I know I already have one fantabulous contest going on, but I couldn’t sit on this one any longer.  As I said a few weeks ago, I have been on the search for a signature scent.  Truth be told I like to smell like baked goods. I have always leaned towards brown sugar, vanilla, cake batter scents.  So, when I stumbled upon Tropical Bomb and saw that they had a perfume oil called Sugar Binge, I just had to try it:


All of their products are made with the finest butters* oils* waxes* and fragrances* to create top of the line Body Care items and Perfumes. Every product is hand-made,hand-poured,and hand wrapped.  This sugar binge perfume is awesome.  It has a little roller on it, so you can easily apply it to your wrists and neck or behind the ears or wherever else you dare!  Behind the knees….over top of your regretted tramp stamp tattoo maybe!?!  Say what!  I’ll hush now.

Anyway, Tropical Bomb makes lot of rad products, lip balms, body butter, perfumes and much more.  Here are a few items that I am going to have to get soon:



The good folks at Tropical Bomb have sent me a gift bag to give away to one of my lucky readers!  In this package you get a cute little zip keychain purse that can hold the peachy keen lip gloss and Beach Cove perfume oil!  How fun is that!?!


To enter you have to go to the Tropical Bomb shop, have a look around and leave me a comment telling me what you think your favorite product would be.  Want an extra entry or two?  Then tweet, facebook or blog about my contest, make sure to leave a separate entry telling me you did so.  I will use random.org to pick the winner on Sat.  Contest closes at 10am 1/30.

I have lots of great stuff coming up for you this week!  Including crock pot bread pudding (already drooling), homemade black bean & oat burgers and I will be trying my hand at some vegetarian dish that I haven’t yet picked, any suggestions?

Good morning and Happy Sunday my dear Bloggy friends.  I am heading to an hour of power yoga soon!  But this morning I have a great giveaway for you.  Don’t forget to enter the Funktional Spa Giveaway that is over this afternoon. 

You know how when Xmas rolls around, you are always excited.  It’s fun to get presents, its fun to see your family and friends and celebrate your own traditions. But how often do you really get a gift you love? I mean sure, you l like the stuff you told everyone to get you, I mean you picked it out, you love that you got gift cards to go shopping b/c you love to shop, but how often are you taken by surprise by a gift that shows the gift giver really gets YOU?  I was lucky enough to get just such a gift this Xmas.  Look at this yoga bag my sister Tina gave me:

Isn’t it just gorgeous?  A true work of art. I get a ridiculous amount of compliments on this bag when I go to yoga class  The designer is Jaya from Green Trunk Designs, those great pictures are hers, the ones I took just didn’t compare. She hasn’t had her Etsy store up for very long, but boy I hope she goes far b/c these are just one of a kind.  And guess what!  She’s giving you one!  Yep.

All Green Trunk Designs items are designed, sewn, photographed and packaged by Jaya in her home in New York, where she lives with her husband and coaches cross country and teaches fitness classes at her church. All of her items are made to out of eco friendly, vintage, upcycled, and repurposed materials.  How cool is that!  It’s pretty being green.

So now on to the contest.  Visit Jaya’s site and look at the EXCERCISE MAT BAGS and leave me a comment telling me which one you would want if you win.  Make sure to leave the titles of the bag you like best.  Want an extra entry?  Just Facebook, blog or Tweet about my contest and leave me a separate comment (again with your fav bag, just put entry #2, I want bag XYZ) telling me you did so.  I will leave the contest open until Saturday Jan 30th at Noon.  Good luck!

Hi there Bloggy friends I hope you are all having a good Humpday.  I recently got some business cards printed up to promote my website and I wanted a business card holder, so of course I looked on Etsy and look at what I found!


This adorable business card holder was made by Bits O Honey Designs.  She has some seriously cute stuff.  The gal behind Bits o Honey is the mom of two from Atlanta and learned to sew from her mom and grandma, she enjoys using bright, cheerful fabrics. Her items just make me smile, here are some of my favorites up for sale right now:


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Also, I have been on a search for the perfect signature scent   I have never been much of a perfume wearer, but every time I smell someone that has  on a great scent it reminds me that I really want to be!  Once upon a time I had some Honeysuckle perfume that I really liked, but the smell didn’t last long, I found a solid perfume seller on Etsy, Funktional Spa and ordered the Honeysuckle.  It comes in this adorable little container that is perfect for your diaper bag or purse and the best thing is that the smell lasts all day!  It smells just like honeysuckle and isn’t too overpowering.  I smell like a flower!  I love it.  The checkout girl at the grocery store even told me I smelled good! 


