Avoiding Summer Sunburns With Coppertone

Posted on July 13, 2013 at 5:48 pm by Beeb Ashcroft

Product samples were received for review.

My fair complexion means that my skin burns very easily. See this bad sunburn I got last year? I still have tan lines on my shoulders from that same burn, which happened at the end of last July. I’ve realized that no amount of sunscreen is really too much for me, so I’m very careful to not only apply it extensively but also bring a bottle along with me to do frequent touch-ups if I can’t get to shade while I’m outdoors. I used up most of my sunscreen while I was in Wyoming last month, so when I got an email from Coppertone offering to send me a few bottles from their line, it was great timing since I know I’ll go through a few more bottles over the course of this summer!

The sunscreens I received from Coppertone were:

Oil Free Faces SPF 15 Sunscreen Lotion
Coppertone Wet ‘n Clear Spray in 45+ SPF (I don’t see this particular one on their website, but it’s the same packaging, just a different SPF)
ultraGUARD SPF 50 Lotion

I tried these out this week before heading to the zoo, and they really worked out well. I love that they have a sunscreen especially for the face, since I don’t like how much product I have to slather over my pores to protect my skin. I haven’t used it regularly enough to know if it will cause breakouts, but it’s supposed to be formulated not to. SPF 15 is pretty low, but I see that they also have Oil Free Faces in SPF 50 which is what I would go for personally.

I’m also loving the spray – although it’s been designed to spray on wet skin, I found it to be very useful for spraying myself down for regular activity, since I could get to hard-to-reach areas like my upper back. It makes the process of applying sunscreen a lot less tedious since it goes on so quickly. It took a while to dry in some places because I SOAKED myself in it – no, really, I sprayed on probably an excessive amount. (See my comment above about “No amount of sunscreen is too much”! ;)) You might want to put down a towel if you’re doing this indoors, since it will get on the floor.

I had a hard time spraying the Wet ‘n Clear with my left hand, so I didn’t bother putting it on my right arm and used the ultraGUARD lotion for that instead. I also packed the lotion in my purse, since it was the most convenient bottle to take with me for touch-ups.

The makeup is to fix my melting face in the Portland heat, while the snacks are to keep us from starving to death in standstill rush hour traffic. 😉 I ended up not need to touch up my sunscreen since most of the time I spent outdoors happened after 6 PM, but better safe than sorry!

Fellow thrifty folks will have noticed the recent Sunday newspaper coupon insert for savings on Coppertone products – but if you missed out, you can click here to print off a coupon for $1.00 off. That way you won’t get “Burned” by paying full price! Ha! Ha! I crack myself up.

What would be in your “Summertime survival kit”?

Sight Words: The Future of Flashcards App Review

Posted on July 12, 2013 at 11:12 am by Beeb Ashcroft

This is a sponsored post.

As someone who was homeschooled, I look at all the resources and tools available to homeschool students now and think how much simpler it’s gotten. Thanks to the Internet, there are countless resources and options for homeschooling parents available and I think it’s fantastic – back in the ’80s and ’90s, my parents had to send off for special materials through snail mail catalogs and the like. It’s crazy how quickly things change!

Of course, we all remember good old decks of flash cards – and those, like everything else, have gotten a modern makeover. Forget fumbling through a deck of cards; now it’s all on iPad, baby! Sight Words: The Future of Flashcards is an app from Sprite Labs aimed at developing reading skills in children aged 4 to 8. This application uses voice recognition to quiz children on different words, showing them on the screen and then prompting them to repeat it. The teacher is Miko the monkey, who sits on a tree smiling and delivering lessons. When a word appears on the screen, he puts his hand to his ear and leans in eagerly, waiting to hear the response. It’s very cute!

