It may be October 29th, but cooler temps have arrived and as far as I'm concerned we can skip all the other holidays and celebrate Christmas all fall and winter long. 

It's just that worthy of celebration. From the birth of our Savior, to the warmth of family and togetherness, soul-satisfying food and bingeing on Christmas movies - there really is never enough time. 

So, start in October I always say. As soon as it makes sense to pull out the cozy blankets, the mugs for cocoa and throw a log in the fire. I was blessed by Warner Brothers with our first film of the season - A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish landed on the doorstep as if delivered to my happy little Christmas-loving home by Santa himself. 

Below you will find my review synopsis of the film - details on the film and where you can get your copy - as well as some fun behind the scenes info, photos, clips and printables. 

Available NOW on DVD, Digital and Blu-Ray A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish follows a teenage Kat Decker (played by Laura Marano) through her trials and her holiday love story as a under-valued step-daughter in a festive rendition of the classic Cinderella tale. This is the fifth in the Cinderella Story series and is the first to be set during the most magical time of year. 

I personally adored watching this with Grey. He loved the colorful sets and the leading man Nick (played by Gregg Sulkin) had him laughing out loud as Santa. As a film songwriter and performer myself, I appreciated the musicality of the film and the choreography was well done. My soft spot for the Cinderella Story series (I've been a fan since the original with Hilary Duff!) made this such an easy and fun watch! It was a great film to kick of a season of many nights of movie watching in our new farmhouse. 

​To view the full trailer - you can see it here:

Truly a fun and magical film for the whole family, watching this entertaining film was such a great way to welcome this season and share some laughs with my little guy. 

As we are approaching shopping season as well  it was so fun to fill out the Christmas Wish Lists that Warner Brothers provided to us as an interactive activity to do after we watched the film. 

Once you grab your copy of A Christmas Story: Christmas Wish on Digital, Blu-Ray or DVD you can make it an intimate evening at home with your family or you can throw a little holiday party and make popcorn, my Vanilla Caramel Hot Chocolate, print the lists below for all of the kids in your group and if you want to get really creative - you can set up a create your own snow globe station just like Kat's special snow globe in the film! 

However you decide to enjoy this film, I hope it brings you an evening of joy, laughter and entertainment as it did our family! 

As promised, if you saw my last post on the new Groupon Goods, I let you know I was going to let you in on another special feature Groupon is now offering. 

Groupon Coupons. 

And I am totally addicted.

Groupon Coupons gives you access to coupons for top retailers, restaurants, theme parks and more. Some favorites that I took advantage of today were Birch Box, Barnes and Noble, Shutterfly (for ALL the baby books, guys seriously I take so many photos of this kid), TicketMaster for an upcoming date night concert, Sephora (because, make-up) and I even saved on theme park tickets for an upcoming trip we're planning! 

All in under ten minutes. 

So, without further adieu, I leave you with savings upon savings through Groupon Coupons. You're welcome and happy shopping!  

Also, shout out to Groupon and myself on Twitter and let us know what you saved on! This girl loves to know your favorite healthy and fashionable products! 

As a new mama, I absolutely adore online shopping. 

I've always been a fan of Groupon for booking trips and date nights with deals around the city, but now they are offering Groupon Goods and the site has become a one stop shop for buying anything I need at the click of a button. 

I also love, love, love that there are no membership fees to shop on Groupon Goods. Just nationwide deals on my favorite products. 

As Mr. Charming and I are gearing up to travel more this season with our little man, I headed back to check out the goods and ended up with a cart full of awesomeness. My favorite items included USB chargers for all of our phone and camera equipment (photos, hello!), awesome food storage containers for all of our healthy on-the-go noshing and, while I was there, some cute stuff for the house. Because as much as I adore traveling, having a place of our own that's decked out in our favorite things to come home to is what makes leaving worth while. 

Another feature I love is that there are dates posted with the sales prices, in true Groupon fashion, so you never miss out on something you love. Many days I have gone to a store and have seen something on sale, only to not buy it, think on it later and then miss out because it's gone or no longer on sale when I go back to get it. With Groupon Goods, I don't have to worry my pretty little head about it and can make sure I get what I want at the best possible price. I also can have it shipped to my house, so I can mom it up and take care of the babes in my yoga pants and top knot while still getting everything I need. (yay packages!) 

If you are interested in trying it out, come back this weekend for exclusive coupons to some of the most popular retailers in home goods, clothing, travel essentials and more. 

Have you used Groupon Goods and if so, what has been your favorite purchase? 

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions, tutorial and photographs are mine. #SummerCarCare #CollectiveBias

I know this may sound crazy to some, but one of the phases I was looking forward to in my pregnancy was the nesting phase. As an avid organizer and clean freak when it comes to my living spaces, I was excited to get my second trimester energy burst so that I could get the house into gear. 

After spending many weekends on the house, another aspect I couldn't neglect was the car. A few years ago we purchased our Nissan Versa, as we knew it was going to one day be our family car. I love it's pep and spunkiness and it's comfortable and roomy inside for road trips and kiddos. Here we are about to meet our first little son or daughter this summer and I knew it was time to get the car into gear for their arrival. 

​I started with taking it in for a deep clean, both inside and out, so that it would be ready for the car seat installation once we were past my baby shower. As well as the regular three month check and tune up. 

One of the most important aspects to me is that the air is clean inside and the engine runs as efficiently as possible, as filtered air, both for us and the car, is important when you're living in such a dry and dusty climate such as Arizona. 

