June 2014
  

Amazing Customer Appreciation! #ActsOfCaring

How nice is it to be appreciated? By anyone- even for something small! Simply speaking or writing the words "thank you" can go a long way in making a person feel happy. It's an important part of life that we begin teaching our children from the time they begin to speak! (I'm not sure when the encouragement will end, but I find myself encouraging my daughters to say thank you a lot.)

As a consumer, I think it's fabulous when brands put in a little extra effort to make sure that their customers know how much they are appreciated. Especially committed, long term customers! I've seen plenty of "first time customer" promotions (which are great, but they can leave the long term customers feeling left out if they're not being recognized in any way).

TELUS is going way above and beyond a simple "thank you". They recently gave a loyal customer, Ramona, a big surprise by saying thank you to her in person for being a fabulous customer for almost 20 years. They found out a bit about her and then planned a dream day for her! Check out the video!



[You can find the video here as well and you can subscribe to the TELUS YouTube Channel here]


Ramona's surprise was just the beginning of an even larger display of customer appreciation from TELUS!  As part of their Grand Gestures Campaign, the TELUS Care-a-Van team is rolling around town this week with a bunch of events and activities to specially thank TELUS local customers in the Guelph community!

They'll be performing everyday acts of caring all over the community and as part of this, they're donating $5 to the Guelph Children's Foundation for every use of the hashtag #ActsOfCaring !!

They'll also be going door to door to the homes of their top 100 customers to thank them personally with a care package. They're hosting a free BBQ lunch for their top 1000 customers and their families at the local TELUS store, and they'll be presenting a cheque to the Guelph Children's Foundation in response to all the uses of #ActsOfCaring

It is so great to see a company that cares about the communities where we live, work and play. Seeing them put customers first as a priority is fabulous!


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Watching that video got me thinking about what I would do if I could do anything for one day. I think I would spend a relaxing morning at an amazing spa! (Something I have only had a taste of when I got a mani/pedi in Mexico.. I would love to do something like that again, and include a great massage!) Then spend time with family.. if only there were a Disney park nearby... ;) That's something I would love to do with my kids and hubby someday! :)

What would your dream day be like?


Disclosure: I am part of the TELUS Grand Gestures Campaign and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.

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June 2014 Sharing Time - Week 4 (& Giveaways)

Welcome to June's Sharing Time Linky!

Our Summer vacation has begun & we are busy having fun! I'll be blogging about some of that soon! For now, a quick review of this week on the blog, and then a chance to share your blog posts and check out the others linked below!

This week, I shared a Monday Moment (As my mom pointed out, clearly we need to get this girl to a zoo ;) and a bit about our Father's Day.



And two Giveaways! For Jamberry Nails and for another Armor All Car Care Kit!


You can enter them right here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Now, on to the link party! I can't wait to see what you share! :)



Please join the Raising Memories Sharing Time & add a link to your latest and greatest blog posts
about activities to do with your children or fun projects that you have done!
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If you're participating, please share the button on your blog & "hop over" to at least one other blog post that's been linked up- let's support each other!









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Our Father's Day (& a Giveaway)

We celebrated Father's Day over three different days this year. It all started on Sunday morning with homemade cards and gifts for Ken. We got ready for church (somehow I actually had time to do some fancy hair for Katrina) and headed out of town for church in my parents' ward because my dad would be speaking that day.


It was fun to visit my old ward and see friends there. Then we went to my parents' house where we all hung out in and out of the house (it was a beautiful day!)


My dad & brother BBQ'd some chicken and we all had a nice lunch together. (In case you're wondering, they don't usually keep the BBQ in the middle of the backyard haha ;) The deck is in between coats of varnish or something... ;)


We headed back to our town after that and hung out at Ken's parents' house, but it wasn't until later that week that we gave him his gift. It was a group-gift from his 5 kids and their families. He has an interest in flying, so we got him a flight simulator experience inside of a replica of a 777 Cockpit.


For my Dad, we gave him a Car Care Kit from Armor All. We liked the products we tried for our Spring Kick Off challenge, and know that my dad likes to take good care of his cars, so we thought he would enjoy it.


I feel very blessed to have some great Fathers in my life. My own father, my father-in-law, and my husband is a wonderful father to our girls. I hope they know how grateful we all are to them for all the great things they do and how much we love them (all year and not just on Father's Day)!

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If you missed out on the last Armor All giveaway, now's your chance to try again! Armor All is giving one of you the same thing we gave my dad for Father's Day! You can win your own Gift Pack including the Armor All Tire and Rim Kit, Armor All Wash Wax + Protect and Armor All Longlast Trim and Plastic Restorer!


Just fill out the rafflecopter form below for your chance to win!

