This chocolate-filled post is sponsored by Global Influence, and HERSHEY’s provided me with samples to create a recipe to share with you!

This Winter seems to be going so slow, but we have a reason to smile. HERSHEY’S Easter candy and chocolate is now in stores. Easter candy is hands down, the best candy you can get, and all of my favorites come from HERSHEY’S. I didn’t realize that Cadbury Eggs and Cadbury Mini Eggs are both made by HERSHEY’S. Then you have Whoppers Robin Eggs, Reeses Eggs and Easter Bunnies, oh my! I’m sure I just listed off some of your favorites, right?

AJ has always loved Cadbury Creme Eggs and Cadbury Mini Eggs, I’m always going after Reeses Eggs and Easter Bunnies. This year I loved the Reester Bunnies, I’m pretty sure I have to go buy a few more packages of those, and I tried Reeses White Chocolate Peanut Butter Egg for the first time. I liked the Reeses White Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs so much that they inspired me to make an Easter dessert to share with you!

I took my family fudge recipe (this is the first time I ever made it!) and added a layer of white chocolate and peanut butter. Then I garnished the fudge with chopped Reeses White Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs.

This melt in your mouth fudge was delicious, I’m pretty sure this Fudge with Reeses White Chocolate Peanut Butter  will be my go-to fudge recipe.

Since this is Easter candy I cut the pieces into bunny shapes using a cookie cutter. Find the super easy fudge recipe below.

Are you in the mood for chocolate? I know I am, it’s pretty early in the morning and I could definitely go for some chocolate for breakfast! That would be completely acceptable, right?

One lucky reader will win an assortment of Easter candy from HERSHEY’s! That’s a visit from the Easter Bunny that you don’t want to refuse!

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Visit CelebrateWithHersheys.com and tell me what your favorite craft or recipe is, and while you’re commenting I would love to know what your favorite Easter tradition is!

My favorite is definitely the Easter Egg hunt, I can’t wait to see Aliceana search for eggs this year! Even though I’m sure she’ll find one and settle with playing with that one egg for the duration of the hunt.

I love traveling, whether it’s a trip just for fun or a business trip (let’s face it, business trips can be a whole lot of fun too!) Oh how I wish I was traveling now. I feel like we’ve been stuck inside for years, this Winter is never-ending! When we do go away, finding the right outfits to bring along should be the toughest part of packing, but a lot of times I have trouble packing bathroom essentials. You have to try your best not to forget anything important.  Then I’m always messing with plastic bags to make sure that our shampoo doesn’t leak in the luggage.

One of those things I’m never sure just how to pack are razors. When going away, I normally opt for really cheap disposables (I’m talking 3 for a buck cheap.) then I just throw them out when I’m done using them, I don’t want to have to pack up a razor that I’ve used only a couple of times to bring home with me. The problem? I’m using crappy razors. I need a good shave without nicks if I want to wear my cutest sundress on vacation.

That’s why I love having Venus Snap in my life, it’s a razor made to travel! It’s small with it’s mini-handle, but has a comfortable grip. It even includes it’s own portable compact. The handle works with all of your favorite Venus razor cartridges, it includes Venus Embrace with 5 blades and a ribbon of moisture.

The Venus Snap is designed to go in your purse, luggage, or even your gym bag. I know this will be an essential to pack every time I travel. So I can safely wear my favorite sundresses without any unsightly hair or nicks. This is a must-have beauty product that I wish had existed sooner.

When traveling I can slip the Venus Snap into my travel makeup bag, which is snakeskin, of course. (Aliceana stole my Cheetah print makeup bag.)

It fits great in my purse too. Here’s some of my essentials that I always have in my purse:
Wallet. Check! Business Cards and case. Check! Phone. Check! Pens. Bobby Pins. Hair Ties. Chapstick. Check. Check. Check. And check! and of course now I can carry my Venus Snap with me in my purse, because you never know when you’ll need a close shave on-the-go!

