Articles, tips & deals

Fueling Up with GIANT Gas Rewards #cbias

by Alissa on May 22, 2013

Disclosure: For Memorial Day, as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias, I stocked up on the perfect road trip snacks and saved on gas for our family road trip with the GIANT gas rewards program!

We’re so lucky to live in an area where we have so many great options for a day trip destination. Hop in the car and drive a couple hours in any direction, and we can build sandcastles on the beach, explore a farm in the heart of the countryside or hike in the mountains, depending on which we way we steer the car that day.

We’re always up for a road trip adventure with the kids – and there’s no better time than Memorial Day weekend. It’s such a fun way to kick off the soon-to-be summer vacation!

While being spontaneous can be fun, with young kids, it’s easier (for me) to do just a little pre-road trip planning to make our road trips as smooth (and as relaxing) as possible.

And lucky for us, our favorite place for road-trip fueling is right down the road.

Giant

At GIANT, you can fuel up on both fronts. They offer a great selection of healthy, affordable snacks, along with the ability to fuel up your car — and they reward you for doing both!

Saving on gas for your Memorial Day road trips is easy with the GIANT gas rewards program.

Here’s how it works:

Shop with your BONUSCARD from May 12 through June 29, 2013 and you’ll earn 1 point for every $1 you spend.
100 points equals $.10 off a gallon of GIANT gasoline.
Track your Extra Rewards points on your receipt, register at GiantFoodStores.com or download the free GIANT mobile app!
Redeem your points any time during the period in which you earn them (i.e. before June 29, in this case!). There is no limit to the number of gas rewards points your household can earn.
Visit GiantFoodStores.com for gas locations.

For our road trip snacks, I focused on healthy (but fun) items that I knew they’d enjoy.

Healthy Road Trip Snack Ideas for Kids

Fresh fruit (bananas, grapes, berries)
Granola
Nuts (cashews, peanuts, pistachios)
Individual yogurt snacks
String cheese

Want to see all the great deals I scored on snacks for our upcoming road trip? Check out my entire pre-road-trip shopping adventure right here.

One thing I do know is that with GIANT, wherever we end up this Memorial Day weekend, we’re ready for the ride!

We can’t wait to hit the road!

What are your go-to road trip snacks?

Tagged as: Giant, Giant food stores, Giant gas rewards, Memorial Day, road trip snacks, road trip with kids

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What to Read Next: May 2013

by Alissa on May 17, 2013

What to Read Next: May 2013

Reading List May 2013

I love to read and until recently, almost always had a book (or two) going at any given time. Now that I’m trying to grow two little readers of my own, though, I find that my book diary consists of mostly picture books and early chapter books.

And my normal reading time—right before my own bedtime—gets cut short most nights, when I can’t keep my eyes open any longer than to sneak in a few pages. Clearly I need to switch things up and start fitting in short reading sessions throughout the day. Or I could keep accumulating books on my never-ending to-read list.

But where’s the fun in that?

Each month I’m going to set a “What to Read Next” goal of the books I’d like to read that month, so that I don’t get distracted (by other books or by Downton Abbey – ha!). I’d also like to make my way through my backlog of books. I have a growing number on my bookshelf still waiting to be read. So I’ll look to include an older book on each month’s What to Read Next list, too.

What to Read Next: May 2013

1. Finish The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
2. He’s Gone by Deb Caletti
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer – this is my “clearing out the back stock” selection for this month)

I’d love to hear your opinion on what to read next! What have you been reading?

Leave your recommendations on what to read next in the comments section.

Tagged as: books to read, reading list, what to read next

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Meet the Author – Victoria Kann “Pinkalicious” Series

by Alissa on February 26, 2013

Victoria Kann

Ask my daughter her favorite color and she’ll most certainly say “pink” or “purple”. Her answer hasn’t changed (much) in all of her three years.

Lately, though? You’re more likely to hear “Pinkalicious” or “Purplicious”. She’s discovered and absolutely adores the fun series from Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann. My guess is “Emeraldalicious” won’t be far behind!

I’m thrilled to share this exclusive Q&A with author & illustrator Victoria Kann!

Q: Can you tell us the story about how Pinkalicious came to be?

It started as an email to my friends and family on April Fool’s Day in which I told them that my daughter had turned pink after eating too many pink cupcakes. A few of my friends who knew just how much my daughter enjoyed cupcakes and how much she LOVED the color pink were quite worried that it actually happened! Another said, “Hey, that would make a great children’s story!”

Q: Where did you grow up and what is your favorite color?

I am a native New Yoiker, as they say. I grew up in Brooklyn. I truly love all the colors of the rainbow, but pink is definitely the color that is the most joyful to me. If you see Pinkalicious the musical you will sing: ‘Pink is the color of love!’

Q: Do you have kids – and do they like to draw?

I have two daughters. They are very creative and love to draw, sew, tell stories and make things. Right now they are into making music videos and taking photographs.

Q: If you and your family had the chance to travel the U.S. in a bookmobile, which books would be with you on the shelves?

My younger daughter loves funny books, especially graphic novels that are humorous. My older daughter loves the vampire genre. I love picture books (one is NEVER too old!) and memoirs.

Q: Can you describe what it was like to see your books and characters come alive on stage in Pinkalicious: The Musical?

Writing the script was a really unique experience. Seeing actors perform it on stage is a amazing, because they bring their own ideas of the characters to the show. Though the words and music are always the same, each performance is different. My family has seen it at least 100 times and it is always exciting.

Q: Do you have any advice for kids who want to be writers or artists someday?

Yes, start now and keep at it! Don’t give up! I can’t wait to come to YOUR book signing!

Q: Can you tell us a little about your next project(s)?

Well, it’s extremely exciting to have Emeraldalicious come out now. I worked on it for over two years. It is a magical story involving Pinkalicious and Peter and the transformation of a garbage dump into an Emeraldalicious garden. It has a lovely environmental message. I also have a lot of Early Readers coming out, like Pinkalicious; Flower Girl and Pinkalicious; Puptastic and a really fun coloring/activity book titled, Goldidoodles, which is all about using your imagination and creating art based on Goldilicious.

Pinkalicious doll

Madame Alexander has been making GORGEOUS Pinkalicious dolls for years now. They are extremely sparkly and PINK! They have a new washable doll coming out which is very soft and cuddly, best of all you can throw it right in the washing machine so it’s great for little ones.

Ceaco also has some really fun glittery puzzles based on all my books. They have recently created a greenatastic Emeraldalicious puzzle.

You can see all this fun stuff on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pinkalicious

Lastly I just want to say, if you are a parent, teacher or librarian, there are great coloring pages, activities for kids and curriculum guides on my web site: http://www.thinkpinkalicious.com/home

THANK YOU! Have a Pinkatastic day!

Editor’s note: A huge THANK YOU to The Alexander Doll Company for setting up this exclusive Q&A with Victoria Kann and a huge congratulations to president Gale Jarvis for receiving the Manufacturer of the Year award at this year’s Women in Toys’ 9th Annual Wonder Women of Toys event.

Tagged as: Children's books, Pinkalicious, Victoria Kann

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