Product Review: Shakeology Greenberry Shake

As I began to focus more on losing weight and getting fit, I found that I am surrounded by people who are working towards those same goals. Maybe you have noticed them on your Facebook timeline too? They take pictures of themselves working out, photograph their healthy meals and love to take selfies with their shakes and smoothies. More often than not, these Facebook friends were hooked in to one of a few multi-level marketing health/fitness companies. They were all experiencing good things in their lives thanks to their company, so why not show it off, right?

One item in the posts that always seemed to be a constant for the people who were really making progress in getting fit was the shake or smoothie. I don't know how anyone can just drink shakes all the time and be happy. I like real food a little bit too much, I guess. But after seeing the pictures over and over again, I thought it was time to at least give them a try and see what all the fuss was about.

One of my Facebook friends with some of the most inspiring Facebook posts, gave me two samples of the Shakeology Greenberry to try. There are lots of flavors of shakes to choose from. I really wanted to try the Greenberry because I didn't want to be drinking a dessert everyday. I wanted something with a healthy, clean flavor that was going to energize me. Out of all the flavor titles, Greenberry was the one that seemed to fit the bill.

Shake #1

For my first shake, I decided to just try it with ice and water as directed. Here's the super simple recipe as noted on the Shakeology website.

Just Greenberry

1 serving Greenberry Shakeology
1 cup water

For the best taste experience, use a blender and add ice. The more ice, the thicker it gets. Enjoy!

Shake #2

For my second shake, I decided to add in a few ingredients to make the shake a bit more interesting. There were a number of yummy sounding recipes to choose from, but I went for one that seemed to add the least amount of added sugar and calories. I simply added some frozen strawberries to the original recipe, adding a few less ice cubes along the way.

Click here for a look at what Shakeology suggests for Greenberry recipes.

After the Tasting: My Takeaways

After two shakes, I have to say that I did really enjoy the shakes. Even without the addition of the berries, the Greenberry shake was enjoyable. The taste was fresh and clean and only a bit chalky, just a slight reminder that I was drinking a powder-based beverage. It was certainly easier, and even a bit less expensive than going down to the local smoothie shop and purchasing a fresh ingredient green smoothie. Unfortunately, the taste wasn't enough to convince me to drink a shake or two every day for a month or more. Like I said at the start, I like real food a bit too much. Would it be worth to have a bag of the shake mix around the house so that I could have a shake or two a week? Maybe. They do taste pretty good. I'm still up in the air about that one.

Have you tried the Shakeology shakes? Did you like them? Did you lose weight with them? Let me know in the comments.

House Party Review: Scotch Laminator Pack

I love being a member of HouseParty.Fun! It's a great website where you have the opportunity to try new products for free! All you have to do is have a party and tell others about what you are trying.

My most recent product sampling was a fantastic one! It came just in time for the start of the new school and Girl Scout year when I could really use this product.

Here's what I received:

The Scotch™ Thermal Laminator TL902 is the perfect tool for teachers, homemakers and professionals who want to quickly and easily protect documents, projects and crafts you handle frequently and want to preserve. The Scotch™ Thermal Laminator TL902 is available exclusively at Target® stores and can laminate items up to nine-inches wide. It has a two-roller system that has two temperature settings, is photo quality and will laminate pouches up to 5 mil. thick.

Scotch™ Thermal Laminating Pouches are clear and come in a variety of sizes to handle a multitude of laminating projects. They also work with dry erase markers!

The Thermal Laminator was super simple to use and really came in handy at the start of school. By having a laminator at home, I was able to help my middle school-aged son by laminating his class schedule and locker combination pages so that they didn't disintegrate in his backpack during the school year. I'm sure that I will find many more helpful items around the house that could be reinforced with a bit of laminating. What I am most excited about it being able to save smaller art projects that my children bring home. They can get laminated before they go on the refrigerator and be safe to save for the ages!

Thank you to House Party and Scotch for my free samples. I can't wait to use them again and again!

#ScotchLaminatorPack #Sponsored

Kick-Off Parent Meeting

There's a lot to go over at the first parent meeting of the year, but in my opinion there are two areas that need to be addressed. The first area to look at is all the paperwork that goes with the scouting year. The Girl Scouts do LOVE their paperwork!

• First, make sure that all the girls have their paperwork filled out. You'll want to check with your council to make sure that you have all the official documents in order.
• Next, make sure you have all the information that you are going to need for the upcoming year. I know that a lot of the information about the troop members is available by logging into my council website, but sometimes that isn't convenient or it doesn't contain everything I need. So I created a few forms of my own that help me contain all of my troop information in my handy Troop files.
• Tell Us About Your Daughter - This asks a few basic questions about the girl so that I know a bit more about her than what is included on the Health History form.
• Parent/Guardian Communication Survey - Here I ask for communication information (phone numbers, emails, etc.) for everyone that parents want to receive my emails and texts.

The second area, and possibly the most important for your mental well-being, is setting expectations for the parents. Let them know what's coming up for their daughters, what you are going to need from them, and what their level of commitment needs to be for a successful troop.