Chances are if I’m using my purse and not the diaper bag, that I’m doing something crazy awesome like going on a hot date night with my husband. Or maybe I’m heading to a solo Target trip. Both are pretty exciting, don’t you think?

Get your own Venus Snap at Target!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

Audio Fest is at Best Buy this month! It’s the perfect time to snag deals on all things audio and sound.

March Audio Fest is taking place across all Best Buy stores from now until April 4.

Visit Best Buy to help enhance your home entertainment experience and upgrade your sound. You can add additional components, speakers, and headphones. You can test and try the latest and greatest audio products at your local Best Buy store. There are home theaters, car audio systems, portable speakers, and headphones are all available to test out in store.

I received the JBL Flip Portable Stereo Speaker for review. I’m so impressed, I didn’t know I needed a Bluetooth enabled speaker until this arrived at my door. The sound quality is so crisp and perfect, and it gets loud! I’m surprised how loud this small speaker gets, the sound amplifies through our whole home if you turn it up loud enough. It’s perfect for mid-afternoon dance parties with toddlers…not that I’d know that…Okay okay, we have a lot of afternoon dance parties, Aliceana has way better moves than me already!

I think this speaker is the perfect idea, the only way I ever listen to music anymore is streamed from my tablet or phone. Being able to have great sound quality using my smart devices is great. I didn’t need to read directions to figure out how to pair the speaker either, I just turned the power on and I immediately connected to my tablet.

I love the JBL Flip Portable Stereo Speaker so much that I had to immediately call and tell AJ how great it was (he was all the way in New York.) I’m so excited to share the JBL Flip Portable Stereo Speaker with my music loving friends, it’s perfect to use during board game night!

I haven’t had the chance to try out the feature to answer phone calls (yep, it includes a built-in microphone.) I’m really excited to try it out though! As you can see above there are only three buttons on the JBL Flip Portable Stereo Speaker; power, volume, and phone calls. It’s extremel user friendly, I promise! The battery life seems to do great as well, and you can use it while charging!

Here’s a list of offers available  at Best Buy each week during Audio Fest.

March 9-March 15

o   2x points on Sonos Home Theater

o   All AVRs on Sale

o   All iPod touch on sale

o   Save $80 on Samsung Blu-ray/Soundbar Bundle

March 16-March 22

o   2x points on all speakers

o   BDi Furniture (3/7 – 3/23) Save $200 on any Home Theater Cabinet

o   All-on-sale Car Audio Speakers + 50% off speaker installation

o   $50 Savings on Sony MDR10 Headphones

March 23-29

o   $30 savings on BEATS SOLO™ HD ON EAR HEADPHONE – DRENCHED COLORS

o   Save 25% on all Sennheiser HD 500 Series Headphones

o   All Logitech Computer Headsets on Sale

o   Save $50 – $150 on Select Energy audio products (3/9-4/5)

March 30-April 4th

o   All Insignia Computer Speakers on Sale

o   Save $100-$200 on select Definitive Technology Floor Speakers (3/23-4/5)

o   Save $50 – $150 on Select Energy audio products (3/9-4/5)

o   Save $150 – $300 on Select Jamo Speakers

Visit your local Best Buy store to check these Audio products and more such as the JBL Flip Portable Stereo Speaker (that I reviewed above) for Most Bluetooth-Enabled Devices. This JBL streams music wirelessly from your phone/tablet/laptop, its portable and has a speaker-phone, built-in microphone and call-answer button  that lets you easily take phone calls.

Hurry and take advantage of these great deals at Best Buy’s Audio Fest!

This has been one of the longest weekends. Ever. I’ve been stuck at home with this little lady since Thursday. Oh no, the horror!  Oh and don’t mind the dog hair in the photo, she was probably just hugging one or both of the dogs.

We’re both getting Cabin Fever though (if you haven’t noticed from all of my posts, I am so over Winter!) so it’s definitely been a long, trying weekend.

