Microsoft Windows Phone 8X by HTC Party

I have been using the same phone for the last couple years and it is not smart phone. Lately I’ve been really wanting to have a smartphone especially when I don’t want to print off a coupon and it would be handy to have it loaded on my phone instead. So needless to say, I was so excited when I found out I was selected to receive a FREE Verizon Windows Phone 8X by HTC!

I love the color and how user friendly and sleek it is!! Part of the reason I was excited about my party, was to show off my cool new phone, and to have an excuse to get together with friends and family  to laugh and eat good food.

Love that I can check the weather on my phone!

Love the color & how thin and sleek it is!

I played some music, a Top Hits Beatles cd, I had loaded on my cell phone for back ground mood music while we got the party started by eating a delicious nacho bar and veggie tray. It was easy to turn it up or down by pressing the top or bottom of the side button on the side of the phone. 

After eating, I welcomed everyone and showed them my new FREE Windows Phone 8X by HTC!

I started highlighting some of my favorite features:

*The Camera ~ The easy to use camera with editing built right in. I like that you can edit your photos before you upload to Facebook or text or email it to someone. And the panoramic feature is pretty neat too. And I love that I can switch the view for taking photos either facing out or towards me! I had fun prepping for it to share with my guests and am looking forward to playing even more with it in the future!

In case you want to know more, here’s a short video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ8Njs0-5pY

We had fun trying out the camera.

*The Skydrive ~ I think the Skydrive is such an awesome idea and one my favorite features! That is one thing that is really annoying with my current phone, when I take a photo, I have to hook up the cord to my computer to upload it and then post to Facebook or email it.  I love the idea of having my documents and photos saved to a Skydrive and be able to access it from my computer! And 7GB is a lot ~ and it’s free! Yay! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siPgqholRh4

*The Kid’s Corner ~ My son LOVES Angry Birds and several othter Kid’s Apps. And I have let him play them but not without a few surprise purchases which is very frustrating!! So I love this feature! It’ll be nice to let my son play his education games, play Angry Birds, and even take photos with the camera all without being able to purchase unwanted games or videos! I can rest assured that he is safe and I don’t have to watch over his shoulder every minute to make sure he’s not getting into something he shouldn’t be! I love what they said on the video: “Everyone can get their hands on a Windows Phone. Both big and small.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF4qa15lPFg

My guests had fun passing the phone around and trying out the camera. And I had fun showing them all the different features. My son even had fun looking it over.

We played the Pinterest Party Board challenge. Here were the different categories:

   1.     Pin a Photo of an Important Person in Your Life

   2.     Pin a Photo of You With a Group of Friends or Family

   3.     Pin Your Favorite Video Game

   4.     Pin a Photo of Your Favorite Childhood Memory 

   5.     Pin a Photo of Your Favorite Activity or Sport

   6.     Pin a Photo that Represents Your Favorite Song

   7.     Pin a Photo of Your Dream Job/Career

   8.     Pin a Photo of Everyone in Attendance at the Party

  Here's my --> Pinterest Party Board  <--

It was a bit complicated for some of my guests but I kept the party light and fun and I helped them figure it out and get their hash tags right. 

The winners of the Swagbags were very excited! Verizon sent me Tote Bags filled with a set of nice glass coasters, a thumb drive, a nice Verizon Cup & Straw. 

How you can get involved & learn more ~

*Become a Verizon Crowdtap VIP:
www.verizonvips.com

*Like Verizon on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/verizon

*Follow Verizon on Twitter:

@VerizonWireless
@VerizonInsider

Thank you Crowdtap & Verizon for my Windows Phone 8X by HTC phone
and the awesome Swagbags for my guests!!

Monster Bowl Party

Crowdtap and Hotel Transylvania recently gave me the chance to celebrate two momentous occasions by hosting my very own Monster Bowl Party! What’s the celebration for, you ask? Hotel Transylvania was released on DVD and BluRay, and about the same time it was SUPERBOWL XLVII!

Check out my ---> Pinterest Page <---- for some of my great ideas I used for my party!

Here are some of the fun things we did at our party:

*Ate lots of yummy food including


Algae Pond Dip (a.k.a. Spinach Dip)

Sausage Mummies

Frog Eye Salad with Cherry Face

And of course every monster's favorite: Monster Pizza!

Topped off with Haunted Graveyard Cupcakes

*Then we colored some of the fun coloring sheets included in the digital party kit.

*Since our party was right before Valentines Day, all the kids got to pick out a couple Valentines to take home to give out to their friends or family.

*I also printed off Door Hangers for each kiddo to take home. They got to pick out their favorite character from the movie.

*We also had a ton of fun laughing and Monsterizing on the Monsterize Me tab on the Facebook Hotel Transylvania page. Here are some of our creations. 

*Then we sat back and watched the very funny Hotel Transylvania Movie!!!

Wyatt all ready to watch movie as a Turtle Dog. :)

Here are a few questions Crowdtap and Hotel Transylvania  wanted to know:

1) Mavis makes the cutest little sad bat face to her dad Dracula. Does your little one have a look that just makes you want to do whatever they say?

Yes, absolutely. See for yourself. It's hard to say no to that face!!

