Part of the whirlwind that is the BlogHer Conference involved a very special screening of DreamWorks Pictures' The Help, which comes out TODAY, Wednesday, August 10th.

Get thee to a theater, stat!

Let me disclose something: I didn't finish the book before I saw the movie. I'm one of those people who traditionally shies away from the "popular" book, especially if marketed to women. So, I was a bit hesitant to pick up the book in the first place. I'm a visual person, so trying to keep the multitude of characters straight was a challenge. And for some reason, I just didn't get hooked in like those who raved about it.

So, I plodded through part of the book before switching to some different books that caught my eye.

When I was invited to go to The Help advanced screening, one might assume I'd be neutral on the whole thing, but I actually jumped at the chance. I figured that my visual preference might really be helped by a movie adaption, which would mean I'd be able to go back and enjoy the book.

Also, I figured as a "reluctant" reader of the tale, I might be a good test audience for the movie. Could it win me over?

For more than a few summer vacations - and other times throughout the year - I've had the Phineas and Ferb theme song engrained in my brain. During the school year it is funny (as the boys lament that it isn't summer vacation) and during the summer it is downright freaky. After all, my kids do try to build a variety of contraptions, but unfortunately we don't have a clean-in-ator to magically zap their efforts into the ether. (I do have a long white lab coat and a black turtleneck, though.) That is, we didn't until now.

You see, with the Phineas and Ferb Across the 2nd Dimension video game, my boys can construct all they want virtually without a physical mess. (This particularly awesome as I don't want to see an actual world of gelatin in my living room.)

I don't go to the BlogHer Conference for the Expo. (In fact the first couple conferences didn't have an expo.) My main focus is to hang out with friends I've met through blogging, meet new folks, and do a few sessions that might teach me something new. But I still go to the Expo. I use products on a regular basis that I originally learned about through my blogging activities.

This year's Expo was pretty food-heavy. In particular, it was pretty convenience-food happy. This is fine - because after all I'm a busy person - but I'm typically pretty wary about whether such things have too many additives, or too many calories.

I was pleased to see Skinny Cow represented since I love their ice cream. I happily snacked on some of their dreamy clusters during a writing session, and then took home their heavenly crisp bar in the milk chocolate flavor, which my son proclaimed the absolute yummiest bar ever. I already knew from the tasty ice-cream that Skinny Cow doesn't lose flavor just because they are lower in calories than the traditional desserts, but the clusters and bars brought home that point. After all, who can say their 10 year old son approves of the taste of "diet food?" Well, my son is begging me to buy more.

(Yeah, I know what you are thinking - how can we possibly discuss gift-giving holidays when it is still summertime? Well, I'm in denial that school starts in less than two weeks, so I might as well get a jump on December.)

When I was invited to the Big Toy Book's Sweet Suite Event (featuring KidzVuz) during the BlogHer Conference, of course I accepted. Who doesn't like toys?

There were certainly several products that caught my eye at the Suite, such as the new zombie and glow-in-the-dark Hexbugs. (I posted about Hexbug Nanos last year after seeing them in the Mom Select Swag Suite during BlogHer; they appeared at Mom Select this year, too, in addition to the Big Toy Book event.) The zombies will be out at Halloween, and I'm definitely eager to grab them up!

And then even though I have boys, my fairy-loving youngest son would adore Light Sprites. I watched a demo at the Suite of how the "lite wand" can pick up any color and transfer to the playsets. It is tons of fun, and will appeal to those who love sparkles, light, and sprites.

There were plenty of amazing products at the Suite, but by far the one that will likely end up in Santa's sack this year (shhhh!) is Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. My boys are both Wii fans, and definitely adventure fans. They love collecting little characters and moving through video game worlds.

This game is different, though. The characters aren't just on the screen; they are physical collectible figures. These figures enter the virtual game when the player puts the character on top of the portal. Poof! The character shows up on the screen!

The progress of the character is attached to the actual figure. For playdates, the child can just take their character(s) and enter the game over at his or her buddy's place. The characters work across platforms, so even if one child has a Wii and the other has an Xbox 360 or PS3, not to worry - both kids' characters will work wherever they are. And when it is time to go home, the child leaving can just stick the figure in his pocket; no need to wait for a "save point" in the game, since all items and abilities will be saved to the figure. (If the character is wearing a hat in the game when the playdate ends, then the character will still be wearing the hat in the game back at home.)

I've been a fan of CleanWell for awhile. I was first introduced to them back in 2007 when I reviewed their hand sanitizer, and again in 2008 when I reviewed their anti-bacterial hand wash. I've kept their products in my car and in my bathroom since then.

Last weekend I was introduced to another aspect of CleanWell: disinfecting wipes! In particular, I learned about 3M's Scotch-Brite botanical disinfecting wipes.

I clean with both disinfecting wipes and my Activeion. Sadly, the latter has lost charge and the chargers aren't doing the trick. So, it might have to go to the Activeion hospital. As a result, I'm definitely leaning heavily on the disinfecting wipes.

