Torani brings flavor to the Holidays (and EVERY day!)

Torani makes the holidays tastier! In fact, Torani makes EVERY day tastier! I was fortunate to receive Torani syrups from SheSpeaks. I got Hazelnut and Gingerbread to try!

Experimenting with the Torani has been a lot of fun, and the holidays present even more opportunities to use Torani syrups to make festive beverages... Hot Cocoa, Coffee and even Eggnog can be spiced up with Torani. There are so many potential combinations and so many fabulous Torani flavors and if you are at home using the Torani syrups, you're in control of your beverage. If you always feel that your favorite coffee shop is too heavy handed with the syrup or that they don't add enough, you can experiment and find "the zone" that tingles your tastebuds. Plus, you can add a little zip to your holiday foods with Torani, as well. A little dash of Torani syrup mixed into frosting or whipped topping can change the whole flavor and be an unexpected pleasant surprise for your holiday guests. A little Torani gingerbread syrup mixed into your morning waffle batter? Divine!

Torani syrups come in a variety of flavors and several of the flavors come in sugar-free, as well. And Torani isn't JUST for hot drinks. You can make Italian sodas, cocktails, iced tea & lemonade or, one of my favorites, Cherry Limeade!

The key is to be bold! Experiment! Find new flavors. If you've always felt your favorite beverage could use "a little something", there is probably a Torani syrup that will make it better!

You can find Torani in many stores and if you can't find it near you, just hit Torani's website and order directly from them!

Also, there's a coupon for $1.00 off here, so go and print it!  Then go get some Torani and let me know what you created!

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of the product for review purposes. The opinions are my own, based on my personal experience with the product.

Short Insomniac Ramble

And then I blinked and it was October!  In fact, MID October.  So very not cool. (At least from the perspective of someone who had a lot of things cooking in September).

The bad news is that I am still looking for a job.  Which means my time is still very much spoken for, as that absolutely must be my #1 focus.  It takes more hours of the week than you can imagine (unless you are currently in the throes of job-hunting).  Frustration is high.  Progress is minimal.  When you dread sitting down to your computer in the morning because you don't know what you're going to find in your inbox (another rejection? a carefully crafted email that got bounced back to you? someone else who wants money?) you know that it is well past time to get back to the working world.

I don't want to go into it too much here... this is a public forum... but the frustration level I am experiencing is really off the charts.  And a little touch of common courtesy would be a huge help.... but it is not forthcoming.

So, assuming things stay at the "up to my armpits in alligators" state that they are in now, I am not sure when I am going to be able to get things moving forward.  But I do know that November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and so November is going to be crazy busy.

Hope you are all faring well and things are going as smoothly as possible.

Brace yourselves!

I have a bunch of things I will be writing about in the next few days which includes a giveaway!  So, stay tuned because things are going to be busy here for a bit (and hopefully they'll stay that way).

Also, this weekend is the Dallas Pride Parade & Festival.   I haven't been to a Pride parade for about two decades so I am looking forward to the Dallas version.  (The one in Minneapolis was a bunch of fun...partially, I think, because of the friends that I went with).  A friend of me is hostessing the first annual
"Pride and Pancakes", which I am looking forward to (rockin' the brunch, then off to the Parade!)

If you are wondering, no, I am not gay.  I wouldn't be ashamed to say so if I was, though.  But I have bunches of friends who are LGBT and I wholeheartedly support them.

So, it's going to be a really busy weekend, which is good, because life has been really, really stressful lately and I am looking forward to doing things that are fun and productive.

And, because of a recent networking connection, I am going to kick the bath products production thing up a notch.  More about THAT soon, as well!

Have a stellar weekend everyone!

See you in September... Wait, it's September NOW?

The summer has flown by... I suppose that being up to my armpits in job hunting has caused the days to run together a bit and I frequently have to stop and remember what day it is... most of the time with the help of either my phone or my computer.

I have a bunch of really cool things to share with you (via reviews) very shortly... the "long" weekend didn't seem very long because instead of doing the things I probably should have been doing, I was catsitting at a friend's place and imagining what it would be like to live in a swanky condo.

