Becoming a mom did not diminish my fondness of beauty products, so trying out new ones is especially fun for me. If said beauty products include natural ingredients, do what they promise and are affordable, then I become a fan. Such was the case with the Nuance Salma Hayek hair and beauty line, which I got to experience recently during a very pampering and relaxing event at the posh Mandarin Oriental spa in Miami.

As I looked through the wide selection of nail polishes to pick the perfect one for my pedicure, I learned that the line’s creator, famous Mexican actress Salma Hayek, specifically left out of the formulations any chemicals that could potentially harm her daughter. My own little princess is obsessed with changing her nail colors frequently and I am always concerned about avoiding toluene, DBP and formaldehyde, so this is a huge selling point for me. The Nuance Nail Lacquers also are very affordable, retailing for $5.99 at CVS/pharmacy.

I ended up choosing Sienna Red, a bright coral that’s all the rage for Spring and Summer. My toes are now ready for the warm weather!

Next stop was the hairstyling station. There my curls were tamed and styled using Nuance Salma Hayek’s hair serum, sea salt spray (for texture) and finally, some hair spray to seal the soft waves without frizz. All of the products smelled delicious, were light and for me, it was great to learn they are sulfate and paraben free. I cannot wait to try the curling cream on those days that I let my curls run free.

Finally, I tried the Super Brightening hand cream ($9.99) and now I’m obsessed with it. It’s rich but also absorbs very fast, while leaving hands silky soft. Since I frequently wash my hands, my skin dries out quite easily, so from now on I’m carrying this hand cream in my bag at all times. It has shea butter, honey and evening primrose and also has a light and fresh scent.

The Nuance Salma Hayek hair and beauty line is sold exclusively at CVS stores. If you haven’t tried it yet, you are missing out on high quality yet affordable products. Plus, they are not tested on animals.

Disclosure: Jeannette attended a CVS/pharmacy event for the Nuance Salma Hayek beauty line on behalf of modernmami.com. She received complimentary treatments and samples to try out the products. All thoughts and opinions are her own.

Photo © Jeannette Kaplun

The Croods comes out in theaters this Friday, March 22nd and you may be wondering if it’s a good movie for young kids. My family and I were very lucky to have seen an advance screening of The Croods and we all enjoyed the movie. Our seven-year-old laughed hysterically throughout the movie, and even our two-year-old was able to sit still and be entertained. In my opinion, The Croods is definitely good for young kids, but will also be loved by the whole family, even adults. Let me tell you a bit more about the movie, though – with no spoilers, of course!

The Croods is all about a family living in a cave that finds themselves on a journey (both physically and emotionally) when the cave is destroyed. The family consists of a mom, dad, three children, and their grandmother (the mom’s mom), which you can imagine creates plenty of comedy. The fact that The Croods are a multi-generational family is something that many people can relate to. Though there’s plenty of expected mother-in-law jokes, the family dynamics add to the charm of this movie. I found myself feeling like much of the dialogue and situations could have occurred in my own family.

The scenery of The Croods is spectacular and really helps keep kids engaged. The Croods travel from their cave through lush green landscape, with plenty of creatures seen to captivate kids. Older kids will enjoy comparing the life of The Croods to their own lives, while younger kids (like my toddler) will enjoy the abundance of visual comedy that allows them to enjoy the movie despite not understanding all of the jokes. Parents will appreciate the tender moments too, of which there are quite a few considering the family is constantly in danger. I found myself tearing up at the end of the movie and know that my husband was affected too – daddy-daughter moments always seem to get the best of us!

I have to say that one of the best things about The Croods, though, is the character Belt. Belt is the pet of Guy (the new guy the family meets – get it?) and truly accounts for a lot of the laughter. In fact, the entire theater would burst out in laughter each time Belt did his “Dun dun dun” sound effect. My baby boy walked out of the movie repeating it, which of course, was the cutest thing ever. You can see what I mean in the following trailer (at around 1:33).

The Croods is sure to be loved by your entire family, including young kids. There’s even some great messages to walk way with from The Croods:

Lessons Kids will Learn (and that You’ll Love) from The Croods

1. Don’t be afraid to try new things.
2. Families take care of each other.
3. It’s good to explore your world.
4. Trust your instincts.
5. Be brave.

If you want to check out more of The Croods, you can find more clips, read about the characters, and even get Belt’s sound effect as a ringtone on the official site. Let me know what you think of The Croods after watching it this weekend!