Upon starting the app, you can choose between preschool through third grade levels, with nouns receiving their own section. Parents can set the app for either “Teaching mode”, where the female narrator says the word out loud before it appears, or “Practice mode”, where the word is only displayed on screen and not spoken. You can also enable or disable hints, where the word is repeated verbally if the speaker does not say it correctly the first time. I purposely said the wrong words a few times to see what would happen – if you try too many times, the narrator just gently tells you to try again later and moves on, so kids won’t get frustrated getting stuck on one tough word. It also appears to flag difficult words for you to access later, although there seem to be some variables with this. The voice recognition appears to be pretty good – although when I tested the “Preschool” level, it prompted me to say the letter “A” and I purposely said “B” to test what would happen with a wrong answer. Miko told me I had that one right, though. 😉 I tried another word that it identified as being correct that was way off, but all the rest were accurate. There are bound to be moments like this with voice recognition, especially with children just learning pronunciation.

When you get through five words, Miko gives you a fun on-screen puzzle to solve, giving this a game aspect. This is WAY more fun than the flash cards I grew up with and I think it’s so neat that we can utilize technology in all of these new ways to make learning fun and interesting. From a technical standpoint, this app seems to work pretty well, although when I first launched it I noticed the program closed when I adjusted the volume on my iPhone; it hasn’t done that since, but it has crashed a few times while trying to play the introductory movie.

This app is available for iPhone 3GS (Which is what I tested it on!), as well as iPhones 4, 4S, 5, iPad, and iPod Touch 3rd, 4th, and 5th generations. It is available for $1.99 on the iTunes store – click here to purchase.

PDX Summer Concerts: Sunset at The Zoo

Posted on July 11, 2013 at 4:14 pm by Beeb Ashcroft

Complimentary zoo admission & train ride received.

Last night, Jai and I headed into Portland for Sunset at The Zoo, the Oregon Zoo’s annual evening concert & family fun series. We had a great time at last year’s Sunset at the Zoo and were looking forward to this summer’s entertainment. During this event, the Zoo stays open late so that guests can observe crepuscular animals and listen to live music. There are fun activities provided for kids such as storytime with princesses and crafts, while parents can enjoy beer and wine in a fun family environment.

The fun starts at 5 PM and runs through 9:30, so we hit the road that afternoon and planned to meet my brother-in-law there. There were some pretty slow cars on Highway 26 that were doing 10 miles under the speed limit in a no-passing zone, so we ended up hitting Portland right at rush hour. It took us an hour to go 8 miles, so we ended up not arriving at the zoo until 6 PM – we must have gotten lucky in the past, because I’ve driven through rush hour traffic in PDX at this time before and never encountered standstill traffic quite like that! By the time we finally got there, Jai’s brother had already left because he had to get back to work. 🙁 The traffic was terrific and there was some confusion on parking, but once we got settled in we were ready for some good fun!

We stopped by a bench so that I could grab a few meal bars that I had packed in my bag as snacks, and the “Mayor of Hooperville” was nearby giving kids a hula hoop lesson. One of the hula hoopers walked up to us while we ate and said, “Would you guys like a hula hoop lesson?”

I’ve tried hula hooping maybe once in my life, so the girls gave me a crash course on hooping. I learned that you move your stomach forwards and backwards rather that trying to move in a circle as I had mistakenly assumed. I kept the hoop up for maybe 10 seconds at the most, but it was a world record for me! Let me tell you, that is one awesome ab workout – I’m thinking I need to pick up a hula hoop for exercise now!

After I learned the ropes (Hoops?) of hula hooping, we made our way down to the concert lawn to watch “Your Zoo and All That Jazz”. This fantastic lineup included Oregon Music Hall of Fame’s Shirley Nanette and Mel Brown, jazz drummer who has performed on recordings for everyone from Motown artists like Marvin Gaye to George Harrison; Grammy-winner Thara Memory and accomplished pianist Tom Grant, not to mention local jazz greats Sweet Baby James Benton, Renato Caranto, Dave Captein and Ron Steen.

It was a beautiful day and perfect setting to listen to some fantastic musicians. The lawn area is set up so that families can relax and children can dance while enjoying the music – it’s a really fun atmosphere!