Funktional Spa is run by husband and wife team Drew and Wyn and they create lots of yummy products including bar soap, perfumes and body butter.  They were kind enough to offer up a contest!  They are going to send one of my lucky readers a gift!  Yes, you can win this:


How great does that look!!!  To win this soap/body butter set you need to visit their site and leave me a comment telling me something you learned.  It can be what you favorite product is, where Drew and Wyn are from, how many bars of soap they have sold, whatever strikes your fancy.  If you want an extra entry, just tweet, blog or facebook about this contest.  Make sure to leave an extra comment telling me you did so. I will choose a winner using random.org on Sunday afternoon.  Good luck!

The winner of the yoga bag from Yoga Grrllie is:

1/11/2010 1:14 PM Ilana Gross wrote:
That yoga mat bag looks awesome!!!

Congratulations Ilana, email me your address at mnowac@gmail.com

Visit LaRae’s shop to get one for yourself!

Sorry this is a little late. The winner (generated by random.org) of the AZC Designs head band is # 11:

1/7/2010 12:59 AM Averie wrote:
hey lady thx for the info on the giveaway coming up! remind me if i happen to forget to pop back over here

for this giveaway, i learned she lives in cleav hts. and has CUUTTTTEE stuff!

Congratulations Averie. Please email me your address and the color headband you choose.  Big thanks to Alicia at AZC Designs, make sure to check her shop ofen and she is always putting up cute than cute new creations.

*Don’t forget you still have 2 days to enter my AZC Designs headband giveaway, scroll down and do so*

Good morning Bloggy friends. I love Sundays because I start my day with an awesome power yoga class at my local Urban Active. They are lucky to have a really talented teacher, I really like her style. Today she was telling us to breathe in with love, love for yourself.  Such a great idea. I try really hard to think positive when I do yoga. I will bitch about one thing though, the stupid gym took my beloved class from 75 mins to 60, boo on them.  And they started it at 9am, instead of 9:15 and the daycare opens at 9, so I will bea little late every time.  Whatevs. 

You know what I really enjoy?  The Dancing Warrior vinyasa. Do you know it? If not you can check it out here:
http://websiterite.com/uploads/Dancing_Warrior.pdf

I love Warrior 2, I always feel very strong and balanced when I am in this pose.

From the yoga journal online:

(veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna)
Virabhadra = the name of a fierce warrior, an incarnation of Shiva, described as having a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet, wielding a thousand clubs, and wearing a tiger’s skin

Step by Step

Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step or lightly jump your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.

Turn your right foot in slightly to the right and your left foot out to the left 90 degrees. Align the left heel with the right heel. Firm your thighs and turn your left thigh outward so that the center of the left knee cap is in line with the center of the left ankle.

Exhale and bend your left knee over the left ankle, so that the shin is perpendicular to the floor. If possible, bring the left thigh parallel to the floor. Anchor this movement of the left knee by strengthening the right leg and pressing the outer right heel firmly to the floor.

Stretch the arms away from the space between the shoulder blades, parallel to the floor. Don’t lean the torso over the left thigh: Keep the sides of the torso equally long and the shoulders directly over the pelvis. Press the tailbone slightly toward the pubis. Turn the head to the left and look out over the fingers.

Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.

*****************************************************************
I am very excited to have another Somethin’ Pretty giveaway for you.  Yoga Grrllie graciously sent me one of her gorgeous yoga mat bag covers for one of my lucky readers! The one I have to give away is very similar to this, they are extremely study and well made, you will be the envy of all the other yogis in your class!


Yoga Grrllie is actually LaRae, a yoga and pilates instructor and she has her own website and you can learn a pose of the month there. Look at all the other fun items she sells!

Aromatherapy pillows:

Adorable aprons:


Ready to enter?  All you have to do is visit LaRae’s shop and leave me a comment telling me something you learned, it could be your favorite item, where she’s from, whatever, just make sure you check out her wares.  Want an extra entry?  Just facebook or blog about this contest, make sure you leave a separate comment if you do.  I will pick a winner using random.org on Friday afternoon.  Good luck!

