Gnomeo & Juliet: My Kids Loved It!

Gnomeo and Juliet is a brand new release now on Blu-Ray and DVD and if your kids are anything like mine, they've been clamoring to see it.

Fortunately, a copy arrived on my doorstep and I was able to deliver QUICKLY. We put it in the Blu-Ray player the day it arrived and my kids were thrilled. Me- well, it's not my absolute favorite kids movie of all time. However, there are movies that thankfully allow parents to get a few things done around the house while the kids are very entertained and this was one of those movies. THANK YOU, GNOMEO & JULIET. You made everyone happy.

Here's a quick synopsis of the film from the studio:

From a director of Shrek 2 comes your chance to step into the secret world of garden gnomes — Gnomeo & Juliet. Perfect for the whole family, this fresh and funny makeover of one of the world’s most timeless stories features music from Sir Elton John, and the voice talents of Emily Blunt, James McAvoy and Sir Michael Caine. Caught up in a feud between neighbors, Gnomeo and Juliet must overcome as many obstacles as their namesakes. But with flamboyant pink flamingos and epic lawnmower races, can this young couple find lasting happiness?

Bonus Features:

DVD & Movie Download:

• Elton Builds a Garden
• Frog Talk with Ashley Jensen
• “Crocodile Rock” Music Video, featuring Elton John and Nelly Furtado

Blu-ray:

• DVD Bonus plus:

• 2 Alternate Endings with Filmmaker Introductions
• Deleted & Alternate Scenes with Filmmaker Introductions, including:
-1 Alternate Opening
-1 Alternate Scene
- 6 Deleted Scenes
• The Fawn of Darkness, featuring Ozzy Osbourne

Gnomeo & Juliet is available on DVD now on Amazon.com for just $15.99!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this movie in order to review it.

Me and My Yahoo! Mail

Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

When I logged into my first Yahoo! Mail inbox (which I still use for overflow e-mail), I went back to the very beginning and spent much more time than I had planned to spend, just walking down memory lane.

I was at my first job at the time, anchoring the morning news in Columbia, South Carolina. My e-mails were mainly to family and high school and college friends. We kept each other up-to-date via e-mail and for me in particular, it was a social lifeline. Getting up at 2am and going to bed at 7pm each night didn't leave much room for real-life conversations. I remember working diligently on my newscasts each morning so that I would have a few minutes before the show at 6am to read over the e-mails my friends had written to me the night before. My responses were sent at 4:30am. 5 am. 5:45 am. Yeah, being a news anchor was fun, but I'm so glad that bizarre schedule is a merely a distant memory now!

A few years passed and my personal e-mails became less frequent. I had moved to Nashville, broken up with a longtime boyfriend, and met someone new-- These kinds of life changes were hard to explain to long distance friends. I did send out an e-mail to everyone when I got engaged, though. The flurry of responses I received still crack me up.

"You're doing what?"

"What happened to your ex-boyfriend?"

"Who's that? I thought you were dating _______!"

Next came a series of e-mails to and from various locations in Scotland, where I married. I planned my entire wedding by e-mail-- I tried calling a few places, but the Scottish accent proved to be a little too much for me over the phone, particularly when I was dealing with important wedding details. Better to put it in writing. Thanks to my inbox, I now have a detailed record of all my wedding plans. It's fun to look back at all that went into that event- And thanks to Yahoo! Mail, it went off without a hitch. In fact, my wedding was far more extraordinary than I ever had imagined it could be.

Once I married, I opened a joint Yahoo! Mail account with my husband and the personal e-mails on my single girl account petered out. I'm so thankful, though, that Yahoo! Mail moved to unlimited storage several years ago, because now my inbox functions as a sort of archive- a fascinating personal history comprising all the details of my life, both mundane and life-changing.

I never realized when I opened that free Yahoo! Mail account all those years ago just how much it would mean to me now.

Our Zhu Zhu Princess Playdate

If you have kids, it's safe to say you probably also have at least one Zhu Zhu Pet... Am I right?

Here at Casa Ferrier, we have several Zhu Zhus, as well as a tricked-out habitat for them to run around in.

Personally, I'd much rather spend the money on the Zhu Zhu Pet than on the real thing. Anybody with me on that?

Anyway, Zhu Zhu Pets have been a big hit with my kids- It's one of the few toys we have that both my 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter can enjoy together, which makes me like it, too. And so when MomSelect gave me the opportunity to host a playdate and give A few of Punky's friends the opportunity to try out the new Zhu Zhu Pet Royal Wedding collection, I was all over it. Check out the new items:



Cute in the picture, but even cuter in person.


My little band of critics showed up on a Saturday afternoon in order to test out the castle, the dance floor, and the carriage, all of which took me less than 30 minutes to assemble.

Clearly, they loved it. Even better, I don't think there was one favorite part. Each part of the habitat got equal amounts of attention, from the dance floor, which allows you to hook on one or two Pets and watch them dance, to the main "castle" to the adorable carriage, constructed so that one Zhu Zhu Pet carries another across the floor.

So cute!

Even my son got in on the Zhu-Zhu Pet action!


While the Royal Wedding collection is obviously marketed for girls, it includes a prince Zhu Zhu Pet in the line as well as several royal costumes made for "boy" pets. My son's favorite was the dragon. He has claimed that costume as his own.


The girls played with the Zhu Zhu Pet Royal Wedding set far longer than I expected them to, so we are more than pleased with this latest addition to our Zhu Zhu collection. Both my children have been playing with it ever since! And the fun really went into overdrive when I hooked up this habitat to our original one. It's like a Zhu Zhu Pet mansion!

The Zhu Zhu Princess collection will be available at most major retailers. You can get more information about Zhu Zhu Pets and the new Zhu Zhu Princess line at the official website.

Thanks, MomSelect and Zhu Zhu Pets!

Disclosure: I received a Zhu Zhu Princess set, as well as enough Zhu Zhu Pets to give away to our guests.