Tag

#sponsored

Living Locally: Camp Macy’s

This post is sponsored by Everywhere Society; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Have I ever mentioned before just how much I love Macy’s? From fun fashion shows to culinary events, they are always hosting something fun while giving back to the community.

Next Sunday, June 14th, Macy’s will be hosting a family fun event called Camp Macy’s – and it will be held at the Clackamas store here in Oregon, but I know they will be hosting events across the country – so keep your eyes open for one near you!

What is Camp Macy’s? It’s part of their summer American Icons Campaign, and Camp Macy’s will be having all sorts of in-store activities that will bring back camp nostalgia from people of all ages. There will be readings, storytelling, bingo, snacks – as well as crafts to show off your American spirit – refreshments, giveaways and more!

This camp is all about enjoying family time and summer activities – and I just love how Macy’s is bringing families together for these events to create lasting memories!

The event begins at 2:00 pm – and while you’re there, take a few photos and use the hashtag #AmericanSelfies – Macy’s is donating $1 for each hashtag (up to $250K ) to support American Veteran’s with Got You 6. A handful of winners will be selected for a spectacular moment in the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks show on NBC!

Hope to see you there!

~Melissa

June 9, 2015 1 comment

Uncategorized

25 Scrumptious Smoothies

written by Melissa Kaylene

Hey everyone! So I’ve found myself kind of on a roll on here
the past 24 hours sharing stuff with you! I think it’s because I know that the
next 72 hours I’ll be busy working my “other” job and won’t be at my computer
quite as much.

In the summer time one thing I love to do is make smoothies.
I know we are still quite a ways away from the warm weather, but with all of
the extra hours I’ve been working at my ‘real’ job the past couple of months, I’ve
been thinking that I really should be making more smoothies now too! (I’m
talking about the kind with the protein powder and vitamins, not the rum!) J I’m not a huge
breakfast person and on busy or early mornings it would come in handy to just
have a big smoothie to drink for extra energy.

I love smoothies because they can become a healthy meal, or
can turn into a delicious treat (or cocktail!) I’ve been browsing at Foodie.com
for some smoothie ideas and I’m thinking about taking a couple different smoothie
recipes and measuring out all of the ingredients and putting them in a zip lock
bag so all I have to do is add the ice and liquid portion of the smoothie to
the blender, making it even easier to create.
Have you ever done something like this? I’m thinking it would obviously
work better with some recipes versus others, but it sounds like a good idea
anyways.

I’ve collected 25 different delicious looking recipes that I
wanted to just pass along and share with you (there are even a couple of my own
smoothie recipes that I create a couple of years ago in there). If you have any
smoothie recipes of your own please feel free to share them and link them in
the comment section! I love to see everyone else’s favorites.

Okay, off to bed for now, 5:15 comes way too early!

~Melissa

Compensation was provided by Foodie via Mode Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Foodie”

January 20, 2015 7 comments

holiday

4 Things to Clean Before Christmas + A Big Giveaway!

written by Melissa Kaylene

Thank you Bissell for sponsoring this post and giveaway!

4 things to clean before Christmas #sponsored http://ooh.li/631c67d

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the best house cleaner. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that we live in a total disaster, but with three kids and all of their activities, plus a part-time job, part-time business, and everything else that comes up – well, sometimes the dishes don’t’ get done, and the garage is quite frankly – a mess.

One thing I think I have mastered though is what the most important things to get cleaned are. A lot of you will be having guests over during the holidays, and with so many things to accomplish in just a few short days like last-minute shopping and baking, well, cleaning is probably the last thing you want to do! Even though we’re not going to be having company this year, I certainly don’t want a disaster in my house over the two days that we will all actually be home together – with no schedules. After all, there will be plenty of wrapping paper and toys to take over the living room – they don’t need any competition.

