Category: Lifestyle Tips

Baltimore | Birmingham | Atlanta /

BJs Cherry Berry Smoothie – American Heart Health Month

February is Heart Health Month and BJs Wholesale Club has some delicious produce (and recipes) to help us live a healthy lifestyle.  Personally, I am a huge fan of smoothies!  They’re easy to make and the perfect breakfast option for families.

BJs Wholesale Club Heart Health Month

BJs Wholesale Club Heart Health Month

Smoothies can be made in a variety of ways depending on your health needs.  For example, if you’re having digestive issues, add a teaspoon of Flaxseed into your mixture.  Drinking a smoothie  provides ease into your morning routine and allows breakfast on the go.  It can also serve as a filling afternoon snack instead of drinking a soda or eating potato chips.

Homemade Cherry Berry Recipe

2 containers (5 oz each) Yoplait Greek Cherry or Strawberry Blended Yogurt

1 1/2 cups Cascadian Farm Frozen Organic Sweet Cherries

1/2 cup Cascadian Farm Frozen Organic Strawberries

1 cup Milk

Make It:

  1. Place all ingredients in a blender
  2. Cover & blend on high speed, about 1 minute or until smooth
  3. Pour into 3 glasses
  4. Serve immediately

 

For my smoothie recipe, I like to include a small amount of water and 2 teaspoons of Wellsley Farms Pure Honey.  Also, if your schedule will be hectic the next morning, take frozen fruit out of the freezer (the night before.)  This will help ingredients blend faster and more consistently.  Pour the smoothie into your tumblr and go!

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Ingredients are from BJs Wholesale Club
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Cute Tumblr from Dollar Store

follow my Snapchat @kwest1908 to see more behind the scenes at BJs Wholesale Club

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Gift Ideas /

National Drink Wine Day – How To Celebrate

Thursday, February 18th is National Drink Wine Day and what better way to pay tribute to this holiday than to “wine” down and kick off the weekend with a glass (or two) of your favorite wine.

Whether you prefer to honor this holiday with friends, at the office or alone at home-sweet-home, below please find four essentials for your celebration.

The Perfect Sip: Santa Margherita

 

Santa Margherita

Savor Every Drop: Wine Aerator

Celebrate the reason for this holiday with a varietal from Santa Margherita’s collection. Santa Margherita’s Pinot Grigio Alto Adige is a dry white – a wine of great personality and versatility. Chianti Classico Riserva is an intriguing red, absorbing an array of earthly wide-ranging aromatics. Prosecco Superiore is a sparkling wine and the perfect base for a variety of bubbly cocktails. ($17.99 – $26.99)

Krups Wine Aerator

A Toast to Thursday: Stemware

KRUPS 2-Bottle Wine Aerator offers your guests their favorite glass of red or white wine chilled to perfection. The KRUPS Wine Aerator allows you to chill, aerate, serve and preserve wine all at once. With a preserve function that features a vacuum technology and removes oxygen from the bottle, you can preserve wine for up to 10 days making the most out of each bottle. ($499.99)

Stemware

Drink Without Damage: Teeth Whitener

Prep for the evening by decorating your celebration space with sophisticated pieces from Fitz and Floyd. Friends and family will love sipping their favorite varietal out of these glamourous glasses. ($49.99/4-piece set)

Quikees

Supersmile Quikee’s on-the-go instant stain removing formula comes to the rescue after a night of drinking red wine. Their formula with Calprox guarantees whiter teeth, removes stains and freshens breath without brushing or rinsing. A quick swipe of the tongue and smiles and breath is refreshed. The tube is conveniently the same size as a tube of lip balm so you can keep it as discrete as you need. ($18)

Amazon /

Amazon Prime One-Hour Flower Delivery and Date Night Looks

Starting tomorrow, Feb. 10, Amazon’s Prime Now delivery service will offer one-hour delivery of roses. These fresh flowers will be available via the Prime Now app through Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.

Amazon Prime Flowers

In Baltimore, Prime Now is available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. Two-hour delivery is free and one-hour delivery is available for $7.99. All Prime members can download the Prime Now app, available on iOS and Android devices, and will be notified when the service is available in their zip code.

