The Blind Side Review and Give - Away

I love football. I am one of those unique women that lives for football and follows football year round. So, naturally I bought The Blind Side the day it was released on DVD. I absolutely love this movie. Not just because it deals with football, but the whole story. The basic plot is the story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family (the Tuohy’s). It stars Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy, Tim McGraw as Sam Tuohy and Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher. I give this movie an A+!

For more information about this movie visit here.

Now, I followed the 2010 NFL draft and now that it’s over, I want to do a give-away in honor of it. This is my very first give-away!

So, here goes:
I am giving away one copy of The Blind Side in either DVD or Blu – Ray format to one of my readers.

To enter, leave me a comment and tell me which Sandra Bullock movie is your favorite (besides The Blind Side). Also be sure to leave in your comment if you prefer the DVD or blu-ray disc. This is required and must be done before the extra entries count!

EXTRA ENTRIES!
You can do any of these things for an extra entry. Make sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do.

1- Subscribe to my blog via email (see top of sidebar).

2- Blog about this giveaway. Be sure to link back to this post.

3- Follow on twitter and tweet about this giveaway. You can Tweet once a day for an extra entry every day! (Come back each day and leave a comment) You can copy and paste: WIN a copy of The Blind Side (approx. $20 RV) @itlnblladiaries http://bit.ly/bBQKVP

4- Follow my blog publicly.

5- Become a fan of The Italian Bella Diaries on Facebook.

Contest ends at 11:59pm CST on May 16th when I will draw a winner at random. PLEASE leave your email address if it is not visible on your profile. I will notify the winner via email and they will have 48 hours to respond!

** Please note that I have received no monetary compensation for my review or give-away. **

Movie Review -- New Moon

** Please Note: I am discussing this movie, so if you have not seen it and don't want it ruined, please stop reading NOW! **

I love the Twilight series. I am quite unaware of why, but I do. The first movie was good. Could have been better, but overall it was good. I have always been one to enjoy the book way more than the movie. These were no exception. I admit, I cried when Edward left Bella in the woods. More than anything because in my opinion, how can anyone say those things to someone they said they loved. I really wanted to smack Bella when she jumped on the back of the motorcycle - with a stranger! And I'm guessing that when I read the book, that I really didn't like Jacob, so I skipped over the parts pertaining to him. But, when watching the movie, c'mon now - Bella knows she was leading Jacob on. Any guy would think he had a chance the way she was acting. Please..... I really need to get my books and re-read them to really examine these parts. I love that it ended with the marriage proposal cliff-hanger. I also loved how it alluded to what Bella's "gift" turns out to be (like Alice can see events, Edward can read minds, Jasper can control feelings) when/if (I'll add the if for those who have not read that far!) she becomes a Vampire. The setting in Italy was B-E-A-Utiful! Then again I love all Italian scenery. I have never been a Dakota Fanning fan, but she did fine as Jane, a member of the Volturi. I am looking forward to the rest of the movies.

Although, I enjoyed the movie, and will definitely be buying it when it's released, I do not think it lived up to the hype. The way everyone was talking and acting about this movie, I expected it to be far better than it was. Maybe it was just me, but I did not find it to be so wonderful for all that was said.

**Please Note: I received nothing for this review. I have never had contact with the books' author, the production company, any actors/actresses, etc. However, if they would like they can send me a really nice boxed set of books, both movies and tickets to Eclipse in June 2010 for my review. LOL **

Product Review -- Intelligender Baby Gender Test

*** Please note: I received nothing from this company. I have never communicated with any person associated with this company. This review is based upon a product that I purchased out of my pocket, and decided to review for others to read. ***

Over the last 11 years, I have been pregnant 9 times. I have walked away with 6 living children; not including the one I am currently pregnant with. The 5 babies I have lost are unknown to me as far as their sex; I can only guess. The 6 I have had are all girls. Yep, every last one of them. So, when I announced this pregnancy to people all the speculation began - "Is it another girl?" "Will we finally get a boy?" I had been nervous, anxious, wondered if my ultrasound would reveal another girl or the long awaited boy. I, of course, wanted a healthy baby above all else, but a boy would have been icing on the cake. A friend of mine mentioned the Intelligender Baby Gender Test. I was intrigued. I had never heard of this before. I immediately looked it up online and came across their site. According to this, I could take this simple urine test as early as 10 weeks and it would tell me my baby's gender. It seemed a tad pricey for me. $34.95 plus shipping if I ordered it on-line. Chris found it at our Wal-green's for $29.99. We discussed it for awhile. It said it had a 82% accuracy rate. Seemed a little low for the price. When I was 12 weeks along we decided to give it a try. So, we went to Wal-green's and purchased the test. I came home and took it. I couldn't believe it when the result came back as BOY! After 6 girls, I was supposed to believe I was having a boy? So, I sat down and read the entire insert that came with the test. It said "Please refrain from having unprotected intercourse 48 hours before testing." The website elaborated more with this: "Preliminary tests indicate that there may be a link between false boy results and recent sexual intimacy. We recommend refraining from such activity for at least 48 hours prior to taking the test." Ooops...... It had been only 24 hours. Crap! I assumed that my test was wrong because I had intercourse. So, naturally I didn't believe it. We discussed it again and decided that in 2 weeks, we would buy another test and not have intercourse for 2 days prior. We bought the second test, I took it, and again the result was BOY! I was still in disbelief. There was no way I could be having a boy! I kept seeing cute little boy clothes but refrained from buying them. Eight weeks later, I had my ultrasound. The tech assured me 100%, with no doubt, that I was in fact carrying a BOY! It was confirmed again a month later. I can officially say that I am in the 82% accuracy rate.

As far as the test itself, the directions were clear and easy to understand. The test was simple to take. I prefer the easy pee on a stick tests like I use for pregnancy, but this one was simple enough. Everything needed was provided. The color codes depicting girl or boy were easy to see and compare. This is definitely not something I would buy if I were really struggling for money. The accuracy rate is not really that high and you can still have false hope for a certain sex for 10 weeks. But, if you have the $30-40 to spend, then why not give it a whirl?