The Holidays are Coming to Avenues Mall and St. Johns Town Center

November 8, 2016 By Marijean

MAKE MAGICAL MEMORIES AT THE SIMON EXPERIENCE AT THE AVENUES AND ST. JOHNS TOWN CENTER THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Avoid Lines by Reserving Your Magical Moment with Santa Online

Popular Caring Santa® event and Pet Photo Nights Offer Special Opportunities for photos with Santa

Eager children and their families can experience the joy and magic of the holiday season with a visit to the Simon® Santa Photo Experience at The Avenues and St. Johns Town Center. Children can visit and be photographed with Santa at The Avenues beginning Friday, November 4 in Center Court and at St. Johns Town Center beginning Saturday, November 12 in the Nordstrom Wing. Santa will remain at both centers to listen to holiday wishes until Saturday, December 24.

Save time, avoid the line with Santa by Appointment! Now you can reserve your magical moment with Santa online at http://simon.noerrsanta.com.

“One of the great traditions of the holiday shopping at Simon Malls is the annual family visit to the Simon Santa Photo Experience,” said Lindsey VonHoven, director of mall marketing at St. Johns Town Center. “I know Santa can’t wait to greet children bringing him their holiday wishes.”

Caring Santa provides a sensory-friendly environment for families of children with special needs, to safely experience the time-honored tradition and magic of Santa. The Avenues will host this special event on Sunday, December 4 from 8:30 – 10:30 a.m., prior to mall opening. Guests can register in advance at simon.com/caringsanta. Caring Santa events have expanded from seven Simon malls in 2011 to 110 Simon malls today, a new high, reflecting the positive impact of this unique program.

The popular Pet Photo Night returns to the Simon Santa Photo Experience at The Avenues and St. Johns Town Center this year. Many pet owners view their pet as an integral member of the family and are just as committed in caring for their pets as their “human” family members. Pet Photo nights are hosted after regular mall closing and the set gets an extensive cleaning following the event to remove any potential risk to allergy sufferers. Pet Photo Nights will be held on the following days:

The Avenues – Sunday, November 27 from 6-7 p.m. and on Sunday, December 11 from 6-7 p.m.
St. Johns Town Center – Sunday, November 27 from 6-8 p.m. and Sunday, December 11 from 7-9 p.m.

The Simon Santa Photo Experience is again sponsored by The Gymboree Corporation. The Gymboree Corporation is a specialty retailer operating stores selling high-quality apparel and accessories for children under the Gymboree, Gymboree Outlet, Janie and Jack, and Crazy 8 brands.

The 2016 Simon Santa Photo Experience and Pet Photo Nights are also sponsored by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment which is celebrating the highly-anticipated release of “The Secret Life of Pets,” available on Digital HD November 22 and on Blu-ray and DVD December 6. Come visit the Simon Santa Photo Experience and receive a fun-filled activity sheet, a custom The Secret Life of Pets holiday headband, and watch highlights from the movie.

This holiday season, Simon invites everyone to celebrate “The Joy of Giving.” Giving is contagious and this season Simon invites everyone to pass that spirit on and ‘Give Love,’ ‘Give Sparkle,’ ‘Give Warmth,’ and ‘Give Fun.’ Join Simon to experience the season’s good cheer with the best of holiday shopping and entertainment.

Throughout the holiday season, shoppers will experience joyous seasonal activations at the Jacksonville Simon centers.

The Avenues:

On Saturday, December 3, everyone on the nice list is invited to Breakfast with Santa from 8-10 a.m. in the Food Court. Join Santa and his elves for crafts, activities, delicious breakfast, and much more. From December 1-24, shoppers will enjoy being serenaded while shopping by local community groups during the Sounds of the Season Holiday Musical Series.

St. Johns Town Center

The 11^th annual Holiday Spectacular at St. Johns Town Center will kick off the holiday

season on Saturday, November 12 from 2 – 8 p.m. with a full day of festivities,

culminating with the lighting of the tree by Santa Claus and a fireworks display.

Shoppers will enjoy holiday entertainment including a silent DJ, magicians, holiday

photo opportunities, games, giveaways, interactive hot chocolate station, costume

characters, and more.

Holiday entertainment will include live performances beginning at 2 p.m. at the Main Stage, located in the Town Green in front of Maggiano’s Little Italy on Midtown Parkway.

Guests to every Simon Photo Experience will have another opportunity to share Santa’s heart by making a donation via The Noerr Programs to Save the Children. For nearly 100 years, this non-profit has given underserved children in the U.S. a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. Since this program began five years ago, Noerr has collected over $1,000,000 largely due to the generosity of Simon shoppers.