The Mavis Sad Face :)

2. Dracula throws an awesome 118th birthday party for Mavis. Were there elements of her party that you wish you could have for your own birthday party or your child’s party? Would you love a monster band, dancing mummies or a travel around the world theme?

Sure!! I would love a monster band at my kid's birthday party! And I love my birthday so traveling around the world theme would be a blast for a party!

3. Both Mavis & Dracula have some awesome vampire powers. For example, they can both turn into bats. Which one of their powers do you wish you could have? Or is there another monster FROM THE FILM who has a power you wish you could have?

Not sure I'd actually want to be a bat but  I think being able to fly would be awesome!! I would think being an Invisible Man like Griffin would be super cool. Being able to come and go unnoticed and play practical jokes on your friends!

THANK YOU CROWDTAP & HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 

FOR A FUN TIME AT OUR MONSTER BOWL PARTY!!!

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox 2012

I was so excited when I recently received my very first VoxBox from Influenster.com!!

This Cosmo VoxBox was filled with the following goodies: 

~ Forever Red fragrance exclusively from Bath & Body Works

~ The New Ghirardelli Gourmet Chocolate Sea SaltEscape

~ Gillette Venus Razor and Refill + $2 off Coupon! (any Venus blade refill fits any Venus razor handle!)

~ A Pink & Black FriXion by Pilot Pens

I wasn't sure what to expect but was so happy with all the quality products I got to sample and review! Click on each link above to read my blog reviews of each product and watch a video for each one as well! 

Forever Red Fragrance

Ghirardelli Sea Salt Escape

My son Levi enjoying the chocolate!

Gillette Venus Razor & Refill

FriXion by Pilot Pens

THANK YOU TO INFLUENSTER!!
My very first VoxBox experience was AWESOME!!!

(Click here to learn more about --> Influenster)

FriXion Pilot Pens

I am always losing pens so when I received two FriXion by Pilot Pens in my Cosmo VoxBox from Influenster, I was pretty excited. BUT, the even cooler thing?! They have an eraser! What you say, a pen with an eraser? But does it actually work?! YES, it does!!! These are going to be set in a special place where my children or husband cannot walk away with them!

BEFORE: Testing the FriXion by Pilot Pens

Testing the Erasing Feature - It's Working!

AFTER:  IT REALLY WORKS!!
The writing is gone!

Here is what my info card says about the new FriXion by Pilot Pens:

"Do you want to be mistake free? Now you can be with FriXion by Pilot Pen. FriXion writes unbelievably smoothly, in expressive gel ink colors, and erases completely with its rubber tip. You have to try it to believe it! FriXion is the newest innovation from Pilot, the #1 seller of gel ink pens in America. So, with FriXion...who's perfect now?"

Gillette® Venus® Embrace®

In my Influenster Cosmo VoxBox, I also received a Gillette Venus Razor and Refill + $2 off Coupon.

One thing that I didn't know before, ANY Venus blade refill fits ANY Venus razor handle! Unlike so many other brands where you have to have just the right blade refill for the right handle, Venus understands that being able to mix and match handles and blade refills is one less thing for us busy ladies to worry about!!

In fact, the sample that they sent me included two Venus products:

The Gillette Venus Embrace ~ "Venus Embrace blade refills provide an ultra-close shave with five blades that hug curves to get virtually every hair. Available in 4- and 8- count packages.*"

Venus & Olay Razor ~ "Venus & Olay blade refills feature Olay Moisture Bars that contain skin conditioners to help lock in moisture and with every smoothing stroke, Venus' five blades provide an ultra-close shave. Available in 3-count packages.*"

I loved how smooth my skin felt after using the Gillette Venus Embrace!!  I will definitely be recommending it to my girl friends and sisters!

Visit Facebook for More Info about Gillette Venus!

*descriptions taken from the info card included in my VoxBox

The New Ghirardelli Gourmet Chocolate Sea Salt Escape

Included in my Cosmo VoxBox from Influenster was The New Ghirardelli Gourmet Chocolate Sea Salt Escape! I love chocolate and especially am fond of anything made by Ghirardelli! My son Levi and I thoroughly enjoyed the sample of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Sea Salt Escape! 

In fact, I had to hide it or else my son would have made short work of it and there wouldn't have been any more for me!
I liked the mix of sweet and salty. Sometimes you're just in the mood for something a little different. It has a nice balance of both.

Here is my short video review ~

Forever Red from Influenster ~ *New* Fragrance from Bath & Body Works

Influenster recently sent me a sample of the new Forever Red fragrance exclusively from Bath & Body Works!

I love the scent. It’s warm, fresh and not overpowering. Kind of like a special little treat every time you take a breath, but not overpowering. I have been wearing it a lot and gotten compliments!

Here's my video review ~

Here is what Bath & Body Works and Influenster said about the Forever Red 
fragrance in my Cosmo VoxBox 2012 ~



"A touch of red is pure magic! Bath & Body Works introduces you to their new, most luxurious fragrance ever, as you lavishly spray on a passionate blend of pomegranate & red osmanthus with a sexy surprise of vanilla rum, for a forever enchanting way to fragrance. Everyone will be commenting on how great you smell!"

So visit your local Bath & Body Works soon to check it out!