The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 on Blu-ray!

With the Blu-ray release of the final installment of the franchise, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (now available on Digital HD too), I now own the complete series. Personally, I love purchasing the combo packs, because I then have a copy for iTunes to watch when I'm traveling, a DVD to lend to my mom who still doesn't have a Blu-ray player, as well as a Blu-ray copy for us to watch at home in all its high-def glory.

With $647 million worldwide box office and counting, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 set the world on fire and enthralled millions of devoted fans across the globe. Me too!

The other day my husband and I re-watched the film together for a date night in and today while blogging and working, I had the film playing in the background with the audio commentary on by director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson. I learned lots of fun facts like that a visual effects company was used to make Peeta more gaunt and skinny in the beginning when he's in the hospital bed. Also, interesting hearing about the nuance ways they tried to stay true to the author's version of the characters like Katniss not responding the way other women would when it comes to expressing her emotions. Cool and surreal to hear which scenes were filmed in Berlin or France too. One of the craziest parts to hear is that Jena Malone (Tribute Johanna Mason) had a scalp double instead of wearing a bald cap or shaving her head. Those are just a few of the insightful nuggets, so I'd highly recommend listening to the audio commentary while cooking, doing social media or something else, because while interesting to hear, its not necessary to watch uninterrupted.

While I'm sad the series has come to an end, but with over 5 Hours of Special Features from Lionsgate included on the Blu-ray edition, fans can keep the saga living a little longer.

“Pawns No More: Making The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2” is an 8-part documentary providing an in-depth look at the making of the film from production design, costumes, hair, make-up, stunts, special effects and post production. The documentary also includes a touching piece – from the last day of shooting – in which the cast reflects on their experience shooting the four films. Also included is a detailed look at Cinna’s sketchbook and a walk through the on-set photography.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.99 and $29.95, respectively. Amazon meanwhile has the combo pack for only $19.99 --great for Mother's Day and Father's Day!

Disclaimer: While I received a complimentary copy of the Blu-ray for review, I am not a capital mutt, so all opinions are my own, just like Katniss!  

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Periscope 101 for Bloggers & Brands

After 11 years of blogging, I’m comfortable with typing up a post. I LOVE twitter. Obsessed with Instagram, even though I wish I was a more skilled photographer. I kinda hate Facebook now that I have to boost my posts in order to have them be seen. I find Pinterest addictive and depressing at the same time (my twin’s birthday party will never look like that!). And now there’s Periscope…

What is Periscope? 
Periscope is a free live streaming mobile app available for Android and iOS that broadcasts user-generated video content in real time right from your phone or tablet. Rather than general pre-recorded video content, this app is live, which makes it a lot more captivating and honest.

Why Periscope? 
According to Cisco, by 2019 video will account for 80% of all internet traffic. Periscope is a great way to develop your video technique and connect with your readers in a more interactive and visual way. Unlike with YouTube videos you don’t have to worry about editing these either, it’s live and raw.

Ugh, ain’t nobody got time for that!  
Don’t worry, setting up and maintaining a Periscope account isn’t as time consuming as the many other social networks you’re already managing on top of your blog. In fact, I like to think of Periscope as an enhancement to what you’re already doing. You can use Periscope to tease or promote a post that you’re already working on or to bring your readers into events that you’re already attending. Thankfully, Periscope works seamlessly with Twitter, which purchased Periscope for a cool $100 Million. Also, while it’s nice to have a large following, it’s not as important since people from all over can and will tune in once you hit broadcast. Thus, you don’t have to stress as much about your follower count.

I am by no means an expert, but after 46 broadcasts and 5k hearts I have discovered and observed some helpful tricks & tips…