After listening to a few songs, we headed over to the Zoo Train to catch a ride on the last train of the day.

The “Zooliner” takes you on a 25-minute tour through the zoo grounds and Washington Park. Zoo animals are not visible from the train – rather, it is a peaceful, scenic tour through the natural beauty of the area. It’s a great way to rest after you’ve been on your feet for a while, and with the sun just starting to go down, it was a lovely time of day to ride the train.

And of course, we saw plenty of animals during our evening at the zoo!

Can you spot the sleepy cat? This is an Amur leopard – there are only about 22 left in the wild with 200 existing in zoos, so this is a very precious endangered animal.

I also found out how tall I am compared with a bear!

We also got to see a few animals that we missed the last time we were at the zoo – the penguins and otters. The otter we saw was right in front of the glass, relaxing and taking a nap. We got such a good view – otters are adorable – and bigger than we expected! We also got a good look at a few penguins diving, swimming and hanging out on the rocks. SO cute!

These are the skeletons of an Emperor Penguin and an eagle. There seem to be a lot of bird bones on my blog lately, don’t there? What can I say, I think it’s interesting. 😉

Sunset at The Zoo is a great activity for all ages – there’s so much to see at the Oregon Zoo to begin with, and these evening activities just add even more options to choose from.

Hours & Admission

Sunset at The Zoo will take place on July 24th, August 7th and August 21st from 5 PM to 8 PM; grounds stay open until 9:30 PM – check out the Oregon Zoo calendar for details on the upcoming activities and concerts.

Concert is included with regular zoo admission price, which is $11.50 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8.50 for children aged 3 to 11, with children under 2 getting in free. Click here for more information on discounts, parking & membership. Zoo Train fare is $5.

Visit the Oregon Zoo on the web, Facebook or Twitter for further details!

Attack of The Birds

Posted on July 9, 2013 at 9:26 pm by Beeb Ashcroft

On our way to Eugene last month, Jai and I pulled over at a rest area. As I headed back from the restroom, Jai opened his car door and waved his arm at me. I knew he was trying to get my attention about something so I stopped walking and gave him a puzzled look. He was trying to give me a heads-up about this:

As Jai sat in the car, he watched this bird swoop down and dive-bomb every person that walked by; he realized what was happening when he saw people swatting at their heads. Why, you ask?

Because this nest of adorable baby birds was nearby!

This picture gives you an idea of how close this nest was to the parked cars. With people walking back and forth all day, these birds are going to have their work cut out for them patrolling the nest.

FitBloggin’ GoodBye Dinner

Posted on July 8, 2013 at 10:05 am by Beeb Ashcroft

Chef Jason Roberts at the Nutrilite Goodby Dinner

As a FitBloggin’ live blogger, I received complimentary conference admission, including dinner and samples. No coverage was required or expected.

Parting is such sweet sorrow, so FitBloggin’ sent us out with a Goodby Reception hosted by Nutrilite on the final night of the conference. Besides the yummy food, there was dancing and fun galore.

Chef Jason Roberts opened the dinner with a few words, giving away prizes to lucky attendees and discussing BodyKey by Nutrilite, letting us know that every person in attendance would be receiving a BodyKey Jump Start Kit.

The kit contained a duffel bag, three different diet supplements, a bag of meal replacement shake powder and a shaker cup. They offered samples of the shakes during the reception, which was great to cool down with during all the dancing! During the final breakfast the following morning, there was a “Swag Exchange” table set up for leftover items, and there were products that none of the other bloggers could take home with them because they were flying and had limited space. Because we’re “Local” and drove to the conference, I had unlimited space, and the organizers encouraged me to take whatever was left as they would have to leave it at the hotel otherwise. So as you may have gathered from my Wordless Wednesday photo, I got quite a bit of extra stuff – in fact, a pallet worth – and that included a few extra Jump Start Kits. Super Coupon Girl felt very lucky that day, and since no one else could take it due to weight, I stopped it from going to waste. 🙂 I’m pumped about the meal replacement shake and extra shaker bottles – Jai and I use both of these things on a daily basis anyway, and what I tasted of the flavor (Rich Dutch Chocolate) was very good. I don’t know if we will use the diet supplements or not, so we may give those away, although Jai totally took one of the Slimmetry pills our first day home just because it has some caffeine in it. By the end of the conference, we’d only gotten a few hours of sleep total the entire time, so it was an emergency situation. 😉