December 19, 2014 5 comments

Uncategorized

The Best Christmas Cookie Recipes

written by Melissa Kaylene

Good morning! I just dropped the girls off at school (we have a late start Monday which I LOVE because I get one more day to sleep in!) and Noah is sitting next to me at the kitchen table, both sipping our ‘coffee’ and planning for our day. My day is going to include a trip to turn in recycle and donating a bunch of old toys and outgrown clothes. I’ll clean the house a bit more and then get an early dinner ready so we can all eat before Anika’s choir and band program at 7 pm. She is pretty nervous (as anyone would be!) but I’m excited because this is her first performance in middle school.

Before Noah and I head out to run errands though, I’m browsing around online collecting Christmas cookie recipes so I can pick up any extra ingredients I may need in town today. I love making holiday cookies every year and I’m planning on starting my baking frenzy tomorrow. There’s something so pretty about handmade and hand-decorated treats, each one a different flavor and color.

I like to have a variety of cookies, from intricate ones that take me a bit of time to make, to easy ones that the kids can pretty much do themselves – like the Rice Crispy Treat Trees I found while looking at Foodie.com. We are definitely making those together!

Different shapes and sizes are another thing I take into consideration – I love a good chocolate chip cookie or sugar cookie, but I don’t want all of the cookies to look the same! Thumbprint cookies are fun to make because they are visually different, as well as macaroons or snow ball cookies – after all I think cookie boxes should be little works of art, right? 🙂

The Best Christmas Cookie Recipes #foodie #sponsored

Lastly I want to make sure I have multiple flavors when I give my holiday cookies – not too much chocolate or too much peppermint. I like a good balance between traditional holiday flavors and a few surprises like orange or raspberry flavors.

So, here are a few cookie recipes that I’ve found so far, and I’ll be looking for a bit longer before heading out. Are there any Christmas cookies that you just can’t live without? How many different kinds of cookies do you make each year?

~Melissa

Compensation was provided by Foodie via Mode Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Foodie”

December 15, 2014 3 comments

Uncategorized

15 Festive Appetizers

written by Melissa Kaylene

Happy Friday everyone! I can’t believe it’s the final weekend before Thanksgiving and the official start of the holiday season! This year has to have flown by faster than any other year I can think of. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving a little early, opting for a family dinner at my Dad’s house this Sunday and then at my Mom’s house on Monday. They both live 3-4 hours away so we don’t travel down to see them very often with the kid’s busy school schedules.

I’ll still be doing most of the cooking, and then on Thanksgiving we will be back up at home and have been invited to my friend’s house to feast – and I’m planning on bringing a variety of appetizers to snack on, so I’ve been collecting recipes on Foodie.com. Who doesn’t love munching on meats and cheeses? Appetizers are sometimes my favorite thing from a holiday feast!

15 festive appetizer ideas from #foodie #sp

There are a several staple ones that I make every year, like the bacon wrapped Lil’ Smokies and meat and cheese pickle wraps, and of course a big meat and cheese platter, but then I like to find a couple of others to serve as well – I make the stuffed sweet peppers one year and it was a huge hit! Sometimes I feel that everyone is so busy prepping for the ‘big’ meal that appetizers get a little bit forgotten, and they shouldn’t be! I think it’s because in some cases they are tiny bites of art pieced together into a pretty presentation.

What are your go-to appetizers to make? Do they differ during the holidays versus the rest of the year? (More festive?) I’d love to hear!

~Melissa

Compensation was provided by Foodie via Mode Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Foodie”

November 21, 2014 1 comment

inspiration Inspiring Uncategorized

Why haven’t you finished your dreams?

written by Melissa Kaylene

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Western Governors University. The opinions and text are all mine.

Well, today is my last day in my full work week stretch. It’s been good, yet incredibly busy. The house is a mess, I’m behind on a bunch of stuff, and I am thoroughly exhausted. Whenever I fill in for a stretch of more than a couple of days I really begin to appreciate that I don’t have to work outside of the home full time, at least not while the kids are little.