Date Night Looks via Amazon Prime

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Baltimore | Birmingham | Atlanta /

Terra’s Kitchen – Baltimore Meal-Kit Delivery Service

I’m excited to announce the launch of Baltimore-based Terra’s Kitchen, an innovative meal-kit delivery service that’s making it easy and quick to cook up tasty dishes at home leaving more time for memory making in the kitchen and beyond!

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Terra’s Kitchen, available for the first time ever in the Baltimore area starting March 1st, promises farm-to-front door delivery of fresh, seasonal ingredients that are pre-portioned and prepped for skillet-ready, chef-designed recipes. Each meal can be made in 30 minutes or less, giving families more time for the things that matter.

Baltimore Meal-Kit Delivery Service

With the now 1 billion dollar meal-kit marketplace offering many options, I wanted to call out a few things that sets Terra’s Kitchen apart from its competitors:

Eco-Friendly Delivery Vessel: The unique vessel features proprietary, climate-controlling technology to keep high-quality ingredients cool and fresh for delivery. The eco-friendly Vessel is reusable and creates 0% waste, as Terra’s Kitchen will schedule a pickup date and time with its customers to retrieve it and reuse.

Clean & Chef-Designed Recipes: Libbie Summers, Head of Culinary Direction at Terra’s Kitchen and esteemed cookbook author, expertly combines high-quality ingredients for healthy meals, with options for omnivore, gluten-free, paleo and vegetarian preferences. With a rotating seasonal menu, each meal comes with a step-by-step recipe card to ensure that dinner is easy-to-make (think Honey Mustard Chicken Breast with Grilled Vegetable Kabobs, Tomato Scallion Rice With Cheesy Grilled Squash or Grilled NY Strip Steak With Tomatoes, Eggplant & Basil Chimichurri in under 30 minutes!).

Recreating The Family Dinner Experience: In an era where busy American families struggle to find the time for quality meals at-home, Terra’s Kitchen’s offers consumers an easy tool for quick meals, that don’t sacrifice nutrition or taste, and can go from the skillet to the table in under 30 minutes. All ingredients come pre-portioned and prepped – all you do is cook!

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DIY /

Sparkling Ice Cocktails – Celebrate Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras begins next week, so I wanted to share some fun and refreshing cocktail recipes from SPARKLING ICE – a great tasting, lightly carbonated, zero-calorie beverage which combines sparkling water, fruit juice, vitamins, antioxidants, and BOLD natural flavors.

Bourbon Street Black Raspberry Brut

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Ingredients

1 ½ oz. Silver Tequila
2 oz. brut Champagne
7 large black raspberries
2 oz. Sparkling Ice Black Raspberry
¼ oz. lemon juice
Instructions

1.Muddle black raspberries, Sparkling Ice Black Raspberry and lemon juice in a glass.

2.Pour ingredients into a glass filled with ice.

3.Add tequila, stir, and strain into a large rocks glass filled with ice.

4.Top with brut Champagne and garnish with a skewered black raspberries.

Lemonade Hurricane

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Ingredients:

2 oz. Sparkling Ice Strawberry Lemonade
1 oz. light rum
1 oz. dark rum
½ oz. passion fruit juice
1 oz. orange juice
Strawberry and Lime for garnish
Instructions:

Stir all ingredients together with ice.
Pour into a tall glass over ice.

Sparkling Whiskey Sour

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Ingredients

.5 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1.75 oz Sparkling Ice Lemon Tea
1.25 oz Bourbon
.25 oz simple syrup*
*Low calorie option: Omit .25 oz simple syrup, add one packet of Splenda.

Instructions:

1.In mixing cup add ice, lemon, bourbon and Sparkling Ice.

2.Stir and strain over rocks.

3.Garnish with a cherry

Accessories /

Burlington Stores in honor of American Heart Month – Free Heart Screenings

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Did you know that over 43 million women are currently living with heart disease– the leading cause of death of American women? In the spirit of American Heart Month, Burlington Stores, a national off-price retailer, has teamed up with WomenHeart, The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, for the fifth consecutive year to launch their campaign to raise awareness and combat heart disease.