Unfortunately, the wipes I had on my counter before leaving for BlogHer leave residue of whatever their various active ingredients happen to be. To work properly, the surface must be cleaned, then allowed to dry. But there is a note in small print on the side of the container that reads "If surface will be in contact with food, rinsing with potable water is required." Yup, required. Realistically, do I rinse the surface after it has dried? And realistically, will "rinsing" really pick up the chemicals? Um, no.

The Scotch-Brite Botanical Disinfecting wipes kill 99.9% of household germs (including the scaries like salmonella, staph, MRSA, influenza, and even HIV Type 1) but are safe around kids, pets, and food. Hooray plant extracts!

I know cleaning isn't "sexy," but I admit I got pretty excited about this product because I definitely want to keep my house clean, but not at the expense of introducing other harmful things into our home. I'm always looking for "natural" ways of dealing with more modern problems, and the Scotch-Brite Botanical Disinfecting wipes fit the bill.

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Disclaimer: I visited the 3M booth at the BlogHer11 Expo and received a free canister of disinfecting wipes since I gushed about how much I love CleanWell and how excited I was about the concept of not having to rinse after use. The 3M gal was probably shocked at my enthusiasm about cleaning. I will not receive compensation - monetary or otherwise - for posting about this product.

Whenever I tweet a status update that indicates that I'm enjoying Coco-Swirl, I inevitably have friends who chuckle about how that is the perfect drag queen name. Nonetheless, I am a huge fan of this nonfat treat.

My very first "real" job (aside from babysitting and cleaning neighbors' homes) was working at our local frozen yogurt joint (which is sadly now a Subway. I love Subway, but I love frozen yogurt more.) The place was called "Naturally Yogurt," and it carried all-natural varieties of frozen yogurt that I could actually eat (on the Feingold diet) unlike the rainbow flavored/colored stuff in the more traditional franchises around town. Eventually the place was renamed "Scoops," but I definitely preferred the "Naturally Yogurt" moniker.

While an employee, I learned how to clean the yogurt machines (a task that is much cooler than it sounds) and of course I got to eat some free yogurt. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but we used to trade employees of the hamburger restaurant next door fries for yogurt. I dipped my fries in vanilla yogurt. And I also dipped carrots and celery in vanilla yogurt. (It is better than it sounds, seriously.)

And so now that I've lost all credibility thanks to my potato-and-veggie-combined-with-dessert meals I enjoyed as a teenager, lemme tell you about Coco-Swirl!

It is yummy! The End.

My kids love to go to Coco-Swirl as a treat. I love to go because I'll take my beloved frozen yogurt and then add toppings like mochi and tiny cheesecake squares. We didn't have sophisticated toppings like that back in my Naturally Yogurt days.

When I moved back east for college, I was freaked out that maybe frozen yogurt was only a California thing. Thankfully, that wasn't true, but back home Scoops did close. Although many chains ended up closing for about a decade, I am so grateful that places like Coco-Swirl are now around to feed my obsession.

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Disclaimer: I love frozen yogurt. I could live on it - and maybe also sushi - forever. Coco-Swirl did not ask me to post about them, nor will I receive compensation for this post.

As if I needed more reason to be excited for the October 16th launch of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, here's a walkthrough of one of the levels that serves as a great introduction to what makes this game special:

They taunt me with the awesomeness!

This is not just a level preview, but also a pretty great explanation of the nuts and bolts of the game. For example, the narrator (Yale Miller, the game's producer) explains how there are different element characters (which of course provide different necessary benefits for certain aspects of the game) and how the game works across platforms. I love that the characters can come and go without having to wait for a "save point" on traditional games. The toys here truly do come to life! Like some similar games, each character has different attributes, but unlike those other games, each character here has the potential to unlock completely different areas of gameplay.

My kids and I are definitely eager for the game's launch on October 16th.

Preorder Skylander's: Spyro's Adventure now from Amazon!

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Disclaimer: I was introduced to Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure thanks to an event in San Diego at the beginning of August.* I mentioned how this is the winning holiday gift for this year. It truly is! The fantastic people behind this game and its promotion gave me the link to the video above. When I link to Skylanders on Amazon, I am using my affiliate code, which means I get a few cents of commission if you happen to purchase anything.

*Update: As a pleasant surprise, the Activision folks sent me the game and some additional characters as a thank-you for promoting the game and to facilitate a review once the game was actually released! This post was written before the release.

I'm not a super-big iced tea drinker, although I'll have it on occasion. And lemonade is tasty and refreshing, but is often a bit too sweet for my tastes. Imagine my forehead-slapping surprise when I came across a solution to a problem I didn't know I had. Amongst my latest blissmo box of yummy treats was a single bottle of purity.Organic iced tea + lemonade.

Yes! People put all kinds of sweeter and lemon in their iced-tea, why not lemonade?

I tried the drink with a little skepticism, but also excitement. Verdict = yum! It is refreshing, not too sweet, and not too bitter. It is the perfect mix of flavors. It is satisfying without being heavy.

