Naturally, during the spring and summer, we all spend much more time outdoors and out & about. For us, that often means packing our picnic baskets and exploring: We may go for a hike at the nature center, to play in the park or to listen to an outdoor concert.

Often packing for a picnic also includes some non-edible items in addition to food so since we are on the subject, let me share some picnic-packing tips with you: Non-edible items that we pack include a blanket, sunscreen, bug spray, Frisbee or bottles of bubble ‘juice’ and of course, napkins and utensils.

Depending on how many people you are packing for and how far you need to carry your picnic items, you need to determine whether to pack foods in disposable light-weight plastic or reusable (and dang cute) glass jars, as well as whether you use a picnic basket or a backpack.

For edible items, we often pack plenty of beverages, snacks, and wraps or sandwiches. To help prevent any seepage, always pack your sandwiches in either wax paper, parchment or sandwich baggies.

Some of our favorite picnic snacks and side dishes include: hummus with carrots and cucumbers, grapes and cheese, bowtie pasta salad, tortellini salad, and potato chips.

Speaking of chips; if I am going to have flavored chips, I want real flavor sources on my chips. What do I mean? Well, if I want salt & vinegar chips, then I want chips with salt and vinegar on them. If my husband wants a spicy chip, I give him Kettle Brand Chips spicy Thai™ chips. I like that Kettle Brand Chips are made of all natural ingredients, non-GMO oil and potatoes, no trans fats, MSG or preservatives (In fact, Kettle Brand is the first potato chip brand to be verified as using non-GMO ingredients by the Non-GMO Project).

I took him on a romantic picnic for lunch one afternoon and decided to make him this wrap because he loves Thai food and spicy foods. I think it is the sweetness and snap of fresh ginger mixed with the red peppery heat of Thai spice that he enjoys so much. I also grabbed myself a bag of the salt & vinegar because they are my favorite!

We’re giving away a $100 Visa Gift Card to one lucky reader! To enter for your chance to win, leave a comment answering the question, “What do you include in your picnic basket?”

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post.

b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “”#SweepstakesEntry”"; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post”.

c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 5/20 – 7/3.

Be sure to visit the Kettle Brand Chips brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

Most decks need a little bit of cleaning and maintenance at least once a year. For us, it was time to stain the deck – again. For this project, a pressure washer is an ideal tool to speed up the deck cleaning and staining process.

The best part of staining your deck, is seeing how fresh and revived it looks afterwards. Ready for entertaining!

Naturally. everyone as their own preferred method of doing just about anything so each step may vary a bit from ours. Home Depot has a step by step guide to show you how to stain/re-stain your deck.

First, we scraped off any loose paint or gooey items….

sweeping off dirt and debris….

Naturally, we had help….

The power washing begins….

Although not detectable to the naked eye, when you take photos or video, you can see how to water come out in a circular pattern….

Our helpers bailed….

Finally, time to stain….

One of the challenges of deck staining, is the weather. Before you apply the stain (we may do two coats), you need to have a dry deck so we had a 3-day delay thanks to Mother Nature but my husband did not mind as he moved on to another project.

Overall, I am guessing the project took five hours but we stained it twice and had to let it dry between coats. The best part of this home/backyard improvement task is that we now have a nicer looking deck to entertain. It looks cared for an not neglected and since we have the lovely new patio that we built last year, we want to have the adjoining deck to look nice as well.

Stay tuned for the final reveal where I will share it in a video and what the heck, I will show you the patio as well.

By the way, If you have any gardening questions, ask the expert at the Garden Club Community Forum.

It’s home improvement time, and The Home Depot has everything you need to #DigIn for Spring. No matter what projects you want to tackle, they have great values on all you need. They’re ready to help you with renovation ideas and expert advice, too.

Get over $300 in email exclusive savings each year, sneak peeks on new products, monthly lawn & garden ideas for your region and access to The Home Depot’s gardening experts. Click here to join the world’s largest garden community today! Or go to http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/ to see some of the many benefits of membership.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.

I have said it at least 5 times: you want your kids, or anyone really, to try something, add bacon.

We had a few leftover roasted potatoes so I sliced them and tossed them on the salad.

Use whatever greens you wish as the spicy bite of arugula may throw some children off a bit.

But do not forget the bacon or you have a 1% chance of getting them to eat this.

Last week, I attended the Disney Social Media Moms Conference. There is so much to share so I will begin with the first day and some photos of the Contemporary Hotel room that I took with my iPhone.

More of my room…

I rested my neck and then headed down to the 4th floor to find some food and caffeine….

I scored big time with a Roasted Vegetable Salad and Iced Latte.

I then took a short walk down to the ‘quiet’ pool, dipped my feet and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.

A bus ride later, we arrived at Epcot for the evenings festivities….

During the cocktail hour, we were addressed by the fabulous Leanne Jakubowski from Disney and followed by Extreme Makeover fitness guru, Chris Powell. He spoke to us about trying to achieve a healthy lifestyle, reminding everyone that it is not just about the food or exercise but how you want to live your life.

Some of the appetizers included: Grilled Shrimp & Lobster Wontons, Grilled Vegetable and Feta Phyllo, Truffle Wild Mushroom, and Roasted Pork with charred corn and sea salt.

Following the cocktail hour, families joined us for dinner and a party.

I do not recall all of the food offerings but there was so many lovely choices including spinach apple shooters, a watermelon and arugula salad, carved meats, chicken breasts, many other whole grain and vegetables side dishes.

Many of the offerings were healthy and part of Disney’s new initiative called ‘TryIt’ which I will share more information about soon.

During dinner, you and the kids could go meet some characters including Mrs. Incredible or play interactive games. Then Mickey Mouse surprised us by showing off some of his dance moves.

