Pittsburgh – Page 10 – Luv Saving Money

Review: Valentine Smiley Cookies

I was lucky enough to grow up with an Eat n’ Park restaurant only about a 5 minute drive away from my house.
I’m born and raised in Pennsylvania. Eat n’ Park restaurants originated as one restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA. Now you can find them all over PA and several other states. Opened 24 hours a day, it was great to go for breakfast early for their great buffet. As a teenage we used to love to go late at night.

One thing that stands out is the bakery that makes fresh baked items all the time. You are greeted with the fresh frosted faces of the Smiley Cookies. Even the kids’ meals come with a Smiley Cookie. The kids always wanted to pick what color Smiley Cookie they wanted.

I have relatives that have moved out of state. When I saw the our sweet little Smiley Cookies now have their own website and can be shipped all over the US, I thought about sending some to my extended family.

Smiley Cookies come in several shapes and colors. I got to review the Valentine Smiley Cookies. These Valentines Day Cookies would be a cute and sweet treat to send off to your grandkids, a friend in need of some cheer, or just because.

I say review, it’s more like eat them again and remind myself why I crave them sometimes. They are simply frosted heart cookies. Just sugar cookies with icing and a smile. There’s just something about them that are so tasty. Just the right amount of icing, a nice sized cookie, baked to perfection, that cute smiled just looking at you as if to say “oh yea, you’re going to enjoy me!”

The kids enjoyed them too.

These generous sized cookies are so cute and so tasty. Try them once and you’ll understand where I’m coming from on these. They also have Steelers Smiley Cookies for all your Pittsburgh fans. Send a nice Cookie Gift Basket out for a birthday or congratulatory gift.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

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Kellee Maize — Aligned Archetypes Album Review and Giveaway: Go Pittsburgh! 10 winners US—CLOSED

If I asked you to name a hip-hop artist from Pittsburgh, you might be hard-pressed to come up with a name. Now, how about a female hip-hop artist. Even harder, right?

Into the blank, you can insert: Kellee Maize. If you read through Kellee Maize’s bio you find that she moved to Pittsburgh as a teen. Went to college at the University of Pittsburgh. Worked for a Pittsburgh paper and eventually became an Events and Promotions Director. Along with various personal life struggles she says she found an outlet through writing and music. She has also founded a socially conscience, female owned and operated company called “Nakturnal” that has turned into a leading marketing and events organization for the area. There is much more to this story. Read on here: Kellee’s Bio. While you’re there, explore her “archetypes” pictured throughout this post.

Now Kellee Maize is the #1 female hip hop artist on Amazon.com in the last month and has been in the top 10 on Amazon.com for 6 months! Try something for me will ya? Go to google.com and google “female rapper”. See what comes up. Go ahead, I’ll wait…..

What did you see? Kellee Maize right, as number 1? If you didn’t, you didn’t do the search. That’s ok, I’m happy you trust me 🙂

Kellee Maize’s album Aligned Archetypes is a collection of music influenced with House, Reggae, R&B, Hip Hop, and more along with her strong female lyrics. Her spiritualism also spices her music.

You can download the entire album FREE on Amazon.com

Being a Pennsylvania girl and former Pittsburgh dweller myself I’m closing this review with one of my favorite tracks “City of Champions” For all you proud Pittsburghers and Steeler and Penguins fans. (18+ only please due to some profanity).

GIVEAWAY

I’m so very excited to announce this one. While you can download the whole album for free on amazon.com (and I already have) Kellee is giving 10 of my readers their own physical, autographed, copy of Aligned Archetypes along with a cool friendship bracelet. US 18 years of age or older.

Mandatory Entry: Visit Kellee Maize’s website: http://kelleemaize.com/index.html and tell me either something you learned about Kellee that i didn’t already state in this review OR tell me your favorite song by Kellee Maize. (This must be completed to be entered. Don’t forget to leave an email address so I can contact you if you win).

Bonus Entries: Leave a separate comment for each entry completed. If there is a +1 leave one comment for that entry, +2 leave two comments for that entry, and so on.

