Everyday Goddess Does...

Fall is All About the Dips & New Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals Cheese Crisps. (And you can comment to win a $100 Visa Gift Card!)

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals Cheese Crisps.

OK, first of all I'm just going to tell you that when my samples of Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals Cheese Crisps arrived, I immediately opened a box of the Four Cheese flavor and basically crunched my way through the whole yummy box. These crackers have some serious cheesy goodness, and they are delicious all by themselves. Pepperidge Farm says they have "Real taste, Real Crunch, Real Goodness." When I finally decided to share some with my roommate, *we* decided that they have "Real Cheese Cred."

But! It's fall. And fall means dinner parties. And party parties. And for me, that means whipping up some yummy dips for my friends to enjoy.

So I wanted to whip up some dips to try out with the Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals Cheese Crisps, which I received in both the Four Cheese and the Four Cheese Italian Herb flavors. Here's what I was looking at:

Natural, preservative-free snacks, made with an artisan blend of real cheeses golden baked to bubbly perfection on top of a thin, crispy, crunchy cracker. Four Cheese is made with Aged Cheddar, Asiago, Romano and Parmesan, while Italian Herb is seasoned with flavorful herbs and spices.

Since both of these chips are really cheesy and flavorful by themselves, I wanted to try something mild, and something with a flavor that would complement the crackers. My mind went immediately to seafood.

First up, one of my classic favs I've made for ages, Hot Crab Dip.  This dip is super easy and has a rich, mild flavor. I also love it because whenever I pull out the recipe, I see a dear friend's handwriting on a simple index card.

I'm always smiling at good memories when I make this dip.  The remaining directions on the back say:

Cover with paprika. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350 degrees til bubbly.

I've also made a vegetarian version of this dip by substituting olive tapenade for the crab and paprika. Note: you can easily double this recipe, but I found long ago that it's so rich that a single batch is enough. I enjoyed this dip most with the Four Cheese Italian Herb.

For my second dip, which was cold, I made a Shrimp Dip by simply mixed baby shrimps with some cocktail sauce and sweet relish. This had a more bite than the crab dip, so I enjoyed it with the Four Cheese chips. Probably not a dip you're going to plow through a batch of on your own (should you be so inclined), but a nice easy addition to your party table. Next time I might try adding a touch of sour cream to cut the cocktail sauce a little and make it a touch creamy.

Now, about that $100 Visa Gift Card!

To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me about a Favorite Fall Get-Together. What brings out your social butterfly this time of year? The contest will begins today and will end 11/2/09.  Please make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:

• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking to this post on twitter and leaving a link in the comments to your twitter.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments to your blog post.
• This giveaway is open to US-residents age 18 and over
• Winners will be selected via random draw, using the random number generator, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules.

You can also visit other BlogHer Reviewers for seven other chances to win a $100 Visa gift card.

And hey, if you invite me to your party, I'll totally bring the Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals Cheese Crisps!

I have a SmartFood winner!

Well, that was fun!  And Mariana from Riding With No Hands is the winner of the $100 Visa gift card from SmartFood! Congratulations, Mariana.

I got 175 entries and I went through and numbered each one on a print-out. No one was penalized for entering more than once, but only the first eligible entries were included in the draw. Then I used random.org to pick a number. Then I double checked that that person had been entered correctly. And the winner was Mariana's tweet!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered and shared how they celebrate girls' night in.

Smartfood is Yum for the Afternoon Snack! (Plus 8 chances to win a $100 Visa gift card!)

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and SmartFood.

I am always on the prowl for healthy snacks for work. And I'm a bit of a health nut. So I jumped at the chance to try SmartFood from Frito-Lay. I was delighted by what arrived:

 

I snapped this pic at home, but lucky me, the snacks arrived at my office, so I left some of my stash there. I was way curious to see what these three flavors of popcorn snacks would taste like, but the absolute first thing I did was a high fructose corn syrup check. I was happy to see that there isn't any. The sweetness comes from brown rice syrup and a little further down the ingredient list, actual sugar.

Now, I don't really like sweet snacks. My usual snacks are reduced-fat cheese sticks and raw nuts. Sometimes I will have a piece of very dark chocolate; a *touch* of sugar in the afternoon *is* nice. It's the balance that's difficult to find. Newly added to my snack repertoire: SmartFood Honey Multigrain Popcorn Clusters. This variety features honey, whole wheat, whole brown rice and whole millet. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and wonderfully crunchy.