Even though I’m glad I’m not out busting my butt forty + hours a week away from the kids, I’m forever grateful for the decision I made to go back to school and become a nurse. I may have mentioned it before a long time ago, but when I was pregnant with Anika I was young, scared, and broke. I knew I needed to find a job that would provide me with a stable career and above minimum wage pay – so I took a class and became a C.N.A. (Certified Nurse’s Aide). I worked as a C.N.A. for many years, moving my way up to working in the hospital, and I had always tossed the idea back and forth whether or not to go back to school. I knew I couldn’t do the physically demanding work that I was doing forever, and I was close to maxing out on the top of the pay scale, but I was still scared to make that leap.

2008 was a challenging year for us – we had recently purchased out home, Miss Emma was born, and Wayne lost his job. I didn’t know what to do at that point – and then towards the end of the year I did it – something inside of me knew now was the time – I applied to school to finish what I had started 5 years prior. Everything fell into place – one of my co-workers at the time ended up getting accepted into the same program as I did and she lived in the same small town, so we commuted together. I was blessed and found the best babysitter I could ask for and she lived within the school bus route so Anika could ride there after school.

It was incredibly hard for me to leave my 1 year old as I went to school every day, but I kept telling myself that it was just for one year and then I would have the flexibility in my schedule again so I wouldn’t miss out on things. I knew that if I became a nurse I could always financially support my family if I had to, and that if Wayne ever had job problems again I wouldn’t have to work twice as much just to make the same pay.

I graduated the course in November 2009, and passed the NCLEX on Dec. 31, 2009. I was fifteen weeks pregnant with Noah at that time.

Now I am confident that if anything ever happened that I can take care of my family. When we had our pinning ceremony I had never seen my dad so proud – you see, he himself had never graduated from High School, and I know that it’s been a hard thing for him to live with, but by me graduating he had felt like he did accomplish something – and he did. He always worked his hardest to support us, and I know that he has always done the best he could to support his family, and I wanted to do the same. It made me feel good that I had stuck with it and finished, that I could show my kids if I could do it, anyone could.

Since I became a nurse I’ve worked part time and on call and it’s turned out great. I can work here and there and make a little extra money to help out, and I have a flexible schedule so I don’t have to miss any of the kids’ activities.

If you’ve been thinking about going back to school, Western Governor’s University is one worth checking into. They are a nonprofit, accredited university and have a unique approach to learning. Their goals are to address the obstacles facing those who are looking to advance or enter a new phase of their career – such as budget and scheduling restraints.

Western Governor’s University excels in four main areas: Business, information technology, education, and nursing. They have a competency based learning schedule – meaning it’s not about the hours you spend sitting in a classroom, but about the knowledge you have! WGU is half the cost of other online schools and a lot of flexibility, and right now they are even waiving their enrollment fee when you use the code: WONDER .

What’s been holding you back from finishing your dreams?

~Melissa

Comments submitted may be displayed on other websites owned by the sponsoring brand.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Western Governors University. The opinions and text are all mine.

September 29, 2014 0 comment

life memories Uncategorized

Savings Accounts, Jingit Apps, + a $500 Cash Giveaway!

written by Melissa Kaylene

This is a sponsored giveaway with Mums the Word Network and Jingit. All opinions are my own.

Remember this? It was a picture of Anika and her market lamb during the county fair about 6 weeks ago. Well the other week she finally sat down with the FFA and they went over all of her expenses and earnings and then they wrote her out a check with her profit from the lamb. She was one happy girl!

I’ve been meaning to open up a savings account for her for quite some time, but it’s just one of those things that you never ‘find’ time to do, and having a $113 check in her name finally prompted me to write down a visit to the credit union on my ‘to-do’ list yesterday, and we headed in before soccer practice to open her up an account.

We want to teach the kids about saving money early, and even though it’s been a struggle with me in the past, I’ve been working on it quite a bit lately. I guess someday I should do another update like I used too. 🙂

Anyways, my little miss Anika opened up her very first account yesterday and of course I had to sneak in a couple cell phone pictures real quick to note this big milestone for her.

