Mark Your Calenders For The 2015 Houston Comicpalooza

Essential oils have been used for aromatherapy, healing, and as perfumes for thousands of years. You remember the stories about Egyptian queens, and the Bible, when the kings brought some valuable oils; myrrh and Frankincense? Today, essential oils are having a comeback and offer a great alternative to factory-produced, artificial perfumes, creams, and oils, Below you will find a few little know facts about essential oils.

As I’m sure everyone is aware, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS is now playing in theatres everywhere! If you haven’t seen it yet, I promise it will live up to your wildest expectations! And don’t be afraid of sellout shows as theatres across the country are adding show times left and right to keep up with the […]

This blog post was sponsored by KING’S HAWAIIAN® but the opinions are all my own. #GameTimeGrilling #AD
It’s my favorite time of year…pumpkin pie baking in the oven and football on the tv! Being from Texas, we love our football…and we get to watch it 6 days out of the week! We watch my sons’ 8th-grade team (who is undefeated so far this year) on Tuesday nights & NFL or College Thursday-Monday! Since Sunday is really the only true family day we have during the week, we love doing backyard tailgating. Lots of food, variety of drinks and plenty of football on the TV.
When watching Football at home…just like the tailgaters at the major league games…it’s all about the food, so we headed over to our local HEB to grab all our favorites. There I can find everything we need for recipes new and old. I love creating new and exciting recipes our kids and guests will love. There’s nothing like ending a party with “can I have that recipe?”
We picked up lots of goodies like chips & dip, little smokies, hamburger meat, frozen meatballs, King’s Hawaiian® Rolls & BBQ sauce. HEB carries a large selection of King’s Hawaiian® products…We have used King’s Hawaiian® in many backyard tailgating Sundays. Everyone love the sweet Hawaiian rolls mixed with Texas BBQ.
The new King’s Hawaiian® BBQ sauces come in four flavors to compliment any meat.
Original Sweet Pineapple
Smoked Bacon
Kona Coffee
Big Island Lava (spicy-sweet)
I decided on the original sweet pineapple & Smoked Bacon. I’ve always used the King’s Hawaiian® rolls for mini pulled pork or ham & cheese sandwiches…but I thought it was time to create something new and fun…and of course delishious since they have new BBQ sauces to pair with the rolls! I have two recipes for you because I loved them both! We made Sweet Pineapple Mini Meatball Subs + Smoked Bacon & Pineapple Sliders.
Sweet Pineapple Mini Meatball Subs A sweet and tropical twist on a meatball sub
King’s Hawaiian® Mini Sub Rolls
Frozen meatballs
King’s Hawaiian® Original BBQ Sauce
Pineapple Dices or Slices (in juice)
Bell Peppers (Diced)
Pineapple Juice (from can of pineapple)
Place meatballs, BBQ Sauce, Pineapple Juice into Crock-pot.
Cook on high for about an hour then turn on low to keep warm for guests.
Place 3 meatballs on mini sub rolls top with BBQ sauce, diced pineapples & peppers.
My Sparkling Life https://mysparklinglife.com/
Smoked Bacon & Pineapple Hawaiian Sliders
King’s Hawaiian® Original Sweet Rolls
2 lbs Hamburger Meat
King’s Hawaiian® Bacon BBQ Sauce
Bell Peppers (Diced)
Pineapple Dices
Mix 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce into hamburger meat.
Pack meat into mini burger (slider) forms
Grill until done
Place mini burger (slider) onto sweet roll
Top with BBQ sauce, pineapple & peppers
My Sparkling Life https://mysparklinglife.com/ Which recipe will you try?
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.”

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.”
Have you always been curious about the robotics world? Joined the robotics team in high school? Fess up, you know you’ve watched Ex Machina & Bicentennial Man & Terminator about a million and one times…and that’s okay because robotics is cool. What about how industrial robots work? You know, the kind of robots that work on assembly lines building other complex pieces of machinery? The kind you’ve seen on “How It’s Made”…
I love that mechanics and robotics are becoming more mainstream with the younger generation. My nephew is on his schools robotics team and competed in Houston this year…and now more companies like HEXBUG® are creating affordable robotics your kids can build and rebuild at home. The new line of VEX ROBOTICS by HEXBUG have my kids begging for more.
Now you can unlock the mystery behind these sophisticated robots by building one of your own! We received the VEX Robotics Robotic Arm – a completely functional construction kit inspired by real industrial robot arms – for a campaign with Best Buy and couldn’t wait to get putting together the 350+ pieces. This unique Robotic Arm is hand powered and can pick up and relocate items using four degrees of freedom and an articulated grabber hand. The whole crane can rotate 360 degrees, allowing this miniature robot to perform the complex actions of its real life counterpart.
Kids and robotics enthusiasts alike will have fun building this STEM-based kit that pays special attention to important scientific principals including gear reductions and power transfer through the robotic arm’s intricate gearing techniques.
While all the boys were interested in building this kit, I felt that my oldest would have the easiest time following the instructions and piecing together some of the smaller parts. We sat down together, I thought this would be a fun and educational experience for the both of us, and separated all the pieces into their groups to make it easier when searching for the piece needed. We didn’t really time it because we were enjoying ourselves, but it took about an hour to an hour and half to piece together…
Here is a snipit of our timelaps…I hope to have a full video up for you very soon!
HEXBUG® hopes to inspire future generations of engineers and designers by allowing them to explore this exciting field through the fun of hands-on creative play. I know my boys are already putting some more robotics on their Christmas lists!
I much prefer them using their brains and enjoying hands on play rather than the video games they normally gravitate to. I would highly recommend this product and hope to see all of your kiddos with their VEX ROBOTICS soon! Tag me on instagram @mysparklinglife & #TechToys so I can see their masterpieces!
The VEX Robotics Robotic Arm (PN 406-4202; MSRP $49.99) is complaint with CPSIA standards. Batteries not required. Ages: 8 years and up.

