Starlooks Boutique Giveaway

I reviewed Starlooks Boutique last year but even if you caught that post you'll want to check out their store again. They've remodeled their site to look even better and have beautiful spring dresses ready for Easter along with the other great stuff I previously mentioned which I'm sharing again . . .

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You remember Little Red Riding hood—where a little girl’s grandmother makes her a red cloak and hood that she wears everywhere? (Of course you do, why did I even ask?) Well Starlooks Boutique is where Red’s grandma would have gone if she lived today.

Starlooks Boutique specializes in children’s clothing and accessories and they have a special line of cloaks called Peri Ponchos that are like Little Red Riding Hood revisited—a hooded poncho that is hipper than ever. The Peri Ponchos come in more than a dozen different colors and patterns and they’re a great thing for evenings when it’s a little chilly or a drizzly day.

It's hard to choose but I really like the Retro Circles and Tangerine Twirl-- you see the Bubble Tea pattern pictured above.

In addition to the Peri Ponchos Starlooks also has toys, jewelry, accessories, high chair and car seat covers, diaper bags, skin and bath products and clothing for babies and children (I'm particularly taken with the Miko dresses in all their various patterns and shades). Basically, if a child can use it, they have it. There is so much in their store you'd have to go and look for yourself, I couldn't possibly list all the links here in this post. Lots of fun window shopping ahead!

This week’s giveaway winner will get a $50 gift certificate from Starlooks Boutique, good for anything in their wonderful online store.

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday morning click here to reach the giveaway entry form then enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

This giveaway is open to all readers so good luck!

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And shifting gears from cute little clothes to the darker side of life . . .

Andrew decided to play hooky and take a couple days off of work while the kids were out for spring break. The two of us sneaked away Thursday afternoon and caught a matinee for Taken which we both thought was well worth it.

I thought it would be like the Mel Gibson movie, Ransom, where a man's child is kidnapped and things progress from there but while the plots are similar this movie is much better. Trust me.

I like Liam Neeson better than Mel Gibson--Neeson has the bulk, the quiet solidity, the haggard world-worn look yet the tenderness to properly play the part of an ex-CIA special ops guy who is out to rescue his teen daughter from bad guys who make Osama bin Laden look like Mother Theresa. I liked Neeson in Les Miserables and he has the same stuff here that appealed to me in Jean Valjean.

The previews I saw set up the movie without giving too much away and while you can kind of guess the general gist of things there was still enough left to discover after the plot was set in motion that I was on the edge of my seat. In fact I had a very hard time sitting still--first I'd lean back then I'd get tense and lean to the side, then to the other side, then I'd put my elbows on my knees and rest my head on my hands to soften the tension. I'm sure Andrew was sick of my tightening my grip on his arm and ducking with every punch that was thrown.

I warn you: it's a violent movie. It's a film that gives you the impression that there is a world outside of my own little safe bubble that is dark and seedy and horrifying and of which I know nothing and of which I want to know nothing. Just when you think that Hollywood can't give you anything new to shudder at this one does--which you'll feel acutely as a mother or father.

I'm probably making it sound more objectionable than I mean to, as I said it's violent but it's not gory or nasty. The body count piles up with every passing minute but honestly? Andrew and I both came out of the theater saying that with all the real life ranting and raving about CIA tactics and interrogation techniques I have a hard time criticizing anyone whose job it is to jump into that dark side of life in order to protect the rest of us.

This is a movie where the bad guys are so vile, so scum-of-the-earth that you don't really care what Neeson has to do to make things right. Yes I know it's only a movie and I know the difference between reality and fiction but a lot of bad things out there aren't just fiction and can happen in real life and I'm glad there are brave guys with gadgets and guns who stand between us and the evil stuff out there. Am I being to dramatic?

Anyway, if you like thrillers and edge-of-your-seat action complete with chase scenes, gun fights and extreme bad v. good guys then this is your movie. It's intense and it's bleak but it's sure worth the price of admission--though leave the kids home for this one. I'd let Grace (age 15) see it (she's to the age that she can pretty much see anything we see and if it's not appropriate for her then it's probably not appropriate for me) but I wouldn't let the boys see it yet. It would keep them up at night.