Joshua Bell At Home with Friends REVIEW

The weather is turning colder and that has me thinking of hot, steamy mugs of cider, a fire in the fire place, and some relaxing music playing on the stereo. Lucky for me, One2One Network sent me a copy of the recently released CD Joshua Bell At Home With Friends! The light yet amazingly rich selections on this album are perfect for a relaxing night at home, or playing softly in the background during a dinner party.

Joshua Bell, a Grammy Award-winning violinist (who has been recording since he was 14 years old!!!) has gathered a start studded group of musicians for this collaborative album. The album cover says this about the inspiration for the album:

"At Home With Friends is inspired by Joshua Bell’s fondness for hosting informal musicales in his Manhattan home. Join Joshua as he celebrates the many musical friendships he has made over the years- a diverse group of artists sharing their love of music in an intimate setting. "

Wow, to be a fly on the wall at those “informal musicales” would be an experience to remember! While you cannot gain admittance to one of these musicales, you can experience the beauty of these musical collaborations by purchasing a copy of Joshua Bell At Home with Friends at local and online music retailers.

I know you will be amazed when you read this Track List:

I Loves You Porgy featuring Chris Botti, trumpet
Come Again featuring Sting, vocals
Oblivion featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
Cinema Paradiso featuring Josh Groban, vocals
Para Tí featuring Tiempo Libre, various
My Funny Valentine featuring Kristin Chenoweth, vocals
Maybe So featuring Edgar Meyer Sam Bush and Mike Marshall, strings
Grieg: Sonata No. 3 featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff (Zenph re-performance)
Eleanor Rigby featuring Frankie Moreno, piano & vocals
O, Cease Thy Maiden Fair featuring Nathan Gunn, baritone
Il Postino featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
Left Hand Song featuring Regina Spektor, piano & vocals
Chovendo Na Roseira featuring Dave Grusin, piano
Look Away featuring Edgar Meyer, bass and Chris Thile, mandolin
Variant Moods: Duet for Sitar & Violin featuring Anoushka Shankar, sitar
I'll Take Manhattan featuring Marvin Hamlisch, piano

Read more about Joshua Bell by visiting his website at http://www.joshuabell.com/

I received one copy of this album and information about the musician and album from One2One Network in order to provide my opinion. No other compensation was provided. The opinion expressed in entirely my own and completely honest.

Scrapbookers, here's your chance to win an awesome Halloween Kit

I love to scrapbook, and finding unique supplies can be tough. While I love my local stores (mostly big box style stores) I can't always find the products that I want locally. One of my favorite online sources for scrapbooking supplies is Scrap Attack Scrapbooking. You will always find the best in paper and embellishments!

Each month the site offers one amazing kit filled to the brim with amazing papers and embellishments, all co-ordinating and ready to be scrapped. There is no subscription required, but they are first come first served, so you have to act fast if you see one that you love!

This month you can have a chance to win one of the super fun kits featured above. What do you have to do you ask...head to their blog, become a follower and leave a comment on the kit debut post with the best Halloween costume you have ever seen. Super simple! What are you doing, still reading this? You should be off entering to win this amazing kit...now go :)

I received no compensation for creating this post. I personally enjoy this site and wanted to share a great opportunity with you :)

Disclosure Policy

With new regulations regarding blogs, I wanted to include a Disclosure post. Each individual post also includes information regarding any compensation or influence in the information in that specific post. The following is a general Disclosure Statement, you can get your own at DisclosurePolicy.org:
This policy is valid from 09 October 2009
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact reviewsbychris.blogspot.com.
This blog accepts forms of cash advertising (Google Ads), sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
This blogger is an Amazon Associate. Product related links to Amazon.com are associated with this program.
The compensation received (usually free product, and always disclosed) will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network (Google Ads). Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated (usually free product) to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Harry Connick Jr. Album REVIEW

Harry Connick Jr. has a voice that reminds me of warm caramel sauce; so rich and heavenly. I have been a fan of this amazingly talented musician for many years (since my husband introduced me early in our marriage) and his newest album, Your Songs (just released this week), definitely lives up to my expectations. Harry performs music from across several eras, from Just The Way You Are (originally recorded by Billy Joel) to Some Enchanted Evening from the classic musical South Pacific. You can't help but melt a little when you hear Harry start to croon All The Way (originally recorded by Frank Sinatra). The Big Band style accompaniment and his velvety voice takes you back to the days of the Rat Pack. When singers could really sing!