Also, due to the job hunting, I am trying new things... like artificial nails (thusfar a failed experiment) and nail polish strips (have been afraid to try them so far and they come in funky designs which make them a bit inappropriate for interviewing)

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe long weekend.  Are you ready for the rat race again tomorrow?  My day will start at 4AM and I have things scheduled tomorrow so I can't go back to sleep.  I think it's probably going to be a long day.

5-hour ENERGY® review

Smiley360 hooked me up with a couple of 5-Hour Energy ®  shots and I'll share the experience with you.

First, I like the size of the 5-Hour Energy® shots.  Especially when you are on the go, you don't always have the space to lug around an energy drink.  The 5-Hour Energy® bottle is small enough to fit into a purse or briefcase, you don't have to keep it cold, you can keep a couple of them in a desk drawer without taking up a lot of space.

Second, as far as energy drinks go, the 5-Hour Energy® doesn't have a bad taste to it.  I have tried the Berry flavor, the Pomegranate flavor and the Orange flavor and all taste ok (not like some other energy drinks where I can't even drink the whole thing because it just tastes bad).

Finally, no nasty crash.  I sometimes get a little "flush" after I first drink a 5-Hour Energy®, but it's a very brief niacin flush (think of hearing a slightly embarrassing joke that makes you blush a little bit)

If you sometimes need a little "push" to get you through the afternoon (after, say, that LONG after-lunch meeting), give 5-Hour Energy® a try!

Disclaimer: I was given free samples of the product - all opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced/biased by my receipt of the free samples.

Bright Spots (Recent)

The past few days have been frustrating on one hand and absolutely amazing on the other.  I'm pretty much going to stick to the amazing part in this post.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to meet an Internet Friend.  I've known this person online for about 4 years and we'd planned to meet before now but it always came down to time and money... if you're working, you have the money, but not the time and if you aren't working you have the time but not the money to go on a road trip.  Yes, it's only a 5-6 hour trip to where she lives, but we just could never quite make it work.

As it turns out, her Mom lives not far from us and she came up to visit her Mom and they met up with me on Saturday.  And she was every bit the wonderful person I had thought she would be and her Mom is a very nice lady and we had a lovely dinner and I hope that we can do it again soon.

Tonight, I trekked across town to meet up with an old friend.  She's a trucker and she happened to be hauling a load through town and even though it was a haul, it was important to me to make the trip to see her.  She and I have been friends about 15 years.   When she, my daughter and I would all go out together, people would assume I was her Mom and she was my daughter's Mom (even though there are only 9 years between us).  It's been about 4 years since we had managed to get together (with her trucking schedule and me moving 1000 miles away, it isn't like either of us can just "pop in" any time.  In any case, it was really nice and I appreciated having the chance to get to see her.

Of course, an unintended side effect to my having trekked across town is that now I am all wound up and even though I should PROBABLY be in bed, I'm not there (yet).

I've been keeping very busy lately.  Finding a job is a huge job.  It was nice to meet up with friends and not think about finding a job for a while.  But now I need to get back to the work of finding work!

The Dark Monk & The Hangman's Daughter

I usually read True Crime books, but I'm a BzzAgent and they gave me the opportunity to read The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk for free so I departed from my normal fare and plunged into the world of The Hangman (Jakob) and his family.

I think people will be able to relate to the characters who struggle with what is expected of them vs. what they want/need/feel is right.  I know that was a big source of enjoyment for me with these books.  If you can put aside that these are not historical documentaries and that there are occasionally some stretches as far as believabilty, you will enjoy the books much more than if you sit and pick apart language and historical fact. Enjoy them for what they are... engaging and enjoyable reading.

I don't want to give away the plots but will tell you that there were nights that I knew I should get to bed and kept reading "just one more page".  If you like a good mystery, a little bit of romance and a bit of medieval history, pick up The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk.

I am a BzzAgent and received these books for free from them.  All opinions expressed are my own.