After dinner, we walked to an amazing dessert party while we watched the Illuminations show at Epcot.

Disclosure: I funded my trip to the Disney Social Media Moms Conference however, some the events, meals and gifts were subsidized.

A few weeks ago, I was meandering through Walmart, when my eyes bulged at the site of a display of Flatout Artisan Thin Crusts Pizza Flatbreads!

I picked up a package Rosemary & Olive Oil and made a pizza that I wanted to share with you but my photos were not up to par. Ironically, Flatout contacted me and asked if I wanted to be a Flatout Ambassador and I was all like ‘Do pigs like mud?’

They sent me a package of the Rustic White and the Spicy Italian to experiment with so I made the pizza recipe below using both crusts: the spicy for the grown-ups and the white for the kids. Delightful!

I teased you about the white chocolate powder by Designer Whey and now am sharing the recipe.

Sounds to die for right? well it is so make it now friends!

Please go see all of the amazing recipes using their protein powders including the new to me White Chocolate. Yum!

Disclosure: FitFluential LLC compensated me for this Campaign. All opinions are my own.

*I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with The Home Depot and receive product to enhance our deck.*

When my husband and I were building this house, we made the light-hearted agreement that I am in charge of the inside of the house and he is in charge of the outside. But when it comes to staining the deck, I like to get invovled.

Why? Because it is fun because there is a power washer invovled. I may have the kids accidentally re-direct at Daddy it a few times. Oopsy-daisy.

Luckily, Home Depot supplies a handy list of supplies and steps for deck staining for your reference, but do not worry if the exact brands are not there as there are others to choose from or you can ask for an associated help.

While you are getting such help, children may get distracted….

The supplies you will need include a deck Sprayer, deck brush, a deck brightener product, heavy duty water hose, the deck stain/finish, power washer, a scraper and a bucket.

Next time, I will take you through the entire process of staining the deck. Go on and go get your supplies!

For more backyard inspiration, take a peek at this Home Depot page or the ever fantastic Apron Blog

It’s home improvement time, and The Home Depot has everything you need to #DigIn for Spring. No matter what projects you want to tackle, they have great values on all you need. They’re ready to help you with renovation ideas and expert advice, too.

Get over $300 in email exclusive savings each year, sneak peeks on new products, monthly lawn & garden ideas for your region and access to The Home Depot’s gardening experts. Click here to join the world’s largest garden community today! Or go to http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/ to see some of the many benefits of membership.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.

If you are a Facebook fan, you have noticed that I have been at Disney quite a bit for the past two weeks. The first trip was at the Disney Social Media Moms Conference and the second to Food Blog Forum. There will be many upcoming posts on the food at each conference, but I will also be sharing other tidbits that I found fun or interesting.

One of the first speakers at the Disney Social Media Moms conference was the head of Walt Disney World Resort, George A. Kalogridis. He shared many upcoming events and changes at Disney including:

*One of the monorails has been transformed into a Monster University themed monorail. Apparently, some call it ‘Monster-rail’.

*Celebrating the new Monsters University movie out in June, some parks are staying open for 24-hours on May 24th including Walt Disney World, California Adventure and Disneyland.

*Magic Kingdom has new comedy bit at the Laugh Floor in Tomorrow land.

*There will be more limited time magic events including the recent Star Wars theme ‘May the Fourth be with you’ and ‘Red, White and Blue’ at Magic Kingdom during Independence Week. Some events will announced ahead of time while others they might sprung on you when you come to the park.

*Downtown Disney will be changed to Disney Springs. There will be double the shops, restaurant and entertaining experiences among open air promenades.

*When it comes to guests, they are always looking for ways to do better by us, so they will soon have interactive cues at attractions to keep the fmaily occupied while waiting in lines. Also, the infamous Dumbo ride now has new big top tent to entertain the kids while in line and you get to keep all cool in the air-conditioning instead of burning in the blazing sun.

*There is a pirate of seven seas at Adventure Land under development using new technology.

*There is now a ‘My Disney Experience‘ feature that provides a one-stop shop for all things Walt Disney World including ride wait times, how to navigate the parks, show-times, where to find characters, restaurant menus, make dining reservations and share plans with family and friends.

*There will be a Fast Pass Plus where you will get double of experiences you can enjoy and not only for attractions but also parade and character meet and greets!

*New Technology coming soon: The MagicBand which will be a single device that connects to any plans you made including park tickets, room keys, fast passes, app schedules as well as connecting to other touch pads (many payment devices and resort hotel rooms already outfitted) all in a wrist band.

Disclosure: I funded my trip to the Disney Social Media Moms Conference however, some the events, meals and gifts were subsidized.

When I attended the EatDrinkRI Festival, I tried a mango bread pudding and knew immediately I had to create a recipe and that it would be a delightful breakfast dish for Mother’s Day.

I used Ataulfo mangos for this recipe. I had never even heard of these puppies but there they were at Whole Foods waiting to be pureed. Ataulfo mangos are sweet, creamy in texture, and do not have stringy fibers so they are great for blending into drinks, sauces or desserts.

They are still in stores until June so keep an eye out for them.

Watch out, my daughter is attacking!

Guess where I am heading to tomorrow? Yes, to Disney World!

I was invited to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2013 in Orlando.

I am beyond excited and honored to be able to attend this professional conference with other social media minded moms and dads.

The Disney Social Media Moms Celebration was created as one of the first family-friendly conferences where social media savvy moms and dads can network, learn, and share knowledge of social media.

You can follow along via the @DisneySMMoms Twitter handle or with the hashtag #DisneySMMoms.

I am bringing along my American Tourister ‘colora’ orange bag for this trip. I mean, after all, they are the official luggage for Disney.