Disclosure: Our family was provided complimentary admission to an advance screening of The Croods in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Though we try our best to keep our carpet as clean as we can, when you have young children, it’s pretty impossible to avoid the occasional spot. We have a few rules to help keep the carpet clean: shoes must come off by the front door, no drinking or eating on the carpet, and we even have a plastic floor protector (like the ones used under office chairs) under baby boy’s designated chair at our dining table. All these things have helped keep the carpet cleaner than if we had not followed these rules, but wear and tear and accidents do still occur.

When Walmart asked us if we wanted to try out the Bissell Deep Clean Premier, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see if we could get rid of a few problem spots in our living room. Particularly, we have a small area in the middle of our living room that was recently acquired due to child vomit – these are the bonus joys of parenthood! Our poor sick child just didn’t make it to the bathroom in time and though we cleaned it up right away and tried to avoid a stain, alas, you can still see a dirty spot in the carpet.

As you can see, after using the Bissell Deep Clean Premier, the spot in the carpet is gone! The system is easy to use and we like the fact that there are not separate containers for the clean and dirty water. However, one drawback is that the power button is not on the handle, but is located further down on the body of the machine – design-wise, this just didn’t make sense to us. Despite that, we’re happy with the way it’s cleaning the carpet, which is what ultimately matters the most.

Additionally, we are happy to add a deep cleaner to our household, because it will help keep the carpet generally cleaner. I actually suffer from environmental allergies and we definitely don’t want the kids breathing in all that gunk. A vacuum cleaner can only do so much, so deep cleaning the carpet periodically will help our entire household.

What do you find works best for keeping your carpet clean?

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I received samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™

Let’s face it, no one wants to count pennies – but, financially, that is where we all are today. The average American family is living pay check to pay check with very little, if anything, available in savings for emergencies, let alone that dream vacation. Needless to say, my husband and I decided last year that we were no longer going to settle for being an average family. We want to be an extraordinary family and live a financially stress-free life.

However, in order to achieve our dream of living financially stress-free, my husband and I knew that we had to seek advice and guidance from the best on where to start. We also had to work hard at making the most of what we had. Well, with our not-so-lucky luck, this past Thanksgiving holiday my husband got the call that he was being laid off, effective immediately. We had to act fast and we no longer had time to do all the much desired research we wanted to start making financial changes.

As fate would have it, the very next day after we received the life changing news, The Good Life for Less by Amy Allen Clark arrived at my door. The words that Clark shares involve giving your family great meals, good times and a happy home on a budget. Just by reading the introduction, I realized that it would have much that I could learn from and relate to. We knew we had to starting finding areas to reduce and/or eliminate spending, but we were struggling to figure out just where to start. This book was a huge help and provided a foundation of resources, knowledge and suggestions.

As a family of five on one income, we can’t survive without making some financial changes and start living financially healthy. But it isn’t just about saving money and reducing bills. It’s also about a healthy life style change – a way to make ends meet and at the same time, be happy, content, and appreciative of what we have. Being frugal isn’t about being cheap; it’s making the most of the little you have and teaching your kids some discipline for future families.

Clark provides some great practical examples and advice to get any family started on the path to saving money, cutting corners, and living a fruitfully frugal lifestyle. I recommend that everyone who desires to make the most of their money, regardless of how little or how much you have, check out her book. It is packed with different tips and tricks any family could use.

Have you sat down (either alone or with your spouse, if married) and taken a serious look at your family budget and where your money is going each month? Have you realized areas of problem spending and made some changes to get better control of where your money is going? Share some of your own tips on gaining a financially stress-free life in the comments below!

Disclosure: A complimentary copy of The Good Life for Less by Amy Allen Clark was received in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. Affiliate links used.

Photo: joiseyshowaa/Flickr

Baby girl started Kindergarten last month and something that’s new to our daily lives is the fact that I now pack a lunch for her each day. Prior to that, when she attended preschool, lunch was provided for her and was included in the cost of care. Since she started Kindergarten at a public school, we’ve decided to pack a lunch for her as much as possible in order to a) avoid the cost of buying a school lunch and b) control and know what she eats.

