Brave's Marida Visits Enchancia In All New Sofia The First

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Starbucks Refreshers, however all opinions are 100% my own.
With summer hitting hard here in south Texas, and I do mean hard … it was 106 with heat index today, it’s hard to keep your body & mind refreshed. As a kid, the heat didn’t bother me so much, but it seems as I get older, the heat tends to bother me more and more. I grew up in Austin which isn’t hard from here so the temperatures tend to run almost the same, but I think with our humidity down here it feels much worse. So, needless to say, cooling down during the summers here isn’t an easy task, but is a must. Here are a few ways to keep yourself and your family refreshed this summer.
1. Take up yoga. Yoga is something the whole family can do and it will refresh your mind and your body to get you ready for your day. Try this sequence to feel refreshed: Cow, Cat, Extension, Elbow to Knee, Bind, Low Lunge Variation, Low Lunge/Side Psoas Stretch, Half Splits, Lizard Pose Variation, Twisted Monkey, Side Plank Variation, Downward Facing Dog … the whole sequence takes less than 10 minutes of your morning.
2. Stay inside and enjoy exploring new & different worlds through books. Pick a “book” day, create a whole day around it from breakfast, lunch and dinner to various craft projects, to go along with your reading.
3. Get some water, and no I don’t mean drinking water, I mean a pool, the ocean, even a sprinkler will feel so refreshing on a super hot day. I loved spending my day as a kid just running through the sprinkler or the slip in slide. I loved it even more when we were able to go to the lake or go tubing on the river. Water is a great way to keep your body refreshed, and the relaxation and fun will help to keep your mind feeling refreshed as well!
4. Grab a refreshing ice cold drink. I love the new Starbucks Refreshers™, in flavors like Strawberry Lemonade, Blueberry Acai, & Raspberry Pomegranate. They help me to stay refreshed and energized so I can keep up with the boys, no matter what they throw my way. My favorite is Strawberry Lemonade with lots of ice. Who doesn’t love ice cold lemonade to keep them refreshed during the summer.
With sweet strawberry, tangy lemonade and natural caffeine, our flavor-packed beverage offers an invigorating boost of energy. Starbucks Refreshers™ Strawberry Lemonade is also fortified with three B vitamins and Vitamin C. All yours for just 90 calories.
No matter what you do to keep your mind and body refreshed, starting your day with a Starbucks Refreshers™ is always a good idea. With a revitalizing blast of real fruit juices, B vitamins, and ginseng. Starbucks Refreshers™ has all the goodness you need to get the most out of today.
What’s your favorite way to stay refreshed during the summer?
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

This post may contain affiliate links which fund the My Sparkling Life blog.
Once your little one is well acquainted with solids and is at least six months old, it’s time to introduce new tastes and textures to her palette. Continue to follow your baby’s cues. Go at her pace and do not move beyond simple solids before she’s ready.
When trying new flavors, gentle persistence may be necessary. Never, ever force feed your little one, but keep in mind that it often takes five or more tries before a baby takes to a new food. The more flavors you introduce, the more adventurous his palette will be later.
While still avoiding added salt and excess sugar, you can begin incorporating fresh herbs or mild spices to baby food, watching carefully for adverse or allergic reactions.
After introducing your baby to fruits and vegetables, you can begin serving mixtures. With so many fruits and vegetables to choose from, the possibilities for tasty combinations are endless.
No-Cook Tropical Fruits
2 Kiwifruit, peeled and quartered
1 papaya, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 ripe banana, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
Place fruit in a food processor; process until smooth.
Yield; 2 cups or 8 (1/4 cup) servings
Apples, Pears, & Plums
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and quartered
1 large golden delicious apple, peeled, cored, and quartered
2 plums, peeled, halved and pitted
Place pear, and apple in a vegetable steamer. Steam covered for 8 minutes. Add plums; cover and steam and additional 4 minutes or until all fruit is tender.
Place fruit in a food processor; process until smooth.
Yield; 2 cups or 8 (1/4 cup) servings
Blueberry Banana Yogurt
1 cup blueberries
1 whole banana
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons wheat germ
Use 1 cup of your already made blueberry puree OR Microwave the blueberries just until the juices start to run, about 30 seconds. Place the banana, yogurt and blueberries in a blender and puree until smooth.
Other combos to try;
Prune & Banana
Papaya & Mango
Pear & Prune
Veggie & Fruit Combos to try;
Apples & Butternut Squash
Squash & Peach
Avocado & Banana
Sweet Potato & Apricot
Sweet Potato & Peach
OTHER MAKE YOUR OWN BABY FOOD POSTS:
Vegies Stage 1
Fruit Stage 1
Vegies Stage 2
Sample Menu for 6-8 Months