AJ has been gone working since Thursday morning, and I’m crossing my fingers and toes that he will be home by tomorrow afternoon.

By the way, today I totally found out that crossing your fingers works. My Grandma really really wanted us to visit her even though the High School in her teeny tiny town was on fire and you couldn’t get into town any of the normal ways. So I sighed, turned off our Doctor Who marathon on Netflix and got dressed. Then I headed into her town the back way and (her directions were pretty horrible) and I had no idea where I was going, so I just went.

I picked a direction and crossed my fingers on the steering wheel. It worked. I made it!

Which reminds me of way back in the day when I would be driving with my Grandma to some random destination, and she would say. “Let’s take the back way!” and then we would get lost in the middle of the country side where there was nothing but trees surrounding us. Then she would always say, “We’re not lost as long as we have a full tank of gas!” I was always terrified. We were going to be eaten by wolves for sure on one of these excursions.

Thinking back now I wonder if she was ever really lost. Then again, my Grandma is pretty crazy (in the good way, of course) so she was probably lost. I don’t know what I would do without that lady. I certainly wouldn’t be able to find a better babysitter than her, Aliceana loves Great-Grandma’s house!

So yep, I’m just waiting for my husband to get home, crossing my fingers, and hoping this lost hour of sleep doesn’t kill me when I inevitably go to bed at 11:00, maybe actually fall asleep by midnight, and then have to wake up at 6:00.

By the way, the fire that I was avoiding didn’t hurt anyone, it seems like it was just some offices and music rooms. Sad though because the building was built in the late 1800′s and I’m sure it had so much History. 

It’s that time of the year, Girl Scout cookies, they’re everywhere. I was having a hard time getting my hands on a box of Samoa, and then decided that I would just go without for another year. Of course after I decided to pass on the cookies this year I’ve been able to find them everywhere. Everywhere. They’re basically stalking me. I even found Girl Scout cookies in our local hobby shop (AKA the nerd store.)

I’ve been passing up on them, at $3.50 I know I’ll eat the entire box of Samoa in a couple minutes and feel guilty about the splurge. I’ve also been meaning to make cheesecake lately. So why not combine the craving for cheesecake and Samoa into one beautiful dessert? Samoa Cheesecake had to happen.

I made a basic cheesecake with a coconut crust, topped it with homemade caramel sauce, toasted coconut, and a drizzle of chocolate on top. It definitely tastes better than a cookie, and it lasts a whole lot longer too. Even as delicious as it is, I can’t eat an entire cheesecake in one sitting.

Samoa cheesecake makes me happy. I think it will make you happy too!

Don’t be afraid to make cheesecake from scratch, it’s not nearly as scary as everyone makes it out to be. The key to baking the perfect cheesecake is to make sure the outsides of the cheesecake are firm, while the center has a little bit of wobble to it.

When you’re melting the sugar (Yes you can melt sugar, it’s so cool to watch!) to make caramel sauce make sure you already have the butter and heavy whipping cream measured out and ready to go by the stovetop.  Be ready to whisk, whisk, whisk!

What kind of Girl Scout cookie do you day dream about?

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its client. All health related suggestions and opinions expressed in this post are all my own. #CollectiveBias #WellAtWalgreens

I’d like to think that my family eats a well rounded diet, I make sure to include lots of fruits and vegetables with our meals, we have no problem getting dairy into our diet (hello cheese!) We also have a lot of meat, whole grains, and make sure to have good fats in our diet. Sometimes you still have to supplement, say your child goes on a hunger strike and will only eat peanut butter sandwiches, or you don’t like fish and are missing Omega-3 in your diet. That’s when these recommended vitamins and supplements come in handy.

Well at Walgreens is the store brand of products ranging from sunscreen, to vitamins. I love the great prices and selection that are offered. I picked up a couple bottles of vitamins that I’ll tell you a little about below.

