In typical Zanna fashion, I started full-force on this website and blog at the least financially…um…fit moment of the year so far. While we are working on correcting that and battling the economic woes affecting us all (as a one-income family of 5), of *course* I want want want all these shiny, pretty things I see online. I tend to get very Veruca Salt about things when I start on a new venture. The fact that I am not able to go overboard with my wishes is probably for the best, but I simply have to get it off my chest, hence this entry you are reading now. If nothing else, it will help me keep everything in one place and have a list to tell my family and friends about for my birthday and the holidays!

moo mini card holder

1. Business cards from Moo.com. About 2 years ago, Moo.com did a cross-promotion with livejournal.com (where I have blogged privately since 2001.) to promote their new company. You could order 10 randomly designed Mini Cards with your livejournal name on them, or whatever you liked (I was not into handing out my lj name so I just got my gmail address on them with “Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust”). Naturally, when I decided to make this place a reality, Moo.com was my first and really only choice to head to for business cards listing the website. They are currently running a 50 free business cards promotion with paid shipping, so I might be able to take advantage of that, but my wish is still for the Mini Cards, because I think they are so unique and unexpected. I also want to get a nice Mini Card holder (in pink of course!) so I can actually take them with me and hand them out.

Geisha Poken

2. A Poken. I will fully admit to this being a luxury item for me. I am not yet a blogger with 100′s of followers, but I am damned determined to get there. I first discovered Poken on Twitter, when many of the bloggers I follow there were discussing their upcoming trips to BlogHer ’09. I googled Poken and fell in love. “HOW CUTE!” I thought. I will also fully admit to having a soft spot for all things Japanese inspired (ironic since they are not Japan-based), whether toys or candy or animation. So the idea of carrying around an adorable miniature creature, and ‘high four’ (Pokens only have 4 fingers) another Poken to instantly exchange contact information? I was sold. It was hard to decide which Poken I coveted most, but I settled on the Geisha. There are a few sites you can purchase Pokens on, a couple of which I’m following on Twitter as well. I can’t wait to be able to Poken with someone soon!

Disney's D23 Membership - look, it's Tink!

3. A Membership to D23, the exclusive Disney-run fan club. I have wanted one of these since it came out, but the planets have not aligned for it to happen yet. I asked for it for Mother’s Day, but I think that was around the time everyone in our family took turns being sick, twice, so it didn’t work out. I have the first issue of the magazine, but the membership is a must-have for a Disney site like mine, purely research purposes of course! Since the waiting list for Club 33 is 18 years now, I figure at least this is attainable!

4. A BIG OL’ Barnes and Noble or Amazon Giftcard. This really IS for research purposes. I’d like to increase my Disney library and brush up on my totally NOT useless trivia, history and stories behind the parks. There are several guidebooks I’d like to have on file as well as many more Disney trivia and history books. In this same vein, a Disney gift card would be fabulous to use for booking tours and other special events for research purposes!

Disney's Princess Netpal computer PINK! and Disney!!!

5. A mini-laptop. I am lucky to actually have a laptop, thanks to a tax return in 2007, but I was a little over-eager and thought the 17″ Dell Inspiron was the only choice for me. I love it, dearly, but when we do travel to Disney or somewhere else it is a bit of a hassle to lug around. We were able to get both kids mini Dell laptops for Christmas last year, and while the keyboards are kind of tough for me to type on, I think they’d be a great investment to be able to stay mobile with ease. Plus Disney just came out with new Princess Netbooks, though if I got a Disney one, I think the kids would stage a mutiny.

I think that’s it for now, short of listing items off my regular amazon wishlist. And that’d just be greedy. Any other ideas for must-haves that I’m missing here? Obviously I’m writing and keeping the site going without these items, but a girl can dream, can’t she? Especially a Princess. Is Genie from Aladdin still around? Maybe he’ll grant me a wish or two…In the meantime, I shall count my non-pressed pennies and save my pixie dust. *:•..•:*¨¨*:•.ºoº.•:*¨¨*:•..•:*

[Edit: originally published on ZannaLand on 7/31/09]

I was recently given the opportunity to try out some EcoStoreUSA products – and BOY was I glad I did. The well-packaged spray cleaner arrived in the mail after a day when cleaning the house had fallen to the bottom of the priority list. With a 9 month old cruising around, that happens every now and then. I was able to jump right in to testing out the Citrus Spray Cleaner because my stove and counters were covered in grease from cooking the night before. I will fully admit to being skeptical – “won’t all-natural mean it won’t work as well?” but I was quickly proven wrong. The citrus spray cut right through the grease and left no streaks. We have a clean-top stove, so streaks show up easily, however not with this spray!