Nutrilite also had a table in the Expo Hall that I visited to learn more about their vitamin line. Every swag bag contained a box of Perfect Pack vitamins, which I shared with my family who were nice enough to let us stay with them during our time in Portland – they take vitamins regularly and were happy to receive them!

Next to the Nutrilite Expo table was a computer quiz that would recommend vitamins for you based on your answers. As you can see, it recommended an Immunity Health Pack for me – when I put in how little sleep I got that week, I’m surprised the machine didn’t blow up! 😉

FitBloggin’ Recap: Total Gym XLS Demo

Posted on July 8, 2013 at 7:00 am by Beeb Ashcroft

Conference admission provided as a FitBloggin’ live blogger. Gift bag provided as a “Thanks” for demonstrating equipment during a session! No coverage was required or asked for. This post contains affiliate links.

During FitBloggin’, I had a chance to try out a Total Gym XLS for the first time, both in the Expo Hall and during their demo session How Total Gym Can Change Your Life.

I’ve never tried a “Home gym” unit before and I had a lot of fun going through all the different exercises. The Total Gym XLS can be used for pretty much anything, and I loved how I could use it without having to put strain on my knees.

Personally, I’ve always preferred leaving my house to go to a gym. I always figured that home gym equipment would go unused – Hello, ab roller I bought in the ’90s and still haven’t used! – and working from home, I picture trying to do a workout and getting interrupted by the doorbell, phone ringing, 32 unread email notifications dinging my phone…you get the picture! However, in recent months we’ve had to put a hold on our gym membership due to budget and time concerns. I’ve been so swamped that I find myself wishing I had something I could do for 10 minutes in my PJs before taking a shower. It’s become apparent that I need some kind of home routine that I can take up until things calm down and I can pick up my gym membership again; and I must say, I think the advantage to something like this is that you can use it for a whole variety of exercises rather than just one thing (Like my ab roller!). It also folds up to the point where you could slide it under a bed, which was pretty impressive. I got a great workout during the demo and my arms were sore in a good way for days afterwards!

Everyone at the panel who was willing to get up and demo the machines in front of the other attendees was given a fun little gift bag with a shirt and water bottles. Now I have a new tee to work out in!

FitBloggin’ Session Recap: Turning Your Blog Into a Business – Key to Monetizing Your Work

Posted on July 8, 2013 at 6:00 am by Beeb Ashcroft

Admission to FitBloggin’ received as a live blogger. Samples offered with no request or anticipation of coverage. This post contains affiliate links.

While I was at FitBloggin’, I attended a panel called Turning Your Blog Into a Business – Key to Monetizing Your Work, presented by Sarah Beeskow Blay of ShareASale, Phyllis Strand of Phyllis4Fitness and Laura Yamin of Joyful Shimmy. This session covered business topics like affiliate marketing, ad networks, and other monetization strategies.

ShareASale also had a table in the Expo Hall – I’ve been in their affiliate network for a little while, so it was fun to meet with them in person. Some of their merchants had provided samples to give away to attendees, so I got to take home a few fun things. One was a grab bag from The Muscle & Fitness Store & Jacked in a Box – this is a monthly subscription service filled with products aimed at the bodybuilding/fitness market, so my goodie bag had things like protein bars and drink mixes. I also received a bag of Crunchy Clusters plus a box of Slender Sticks from PureFormulas – yay for FitBloggin’ snacks!