1. Download Kellee Maize’s album FREE from amazon.com Aligned Archetype [Explicit] (+2)

2. “like” Kellee Maize on facebook (+1)

3. follow Kellee Maize on twitter (+1)

4. Subscribe to Kelle Maize’s Youtube channel (+1)

5. Blog about this giveaway including a link to this post. Leave a comment with the link to your post (+5)

6. Tweet about this giveaway using the RT button above or you can copy and paste this message:

” Enter to win a autographed copy of @KELLEEMAIZE album Aligned Archtypes from @angiewith3 10 winners US http://bit.ly/kmaizerev 11/1 “

Can tweet 2 x per day at least 2 hours apart (+1 for each tweet)

7. Follow Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More in any or all of these ways: Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs, Email (must be confirmed), RSS feed, Facebook, and/or Twitter. All located in Right hand column. (+1 for each one completed. Please leave a separate comment for each one)

8. Leave this message as your status update on facebook (+1)

Enter to win an autographed copy of @Kellee Maize ‘s album Aligned Archtypes from Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More 10 winners US http://bit.ly/kmaizerev 11/1

***I downloaded the album for free via amazon.com and will also be receiving a free physical copy of Kellee Maize’s album. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. Any opinions expressed are my own.***

10 winners will be chosen using random.org from qualified entries. Giveaway closes 11/1 and winner will be notified no later than 11/2. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning email or another winner will be chosen.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:
THELADYA
ANDREA
ALLYSMAMA
MICHELLE
TERRY
SUSIEQTPIES
SUPERSWEEPER
WENDY
TINA

Pretty much if you left a comment here you won lol.

**I did not receive any compensation for this post***

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Review: Double Tree Hotel Pittsburgh

For my family’s trip to the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh we decided to make it a weekend getaway. We started looking into family friendly hotels that were near the museum. I caught a tweet from @DoubletreePitt
I initially was looking for something within walking distance from the museum but the DoubleTree of Pittsburgh offered so many great amenities that it seemed like the obvious choice.

DoubleTree Pittsburgh is right in downtown. Located right by the Mellon arena and Console Energy Center (where the Pittsburgh Penguins play). There is a room to fit your family. We got a 2 bedroom suite. It was great for our family of 5. The hotel was not difficult to find. They have valet parking in their own parking garage. From the start the first DoubleTree employee I talked with was the valet. He was pleasant and professional. We went to the lobby to check in. We were checked in, in no time at all. The lobby was very open and comfortable. Any questions I had were answered. We were on our way to our room.

I loved our room. It was very comfortable for a family of 5. Although we were only staying for one night, I wish we would have stayed longer.

The main area was open and inviting.

There was a sofa, a desk (again I want a laptop so bad) and a TV in this area. Also a mini fridge and microwave which was great for the baby’s milk and juices. You can see they put a crib in our room as well on the left side of the picture.

The boys’ room had 2 beds and a TV as well. It had a nice sized walk in closet.

Our bedroom was very cozy. King size bed, tv, and a closet. I could not believe how comfy the beds were to sleep in.

There was also two bathrooms in our suite which was great for us. Out of the picture window in the main area you got a great view of the Mellon Arena.

You can’t see it in this pic but to the right of the Melon Arena is the Console Energy Center.

The DoubleTree Pittsburgh has an indoor pool and a fitness center for their guests. The boys and I went for a swim while the hubs took a nap. The pool went from 3 1/2 feet to 4 1/2 feet. There was an outside area with a few lounge chairs and tables and chairs to sit at. The fitness are was pretty nice. There even had exercise balls to work with. I have to admit, I didn’t take advantage of the fitness center. The kids wore me out at the museum and swimming.

The DoubleTree offers a complimentary shuttle service in the downtown area. With the pre-season Steelers game and a wedding going on at the hotel we had to wait about 15 min for a shuttle. The shuttle driver told us he could not take use to the museum that Saturday (Aug 14) because they were not going to the North Shore due to the Steelers game. We had to drive. I was a little nervous about that (since the shuttle drivers wouldn’t even go) BUT they valet gave us step by step pre-printed directions to the museum which were great. We ended up getting there with no trouble.

Later on we were looking for somewhere to eat. The DoubleTree Pittsburgh staff were very helpful in making suggestions, give us details, and even gave us a map of the downtown area. We waited for a shuttle for this too. There were people ahead of us that piled onto the next one that came about. We decided just to find some place in walking distance. One of the hotel staff made a few suggestions in the downtown area and showed us where it was on the map. I was already somewhat familiar with downtown since I had lived there a little while back. We decide to go to Market Square and eat at Primanit Bros.

I had a yummy steak salad with fries on top. The rest of the fam had huge sandwiches. My 6 year old couldn’t even make it through half of a half. Every thing was so good.

