Love journeyBee from ParentLab for being one of these all-in-one easy to use products that offers a new Mom so much in the way of use for her baby.  It’s a portable crib that can be used for sleep or play and the key to it – it’s REALLY easy to transport, put together and take down.

Features:

-It weighs just 12 lbs
-It comes in 5 cool pattern/color selections:

-Mosquito netting for outside
-Light fleece blanket that’s included
-Ease of use
-A little pocket for you to slip your smart phone into to play music for your napper if you want!

The journeyBee costs $169.99 and you can get it right on the ParentLab.com site.

Disclaimer: I received a sample product from journeyBee to facilitate this review.  My nephew Shep will be playing in it happily soon!  As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

A recent study indicates the earliest signs of aging  often appear around the eyes, beginning in a woman’s early 20s and rapidly progress in her 30s.

Yuckity-yuck!  I’ve been there in the rapid progress and it ain’t pretty!

Olay has a new product to help give your aging eyes and wrinkles surrounding your eyes a bit of a boost.  It’s from their Regenerist line and called the Micro-Sculpting Eye Cream & Last Serum Duo.

Here’s a picture of the box and the product out of the box:

The red serum portion of the product then screws onto the bottom of the mascara once you take it off:

And then it’s basically a two-part process.  You use the serum to put on your crows feet and bags under your eyes, and use the mascara portion (it’s clear) on your eyelashes.  Here I am putting the mascara part on:

The product is made to help you firm up skin (the serum) around your eyes, and the mascara portion helps you get longer looking eyelashes.  The eyelash portion is immediate – which clear, it definitely gave me the effect of longer-looking lashes since my blonde tips were highlighted and more visible!  The Serum portion took a few days but I am noticing less bags under my eyes.

Olay recommends using the product for 7 days to see if you see a difference.  If you try it out, let me know what you think!

Find out where you can buy the Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Eye Cream & Lash Serum Duo on Olay.com.

Disclaimer: I’m working with P&G  to test out several of their products. I am being paid for this campaign. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

These days there’s all s0rts of brands making expensive cooling products you can use for working out and I love that this type of technology is going mainstream with an affordable brand like Hanes.  Not even going to pretend to understand how it works but the gist of it is that this material keeps your guy cool or warm depending on what’s needed.  You can get it in underwear but it also comes in t-shirts (great for working out, right?)

It’s pretty new but you can find it if you look hard enough.  I found X-Temp Crew Tees available on Amazon  and here’s the Boxer Brief Pack on Kohl’s.com.  Keep an eye out for this product coming out to your local store!

Disclaimer: I recently went on a press trip with Hanes where they paid for my expenses while traveling but I was not compensated beyond travel and as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love this picture. It’s grainy because I’ve zoomed in and I had to pay $14.95 to own the rights to it but it’s all me and mine. This is me crossing the finish line at 10 miles at the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia on May 5th.

It’s hard to tell but I look happy, right?  Accomplished and proud?  I was.  And what I didn’t tell in my recap was that I was also feeling like total dog poo at this point.  I had started having some chest pain around mile 7 and while it wasn’t anything awful, it was enough to scare me.  You don’t mess around with chest pain, right?

Without giving you all the details, I found out the following week that I have a heart arrhythmia.  It’s basically an irregular heartbeat.  I found out because I was so messed up for the days following the race and could tell it was heart related.  I had a day of tears after my regular doctor found the irregularity.  (I mean it’s not every day you hear something’s abnormal with your heart and taking that kind of news in stride isn’t so easy)

I literally bawled my eyes in the parking lot out the one day after seeing my general practioner and having the results of the EKG in my hands when I called to tell my husband.  Rough times.

I ended up seeing a cardiologist two days later who told me to relax a bit.  “You are the only 38 year old who just ran 10 miles who I will see all day,” he said.  Many people have arrhythmias and part of the irregularity had to do with being conditioned and working out.  I didn’t quite understand it and part of it is an irregularity which will have to be monitored but it’s NOT heart attack causing and he even went so far as to say to me, “Be careful but leave here and go for a run! I give you permission!”

It was definitely a scare though and while I feel better about it, I’m not going to take the news lightly.

I’ll never run a marathon and may not even do a half now but it was an eye opener to realize my body can’t do everything I may want to do.  I consider myself somewhat fit and I workout often but there are limits for everyone and it’s important to listen to your body.  At least that was my takeaway from all of this.

Oh and I ran for the very first time yesterday.  I’ve been to the gym to a class and been fine but running was rough.  I think I had some anxiety in my head about it all.  That and just big race burnout.  I went 2 miles and was hating it the whole time.  I won’t let this be the end of my running career but it’s definitely going to be slow re-entry.

