PicturesOnGold.com Sterling Silver 2 Photo Heart Locket Mother’s Day Giveaway

03/29/2016 R.C. Liley 7 Comments

Mother’s Day is fast approaching, do you have a gift for the loving mothers in your life? If you’re like me, probably not (sorry, mom and wife), but never fear, PicturesOnGold.com has the perfect gift they’ll cherish for years. A personalized Sterling Silver 2 Photo Heart Locket that you create using their super simple Design Your Own Locket feature.

PicturesOnGold.com Mother's Day Sterling Silver 2 Photo Heart Locket giveaway

As is, this Sterling Silver Heart Locket makes a delightful gift for any friend or loved one. But add your personal touches with the Mother’s Day clip art and engraving options from PicturesOnGold.com along with your own pictures, and you’ll have a unique gift that’s sure to warm their heart.

The best part is that you don’t have to step foot in a store filled with the same old generic gifts. No, they deserve something special, and thanks to PicturesOnGold.com, you can Design Your Own Locket online right on your desktop or mobile phone. Just make sure there are no peeping eyes around when you’re creating this elegant locket.

The entire process is easy, and even kind of fun. Just go to the Build Your Own Locket section on PicturesOnGold.com to get started. From there, you will be guided through the steps to creating your custom photo lockets.

Customize the Front Side of the Locket by selecting clip art from the Mother’s Day category.
Click on the Next Step to add a photo to the left side. Choose to upload the file. You can then center it yourself. Click Next again and repeat to add a photo to the right side.
Click on the Next Step to add a personal message on the Back Side.
Click on Next Step and choose an 18 inch Sterling Silver Box chain with a lobster claw.
Click on Next Step, then Preview the finished locket before you add it to the cart.

This is a preview of my design. I chose to have a message on the right side instead of another photo. I didn’t do it on mine, but I think this would be a great area for cute note or a popular phrase in your home at the time.

This is a perfect way to capture pictures of your little one’s innocent (most of the time) faces inside lovely silver or gold lockets for all of the passionate mothers in your life. Years down the road, when those sweet faces are all grown up, these lockets will be a priceless way to reflect on the past. No matter where they are, they can open their personalized heart locket to the little ones when they were still….little.

Are you ready to create your own lockets to give to the deserving mothers in your life? What if you could win the chance to Design Your Own Sterling Silver 2 Photo Heart Locket on an 18 inch Sterling Silver Box Chain with Lobster Claw valued at $124.95?

Sound good? Thanks to the kind people at PicturesOnGold.com, I am able to offer one of you the opportunity to win this wonderful gift. Just follow the directions below to enter to win. The giveaway will end on Saturday, May 7^th, and I will announce the winner soon after.

Please make sure to share this giveaway on your social media pages. Even if only one person will win a Sterling Silver 2 Photo Heart Locket, everyone will win by creating and giving one to who we love most…Mom.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!!!

Going Healthy, Going Strong

Is Protein Powder Really Worth It?

03/28/2016 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Just the other day, I set out on the simple task of finding a new protein powder that wasn’t filled with junk. Before I knew it, 2 hours had passed as I perused the plethora of options for this popular supplement!

This made me ponder whether I should really stress over the different types, flavors, functions, and brands. I recently shared the benefits of protein and making it complete with all 23 amino acids, so it’s obviously an important macronutrient. But, do we really need protein in powder form, and, more importantly, is it even worth it?

You can find protein powders made out of things you’d never expect. We all know the common whey protein, which is broken into concentrates, isolates, and even goat whey protein. Other popular varieties are soy, egg white, and casein. Some less common, but still good types are rice, hemp, and pea proteins, but did you ever hear of beef protein powder?

Beef is an excellent source of protein, but having it in a smoothie seems a little odd. I might try it as long as the ingredients are good, but it’s also one of the most expensive forms. Expensive and very processed! I mean, I can accept processed beef when it’s put through the grinder, but how much has to happen to turn it into a flavored powder?

Can you really see yourself paying a premium to drink beef protein powder that’s Blue Raspberry, Peanut Butter, Cherry Vanilla, Fruit Punch or other some other flavor? MuscleMeds has all of these flavors if your answer is yet, but it’s filled with artificial colors and flavors that I avoid in any product.

MuscleMeds Carnivore_Beef Protein Powder — Carnivores like meat, not blue raspberry powder….

Anyway, back to the question at hand. Do I really need protein in the form of powder instead of enjoying freshly cooked chicken, beef or fish? There are also many sustainably caught and packaged canned options like tuna, salmon, and sardines I always have around. These are just as quick and the ones with pull tabs require no can opener to lug around wherever you go. My current favorite are canned anchovies in water, and even my 2 year old daughter loves having the “little fishies” with me.

Whole food sources of protein are obviously the better choice since powder, no matter how clean, organic, or super-duper ultra filtered it is, is still highly processed.

There are many healthy plant based protein powders packed full of enzymes, superfoods, cleansing herbs, and they taste good too. I have tried several and enjoy them in smoothies as well as many recipes. But in retrospect do I really need all of these “extras” in a protein powder? Isn’t that what a good vitamin or, better yet, having a diet rich in whole foods should provide?

I was all about buying this high quality Garden of Life Raw Protein, but then thought about how I like to cook a lot with my powders. Wouldn’t cooking pretty much make the whole “Raw” aspect obsolete? Then I just paid a premium for higher quality protein and destroyed the premium part. And again, there are plenty of whole food based multivitamins that will give you everything in these superfood protein powders.

Maybe I will break down and buy a raw protein powder just for mixing into drinks or no-bake recipes like these No-Bake Quinoa Almond Protein Cookies as they are great to take along when traveling for a healthy snack option both kids and adults will enjoy.