I know you want to get your hands on a copy of this album, and if you head here, you can purchase either the CD, a digital copy of the album or a special edition CD/DVD only available from HConnickJr.com!

For a sneak peek at the making of the album, you can check out this short video hosted on Amazon.com.

Can't get enough of Harry Connick Jr. and want to read (ok I know you just want to look at him some more...) some more, here are some links for ya:

Harry's Facebook Fan page
Harry's Website

And look for Harry on Oprah tomorrow!

I received one copy of the CD in order to provide a review. I received no further compensation and the opinion provided above is completely honest and my own.

Temple Touch Thermometer WINNER!

Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway. I wish I had one for all of you, but I have to choose just one so here we go...

Your random number is:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

23
Timestamp: 2009-09-23 13:52:38 UTC


This is sweetpea08 who said:
Blogger sweetpea08 said...

When I'm sick I want my bed, soup, and sprite!
sweetpe84074@hotmail.com

September 14, 2009 8:03 PM

You will receive an email from me shortly, please respond within 72 hours or a new winner will be drawn.

Thank you again, and please come back soon!

Skirts Sports 5 Weeks of Giveaways!

I discovered running skirts this past year, and I can't seem to get enough of them! I LOVE running in a skirt; there is just something so feminine, yet tough about running in one.

Skirt Sports started five years ago with one running skirt, and now they have a whole line of athletic apparel. To celebrate their five year anniversary, they are giving away five grand prizes, one a week for five weeks. All you need to do is register once, and you are in. No need to register again each week.

I know that I would love to be winner of the first giveaway... a $150 gift certificate to their store!

Just fill out this simple entry form to be entered. The first prize will be awarded September 18th.

Reli On Temple Touch Thermometer GIVEAWAY!

I am so excited to share this great product with you!

I don't know about you, but trying to take a child's temperature when they are not feeling well can be a nightmare. I can pretty much tell by feel if my kids have a fever, but the Drs always seem to want a number when I call. So I pull out my good ole digi thermometer and stick it under the armpit (I am NOT gonna go do a rectal on a sick kid for a number...seriously! Yuck, sounds miserable. And little guys just can't seem to keep a thermometer in their mouth long enough to get an accurate reading). Those of you familiar with taking an axillary temp know that it takes WAY longer than the other methods. So here I am, holding my little one's arm against his side, and he is fighting desperately to get away from me. He just wants to be left alone!

Enter the Reli On Temple Touch Thermometer! Taking a temperature could not be more simple with this small (and can I get a cheer for the price??? Retail on this baby is only $9.94), easy to store thermometer. Here is what you do:

Step 1: Press power button (thermometer will beep once)
Step 2: Listen for thermometer to beep twice (this means you are good to go)
Step 3: Place end of thermometer to child's temple area (or yours, it works great for adults too)
Step 4: Read results when thermometer beeps (about 6 seconds! Yep no more waiting forever)

Four simple steps (and seriously I could have combined 2 and 3) and you have a temperature reading to make the Drs happy, a non invasive method for a happier kid, and a happy mommy (cause you know a happy kid means a happy mommy).

I have tried this baby several times over the past week (everyone has taken their turns being sick, which explains my delay in posting this giveaway), and I can't tell you how much nicer it was to just whip this out to get a quick temp than my old method. Luckily, none of us ever had a fever, but I will definitely be keeping this baby close by for future illnesses (with five kids, most of them in some sort of school now, we are likely to have another round of sickness pretty soon).

Thanks to Reli On and MomSelect I have one Reli On Temple Touch Thermometer for one of my readers! Here are the rules for entry:
-You must live in the US (sorry international readers, I will be shipping this myself so I have to restrict this to US only)
-You MUST answer the mandatory question before you can get any of my bonus entry options
-I MUST have a way to contact you if you are the winner, so PLEASE leave your email address in the comments or have your email set to public in your blogger setting. If I cannot contact you I will draw another winner.
-Winner must respond to my email with their mailing information within 72 hours or a new winner will be drawn.

Mandatory Entry Question: What is one thing you want when you are feeling sick (it can be food, a good movie, whatever makes you feel better).

Bonus entries (you can do one or all of these. Please leave a comment for each of your extra entries):
1-Follow my blog publicly
2-Post on facebook with a link to this giveaway (leave your facebook user name)
3-blog about this giveaway (make sure you link back to this post) and leave a link to your post in the comments
4-email 3 people about this giveaway (cc me at reviewsbychris at gmail dot com) and leave a comment here saying that you did so.