Her lunches consist of a main entree, a snack, and a drink. Up until now, the snack has primarily been apple sauce, carrots with ranch sauce, or goldfish crackers. After trying Dan-o-nino cups, I now have a new snack to add to her choices for school lunch. She already enjoys yogurt, so this will be an easy addition. The good thing is they come in flavors she loves like strawberry, strawberry banana, and raspberry, to name a few. Plus, I can freeze them to give her some variety!

Something I’ve always liked about feeding her yogurt is that I know she’s getting some protein and extra calcium. According to Dan-o-nino’s site, their cups have twice the calcium as other kids’ yogurts. Additionally, the product information I received states they have no artificial colors or high fructose corn syrup, which I know is important to many parents.

ModernMami™.com Reader Giveaway

We want to help with your next grocery shopping trip and give you the chance to try out these Dan-o-nino cups as well, so we’re giving away a $50 Visa gift card!

How to Enter

Required entry: If you’d like to enter this contest for a $50 Visa gift card, simply leave a comment below sharing one of your tips for packing a healthy school lunch.

Extra entries (optional):

Each of the following will count as 1 extra entry. You’ll need to leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Follow @modernmami on Twitter.
2. Tweet the following: Share a healthy school lunch tip & enter to win a $50 Visa gift card from @modernmami! http://bit.ly/nMNFs2 #giveaway #contest
3. Receive post updates by subscribing to our RSS feed. You can do so either via email or through a RSS reader. Leave a comment saying you did so or are already a subscriber.
4. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
5. Like ModernMami™.com on Facebook.
6. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing the details of this contest. Be sure to include a link back to this post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 11:59 pm EST. You must be 18 or older and a U.S. resident. No purchase necessary. Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.) Winner will have 48 hours to respond and claim prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by BabyCenter in conjunction with the BabyCenter Blog Network. All prizes and compensation are provided by BabyCenter and Dan-o-nino.

Photo: Walmart

This is a sponsored post.

With our lives being as hectic as they are most days, shopping online is something that we’ve often times opted for over going to the store. It’s so much easier than having to load the car with the kids, keep them entertained, and deal with traffic and horrendous Florida heat. Plus, you save on gas money, which is something that can’t be overlooked these days!

However, you can’t always wait for items to be shipped to you; there are times you may need it right away. Or, at the very least, it would be nice if you could have it faster, even if it’s not a must. That’s why I was excited to find out that Walmart now offers a free Pick Up Today program. You browse the Walmart site, find items showing the Pick Up Today option (see image below), choose that as your shipping method, and then pick up your item(s) later that same day at your local store. Here’s why I think this is genius.

Benefits of Walmart’s Pick Up Today

• I can browse on my own time and at my own pace, with no kids in tow.
• Shipping is free.
• I can quickly run into the store to pick up the item, which is already paid for, and walk right back out, avoiding long check-out lines.

As part of the Walmart Moms program, we were given an opportunity to test out the Pick Up Today feature. As I browsed the site, I found that my local store didn’t have as many items available for Pick Up Today as I had hoped. Additionally, items that I knew were in stock (because I had seen them at the store previously) were not showing as available for Pick Up Today. So, as is true with the majority of new programs, there are a few things about the Pick Up Today feature that could still use improvement.

What Can be Improved About Pick Up Today

• It would be nice to be able to sort items by those that are available for Pick Up Today. That way, you wouldn’t have to browse through all in an effort to find out what’s available.
• More products need to be available for Pick Up Today. At least for my local preferred store, there was a limited availability of products; perhaps other stores have a larger inventory.

As the Pick Up Today feature improves and more items become available, I can see my family using it more and more. It was so easy to purchase a new activity station for baby boy, pay for it ahead of time, and then pick it up a few hours later at the store. I was in and out of the store within 10 minutes, and had I been alone and not with both kids, it would have been much faster.

Imagine the possibilities! Wouldn’t it be great to do grocery shopping like this? Seriously, I would love to be able to shop for my groceries online, choose Pick Up Today as an option, and then a few hours later head to the store to pick up my order and head right back home. What do you say Walmart? Can you work that out for us busy parents?

Do you enjoy shopping online? Do you think the Pick Up Today feature is something you’d use?

Disclosure: As a member of the Walmart Moms program, I was compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

Last month I attended a McDonald’s First Taste event in New York City. The event was designed for media and bloggers to be able to sample some new menu items, meet with key McDonald’s representatives, and speak with McDonald’s nutrition manager and chef. We also had the opportunity to speak with a registered dietitian who focuses on nutrition in the Latino community.