We went back to the hotel and rented a movie to watch. We all had a great night sleep. The Bigelow Grille is in the same buidling as the DoubleTree Pittsburgh. We ate there for breakfast. We all got the breakfast buffet. The buffet was fantastic: french toast, sausage, bacon, home fries, fresh fruit, yogurt, cereals, danishes, lots of choices. There was even a chef preparing omelettes with your choice of fillings.

My plan was to stay until about 11 (check out was 12 noon) and head home. Hubby wanted to leave earlier. I gave him a hard time about it. I hate to admit it, but I should have listened to the hubs. Check out itself was super fast. We got the wonderful DoubleTree cookies. Getting our car….that was another story. There was a long line to pick your car up from the valet. Even thought the line was long, the valets kept it moving quickly. We were able to get out and start heading home. My suggestion, if you stay, you may want to check out around 10 am. I think that was my issue. It seemed everyone was checking out at that time.

All in all we loved out stay at the DoubleTree Pittsburgh. It’s in a convenient location for just about anything you want to do downtown: Steelers or Penguins game, catching a concert at the Console Energy Center, business trip or a trip to the Children’s Museum.

To read more about The DoubleTree Pittsburgh you can use this link: DoubleTree Pittsburgh website

You can also follow DoubleTree Pittsburgh on twitter: @DoubletreePitt

Review summary: Every DoubleTree employee my family and I encountered was pleasant and professional. Our room was very clean, comfortable, and all in all beyond our expectations. The amenities offered at the DoubleTree were above your standard amenities in my opinion.

***I received a discounted rate and complimentary breakfast to help facilitate this review. I did NOT received any monetary compensation for this post. I was under no obligation to give a positive review. Any opinions expressed are my own***

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Review: The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh

This was my family’s first visit to The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Locate on the North shore not very far at all from downtown Pittsburgh. Located close to Heinz field, PNC Park, and the Aviary just to name a few landmarks.

We happened to be going to The Childrens’ Museum of Pittsburgh the same day as a Steelers pre-season game. I was a little nervous about that, but it ended up working out just fine. The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh was not hard to find. Our hotel had pre-printed step by step directions.

The Childrens’ Museum was pretty busy on Saturday. The parking lot attendant was pleasant and helped us find a spot to park. Even though it was busy we were able to drop off our tickets and get our wrist bands very quickly. With so much to do we weren’t even sure where we wanted to start. The first thing we noticed was the tall kind of maze that went up three floors as we learned. Of course my 8 year old and 6 year old were all over that. It’s called “The Limb Bender” Here are some pics of the boys having a ball in “The Limb Bender”

In that area was also items from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. A fish tank, a tv camera, The castle, displays of the characters in the land of Make Believe and more. The boys kind of breezed through this part. I think it was more interesting to my husband and I since we grew up with Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

We then moved onto a room called “The Attic” this was a fun room with a giant Kaliedescope, A doll house, pictures that make it look like their eyes are following you, and steps that went up to a room that was on an angle called “the gravity room” and you could take slide down. We all took the slide, well except my hubby he stayed at the bottom to take pics.

Then from there was a hallway. There was a few neat exhibits in this area. They had a button panel set up. There was a screen with picture of Pittsburgh skyline. You could choose 1 or 3 Pittsburgh pics and create a computer animated fireworks display to music. Once you finished your could watch your fireworks display you created. This was a lot of fun. From there we went to the “Garage and Workshop” They had a Smart Car the kids could explore. The most noticeable thing was the almost tree house-like tower that went up 2 floors. There were steps to go up and a slide to come down if you wished. And my OT side was happy because I also noticed an elevator for those not able to hoof it up there.

This is my eight year old and 6 year old at the top of the tower getting ready to come down the slide. There was also a neat system where someone could stand on the bottom and put a toy parachute on a paddle. The person on the top would….i believe…turn a crank and it would bring the parachute to the top and you could watch it drift to the bottom. After the kids came down the slide,

We just had to try the ball maze over our head. There was a cage on the floor where you could put a ball in the basket and use a pulley system to get it to the kind of wire maze above our heads.

The ball would follow this sort of wire maze around and end in a funnel over head that would drop the balls back down into the cage. This got a little hectic. For how busy it was there were kids that kept grabbing the balls from other kids and pulling the ropes 3 or 5 at a time. It was fun though to watch the balls go around. There was more to do int his area like the little workshop room with robot gadgets, the giant wooden robot kids could control with levers and inclines for car races.