Aliceana is a rockstar at eating, she’s not picky at all, and she loves her fruits and vegetables. She’ll have days where she gets a tad bit picky and she’ll refuse things. She had a three-day-long streak where she wouldn’t eat meat.  It was pretty annoying. Those are the days a childrens multi-vitamin might come in handy. Definitely check with your doctor before giving your little ones vitamins!

I love these Children’s Multivitamin Gummies, they’re gummy vitamins in the shape of dinosaurs. Plus, they taste great! (You bet I tried them!) I actually know a lot of adults that take children’s gummy vitamins, as they’re known to be way easier on tummies.

For the month of March, Well at Walgreens products are buy one get one 50% off. I couldn’t pass up that deal and had to purchase a bottle of Omega-3 for myself. I don’t like eating fish (which makes AJ sad, he loves his Friday Fish Fry and loves to go fishing.) Omega-3 is great for heart health though so it’s a great idea for me to take this as a supplement.

I love having the option of purchasing Well at Walgreens products. Another great reason to buy these products is the “Walgreens Way to Well Commitment.” Beginning February 1, 2011 through December 31, 2014, 1¢ from the purchase of every Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness product, up to $3 million annually, will support bringing preventative wellness services to local communities through the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment®.

Now would be the perfect time for you to stock up on vitamins for your whole family at Walgreens!
Buy one get one half off! (I bought both bottles for under $10!)

It might not feel like it, but it’s almost Spring! Spring is definitely baby season, it seems like everywhere I go there are pregnant women everywhere. My Instagram feed is blowing up with baby bumps, I’m sure I’m not alone. Not going to lie it’s giving me a little bit of baby fever, but then I look at Aliceana and she reminds me that she’s a handful all by herself.

Hanan who blogs over at Eat. Craft. Parent. is having her baby shower this weekend for baby number 4! She’s celebrating with a fabulous giveaway that I have to share!

My favorite item in the giveaway package is this Chicco Lullaby LX Playard ($190 value) I wish I had a play yard like that when Aliceana was a baby!

The other items you can win are;

Enter the giveaway and win so I can live vicariously through you and your babies! Check out the official giveaway post at Eat.Craft.Parent. for images of all of these great products!

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Giveaway ends at midnight 3/31. ONE winner for everything, and US only.

A couple weeks ago we had gorgeous weather, it was 40 degrees. In Wisconsin that’s basically t-shirt weather. Who am I kidding? I saw a guy wearing a sleeveless shirt yesterday when the temperature was less than 20 degrees, we’re all kind of numb to the cold at this point of the year.  So of course, we had to have frozen strawberry banana smoothies for lunch, since it was so warm outside (40 degrees in February is like Heaven.)

Aliceana is now the queen of smoothies, it’s pretty adorable how excited she gets about slurping up her nutritious lunch. Her favorite smoothie cup is my Starbucks tumbler that I used all the time (to drink water one Venti glass at a time) when I was pregnant with her, it’s pretty ridiculous to see a 20 month old with a Venti Starbucks cup. That’s my girl.

We’ve been on a smoothie kick lately, because sometimes it’s nice to have a healthy treat instead of reheating leftovers or making sandwiches for lunch. This strawberry banana smoothie is by far my favorite though. I’m pretty sure AJ wants to omit the banana altogether and just make strawberry smoothies, but I prefer the flavor combination of both strawberries and bananas.

I use Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla yogurt (with Whole Milk), because it’s made with all natural organic ingredients and tastes like ice cream. AJ took one taste of this yogurt and looked at me disappointed, “You didn’t check the label did you? This tastes too good for us to be able to eat.” I had to laugh and tell him that it was both organic and natural. Honestly, it tastes so good that you don’t believe it could be good for you. I promise I’m not being paid to say this, it’s just become a staple in our house. We love it!

To make this a frozen smoothie; I slice strawberries, place them in freezer bags, and let them freeze until we’re ready to enjoy smoothies.

You have no idea how excited I was to be able to go outside without a Winter coat to take pictures of these pretty smoothies. I think Winter is getting to us, and a taste of this strawberry banana smoothie can make you feel like you’re enjoying a sunny Summer day.

