Through the Valley Love Endures Book Excerpt

Through the Valley Love Endures Book Excerpt

May 17, 2013 by · 2 Comments

Through the Valley Love Endures

What if death came for you today? Would you be ready?

Forced to face his own mortality, Eddie Santiago fought to stay alive in a broken world. His incredible journey through heartbreak, abuse, and adversity left him with one truth: every life makes a difference.

This is the true and compelling story of his supernatural quest through the valley of death, doubt, and darkness. Eddie provides a passionate story that will capture the attention of even the toughest skeptics.

Angels, demons, heaven, hell, Jesus and the devil: are they fiction, or are they more real than anything else in the world?

Through the Valley Love Endures Excerpt:

ThroughtheloveValleyEndures-196x300

“Oh, honey, don’t let those words hurt you.  Only God can judge,” said my mother.

“God? Then who is Jesus?” I asked.

“Jesus is God’s son who was sent here to earth so we can find our way back to God.”

All that information was about as much as a little guy could take. “Okay, Ma,” I replied with a confused look on my face.

“Honey, you don’t worry about anything.  It will be your character that will win people over.  I promise you,” promised my mother.  I was on overload by this point, so I didn’t bother to ask what character meant.  I was just happy to be home and safe.

Those bright figures immediately appeared to me after my conversation with my mom. “What do you guys want?” I asked. “You guys don’t talk or what?”  They were again silent.  “Did you see what happened to me today?  I wish you guys were there with me.”  One of them reached out as I slowly lifted my hand to touch his.

“Eddie, dinner’s ready,” yelled Dad.

“Ok, I’m coming,” I yelled back to my dad.  “We’ll play later, okay?”

 

For Reviews, Excerpts and Author Interviews, follow the tour and enter the giveaway!

 

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Bold Home Decor Styles and Sweepstakes from CB2 #CB2NovogratzBrasilSweepstakes

May 17, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CB2 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Choosing the right home decor items has always been challenging for me.  When we moved into our home 7 years ago we had half the rooms completely empty and needed new furniture and accessories.  I think I   spent 2 months looking for the right living room furniture!  I wanted something that really called to me, not just your average everyday stuff you see in all the big name home decor stores.

If you enjoy finding your own unique style when it comes to home decor items you might be interested in learning about the new bold styles available with CB2. The CB2 family has partnered with husband-and-wife design duo Robert and Cortney Novogratz. Their home decor line is bold and colorful  with a mix of both modern and vintage elements. The CB2 and Novogratz Collection debuts May 2nd, and was inspired by their vacation home in Brazil. It is the perfect blend of hot colors mixed with warm wood.  The pieces come in a range of items and price points, from the whimsical Luli Table Lamp at $129, to the sophisticated, modern Dupla Credenza at $499.

Right now, CB2 wants to encourage fans to enter their CB2 and Novogratz Brasil Sweepstakes.  You and 3 friends could win a one week stay at the vacation home of CB2 collaborators Bob and Courtney Novogratz in beautiful Trancoso, Brazil.  10 other lucky winners will receive a CB2 giftcard worth $100 along with a personally signed copy of the book “Home by Novogratz”  This weepstakes will run from May 2nd through June 3rd.  Follow CB2 on Facebook  for more updates on the Brasil trip of a lifetime.

The CB2 Novogratz collection has a wonderful array of home decor items that really caught my eye.  I loved the bold colors in the accent pillows and rugs.  These would be a great balance to my relatively boring beige walls.  Adding color with accessories is much easier than painting a room a new color!  It also makes changing the look of your room easier when you get bored with your old home decor look.  If you are looking for unique home decor items I think CB2 will really catch your eye!

 

 

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New Winner Announcement!

New Winner Announcement!

May 14, 2013 by · 2 Comments

I had a few giveaways end last week so here are the winner’s and the contest they won.  All winners have been notified via email and have 48 hours to get back to me with their info.  Thanks for following my blog and entering these contests.

 

Hey Shuga! Natural Cane Syrup winner:  Lauren for a Pinterest follow

Pillsbury Artisan prize pack winner: Storm for a Twitter follow

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Let Club W Help You Find the Right Wine! #sponsored

Let Club W Help You Find the Right Wine! #sponsored

May 13, 2013 by · 4 Comments

This post on how to find the right wine is sponsored by Club W but all opinions expressed are my own.