Life, like the weather, can be unpredictable. One minute you’re huddled up by a warm fire beating the chills of winter the next you’re peeling off layers as spring hits.
With the warm weather right around the corner we take a look at three tips to help prepare your hair and skin for the changing of the seasons, without the drama.
In the power of a fantastic skin care routine, morning and evening. Over the colder months, you might feel that your skin and hair needs a little extra TLC and is prone to drying out more but with the sun comes just as many challenges so at the very least step up that sunscreen application. Harmful UV rays might be the number one cause of ageing but they also play a key part in damaging skin that can lead to some types of skin cancer, so invest in a quality product today.
Your hair too will no longer have the frizz factor that comes with constantly whipping a wooly hat on and off, so now’s the time to treat your locks to some deep nourishing. Hair down is the new look over the summer so make sure your tresses are radiating shine. A great cut will do wonders for your overall sense of wellbeing, get rid of those dry ends and put back a summer swing in your step.
Cheap mascara is a false economy and unfortunately, it’s easy to end up buying beauty products that promise the earth but deliver very little. So our next tip when buying summer beauty products is to do your research. Whether you’re looking for a new set of hair straighteners or some tinted moisturizer, what you pay is often what you get.
When it comes to buying electrical goods, you don’t want to run the risk of getting landed with some faulty wiring so check out reviews on sites such as All The Stuff and lifestyle blogs to check out what everyone’s raving about and what’s best to avoid like cheap mascara.

I love travel, and learning about new cultures. Since I’ve had my kiddos, that’s been on the back burner…so how do I satisfy my taste for global knowledge? Try The World! Try the World is a bi-monthly subscription box service that brings the tastes of the world straight to your door! Their team of travelers and local experts curates a collection of products that best represent each country/city. The first box starts in Paris and then boxes move to Toyoko, Rio and other cities around the globe. Boxes include not only delicious gourmet finds but also a companion on the history of the products and how to use them as well as a culture guide that will take you through recipes, & history of the City.
At Try The World, we believe that life is too short to not try everything that’s out in the world. So we created the first subscription program to discover the best gourmet food and cultural finds from across the globe, delivered to your door!
This month I received the Venice Box! What romantic tastes await me in this box?! Here’s what the box included Urbani Tartufi Red Pesto and Truffles: Truffle is an intensely flavored mushroom that is foraged in Italy from December to March. Founded in 1850 as a family company, the Urbani name has become synonymous with high quality truffle products today throughout the world. This rich and innovative fusion of pesto ad truffles is bound to be a part of your favorite pasta, fish, and meat recipes. Leone Pastiglie: Leone has been producing pastille candy originals using traditional bronze molds and high quality ingredients in Torino, in northeast Italy, since 1857. These small delights are produced through a careful selection of essences, extracts and flavors to bring out the taste and scent of different flavors. These orange drops slowly dissolve on the tongue, delivering aromatic citrus essences to your palate. Mogi Coffee: After water coffee is the most common drink throughout Italy after water. Italians consume around 5.58 kg of coffee per person every year! The day typically starts with quickly gulping down a short espresso at the counter of a caffe’. Mogi believes that very sip from that hot cup of thick porcelain is a gesture that transmits values, communities, culture, and reminds Italians of their history. Mogi Caffe’ is a full-bodied and creamy coffee with harmonious flavor and a low-level of caffeine and its aoma is sure to transport you to Italy. Venchi Torroncini: The Venchi Factory still preserves the same recipe perfected by the artisan chocolatier, Silviano Venchi, in 1870 and uses cocoa beans gron in the Amazon rainforest through collaboration with the local farmers. Enjoy these delightful treats with a crunchy twist of refined hazelnuts. Perugina Limoncello Chocolate Tab: The Perugina confectionary was founded in 1907 by Luisa Spagnoli and Giovanni Buitoni in central Italy. You may know them from their world-famous hazelnut-filled baci chocolates (which translates to “kisses” from Italian) wrapped in love notes. With this Limoncello chocolate bar, taste Perugina’s authentic rich chocolate with the citrus taste of classic Italian Limoncello liqueur. Pastificio Dei Campi Pasta: This pasta is handmade in Italy and is delicious! This handmade pasta captures the essence of Italian culture. In particular, Gragnano pasta takes is name from an ancient village outside of Naples famous for producing some of the best dried pastas in Italy. traditionally Gragnano artisans would hang their spaghetti to dry like laundry in fresh air from both the mountain and the sea. Today they are dried with heaters but the traditional approach remains. Cook it briefly al dente to taste the difference Mystery Treat – melata di bosco: All of the boxes included a Mystery Treat and mine is this Italian honey. From Apicoltura Floriano Turco in the town of Elva amidst the Italian Alps near the border with France. These honeys are true artisanal products where one man tends to his hives, collects the comb and produces some of the best varietal honeys we have tasted. I love my Try The World boxes! You can check out my Rome Box & Holiday Box Reviews… Want to try a box of your own?! Get a 30% discount off your first subscription box! Use the code: REBECCATRAVELS. (Please note that this code only applies to subscriptions and not to gifts.) Venice Box offer today : if you buy a subscription here, you will receive a Venice Box + a Free Paris Box as a bonus box!!
Please note that the offers do not combine.
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.”