With us trying to teach the kids about saving a percent of their money instead of just blowing it on candy or electronics, I know that I have to lead by example. We do have the opportunities to get to take the kids on a lot of fun events and do many family oriented things together, but while we spend money doing things like that, I am always trying to save a little extra money on other things – so we have more money for the fun stuff.

There’s an app called Jingit and it’s pretty cool. You can download it for free via iTunes or Google Play and it is just another way to help you save a little extra money through in store earnings, cash back offers, and even by watching videos online. It’s really easy to set up too – just ad you email address, password and cell number and then they will send you a confirmation code via text that you put in as well as a verification email. Once you do both of those things your account is verified and ready to go!

There’s a list of stores on the app and you can click on them and find many cash back offers. If you’ve purchased something or planning to, you can click on the reserve button and it will hold the offer for you for 24 hours. Once you’ve got your receipt you can then simply scan it and voila! Cash is deposited into your account. It’s nice because there’s a lot of stores on there that I already shop at, and the items that I’m seeing so far are things that I already buy.

I like the fact that my kids, especially Anika, are watching me do these little things to save money. I want them to grow up knowing the value of money and what they can do with it. After talking with Anika about the savings account, she decided that she only wanted $10 in her pocket for now (she still has a little birthday money on her too) and that she wanted to deposit the rest, so she would have over $100 in the account.

As we drove to practice last night I felt like I could see a tiny glimpse of why I do what I do for my kids everyday, and how important it is to keep setting them good examples. They are all growing up so quickly and I want them to be as prepared as can be for someday when they are out in the ‘real’ world.

We could all use extra cash and I’m happy to be part of a $500 cash giveaway!! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~Melissa

September 3, 2014 1 comment

health Uncategorized

Free Healthy Habits Booklet For Young Girls

written by Melissa Kaylene

This is a sponsored post with Together Counts / Girl Scoutns of USA and I have been compensated for my participation in this initiative. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

#sponsored #HealthyHabits @togethercounts @gscnc

Even though I’ve never been in Girl Scouts and we haven’t really involved the girls with it yet, I have always loved the program and what it does to help teach girls important things in life, like building confidence and character. One of my good friends has been a troop leader for many years with her daughter, and I’ve loved following along with their journey’s via Facebook. From the patches she’s received to the events they’ve done…sometimes it makes me wish I could have been involved when I was younger!

I’ve wanted to involve my girls with the Girl Scouts in some sort of fashion for a while now, but sadly last time I checked there were no troops local to us and I just don’t have the energy to commit to being in charge of one more thing. (I’m already behind on the PTA stuff!!) But – I wanted to share these free booklets I’ve found with you. The Girl Scouts have partnered with the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation and have developed three “Healthy Habits” booklets that volunteers can use in conjunction with their Journey Adult Guides. These books can show girls fun and easy ways to achieve “energy balance”, and what I love about it is that anyone can download them and implement them into their daughter’s journeys. The three booklets are:

Between Earth and Sky with Healthy Habits
WOW! Wonders of Water with Healthy Habits
Get Moving! With Healthy Habits

I think any extra information that we can give to our kids is so important for their development! The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation provides a program called the Together Counts Program, where they hope to inspire active and healthy living – and I think so many of our kids don’t really understand the importance of balanced lives, until in many cases it becomes a health problem.

So, check out the booklets and tell me what you think! How involved are you in teaching your daughter Healthy Habits? It’s sometimes not easy, but just leaving the door open to have topics up for discussion will really help your daughter when questions do come up.

To learn more about the Girl Scout, join the upcoming Twitter Chat on September 9th and have some fun with the Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital and Together Counts!

When: September 9th
Hashtag: #Healthy Habits
Follow: @GSCNC @togethercounts
Details: Will be available on MomItForward.com on September 3rd!

~Melissa

August 27, 2014 0 comment

sports Uncategorized

Soccer is Near

written by Melissa Kaylene

So I can’t believe that it’s seriously time to sign the girls up for soccer again! It seems like Anika just finished softball and like we should have another couple of months to go before fall activities begin – not weeks!

