Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

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Chili’s Restaurant Review and Giveaway

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Chili’s Restaurant

I was recently contacted by Chili’s Restaurant to do a review & then giveaway a gift card on my blog.

We were able to go to Chili’s last weekend.  What a fun start to Ben’s Christmas break!

Ben and I ordered off the “2 for 20″ menu!”  Have you heard of it?  You pay $20 and you get 1 appetizer and 2 entrées. You do have to order off the list they have.

We went with the Chips & Salsa for the appetizer.  Then Ben got the Cajun Chicken Pasta and I went with the Chicken Fajitas.  It was SO good.  Writing this post makes me want to go back and have some more!  Ben also enjoyed his pasta.  The amount of food we got was great.  I was very happy with it all.

Chili's Restaurant

Yummy!

Chili's Restaurant

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Chili's Restaurant

Chili's Restaurant

Chicken Fajitas

Chili's Restaurant

Chips and Salsa

Chili's Restaurant

Our server was awesome!  Very friendly and made sure we were taken care of too.  The bigger boys each had a kid’s meal and she brought them extra chocolate milk.Chili's Restaurant

Chili’s latest promotion is“Shout Out To Eat Out Take 2 Get 2,” Participants simply need to upload a photo of who they’d like to take to dinner on shoutouttoeatout.com to be entered to win 2 $20 gift cards to Chili’s. Gift cards will be given away to a lucky winner every day until January 15th.

Now for the giveaway!  One reader of this blog will win a $20 gift card to Chili’s Resturant.

The giveaway starts right now and will go until Wednesday January 5th, 2011 @ 11:59pm Central time.

To enter answer this question…

If you won, who would you take to Chili’s with you?

For additional entries…

* Follow Me on Twitter http://twitter.com/ArmywifeJulie (1 entry)

* Follow Me with Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

* Blog about the Giveaway (3 entries) Make sure to leave me your blog post link in a comment.

* Tweet about the giveaway: “Win a $20 Giftcard to Chili’s at Julie the Army Wife  @armywifejulie” (1 entry per day)

Good Luck!

I was given 2 gift cards of $20 each from Chili’s.  One to use for my review and one to giveaway.

Cafepress Yoga Mat Review and Giveaway

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Did you know Cafepress has Yoga Mats now?  I didn’t until I was contacted by Cafepress about doing a review & giveaway for one.  I am really planning to get back to working out after the new year.  One way I want to do that is by using my Wii fit and trying out some of their yoga and strength exercises.  I thought a mat would be perfect for that!

They have so many designs to choose from and you can even upload your own if you want to.

I went with an Army Wife design in green!  The material is very sturdy and as my 4 year old said, it is very long.

It was easy to order and arrived very quickly!

Giveaway!!!

How would you like to win your own yoga mat?  Cafepress has offered to giveaway a yoga mat to one of my readers.  You will get to pick whatever design you wish.  The giveaway starts right now and will end at 11:59pm Central time on Monday December 27th, 2010.

To enter:

* Mandatory entry~Answer this question…what will you do differently in 2011 to improve your health?

Extra Entries~

* Like Cafepress on Facebook facebook.com/cafepress (1  entry)

* Follow Cafepress on Twitter twitter.com/cafepress (1 entry)

* Follow Me on Twitter http://twitter.com/ArmywifeJulie (1 entry)

* Follow Me with Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

* Blog about the Giveaway (3 entries) Make sure to leave me your blog post link in a comment.

* Tweet about the giveaway “Win a Cafepress Yoga Mat at Julie the Army Wife @cafepress @armywifejulie” (1 entry per day)

Good luck!  Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry & also make sure you include your email somewhere in your comments so I can contact you if you are the winner 🙂

* I was offered a Yoga Mat from Cafepress to review & one reader will receive a yoga mat as well.

Family Movie Night A Walk in My Shoes

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I was recently contacted by Walmart/P&G about their new movie A Walk in My Shoes to air December 3rd, 2010 at 8/7c on NBC.  It will air during Family Movie night which I thought was a great idea. That will allow families to come together and watch something great. Something they know will be good for everyone to watch. Sometimes it can be hard to find a movie that is good for everyone in the family.

“A Walk in My Shoes” makes viewers stop and think, “What would I learn if I stepped into someone else’s life?” Stressed-out high school teacher Trish Fahey (Nancy Travis, “Three Men and a Baby,” “Becker”) can’t understand her students’ lack of effort in the classroom and why their parents don’t seem to care. This is especially true of Justin Kremer (Cameron Deane Stewart), a popular, skateboard-loving, basketball star who is underperforming in her class. Trish has him suspended from the basketball team and quickly chalks up the situation as a case of bad parenting.

This perspective dramatically changes when Trish meets Molly (Yara Martinez), a mysterious stranger intent on helping her see things differently. After a car accident, Trish wakes to find herself living the life of Cindy Kremer (Jana Lee Hamblin), the woman she has rashly judged and criticized. Molly helps Trish discover that there is more to the story and learns a powerful lesson that affects everyone she interacts with, including her husband, daughter and the Marine next door. No one is left unchanged.”

I am a big fan of movies with a special message behind them.  This one looks like it will be a great one with a great message.  There is a tie in with the military which is great to see and I can’t wait to see this movie when it airs.

 

 

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Novica Review

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I was notified by the Novica company to do a review and giveaway on my blog 🙂

They are one of the leading fair trade artisan websites.  They work with National Geographic to give talented artisans around the world a place to express their artistic talents and provide access to the world market.

After going to their website I happily said I would love to do it.  On Novica.com you can find fair trade corporate gifts, green gifts, unique gifts and much more.