EcoStore Citrus Spray Cleaner

Ok, I thought, let’s give it another tough test…dog stains. We have a Chihuahua. The kids love her, but don’t love walking her, so there are a few accident spots here and there on our light beige carpet. I had been avoiding cleaning those too thinking we’d have to lug out the big carpet shampooer. Nope! I sprayed the Citrus Spray Cleaner and the spots rubbed right out. Seriously, I was shocked. I almost hugged the bottle!

Next up, dried baby food, bananas and cereal on the baby’s high chair. By that time I wasn’t surprised that the cleaner cut right through that caked on mess with ease. In addition to the obvious cleaning ability, it smells great. A lovely citrus scent replaces the harsh chemicals you usually have to endure with other cleaners. I was so pleased with this product it has now become my favorite cleaner. The fact that it isn’t full of “nasty chemicals” as their website states is a wonderful bonus. I always worried about spraying the harsh Mr. Clean I used to use, with the baby nearby. Now those fears are forgotten when I use the Citrus Spray Cleaner. It’s the perfect marriage of effectiveness and feel good results.

I was also given a bottle of the Baby Moisturizer. I tried this out on myself first and loved the scent. It made my elbows so soft and it wasn’t greasy at all. I used it on the baby next and it worked wonderfully as well as making him smell wonderful.

EcoStore Baby Moisturizer

I had received several national brand baby moisturizers as baby shower gifts but was reluctant to use them because you could just smell the chemicals in them. I didn’t want to put them on him and risk a reaction. With this moisturizer, you know what’s in there, you can smell the ingredients from nature, and you feel good about putting it on even the most sensitive skin. We all feel soft and smell delicious around here now!

In order to pass on the news of their wonderful company and products, the good people at have agreed to giveaway a $25 gift certificate to one of my readers! You can use the $25 certificate to purchase anything in their line of products – baby products, hair care, pet care.

EcoStoreUSA Giveaway Entry Information:

There are 4 ways to gain an entry for this giveaway-
1. Comment to this entry telling me why you would love to try EcoStoreUSA products and which ones you’d be interested in trying. (counts as 1 entry)

Optional additional entries:

2. Subscribe to ZannaLand in a reader.

3. Become a fan of ZannaLand on facebook and EcoStoreUSA on facebook. Leave a comment on EcoStore’s facebook page mentioning the ZannaLand giveaway and tell them if you’re excited about their product line. Comment here with the link to your EcoStore comment on facebook. (counts as 1 entry)

4. Add EcoStoreUSA on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway. Link to your tweet (click on your tweet’s timestamp to get the permalink) in a separate comment below. (counts as 1 entry) (you may tweet daily and comment with your tweet links for additional entries!)

Winner will be randomly drawn from received entries by midnight on Wednesday August 5, 2009. Good luck!

EDIT 8/6/09:

CONGRATULATIONS to Bethany, the winner of the $25 gift certificate from EcoStoreUSA! We wrote out names for every entry people submitted and my daughter drew Bethany’s name out of a hat. Thanks for everyone for participating and please be sure to check out EcoStore USA’s products!

[Edit: originally published on ZannaLand on 6/22/09]

This week’s review is on Gillette SatinCare Shave Gel – in Alluring Avocado. Now, I am not usually a shave gel kinda woman. I use body wash on a pouf usually and that’s just fine. However, after getting a sample size shave gel for a recent trip to Disney, I thought, why not “splurge” and get a full-sized can? So I perused the shaving cream aisle at my local SuperTarget, and Alluring Avocado jumped out at me. First, I thought “AVOCADO?! That’s not exactly alluring to me…” but then I thought, well, it must be nice if they made a whole shower gel based on it…(yes I am a consumer at heart). So I tried to smell it through the cap, and it smelled pretty nice, so I put it in the basket.

I used it a few days ago, and it was *delightful*!! It smelled light and cool, similar to a cucumber/melon scent, not overpoweringly sweet like other gels I’ve tried in the past. In addition, it worked wonderfully. I got a nice close shave and it didn’t dry me out. I highly recommend it! I have decided that $2 and change on a can isn’t that much of a splurge and definitely worth it for how much quicker and easier it is to shave with it.

So there you go. More reviews to come. If there is a product, service, film, book, or anything you’d like me to review here, please just drop me a line.