Massage Envy Review and Giveaway - Mother's Day Gift Guide

If you are like most women, your family,  job, and other obligations all come before you do. This leads to us being stressed out, unhappy, and often unhealthy, too.

We definitely owe it to ourselves to take a little time to pamper our bodies and souls, and I have just found one of my favorite ways to do just that.

I recently had the chance to have a massage at Massage Envy, and it was everything I hoped it would be and more. I had never had a massage before and I was a little nervous about it. But it was a truly wonderful experience, from beginning to end. Massage Envy offers many different kinds of therapy treatments and types of massages, and facials. From relaxation, to deep tissue, sports, prenatal and more, you will find a massage that is just right for your body.

I love the sound of the Sugar Foot Scrub Therapy, which soothes and refreshes sore, tired feet, and soothes foot pain and discomfort. I would love this!!!

From the moment I walked in the door, the staff was so welcoming, and I was given a hot neck wrap and citrus flavored water, wish was so nice.

Before my massage, my massage therapist talked with me about what kind of massage I would like, what areas of my body I would like her to focus on, and whether I had any areas of discomfort or pain.
Let's just say my massage was heavenly, and my massage therapist, Jackie was an angel. My back and muscles were so tight from tension and stress that it was hard for me to relax at first. But ten minutes in, I was feeling wonderful.

After my massage, Jackie gave me a personal Massage Wellness Plan that outlines what she found and recommends for me, and what we can focus on for my best results.

My Massage Envy location had a very spa like atmosphere, and was very calming. The massage rooms were lovely, with low lighting and soft music.

I am so happy that Massage Envy is giving away a gift certificate for a free, one hour massage session to one of Popcorn and Pearls' readers.

I am truly excited for this giveaway, and I know the winner will have a wonderful and relaxing massage experience.

Thanks Massage Envy!!!

GIVEAWAY
1 Hour Massage Session from Massage Envy


a Rafflecopter giveaway


*Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts April 31, 2013 and ends on May 21 2013 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent products to review for my post.

Shopping For Little Girls Is So Much Fun!!!

Sweet Headband

I love shopping. From Nordstrom to Goodwill, I adore everything about it, and so do my daughters, so I always have a shopping companion available.

I also have a one year old granddaughter that is quite the little fashionista already, and it is so much fun for me to buy her clothes and accessories when I can. I love Etsy shopping too, and am always so amazed by the talented people out there in the world who sell on Etsy.

I have rounded up a few things that I think would be adorable for my granddaughter, or any sweet girl you may know and love.

Cute Sundress

Lavender Spring Dress

Sweet Shoes

Personalized Shirts

Vintage Hawaiian Toddler Dress

Ruffled Bikini

Pro Flowers Cheesecake Trio and Dozen Fancy Strawberries Review

I really love this time of year when there are so many happy celebrations coming up. Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduations and more are just some of the great reasons to give and receive gifts at this time.
As a Mom, I always love the gifts that I receive from my family, and appreciate the love and thought that is put into them.
 I recently had a chance to review this beautiful and delicious package from Pro Flowers. I received the Cheesecake Trio and Dozen Fancy Strawberries. I really can't say enough about how much I thought this was a fabulous and delicious treat. Everything was so fresh, so great tasting and pretty!!! My family and I have given and received gifts from Shari's Berries before, and have always been very happy with their excellent, quality products.

These chocolate covered strawberries came in a variety of different chocolate coatings, all delicious. The whole package was shipped quickly, was packed in ice, and the strawberries were cold, and at perfect ripeness.

The Cheese Cake Trio was delicious too. It came in three varieties, and was absolutely fresh. My family and I are big cheesecake eaters, and we loved these.

Can you tell my grandson loved the chocolate covered strawberries?? His favorite was the white chocolate dipped.

Pro Flowers and Shari's Berries are now my favorite places to send a gift to friends and family. Everyone loves to indulge in delicious, gourmet treats, and you can trust these products to be high quality and great tasting.

Summertime Inspired Tyson Chicken Avocado Salad and Lipton Iced Tea #MealsTogether

This is the time of year that I really start looking forward to summer. I have had enough of the cold and rain, and want to start having some warm weather meals out on the deck.