I cannot tell you how many times I have come home from the store with a bottle of wine that I just don’t care for.  I have tried a lot of different ways to help find the right wine.  I have chosen wines based on the picture on the front of the bottle, the price, the region it was grown and (of course) the type of wine it is.  None of these are fool proof ways to find the right wine and I am often left with a bottle of wine that I really don’t feel like drinking.  If you have trouble finding the right wine like I do, you may be interested in learning more about Club W.

Find the Right Wine

Club W is an online community of wine lovers who are committed to taking the hassle, guesswork and snobbishness out of enjoying a great bottle of wine at a reasonable price. Reading wine reviews can get confusing with all of those fancy terms about top notes and bouquets… Club W wants to open up the line of communication between their curators and your own personal tastes.  I am not a wine geek…I don’t care if a bottle of wine costs $5 or $500…if it doesn’t taste good I have no desire to drink it!  Having somebody wade through all the technical jargon and help me find the right wine for my own pallet is very helpful.

 

find the right wine

Club W Helps You Find the Right Wine!

The process of helping you find the right wine starts with the Club W pallet profile test.  This is a very simple 6 question survey about things like how you like your coffee and how much salt you use on your food.  This helps them understand your pallet and get a feel for how adventurous you are when it comes to your taste buds.  Their curators source many small production wines from around the world to offer every month. From these offerings, your pallet profile test will help pair your taste buds with the right wine.

The Club W experience makes finding the right wine much less risky.  By connecting the consumers directly to the winemaker and skipping the middlemen you can save up to 30% on the price of your wine. If you don’t like something that you are sent you can send it back for a replacement or refund.  Club W offers its wines  to consumers starting at $39 month for three bottles plus a flat rate of $6 for shipping.  Each month you can choose whether to go with what has been recommended by the curators for your pallet or just choose your own wine from that month’s selection.

 

Club W provide a unique high tech aspect to your wine selection in the form of a QR code on every bottle of wine you receive from them.  Scanning the QR code on the bottle from a smartphone, tablet or computer takes you directly to the Club W curators’ video tasting notes for that bottle. So, if you are having a dinner party and someone asks you about the wine, just scan the QR code and share the video with your guests.  This is a win-win situation for everyone because when you refer a friend to Club W and they sign up, you receive 2 free bottles and your friend gets one free bottle. That is a great deal just for having a friend sign up for the program!

club w wine club helps you find the right wine

I really loved the Club W experience and got a great selection of wines to try out.  These are not the mass market wines that usually predominate in my local grocery store.  Not only did they have a great selection of wines from vineyards I had never heard of but they also had a number of varieties I was not familiar with either.  I usually see your more common Merlots, Chardonnays and Pinot Grigios but was surprised to see things like a Temprannillo and a Chenin Blanc-Viognier blend.  I don’t think I have ever seen these before and each wine page on the Club W site has great information about it so you know the right foods to serve it with and the general flavor it will offer.

 Receive a free bottle of wine on your first order with code 411sub (case sensitive)

If you are a wine lover but are tired of trying to find the perfect flavor for your pallet I think the Club W experience would really help you find the right wine  and save you money at the same time!  If you would like to learn more about the Club W experience you can check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclaimer:  In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials.”: I received product samples  in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation. All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.

 

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How to Order a Pizza and a Little Caesars Gift Card #Giveaway

How to Order a Pizza and a Little Caesars Gift Card #Giveaway

May 8, 2013 by · 56 Comments

This how to order a pizza conversation is sponsored by Little Caesars but all opinions expressed are my own.

As much as I love to cook from scratch, some nights things are just a tad bit chaotic.  If there are no leftovers in the fridge (or at least nothing that can actually be called food at this point) we have been known to call up for a nice, hot pizza.  So, when I got the chance to work with Little Caesars to try out their pizza I was thrilled.  Pizza is practically a staple in my house at this point!  

