Hawthorne & Wren Another Grateful Win

Last week I attended a #HWHoliday Twitter party hosted by @AudreyMcClellan of Mom Generations  I had no idea what H&W was until this party and what I learned was quite a treat! H&W stands for Hawthorne & Wren and what they are is a company that sells unique and memorable gifts for you to send to friends and family during difficult or sensitive times. This is a wonderful concept and the gifts offered on their site are absolutely stunning.

I had won the first prize of the night, the Sun Kissed Moments Gift. The description stated

"Trees thick with juicy apricots fill the orchard, their heavy branches bending with ripe fruit that remains untouched until the perfect moment. When the sugar of the apricot kisses the sun, then and only then are they delicately removed to be dried. These apricots are delicious symbols of the beauty found in a little patience--and a reminder that good things come to those who wait for the right moment. May you, too, find the perfect sweetness in every moment as you enjoy this gift of Provence tea and dried apricots ripened to perfection."

Sounds amazing right? Well it was more than amazing and quickly became one of those WOW wins I have had. It hit the ranks of the top 10 for sure. The package arrived yesterday and I waited probably half the day before I got around to opening my packages for the day, I wish I had opened it as soon as it came. Rather than describe the indescribable I'm just going to post the pictures of the gift. It all came wrapped in beautiful Hawthorne & Wren tissue paper, and included a card that told the story of what the gift was.. where it was from and what was within it! As I type this post out, I sit here drinking the tea out of the beautiful tea glass! A HUGE thank you to @AudreyMcClellan for this amazing winning gift! What an amazing company that has a wonderfully comforting mission when it comes to gifts from the heart.... 

 Wrapped up in tissue paper - then unwrapped - beautiful tins & glass

 Dried Apricots were in the red tin & the left photo is the tea

Finally the Glass Tea Mug! It seems so delicate and beautiful!

What's To Come On A Review

Look what's coming up for Review!! Are you getting excited because I am ecstatic!!!!

Zero's Vet Visit & Begging

Zero had to go to the Vet today. Not for just a regular check up - but because she has gotten really congested at night time... congested enough she almost moans and whines while she is laying down at night. I've resorted to putting the vaporizer with Vicks Vapo Steam on at night. She will literally sit next to it and put her nose into the steam stream or she will lay on the bed with her head hanging off so her nose is close to the steam stream. It has seemed to help the both of us at night. The vet thinks she might have some type of respiratory infection, previously she has had kennel cough (almost a year to the date ago) and over the summer had allergies flair up from all the golden rod here where we live now. She looks like she was retaining water and swallowed a balloon, was a little lathargic, but never lost her appetite, but she sure was not herself the past few days. You could talk to her and she'd only open her eyes and look at you... no head up, no jumping up to see you, no happy expressions. So off to the vet we went. I was concerned, but not super concerned because she never lost her appetite. Of course now that I started feeding her the Ideal Balance by Hill's Science Diet (see previous post for review) it has been like crack to her! I tease her saying come on girl I'll fill your crack pipe for you (as I walk with her bowl to the dog food bag) 

EverSave.com $5 Member Appreciation Event Ends 12/8

Starting today December 6th until midnight on December 8th EverSave.com is giving every single saver a $5 credit to use on Saves! This means all of you members will have the $5 credit in your Eversave.com account (which you can use for online, local, or travel Saves) and all of you who have not signed up yet will receive the credit when you create an account. So get down to it and SAVE! With Eversave.com's Member Appreciation Event. You have until Dec 8th to use your $5 Save!

Some current Saves you can purchase right now are:

$35 for $70 worth of premium wine and gifts at Wine.com
Offer expires: 11:59 PM - Dec 06, 2011

Five-night stay + massage, yoga, dining and surfing from $259 in Baja California Sur
Offer expires: 11:59 PM - Dec 07, 2011

$74 for a set of BeatTubes+ wireless speakers, plus free shipping!
Offer expires: 11:59 PM - Dec 15, 2011

If you currently aren't an EverSave member you can join at EverSave.com

Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Adult Dog Food - REVIEW

I probably have one of the pickiest dogs around. I've never heard of or know of a dog that is more picky on what she will eat than Zero. If Zero doesn't like something she will spit it onto the ground and it will lay there until it gets picked up to be thrown out or until Dylan or Lucy snatch it off the floor. Zero also doesn't eat all her dog food at one time, she will eat a little then come back and eat some more. Just once I wanted to see her excited to actually get fed, enjoy eating her dry food, and maybe see an empty bowl. I believe that time has finally come. I've always heard the name Science Diet referred to as the highest quality dry dog food out there. I've seen it displayed in the Vet's office and have sat there, while waiting, watching people come in and purchase it also. Yes, you can buy Science Diet at your veterinarian's office, or at least I know you can at mine. I never really gave giving a try much thought, after all our dogs had been on the same brand food for years and years. It seemed to work, or was it really? Considering we have had to deal with putting a few dogs on a diet a few times perhaps the brand we are using isn't really working. I was presented with the opportunity to try the  NEW Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Adult Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner dry dog food, I took the opportunity to see if this high quality dry dog food would pass the test of my trio of picky eating dogs!

Just a few little facts about Hill's Science Diet - it is the #1 Choice of Veterinarians to feed their own pets - (ding ding ding! this should have been the bell ringer alone right there, but there is more), also comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back, clinically proven antioxidants for healthy immune systems, and a visible difference in your pet in 30 days! Those factors all coupled together should have been my sign to at least see if my trio of picky eaters would enjoy it, but to be honest I was naive in the fact I had ignored all that I had read. I'm on a dog food mission. I want to know that my dogs are getting the very best dry food that I can possibly afford to feed them - all while finding a dry food that is indeed all natural. Again, all natural meaning the first ingredient isn't a meal or a dry powder of some protein. Along comes Science Diet's NEW Ideal Balance all natural dry dog food! There it was.. all natural from a dog food industry leader. I jumped on the BzzCampaign wagon quicker than a bolt of lightning to try the Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner! Upon receiving the bag the first thing I did was read the ingredients.. I was very impressed to read Chicken as the first ingredient (not chicken meal or chicken bi-products, but REAL chicken) followed by brown rice, whole grain wheat, cracked pearled barley, and soybean meal! The beginning of this introduction to Ideal Balance was already singing the praises of awesome just from reading the bag. It had yet to pass the test of Zero, my 4 yr old solid white purebred Boxer.