I Covet thee......

I know, we should not covet anything but I just can't help myself. I was introduced to this beauty in September at the Type A Mom conference and it was love at first sight. What? Are you confused about how I could fall in love with an inanimate object? A printer at that? Oh, no, contrary to what you may believe at first sight, this is not your ordinary printer. Yes, it is an all-in-one, it prints, faxes, scans, and the photo quality is amazing but these things are not what make the HP Photosmart Premium with Touchsmart Web printer stand apart from the crowd. You read that correctly - WEB is part of this printers name. Do you know what that means? This printer connects directly to the Web!

I can't even begin to sing praises for this printer loudly enough. Let me give you a quick insight into what this baby can do. The HP Touchsmart can work stand alone, in other words if your computer is shutdown you can still print from the web apps. Apps- yes, your read that right. Apps for the printer. Right now the Touchsmart has 18 different apps that can be used, especially by busy moms like me. My favorites include - google maps (love being able to print out/confirm directions without firing up the computer), Dreamworks printables (my son has a field day coloring), Nickelodeon printables - Dora and Diego at my fingertips, and Disney printables - Mekhi is in heaven. I love having coupons.com and recipes from coupons.com. Having these conveniences at my fingertips, oh wait, I started this off by mentioning coveting one of these printers but apparently HP heard my wish and they sent me one of my very own!

To me, this printer is the gift that keeps on giving. For the New Year I am going to make a calender using HP's Creative Studio Site and remember I mentioned the photo quality is outstanding? Well, my calender will be composed of my favorite photos of my son (if you keep your photos on Snapfish - there is an app for that!) Oh yes, I have big plans for my printer. The most recently added app is the HP cards app, no need for me to purchase invites for Mekhi's birthday - I can create my own for a fraction of the price! Another app that will be getting lots of mileage is Fandango, I almost always use Fandango to purchase movie tickets and having access to this right on my computer is really a bonus.

Oh I keep forgetting to mention, this printer is called Touchsmart for a reason- it has a touchscreen, that is a little over 4 inches to boot! One more note about pictures, I can edit pictures directly on my printer without turning on my computer! This is something that I plan on doing often. I have been enjoying capturing photos of my son (of course) and family and friends. Many times these photos just sit around because I am lazy - but no more! I can simply use my printer to edit and of course print my final photos.

I hope now you can understand my love for this printer. I have never seen anything like it before but I really can't say I am surprised by HP. Both my husband and I have HP netbooks - he purchased his after my mom gave me one as a gift last year and we love them. This printer is the real deal and I know it will be heavily used by all members of my family! All of this yummy goodness can be yours for $399.00.

Does this sound like something that you'd like for yourself? Or maybe you are interested in another HP product? Well, I have a gift for you too - the HP"s Friends and Family Discount! A discount for special friends of HP - you! If you are not already a fan of HP, use the discounts on your future purchase and let me know if you enjoy their products as much as I do!

Disclosure: I received an HP Photosmart Premium with Touchsmart Web printer for this review but my opinions are 100% my own, I fell in love with this baby long before I ever had her in my possession!

Merry Christmas!

This year is the first time that Mekhi "gets" Christmas. In the past he has had fun opening gifts but didn't really understand what was going on. This year he was introduced to Santa by Dora and I explained that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus. All he talked about on Christmas eve was the "party" for Jesus on Christmas.

My mother and I also explained that Santa comes with presents when we go to sleep. I made the mistake of wrapping one of his larger gifts and putting it under the tree - he was ready to open it as soon as he woke from his nap. Oops!

We averted disaster by telling him that gift was for someone else and distracted him with the notion that Santa comes at night and when you wake up in the day, presents are there waiting. Before we went to bed Mekhi helped me carefully lay out milk (soy) and cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

We were in bed by 8:30 and watched my favorite - A Christmas Story. I was amazed that the movie fascinated Mekhi and held his attention. I think it was a combination of the children in the movie and his anticipation of Santa's arrival. At one point we heard footsteps outside our door and he said "I hear Santa!"

Needless to say, I went to sleep waiting for him to retire and when I woke up at 10:30pm his little eyes were still wide open! I turned off the tv and snuggled him closely. When I finally woke up again at 1:00 am he was sleeping.

All of his gifts are now laying under the tree and I cannot wait to see his reaction in the morning. This is the magic of Christmas for me. Remembering the reason for the season and celebrating with the youngest member of my family.

I wish you peace, love and joy this holiday season!

Twas the night before Christmas.......

And I got to play Secret Santa to another blogger courtesy of TJ Maxx! Actually, I went shopping last week to ensure she received her gift in time for the holiday but I had a wonderful time choosing her present. She is a fashionista and I wanted to pick up something that I thought she'd appreciate, armed with a $25.00 TJ Maxx giftcard I made my way to the store.

Immediately I was drawn to the accessory section, TJ Maxx carries great handbags by many top designers and what girl doesn't love a handbag?



After checking out the selection I finally eyed the bag that I thought every girl would love. Fully functional, spacious, and not too trendy. A red hot color. Love it! As a mattter of fact, I love it so much that I searched for a similar bag for myself (the kind folks gave me a giftcard too) but to no avail.



I did purchase a nice angora blend sweater and did not go over budget! Have I mentioned how much I enjoy shopping at TJ Maxx?

I hope that all of your holiday shopping went as quickly and productively as mine did. Happy Christmas Eve. And if you are in the holiday spirit, enter the "Carol-oke" program youtube.com/jointhecarolers you can upload a video of you signing your favorite holiday carol (maybe even one with an off-price twist!), to help raise money for Toys for Tots, and have the chance to win a shopping spree in the process.