I was also given this headband from TrailHeads, which has a hole in the back to loop your ponytail through. How genius is this?! It drives me nuts when my headband flies off my head while working out, or gets all tangled up with my hair and headphones. This will be very useful!

ShareASale also had a fun giveaway at their table – when you registered for one of their merchant’s affiliate programs, you were eligible to win a prize from that retailer. Being the sweeper that I am, I naturally said “Sign me up for all of them!” It paid off, and I won this fun bag of bath/body products from Hips And Curves. It stands to reason that the webmaster of Contest Corner would win something at FitBloggin’! 😉

FitBloggin’ Recap: Optimizing Recovery – Maximizing Post-Exercise Nutrition

Posted on July 7, 2013 at 3:51 pm by Beeb Ashcroft

Conference admission received as a FitBloggin’ live blogger, along with some chocolate milk. 😀

Optimizing Recovery – Maximizing Post-Exercise Nutrition was an interesting FitBloggin’ panel presented by Dr. Wendy Bazilian on behalf of the Got Chocolate? team. This session went over a lot of information regarding the best food choices to make after a workout and why.

Dr. Bazilian said that taste, affordability, and convenience are almost as important when considering an post-workout snack in order to make it accessible and realistic for most people. I personally agree with her there!

Chocolate milk has become a popular post-recovery drink because of its combination of protein, carbs, electrolytes and vitamins. Obviously, this session was presented by the the Got Chocolate? panel, but there was a collection of scientific sources cited. I found it to be very informative overall, so I took a lot of photos of the slides presented for future reference – I wanted to be able to remember everything so I could share it with Jai! I’ve included my photos as thumbnails below, so you can click through to learn more.

Net protein balance response to nutrition and exercise

After exercise, a 120 pound athlete may need...

FitBloggin’ Recap: Ignite Fitness

Posted on July 7, 2013 at 12:12 pm by Beeb Ashcroft

Complimentary conference admission and access to noms received as a FitBloggin’ live blogger!

Last Saturday brought us FitBloggin‘s keynote event/party extravaganza, Ignite Fitness. During this event, 14 bloggers gave 5-minute slideshow/speech presentations ranging from inspirational to humorous. You can watch all of the presentations on YouTube, so check it out! I had to take some photos of the meme slides from DubyaWife‘s presentation, How to be Socially Awesome: On & Off the Internet!

Any presentation that includes a slide of Conspiracy Keanu is OK with me. 😉

The party also included a parfait bar with ingredients from Attune and Driscoll’s Berries. This was my creation!

I got some cereals and graham crackers from Attune in my swag bag, so these Corn Flakes have been my “Breakfast of the blogger champions” while I catch up on the mountain of work since getting back from the conference. 😉

Photo by Carrie D Photography via Flickr

Oh yeah, and this happened too! I haven’t sung karaoke in about 7 years – with good reason – but when I saw that they had Maroon 5 in their songbook I resigned myself to my fate. I got up and announced, “I’m about to sing my Twitter username!” I must be crazy to do this at a social media conference, but fortunately I don’t think anyone took a video, so your eardrums are safe for now. 😉

Amana Recharge Suite at FitBloggin’

Posted on July 7, 2013 at 9:00 am by Beeb Ashcroft

Conference admission received as a live blogger for FitBloggin’.

One of the unique spots to be found at FitBloggin’ was the Amana recharge suite. This spacious room had couches, cold water and outlets available to recharge your electronics at – very smart! While I was at the conference I ran down 3 sets of rechargeable batteries and had my iPhone almost run out of power each day, so they knew us bloggers would be needing a place to charge up. 😉 Amana offer a range of applicances, some of which were on display and given away at the end of the conference to one of the attendees – how cool is that? I had fun chatting to the Amana representatives – since Jai and I are just completing our kitchen remodel, it seems like we’ve done nothing but think about kitchen accessories for the last few months! – and checking out their futuristic, body-activated computer station that told you more about each appliance.