We’ve always had the girls in the McMinnville Parks and Rec, but Anika is now getting too old for it, yet there isn’t any soccer offered in middle school, so if she wants to have a chance to play in high school (which there is a really good chance) I’m going to have to put her in a club and to be honest I was completely scared to do that.

I have always thought that being in a club always meant that you did a lot of traveling, which really isn’t something that I can handle with all three of the kids being so young and having different activities, but I ended up finally looking online and doing a bit of research and learned some more information about the local club in this area and found out that Anika can be on a player development league and not travel – in fact she’d get to play at on the same fields that she has been playing on for the past few years and the cost isn’t much more than what we’ve been paying either.

Soccer is Anika’s all-time favorite sport to play and if she had to give everything else up in order to continue to play I know that she would.

While I was doing my research online I also checked out a site called Pear Up. It’s like a social engagement platform website that helps groups earn sponsorship from brands and it doesn’t cost anything. The website matches your team up with organizations in the community and helps make sponsorship easier.This quick video explains it a whole lot quicker than I can:

It seems really easy and groups can earn up to $1000 in a 10 day time frame. I’ll have to wait until Anika gets placed on a team to try this out, but I thought if your kids were already on team you might want to check Pear Up out!You can create your own Pear for your child’s sports team HERE, or if you’d like you can support the Pear of the team HERE.

Noah has wanted to start soccer too – but he won’t be old enough until this next spring. I don’t know if I’m ready for all three kids in sports! How do you manage all of your kid’s schedules? I think I’ll need all the tips I can get! 🙂

~Melissa
Full Disclosure: This post has been compensated, but as always all opinions are my own. For more information on working with me, visit my sponsorship page.

August 11, 2014 1 comment

life memories photos pictures Uncategorized

Keeping the Kids Clean at the Beach With Some Stylish Baby Wipes

written by Melissa Kaylene

Thanks Huggies for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own – as they always are. 😉 #HuggiesMomStyle

It seems like I haven’t been on here in forever when in reality it’s only been a few short days! If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you’ve had a sneak peak on how our 4th of July weekend went, but right now I’m slowly working my way through all of the photos I’ve taken and will be sharing my favorite moments with you. We camped at my friend’s property for three nights – she lives right on the Alsea river, and it’s only about a 15 minute drive to the beach from her place, so of course we had to drive over and spend the afternoon on the Oregon coast! We went as a big group so the kids could all play together and the weather was so beautiful we ended up staying for over three hours just let them explore the sand. We brought snacks as well as the new Huggies Clutch ‘N’ Clean Wipes to clean the kids as well as minimize the sand that was consumed while eating their snacks. I love the new packaging for the wipes because they are so handy to have on the go, and the designs make them easy to spot, plus they have a grab handle too which came in pretty handy. Even my husband was impressed with the design and suggested we keep a couple in the car – which of course I had already done. 😉

Another thing that I love is that I can just refill the Clutch ‘N’ Clean Wipes with any Huggies baby wipes, and they seal up great! Even now that my kids are older and not in diapers, I still use wipes on a regular basis and honestly can’t imagine not having them around again. With that being said, I do love that these don’t necessarily have that I’m-going-to-go-change-a-stinky-diaper-now look to them, and I can use them for so many different things!

The kids had so much fun on the beach for the 4th of July, making new friends and getting better acquainted with others. There is something so magical about the sand that just sparks the little ones imaginations and creativity. I honestly can’t imagine living more than a couple hours away from the beach. Even though we don’t make the trip out here as often as we’d like, it’s still a wonderful option that I wouldn’t want to live without.

These are some of my favorite photos so far this year, and I can’t wait to share the rest of our camping trip with you! The Huggies Clutch ‘N’ Clean also came in super handy while we were outdoors, and I just threw a couple in our bags for wiping things (and faces) down – especially after eating smores! You just gotta love camping.

~Melissa

July 7, 2014 10 comments

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