The winner of the Nature’s Gate lotion/body wash set is:

1/5/2010 9:14 PM Melissa G wrote:
I learned that only 1% of the worlds water is drinkable


Congrats Melissa, email me your address at mnowac@gmail.com and I will get this out to you this week.  Thanks again to Nature’s Gate, you should be able to find their stuff at your local grocery store. Giant Eagle has it in the Organic section. 

You still have a few days to enter the giveaway for an adorable one of a kind creation of AZC Designs – http://monicaonthego.com/2010/01/06/somethin-pretty–a-giveaway.aspx

You need to march your cute lil’ behind over to AZC designs and see what Alicia has going on!   Alicia lives across the street from me and makes the most beautiful, whimsical accessories and baby items.  When I was pregnant she gave me this adorable onesie for Harper. I remember getting it and thinking it was so huge, no way was my kid ever going to fit into it, now she is busting out.  My how time flies. 
Alicia has graciously agreed to send a free headband to one of my lucky readers.  To enter, hop on over to her site and come back and tell me something, anything, what product you love, where she lives, what she sold in the past and the comment will be your entry. Want an extra entry?  Just blog about my contest and leave me another comment telling me you did so.  If you don’t have a blog, you can facebook or twitter it, again leave a separate comment.


Oh and the best part, you get to pick your color out of those displayed above!  I will pick a winner next Tuesday at 6pm. Woohoo.

The fine folks over at Nature’s Gate were kind enough to send me over some complementary products  to try and some for a lucky reader! I always see their products at Whole Foods and have been interested to try them.  I am a huge fan of Lavender, so they sent me their Lavender and Aloe Shampoo & Conditioner to try. I must admit I have always been wary to try an organic, all natural hair product.  I have very thick, unruly hair and usually use shampoos chocked full of fake stuff  and voodoo to straighten and tame my mane.  This shampoo/conditioner is made from Organic Aloe, Lavender Oil and Juniper Berry Extract and  combined with Panthenol (Vitamin B5) to infuse hair with moisture and nutrients. It detangles and helps restore beauty and bounce. My hair felt so light and fluffy and my flyaways were totally tamed. Plus I smelled absolutely wonderful! I couldn’t quit sniffing my hair.  What I really like about their products is that they grow their essences on an organic farm in CA and they are watered naturally by snow runoff from the Sierra Nevadas!

And now for a giveaway!  Nature Gate also sent me a gift pack of Ginger Tea body wash and lotion for 1 lucky winner. 


Nature’s Gate has partnered with WaterAid America to support the use of rainwater to help families and children in Asia and Africa have long term access to safe, clean water. They encourage you to get involved and help  reach their goals and deliver clean, safe water to children and families. Proceeds from these gift sets go to help this effort.

Here are some interesting facts about water I got from their website:

Facts About Water

I got a nice package in the mail from the fine folks over at Divine Foods.    Divine Foods is an all-natural energy bar manufacturer, family owned and operated and is located in Escondido, California.  They make Prana Bars, Supercharger bars and Boomi Bars.  All their bars are free of wheat, cane sugar, GMO’s, meat, eggs and peanuts ensuring the products are gluten-free, soy-free and vegetarian.  I couldn’t get over the amount of flavors they have!  I decided to try one of each bars before doing this giveaway.

First up was the Perfect Pumpkin Boomi Bar:

This was a drool worthy bar and I will definitely be stocking up on them.  Just a few ingridients: Pumpkin Seeds, Honey, Dates, Raisins, Apricots, Cranberries, Crisp Rice, Amaranth, & Salt added up to such a wonderful texture and taste. I was very surprised this bar only has 3 grams a sugar b/c it was really sweet. 


As I said before I am a huge fan of coconut. I liked this bar, it reminded me a lot of the raw revolution coconut bars.  Again, very sweet for not much sugar.  It’s mostly a raw bar except for the nuts and seeds which require cooking.

I had the organic energy Supercharger bar next. I really enjoyed the mango flavor, it reminded me a lot of dried mango I have bought before.  I can’t say I noticed any big energy jump, but it was still very yummy.

The Boomi bar was my favorite.  I just loved the various nuts and seeds in it. 

So now it’s your turn.  Want to win some?  I will pick 2 winners on Saturday around noon.  You have a few ways to enter, make sure to leave a seperate comment for each entry:
1. Leave a comment telling me what flavor/type of bar you want to try, visit their website to see the different products
2.  Add me to your blog roll
3. Give this contest a shoutout on your blog
4. Send an email out telling your friends about the contest, copy me- mnowac@gmail.com

Good luck!