We have had some sunshine here in the Pacific Northwest recently, and it inspired me to make one of my favorite summer inspired meals, a delicious salad and a glass of iced tea.

I love making this fabulous chicken and avocado salad. Everyone loves it, and there is always requests for seconds. I always use breaded chicken in this salad, and I made a trip to Walmart to buy my very favorite brand of chicken, which is Tyson chicken. Tyson comes in so many different kinds of chicken, and tastes so great that I use it for my cooking all the time.

Walmart and Tyson Chicken frequently have demos nationwide, and are available in most local stores. I was hoping to attend a demo for Tyson Crispy Breast Fillets, but it wasn't happening this week. Demos are always a great way to taste new products and get some tasty recipe ideas.

The avocados in this salad always reminds me of growing up in Southern California, where my family ate avocados all the time. They really are a delicious addition to this salad. My recipe calls for one avocado, but if you really love them, you can add more. You can also add a little more chicken if you like, too. Whatever you want to add more of, this recipe adapts well to it.

I love Tyson Chicken, because there are so many ways to use it in salads, whether you use breaded or regular chicken. I like to make the dressing first for this salad so that the flavors have a chance to blend while I am cutting up my salad ingredients.

What is a delicious summer inspired meal without iced tea?? My family has been drinking Lipton Tea for generations, and a pitcher of it is always in the refrigerator during the summer months.

I was so excited to find this new tea, specially made for brewing iced tea. It's really delicious, and I already know I have to go back and pick up some more for the summer months ahead. I love my iced tea with a little bit of lemon.

I think a summer inspired salad just calls out for a glass of iced tea to go with it. My Tyson chicken avocado salad paired perfectly together with this delicious Lipton iced tea. The flavor of the tea and the flavors in the salad complimented each other very well.

I can't wait for warm weather so that I can make other kinds of salads too, and enjoy eating them outside with my family. This is one of the reasons I enjoy the summer months so much.

This salad was perfect for my daughter and I for lunch. The recipe serves two. But you can easily double it to make more, and add a delicious crusty French bread and have it for dinner. It really is one of my all time favorite salads, and I eat a lot of salads.

I didn't find the Tyson Crispy Breast Fillets that I had come shopping for to make my salad, but I did find these great tasting Southern Breast Tenderloins. They worked perfectly, and really gave the recipe some wonderful flavor.

There is such a big variety of quality Tyson Chicken products, you are sure to find them a great addition to your cooking.

Recipe for Tyson Chicken Avocado Salad 

Ingredients:

3 large pieces Tyson breaded chicken, cooked and at room temperature
1 bag of lettuce, your choice
1 ripe avocado cut into small chunks
1 large tomato, cut up
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles

Dressing:

1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

Toss all salad ingredients in a large bowl, set aside. To make the dressing, whisk all ingredients together, and toss well with salad. Serve immediately. Serves 2.


If you would like to see my shopping trip to Walmart for Tyson Chicken and Lipton Iced Tea, check out my Google+ Album.

You can also connect with Tyson Chicken on their website, Twitter and Facebook page. 


I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Tyson. #cbias #SocialFabric #MealsTogether

Fabulous Friday

 

Spring is definitely here in Seattle, which I am so grateful for. We are having some gorgeous sunny days, and of course, the rain comes and goes, as usual. If you waited for the rain to stop here to do something, you would never get anything done.
This weekend I am hoping to hit some yard sales and maybe find some terrific things to buy. But I am also getting rid of things, so maybe this is just an endless crazy circle, I don't know.

Anyhow, here are a few things that have caught my attention this week. Here's hoping you all have a Fabulous Friday.


Here is a cute way from Etsy to tell Mom you love her for Mother's Day. I really like this for the kitchen.

From Daily Candy, here are 23 new pet products for your dog or cat to enjoy.

Here is a fabulous recipe for Buttermilk Berry Muffins that I can't wait to make. The recipe is from one on my favorite foodie blogs, 101 Cookbooks.

If you need a little Spring in your wardrobe, check out these super cute floral printed jeans from Old Navy.

If you are planning to visit San Francisco, make sure to visit the all new Exploratorium on Pier 15 for a fun time with the kids.

Photo from Elephantine

Beecology Mother's Day Gift Set Review and Giveaway

 

I have loved using Beecology products with their soothing scents and natural healing properties of honey for a couple of years now.