While our family is not against fast food and do occasionally eat it, we realize that we need to be careful with our choices and monitor how much and how often we eat fast food. Attending the McDonald’s First Taste event allowed me to learn more about the various choices McDonald’s offers that will make a visit to the restaurant a more balanced visit, food-wise. I also learned about the Bag a McMeal section of the McDonald’s website, where you can choose menu items to create a more-balanced meal and monitor the nutritional information. This is good if you’re wanting to choose lower-calorie or lower-fat options from the McDonald’s menu before heading to your local McDonald’s. It definitely gives you a good perspective on what you may have been eating thus far and how you can choose better options.

I spoke with both Julia Braun, McDonald’s nutrition manager, and Sylvia Melendez-Klinger, an independent registered dietitian who focuses on nutrition in the Hispanic community. Both ladies provided insightful information regarding the McDonald’s menu. Check out the videos below to learn some tips from Sylvia on putting together a meal that meets your calorie needs, plus her take on what the Latino community can do to make healthier eating choices.

Sylvia Melendez-Klinger on Creating a Balanced Meal at McDonald’s

Sylvia Melendez-Klinger on How Latinos Can Eat Healthier

I also took the opportunity to ask Julia Braun about marketing to children at McDonald’s. Hear her response regarding McDonald’s stance on responsible marketing to children.

Julia Braun on Marketing to Children at McDonald’s

A couple of the new menu items we sampled included a mango pineapple smoothie, an Asian salad McDonald’s is bringing back for a limited time, and new sauces for the Chicken McNuggets, including a ranch sauce which will please my daughter who dips pretty much everything into ranch dressing. Of course, McDonald’s wants you to try out some of their new menu items, so they’re offering a giveaway to ModernMami™ readers with a gift card so you can do just that. Remember to also give the Bag a McMeal site a try and see what meal combinations you can come up with. Sylvia provided some tips on how you can even keep your meals around the 500 calorie mark. What 500-600 calorie meals can you create for a better fast food meal choice?

McDonald’s Gift Bag Giveaway

One Three* readers will win a McDonald’s gift bag, which contains the following items:
*Update 6/11/11: I’ve been told by the PR company that I can giveaway three bags instead of just one!

• Tips and recipes from Chef Dan
• Lavender scented eye mask
• Pineapple scented candle
• Mango scented candle
• Notebook with pen
• Bamboo pen
• Balance bracelet
• $25 McDonald’s Arch Card

How to Enter

Required entry: If you’d like to enter this contest, simply leave a comment below telling us which McDonald’s 600-calorie (or less) meal combination you prefer.

Extra entries (optional):

Each of the following will count as 1 extra entry. You’ll need to leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Follow @modernmami on twitter.
2. Tweet the following: Enter to win a McDonald’s gift bag & gift card from @modernmami! http://bit.ly/lKjQxv #mcdonalds #giveaway #contest
3. Receive post updates by subscribing to our RSS feed. You can do so either via email or through a RSS reader. Leave a comment saying you did so or are already a subscriber.
4. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
5. Like ModernMami™.com on Facebook.
6. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing the details of this contest. Be sure to include a link back to this post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Friday, June 17, 2011 at 11:59 pm EST. You must be 18 or older and have a valid U.S. address to enter. Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winners will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.) Winners will have 48 hours to respond and claim prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: I attended the McDonald’s First Taste event courtesy of VPE PR and McDonald’s. All expenses paid. No compensation received.

Photo credits: McDonald’s

In time’s past, families could make an evening of taking kids to the movies and have dinner while they watched the latest release. Drive-ins may be a thing of the past, but AMC is bringing back the movie dining experience. At the AMC Downtown Disney 24, several screens have been transformed with dining tables, very comfortable seating, and table-side food and drink service, now named Fork & Screen, Dine-In Theaters.

Ticket prices for the movies in the Dine-In theaters are just $2 more than the regular screens, but the comfort of the upgraded chairs and ample seating room more than makes up for the difference in price. The over-sized chairs rock like most modern-day movie theater seats, and the extra room in front of you with the table makes for no one to interrupt your line of sight to the projection. Even if you’re not in the mood for a meal, the extra seating is worth the extra bucks.