So if your hubby is like mine, he tends to take picture after picture and never downloads any of them. They sit their “collecting dust” & taking up space. No he doesn’t use any of the cloud services so what other options does he have? The SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive solves that problem by hooking directly up to any of your (newer) iOS devices.
Integrating a Lightning connector and USB port, the iXpand Flash Drive provides a simple way to offload, access and transfer content on iOS devices. The flash drive lets you free up memory on your iOSdevices and instantly expand storage by up to 128GB. The iXpand Sync app auto-syncs your content to the drive whenever it’s connected, and you can watch videos or listen to music directly from the drive through the App. Or, use the USB connector to move photos and videos to your PC/Mac. To keep it safe, iXpand Flash Drive lets you encrypt your files for secure transfer.
This drive is small enough to keep in your purse, pocket or to store in a drawer. It’s a perfect gift for Father’s Day. It allows dad to free up space on his iPhone, or iPad and gets those photos and videos to a safe place…cause I’m sure we’ve all dealt with the dreaded phone photo loss.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The personal blender has come a long way in the last few years. You have so many more option and breakout brands that help you create the foods & drink you’ve been dying to make in your kitchen. Living in Texas we love mason jars so whats better than a personal blender using mason jars!
Now you can blend, serve, and store your favorite blended recipes in the same glass container with the Tribest® Mason Jar Personal Blender® single-serving blender and grinder! The Mason Jar Personal Blender has all of the time saving and convenient features of the original Tribest Personal Blender®, but uses glass mason jars as the blending, serving, and storage containers. It is compatible with most* regular-mouth mason jars, making the possibilities for upgrading limitless. With the Tribest Mason jar Personal Blender, you blend, serve, and store your recipes in the same container, so there’s no waste, no mess, and no hassle.
Details:
Blend, serve and store your favorite recipes in regular mouth glass mason jars
Works with most regular-mouth glass canning jars
Great for making single servings of smoothies, protein drinks, and more
Powerful 200-watt motor crushes ice, blends frozen fruit, and grinds coffee in a snap
The PB-350 Mason Jar Personal Blender Includes:
Personal Blender Motor Base – (AC 120V, 60 Hz, 200W)
one S/S Blending Blade Assembly (4 Pronged)
one S/S Grinding Blade Assembly (2 Pronged)
Mason Jar Adapter
one 16 oz.* BPA-FREE Large Cup
one 8 oz.* BPA-FREE Small Cup
one Cup Lids
one 16 oz.* Glass Drinking Mug
one 12 oz.* Glass Mason Jar
one 8 oz.* Glass Mason Jar
one 4 oz.* Glass Mason Jar
three Mason Jar Lids
one Commuter Lid
This was such a perfect gift for my MIL who loves to cook and loves mason jars! Tribest makes some of the most rugged blenders on the market which are extremely durable and you also have access to replacement parts in case something happens…so it’s a great option for the cook who would use this almost every day like my MIL does. It doesn’t leave a lot of chunky bits, so if your looking for something to make salsa or just chop foods this isn’t really the product for that. It is however great for soups, smoothies and sauces. She’s been using it for a few months and it still runs like new, and is easy to clean which is a big deal when your cooking a big dinner, having one less thing to worry about scrubbing is a plus.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Never in my life did I imagine that I would be walking the red carpet with movie stars at a movie premiere! But it’s happening in 3 days! 3 days people!! I’m just too excited to keep my Jungle Book event red carpet fashion to myself so I’m going to share my picks for this event. I decided to keep the dress simple, yet stunning, and add pops of color and sparkle (who doesn’t love a little sparkle) with my accessories and shoes.
My Dress is by Tom’s Ware and is a midi dress that enhances sophistication with its flattering neckline, peplum waist and midi length, with Zipper closer on the back.
The clutch by CHICASTIC is a stunner with a pink satin and rhinestone exterior with thin chain strap.
So after finding the perfect bag I needed to find the perfect shoes to go with it! These DOLCE by Mojo Moxy patent leather heels were perfect! I love the t-strap look and the heel was just the right height…because no one wants to go face first onto the red carpet!
My accessories I’ve had in my jewelry box for a while, and are my go to for formal events.
This by no means is all my cosmetics, but some major players in the beautify game.
Be sure to follow me on Instagram & Twitter so you can follow along as I attend The Jungle Book Red Carpet Premiere on Monday, April 4 2016! If you’re interesting in all the interviews and happenings at this event or who all is attending you can read my post about Prepping for the Jungle Book Premiere Event.
The Jungle Book is in theaters April 15 2016
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

This post may contain affiliate links which fund the My Sparkling Life blog.
Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial. Silicone baking products have become my new obsession! So I was excited to try out Baker’s Mat Silicone Baking Mat! The Baker’s Mat Silicone Baking Mat is a premium silicone baking mat that you can safely use in your oven or freezer and never have to use parchment paper again. This mat gives your baking sheet a non-stick surface to cook or freeze sticky or delicate food — even the stickiest candy like caramel will not adhere to the mat. Benefit of Cooking with a Silicone Baking Mat – Withstands temperatures from -40°F to 480°F (-40°C to 249°C) – Easily cleaned with soap and water We have used this mat several times and have had nothing stick! I baked several batches of cookies, using the mat over and over, without wiping it in between dough placement…and hubby has used it for baked bbq chicken and he let it set all weekend (don’t ask) and it still came off with the wipe of the sponge! NO FUSS CLEAN UP! I love that! I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.