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Jamberry Nails (Review & Giveaway)

A few weeks ago, the girls and I had a little Mommy-Daughter Nail Party! :)  We were excited to try something new.  Ever heard of Jamberry Nail Wraps? I hadn't until Christina (a Jamberry consultant) contacted me, but I was very excited to try them! I have been frustrated lately by how quickly nail polish gets ruined! So, when I heard about nail wraps that last longer, I was intrigued!

So, we got out our tools and our nail wraps and had a fun morning applying them! I'm going to share some photos and an explanation of how to apply them and then I'll tell you what we thought of them and at the end of the post, you'll have a chance to win some nail wraps of your own to try! :)


These are the tools we needed to apply our nail wraps:

- Hair Dryer
- Nail Buffer
- Nail Scissors (any scissors would work)
- Nail File
- Orange Stick
- Alcohol Wipes (or just rubbing alcohol on a cloth or kleenex)
- tweezers (I used them to hold the wrap, but you can use your fingers if you`re only touching the part that you`ll cut off later.  You just don`t want to get oils from your fingers onto the part that you want to stick to your nail)



You start by prepping your nails (push cuticles back with the orange stick, clean with the alcohol wipe, and buff).

This is what my sheet of nail wraps looked like.  The girls`sheet (Jamberry Juniors) has more wraps on it, and two different patterns.  (the junior wraps are smaller than the regular ones)


Thanks to the clear backing, you can line your nail up with the wraps to figure out which size fits your finger without taking the wrap off of the backing.


Trim to a length a little longer than your nail.


Peel off the backing, heat for a few seconds with your hair dryer (until the wrap gets floppy) and stick it carefully onto your nail!  You`ll press it down with the orange stick.  You don`t want the wrap to touch any skin (it won`t stick well).


Once it`s on there and cooled, you file the end off (in a downward motion).  When that`s done, you can apply heat to your nail with the hair dryer once more and press down again with your orange stick, to be sure it`s on there well.


I was so happy with the way my nails looked!  This is the mint green chevron pattern and the girls had the ``colorful polka and pink primrose`` patterns.


Katrina wanted me to use the barcode for a nail wrap, so we went for it. She called those her Zebra nails ;) haha


Talia wanted to use the Jamberry symbol for one of her nails :)


How They Lasted:

After my first try, some of my nails only lasted 5 days before I was ready to remove them because the tips were lifting which was driving me crazy. I knew that they were supposed to last longer though, so I contacted my consultant and she recommended trying the "pull & stretch" application method. I did and it worked way better for me! The wrap went on smoother, with no ripples or bumps and right now my stretch nail is on day 16 and going strong!

The girls' manicures lasted way longer than I expected them to! Katrina came home the next day from school with one nail wrap off (it probably wasn't sealed properly because she wasn't a big fan of the heat from the hair dryer. I have since heard of an application method that's good for young girls, where you microwave a small rice bag & use that for your heat instead of a hair dryer). Talia didn't lose one until Day 5. On day 15 for the girls, Talia was missing 3 and Katrina was missing 4, but the rest of them stayed which was impressive considering all of the messy things they do with their nails (they definitely weren't babying them!)

A bonus that I hadn't thought of before trying these was that having them on helped Talia not to bite her nails! She bites or peels her nails down until they're pretty short, but having the nail wraps on kept her from doing it and when we took them off after 2 weeks, she had the longest nails I have seen on her in years!!

Conclusions:

Pros:

- wraps last way longer than nail polish
- really cute designs available
- much cheaper than getting your nails done professionally
- helps prevent nail biting!

Cons:

- takes a while to apply (but I think it`s worth it for how long they last)
- can be a bit tricky to learn what method works best for you

Of course, these wraps will stay even longer if you use them for your toes!  Overall, I am very impressed with these nail wraps, and I`m excited to use them again (now that I know what method works best for me!)


Christina is my Jamberry consultant and she is sponsoring a giveaway for my readers! One of you will win a Jamberry sheet (in a pattern of your choice) as well as a sheet of Jamberry Juniors! Just fill out the form below for your chance to win! (This giveaway is open to my U.S. & Canadian readers)

If you don't want to take your chances on the giveaway, or don't want to wait until it ends to get your Jamberrys, you can order your own through Christina!  

If you order during the giveaway, you'll be included in a special "Mystery Hostess" party- which means you'll have a chance to win the hostess rewards!  (You can order through her website, or send her a message through her facebook page & she'll be happy to help you either way!)

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Disclosure: Jamberry Nail Wraps were provided for review purposes.  All opinions shared are my own and honest!

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Monday Moments: Details

Katrina: "Mom, are bears just details?"

Me: "...When you say 'details', what do you mean by that?"

Katrina: "like is it like people make them up and put them in books and movies?"



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