Read. Write. Mom!

Adaptu Financial shape Up & $50 Giveaway

Posted on August 2, 2012January 10, 2016 by Mandy

When it comes to our family’s finances, it’s often hard to keep track of checking, savings, and investment accounts all at once.

Adaptu is a personal finance website and app (for both the iPhone and Droid) that not only helps users manage their money, but showcases how upcoming expenses will affect their overall cash flow, as well as a host of other great features. It’s a great tool to get your finances in order or to upgrade your current system to manage them.

Our family just recently took a wonderful vacation to Texas, so we have decided that we would like to start saving up now so we can enjoy another great getaway together next summer. I’m participating in the Adaptu Financial Shape-Up Contest, along with several other bloggers, in order to reach my financial goal of saving up for a summer vacation.

Adaptu has some great features that I love, like spending reports, bill reminders for when life gets super busy, and even modules to monitor our investments. If you participate in mileage and point rewards programs, Adaptu can keep up with all of that, too!

I hope you will join me in setting a financial goal and checking out Adaptu to see how it can help you reach the goals you want.

WIN IT:

Do you have a financial goal you are working towards? Sign up for Adaptu (it’s free to get started!) and leave me a comment telling me what your favorite Adaptu feature is. One lucky reader will win $50! Giveaway ends August 31, 2012 at 11:59 PM Central. 18+ and void where prohibited.

I am participating in a compensated blogger campaign for Adaptu. All opinions are my own.

Vote for Mississippi in The Better Homes & Gardens State Fragrance Contest

Posted on August 1, 2012January 10, 2016 by Mandy

It’s no secret that I love candles. LOVE them. I also love the scented wax cubes everyone is so crazy about. When I was asked to represent Mississippi in the Better Homes & Gardens State Fragrance contest going on now at the Better Homes & Gardens Facebook page, I immediately agreed because I love my state and the thought of coming up with something that best expressed what made my state unique AND play around with new candle scents was just too hard to pass up.

I was sent a gift card to purchase a Better Homes & Gardens wax warmer and a few different BH&G wax cubes to combine to come up with a scent to best illustrate my state of Mississippi.

So, what did I come up with?

New Fragrance name- Delta Blues

Scent combinations- Fresh Ocean Flower, Enchanted Evening Walk, Soft Cashmere Amber

There is no definitive answer on where blues music originated, but Mississippi boasts some of the biggest legends in blues music, like B. B. King, Muddy Waters, Charlie Patton, and Howlin’ Wolf. A large part of our tourism in Mississippi is thanks in part to the blues. My photo is of Dockery Plantation, a now defunct cotton plantation established in 1895, located just a few miles down the road from where I live. Listed as a stop on the Mississippi Blues Trail and on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s argued that Dockery Plantation, early home of Blues legend Charlie Patton, was the birthplace of the Delta blues in Mississippi.

The Fresh Ocean Flower and Enchanted Evening Walk wax cubes were chosen for their blue color. The Soft Cashmere Amber adds a sweet hint to the first two scents. Combined, these wax cubes produce a deep, rich floral scent.

With Better Homes and Gardens scented wax cubes and warmers, you can fill your home with your favorite fragrances for less, available only at Walmart!

Better Homes and Gardens Scented Wax Warmers

Our selection of scented wax warmers make every room more welcoming and inviting with a fresh new look and scent.

· Fill your home with your favorite fragrance, for less

· Attractive wax warmers are just $15 and scented wax cube packs, start at only $2 each

· Safe to use with no flame or soot

· Easy to re-use and clean

Better Homes and Gardens Scented Wax Cubes:

· Available in packs of 6 scented wax cubes

· Fragrant immediately upon melting

· Wax can be reused or recycled

· Available in dozens of scents—choose your favorites or mix and match to create your own unique fragrances.

I NEED YOUR VOTE!

From now until August 31, you can vote for your favorite state fragrance in the Better Homes & Gardens State Fragrance Contest. Of course, I would LOVE to have your vote because the blogger with the most votes will be given (10) $25 Walmart gift cards to award their readers and I would love to share those gift cards with MY readers! The winning blogger will also receive a trip to the Better Homes & Gardens headquarters.

What’s In It For YOU?

10 randomly selected voters will be chosen to win a Wax Warmer and a 6-pack of Wax Cubes. These wax cubes smell terrific, so it’s a great chance to win a fabulous selection of scents!

Thanks for supporting me in this contest! Go Mississippi!

I was sent a gift card to purchase the scented wax cubes and warmer. No other compensation was received.

Still Getting More From Our Summer

Posted on July 31, 2012January 20, 2024 by Mandy

Today starts my first day back at work since May. I am so fortunate that my job allows me to be home all summer, thereby getting more time with my family and more opportunities to travel and do things we don’t normally get to do when school is in session. We definitely had a wonderful time on our summer vacation this year, which included our stay at Embassy Suites DFW North Outdoor World and are still talking about the amazing service we received there and the things we enjoyed the most.

In a previous post about Embassy Suites, I shared with you some tips for “more-imizing” your vacation by Dr. Susan Biali, a health and happiness expert and the author of Live a Life You Love: 7 Steps to a Healthier, Happier, More Passionate You.

Make your vacation budget go further by staying at a hotel like Embassy Suites that gives you more with every stay, including two-room suites for your family to spread out, free cooked-to-order breakfast each morning, and an evening reception with complimentary drinks and snacks.

Our stay at Embassy Suites allowed me more time with our family because there were so many great amenities and extras there that I didn’t have to think about some of the details that I normally do when we take a trip. Probably the little extra we enjoyed the most, and saved us the most time, was the complimentary cook to order breakfast served each morning at Embassy Suites. Our family was able to enjoy a delicious and filling breakfast before making the long journey home, without having to stop and eat somewhere else.

Hold onto that post-vacation rejuvenation feeling. Create a scrap book or
photo album of your vacation memories and remember to look at it often.
Recalling fun, relaxing family times can help rejuvenate you when you’re
stressed and need a burst of energy.

I’ve been organizing our photos online to order and make a memory book of our time together this summer and we are still talking about how wonderful our Embassy Suites experience was. We still can’t get over how nice the hotel was and what great service we received. It has definitely spoiled us and we don’t think anywhere else will ever quite measure up. We can’t wait to stay at another Embassy Suites!

There’s still time left to plan a quick end-of-summer getaway at an Embassy Suites for yourself! Even if it’s just for one night, or a weekend, I promise you will wonder why you never thought of it before.

Be sure to check out Embassy Suites on Twitter and Facebook.

I wrote this review while participating in an Ambassador Program by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Embassy Suites Hotels and received a one-night complimentary stay at an Embassy Suites Hotel to facilitate my reviews and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.