Looking at a New School Year! GlassShop.com Review

Disclaimer: I was offered product to facilitate my review, however all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

It's crazy to think that the first month of school is already over. 
The forecast calls for cooler 60 degree days this week, I made caramel apples with Emma over the weekend, and we put away the summer outdoor furniture already. Summer is gone and Fall is here.  

I've been loving the addition of some fall pieces. My buttery soft LulaRoe leggings, the swing dresses from Old Navy that I've been living in, and the vanilla chai in the morning! Yum! Add in my new Scout tote for school, a new planner, a new Vera Bradley lunchbox, and it was time to update my eye glasses as well. 

I usually hate going to get glasses. The eye exam, the dilation; I even have a freckle on one of my eye balls so it's always a big deal to check out. After the exam, it's time to pick out the glasses and that might be even harder.  First, you get a tray and put on like 20 different glasses because you don't know what looks best and then you pick a pair you like, only to find out it's $500 or $600 for that with your lenses! Yikes!

Thankfully, finding glasses online is the new way to shop.  GlassesShop.com had a great selection of frames and I was able to find multiple pairs I liked that fit into my budget, then even have prescription sunglasses in addition to regular glasses. 

Ordering was super easy. The hardest part was picking out which glasses to order but I was excited for a pair of wayfarer style navy glasses. 

Once I picked out my style, I added it to the cart and was able to input my prescription from my eye doctor! I was even able to make my lens photochromic so they can adjust indoors and outdoors or polarize them! The company offers a variety of lens materials and coatings such as UV, scratch protective, etc to really get the best glasses you can. Check out took only a few minutes and no surprise costs!

I'm going to make it even easier for you and give out a special coupon code GSHOT50 just for my readers! You will get 50% off on eyeglasses and sunglasses with FREE lenses (sale frames excluded)!!!

Be sure to tweet or Snap (heathgiff) me a picture of your new frames!

xo, Heather

Fairies in Our House!

Five is such a magical age.  Everything is awe inspiring and anything is possible.  Emmalee has been in love with fairies this summer. We love to sit on our front porch and look for lightening bugs.  She is convinced they are fairies she can make magic wishes to.  Her wishes are always the cutest; wishes like "I wish we could watch fairies forever" and "I wish I had a fairy for my very own", adorable right?

I was super excited when I had the opportunity to meet The Irish Fairy Door Company at Blogger Bash a couple of weeks ago and even more thrilled when they asked Emmalee if she wanted an Irish Fairy Door to set up in her own room!

The Irish Fairy Door is amazing and there are so many door styles and add ons like wall art and garden accessories! You can purchase them on their website, or through my affiliate link on Amazon.

The first step is to set up your Irish Fairy Door, and leave the key by it.  Then you log onto the computer and enter your special code, letting the fairies know that you are ready for them.  When the key has disappeared, a fairy has moved in! Emmalee was so excited to set it up but in her logical little mind, she couldn't understand where the fairy's door led to, since her mind, there was no actual house.  We talked about magic and how it is hidden and only fairies could see it, and while she was excited after understanding, she was sad she didn't have a fairy house to watch the fairies in.

Thankfully, there's another company that can give Emmalee even more fairies in her life! Dreamland Fairy offers a paint your own fairy home and an adorable, plush 6" Fairy!

You can buy the items from their website or through my affiliate link on Amazon.  I love that Dreamland Fairy allows Emma to believe in the magic of fairies, but also let's her be creative through art and pretend play with the fairy doll.

Both fairy products offer hours of imaginative play and cost under $25! The fairy doll is only $9! At such a great price point, it's easy to get both!

I can't wait to see Emma' face in the morning when she sees that the fairy has moved in!

xo, Heather

Grab and Go Apple Pies

I love love love September, or as I call it, apple month.  It is the little bit of time I get before pumpkin spice everything takes over.  I am in love with the smells of September, the leaves, the crock pot meals, and my favorite, apple pie.  My problem with apple pie is that if I make an apple pie, there's an entire pie staring at me, and honestly, I lack the willpower to say no.

These individual sized, easy to grab and go apple pies are the perfect way to limit your pie consumption, and since you can eat them in your hand, you don't need any plate or silverware!

They are so easy to make and only require a few ingredients.

You need:

2 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
6 cups thinly sliced pared apples
1 package of refrigerated pie crust
Preheat oven to 400*.
Mix all the ingredients together and then add the apples. Mix until all are coated in the cinnamon mix.
Using a large 3" circle cutter, cut out the pie crust.  I used the scraps, rolled them together and then cut out more, giving me 16 circles. 
Put half on a baking sheet and scoop 1/4 cup of the apple mixture into the middle.
Top with a second pie circle and using a fork, press the edges into each other. Also, cut a vent into the top of the pie, I did 4 to make an x, but 1 single cut is fine too. 
Sprinkle a little bit more cinnamon on top of the pie.
Cook for 12-15 minutes or until pie is brown.

We barely let them cool before we started eating them! Ha!

Emma asked for ice cream with her so instead of eating it with our hands, we drizzled some caramel and added a scoop of ice cream. So so good!

Apple pie is my favorite, but I'm sure you could make these with blueberry, peach, or cherry!

Let me know which flavor you make!

xo, Heather

McDonald's and Kids in the Kitchen #McDKidsintheKitchen

 I received compensation from McDonald’s in exchange for writing this review. Although this is a sponsored post, all opinions my own.

Last week, Emmalee and I were invited to the Natick McDonald's to hear about the great changes McDonald's has made it to it's menu. McDonald's has really been stressing their commitment to nutrition and well-being, which flips the fast food idea that many have had for years.

Some of the changes McDonald's has made includes using a Spring Mix in it's salads, rather than just locally sourced iceberg lettuce,  making burgers with 100% ground beef that has no additives , and Grade A fresh eggs, literally all things found in my own refrigerator.  Additionally, McDonald's has moved to artificial preservative and antibiotic free chicken breast meat. It's important that my kids get the same caliber of food I offer at home when we head out for McDonald's.

We started out our day with McDonald's listening to a nutritionist talk to the kids about healthy foods and choices, even going over what should be on their plate at each meal. It's a nice visual for kids so they can take ownership in what they are eating.

You can't spend all morning talking about Happy meals and then not get one, right? I really loved the idea that a Happy Meal doesn't have to be the full meal, you can add in more veggies and manipulate the food a bit to be sure you're getting all your servings!

Emmalee loves the chicken nuggets and added a Chocolate milk, apple slices, and a yogurt to her meal to up the nutritional value.
Instead of eating the chicken nuggets right out of the box, we made little wrap sandwiches, using romaine lettuce leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cheese, and cut up chicken nuggets.  We topped ours with Ranch dressing before folding them up to eat!

It was such a great way to eat a classic Happy Meal, that packed an even better for you punch of veggies!

I'm so excited about the changes that have happened at McDonald's; I am more excited to bring my children there now, knowing that they are getting meats that have no extra additives in them, and knowing that they can opt for better for you choices!

What do you think about the changes? Are you more apt to swing by McDonald's now that these changes are in place?

xo Heather