That's it! Easy Peasy right? I will accept entries through Midnight Mountain Time on September 22nd. Winner will then be drawn at random using Random.org and both announced here on the blog and notified by email.

I recieved 2 temple touch thermometers (one for my use to review and one to giveaway) in exchange for my review. No other compensation was recieved. The opinion expressed is completely my own and truthful.

Fearless by Mac Lucado REVIEW

Imagine your life without fear. We all live with fear, in many forms: fear of not belonging, fear of death, fear of violence, fear of not protecting our children and more. Max Lucado, minister and author of the famed children’s book You Are Special (among others), presents the words of Christ as a way to combat fear. Mr. Lucado says, “Fear may fill our world, but doesn’t have to fill our hearts. It will always knock on the door. Just don’t invite it in for dinner…”

I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. It was an easy book to read, and did not take much time, but the time spent reading was time well spent. The concepts and scriptures he quoted were not ones with witch I was unfamiliar, but the reminders were poignant. We do NOT have to become bogged down with fear. We can look to the Savior for comfort when needed.

My absolute favorite part of this book is found in the chapter about Fear of Not Mattering. It is a poem about the people of Stiltsville, and I am happy to hear that an extended version of this poem is being made into a Children’s book entitled the Tallest of Smalls. I will be eagerly awaiting the release of this book, so I can add it to my book shelves.

I found a few doctrinal differences from my beliefs, but for the most part the book followed basic Christian principals found in the Bible. My only complaint is the mix of Bible translations used throughout the book, and none of which was the King James, the version that I was raised with and still read today. I think the more modern translations, while at times easier to understand, lose the beauty that is found in the language of the King James.

All in all, this was a marvelous book and I recommend it highly. Fearless is available today at bookstores near you and online. For more information about this book you can head to www.TheFearlessBook.com

Thank you to for sending me a copy to review.

Ponds Wet Cleansing Towlettes REVIEW

We all have those days, right? You have been on the go all day and you just want to fall in to bed. Even the effort to wash your face seems like too much, but you know that you will regret it if you go to bed with all of that make up on your face. Ponds Wet Cleansing Towelettes are the perfect solution to those crazy days. Incredibly soft, these moist towelettes gently remove the grime of the day and leave you with soft, clean skin!

I have been a user of facial cleansing clothes for years (as a busy mom I have lots of those crazy days), but have usually stuck to the store brand, trying to save a little money. After using the Ponds brand I will NOT be going back to my generics! The Ponds cloths were MUCH softer and it took much less effort to remove my make-up. It did take little bit of effort to remove my mascara, but no more effort than eye make-up remover and a cotton ball. The Ponds clothes were also significantly more moist than other brands I have used in the past. This made the experience of using them much more pleasant and made it feel much more effective.


Ponds moist towlettes are also a great solution for on the go cleansing! Taking a long road trip? These are much more convenient to pack than multiple bottles of product. I recently took them with me on a weekend camping trip, and they were perfect for wiping away the dirt and grime that come with camping (especially since the crazy camp ground we went to didn't have a good water source!).

While I love the Ponds cloths for my busy days, they will not be replacing my every day skin care routine. I like to use something with a toner on a regular basis (I have large pores and they need all of the help I can get). But for those hectic days when all I want to do is fall in bed, Ponds will be my cloth of choice!

Want to hear more opinions on the Ponds Moist Towelettes? My fellow contributors at Pink Lemonade of Life all received a pack and are sharing their opinions. Read all about it at www.pinklemonadeoflife.com.

I received one pack of Ponds Towelettes in order to provide my opinion as part of a group review at www.pinklemonadeoflife.com . The opinion I expressed was truthful and completely my own.

A Man of His Word by Kathleen Fuller REVIEW

Moriah Byler just married the man she loves and is expecting their first child. But things don't seem right between them. Her husband, Levi, has taken a job working for outlanders (non-Amish) and seems to spend more and more time away from home. Her world comes crashing down around her when Levi decides that he wants to leave her and the Amish faith.


Moriah's story of heartbreak and love is not the only one weaving its way through the pages of A Man of His Word. Her brother, Tobias, has a budding romance of his own that is fraught with challenges.

A Man of His Word is well written and enjoyable to read. It is a light read with well developed plot and characters. I found myself easily sympathizing with the characters and hoping for a happy ending for all. The addition of a sub-plot and insights into Amish life added depth to the book.
I definitely plan to seek out more books by Kathleen Fuller in the future.

I received a copy of A Man of His Word from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their book review blogger program (http://brb.thomasnelson.com/). I received no further compensation for my review. The opinion expressed above is purely my own.