Periscope 101 Tips for Bloggers & Brands

• * Before you begin your broadcast, put your phone on Do Not Disturb or airplane mode (and turn on the WIFI). This way your scope won’t stop as soon as you receive a phone call or a notification.
•  Go emoji crazy! – Adding emoticons to your Periscope titles will help your scope to stand out
• * Use hashtags in your title! While you can’t search hashtags on Periscope, if posting to Twitter this helps gain more viewers. Same with tagging appropriate accounts or brands.
• * Speaking of hashtags, there are special ones you can use to replace the hearts that appear with other animations like baseballs for the #WorldSeries, etc. 2016 list here
• * Before you click “Start Broadcast” aim the camera at the most important graphic you want shown since that’s what will be seen in the thumbnail.
• * In your Periscope settings, be sure and toggle the option to Autosave Broadcasts to your camera roll. After all, you never know what you’ll end up capturing and this way you’ll have a physical copy of your video just in case. Also, this version doesn’t have all the hearts and comments, so you can also use it for YouTube or for other projects.
• * No worries if you mess up or trip over your words. This is all live, people understand that. While you should try and prepare for your scope, it shouldn’t sound rehearsed either.
• * Engage your viewers. If you can, say hello as people join your scope. Ask for their feedback during and try to answer their questions.
• * If you should get a troll who is commenting with mean or sexual messages. Don’t worry, it happens. You can either ignore them, talk back to them or simply block them. Just tap on the offending comment and block the user from being able to continue to comment.
• * If you are broadcasting from your home, DO turn off the location option! Otherwise your home address will be shown. If you’re in a public place, DO enable the location feature though so more random people can join and discover you.
• * Set Tune In Reminders: Post ahead of time on your social channels that you plan to broadcast at a certain time or during a particular event.
• * Remember, people can still give you hearts during a replay within the next 24 hours, so not just during live broadcasts. Thus, post to your social channels a ‘Last Chance to View’ and a ‘Replay’ reminder’ before the link expires. That way you can hopefully gain some more followers and add to your heart total.  
• * Grab a Periscope user badge code for your blog at https://www.periscope.tv/embed  The special thing about this widget is that it comes to life when you're LIVE! You can see mine on the top right hand corner of my blog.
• * Have your friends share your broadcast while you’re still live, so that your scope will appear to all their followers as well. All they have to do is swipe right and select the option to share with all followers.
• * Don’t just scope, but watch scopes too! Follow friends, bloggers and brands that you enjoy and learn from them.
• * If you want to be a big deal on Periscope try scoping at the same time or day regularly, so fans can plan to watch and come to expect it. The more successful scopers like YoPickles does this. Personally, I’m just not that organized or dependable like that. 

Do you have any additional tips? I’d love to hear them. 

Also, be sure and follow me on Periscope @TaraMetBlog to catch my latest scopes

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#DisneyKids Preschool Playdate & Mom Mingle

Being new to Florida, I haven't made too many mom friends yet. To be honest though, even before we moved, I didn't have many friends with children. To make more of an effort though, I joined a local moms group on MeetUp and have been meeting new acquaintances with kids around the same age.

So, when I was selected to host a Disney Kids Preschool Playdate and was sent plates, favors and decorations, I gladly took the opportunity to host several families over for some fun. It was the perfect excuse to get to know one another better and the boys LOVED having so many friends over.

Although rain clouds were looming, we lucked out and were able to hold the party outside with music, our Little Tikes bounce house, slide, sea saw, ride-on cars, trampoline and sand box for the kids to play with and tire themselves out on before nap time.

For snacks, we cut up watermelon, mini cupcakes, and the new gluten-free Frozen-themed Chicken Nuggets from Costco. Not gonna lie, I was planning on making the cupcakes myself, but when I saw that all the St. Patrick's Day cupcakes were still fresh, but marked down 50% off at Publix, I simply bought those instead. I bought a cute cardboard cupcake from Party City. 

  

Raphael helped decorate too and used sidewalk chalk to sketch a large Mickey Mouse on our driveway. I was pretty impressed! It's hard to see in the photo, but it showed up really well in-person.

Mickey Mouse Chalk Art 

The boys were thrilled to find Disney Junior's The Lion Guard tattoos and posters were among the party favors in the kit that we received as that and PJ Masks are their favorite new shows to watch.

Disclaimer: I received free products in order to host a Disney Kids Preschool Playdate, but the opinions expressed here are my own and no monetary value was provided.

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Crockpot BBQ Chicken Cherry Cola Recipe

I was recently welcomed back to FOX 4's The Morning Blend studio here in Southwest Florida to film two more Mom Squad segments. Among the spots, I did another easy slow cooker recipe with just 3 ingredients.

Slow Cooker Cherry Cola Barbecue Chicken Recipe

Ingredients: 

• 8 Chicken Drumsticks or 4 Chicken Breasts
• 18oz bottle of Barbecue Sauce
• 1 6oz can of cherry cola (I used Pepsi Wild Cherry with real sugar)

Directions:

Place chicken in Crockpot. In a separate bowl whisk half of the BBQ sauce and a quarter of the cherry cola together. It should foam at first, but then mix easily. Pour over the chicken.