About The Avenues

The Avenues is Jacksonville’s premier family shopping destination. A multi-level indoor center offering 1.1 million square-feet of shopping, The Avenues is home to 5 anchor stores including Belk, Dillard’s, Forever 21, JCPenney and Sears, plus more than 150 of the most exciting specialty retailers in Northeast Florida. Discover your favorite shopping and dining destinations including Aldo, Banana Republic, Buffalo Wild Wings, bareMinerals, Build-A-Bear Workshop, H&M, LOFT, LUSH, MAC Cosmetics, New York & Company, The Limited, Victoria’s Secret and more. The mall is conveniently located off I-95 at the intersection of Philips Highway (US1) and Southside Boulevard. Visit us Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Sunday, 12 – 6 p.m. For additional information, please visit www.shoptheavenues.com or call 904-363-3054.

About St. Johns Town Center

St. Johns Town Center is Jacksonville’s newest and most-talked-about shopping destination with over 16 million visitors each year. Guests can shop, dine, live and entertain in a beautifully designed lifestyle center that offers 1.4 million square feet of unique shopping and dining including many new stores they won’t find anywhere else in Jacksonville. St. Johns Town Center features 11 anchor stores and more than 175 brand name specialty stores. Relax and enjoy the Park Green and Luxury Courtyard, attend community events, or dine at one of our fine restaurants.
For the latest information, please visit www.StJohnsTownCenter.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @StJohnsTownCtr.

About Simon

Simon is a global leader in retail real estate ownership, management and development and a S&P100 company (Simon Property Group, NYSE:SPG). Our industry-leading retail properties and investments across North America, Europe and Asia provide shopping experiences for millions of consumers every day and generate billions in annual retail sales. For more information, visit simon.com.

About Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) is a unit of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com). Universal Studios is a part of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

MAGFORMERS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Half-Shell Heroes 38PC Set Review (Holiday Gift Guide)

November 7, 2016 By Marijean

My kids love building things and creating masterpieces. I love when they play and use their imagination. MAGFORMERS are perfect for that! I received a 38 Piece TMNT Set to review with my children.

TMNT HALF SHELL HEROES 38PC SET

Build with Magformers and 8 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Heroes in a Half Shell character cards. Create structures and attach Leo, Donnie, Mikey, Raph, Splinter, Shredder, Bebop, Rock Steady and Foot Clan soldiers! Build by laying Magformers squares and triangles flat onto 2 play mats and inserting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character cards. Use the magnetic power to pull the shapes up into 3D Structures.

Match the characters to their color shapes, place the character cards into square inserts and see what you can build! Interchange the characters to tell you own story and build Magformers Magic Ball, Turtle Tower, House, Rocket, Castles and more!

Each geometric shape contains magnets that never reject, so you’ll always hear the Magformers click. All Magformers are interchangeable and playtime is over, use the magnetic power to simply stack and store.

$49.99.

MAGFORMERS construction sets foster brain development through fun and educational exploration. With high quality, durable construction and intelligent magnetic design, the possibilities are endless!

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Half-Shell Heroes magnetic sets allow kids to build with Magformers squares and triangles to create turtle towers by either matching the characters to their colors and/or interchanging them as they see fit. The shapes are very easy to grip and perfect for little hands.

Once the structure is built, the magnets will stick together and form 3D structures from a 2D design.

The Magformers are:

Colorful
Easy to use
Strong magnetic plastic geometric shapes
Always attract
Never repel

This set comes with 38 pieces of MAGFORMERS plus 8 character cards you insert into the Magformer pieces and 2 playmats. My kids were super excited when these arrived. I was immediately impressed by the strength of the magnets They sat and played with them for 2 hours the first night. The creation possibilities are endless, they made so many cool creations! The pieces connect so easily and the structures once made are very sturdy. My kids are already asking for more sets to continue building with their imagination. These will make great christmas gifts for them for sure!

As a parent, I also love these because as my children are making their creations, I can tell them about all the different shapes such as prisms, triangles, pentagons and cubes. I love how they are learning while playing. Magformers aren’t just for kids, my husband and I were having a lot of fun creating towers and structures out of them as well!

With the holidays now here, this would make the perfect gift for your own children or for any children you may know. This will keep them entertained for hours. Also these would make perfect birthday gifts, and if you are a teacher these would be great for classroom learning and play!

There are so many different types of sets to choose from on Magformers website. Check them out!

Connect with Magformers: Website Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Youtube

*I received a set of the pictured Magformers in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

Marvel’s DOCTOR STRANGE is in Theaters Everywhere! Check out these new Movie Clips!