This stuff is half organic lemonade and half fair-trade black tea. It isn't from concentrate, and does't pack as high a caloric punch as many sweetened drinks. Each 2-serving bottle is 80 calories per serving, for a total of 160 calories per bottle.

purity.Organic iced tea + lemonade is sweetened with cane sugar, not any of that crazy HFCS. And there are no unpronounceable ingredients. The bottle is made of PET rather than glass because the company says it is lighter (takes less energy to produce and ship) and because it can be recycled to make many new products.

I'm definitely excited by this lemonade-iced-tea blend and will be looking for it at my local grocer.

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Disclaimer: I just happened upon this drink in my blissmobox and thought it was innovative and delicious enough to share here. I will not receive commission or compensation if you buy from purity.Organic; however, if you sign up for blissmo emails I'll get a tiny kick-back if you purchase one of their deals.

I love nuts. (I already admitted I am a nutcase!) Give me almonds, cashews, macadamias, pistachios, pecans, and walnuts. I love peanut butter, but am not a big fan of peanuts on their own. And while I like a handful of nuts, I don't really like them stuffed in deserts, unless done just so.

Most of the times I just eat nuts plain. I prefer unsalted for health concerns, although smokehouse almonds with their super dose of sodium is pretty delicious! But then I came across these chai nuts from Olomomo Nut Company in my blissmo box, and I'm smitten.

Hey, I love chai tea! It is a neat flavor that makes me think of relaxing. So what about it on nuts?

I thought these almonds were pretty tasty. It was definitely a different experience than salted or cayenne-peppered nuts. Although, I see that Olomomo Nut Company has a mango-chipotle variety that I would like to try They also have cherry-vanilla and cinnamon-cayenne, both with no sodium. Oh, yum!

Like other products I receive through blissmo, the Olomomo Nut Company is eco-conscious and socially-responsible. When products that are healthful and made by good people are also super-tasty, it is a winning situation!

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Disclaimer: I just happened upon these nuts in my blissmobox and thought it was innovative and delicious enough to share here. I will not receive commission or compensation if you buy from Olomomo Nut Company; however, if you sign up for blissmo emails I'll get a tiny kick-back if you purchase one of their deals.

I'm not going to lie and say I do a lot of bike-riding (although I did when I was younger!) But when I go out cycling I like to keep my noggin safe.

For years now I've been buying the helmets in the bike section of various all-purpose stores. We even got some free helmets once during a health event. But, these seemed to wear out really quickly, well before their time.

I first learned about Nutcase Helmets thanks to my eat.blog.run teammates, the same folks who invented Sparkle Skirts. I visited the Nutcase site, and immediately ordered a pretty pink one for my head.

My youngest son was insanely jealous, so stole it for himself a couple times. Thanks to the adjustable pads, it can fit his head, too.

Otherwise, here are the helmets my boys have been wearing:

I love wine, but not so much that I want to drink a bottle (or even a half) every night. I have some vacuum savers, but even those don't work if I want one glass one night, but don't want another glass until several days later.

A few weeks ago, a Groupon from Tasting Room caught my eye. Although I usually veer towards syrah or pinot noir, I sometimes get a hankering for some savignon blanc, pinot grigio, or (gasp!) chardonnay. Tasting Room's "White Essentials 2" box seemed like a good bet for me: tiny bottles (50mL each) of some excellent white wines. Their other wine samplers sound fabulous, too.

I enjoy getting a chance to try new wines without the commitment of an entire bottle, but I also like having just a small glass of wine without risking the rest of a portion going to waste.

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Disclaimer: I bought my wine sampler using my own money and will not receive compensation or commission for this post.

I finished Power of Six on Saturday and can't wait until the next Pitticus Lore book. On one hand, I love delving into adventures like this, which continue; but on the other hand, waiting for that "continue" part is pretty difficult.

My e-book library is pretty much filled with science-fiction type things, although I hate the whole stereotype about science-fiction. If someone told me that I'd love a book involving alien races and war, I'd laugh in horror.

And yet I'm completely wrapped up in the whole Lorien Legacies series. I love the adventure. I love the mystery. I love experimenting with the themes of growing up and fitting in. (Hey, 37-year-old women can remember "growing up," too!)

Although the women are definitely attractive, I don't feel they are over-sexualized like so many of those other science-fiction books traditionally aimed at men. Neither are the men described in overly promiscuous terms. While it is clear that certain characters are very capable and easy on the eyes, the focus is on the mission at hand and the relationships that develop based on substance, not sex. There is definitely an innocence in these young characters, even if their intelligence, combat skills and sense of responsibility are mature.

I've read the first three books, and am looking forward to "number four."

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Disclaimer: I bought the three e-books with my own money. I saw a press release with the above trailer for the book released last week and decided to post it since this series is one that I've been enjoying. I will receive no compensation or commission for this post or any resulting sales of any of the Lorien Legacies books.