Cook on HIGH for 3 hours.

After cooking drain juice as needed, but I'll sometimes save the sauce and spoon it over a side of plain brown rice to accompany the chicken and give it some flavor.

Also, give each piece of cooked meat a squirt of the remaining BBQ sauce for added flavor.

You can also use this recipe for pork ribs too.

More: Try This Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Tortillas

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Easy Easter Bouquet with Peeps and M&M'S

Happy Spring everyone!

I'm in love with this easy Easter spring time bouquet centerpiece! Just seeing it on my kitchen table makes me smile and the room more festive.

Here's how to do it:

First, I picked up a bouquet of purple tulips at the grocery store, a bag of pastel Easter M&M's and two boxes of Bunny Peeps in yellow and purple to match the flowers.

I then put the flowers in a small stem vase with water and placed it in a larger hurricane glass vase. Next, I filled the hurricane glass with the bag of M&M's, which quickly worked to hide the tulips' vase, but you might need two bags of M&Ms depending on the size of your vase. Then, I placed the bunny Peeps on top of the hard shell candies and around the bowl for a fun border. Don't separate the individual Peeps, instead keep them in the sets of four that they come in for easier placement. That's it!

TIP: You could also use Jelly Beans instead of M&M's if you wanted bolder colors in lieu of pastels. 

On my table!

Do you have any Easter decorating projects that you're working on? Feel free to share a link in the comments :)

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Tips for Taking Toddlers to Disney on Ice

Each year, Disney On Ice visits the nearby Germain Arena in Estero/Fort Myers. Once again, we took our boys, this time to see Disney On Ice presents Frozen Presented by Stonyfield YoKids Organic Yogurt and they had a lot of fun. Nana and Pop came too for a fun family night out.

Even though you might not think ice skating for boys or Frozen for that matter would go together, but the show held their 3.5-year-old interest. They were captivated and kept getting up to dance in front of their seats to the popular music. Besides characters from Frozen, the live show is hosted by Mickey and Minnie, with special appearances by beloved Disney Princesses and characters from favorites like Disney•Pixar’s Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Disney’s The Lion King.  The sets and special effects were also pretty impressive. Plus, hearing all the kids sing along to the songs they recognized was really cute.

Tickets aren't too expensive either, starting at $20, so just a little more than going to the movie theater.

Tips for Going to 'Disney on Ice' with Toddlers

• Come dressed for the part! Lots of girls wore full-out princess costumes complete with wands. We even spotted a few Olaf's in the crowd, but even a simple Disney t-shirt would make the occasion more special and for more magical photos. 
• Order aisle seats, so you can get up and out easily for potty breaks!
• Bring a glow stick or be prepared to purchase a light-up spinning toy from the different souvenir stalls. We bought two spinners last year ($20+ each), so we just brought them again this time. However, the pretty Frozen-themed ones this year still had my boys clamoring. Or buy an Olaf Wand or Elsa Ice Septer ahead of time for less on Amazon from the Disney Store.
• In most arenas, children under 2 are admitted free provided they sit on a parent or guardian’s lap, so go ahead and bring little ones too while you can for free. We took our duo when they were two and free and then the following year when we had to pay. Children two years of age and older require a ticket and will have their own seat, but do expect them to be on your lap quite a bit too.
• There are some pyrotechnics, but it was pretty mild, so my boys weren't phased. However, this is something to keep in mind if your child might be sensitive to stimuli like this. 
• Eat ahead of time, but buy a box of popcorn, cotton candy or treat for them to have at their seats. This kept my boys seated and their eyes on the show instead of looking around for something to eat. 
• Clap and get excited too, this will keep your children more engaged as well. 
• Since the show started at 7 p.m. and my boys' bedtime is usually between 7:30/8 p.m., we left during the intermission at 8:15. Right after "Let it Go." Thus, be prepared to extend bedtime and have a planned exit strategy. With leaving during intermission when the lights came up, our boys thought it was over and not simply a break.  
• Ask your kids questions afterward like, "Who did you see?" "What was your favorite part?" stuff like that. It was funny hearing them name all the Disney characters they saw dancing on ice. 

Disclosure: We received complimentary media tickets to the Disney on Ice for review, however, we had planned on attending either way and all opinions are of course my own.

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