NYNE Mini Bluetooth Speaker Takes You Back To School In Style

Take a sneak peek at the magical adventure by watching a recently released motion poster & featurette that showcases the bravery of Beetle, voiced by Matthew McConaughey. Kubo’s quest begins nationwide August 19, 2016 from animation studio LAIKA and Focus Features.
Kubo and the Two Strings is an epic action-adventure set in a fantastical Japan from acclaimed animation studio LAIKA. Clever, kindhearted Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson of “Game of Thrones”) ekes out a humble living, telling stories to the people of his seaside town including Hosato (George Takei), Hashi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), and Kameyo (Academy Award nominee Brenda Vaccaro). But his relatively quiet existence is shattered when he accidentally summons a spirit from his past which storms down from the heavens to enforce an age-old vendetta. Now on the run, Kubo joins forces with Monkey (Academy Award winner Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey), and sets out on a thrilling quest to save his family and solve the mystery of his fallen father, the greatest samurai warrior the world has ever known. With the help of his shamisen – a magical musical instrument – Kubo must battle gods and monsters, including the vengeful Moon King (Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) and the evil twin Sisters (Academy Award nominee Rooney Mara), to unlock the secret of his legacy, reunite his family, and fulfill his heroic destiny.

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.

Growing up, I was introduced and had plenty of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors…Camping, Fishing, Hiking, Tubing, or just hanging out at the lake or beach. Needless to say, with 4 boys, it’s still a big part of my life. The outdoors is part of so many Mom’s lives, so this Mother’s Day, skip the flowers & chocolates and get mom some new outdoor fashion! I love getting new clothing, so I was excited to partner with Orvis this Mother’s Day to review their Tencel®/Linen Belted Field Jacket. Orvis has some great looking outdoor fashions that will keep Mom looking great while enjoying the outdoor sports she loves!
Soft and slouchy with a weathered appearance, this summer-weight field-inspired Tencel/linen jacket for women is just right for providing a dose of warmth and cover from the sun without stifling weight. It fit’s great and looks great with just about anything. It comes in two colors, indigo & sage.
There are so many more goodies for Mom…and maybe a little something for yourself, on the Orvis site! I already have my eye on a few things for this summer.
This Mother’s Day, Orvis is celebrating our first role model, teacher and love – Mom! As motherhood is a journey and an adventure that should be celebrated, the premier outfitter of the outdoor lifestyle put together a compelling video illustrating a mother’s bond with her child and their first of many shared outdoor adventures together.
Leading up to Mother’s Day, Orvis is urging fans to share the video with the hashtag #LongLiveMoms. Each share triggers a $1 donation to Casting for Recovery, a unique program that combines breast cancer education and support with the therapeutic sport of fly fishing. Casting for Recovery offers retreats for breast cancer patients and survivors to get outside and discover renewed energy for life, all free of cost.
Orvis is America’s oldest mail-order outfitter and longest continually-operating fly-fishing business. They have committed to donating up to $10,000 so let’s help them reach their goal and keep moms outdoors for years to come!
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.”
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Wanting to be an ally to a struggling friend or relative is a beautiful start, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be helpful past your intent. After all, you may wish to simply help them live life by taking care of everything for them, only to realize that this is suppressing their growth and even enabling their habit. Sometimes tough love is needed, and sometimes it is not. With our following advice, you should be able to navigate this confusing space with care and compassion:
Be Objective & Reasonable
Be as objective and as reasonable as you can be when communicating with them. Instead of blaming them for acting differently, trying to guilt-trip them or come across as aggressive, be firm and fair with your responses. Let them know that you are concerned about them, an that you’re here for them. Don’t sugarcoat the work that may need to be done, or how you hope for them to recover. It can sometimes be that having an objective and totally honest friend like this could be the most hopeful part of their lives right now.
Help Them Help Themselves
You cannot help someone who refuses to help themselves, but if they are willing to try, this can be a fantastic thing to consider. Remember, recovery is rarely linear, but it can be that when struggling they learn to slowly get stronger each time they try. Driving them to the Doctor, or to their job shifts to help settle their debts, or helping them write a CV and allow them to practice their interview technique could help them gain that vital first step out towards achieving their independence once more.
Recommend Professional Help
Sometimes, a friend truly needs professional help. If addicted to a harmful substance, for example, there’s no much you can do as a friend who maybe untrained in such matters. It could be helping them take that first step to a heroin addiction treatment center, for example, will set events in motion that lend to their recovery, potentially even saving their life. Sometimes, alongside their family, it’s important to apply tough love and to put them in the right circumstances for help, without force or aggression, but with a caring and loving attitude. This can help you also lose some of the impossible burdens you may have otherwise placed on yourself – as you need to take care of your life too.
With this advice, we hope you can be a great friend to a struggling individual – just as you intend to be.