So, whenever I go to write up a post on my blog I try to figure out how to provide my readers with what they REALLY want to know about a subject.  I usually head over to Google and see what sort of things people are asking about so I can make my post as useful as possible.  Well, I found it extremely amusing that many, MANY people are actually Googling  the phrase “How to Order a Pizza“.  Are there actually people today that do NOT know how to order a pizza?  Shouldn’t we have a class in high school on how to order a pizza so that our children do not starve when they discover mold growing on their leftovers?

how to order a pizza

The directions that are given on how to order a pizza seem very simple.  Look at the menu, decide what you want, call the pizzeria and then wait for your delivery and pay for your meal.  In reality, the process is a little bit more complicated…

How to Order a Pizza

1.  Announce to family that you are ordering pizza.

2.  After the happy screaming has quieted down a bit, begin negotiations over topping suggestions.

3.  Inform children that 12 pounds of meat on their pizza is probably not the healthiest choice

4.  Convince children that having only 6 pounds of meat on their pizza and a handful of veggies makes for a much healthier pizza.

5.  Scowl at husband who vetoes veggie selections.  Inform him he is eating vegetables whether he likes it or  not.  Compromise by telling family that they can have carrot sticks NEXT to their pizza.

6.  Begin negotiations on quantity of pizza to buy.

7.  Remind your son that his eyes are bigger than his stomach and he is NOT going to eat half a pizza by himself

8.  Decide to order a ton of pizza anyhow so you don’t have to make lunches the next day and can eat pizza leftovers

9.  Spend 15 minutes searching for the phone number of your local pizza joint

10.  After ordering your pizza and hanging up, begin the never ending wait for the delivery man.  Wonder if he got lost in traffic and decided to eat your pizza instead of delivering it.

11.  Freeze when the doorbell rings and you realize that you forgot to put the pizza on your credit card and have no money to pay

12.  Raid your children’s stash of birthday money to pay for dinner.  Promise to pay them back.  They demand interest.  Agree out of sheer hunger.

13.  Beat the children off the pizza with a stick until you make it to the kitchen and grab plates.

14.  Turn your back for one second to get drinks and hear dog stealing a slice of pizza off the table and children yelling.

15.  Let dog have her prize…by this time you are too weak from hunger to chase her down.

16.  Listen to happy sighs and satisfied moans of gratitude from your well fed family.

17.  Wonder why you don’t do pizza night every night so you don’t have to wash dishes!

little caesars pizza

Today, I decided to bypass a few of these issues by ordering my pizza from Little Caesars when my children were at school.  Thus, they got zero opinion as to what we actually order!  Yay for me being such a smart mom, right?  I ordered over the phone early in the afternoon and told them to please have my pizza ready at 4:30.  They said no problem!  Then, I called my husband and told him to pick up the pizza on the way home from work!  Even better because I save money on both delivery fees AND tip!  What did we decide to order?  Since Little Caesars was having a special on their new DEEP! DEEP! Dish pizza we got two of those.

The Little Caesars new DEEP! DEEP! Dish pizza is  an eight-corner, large pizza featuring a crunchy crust with caramelized cheese edges and is topped with pepperoni and cheese.  Starting April 1, the DEEP!DEEP! Dish pizza will be a fixture on Little Caesars menus nationwide for only $8 plus tax.  Little Caesars pizzas are unique in that they offer a rectangular pizza that gets its crispy-crunchy edge and chewy inside texture from baking in a custom metal pan coated with olive oil.

how to order a pizza

So, what did we think of our Little Caesars DEEP! DEEP! Dish pizza experience?  We loved this pizza!  I think it is really awesome that there are 8 corners because the crust is crunchy and delicious and makes holding your slice easier.  The pizza crust is nice and thick and there is plenty of cheese on top.  The pepperoni is just a tad crispy which I really liked.  2 of these pizzas filled up all 4 of us and we had leftovers for lunches tomorrow.  Definitely a great way to feed a family that will get no complaints from us.  The pizza was ready on time and hot when my husband got it home to us.  Definitely a great solution to a busy night!

 

Want FREE DEEP!DEEP! Dish pizza for a year?

ENTER!ENTER! the DEEP!DEEP!-Stakes for the chance to win FREE DEEP!DEEP! Dish pizza for a year.

The $10 Little Caesars Gift Card Giveaway

Little Caesars would like to provide TWO of my readers with a $10 gift card so they can try out the DEEP!DEEP! Dish pizza for themselves.  This is a Giveaway Tools contest so just follow the directions in the form to enter to win!

 

Disclaimer:  In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials.”: I received a Little Caesars gift card  in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.  Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.

By entering this giveaway, you release this blog and it’s owner from any liability whatsoever, and waive any and all causes of action, related to any claims, costs, injuries, losses or damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with the giveaway or delivery, mis-delivery or acceptance of any prize.

 

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