Manitoba #HempHearts Review and {GIVEAWAY}

I've got a treat for you today in the form of a bag of 2 oz. Manitoba Hemp Hearts to giveaway!

I've loved hemp hearts for a while now, but I have typically put them on salads and in quinoa dishes. They are packed with 10 grams of omegas and 10 grams of protein per 30 gram serving. 

I decided to try something different and bake with them. I found a great Hemp Banana Muffins recipe on the Manitoba Harvest site. They turned out delicious!

Hemp Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups light spelt flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup Hemp Hearts
• 2 bananas
• 1/3 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup non-dairy milk
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats and Hemp Hearts.

In a blender, process bananas, oil, vanilla and non-dairy milk until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Stir until just mixed. Spoon into prepared pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Recipe courtesy of: http://www.womaninreallife.blogspot.ca 

Never tried hemp hearts? Here's your chance to win a bag! If you aren't sure if they are for you, some people say that they taste like sesame seeds or pine nuts. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you don't win, you can still purchase Hemp Hearts and get 20% off everything at ManitobaHarvest.com with the code: HHSweatPink. Code expires November 30, 2014. 

I received a 2 oz. bag of Manitoba Hemp Hearts to review through my ambassadorship with Sweat Pink. They have also provided the bag to giveaway to a reader. 

Living Proof PhD Products Final Review (Sponsored by #MC)

“I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Living Proof. I received product samples to facilitate my review and to thank me for my participation.”

I have been using Living Proof PhD (perfect hair day) products for over a month now and have seen and felt a remarkable improvement in the strength, shininess and smoother texture of my hair. I love trying new beauty products and any bottle that claims I will have perfect hair definitely will be held to high standards! I know I am not alone in thinking it is an excellent product line because it has won numerous awards this year-here are the awards just the shampoo alone has received.  

• 
  2014 TotalBeauty.com Awards, Editor's Pick - Best Shampoo
• 
  2014 Allure, Best of Beauty Awards, Best Shampoo and Conditioner, Normal Hair
• 
  2014 Prevention, Beauty Awards, Best Shampoo

I haven't let my hair get this long in over 10 years. I am finally growing it out so I can donate it. I forgot how much upkeep long hair takes and how important it is to use good styling products, like Living Proof.

Here are a before and after shot to show the shininess and smooth texture. Granted, I let my hair air dry on the left and it was summer. My hair is actually quite wavy and that translates into frizz at times. This product did hold up on more humid days and controlled the frizz. 

In the after shot, I used the shampoo, conditioner and the 5-in-1 styling treatment. I blow dried my hair, but I did not use a flat iron it to get it even smoother, as I often do. I have found myself leaving my flat iron tucked away in the cabinet more and more since using the Living Proof products. That translates to healthier hair to me. 

Another nice aspect is that I don't have to wash my hair as often, as long as I don't workout and get all sweaty! It doesn't seem to get quite as oily the next day either. I am so busy lately that anything I can do to help add more time in my day is a blessing.

While I struggled with the water in our hotel room in Minnesota and couldn't get my hair to curl, I felt like it looked smooth and pretty at my niece's wedding in September.

The only thing I haven't been able to avoid since growing my hair longer is managing the tangles/knots I get at the back of my head. I have been devoted to using the Living Proof Restore Mask Treatment at least once per week to deep condition and help try to control the knots and it seems to work for a couple of days.

Check out this styling video featuring PhD with Jennifer Aniston’s stylist. 

Now through November 8^th, with an order of $20 or more, you can enter the exclusive code below to get a free Perfect hair Day (PhD) 5-in-1 Styling Treatment in travel size. With this order you will also receive free samples and free shipping! Living Proof Shopping Code: NOV2014

• Living Proof Website: http://www.livingproof.com/
• Living Proof Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/livingproofinc
• Living Proof Twitter page: @LivingProof
• Living Proof Pinterest page: http://www.pinterest.com/livingproofinc/ 
• Living Proof Instagram page: @LivingProofInc 

Thank you to Millenial Central for giving me this fantastic opportunity to review Living Proof products!

Disclaimer: I received these products for free in exchange for my review. This did not influence my opinion and all thoughts are my own. 

Traditional Medicinals Women's Tea Review and {GIVEAWAY}

Happy Monday! In need of some tea to add to your pantry this fall? Thanks to Traditional Medicinals, I've got three boxes to giveaway this week. 

Traditional Medicinals has been a leading provider of wellness and herbal teas for 40 years. Their women's teas use pure, pharmacopoeial herbs. They use certified organic, fair trade, and non-GMO ingredients whenever possible.

You have a chance to pick from three of these women's teas described below.

I chose the first two under Everyday Woman and the "Weightless" one, which I loved the flavor of.

