Category Archives: sponsored

Nichole has received compensation for posts in this category.

Music, reviews, sponsored

Have I told you lately that I love a classic crooner?

Michael Buble
Hello ladies.
“So I’m going to review a Michael Bublé album,” I said.

“Excuse me, you’re what?”

“I’m going to review a Michael Bublé album,” I said. “So I need to listen to it. A lot.”

“Um, okay. Right now?”

“Right now.”

And Rockford rolled his eyes and humored me, as usual.

I’ve listened to Michael Bublé’s “To Be Loved” roughly 524 times since that conversation, and it has been a completely pleasant addition to our sonic landscape. Rockford is more on the Rush side of the Canadian musical spectrum, but even he’s cut out the eye-rolling when I put “To Be Loved” on. The first single, “It’s a Beautiful Day,” is a deceptively pop-boppy breakup song that’s positively Taylor Swift-ian in its put-downs:

Baby, it’s fine, you said that we should just be friends
Well, I came up with that line and I’m sure
That it’s for the best
If you ever change your mind, don’t hold your breath.

That’s sassy, Mike. (Can I call you Mike?) I like it.

My favorite parts of the album, though, are the covers. “You Make Me Feel So Young” and “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” rarely fail to put a smile on my face, and Bublé’s version of “Have I Told You Lately that I Love You” is pretty much swoon-worthy.

You can croon to me anytime, Bublé.

To Be Loved

“To Be Loved” is available at Amazon and iTunes (and undoubtedly many other fine retailers as well).

Nichole received a free copy of “To Be Loved” for review. She is eligible for incentives for her participation in this One2One Network campaign. All opinions expressed are solely her own.

sponsored

You had them at “Cupcake,” ZonePerfect

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ZonePerfect sent us one of each of their new “Kidz ZonePerfect” bars to try out a few weeks ago. Because they’re for “kidz” (the spelling of which — I’m going to go ahead and say this even though it’s pretty much a big review spoiler — is the only thing I don’t like about the bars. Why, ZonePerfect, why?), I asked Poppy & Pete to try them out and let me know what they thought. That went something like this:

Poppy: I want the Yellow Cupcake one!

Pete: No, I want the Yellow Cupcake!

Me: Hey, settle down. Let’s cut it in half!

Them: OK! chomp chomp chomp

Poppy: This is awesome! It tastes just like a cupcake!

Pete: Can we get some more of these?

They liked the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and the Caramel Crunch flavors well enough, too, but Yellow Cupcake totally takes the cake. (Oof, sorry about that. Couldn’t resist.)

Anyway, the kids requested we get a box to take to Dollywood. After the bitter disappointment of finding that our grocery store doesn’t carry them, my children danced and shrieked like wild things right there in the aisle when we found them at Target. We ended up with a box of each in the cart, because how could I review them without trying them?

Except, well, I still haven’t tried the Yellow Cupcake because I’m afraid they’ll have me deported if I take one of their preciouses, but I’ve taken the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and the Caramel Crunches out running errands with me. Errands from which they never returned, because I ate them. Both bars were sufficiently filling, but I preferred the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. Have you ever had one of those pretzel-Rolo candy concoctions? That’s what the Caramel Crunch bar tastes like. Which normally I would say is a great thing, but in a full-size bar it was just a little too sweet.

ZonePerfect wants you and your fam to try their new bars out, too, so they’re going to give one of you a box of each variety. To enter, leave a comment answering the following question: What’s your favorite on-the-go snack? I’ll close the comments at noon EST on Thursday, April 18, 2013. This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents. This giveaway is closed. And Sherry won! Congratulations, Sherry!

Nichole received a few complimentary “Kidz ZonePerfect” bars for review purposes. All opinions expressed are solely her own.

Family matters, sponsored

Every special occasion deserves a great card

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This is a sponsored post.

My extended family is entering a period of Exciting Things. My youngest brother will be graduating from high school in June, and in September we’ll be saying hello to Perry Mason Jr. And I’m celebrating all of this by looking at stationery.

No, seriously.

Events like graduations and new babies should be announced to the world in style, so with a little help from Minted.com I’ve taken it upon myself to find the perfect graduation announcement for Youngest and the perfect baby announcement for Perry Mason Jr.

I love all of Minted’s frilly, girly announcements as well as the braggy ones that give you room to announce your GPA, but neither is really Youngest’s style. So for his graduation announcements, I’m looking for something modern and streamlined. Here’s what I’ve narrowed it down to:

My 3 favorite graduation announcements


Simply Joy

– – – – –


Classic Stripe

– – – – –


Snipe Snapshot

(If you’re looking for girly graduation announcements, I really like “Crafts & Florals” and “It’s Official.”)

In addition to making entirely cute baby announcements, Minted will address them for you. For free. That is an awesome service for new parents. We’re still a few weeks away from finding out whether Perry Mason Jr. will be a Percival or a Persephone, so I didn’t discriminate between the frilly and the not. Here are my favorite for the little ones:

My 3 favorite baby announcements

Introduced by Infographic

– – – – –

Baby Sophisticate

– – – – –

Fleurs de Noel

I also checked out Minted’s wedding invitations, and some of them made me want to remarry Rockford just so I could send some of them out. Case in point: The Happy Couple would be for my classy-casual outdoor wedding, and Vintage Blush would be for my “Doctor Who”-themed wedding. Either way I’ll be wearing this dress and we’ll have tacos and root beer for dinner cookies and brownies and cute tiny pies for dessert and we’ll dance until dawn and you’re all invited.

Ahem.

Our friends at Minted wanted to give one Butterscotch Sundae reader $50 toward anything at Minted.com (hello, effortlessly awesome birthday party! bonjour, beautiful business cards! salutations, scrumptious stationery!). This giveaway has ended. To enter, just leave a comment on this post — one per person, please! — before 7pm EST on Sunday, April 14, 2013, answering any or all of the following questions:

1. Which graduation announcement do you like best for Youngest?

2. What should Perry Mason & Mrs. Perry Mason name their baby?

3. Where did you go on your honeymoon, and was it fabulous?

Nichole received compensation for this post from Minted.com. All opinions within are her own.