I also like that all the SmartFood varieties have 200mg of calcium (that's 20% of the recommended daily value) and 5 grams of fiber. Plus, individual packages makes it so easy to keep a bunch at work and feel confident that I'm not oversnacking. I also found myself throwing one in my bag when I was off to various panels and meetings.

The other two varieties - cranberry almond and chocolate cookie caramel pecan - were yummy, but too sweet for me. The cranberry has a touch of tangy and the chocolate is nicely coco-esque. There are bits of nuts in both flavors as well as bits of chocolate in the chocolate cookie kind.

Also, the SmartFood popcorn pieces are nice and big. Here's a pic I snapped to show you what's inside the packages:

What about that $100 Visa Gift Card? Well, SmartFood is celebrating A Woman's World, and all the different types of women who live in it: career women, moms, singles, etc.

So to enter, leave me a comment below and tell me "How do you celebrate girls' night in?" The contest begins at 9:00 a.m. (PST) June 15 and ends at 5:00 p.m. (PST) July 15, 2009. I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner from all the qualified comments. Please make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:

• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, 18 years of age or older.
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules.

Note to my male readers: The contest rules don't specify, so I suppose if you feel you can answer the question, you're welcome to enter, too.

Now, here's the super fun part! You can visit the BlogHer Special offers page for 7 more chances to win! All you have to do is check out the other participating bloggers' reviews and leave comments there, too. (Man, I hope they do a widget. I *love* those fancy review widgets.) Also, check out the Women's World Website for more information on SmartFood and other great snacks.

OXO Good Grips Office Supplies from Staples

I seriously can't resist an offer to check out shiny new office supplies. Especially when we're talking Staples, and I majorly fell in love with the M Collection last year. The only down side is, I get some cool free stuff... and then I inevitably head to Staples to buy more! The new OXO Good Grips Collection is clearly not going to be an exception to this rule because the items they sent me rock:

Basically, it's like they've taken every office supply that's ever hurt your hands, re-engineered it and made it softer. Starting with the packaging, which seems designed to be easy to get into. I needed scissors to cut the 1-hole punch ($7.99) free, but both the push pins ($3.99/24) and the push pin dispenser ($4.99) popped right out. (In my pic above you can see how the back of the dispenser package is scored for easy removal.)

OK, so I use a 1-hole punch mostly to punch index cards. For my knitting, I write out repeating lace patterns, one row on each card, and then put the cards onto a ring. Then I can easily flip them as I knit. The Good Grips 1-hole punch says "6-sheet capacity" (which I confirmed with regular paper), but could it do 6 *index cards* at once? Well, it could, but not consistently. It seems that 3 or 4 index cards is the max. I noted that a firm, quick punch worked best, and when I punched 4 cards with my traditional 1-hole punch it took two hands and hurt, while the OXO 1-hole punch only took one hand, with no pain at all. It did sometimes get stuck down while punching, but was easy enough to unstick it by pulling down on the handle. It has a locking mechanism to make it slightly more compact for storage, and the catch bin seems likely to stay in place and hold the punched bits. My old 1-hole punch has been sending bits of paper flying for years.

In fact, I'm throwing it into my bag of stuff for Goodwill right now. Good riddance, and Hello, OXO!

Now, let's talk about these push pins. I love these push pins. I just recently pushed 40 traditional plastic thumb tacks into a bulletin board for a screenwriting project, and they totally hurt your fingers. These rubbery pins are simply delightful in comparison. They are soft and designed to be easy to grasp.

And the dispenser! What a fun and effective toy. It's got a cool little magnetic arm that slides in and out so it will reach down into the cup or retract if you've got lots of tacks in the cup. Look, no more pricking your fingers while you reach in and try to grab a tack!

 

The question is, though, if you feel like you need two packs will you want to spend $8 on push pins? I could see how maybe not, but considering I still have the same push pins I bought years and years ago, maybe it is a good investment, actually.  They are a significant improvement on the hard plastic ones. I think I'm going to pick up another pack and replace the push pins on my screenplay board. I'm always moving cards around, so it seems worth it to swap in pins that don't hurt my fingers.