I wore it for the first three miles, tied it to my waist for the rest and then used it again when I was chilly and sweaty at the end of the race.  Loved it!  It was thin but warm. Here I am in it:

I also then wore my new Champion Power Cotton T-Shirt ($20) when I recently spent the day at Sea World.  It was comfy and cute.  I love the price point of the Champion pieces.  They are also having a Summer Steals sale of up to 30% off on tons of womens items.

Alternatively, there’s a great Friends & Family coupon going on right now at SportsAuthority.com – use coupon code FRIENDS20 to receive 20% off your entire order there – they carry Champion!

From above the world of “Cars” comes “Disney’s Planes,” an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty (voice of Dane Cook), a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights.

So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar. “Disney’s Planes” takes off in theaters on Aug. 9, 2013.

Watch the newly released preview here!

Man, what a whirlwind the last few days have been! We got back home last night after 5 days back down in Orlando for a press trip with Hanes. I can say without reservation that this was our best trip to Disney and Orlando that we have had as a family.

We flew down early before the Disney/Hanes portion began so we could go to Sea World.  We had attempted to go during our last visit in March but when we pulled into the parking lot, Cole got out and puked all over the place so that was a no-go. We passed that day on going but I’m so glad we had a chance to go last week.

This seriously may be my favorite park ever. There’s just something totally awesome about Sea World. We stayed at the Renaissance Sea World Hotel which is within walking distance of the park. I’ll review it and the park more later I’m sure but here’s a pict I snapped when my kids forced me to sit in the “Splash Zone” during the Shamu show.  We were about halfway up and WE DID GET WET!  They loved it:

Sunday we checked into Disney’s Boardwalk Hotel to begin our adventure with Hanes.  The boys immediately started having some fun with the Mickey towels on the bed:

We had some family-oriented events with Hanes and some were just for the bloggers.  I attended some sessions and on the table each day were these floral arrangements made out of Hanes socks – how unique and creative is this!

We managed to get to Epcot several of the days since it was only a short walk from the hotel.  We hadn’t taken the boys to the World Showcase section of Epcot since Nate was a toddler and they loved it! (Hubby & I love it too since you can get all sorts of fun drinks in each country!)  Here are my guys in Japan:

And the best BEER ever.  Seriously.  I have to try and find this at home.  Got it in Germany.  It’s a grapefruit flavored Hefeweizen.  SO refreshing.  I may have to pay some crazy prices to import this.  Hubby loved it too. If you ever go to Epcot and you like beer, this is a must try.

My guys in China:

We had two awesome nights of dinners with Hanes.  The first night was in Canada in Epcot and the kids went nuts.  As did hubby as you can see he’s the nutjob who had his face painted like a pirate. (That was a beeeeeeeyotch to get off in the hotel room later! Ha!)

I got a Henna tattoo!  Apparently it will last 1-5 weeks, looking good right now!

All the bloggers kids waiting to board the bus on the second night for dinner at Disney’s Fort Wilderness resort:

The token family shot with Mickey & Minnie on the beach at Fort Wilderness:

So that’s just a quick recap. Such an amazing trip and I feel really blessed to have the job I do and to be able to share these experiences with my family.  Thanks Hanes!  I’ve now joined their team as a part of their Comfort Crew – a team of bloggers who test out their products year round and I’m really excited about it.

I have tons more photos coming – of some great new products from Hanes, and various events and parks we visited.  I’ll be reviewing some of the more travel-oriented stuff on FamilyTravelDiary.com and will have plenty of product reviews and more coming up here soon!

Disclaimer:  The Disney portion of our trip was paid for by Hanes.  As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Considering that my kids are 9 & 6, we’re well past due updating the fact that I still give them Baby Shampoo when they get in the shower.  Truly it was just a force of habit but we’ve now broken the habit thanks to some samples we received from a new line of products from Dial – Dial Kids Body & Hair Wash.

My boys are testing out all three scents pictured.  The Peachy Clean is tear-free so it’s good for ages 2+; the Watery Melon and Berry Cool can be used on kids ages 6+ and smells fruity!  Personally I prefer something flowery and girly smelling by my boys are all over using this non-baby and non-Mom shampoo.

Look for the new Dial Kids Body & Hair Wash in your local drug or grocery store soon!

Read the Pura Vida story and be hooked.  Two college guys went on a trip to Costa Rica and developed an appreciation for the way of life down there.  They also met two Costa Ricans who were selling bracelets on the street and decided to take their product back to the US – thus, Pure Vida was born.

From the website, Pura Vida is more than just a saying, it’s a lifestyle representing the simple things in life.

The product is simple & beautiful and many of the bracelets are sold for a cause.  There’s a Sandy Hook Bracelet, a Boston One, a Save the Dolphins one and more.  Buy and you’re supporting a cause – a percent of the sale of each of those bracelets is donated to the cause of their namesake.  The bracelets range in price from $5-$20.  Visit PuraVidaBracelets.com to see their entire collection.