We then went to the Curious George traveling exhibit. It was cute. There was a rocket ship that was a slide, Curious George’s apartment building with a pulley system, and a lot more.

One of the room’s I was most excited about seeing was “The Nursery” for my 1 year old. His favorite thing seemed to be what I called “The lite brite wall”. He was facinated by this. He played with this for a while. Even when we took him to other areas he always would come back to “The lite brite wall”

We let him try the texture trail. There were wooden train tables set up, a ball incline where he could roll wooden balls down the incline and it would hit certain things to make sounds. Another feature he seemed to like was what we called the “bubble seesaw” Two small children could sit and use the seesaw. As they moved it would create bubbles in the “bubble wall” I tried to capture this in a picture.

We then moved on to the older boys’ most anticipated room…”Waterplay“. I was impressed with this room. They had rain coats and shoes like crocs to put on so they didn’t hopefully get drenched. There was an area with slatted floors that had pipe coming up from the floor. The kids could connect pipes to this and make a pipe system for the water to flow through. I enjoyed this most with the older boys because they were working together.

They had water way areas that the kids could put together sail boats with foam pieces and sale them on the water way. They had a larger area then one that was more accessible for the toddlers. My one year old just enjoyed splashing the water.

They wanted to do the “Limb Bender” about 3 times. We ate at the cafe in the Children’s Museum for lunch. To my surprise it was really very reasonable. We just got a large cheese pizza for the fam, and drink for each of us, and we got the baby some mac n’ cheese and it only came to about $24 bucks so no more than a family trip to McD’s as far as the food goes.

Because we allowed the children to linger on exhibits though we ran out of time. We didn’t get to try “The Backyard” which is outdoors. There were swings and a fort for them to climb in. There is also “The Studio” where they could create pictures or “The Theatre”. Oh well, maybe next time.

If you’re heading to Pittsburgh I would put this on your list of family friendly places to visit. Reasonable ticket prices, friendly staff, reasonable prices at the cafe, and lots to keep your family entertained.

Check out the link to see more things to do at The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Find directions, here about special exhibits and more: http://www.pittsburghkids.org/

***I received a family pass from The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to help facilitate a review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. I was under no obligation to give a positive review. Any opinions expressed are my own***

NFL logo bandz giveaway!–CLOSED

I don’t know if your kids are into the “shaped bands” collecting like mine are. The last couple weeks of school my two older boys came home talking about so and so had these bands and “look at the band so and so gave me” They look at them every time we go to the store. There have also been recent news articles about them possibly being banned in some schools because they were so distracting. One article about shaped band bans

Personally I don’t understand the big craze but, kids are still collecting these bands. Whether your’re a collector of these bands, your kids are collectors, or your a Steeler fan, this giveaway is for you. Today I happened into a local shop. I found “NFL Logo Bandz 20-packs” They had 3 Steelers packs left. I bought all three. I gave one to my 8 year old and 1 to my 6 years old. The baby is only a year old so too little for NFL Steeler Logo Bandz. So what should I do with the other pack? Oh I know…give my readers a chance to win it! You can buy them at www.nflshop.com but they are $9.99/pk plus shipping and Pittsburgh Steelers bandz are not available in the NFLshop online at this time.

The pack includes 20 bandz. 4 team logos, 4 wordmarks (it spells Steelers), 4 footballs, 4 helmets, and 4-6x (for the 6 super bowl wins)

I took some out of one of the boys packs to show you what they look like:

To enter to win

Mandatory entry: Follow my blog publicly and post a comment about who your favorite NFL team is. This must be completed before bonus entries are considered.

Bonus entries:

1. “Like” Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests and More on facebook using my facebook gadget in the right hand column. (+1)

2. Follow me on twitter (+1) : @LuvSavingMoney

3. Tweet this giveaway and leave a direct link to your tweet: ” I’m entering to win Steelers NFL Logo Bandz @LuvSavingMoney http://bit.ly/NFLSteelband Please RT” (+1) Can tweet twice a day.

4. Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed using Gadget in the right column. (+2)

5. Subscribe to Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More via email in right hand column (+2)

This is not one of the upcoming giveaways I was talking about in a previous post. This is one I decided to do to thank my loyal readers. This giveaway was paid for by me. I was not contacted by this company, I was not given this product for free and I was not paid to do this post.

***Winner will be chosen from qualified entries using random.org on June 30 at 10pm EST ***