[Made-up] Fact: Strawberry smoothies taste better in mason jars with paper straws.

How do you get rid of your Winter blues?

If you’re in a warmer climate you can keep your warm thoughts to yourself, I’m beyond jealous. Ha! 

This snow day we’re warming up with Bigelow Tea #AmericasTea as part of a sponsored #CollectiveBias post!

There’s something so fun about playing in the snow. It really takes you back to your childhood, especially when your husband is throwing snowballs and you forgot mittens and don’t want to freeze your fingers off in order to reciprocate… See, it definitely brings you back to your childhood.

Aliceana hated snow the first time she really experienced it last November, she touched it and cried. Now that she’s getting older we gave her another shot, she loves walking in snow. She thinks it’s the coolest thing (until she falls.) Trio and Buddy love playing in the snow too, they run around so fast in the snow it’s pretty fun.

After all of that fun playing we normally have some pretty cold noses, fingers, and toes and we need a good way to warm up. So we take off our snowy boots, hats, and coats and start brewing some Bigelow Tea.

I found Bigelow Tea in two different sections in Walmart, you can find it in K-cups or foil pouch tea bags (for extra freshness.) For a limited time at Walmart you can find Bonus Packs of Bigelow Tea with 4 extra tea bags for the same low price!

I opted to buy the assorted package, because I couldn’t decide which flavor I wanted. Less than $3 and I get to try 6 different teas! Pretty good deal if you ask me! Bigelow Tea is an American, 3-generation, family owned company that provides great quality tea.

We chose to warm up with I Love Lemon and Orange & Spice Bigelow Teas. I have to say I love that these teas are all natural, so I don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying them! I even add a drop of raw honey for a little extra sweetness and it’s delicious! This tea definitely comes in handy since I gave up coffee a few weeks ago, it’s nice to have a warm beverage in lieu of coffee (that I would have filled with sugar and creamer)

I promise these mugs were actually brewing tea, even though it may not look like it. They were only half filled, as they’re HUGE mugs.

I can’t wait to try the Mint Medley Tea, and I’m sure I’ll find a night where I could use the Sweet Dreams Tea!

Make sure to purchase some Bigelow Tea to enjoy on your next snow day!

Here’s a Pinterest board to really inspire you!

What flavor of tea is your favorite to warm up with?

I’m always grabbing fresh fruit without any real intentions, it just looks good so I grab it out of impulse and go from there. Probably not the worst thing in the world to buy at the grocery store, right? Last week it was blueberries. I don’t like blueberries just for eating, and I’ve had enough blueberry muffins and blueberry scones lately, so it was time to change it up. Better than Blueberry Pie Bars are what I came up with.

This recipe starts out with a really simple to make layer of crust, then a layer of sweetened blueberries,  layer on more crust, and of course this is better than blueberry pie, so we have to put the icing on the bars!

All of the ingredients are already in your kitchen cupboards, so pick up some blueberries and get to work!

These bars are such a refreshing change of pace. The dough reminds me of a perfectly sweet sugar cookie, it really helps so the blueberry flavor isn’t completely overwhelming like it would be in a pie.

Making the blueberry filling is as easy as pie too! I just sprinkled sugar over the blueberries and smashed them with a pestle,  just enough to get some juice out of the berries without completely crushing them. It’ll look like this.

I can’t wait to make these for friends and family, this will definitely be my dessert choice for the next family gathering. Let’s face it, that first pan didn’t stand a chance at leaving our kitchen, it was devoured in a couple days, and would have been gone faster if I didn’t have double chocolate peanut butter muffins sitting directly next to them.  I was definitely in a baking mood,  and “Muffin or bars?” has been one of the hardest decisions that we’ve had to make this week. (We’re pretty crazy about baked goods.)

I’m thinking about making these with fresh strawberries later this week, I’ll let you know how that is!

Who would you share your Better Than Blueberry Pie Bars with?