I have used many protein powders, both good and bad over the years. Currently, my favorite brands are Legion, BiPro, and Naked Nutrition. If you haven’t tried my healthy Legion Banana Vanilla Protein Pancakes recipe, I highly suggest you do…..fast!

As you can see, I enjoy protein powder and by no means am I quitting the stuff, but maybe not stressing over the the slew of extra ingredients. Now I when I’m in the market for a good protein powder, I focus on the one thing that matters, the protein!

Setting guidelines before you make a purchase will help save a lot of time and stress when choosing a protein powder. Trust me, I would really appreciate having those 2+ hours back!

Here are the main things I look for in (or not in) a protein powder:

No artificial sweeteners…EVER!
Non-GMO, preferably organic
If whey protein, I typically prefer that it’s sourced from grass-fed cows not treated with antibiotics
Very little to no sugar (less than 3g per serving); prefer no sugar and only stevia or unsweetened
No added soybean or other oil
No nonsense “super pump” marketing/gimmicky ingredients
Short, simple list of ingredients; unless it is the raw green food kind

These guidelines for a quality supplement will narrow your options in a good way. Yes, it usually means higher prices, but I’m willing to pay more when it comes to things that go in my family’s body. Plus, as long as you’re not relying on powder as your main source, it should last a while.

What type or types of protein powder do you use?

Do you get caught up searching for the “right” protein powder or anything else? Too much information makes too much confusion sometimes!

Avery Talk, Parenting

I Rocked My First Easter at Nana and Papa’s

03/27/2016 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

We’re traveling back in time to Easter 2 years ago. Our daughter was 5 months old, but apparently quite fluent in speaking/writing. I enjoy looking back at our little chubby-cheeked sweetheart, so I thought I’d share her story of rocking her first Easter.

Today’s she’s rocking her third Easter and hopefully finding all of the eggs hidden in our backyard. Guess we’ll know if she missed one if our dog has worse than usual gas. Whomp-whomp.

Happy Easter!

Hey there all you bunny-loving babies! Did you just get through your first Easter like I did; crazy, huh? Bunnies, colored eggs, stuff called candy, a basket, and a search to put the colored eggs in a basket.

I wasn’t sure what to make of the whole occasion, but I owned the day like a baby boss and made sure I had everyone’s full attention! Here’s how I owned the day and plan on doing the same for the next time I am put in a crazy situation…

First things first, right when we arrived at Nana and Papa’s, several giant babies called my family immediately flocked to me. You might deal with the same thing if you are the only baby around; learn to embrace this and take advantage.

Don’t act very enthused at first, that’s too easy, just kind of stare and look droopy. No hard feelings, Papa, just making sure you know who’s in control here.

And Aunt Stef, I know you were excited to see me, but I was more interested in watching those little hairy things scurry around and bark.

After a lot of banter over how much I’ve grown and blah blah, things were quiet for a while. Aunt Stef held me and I could see the other giant family babies with plates of food. I didn’t like the quiet, so I made my loud chicken sounds and screeches which made everyone acknowledge my presence again.

With eating out of the way, I was told it was time to hunt for Easter eggs. I found out, this is similar to when Daddy and I went on a scavenger hunt for Mommy’s breast pads, only it’s outside. Oh, and instead of a laundry basket, you put eggs in an Easter basket. My basket was the head of a rabbit with my name on it. It seems pretty cruel to make a basket out of bunny’s head, but he looked happy.

There was no way I was going to just go hunt the eggs, so I demanded Mommy to carry me to my plastic prey.

My first quarry; a shiny golden egg! I was pretty excited about reaching out and getting this one.

But then I noticed the floppy ear on my bunny head basket and became distracted. What egg?

So take note, there will be distractions, but don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal; get the eggs! I let my defenses down there, but luckily Daddy but it in that poor bunny’s head. I directed Mommy to my next destination where I was faced with two eggs! Ahhh, choices!!

But I maintained my composure and made the obvious choice; the shiny blue egg!

One of those barking things (my family calls them dogs) looked like a threat, so I snatch the egg and held tight!

Once the barking threat was gone, I safely placed my glistening trophy in the bunny basket.

Moving on, I directed Mommy to another popular egg hang out where I was once again faced with two non-shiny options. They were dull and I was not egg-cited about either one. Ha ha, get it? No? Was it a bad yolk?

Mommy tried to pick one for me, but I just laughed at her simple mindedness.

But Nana’s plants were intriguing…

It was an arduous egg hunt, I even lost a shoe, but I let Mommy hold me a little longer and even smiled for pictures. Another note, everyone want to take pictures of everything you do; just use it to your advantage and watch as they make ridiculous sounds and faces.

I told Mommy to let Daddy hold me for a while since she did a good job, but something didn’t seem right when he had me.

Oh yeah, I wanted to be higher! I promptly demanded Daddy to hold me higher so I could see everything and have the giant babies look up to me just as they should! This made me happy.

Daddy didn’t hold me higher for very long until he brought me down again. I did not like being lower and let everyone know with my “not cool” face.

But this didn’t bode too well for me; I just started to get passed around. First it was my great grandma, Papa’s mom.

Sweet lady, but I was still bored, or maybe it was that hat…hmmmm. Then my cousin, Garrett, took over. I didn’t even know what to do with this, so I tried to make it an awkward situation with my wide-eyed poker face.

It worked and I finally got to do something fun; play with aunt Stef and my cousin Taylor!

Playtime was tiring and I was demanding we leave soon, but first I wanted a picture with “the girls.”

Back home, all of the activities from the day caught up to me and I became very tired. I let Mommy and Daddy know just how tired I was by using my vocals until they put me to bed. It worked. My Mommy rocked me to sleep and I slept well!

Going Dad

Is Protein Powder Really Worth It?

I Rocked My First Easter at Nana and Papa’s

An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.