I was on the site for quite a while trying to decide what I wanted to review.  There were so many interesting choices.

I really liked these nativity scenes by a man in Southern Peru.

But then I saw this rug and thought it would be great for the floor in the baby’s room/office.  I do not like the carpet we have in there so thought it would be cool to have a nice rug on the ground on top of it.  The rug works pretty well for our room.  It is 5.2 ft. L x 3.3 ft. W, 90% Wool and 10% Cotton. It was also made in India.  I love seeing the color on the floor when I walk in the room. Wool and Cotton Rug, “Paths of Light”

Would you like to pick something out from their site? They are offering one of my readers a $50 gift code to their store.  This giveaway starts right now and will end on Nov 30th, Tuesday night at 11:59pm.

To enter, tell me about a craft or artistic hobby you enjoy! Also make sure you have your email somewhere in your reply too 🙂  Good Luck!

Product Review D

 

Battlefields and Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan Book Review and Giveaway

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Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan

I was contacted by Jocelyn Green a bit ago about participating in a Veteran’s Week Blog Tour for the book Battlefields and Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan.  I am a huge fan of her book Faith Deployed so I knew any book she was apart of was going to be great.

Battlefields and Blessings is a book made up of a bunch of different stories/devotionals. Co-authored by Jane Hampton Cook, Jocelyn Green and John Croushorn.

The book has 1 entry for each day of the year. Now I read the book all the way through over a few weeks.  But you could also just read 1 entry a day based on the day or a couple each day.  The entries are from different people associated with the military in some way.  From Chaplains who work at the Pentagon who were there on 9/11, to military wives having to get through deployments.  A lot of people who wrote them have about 3-4 entries each.  I found this pretty cool because it let me know a little bit more about each of the people who wrote them.  At the end of each entry, there is a short prayer for us to read.  I could really see this book as a great tool to have during a hard situation such as a deployment. There are stories of faith, what people have gone through and some very inspirational thoughts that just stick with you.

The people who wrote in this book felt very real to me.   Sometimes there were entries from a husband and wife and it was great to hear from both of them.  There were stories about 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and life back at home.  Stories from mothers and wives and from those who have been to war.  I also really enjoyed the layout and even how the book was put together.  Just a great mix of people.

The one entry that sticks out to me was from a military wife Kerri Hartwick who lost her husband in Iraq.  One of the prayers listed said,  “Lord, prepare my heart for whatever you have in store for me.”  Really this is what we have to deal with in life.  We don’t know the future or if our prayers will be answered but we can know God is there for us through whatever we must go through. There were many other entries that made me feel very encouraged as well.

Would you like to win a copy of this book?  Trust me it is amazing!  It is also autographed by Jocelyn Green.

Here is how the giveaway will work…

It starts now!  And it ends Sunday November 14th, 2010 at 11:59pm Central time.

To enter please answer this question:

What encourages you the most during a hard time?  Any favorite verses that come to mind?

That is it!  Good luck 🙂

PS make sure I have a way to email you if you win 🙂

For more information here are the websites…

Battlefields and Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan

Faith Deployed

I received a free signed copy of the book Battlefields and Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan for this review.  And an additional copy to giveaway to one of my readers.


Faith Deployed: Review & Giveaway

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Faith Deployed Book

I love this book!  I know I have mentioned the book before but the author, Jocelyn Green recently asked me to write a review. I will also be hosting a giveaway of this book!

The book is made up of little devotionals for those going through a deployment. Right after my husband deployed last year I saw this book at our PX.  I just had to have it.  As a Christian and a military spouse, I knew this book was written for someone in my situation.

The book itself is divided into sections.  This is great so that if something specific is on your heart, you can look up devotionals under that topic.  The different sections are:

Taking Every Thought Captive: Training Our Minds to a Biblical Perspective

Guarding the Heart: Protecting Ourselves from the World’s Temptations

Ambassadors for Christ: Viewing our Role as a Ministry

Taking Orders: Living the Life that has been Set Before Us

Total Surrender: Giving Up our Attempts to be in Control

The Price of Duty: Overcoming the Trials Inherent in Serving

Active Duty Faith: Leaning on a Faith that Sustains

Hope of Victory: Recognizing God’s Goodness

The setup of the book makes it very easy to read.   You could sit and read several chapters in a row or just take in one at a time.  During my husband’s deployment I did try to read at least one devotional a day.  Some days I would end up reading two or three of them.

These 14 writers along with Jocelyn Green make up all the devotions in the book:

Pamela Anderson, Sarah Bell, Rebekah Benimoff, Paulette Harris, Jill Hart, Sara Horn, Denise McColl, Lori Mumford, Vanessa Peters, Lasana Ritchie. Sheryl Shearer, Ronda Sturgill, Marshele Carter Waddell and Eathel Weimer.

What is great about all these authors is that they come from all branches of the military, both Active duty and the Reserves.  This helps bring perspective and a sense of realness to the devotions.  I enjoyed the different tones and experiences that the different writers brought to the book.  There were several devotions that I read and thought, “Wow that totally hit home!”  Then others I could not relate to as well. The book was also able to address some of the fears I have had or do have about having a husband in the military.

Each little devotion starts with a Bible verse.  I love that after each devotion there is a prayer and a question for the reader.

I would say this book is a necessity for anyone who is going through a deployment or military life in general.

 Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives ~ Amazon Link

faithdeployedbutton

Faith Deployed Website

Now for the giveaway!  Jocelyn Green has offered to giveaway 1 copy of this book to one of my readers 🙂  The winner will receive the book directly from her.

I will be using Random.org to pick the winner.

All you have to do is leave a comment between now and Friday Jan 22nd at 11:55pm Eastern time.

Good luck!!!

 

 

 

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