I received the boxes of Immaculate Dry baking mixes as inspiration for my peanut butter cupcake brownies…so looking at the four boxes I had Ideas sparking in my mind…one of which I’m going to share with you today.
For more on the Immaculate Dry Baking Mixes see my full post HERE!
Peanut Butter Cupcake Brownies with Peanut Buttercream Icing A delicious mix of chocolate cupcake on top and brownie on the bottom topped with an peanut butter buttercream icing and garnished with shaved chocolate and a peanut butter cup.
1 Box Immaculate Dry Chocolate Cake Mix
3/4 cup Milk
3/4 cup Butter, melted
4 Eggs
1 Box Immaculate Dry Brownie Mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 Eggs
2 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tbsp Peanut butter
1/2 cup Butter, softened
1/2 cup Vegetable shortening
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Heavy cream
12 Peanut butter cups
1 Chocolate Bark
Preheat oven to 350*
Mix together ingredients for the brownie mix, place into 2 greased or lined and sprayed cupcake pans (24 cupcakes). This will fill about half way.
Mix together ingredients for the cake mix, fill remaining space in the cupcake pans. You will have leftover cake mix, i used this to make 12 more cupcakes.
Bake for 20 min. Check on it by sticking a toothpick in it, if it comes out clean its ready!
Cool completely on wire racks.
If your adventurous, you can pipe peanut butter into the center of the cupcake for authentic peanut butter cupcakes.
Combine Butter, vegetable shortening, vanilla, and heavy cream. Mix in peanut butter, then slowly add in powdered sugar while mixing. Mix till smooth.
Place icing into piping bag and pip generously onto the cupcake.
Garnish with a Peanut butter cup and chocolate shavings
My Sparkling Life https://mysparklinglife.com/
Disclosure: The Immaculate Baking Mixes were provided by Immaculate Baking through Platefull Co-Op to serve as inspiration for this recipe, however recipe is my own.

McFarland, USA came out this weekend with a bang and surpasses our expectations in the box office! But with as inspiring as the movie is the cast behind it is just as inspiring. While I was in LA a few weeks ago I got to sit down with Kevin Costner, Director Niki Caro, the real inspiration behind the movie & the 7 young men who brought the inspiration to life on the big screen. Those 7 young men Carlos Pratts, Hector Duran, Sergio Avelar, Johnny Ortiz, Rafael Martinez, Michael Aguero & Rodrigo Ramirez, were so fun to listen to. They talked about many things, but I think the thing that touch me the most was the brotherhood and the bonds that you could clearly see formed just like a real cross-country team does. Staring across Kevin Costner isn’t an easy task but these boys clearly held their own in this inspiring movie.
Your first question might be a little like ours…what was it like working with Kevin Costner? The boys had some great answers…
It was a great experience, he’s a great legend, such a humble guy. – Group
He was more stories that a library, I swear. – Michael Aguero
While a few of the boys only had very little time to spend with their inspiration, Romero, Sergio & Michael are all from McFarland and grew up with the real inspiration as their coaches, councilors and teachers. While two of them (Michael & Sergio) are actually runners for McFarland and another (Romero) is a champion Soccer player for McFarland..when it came down to it they only had one month to “train” for their roles, however, they did do more running while filming then you see in the movie.
While the other boys had never acted before Carlos & Johnny have acted in other roles..Carlos states that making a movie is different from TV in that TV moves so much faster so you must have faith in the script, where a movie you get to take your time and have more confidence in what you are doing.
Carlos Pratts Taking Direction from Director Niki Caro | Photo: Disney
Q: What’s the most influential real life lesson that you took from this movie?
For me personally, throughout my high school and pretty much my whole life, I’ve been the chubby one, and in this movie, I see it a lot. They picked on me, but despite all this, it was a joke. Me and him get along, all of us get along. Yeah, they could tell me that I’m fat, but to be honest, in real life, it really did hurt me, and to see him triumph the way he did, it’s really a triumph for me also, because it proved everybody wrong. A big man could do it, but it showed me also that I could do it too. – Rodrigo Ramirez
I think one of the biggest things I’ve learned throughout this film, which I already knew, but it just reinforces it even more is the idea of equality and not judging a book by its cover. As you see in the film, Kevin Costner comes into this small town, small town, and he kind of judges the book by its cover. Once you get deeper into what’s really and all the values that are there, you see that everybody’s equal. Everybody had their own opinions. The only thing that separates us is the color of our skin, so we should try to treat each other equally. – Hector Duran
Even after the filming they all keep in touch and it’s more like a brotherhood now with “Hector as the little brother”. The chemistry that you see on-screen is the way it is in real life…
We love each other as brothers and we, we never lost that connection. When they said cut, it was still there.
What’s next for these boys? There “doors are open” to whatever life brings their way.
I hope, if you haven’t already, you go check out these amazing young men in McFarland, USA. It really is the little movie that could, far surpassing everyone’s expectations!
Follow McFARLAND, USA on Facebook
Follow Disney Pictures on Twitter
Follow the Boys on Twitter:
Ramiro Rodriguez @Ramiroo_17
Sergio Avelar @sjravelar
Rafael Martinez @koolaidrafa
Johnny Ortiz @MrJohnnyOrtiz
Hector Duran @hector_duran11
Carlos Pratts @carlospratts