room for quick tiles to other things like:

A lot of basics that I use all the time like: weather, texting, camera, email, web, calendar, map.
Photo reel (it’s scrolling through a pic of the lights on Temple Square) for a slideshow of my favorite pictures.
Pinspiration which is an app for Pinterest
Quick tiles for my husband (swords) and sister
Gospel library which is a digital version of all my scriptures and church manuals

You can also customize the size, location and color of the tiles. Mine tiles came red and I swapped for a nice blue. I made my husband’s tile huge not only to boost his ego, but so I can easily dial him when driving.
The screen is huge! I mean look at all the stuff that fits on there! The big tiles are about an inch square.

So far I am like a kid in a candy store changing sizes and colors and rearranging tiles. It’s like designing a new room without having to move furniture or ending up with paint in your hair!