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Holiday Gift Guide – Cozy Knit Sweaters and more from Lands’ End

December 11, 2011 By

‘Tis the season to bundle up in warm sweaters, hats, mittens, and scarves, and no one does warm and cozy like Lands’ End!  For this holiday season, they’ve put together a list they call Our Favorite Gifts, featuring gifts for Women, Men, Girls, Boys, and even cozy gifts for your home!

I’ve mentioned before what a huge fan I am of Lands’ End, and one of my favorites is their sweaters. Classic patterns and styles combine with super-soft knit yarn, ribbed neck, cuffs and bottom trim to make sweaters that will keep everyone warm all winter long. Lands’ End offered me a choice of items to review from the Our Favorite Gifts collection, and I chose the Women’s Blend Fair Isle Open Crewneck Sweater in Vintage Oyster.

Lands End Sweater

 

I love it! It’s so warm and will go with both jeans and navy blue dress pants.  It is dry clean or hand wash only, but I use those Dryel home dry cleaning kits anyway, so I just have to be careful not to spill anything on it and it should last for years. This sweater also comes in red and navy.

Other items on Lands’ End’s Our Favorite Gifts list include this Men’s Wool Pea Coat, this super-cute Boy’s Full Zip Anchor Sweater, this gorgeous Girls’ Fair Isle Zip-Front Hooded Cape, as well as scarves, slippers, and many more.  Although I didn’t review it personally, I also want to point out this adorable Kenana Handknit Penguin with Scarf, made from 100% home spun wool, dyed with natural plant dye, and signed by the woman who knitted it. These cute plush penguins are handcrafted by members of the Kenana Knitters group in Kenya as part of Aid to Artisans.

Prices: Women’s Fair Isle Crewneck Sweater $89.50-$99.50, Men’s Wool Pea Coat Now $109.99 – $129.99, Boy’s Anchor Sweater$69.50, Girls’ Hooded Cape $79.50, Kenana Handknit Penguin with Scarf, $39.50.  Visit landsend.com to see all the available sizes and colors, and to find a very special gift for someone!

 

Filed Under: Clothing and Accessories, Holiday Gift Guide 2011 Tagged With: , , ,

The Tuneables – I Love Music! 2-Disc Set (Review)

December 11, 2011 By

Meet The Tuneables, three friends who love to teach music to kids! In The Tuneables – I Love Music!, a 2-Disk CD/DVD set for ages 3 to 8, kids learn the “ABCs” of music learning – tonal and rhythmic patterns in music, developing their singing voice, a basic repertoire of music, and listening skills. Sponsored by The Music Intelligence Project, The Tuneables is the most comprehensive program on the market that teaches the fundamentals of music to children.

Okay, so now that you know what it is, why should you buy it? Because the characters are appealing to kids, the music is great, it’s a terrific value for what you get, and it’s fun!  The Tuneables: I Love Music! includes a 30 minute DVD, “Annie & Max and the Music Box”, an animated tale of two young kids arriving at the local music shop for their first music lesson. They see an unusual Music Box, Max reaches out to touch it, and suddenly the box springs open, the room transforms, and Annie and Max are in the magical world of Tuneville!

There, they meet Clara the clarinet, Pete the trumpet, Sunny the cymbal, Snare the drum, Gloria the piano, and Mo the violin. Along with some other special friends, this band of Tuneables help guide Annie and Max through their first music lesson!  Watching this DVD teaches children how to move to the beat in music, hear and sing tonal patterns in songs using three notes, expand the range of their singing voices, and learn the sounds and melodies of classical music.

The CD, which runs 30 minutes, sounds just like what I remember from elementary school music classes. For example the second song, “Patting the Beat”, reminds me of kids sitting cross-legged in a circle, patting their legs along with the teacher.

The 18 songs on the included CD might be designed to teach music fundamentals, but most of them are also fun to listen and sing along to! “Go, Giddy-Up, Go”  and Tuneville March will have your kids galloping and marching around the room, everyone can sing along to “ABC Medley”, and classical music fans will enjoy hearing “Eine Kleine Nacht Musik” and “Surprise Symphony”.

Visit The Tuneables Music Shop to purchase the 2-Disc set for $29.99, the I Love Music! CD by itself for $14.99, a teacher’s edition, a t-shirt, and more.  It’s sure to be a hit as a gift as well!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: , , ,

Lose Unwanted Holiday Pounds With the Slim-Fast 3.2.1 Plan

December 7, 2011 By

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

There’s so much delicious food around at the holidays, but all those tempting treats can mean extra weight come January.  Start a healthy eating plan with the Slim-Fast 3.2.1 Plan and take off that weight in a delicious way!

I’ve been a fan of Slim-Fast for a really long time. I used to buy it when it came only in powdered form, with a shaker cup for mixing. Slim-Fast has helped me recover from bouts of holiday over-eating more than once, so I was thrilled when they contacted me about reviewing their new shakes,which are their richest, creamiest, best-tasting shakes ever!  

With each Slim-Fast shake, you get 10 grams of protein, five grams of fiber and 24 essential vitamins and minerals, all inside a deliciously convenient bottle that’s designed to go everywhere. The five tempting flavors available in the new bottle are Creamy Milk Chocolate, French Vanilla, Rich Chocolate Royale,Cappuccino Delight, and Strawberries N’ Cream.

Slim-Fast sent me a coupon so I could try a free bottle for myself, I chose the Rich Chocolate Royale flavor. It is SO GOOD. I especially like that the bottle has a screw-on top, so if I’m not able to finish the whole shake in one sitting, I can stick it back in the fridge to finish later. Drink Slim-Fast shakes as part of the healthy 3.2.1 Plan, which you can find on the Slim-Fast website.

Slim-Fast Bottle

The plan gives you quick results in a healthy way. Here’s the Plan: • 3 Snacks: Three nourishing snacks a day such as Slim-Fast 100-calorie snack bars, fruit, nuts or veggies • Slim-Fast 100-calorie snack bars provide a delicious calorie-controlled snack to help curb sweet cravings between meals • 2 Slim-Fast Shakes or Meal Bars per day: Slim-Fast shakes and meal bars are delicious and satisfying, providing the balanced nutrition of a meal and up to four hours of hunger control • 1 Balanced Meal: Enjoy one balanced 500-calorie meal per day. As a rule, try to fill half your plate with veggies, a quarter with protein, and a quarter with whole grains. BUY IT: • The new Slim-Fast shakes are available in the pharmacy sections of grocers and retailers nationwide, including Wal-Mart, Target, Safeway and Kroger and online at Amazon.com and the Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Store on Facebook.

Visit Sponsor's Site

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