Swingline Sweetheart Sweepstakes – check this out!

Happy Valentine’s Day, dear readers!  I hope it has been a day filled with chocolate, flowers and sparkly items in small boxes!  I wouldn’t be doing my job here if I didn’t tell you about the great giveaway the Swingline Company is doing.  This is not a blog post but a public service announcement!  They are giving away a pair of Christian Louboutin heels, a Rio Red 747 Stapler and a Rio Red 60x Stack-and-Shred Shredder!  Wow, that is a mouthful!  But this is good stuff.  Yes, folks, I said Christian Louboutin shoes!  With the red bottoms.  Like Carrie Bradshaw wore so beautifully on her hit show. And now one of us can, too!  Red bottomed heels and a red stapler and shredder.  See the Valentine theme here?  You can enter daily at facebook.com/swingline until February 28th.   If I win, I promise I will post a photo!  And if any of my readers win, please send me a photo!  Good luck!  Keep spreading the love today and every day!

How cool is this contest?

How cool is this contest?

Dolls are magical at any age

I still love dolls.  I don’t know what it is.  There are certain things that are beautiful and fun at any age.  And dolls are one of them!  As I was dressing one of my daughter’s dolls this morning, it made me nostalgic for my childhood and endless afternoons of play.  I know.  I know.  I am going to take some heat for this but I am going here anyway!  People will joke, “Really, Mary?  You have time to dress dolls but you haven’t returned my phone call?”  I know. I am sorry.  My daughter will roll her eyes or cross them.  Crossing them is worse.  Trust me.  But at least my son will be a good sport and tell me, “It’s okay Mum, you can like dolls.  As long as you have time to take me to a movie later.”  But, of course!  Anyway, I have found a fabulous new spot where you can order doll clothes.  It is the www.dollclothessuperstore.com.  The quality is amazing and the prices are really fair.

They have everything.  It is an online boutique of doll fabulousness.  They have American Girl doll outfits http://www.dollclothessuperstore.com/american-girl-doll-clothes.html matching girl and doll clothes, Barbie, Cabbage Patch (remember those?  They are back or never went away, not sure!) and on and on.  I selected an American Girl doll outfit to receive.  It is so pretty.  The quality (in my humble opinion) is easily as good as what you buy at other doll clothing shops.  And I don’t have to say this.   The company asked me to review the product and I feel the dress I received was lovely and well-made.  And after reviewing the website, talking with the owner and receiving the product, I can tell they make these clothes with love and good intentions.  They are about a third of the cost of many other retailers and this allows people on every budget to buy clothes for their dolls.  So instead of paying $30 for a dress for your doll, you pay about $7-9.  That is really fair.

Usually I tell my readers you can thank me later for this great new find, but this time I have to thank the folks at www.dollclothessuperstore.com for giving me an excuse to take time out and dress a doll.  I haven’t done this in years.  Too many years really.   It suddenly became clear to me why dressing up dolls or stuffed animals is so important.  It is aspirational; it allows us to dream about being a ballerina or a doctor or going to some fabulous dance all decked out!  I guess the message here is to never forget the dreams of that little boy or girl inside of you.  And allow your children endless hours of play so they too can dream of great things.  If any of my wonderful and inspirational readers (yes, you inspire me!) would like an additional discount to the retailer featured here, please make sure you subscribe to my blog and I will send you an email with the discount code!  Please enjoy and keep dreaming!

How lovely is this dress?  All dressed up and where are her invites?

How lovely is this dress? All dressed up and where are her invites?

 

 

 

 

Pakka pets! Do they need to be potty trained?

Now, as some of you may know, my son who is five years old, is a “gamer”.  He loves video games and he is on a first name basis with the folks at Gamestop. Well, not really but these are his “peeps”.  People who understand his attraction to all things electronic.   Frankly, I have an aversion to the smell of the place.  There is a faint hint of plastic and body odor co-mingling (yes, this is a word) that hits me when I open the front door.  I will say the people that work there are experts – very knowledgeable and helpful.  They are great for business.

But the blog has introduced me to a new game www.pakkapets.com (yet to be released which is even cooler!)  And it doesn’t require a trip to the store.  It is an iphone/Android game where you raise your own pet and one of the creators and I have been communicating.  I really like this game.  It is about these cute little pets that you can feed and dress up and love.  And they don’t need to be taken out to go the bathroom in the cold weather!  I really like that.  The second thing I like about this concept are the people behind it.  They are two young entrepreneurs and who doesn’t love the entrepreneurial spirit, right?  It doesn’t hurt that they are cute, too!  Hey, I am single, I can say these things!  If I was a betting person, I would bet they are headed for great success with this venture.   Let’s put it this way, the words of Oscar Wilde were being thrown around.  Things about discontent and progress.  Good stuff.

Anyway, if you enjoy products like this you should check out the kickstarter link here:  www.kickstarter.com/projects/1298607829/pakka-pets.  You can donate whatever you like to the project (even $1 gets you in on the action).  And donating gets you closer to exclusive prizes like special pets, iphone cases, even some lucky backers will get flown out to CA for the game release.  How fun would that be?  Anyway, it is scheduled to be released in June and for sure, I will keep you posted. In case you were wondering, I ran this product by my committee which includes a gaming expert, a middle schooler and Meepy, a favorite stuffed animal and now, Pakka pet wannabe.  If Meepy likes it, then I know I am on to something! I guess you can all thank Meepy this time!

How cute are these pets?

How cute are these pets?

How cute are these guys?  The creators of Pakkapets Thomas Uster and Willem Rosenthal.

How cute are these guys? The creators of Pakkapets Thomas Uster and Willem Rosenthal.