What else will I be eyeing while I'm at Staples checking out the OXO Good Grips Collection? Ubercovet on this pocket stapler ($5.99), which apparently locks closed for transport:

And I've been looking for some large magnetic clips ($6.99/3):

 

I probably won't splurge on a new ruler, but this 12-inch one ($6.99) seems pretty cool. It's got a clear side for drawing and an aluminum side for cutting and reading, plus a raised, non-slip grip:

 

And lastly, I don't need these because I don't have cubicle walls, but I was impressed by these cubicle clips that come in small ($4.99/4) and large ($4.99/3):

 

They have pins in the back (so you can attach them to a cubicle wall) that extend when you push a button and retract for safe storage. Very nice.

OK, maybe I get a little too excited about office supplies, but fun toys that increase organization with increased comfort? I love it! There are a lot of other items in the line, too, including a 3-hole punch, other staplers, magnets, markers, and more. The line is OXO Good Grips, and it's exclusively at Staples.

M&M's Premiums Chocolate Candies - Let Them Melt In Your Mouth.

At work last Thursday, I received the following email:

8/7/08    Liz Rizzo    Mars    FedEx

Liz,
 
A package arrived for you in shipping and is rather large and heavy.  I will leave it in shipping for you so you can swing by and grab it on your way to your car, so as not to have to carry it all the way from your desk.

I thought to myself, "Um, Wow. It's M&Ms. *How* big and heavy could it possibly be?"

See, I'd accepted an offer from BlogHer to review the new M&M's Premiums Chocolate Candies. The only caveat was that I must be fun and fabulous, so of course I heeded the call! And then Mars sent me A LOT of M&Ms.

I had plans to go with the Hunky Actor to see Batman that night, but I had to swing by home to drop off the M&Ms so they wouldn't sit in the car. I get home and my roommate says, "I thought you were going out."

To which I say, "I had to come home and drop off my M&Ms." I turn around and bring the - oh, yes - large and heavy box in from the hallway where I dropped it to open my front door.

She takes one look at it and exclaims, "Is it the new M&M Premiums! How much did they send you!"

Oh, yes, she knows all about them already: Snack Goddess.

Well. At this point I still didn't think that the box was completely full of M&Ms. I'm thinking maybe they sent me M&Ms and some sort of heavy candy dispenser. I cut open the box and before I raised the flaps, I say, "There is no way this box is completely full of candy."

You know what's coming, right?

 

This is Erin calling her mother to tell her that her crazy (and fun! and fabulous!) roommate just brought home 60 packages of M&M's Premiums Chocolate Candies. I'm on a schedule, so I call the Hunky Actor to pick a flavor for the movie. He picks Mocha, and I pick Raspberry Almond. I throw them in my purse and fly out the door.

We get to the Arclight in Hollywood, and there's a premiere going on. Of course, the absolute first thing we think is, Man, I hope they aren't using the restaurant. We're hungry! It takes me a beat to think, We're at the Arclight, and there's a movie premiere going on. That's fun and fabulous!

 

It would be really slick of me if guy in black was actually Hunky Actor, but it's not.

We finally tried the M&Ms when we got into Arclight's Cinerama Dome. The raspberry almond are my absolute fav, yummy and crunchy and raspberry-y. But I have to tell you, when I tried the mocha, the lack of a candy shell was pretty shocking. I mean, they're M&Ms, right? My initial reaction to the ones without almonds was rather tepid. Hunky Actor agreed.

On Saturday, I went to see Sixteen Candles at The Hollywood Forever Cemetery - Simply the most fun thing to do in Los Angeles in the summer. Everyone picnics on a lawn before the movie, which is projected onto the side of a mausoleum. Of course, I brought M & Ms.

That sentence is going to happen a lot this month.

Marlisa and I tried the Chocolate Almond, since I knew I would like those.

 

And Randy tried the Mint Chocolate.

We really enjoyed them, and Randy noted that the chocolate is really good. Very creamy and rich.

However, they agreed that the lack of a candy shell was odd at first.

On Sunday, I was script suping on a shoot all day. I'm creating a series of webisodes with my directing group, GRIT. We're each directing one. To me, any time I'm on set is the most fabulous thing about my life in the LaLa.

Guess what ended up on the craft services table...