EVERYDAY WOMAN
We’ve all been there. Traditional Medicinals’ improved PMS Tea Cinnamon helps support a good mood as well as eases tension and discomfort during that time of month*. In addition, Healthy Cycle helps nurture a healthy menstruation*, so you can get that spring back in your step.
 
MOMS
Giving a fresh, sweet-and-spicy flavor to our wildly popular Mother’s Milk tea, Traditional Medicinals Mothers Milk Shatavari Cardamom is an ancient herbal powerhouse of Ayurvedic herbs, providing nurturing support to breastfeeding moms*.
 
WOMEN 50+
We’re excited to announce our new Cooling Sage tea, a cooling, savory blend of sage and motherwort to help relieve hot flashes associated with menopause*.
 
While herbal tea has been supporting women for hundreds and even thousands of years, we predict that the wellness tea category will double in size in the next five years. We happen to think Mother Nature celebrates femininity best with ingredients like sage, skullcap, raspberry leaf and nettle.
 
Additional products for consideration in Traditional Medicinals’ women’s line include Weightless, Back on Tract and Pregnancy teas.

Please follow the guidelines below to enter! Giveaway ends on Friday. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to Traditional Medicinals for providing these boxes for me to review and for this giveaway to my readers.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Manitou Springs and Pikes Peak

On Friday, October 3rd, we checked out of our hotel in Colorado Springs and headed to Garden of the Gods in the morning. Our next hotel was in Manitou Springs, just west of Colorado Springs. We also had tickets to go to the top of Pikes Peak that day on the Cog Railway.

We walked around town and found so many cute shops and a hippie vibe.

The Miramont Castle Museum, which we just drove by instead of touring. 

The Local First Grocer pictured above was such a cute grocery store! On the top right is the Penny Arcade, which kept Craig entertained for a while! The bottom photos are taken at the Manitou Springs library--a tiny library with gems like the Seed Library and various cat cutouts with QR codes (genius).

By about 1 p.m., we were getting pretty hungry for lunch. We liked the menu at the Heart of Jerusalem cafe looked delicious. We ordered a falafel plate and shared it. I also treated myself to some amazing baklava.

We arrived at the Cog Railway depot around 2 p.m., a half hour before our 2:30 departure time, as instructed.

We settled in our seats, across from another couple, and were treated to views like these. 

We read that it's best to sit on the four seat side of the train (the left), but we got stuck with the right side. So, I took pictures of the better views the best I could.

Once at the top, we could see Colorado Springs below. See Garden of the Gods and Red Rock Canyon Park?

It was 12 degrees with 25 mph winds at the top! Eek! We're from Wisconsin and tough, but I was not quite ready for winter temps yet.

Luckily, there was a spot to warm up inside. My fingers were freezing at that point.

Craig wanted to get our money's worth and walk around outside some more. He even braved going to the edge of the top--I just couldn't do it, even though I am not that fearful of heights.

After a couple of hours on the train back down to Manitou Springs, we finally were able to check into our historic hotel, The Cliff House. I was glad to stay in a historic place like this that was built in 1873, even though it was a bit pricier than our other hotels on the trip.

Our room was cozy and nice.

Even Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Edison stayed at the Cliff House!

Another busy and adventurous day in Colorado that we'll never forget!

Lately

This weekend involves spending a lot of time on the computer and I have to work a half day at the gym on Sunday. I am writing an essay for something at work and I have tons of blog posts to complete (two of which involve giveaways). I also need to figure out how to teach my first group exercise class focused on TRX. Eek! I am procrastinating a bit by bringing you a "lately" post.

I bought this at Marshall's last weekend. It's not naturally sweet and the package warns you about that, so I add raspberries and peanut butter to my bowl. I love the ingredients and it seems to fill me up pretty well.

The kitties are doing well, except for a little chasing and fighting between Tanzi and Shiva.

Well and Pema and Shiva too. 

I've been enjoying Noosa's pumpkin yogurt. It's more authentic tasting than other pumpkin yogurts I've tried. Naturally, it comes from Colorado like everything I love does lately.

My friend Danielle and I went hiking for an hour at Lapham Peak last Sunday.

The leaves were at their peak!

It was Danielle's first time there, so we had to climb the tower!

I received this product in a subscription box earlier this year and finally got around to eating it. I have had little time to snack or eat lunch at work lately, so products like this are convenient.

I haven't had a ton of time to read for long periods of time, but I did manage to finish this book and I really enjoyed Dan's story. I could relate to him on so many levels. If only I could get back into meditating, which I think would do my brain some good right now.

source

What have you been up to lately?

Garden of the Gods

Before we left for our trip to Colorado, friends and family said the following over and over again: "you've got to go to Garden of the Gods, it's beautiful!" They were correct. I loved it so much that I am devoting an entire post to it. There isn't much more to write, so I'll let the photos speak for themselves.