7 Things to Love About Summer | #3 Coming and Going (for a visit) with Kleenex Hand Towels

Well now.

I'm back from the oppressively hot east coast.
I did NOT indulge in my favorite childhood treat
(although it would have been totally appropriate).

We thought about seeing another awesome movie
but after seeing that one in California,
there wasn't much that was going to top that.

Though my back was bugging me a lot before I left
and I seriously considered taking my well-researched opinion about

back arthritis into my chiro, instead, we left the garden and headed east.

Way east.
Into a heat wave.

Heat wave aside,
one of the things I love about summer
is that this is the time of year
when people are always coming for a visit
or we are going for a visit.

While this past week, we were the ones going,
we're steadily sliding into coming season.

We have some pretty big life events coming up
and to that, we'll be hosting a gig or two to close out this summer.

Last July,
right about this time,
I showed you how we got our guest spaces hostess ready
with Kleenex Hand Towels.

I mean, what is not to love about being next to Godliness
with this level of cleanliness?



In my travels this past week,
I spent a lot of time drying off on cloth hand towels.

As a master composter,
I am totally good with disposable
(compostable)
Kleenex products.

Especially when you consider that in the U.S. alone,
people do that exact same drying routine
200 billion times per year.

On towels that look clean.
But really...

Why wash your hands
only to dry them on a dirty towel?

Why use a damp, germy, overused towel
when you can join the Clean Hands Campaign
and use Kleenex Hand Towels.

I'm getting ready to host a shindig
and guess what will be in my bathroom?

Kleenex Hand Towels of course.

Want some for your next gig?
Well I'll tell you what.
I've got some to give away.

Since I know most folks visit this here blog via a reader
of some sort,
I'm not going to MAKE you jump here to comment to win.

Instead, let's make it easi(er), peasy(er).

You can follow me on Instagram.
I'll be posting photos as I get ready for the party of the century
(which I'll blog about here, of course).

Comment on any of those photos about how you sure could
use some #CleanHands.

Bonus points for being clever and finding a non-party photo
to get all #CleanHands on.

I'll even throw in some extra special
extra summer fun on top of the Kleenex Hand Towels for the winner.

Ready to have some fun?
All you have to do is comment on any of my Instaphotos
with a clever (or dull) #CleanHands comment.

You don't have to follow me (but you'll want to to see the winner)
and you don't have to comment on the blog
(but you'll want to because commenting is cool).

Winner will be chosen by July 30/31st ish.
Don't have Instagram?

If you click my widget for Instagram photos to the right
over there --------------------->

you can actually see what you're missing out on.
I think you might even be able to comment via the web.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective

and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

7 Things to Love About Summer | #4 Gardening (with Lifescript)

This is a sponsored post by me on behalf of Lifescript.com

So let's see.

Summer is now, officially, well under way.

I've sucked down my fave childhood treat

and I've seen an awesome movie or two

and I might have had chance to party like it's 1999.

But when all is said and done,
there is something about
daylight
when you live close to the land of the midnight sun
that makes summer
totally about gardening
and being healthy for me.

Case(s) in point

Thing is,
I totally inherited my green thumb from my granny.
I think I may have also inherited her rheumatoid arthritis.

You see,
she had the most gorgeous gardens
(floral and edible)
on the block.

I loved being out in the yard with her.

The other day,
as I was out and about in my garden,
I started to notice some mannerisms
that made me think about my grandmother.

I remember growing up,

that she really could not bend her knees
to pull flowers or weeds.

I remember growing up,
that she would lay the water hose in her garden beds
rather than hold a trigger sprayer or even use her fingers to
"splay" the water.

I remember growing up,
that she would wince as she
wrapped her hand around a sturdy weed to give it a tug.

As I spent time in my own garden,
I was noticing that if I couldn't sit on the grass
(ie, because it had just been watered)
that it was really painful for me to bend my knees to get close to my beds.

I noticed that
I rarely use my sprayer
without the auto on switch.

I noticed that after a couple of hours of 

pulling and tugging in the garden
my hands would be on fire.

Aside from the green thumb that I got from my granny
I started to wonder if maybe, I had also inherited her
rheumatoid arthritis.

Being the curious girl that I am,
I decided to get to know a bit more
about who I am.

I sent off a kit to 23andme

and I quickly jumped over to Lifescript.comto study up on rheumatoid arthritis.

I checked out the Rheumatoid Arthritis Health Center
and boy was I floored.

First, it should go without saying
that I'm a girl that likes to read.
Anything, really.
But especially really GOOD,

really approachable,

really legitimate
consumer health information.