 

Next to their cousins, the original M&Ms! I have to tell you, people were going for the new. The M & M's Premium Chocolate Candies have a pearly marbled outside that's pretty shiny.

But it was my second favorite, the Triple Chocolate, that schooled me on the M & M's Premiums. The flavor is new, so I was intrigued and before long I was letting them melt in my mouth instead of biting into them for that candy shell crunch. And yeah, the chocolate is tasty, tasty.

So I tried the Mocha one more time. Hunky Actor had noted that they didn't taste super coffee-y. Turns out that's because we were chowing down on them instead of letting them melt in our mouths. Which you'd think one would know about M&Ms! They are indeed very tasty and pretty coffee-y.

All in all, I think the only M & M's Premium flavor I wouldn't buy is the Mint Chocolate. I'm just never going to prefer them over the regular mint M & M's with the candy shell. They have a slightly different type of mint chocolate flavor, as they're white mint chocolate inside, and I like my mint with the candy crunch.

But the other flavors are top-notch. In particular, the Raspberry Almond is exceptional, as is the Triple Chocolate.

I recommend buying at least a couple flavors and mixing them in a bowl or a clear baggie, like for a party or a picnic. I gave my roommate one package of each flavor, and she immediately opened them all and mixed them into baggies to bring with her on her weekend excursions.

Besides being tasty, they're just really pretty.

 

Coming up for me? More script suping webisodes and some board gaming with friends. Hey everybody... I'm bringing M & M's!

Want to read more? You can read all the bloggy review goodness on BlogHer!

Please note: Beyond receiving an absurd amount of M&Ms, I was paid $50 to write honestly about my experience with M&M's Premium Chocolate Candies.

More Love for The M by Staples Collection

Remember this?

Behold the beauty of The M by Staples Collection!

Also in the pic above, my fabulous new green patent leather reporter pad with an M by Staples pen sticking out. (And a few wonderful birthday gifts as well - beautiful frame with rabbit pic, stunning bronze dragonfly box, and a new dragonfly pin. Can you sense a theme? Many thanks to the givers of such awesomeness! Including from another time of giving, a great little dragonfly heart box that was bumped by the Reporter pad for the pic. Oh! And fun Wall-E paddle!)

Here's what all the gorgeous folders in this set look like:

Now, these were indeed freebies. But! Lest you think it's all about the love of the free!

Here's what I'm using on my newest project, and I dragged my own ass and wallet to Staples for these:

The spiral notebook is fat with pocket dividers. Totally sweet.

And I bought a friend a green patent leather journal and matching reporter pad for a birthday gift. Yes, I'm a little obsessed, but the patent leather is shiny on more than one level! And you really just can't beat a good notebook. So inspirational, those blank pages.

Schick Quattro for Women and My Dream Date (widget)

UPDATE:  I've switched to the Bic Soleil. Schick's ads creeped me out:

~

Original Post:

Ironically, when I was contacted back in May about trying the Schick Quattro for Women and their cute, new "dream date widget," I wasn't single, so the widget seemed like something fun for "single girls." Oh wait, now that's me!

I'm also someone who shaves their legs just about everyday. Since moving to the cooler climes of Southern California from the Land of Perpetual Heat, aka South Florida, I have been known to skip a day in the colder months. But mostly, I like to shave my legs everyday.

And mostly, I let them send me the Schick Quattro because I was getting sick of my Gillette Venus. I'd cut myself a couple times, and I felt like I was having to replace the blades annoyingly often.

I'd used a Schick Personal Touch before I switched to the Venus (damn that Bananarama song!), and I'd always liked it. Plus, the new Schick Quattro has metal construction (for added weight and control) and four blades, which sounded good to me.

So. I was all like, who needs your fun dream date widget and Girls Guide to Dating! Just send me the goods!

Ahem.

I'm such a dork that when it came I did the thing where you shave one leg with each razor. Yeah, I'm totally switching to the Schick Quattro.

The closeness of the shave, for me, was similar between the two razors. And while the copy says, "you could even skip a day," my Italian blood and my neuroses say otherwise.

However, the added weight of the razor plus the rubber grip give you *a lot* more control. It's much easier to hold and maneuver. Further, the microfibers that cross the four blades make for a softer feeling shave and less irritation. They don't make logical sense to me - that they don't effect the closeness of the shave - but somehow they just keep you from cutting yourself. There's also dual conditioning strips with aloe and vitamins E & B5.