Beecology products are natural and ecologically friendly, made with renewable ingredients that are kind to the earth and all living things.

The Beecology product line includes Handmade Pure Bar Soaps, Hand and Body Creams, Natural Body Wash, Sulfate-Free Shampoos and more.

I really love using Beecology and am very happy that Popcorn and Pearls is hosting a giveaway of a Mother's Day Gift Set.

It includes:

                                Beecology Lavender and Bergamot Body Wash
                                Lavender and Bergamot Hand and Body Cream
                                Honey and Lavender Soap
                                Lemon Lavender Lip Balm

The lavender scent is wonderful, and especially soothing at bedtime, as lavender helps you to sleep. One reader will receive all this enclosed in a muslin cloth bag.

GIVEAWAY




a Rafflecopter giveaway





*Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts April 17, 2013 and ends on May 6 2013 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent products to review for my post.

Because Sometimes All I Want To Do Is Look At Pretty Pictures

 

I have been rather quiet here on Popcorn and Pearls lately, I know. It wasn't that I ran out of things to say, I just ran out of the desire to blog everyday. 

Part of this was trying to figure out where I want my life to go, and part of it is that my new computer, my brand new Windows 8 computer has already been shipped back to the manufacturer for repair. I was doing a blog post and suddenly it started blinking a white screen. To say I was upset is putting it mildly.

So here I am on a borrowed computer, and trying to get my blogging mojo back. And it is coming back, I can feel it. I do love blogging, but like anything, sometimes you love it more when you are away from it for awhile. So I leave you with this pretty yellow bedroom that would certainly be a happy place to wake up in every morning. 

I hope everyone out there is having a great Tuesday!

Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever

I love cake. I really love chocolate cake, it is one of my all-time favorite desserts. So last week I decided to make a chocolate cake from scratch. I don't often bake from scratch, but when I was in Trader Joe's last week, I saw a box of their Cocoa Powder, with a simple recipe for chocolate cake, and I decided to try it.

You could say this cake is a little slice of heaven (ha ha), it really is that good. It's also a very large cake, much bigger that I expected, and will easily feed a crowd of eight to twelve people. And it is a great cake to make for a special occasion, like a birthday or anniversary. I know you will love this cake, and it is fairly easy to make. Yum!!!

I found small bottles of buttermilk at Walmart. Funny, but I don't like buttermilk, but decided to make this cake anyway. It calls for three cups of buttermilk.

 

 Love how easy it is to put together.

Best Chocolate Cake Ever Recipe

Ingredients:

3 1/3 cups flour
1 1/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups sugar
12 oz butter or margarine
3 cups buttermilk
5 eggs
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9" round baking pans.
Place all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl once during mixing.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake cake for about 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Frost layers and sides with your favorite frosting and enjoy.

Cooking Inspiration Seattle Style

I always feel like I am so lucky to live in an area that is abundant with delicious food.Whether you are buying it to prepare at home, or eating at a great restaurant, Seattle is a foodie paradise.
We are famous for our fish of course, but Washington offers so many different kinds of food, that a cook with imagination is in heaven here.

I just bought the most wonderful book called Edible Seattle, and am looking forward to using some of the recipes. As much as I appreciate the availability of recipes on the internet, nothing beats a beautiful cookbook to have open on the kitchen counter as you are cooking.

As summer approaches, I start thinking about the delicious salmon that my family loves to eat. It is so delicious on the grill, but really there are so many ways to cook it. Edible Seattle is a wonderful source for cooking this regional treasure.

I have spoken so many times about how much I love Seattle's Pike Place Market. It is my favorite place to buy fruits and veggies, and the flowers are just beautiful and always a fantastic bargain.
The market also offers so many other kinds of food beyond produce, including fish, meat, breads, spices, dairy and more. It really is a cook's dream, and everything is always the freshest and highest quality.
The Pike Place Market Recipes cookbook is filled with many regionally inspired recipes, but is also wonderful for cooks anywhere you may live.

If you want to bring a bit of Seattle to your kitchen, I recommend these great cookbooks that will inspire you to do just that. Happy cooking!!

Wordless Wednesday - Dining Room Love

I love this picture torn out of a magazine for my future dining room.