Giliena's Italian Charm Bracelet Holiday Giveaway

For anyone interested, I am also hosting another giveaway. You can enter to win an Italian Charm Bracelet, like the one pictured above, over at Giliena's Blog. There is this and so many other wonderful gift ideas over at Giliena's Italian Charms and European Beads.

Avon Botanicals Bamboo Diffuser and Beauty Palette Giveaway

The wonderful people at Avon and Mom Select gave me a great opportunity to review both the Botanicals Bamboo Diffuser and the Jillian Dempsey Beauty Palette

The Botanicals Bamboo Reed Diffuser is a decorative way to add fragrance to your home. The scented oil is poured into the ceramic vase and the natural bamboo reeds are inserted and absorb the oil. It will become a stylish part of your home decor and add a clean fresh scent to your surroundings. I have to say, when the diffuser arrived I was a little worried. I have a hard time with most air fresheners. That was not the case at all. The scent fills a room but is subtle and not overbearing. When I poured the oil into the vase I was a little sloppy and spilled a bit on my table. It wiped away easily without staining my table. I accidentally spilled another brand a while ago and it took the finish right off my nightstand.

The Jillian Dempsey Beauty Palette is wonderful. I was given the warm palette and the colors are beautiful. You can also order the cool palette. All the colors are soft and luxurious. The lipstick is glossy, goes on smooth and is long lasting. I like that the color stayed but did not dry out my lips. The cream eye shadow and blush are easy to apply. This collection of colors will create the perfect look for the holidays or any day. The makeup is gift ready and comes in a decorative magnetic-close compact with built-in mirror.

The nice folks at Avon.com have offered my readers free standard shipping with a $30 order when you shop with an eRepresentative. All you do is enter the code: JINGLE30. Act fast though because this offer expires January 1, 2009. Be sure to take advantage of this great deal during the holidays!

Win It:

I am offering both the Botanicals Disffuser and the Warm Palette to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me your favorite Avon product.

Want additional entries?

Blog about this giveaway on your blog and link back to me here at Giliena's Inspirations as well as Avon. Then come back here and comment again with the direct link to your post. Make sure you do so in a new comment in order to get credit for multiple entries.

Add my button to the sidebar of your website. Then come back here and comment again with a link to your site. Make sure you do so in a new comment in order to get credit for multiple entries.

Follow me by clicking on the "Follow this blog" link on the sidebar of my site. Then leave me another comment that you have done so. Make sure you do so in a new comment in order to get credit for multiple entries.

*IMPORTANT*

Contest ends December 4th, 2008 at 10:00PM MST! Be sure to include your email address so that you can be contacted. I have to have some way to contact you. If no email address is provided your entry will be disqualified and the comment will be removed. The winner will be chosen using random.org and will have three (3) days to claim their prize. If the winner does not claim their within three (3) days another winner will be chosen.

Spread the Holiday Spirit

Just something special to remember, for those who are doing something special for us . . .

When doing your Holiday cards this year, take one card and send it to this address. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get. So, when you are making out your Holiday card list this year, please include the following:

A Recovering American Soldier

c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center

6900 Georgia Avenue,NW

Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Green Your Routine

I was watching the Today show the other morning and they were talking about their "Green Your Routine" campaign. I always try to do my best to be as Green as possible in my routine. There were couple of tips they referred to that I actually had not thought of. They are simple changes we can make in our life that can make a huge impact on our environment.

The first deals with ATM receipts. There are billions of transactions each year. They said that 600 thousand tons of paper is used each year to produce the various receipts we receive for things including those we get from ATMs. That equals millions of trees, enough water to supply 100 homes, and 234 million gallons of oil. That said, please choose not to take your ATM receipt. If you need to check your balance do it online. Several ATMs will even let you check your balance there without generating a receipt. Think about what other receipts you can eliminate because they are unnecessary.

The second point they made was napkins. Most people will grab a lot more napkins than they realistically need or can use. Millions of clean napkins end up in our landfills each year. Taking just one less napkin will keep 150 million from going to a landfill each year. Do not just stop at taking one less napkin though. Start with taking just one or two and get more only if you need them.

These tips really struck home for me. They are small, simple and logical changes we can make to our every day life that can make a huge difference on our environment.

Image above provided by www.greenclipart.com.

Upromise

For me having kids and being a part of Upromise go hand in hand. Upromise is a way for you to save money for your kids to go to college while you do your every day shopping. The best part about it is it is free! All you do is sign up, enter your credit card and even your grocery shopping card and let the savings begin. You can even send it to your friends and family. They can sign up and enter their information and you get money for college for the shopping that they do as well. I wonder all the time about whether I am able to save enough money for my girls to be able to go to college. Having several hundred dollars a year extra that I do not have to contribute is awesome. Over 18 years that will add up to thousands of dollars contributed for doing nothing other than my normal routine of shopping.

It is literally that easy. I signed up almost 3 years ago when my oldest daughter was born. Most of the money I have received has been through just every day grocery shopping and shopping for items online. An example of some of the popular grocery name brands that participate are Nestle, Beech-Nut, Elmers, Tylenol, Enfamil, Hefty and so many others.

I am looking forward to the holidays coming up. I plan to shop for my big items online and use the Upromise site to do so. All you have to do is go to their online shopping section. Click on the link for the store you want. It loads the actual web site for that store and as you shop you earn $$$. There is even a toolbar you can load on your web browser. It allows you to eliminate the step of going to the Upromise site each time you shop online. As you shop sites it recognizes which ones are part of the program automatically. It makes online shopping and saving even easier.

I plan to go to the Walmart site and buy my items because they are part of the Upromise program. The cool thing about using Walmart is that I can shop online and then have all my items "sent to store". All I have to do then is go pick them up when they arrive. There is no shipping charge that way and I get to save extra money for college for my girls.

Sign up today and start saving for your kids! You really have nothing to lose and $$$ to gain.

Mommy Talk Giveaway

Quick! Over at Mommytalk.com they are doing a giveaway! Head on over and sign yourself up too!



Hurry! You might miss it! Oh, but be sure to come back when you are done!

Olivia Baby Signing Update

I have been working really hard with Olivia on communicating using Baby Sign Language. She is 7 months and is not yet able to do the signs herself but I know we are making progress. When I sign "eat" or "milk" the expression on her face completely changes. She gets a huge smile on her face and starts bouncing around with excitement. It just tells me that we are on the right track and that she understands 100% what I am saying to her. Right now I am also teaching her "more" and "all done". From there we will branch out well beyond the basics and see how it all goes. Progress is awesome!