November 6, 2016 By Marijean

The coolest movie of the year, Marvel’s DOCTOR STRANGE is finally playing in theatres everywhere! This is the latest chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a movie that must be seen on the big screen (I highly recommend IMAX 3D as well)!

Check out the below clips of the movie!

“The Strange Policy” Clip

“Heal The Body” Clip

“Sanctum Battle” Clip

Are you going to see this movie? Leave a comment!!

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

Curlee Girlee: A Book about Confidence for Girls #Review (Holiday Gift Guide)

November 5, 2016 By Marijean

I was asked to review an adorable children’s book called “Curlee Girlee.” My 8 year old daughter was very excited for me to read this book to her.

Curlee Girlee’s hair isn’t like everyone else’s…

… and she’s on a mission to straighten that out, ASAP. Snuggle up with your favorite little girl and get lost in Curlee Girlee’s colorful adventures as she combs, tugs, rolls, and strawberry syrups her way through the day, trying to tame her wild mane! In the end, she’ll discover an exciting secret that just might change the way she sees her hair—and teach your little one a forever lesson on embracing her beautiful uniqueness.

Our Mission: Confidence grows from head to toe.

Curlee Girlee teaches all little girls to love the gifts that make them special, from curly hair like hers, to freckles, gap teeth and beyond. Too often and too early in their lives, girls are told that “beauty” has just one definition, and that anything else is unwanted. Curlee Girlee carries the message to even the youngest girls that “pretty” takes all forms, and ultimate beauty starts with self-love, confidence, and embracing uniqueness. Together with her, we can set a foundation for a new generation of stronger, bolder women, whose beauty radiates from the inside out.

The first thing I noticed about this book was all of the colorful illustrations. The colors are amazing, and the title of the book looks like it really is sparkling! Each page is filled with colorful pictures that holds my daughter’s interest. My daughter says the message this book relays is that you are unique and special no matter what type of hair you have, or how you look! Every girl in unique in their own ways! I love that she has this book to read and it teaches her that.

I love reading this book as much as my 8 year old daughter does. I can definitely relate to Curlee Girlee. When I was a child I had lots and lots of curls in my hair, and hated it! I sure wish I had this book when I was growing up.

About the Author: Atara Twersky

Atara Twersky is an attorney and mother of three of who divides her time between Manhattan and Long Island. She was inspired by her own real-life Curlee Girlee to write this book, the only curly-haired child in a family of straight-stranded people. Atara hopes Curlee Girlee’s story encourages all little girls to embrace their differences and realize that they are beautiful exactly as they are.

This book would make a great gift for the holidays!!

Check out the website here.

You can purchase this book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

Winning Moves Classic and Retro Games Will Make the Perfect Gift this Holiday Season! (Holiday Gift Guide) #Review

November 5, 2016 By Marijean

I love having game night once a week with my family. I am always looking for fun yet unique games that my children would enjoy. One of my favorite sites to find unique family fun games is Winning Moves. The have so many classic and retro games that bring me back to my childhood days, and even my own parents childhood! I reviewed 3 different games from Winning Moves, and would love to tell you about them.

RUBIK’S® JUNIOR BEAR

The easy-to-grip Bear is much simpler than the original Rubik’s Cube and will entertain kids with every twist and turn! Think of it as a “training” cube. $12.95.

This is the cutest “Rubik’s Cube” I have even seen! I remember as a child trying to figure out the original one and having a tough time (who am I kidding, I still have a tough time). This one is perfect for little ones to try to figure out. My 5 year old son can spend an hour playing with this over and over again. My 8 year old is enjoying it as well! This would make a perfect stocking stuffer for the holidays!

THIS GAME IS BONKERS!™

Inspired by the classic 1978 version, This Game Is Bonkers will delight a whole new generation of fans! Players “build” a new track with each game so it’s never the same game twice. Your goal is to be the first player to score 12 points. $15.95.

Lets just say this game is exactly like the title, BONKERS!! My parents were down visiting from up north and they actually remember this fame from 1978! They had a lot of fun playing it with my husband, myself and their grandkids. My kids were excited to play an “Old” game as they call it. We had an hour of fun playing this game that was sometimes driving us Bonkers, but in a good way of course!

CLUE® CLASSIC EDITION

The suspects you know, in the mansion you remember, with the weapons you love! Yes, this is Classic Clue! $21.95.

I haven’t played CLUE since I was very young. I have been wanting to purchase this game for game nights, but haven’t been able to find the classic version in stores. I am so happy that I was able to review the classic version! My family has so much fun with this game, and we all get so excited while playing it.

You can purchase these games, and plenty of more at winning-moves.com. Any of their games would make great holiday gifts!!

Connect with Winning-Moves: Website Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram

*I received the above games in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.