I also was curious about how much the blades cost compared to the Venus Divine blades I was buying. At my CVS, it was $10.49 for a 4-pack and $19.69 for an 8-pack. The Venus Divine blades were $10.79 for a 4-pack and $20.49 for an 8-pack. So the Gillette blades only cost slightly more - except that I was going through them almost twice as fast, no joke. The Gillette blades were cutting me and getting rough and rusty really fast, so I was replacing them super promptly in an attempt to get a smoother shave. Sans rust.

So, I'm switching to the Schick Quattro. It also comes in teal, just FYI:

Now, about that dream date widget... Hey! I could use a dream date! So if you'd like to send *me* a dream date, send it to lizriz217 at earthlink dot net. If I get some, I'll post one here. Fun!

Caulk is different than spackle.

Who knew?

Well, GE for one. They sent me one of their new GE Caulk Singles to try as part of BlogHer's totally awesome "Spruce Up Your Space" contest.

I gathered from some of the other entries that this is the stuff that partially lines my totally beat, apartment bathroom sink. Here are the terrifying before pictures:

 

Oh, how I hate it! Nothing gets it clean. There's not enough bleach in the world. And what is going on with that faucet???

Now, I am going to be honest with you. I basically just tore the top off of my caulk single and had at it.  (Yes, I did clean and dry the sink first!) Here's the additional high-tech tools I used:

Yes, that's a cuticle pusher. AKA caulk tool thingy.

I kinda made a little bit of a mess. I think I'll have more of a knack for it if I decide to do the bathtub. I didn't fold the packet up the way you're supposed to, but now that I've done it once kinda messy, I'm totally dying to work on my "neat, even bead of caulk" around the bathtub. (Truth be told, I may be addicted now.)

But even messy, the sink is a great deal whiter and cleaner than before, which kinda rocks. I'm having some people over for a party next week, and I'm really rather pleased that the sink will have upped its shiny quotient.

Here's my after pics, caulk still wet.  It's actually pretty cool that it doesn't dry quickly so you can wipe it up and stuff.

 

OK, so you're never going to hire me to come over and do any caulk at your house.

Nonetheless, it was fun and pretty painless to use the GE Caulk Single. Certainly you end up with major improvement for very little time and money spent.

I'm pleased.

Excited by Office Supplies: The M by Staples Collection.

I'm going to be honest with you, when I got an email asking me if I wanted to check out The M Collection of office supplies from Staples, I didn't break into the happy dance around the room. I mean, it's office supplies. Sure, they looked cool, and we need them, but did I really want to accept some and then have to blog about office supplies?

Then there was the rest of the invite, which was to attend a session with organizational expert Donna Smallin "sharing tips and demonstrating how the new M by Staples collection can help folks get organized with style." Now, that did sound interesting, but I can't be jumping out of work for office supplies. For me to ask to leave early, it's got to be entertainment industry related.

Office supplies don't cut it.

So I emailed to inquire when the sessions were, and then emailed back to say I couldn't attend... And then the PR rep said I could do a call-in. And since it's not like I couldn't use some tips... I mean, I'm pretty organized, but this Donna Smallin, she's an organization expert.

I said yes.

The second my goody pack arrived, I was like, Oh, Thank Goodness I Said Yes! (And then I was like, Damn, I was really hoping for some of those cool file folders.)

I was excited (yes, seriously excited, no exaggeration) because, HELLO, super cool, black notebooks (How L.A.). Seriously, pictures don't do them justice. They sent me the large striped notebook with perforated pages that are easy to rip out cleanly. It's a great size for screenplay work.

And they sent me the gorgeous patent leather notebook - perfect for notetaking.

And a pen, which I immediately threw into my pen cup at work.

And they sent me The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple by Donna Smallin, which was a nice, unexpected surprise. It's full of quick little tips, so I put it by my bed for the easy few pages before bed.

Then there was the call with Donna Smallin, which was surprisingly interesting.  Here are my favorite tips from the call:

• Take everything off the top of your desk and then only put back things you use daily.
• Throw things out that you aren't using and can easily reacquire. (The example was road maps from a vacation.)
• Box up files currently in drawers that are really archive information. That makes room for things you may have been keeping on your desk that you don't use everyday.