Menu pricing is typical for the Disney World area: no more, no less. Considering you’re eating a meal, appetizer, or dessert from a wide menu selection that’s brought to you by an on-call server, the convenience more than outweighs any price difference you’d find away from Disney World. The menu of offerings ranges from typical “bar-type” food to creative options for more attuned tastes. Crab Rangoon dip, Angus cheeseburgers, and (a very delicious) brownie sundae are just some of what is offered.

For more information on the new AMC Downtown Disney 24 Dine-In Theaters, visit the AMC website. Look for show-times that are listed as “Fork & Screen” for those movies being shown in the newly designed theaters.

Do you have any dine-in theaters in your area? Do you and your family enjoy them more than traditional movie theaters?

Disclosure: Angie was provided a complimentary visit to the AMC Downtown Disney Dine-In Theatres to experience the dining and a movie screening in order to facilitate this review. No compensation received.

Photos by: angie lynch

This is a sponsored post.

This is the last in a series of posts regarding the new Dyson DC35 Digital Slim vacuum. In my previous posts, I shared information about the features of the Dyson Digital Slim, and a behind the scenes look into the Dyson labs to see how Dyson creates some of their vacuums. This time, we were challenged to use the Dyson DC35 in as many different ways as we could think of.

Since you can use the Dyson Digital Slim as either a handheld vacuum or as an upright, you can easily use it to “sweep” the kitchen, pick up quick messes, and vacuum an entire room (or a couple). It’s also good for vacuuming against edges, such as under the kitchen cabinets and against baseboards. Another use is for reaching up high, such as for blinds, since it has a long wand that attaches to the handheld portion. But, something that came in real handy for us was the ability to use it to clean up messes in the car. Because it’s cordless and relatively small, it works good for cleaning up the crumbs, dirt, and miscellaneous things the floor of the car collects from going in and out.

We’re currently keeping the battery for the Dyson DC35 charged at all times so that we can have it readily available to use around the house or in the car. With baby boy having learned how to roll successfully both ways, he’s now a boy on the move around our family room floor. The Dyson is perfect for keeping the floor clean and quickly tidying it up before putting him down to have fun.

What areas in your house do you think the Dyson Digital Slim would help you with the most?

Disclosure:  As a member of the Walmart Moms program, I was compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

This is a sponsored post.

My family and I have been trying out the new Dyson DC35 Digital Slim vacuum for a few weeks. I can honestly say that there are some things we love about it and at least one thing we think could be improved upon. I’ll get into the details in a bit.

First, I’d like to share with you the video above from a Dyson design engineer, which takes you behind the scenes at the Dyson labs to learn more about all that goes into a Dyson machine, including the Dyson DC35 vacuum. I like that they put a lot of thought into the development of their vacuums and was amazed to learn that they grow their own dust mites in order to test their products! Watch and learn more.

When the Dyson Digital Slim was provided to us for review, we were told that it is the most powerful cordless vacuum, and that the detachable wand it comes with makes it easy to transition to a handheld vacuum. That part is definitely true. You can very easily use it as a handheld vacuum or use it as an upright when you attach the wand; switching from one to the other is effortless.

One of the things we think makes this vacuum a bit hard to work with is the fact that you have to press a trigger-like button in order to use it. That is, there is no standard on-off switch that you can use to power the vacuum for the length of time that you need it. Because it relies on you to press the trigger, after using the Digital Slim for more than 10 minutes, your hand is tired and hurting. Even my husband, who’s stronger than I am, had the same issue and his wrist began to hurt.

Other than that, we definitely do like the ease of use it provides, the flexibility of going from handheld to upright, and the swivel motion, which allows you to get into odd corners and under furniture more easily. It is great for a quick clean and especially useful for the kitchen area that often gets dirty. It sure beats having to sweep every night and gets the kitchen floor clean a lot faster than a broom!

Here are some more details of the Dyson Digital Slim, as provided to us:

• Powered by the Dyson digital motor, the vacuum has anti-static carbon fiber brushes to remove fine dust particles from hard floors.
• Dyson’s patented Root Cyclone™ technology – condensed to fit into the machine – spins dust and dirt out of the air using centrifugal force, so there’s no loss of suction.
• A dual power mode allows up to 15 minutes of constant suction. For stubborn dirt, a button can trigger 6 minutes of higher suction.
• A 26 inch, lightweight aluminum wand attaches directly to the machine to convert it from a handheld to a slim vacuum cleaner.

Do you think you would find the ability to switch from a handheld vacuum to an upright useful?

Disclosure:  As a member of the Walmart Moms program, I was compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.