• Troop Handbook - I spent a lot of time online exploring other troop's handbooks to see what they had to say to their parents. I finally came up with a handbook that sets the tone for our troop and what we expect to do with our time together. A handbook is optional, but I do like to use one as a place to keep all of my troop policies.
• Yearly Planner - This one page document is a simple listing of meeting dates and special events as I know them now at the start of the scout year. This is handed out so that families know now when the important events for the troop are happening (Court of Awards, scout holidays, field trips, etc.). Of course, dates are subject to change, but the basic outline of the year will remain the same.
• Review Volunteer Opportunities - To have a successful troop, you need to have a lot of volunteers willing to help out. I like to share my list of available volunteer options with my parents right from the beginning. I also talk to them about the required paperwork that they need to complete for themselves so that they can be a part of the troop.
• My Promise, My Faith Award - This is a pin that we will not be working on as a troop, but is something that I let the parents know their daughter can work on in their own time. As long as they get me proof of the pin requirements before the end of the scout year, they will have earned the pin.
• Money - The final thing to discuss is what is expected as far as payments to support the troop. Dues, fall sales, cookie sales, prices of trips, etc. I do as much planning as I can up front so that my families can plan ahead for any financial commitment that they might be required to make.

Machta Morning Surprise

For the start of the new school year, I decided that it was time to start taking some small steps that could make a big difference in my life and for my family. I've been on a health kick recently and I wanted that to continue. What small step could I take to help make the school year a great one?

That's when I discovered what I call my Machta Morning Sunrise. This delicious beverage, when consumed as a part of my morning routine, helps to wake me up and get me ready for the day. And with only four ingredients, it is easy to make.

The first ingredient is ice cubes. It doesn't get much simpler than that!

The second ingredient is orange juice. Use whichever kind is your favorite. I prefer one with Vitamin D and Calcium added just for an extra boost.

The third ingredient is the most obscure of the items: Machta Green Tea. I use the tea from Steeped Tea, but you can get Machta anywhere these days. There are so many benefits to adding Machta to your diet. Machta is high in antioxidants, helps you burn calories, detoxifies your body and so much more. It comes as a fine green powder so it dissolves and doesn't need to steep.

The last ingredient is seltzer water. It's almost easier than ice cubes. Just get a bottle the next time you are at the store. It's in the soda aisle.

Making your Machta Morning Sunrise is easy too. Just add the ice cubes, orange juice and machta to a leak-proof container and shake it together. When you are done shaking, add the seltzer and you have a refreshing drink to kick off your morning on the right foot!

Note: for my leak-proof container, I use a mason jar. No need for a fancy shaker bottle with a wire whisk if you don't already use one. Really any leak-proof jar will do. The ice will work to help blend the ingredients while you are shaking.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Machta Morning Sunrise

Serves: 1
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: None

Ingredients

• A handful of ice cubes
• 1 cup of orange juice
• 1 scoop of Machta Green Tea
• A splash or two of seltzer water

Directions

• Add ice cubes, orange juice and Machta to a container with a waterproof seal like a shaker bottle or mason jar.
• Shake. If you are using a clear bottle, look at the bottom of the mixture to see that the Machta is combining.
• When the Machta is incorporated to the juice and you have a nice foam on the mixture, open the container and add the seltzer water.
• Enjoy!

Get-To-Know-You Pizza Party

To kick off a new troop year, and in an attempt to welcome new troop members before our first meeting, my Daisy and Brownie multi-level troop held a Pizza Party.

Welcome to the Party

As the girls arrived, there were pizza-themed coloring sheets for them to color. We always have coloring pages out at the start of our meetings, so this continued our tradition and allowed our new members to get accustomed to it as well.

Check out the coloring pages I used here and print them out for your party!

In addition to the coloring pages, we posted a few signs around the room asking the girls what toppings they liked on their pizza. Each sign asked something like "do you like pepperoni on your pizza" and then had two columns underneath, one for yes, one for no. The girls wrote their name in the appropriate column. We then shared the survey results with the girls as a part of the evening. This was a fun way for the girls to get to know each other and get them walking around the party room as well.

Here's a look at the survey signs I made. Hope you love them too!

A Simple Menu

The theme of the party may have been pizza, but it wasn't the objective. We really wanted the girls to have a great time and get to know each other so that we could hit the ground running at our first meeting. So we opted for a very simple menu:

• Pizza
• Veggie tray
• Fruit tray
• Cookies
• Water Bottles

Let's Get Crafty

Once everyone was there and had nice, full bellies it was time to get down to business and start having fun. First on the agenda was a Girl Scout pizza SWAP. SWAPS are Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere. They are often made and then traded at Girl Scout events. Since we had a few events on the schedule this year, we wanted to get started building SWAPS right away. MakingFriends.com has a super-cute pizza swap that was perfect for our party.

Here's a link to the Pizza SWAP kit we used. It was super simple and looks great!

Before You Leave

What would a party be without a goodie bag? At the end of the evening as the girls were leaving, we gave them two small presents.

The first was a Back-to-School Survival Kit. Containing only items from the local Dollar Store, this kit was a cute way to tie-in the start of the school year, the start of the scout year, and a party gift bag all in one. Each item in the Survival Kit represented a bit of positive inspiration for the girls.

Here's the printable I created for our Back to School Survival Kit. Print it out on colored paper to add some POP!

My favorite of the gifts was a personalized pizza slice keychain. It's kind of like a group best-friends charm. The slices fit together to make a pizza! And each slice had a charm with their first initial on it. They were so cute! Purchased from SummerJewelryLA on Etsy, they were the perfect way to top off the evening. And SummerJewelryLA was so nice to work with - I highly recommend them.

Check out the pizza slice charms here. You will be glad you did!

Fun Patch

Our troop tradition is to give fun patches at our Court of Awards, held periodically throughout the year. Each girl who attended the party will get the Pizza Party fun patch just for coming. It's a surprise for them after the fact. When we purchased the SWAP kit from MakingFriends.com, it came with a free pizza fun patch, so I just bought a few more and we were good to go!

Here's the fun patch we used. Isn't it cute?

That's it! That was our Back-to-School Pizza Party! I hope these tips help you and your troop kick off an amazing year.