This Friday on February 5th (National Wear Red Day), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., your local Burlington in Baltimore will host free women’s heart health screenings to raise awareness. At the screenings, blood pressure will be checked, BMI will be screened, and fun but easy heart help tips will be provided.

The address is:

Burlington Stores
6500 Reistertown Road
Baltimore, MD 21215
(410) 764-3338

To find out more information head to www.BurlingtonStores.com/HeartHealth.

Celebrity /

Monica Brown Cover and Interview – Uptown Magazine

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“When you embrace you, you embrace it all.”

Monica is clearly embracing it all right now – her family, her fame, and the success of her eighth studio album, “Code Red.” We have a Code Red over here with how she’s SLAYING us with her new cover and photo spread in “Uptown.”

In the interview, she explains “As I think back over everything I’ve accomplished in my career—the awards, opportunities and exposure are all there, of course. But, what gives me unspeakable joy is the fact that I’ve touched countless women, and some young men, along the way with my music and my message.”

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Photo – Uptown Magazine

And if anyone knows music, it’s Monica. She’s been dominating the R&B scene for over 20 years since her debut with “Don’t Take It Personal.” She knows that in order to make it to the top of the charts, or the top of any field you need to have the traits of a leader. Check out the video below to see Monica describe what individuals need to succeed and be a leader in their field.

DIY /

Sparkling Ice – Award Season Inspired Cocktails

Celebrate the upcoming Oscars by hosting your own viewing party to watch your favorite celebrities strut their couture on the red carpet. No viewing party is complete without delicious cocktails and mocktails, so sip in style during the trendiest season with these Award Season inspired cocktail recipes featuring SPARKLING ICE and Coco Joy.

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Ingredients:

4 oz. Blueberry Pomegranate SPARKLING ICE
2 oz. Pomegranate Juice
Blueberries
Pomegranate Seeds
Add a splash of vodka or prosecco for a cocktail modification

Directions:

Fill a glass with Blueberry Pomegranate SPARKLING ICE
Add pomegranate juice
Top with 5-6 blueberries and a small handful of pomegranate seeds
Stir to combine
RED CARPET READY

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Ingredients:

4 cups apple cider, chilled
2 cups cranberry juice cocktail, chilled
2 cups SPARKLING ICE Crisp Apple, chilled
1 can (12oz.) frozen orange juice concentrate
Apple slices for garnish
Rosemary cranberry sprig for individual garnish, as shown in image, or float fresh or frozen cranberries in punch bowl
Add a splash of vodka or prosecco for a cocktail modification

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients and let sit overnight
Serve chilled, garnish with rosemary cranberry sprig

BLACK CHERRY BOMBSHELL

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Ingredients:

Frozen black cherries
1½ oz. Kentucky bourbon
1 oz. SPARKLING ICE Black Raspberry
Directions:

Crush cherries into bottom of a glass
Pour bourbon then SPARKLING ICE over crushed cherries and ice
Add more cherry for garnish
CELEBRITY COLADA

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Ingredients

½ crushed pineapple
1 cup crushed ice
1 cup vodka
2 cups cold Coco Joy Water
2 limes
Directions

Combine pineapple, ice, vodka and Coco Joy Water in a blender and pulse until smooth
Garnish with limes

Entertainment /

Wine Loft Birmingham – Tapas and Cocktails

I served as the host for a birthday party during the holiday season.  It was a milestone celebration and I wanted the event to special.  I selected the Wine Loft Birmingham for several reasons:

  1. Everybody loves a glass of wine!
  2. The atmosphere is very cozy and a great place for conversation.
  3. It’s a hidden gem, in the heart of Birmingham city.

 

The southern charm of the Wine Loft Birmingham lived up to my expectations.  I was able to make a direct reservation and due to the extended amount of guests, the restaurant had no problem accommodating any changes.  The menu was (also) unique and provided a Tapas experience, along with a diverse selection of wines.

I suggest if you’re in the Birmingham area to visit the restaurant for networking, laughs, and an awesome glass of wine!

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