OK, I have to admit to you that I am such a geek that I cleaned my desk top that night. I was finally inspired to move out an external CD/DVD drive that I don't use regularly since I got my new iMac, and pull out and utilize a bin for some small things I do use regularly that need a desktop home - like my camera battery charger and some other things.

If you'd like a taste, John Trosko from Organizing LA Blog made a video of Donna Smallin showing the M by Staples Collection and sharing some organizing tips:

It's the first of three, so check back for more.

Also, here's a pic showing the file box for archive-type stuff, the patent notebook in pink with the pens from the line, and a tip on another cool way to use file folders:

And here's a pic of the line that I really like, because the little metal in the lower left corner matches my pen holder and the bin I was talking about earlier that I have on my desk:

How cool are those typewriter key clips and magnets?  So cool!

I'm jonesing for the file folders, because I do keep "hot" folders near my desk (on top of a little book shelf), and I'm inspired by the call with Donna to go through them and throw anything I don't need in them anymore out. It's pretty organized right now, but it's definitely not pretty:

So, yes, I love The M by Staples Collection  (very cool website btw). And I think they are going to send me some file folders (hip, hip, hooray!), and maybe one of the cool patent leather reporter pads. My fingers are crossed, and I do believe there's a supply run to Staples in my future.

Like electronics weren't tempting enough, now I'm being tempted by shiny office supplies.

The covet!  It never ends!

Disney Princess Enchanted Tales - Follow Your Dreams

I was a little girl in the 70s, and a tween and a teen in the 80s. I remember playing with Barbies, but I also remember having matchbox cars and Star Wars action figures. Legos and Lincoln Logs.

Lately, I've found myself thinking, what the heck happened in the 90s while I was busy working? Suddenly, toys marketed to girls got really, really pink.

I played Careers, my friends, not the absolutely horror that is Careers for Girls. I have fleetingly glimpsed the phenomena that is the "Disney Princesses" with suspicion and concern for what the heck they're teaching girls these days.

So I let Disney send me a DVD:Disney Princess Enchanted Tales - Follow Your Dreams. Yes, my friends, this was just in my DVD player:

Now, while I was genuinely curious, and perhaps a bit trepidatious about the Disney Princess thing, I was also inspired to check out the DVD - "Featuring Sleeping Beauty's First New Story Since The Beloved Classic" btw - because of the blurb I read on Amazon:

Believing in oneself and persevering in the face of difficulties is challenging whether you're a princess or an everyday person. In the two stories included in Follow Your Dreams, Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Princess Jasmine from Aladdin discover that they must work hard and believe in their abilities if they are to reach the goals they've set for themselves. When Princess Aurora is put in charge of the kingdom for the day, the workload proves impossibly huge and the villagers' many problems seem too difficult for her to solve. Resorting to some magical help from the fairy Merryweather seems like the perfect answer, but in the end Princess Aurora's own hard work and ingenuity prove far more effective than magic. When Princess Jasmine yearns for something important to do with her life, her father gives her a position in the local school, but it proves much more challenging than she ever could have imagined. Add in an escaped wild horse and the prospect of letting her father down and Princess Jasmine feels overwhelmed and ready to give up. Can perseverance and hard work help Princess Jasmine realize her dreams? This nicely animated presentation features two favorite Disney Princesses, lots of new songs, and great messages about the value of self-confidence, hard work, and perseverance.

Well, that sounded kinda great, actually.  You really can't beat the value of self-confidence, hard work, and perseverance in life.

The DVD does indeed feature two shorts - one with Aurora and one with Jasmine. I enjoyed both of them! I think my favorite bit is when Jasmine finds herself suddenly left with a classroom of children and is completely overrun. That rang true to me - she doesn't just naturally get it; the classroom is a challenge. And she goes on an adventure and tames a horse before she tackles kids again.

There's really a lot to like in these shorts, from the princess's relationships and responsibilities to their determination and thought processes. And I have to admit I laughed out loud in more than one spot. The shorts are very good natured and brimming with positive message.

Young me would have liked them back in the wild, wild 70s and 80s.

I was going to forward the DVD on to some young girl or another (friend's kid or some such), but I liked it so much I've decided to keep it. Just in case I've got a little girl to give it to someday who's a little closer to home.  ;)