I might have gotten a bit consumed by my time on the
Lifescript.com site.

While I personally love
(and write my own)
health and living advice
I actually like that the site
has writing by professional health writers, experts and physicians.
As in, lots of medical advice
but by professionals who get that
people need it to be in plain English.

While I ended up on the site
as I was exploring Rheumatoid Arthritis,
I love that they have information
on other prevalent medical conditions related to women's health.

I wish they had a Fertility Health Center.
1 in 8 couples struggles with fertility issues
and this is a significant women's health issue.

To that, they do have a general "Women's Health Center"
and if you drill down there, there is a link for infertility.

Alas, I wish it had it's own Health Center on Lifescript.

Interestingly, as I was looking into some of my
Recurrent Pregnancy Loss issues
there were lots of references to Humira and Prednisone.

Who knew that by exploring my arthritis link
I might end up on those meds anyhow?

Anyhow,
as I researched rheumatoid arthritis
here are some of the things I found interesting

1.
Yoga is good.
8 Steps to Staying Active with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

2.
Tired, stiff and achy? Maybe it's arthritis.
Symptoms

3.
Did all that work to harvest the garden, now what?
6 Recipes for Rheumatoid Arthritis
(including a tasty leek, asparagus and herb soup)

Time to get offline
(and off the keyboard)
and back into the garden.

Lifescript’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Health Center features tips, quizzes, recipes and articles
 – all by professional health writers, experts and physicians –
covering common RA symptoms,
foods that compose an anti-inflammatory diet,
new RA therapies and more.
 Please visit the Lifescript Health Center on Rheumatoid Arthritis
for more information.

And to check out this free website, click here!

This is a sponsored post by me on behalf of Lifescript.com.

7 Things to Love About Summer | #5 House Parties with Gevalia

So let's see.

Summer is now, officially, well under way.

I've sucked down my fave childhood treat

and I've seen an awesome movie or two.

Now it is time to party like it's 1999.

or

like it is the sunniest summer we've ever had in Seattle.

I cannot attest to the truthfulness of that last statement.

I CAN. however, attest to the effect the sun has had on my garden.

See, lilacs!

Lilacs in bloom mean it is time for a shindig.

Ideally, this would be in my garden 

(where I spend all my time).

But this is Seattle and summer here

is truly coffee weather.
Mostly because, it is always coffee weather here.
Just throw some ice in it.

Cue Gevalia.

You see.

I am so not a coffee drinker.

I know.

I'm not sure how they let me live near Seattle either.

All things said, I LOVE TEA.

And all sorts of DIFFERENT tea.

So my second best ever gift from my husband, was one of those 

single serve

drop in

coffee/tea server

machines.

Heaven.

Especially when we host folks, 

because we can have fresh coffee available for them.

While some folks might be locals who are addicted to a particular brand

or visitors who feel like a trip to Seattle isn't complete without a sip of that other stuff,

I love that Gevalia now comes in single serve cups for your 

Keurig® K-Cup® Brewer, perfect for a quick Gevalia fix.

Just so you know, Kraft Foods is not affiliated with Keurig, Inc. 

KEURIG and K-CUP are registered trademarks of Keurig, Inc. 

The really great thing is that these single serve Gevalia offerings
are available at my fave place in the world (outside of my garden)

Go Safeway!
Time to host brunch.

I made some tasty sandwiches,
a white bean salad
and some ultra fru fru cracker bites

That cracker was the hit of the day.
tasty thin cracker
smear of goat cheese
dab of apricot jam
smaller dab of mint chutney
fresh mint leaf on top.
Splash of fig balsamic vinegar on the plate.

They were SO yummy.
hit of the day.
High maintenance of course.

The Gevalia
went absolutely stunningly
with the cracker bites.
And with strawberries.

Because everything goes well with strawberries.

I love summer get togethers.
growing up,
in between playing school
(because I was a nerd like that, I would play school during the summer break)
and doctor
(not like that ya'll)
when we played house
I can tell you that we were hosting parties all the time.

Mud pies and all.

now that I'm all grown up
I don't host nearly enough parties
but when I do
I like to make sure my guests are taken care of.

I totally love that Gevalia comes in these one cup servings
so that we can hang out in the yard
reminiscing about our little girl parties.

What parties are you looking to hold this summer?
Where's my invite?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

7 Things to Love About Summer | #6 Exclusive Movie Previews - Man of Steel

This particular write up of a bit of summer fun was sponsored by the good folks at Warner Bros.

So aside from making mud pies in the back yard,
another thing I love about summer
is having the time to go to the movies.

