Celebrating 1985 My Favorite Year For Music: January

I was watching a show on Channel 5 in the UK. It was called 10 Things I Hate About 1987. I was curious about this show because for me there wasn't much to hate about the 80s. I'm an 80s girl and proud of it!

The host talked about some of the cringeworthy things that happened that year and yes ok some of it was bad, but because it was the UK I didn't remember a lot of it. That got me to thinking about my favorite year for music which was 1985. That was the year I lived in record stores and concert venues. Saw some great concerts that year and spent a ton of dollars on music.

I'm not a musician or a professional critic, I'm just a music lover. So I will just talk about the albums released each month, some events that happened that month and I will highlight my favorite album(s) released during each month.

In January 1985 many artists gathered together after the Grammys to record We Are The World for USA for Africa. It was a response to the British Do They Know It's Christmas. Which was a huge success in raising money for the people of Africa.  John Fogerty released Centerfield, David Lee Roth released his first solo album Crazy From the Heat and my favorite album released that month was from Phil Collins No Jacket Required. The album went 12x platinum in the US. Worldwide success and spawned many hits. There are many great songs on No Jacket Required, but I think my favorite is Don't Lose My Number. It has a great video as well.





Of course I have to talk about the title of the album because of the Chicago connection.  Collins was not allowed to dine in The Pump Room a restaurant in Chicago because he didn't have the proper attire, a suit jacket. Very clever of him to take a situation that made him angry and turn it into something great. I'm sure he had no problem getting into The Pump Room after this album was released.







Please join me every month this year as I highlight my favorite albums  and events from the year 1985.  I would love to hear what are some of your memories from 1985? Please feel free to leave a comment.  You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and now finally I'm on Instagram!

Lose Weight Without Dieting App by Harmonic Soft

It's the New Year and time to attempt to keep those resolutions. Every year I say I will lose those final 10 pounds this year. If you're like me you are always looking for something to help keep that resolution.

I was asked by Harmonic Soft to try out their app Lose Weight Without Dieting.  I downloaded the free app from the Google Play App Store. I've been using the app for a few days now. It's easy to use.  First you log in your statistics, weight, height, age etc. and from there it figures out how many calories you should eat per day to lose weight.

Every day you log in  meals and workouts. The app calculates the amount of proteins, fats, carbs, water and calories for each meal. There are bonus pearls you can receive after logging in meals and workouts.  There are nutrition plans loaded into the app. Some of the nutrition plans are low-calorie, vegetarian, Dukan and Atkins.

You are told what to eat and when and what to do for your workout. I think this is my favorite part of the app. Right now I'm doing the fitness diet for active people.  It's 15 days long, it says I could lose 3.5.pounds while following the plan. I'm excited every morning to see what I should be eating and my workouts for the day.

Like I said, I've only been using the app for a few days.  There are so many great features to this app. It has a very complete foods list.  There hasn't been a food I tried to log in that I couldn't find. You can also post your success on social media like I did here:

I've got 30 bonus pearls in Lose weight without dieting app and now I'm Beginner! http://t.co/lmDixnwuiJ #Android #diet
— My Kind Of Mom-Kelly (@dancingvalentin) January 13, 2015

The Lose Weight Without Dieting app sends reminders to your device to log in your meals. I think it's a great to keep you accountable. I highly recommend this app.

Disclaimer: Harmonic Soft  Ltd. asked me to review their weight loss app. I received monetary compensation for this review.  I am under no obligation to provide a positive review.  The opinions are my own and results may vary.

Happy New Year From The Elements of Review

Well 2014 was a busy year. Sadly not so much for this blog.  With moving to Toronto from Vancouver it has taken me a little longer to adjust than I thought. I think we have finally settled in. I will try to do more reviews of products and restaurants in the Toronto.  Also, I will be making my annual trip to Chicago.  I already have a few restaurants in mind for review. If you have a product or service you would like to review please contact me at chidiva68@gmail.com. I do giveaways as well.  I'm also trying to get into social media marketing too.
If you're looking for someone to help market your product via social media please don't hesitate to contact me. I'm looking to take my career to the next level.  I hope this will a very prosperous year for us all!
Thank you for reading my blog.

I can be reached at chidiva68@gmail.com, or on Twitter @dancingvalentin or on Facebook.

Merry Christmas From The Elements of Review

Wishing all of my readers a merry Christmas.  May your Christmas wishes come true!

Cameron's Coffee Review

I love coffee and my Keurig coffee maker. I'm always on the lookout for new brands of coffee. While in the grocery store several weeks ago I came across Cameron's Coffee. It really caught my eye because it was a few dollars cheaper than the other k-cups. I decided to give it a try.

I bought the Woods and Water Breakfast Blend.  I was very surprised that it had a great flavor for such a low price. Cameron's Coffee prides itself in making premium coffee while minimizing their carbon footprint. Cameron's Coffee states that their roasting facility in Minnesota is the greenest in the world.  Cameron's Coffee only use certified specialty grade coffee beans.  The coffee comes in a box that has a bag inside to help keep the k-cups fresh.

I loved the Breakfast Blend so much that I tried other flavors like the Chocolate Caramel Brownie and Toasted Southern Pecan.  The Chocolate Caramel Brownie has a delicious chocolate flavor with a hint of caramel.  The Toasted Southern Pecan has a sweet nutty flavor.  I was so giddy about those two I decided to find out what other flavors they had.  I went to their website and found out they have many more flavors.  The one that really caught my eye was the Holiday Grogg, it has an undertone of brandy, overtone of cinnamon and finishes with a nutty flavor.

I couldn't find Holiday Grogg anywhere here.  I ordered it from Amazon. It is a delight to drink this coffee on cold evenings with a piece of pie or just by itself.  Delicious and full of flavor. Like Christmas in a cup.  I see why it sells out often.

They have so many other flavors I want to try.  Please visit their website to find out about their other products. You can also order Cameron's Coffee from Amazon.  In Canada I have found Cameron's Coffee  at No Frills and Loblaws stores.

I'm Baaack!

Sorry I've been away so long. This move to Toronto has taken us longer than usual to get settled. I'm hoping to soon bring you more reviews. We've been on a few road trips and actually made a trip back to Chicago.  It's been great moving back to a big city.  Thanks for being patient and I'll see you soon!



 060761d0df68e77b30c9b268763595f5df2382c187d6558192

Toronto here I come!

I will be MIA for awhile.  We are moving to Toronto and won't have internet for a few weeks. So the blog will be on hiatus for awhile.  I'm hoping to see a lot of Toronto and try much of the cuisine.  That means plenty of reviews, right?!

Toronto's CN Tower

So it's goodbye for now and I will see you soon;-)