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One of the first things that happens after the pregnancy test is the arrival of the book “What to Expect When you are Expecting” by Heidi Murkoff. I don’t think I know of one woman who didn’t have this book in their house during their pregnancies. Not that is the end all be all of all pregnancy books, but it is truly helpful for you to understand what is going on with your baby week by week and what you can expect to happen or not to happen. I cannot even imagine being pregnant 50 years ago (or more!) when all you had were stories passed down. As much as I love to hear everyone’s pregnancy stories and enjoy telling a few myself, there is something much more comforting about knowing what is going on day by day with your baby without the emotional or sometimes scary stories attached.

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So now, imagine, this amazing book put together in movie format! Imagine some of Hollywood’s best acting out what we all have thought and read an put it into a movie.  If you go and watch the trailer  What to Expect Movie Trailer on YouTube you will be sure to have a good laugh while picturing your husband doing the same things as these guys, well maybe not quite as bad, but you can see how they can pull some of the wildest stories and bring them to you on the big screen.
What to Expect

What to Expect When you are Expecting is opening in Theatres on May 18th. And I have a double pass to give away to for the Ottawa Premier on Wednesday, May 16th at 7pm at the Empire 7 Theatres. If you would like to see Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Brooklyn Decker, Cameron Diaz, Joe Mangianello, Denis Quaid, Chris Rock and more in this sure to be hilarious movie and are available on Wednesday, May 16th to attend the Ottawa Premier leave a comment telling me, What was the most fun thing about being pregnant?  and if you haven’t been pregnant tell me what is your favorite restaurant in Ottawa (cause well, I want to find some new places for dinner).

Draw for the double pass (this means you and a guest will get to go see the movie together) will take place on Sunday, May 13th. Otherwise known as Mother’s Day. Hope to see you there!

*Passes were provided by Thomas Allen & Son and Alliance Films

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Categories: Giveaway

I was recently asked to review A Zombie Ate My Cupcake by Lily Vanilli. I have to admit that at first I thought it was a children’s book with recipes intertwined, however, it is not. It is simply a fabulous recipe book, full of all sorts of ghoulish cupcakes to serve for Halloween or any other scary party one might want to have. And it is for children of all ages, even those who go to work every day.

A Zombie Ate My Cupcake

I had to at least try a recipe before telling you that I loved it. I mean I love the idea of all these fabulous cupcakes and the recipes look wonderful, but I still had to try it out.

A Zombie Ate My Cupcake

I decided to try the red velvet because I have never made red velvet before. Together with the buttercream icing, they were a huge hit in our house. The recipe was simple to follow and the instructions for decorating seem quite doable. I am also looking forward to trying the pecan, nutmeg and cinnamon cupcakes, they sound like a nice Fall treat.

Take a sneak peek at some of these funky and fun recipes:
A Zombie Ate My Cupcake A Zombie Ate My Cupcake
A Zombie Ate My Cupcake

And the best part is that I get to give one away to one of my readers! Yay! Thomas Allen and Son Publishing has offered a book to me and one to giveaway. All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me your favorite cupcake flavour. A winner will be randomly selected and announced on Thursday, October 14th at noon.

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Categories: Book Reviews, Giveaway

Not sure about all of you, but when we go on vacation we not only enjoy our favorite beach and the wonderful ocean, but we also enjoy all our favorite treats.  And by treats I mean we had two weeks of all our favorite foods and then some.  We ate pizza, ice cream, frozen yogurt, beer, french fries, chocolate, chips … and the list could go on and on and on…

I also realized this year that when you walk with small children that aren’t in a stroller you don’t burn off as many calories as you do when you can walk as fast as you want.  Apparently our years of walking the boards fast and burning off all our treats are gone for now.

When we returned home, I was not happy with myself at all.  I hate to admit it, but I was feeling a little chubby and after working so hard all Spring to decrease the chub I was pretty mad. The good news is that I had been chosen to participate in the Mom Central Under-Way blog tour.  Mom Central seems to know what I need when I need it and a week after coming home from the beach a box arrived at the door.

In it were samples of the underWAY supplement drink.  I was quite excited to try these out as they are infused with HeroFiber and heart-healthy vitamins, works naturally to suppress your appetite and quench your thirst. And boy did I need help suppressing my appetite.  In two short weeks I became very accustom to extra snacks, well extra, ha,  I snacked pretty much all day long. underWay is great!  I received four bottles of grape and four of acai-pomegranate and you wouldn’t know by taste that they were healthy supplement drinks. At just 20 calories per bottle I didn’t mind having a bottle in between my glasses of water.  And since they are great for rehydration I made sure to have one after my run.

Here are a few extra benefits of underWay drinks:

  • there are no preservatives, sodium or caffeine
  • one serving delivers almost a third of your daily recommended intake of fibre
  • only has 10 calories and 2 grams of carbs per 8oz serving (each bottle is two servings)

In addition to the eight bottles of underWay, I also received a case of samples of Smart for Life products.  There were cookies, cupcakes, crunch, cereal, soup, bagels and shakes.  And WOW!  I was only asked to try the product and let you know what I thought.   But, I went one step further.  In my case I had enough product for five days of the Smart for Life Cookie Diet so I decided to give it a try and see what the results would be. In five days I lost 7lbs.

Now, I know that a couple (ok three) of those pounds were from the beach but the other four were ones that I wanted gone before I left for the beach. But, that was enough for me to tell that it is certainly worth a try.  In addition to losing 7lbs, I felt fantastic.  I chose to not be too strict on myself for my dinners, so I ate the Smart for Life products (with lots of water) all day long as directed then I ate dinner with the family.  I tried not to eat many carbs but didn’t make it super strict. Fabulous.  The cookies and cupcakes were great, they are moist and tasty and I was totally surprised.  So surprised that I went to Costco on Saturday and bought a case of cookies and a case of drinks so I could keep it up for the next week and see what happened.  Either way they are a great meal replacement or low-calorie dessert at only 90 calories for a cookie or muffin.

And as an added bonus, I get to give TEN of my readers a case, courtesy of Mom Central,  just like the one I received (which apparently I forgot to take a picture of) so you too could try out underWAY and Smart for Life.  All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me why you would like to try underWAY or Smart for Life products and you will be entered to win. Contest open to Canadian residents only (sorry to my friends from the South).Readers may enter the contest on multiple blogs but are only eligible to win once as part of the underWAY blog tour contest. Contest closes August 4th.

Disclosure – I am participating in the underWAY program by Mom Central on behalf of Better Health Beverage, LLC. I received a gift card as a thank you for my participation.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

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Categories: Blog Tour, Food, Giveaway, The Beach