Especially when I get to go to opening nights and exclusive premieres.

Ever since I can remember,
I have love, Love, LOVED (really, I love it)
science fiction.

I seriously wanted to be an astronaut.
Then Challenger exploded while I was watching in class.
So I figured keeping my feet on the ground
and my butt in a chair in the movie theater
might be a safer exploratory route.

One of my fave movies growing up was Super Man.
So you can imagine my squeals of pure delight
when I was settling in to watch another remade sci fi flick
and the trailer for Man of Steel came on.

Now. I know there is debate about the length of the Man of Steel trailerand to those folks, I say
"Give me MORE!!!"

I get it though.
My husband doesn't like sitting through movie trailers.
Heck, we hardly go to the movies
because we have a sweet set up at home.

Battle aside, you MUST run yourself to Twitter,  Facebook, and Instagram and use the hashtags, #SeeSteelFirst and #ad so that we can all get pumped about this movie together.

I am super excited to take my own super man to the show.

While we won't have to drive through June blizzards
signaling the end of the world
to get there,
he will make an epic effort to totally get in the mood
for the best flick of the summer.

And the best part about it?

Walmart is providing the opportunity for movie go-ers to purchase tickets to the Man of Steel premiere showing at 7 PM on June 13th, 2013 in every Walmart Electronics department across the country.

I mean really.
How could you miss this?

        

This is just in time for Father's Day.
You can take your super man to the movies
and make him feel all special for seeing it
before the rest of the nation gets in on it.

Yay to WalMart for this super unique, first ever partnership and offer!

Who is with me?

Purchase tickets to the exclusive pre-screening of Man of Steel [PG-13] on
June 13th, 2013 at 7 PM at your local Walmart!

Tickets can be purchased in the Electronics Department and include an exclusive
digital comic book written by David S. Goyer, author of "Man of Steel",
as well as an exclusive opportunity to pre-order an HD digital download
or Blu-Ray copy of the film.

1. Go to your local Walmart
2. Visit the electronics department
3. Purchase your EXCLUSIVE Man of Steel prescreening tickets
(available in 2D or 3D)
4. Take your family to the theater location noted on your ticket
Watch the EXCLUSIVE 7 pm premiere of Man of Steel on June 13th!

Learn more here!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Warner Bros.

7 Things to Love About Summer | #7 Fla-Vor-Ice Freezer Pops

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Jel Sert for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was but a young girl,
I hung out in my granny's yards
making mud pies all day long

Here's some grainy proof.

 

When we came back in from playing,
my grandmother had many different ways
of practicing her love of us.

One of my favorite was the special occassions
when she would go into her deep freezer in the middle room
and she would come back out with a fist full of Fla-Vor-Ice pops.

Back then I didn't know it, but as I was reading up on Fla-Vor-Ice pops,
I'm starting to realize more and more how health conscious my granny was.
There were always options and choices for us.
I know she thought sweet kids needed sweet treats.
And she also wanted to ensure that our parents 
wouldn't have to deal with sugar rushed kids at pick up.

I didn't know it back then, but the reason why we
always wanted the "real" ice pops (and not the off brands)
was because Fla-Vor-Ice pops are made with real fruit juice.
And we were kids who ate real fruit out of the garden
and we could tell the difference in straight out goodness.

The other great thing about them was that
we barely had to stop playing
to eat them.

We didn't have to sit at the table with a bowl of ice cream.
We didn't have to sit on the porch to spit watermelon seeds
(to avoid accidently seeding the garden).
We could take them anywhere.
 

Fla-Vor-Ice pops actually made us feel rich.
We could rarely afford to get a treat when the ice cream truck came around.
Sometimes, when we were especially down about that,
we might get a bonus pop to suck on.

Now that there are sugar free versions of Fla-Vor-Ice,
the cool thing would be that my diabetic granny
could sit out in the garden and enjoy a pop or two with us.

My memories of Fla-Vor-Ice was of the Original fruit flavors.
My favorite flavor was "purple"
We were kids, we didn't know that "purple" wasn't a flavor (smile).
Grape, so it was.

Now as a big kid, I totally want to try the Tropical flavors.
Maybe those will create new flash back memories
to awesome times in the islands.

All things considered,
there is a Fla-Vor-Ice for everyone!

Fla-vor-Ice is a "mom approved" snack.  
My mother stopped buying ice cream
once she realized she could placate us with a 
much more affordable, less messy and much healthier snack.

Get your Fla-Vor-Ice love on
by checking out Fla-Vor-Ice on Facebook.

What flavor do you love?