I'm thankful my husband has been patient to teach me about how to care for my car in ways both big and small, so that I can feel confident in the every day tasks, as well as in emergency situations. It's empowering to be a woman or a mom and be able to make these easy swaps to know you're making your car as safe as it can be. 
​

​I knew it was probably time to swap out my engines air filter, so that was my next step. We are FRAM fans, as they have an extensive line of wonderful items to help with our car care. Available at Walmart, the FRAM Extra Guard filter was easy for me to locate when it came to finding the right one for my car. On my cars model its super easy to find the filter box under the hood too, which made this a quick and easy task. If you need help locating yours you can look to your cars manual to help you locate it. Below I show you an easy step-by-step tutorial to changing your cars engine filter, once located on your car.  I've also included below my step-by-step guide to helping you get your car ready for baby. 

Like filtering the air in our homes the FRAM Extra Guard is your engines first line of defense. Which is really important to your car running effectively, increasing acceleration, horsepower, and improving your overall engine performance. Much in the same way that we perform most effectively when we can breathe clean air. 

​In less than five minutes, with zero tools, I started by locating my filters case and removing the lid. After snapping it off, I opened the new filter, ensuring it wasn't exposed to the elements until it was ready to be installed. 

It was actually exciting to see the difference for me! I know, I'm odd, haha, but i love seeing the improvement when I improve or upgrade something in my home or car. And that old filter definitely needed to be changed. 

In just a few seconds I popped the clean filter into the holder, slid it back in the case and voila! Done and done. A clean & happy car! A happy & secure mommy to be! Win/win! 

For more on how I am getting car ready for baby, click here to see my Top 10 Steps for Preparing Car For Baby.  
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Do you have any tips on preparing car or home for baby? I'd love to hear them below! 

I have to be honest.

Haha, see what I did there?

Of all the Honest products I've tried (and adored), this one just didn't float my boat so much. 

I LOVE that they don't contain all the nasty chemicals, and I was excited to try a dryer sheet, as I had gone completely off of them because of the poor choices on the market today.  I dealt with clingy, staticy, fragrance-less clothes for a long time and I wanted to find something that I could use and love. 

And though these did help with static cling, I just wasn't as impressed as I have been with the rest of the Honest line.  It's odd that they are wet.  They don't re-seal well and even though I put them in a sealable baggy to try to lengthen their life, they still dried up and didn't seem to do much once in my dryer. 

I guess I'm just wondering, why do they have to be wet? 

I will continue on as a Honest customer, as I have previously posted I LOVE their dishwasher tabs and multi-purpose cleaner, but I will be passing on the dryer cloths as I think I've found another natural option that works much better and is designed much more like a traditional dryer sheet. 

It's a journey to find the right products to restock a home that once used traditional "commerical" and chemical-laden products.  But it's a journey that's worth taking!  Would love to hear what you think if you've tried them or what you use for your laundry days! :) 

Honest Co. Review #2.  I am in "Home" Blog Posting mode right now because I've been on a "pre-fall" cleaning kick around the house lately.  I'm sure Mr. Charming is loving it.  I get super-Monica-Gellar (for my FRIENDS fans out there) on everything.  I love organization and I love everything to have its place.  Which is why later, I must go buy a new jewelry dresser for our room. I've simply bought too many necklaces and they now have no home.  And it makes me anxious, haha. 

These dishwasher tabs are amazing by the way.  I was actually skeptical at first because my old chemical-filled tabs worked well on getting my dishes clean and then one day, every time I did the dishes, or would touch one of the tabs I would sneeze. So I knew something wasn't cool with that, and I decided to give these a go.

And they work SO well, I won't go back to any other tab after using this Mandi-friendly, good for my family tab.  Mr. Charming can vouch for the first day I used them, as he heard me excitedly exclaiming, holding up a fork in victory, that I had never seen that fork SO shiny.  These are the kinds of things that make me happy. 

Yet another positive & happy Honest moment. For when a girl gets excited to do the dishes, you know you've done something right. 


*this post is in no way sponsored by honest co. this is my honest review of a product I personally love to use. as with any product, although it's natural, this product could still cause irritation to those allergic to included ingredients.

I've been wanting to do this review for a while.  I've been an Honest Co. fan, and member, for about 6 months now and I adore most of what I've used.  I wanted to start a short series of the cleaning and beauty products I've used and do "honest" reviews, haha, of my experience using these in our home. 

Mr. Charming also helped me take pretty, spiffy pictures of them all which is why I was doubly excited to do my reviews. (Thanks honey!) 

Today I am reviewing the multi-purpose cleaner and I can tell you, Mr. Charming is certainly thrilled with this product.

When I started "operation de-chemical the house" the first thing to go was the harsh, everyday cleaners. Wanting to still keep the house sparkly, in a natural way, I turned to vinegar.  And though it didn't bother me too much, I know he didn't care for the vinegar odor.  And I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the floral, girlie, lavender, pine sol-y smells packed into the cleaners of days gone by.

Then I bought this wonderful cleaner, and it's all natural and grapefruit-scenty and we were both happy! 

The best part about it, isn't that it smells wonderful, though that's a perk.  But it's a safe, chemical free cleaner that actual cleans AMAZINGLY-WELL.  My counters, mirrors, and stove top get super-clean and you get a decent amount for the cost.  Of all my products, this is one I go through the quickest, so I always make sure I have plenty on hand.  At least two at all time, one for the laundry room/bathroom area of the house and one in the kitchen.  That way I always have one handy. 

I give this a 5 star-rating for scent, quality, ingredients and performance! 

For more information on the ingredients, pricing and how to order your own bundle to try for free, visit www.honest.com*

*this post is in no way sponsored by honest co. this is my honest review of a product I personally love to use. as with any product, although it's natural, this product could still cause irritation to those allergic to included ingredients, so always test in small areas.