Wednesday, December 17, 2014

#Keurig2Point0: W.T.F.?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I received a Keurig 2.0 K500 machine from Influenster for testing and review purposes. My experience so far has been wonderful. The Keurig 2.0 machines have an abundance of new features that I, as an existing Keurig user, appreciate. You can read my previous post to learn about them.


After unboxing my shiny new Keurig 2.0, I took a look at all the parts and thought, W.T.F.? Where's the filter? See what I did there? My previous Keurig model came with one included, so I guess I was a bit spoiled. So again, I ask the question, W.T.F.?



Why the filter? In my personal experience I find that coffee brewed with the water filter tastes a lot crisper and the full flavour of the coffee can be experienced. With that said I went and ordered one on Keurig.com using my Club Keurig points to get 50% off. The filter sells for $17.99 on both the US & Canadian Keurig sites. I've also seen them at most retailers that sell Keurig machines.

The Keurig 2.0 water filter starter kit comes with one filter holder and two filters. Each filter is good for 2 months or 60 water tank refills...according to the instructions.

Installation of the filter was really straight forward. It takes no more than 10 minutes. The first step is to open up one of the sealed packages that contains the filter. 
Once the filter has been removed from the packaging it needs to be soaked in water for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes is up, rinse the filter for 60 seconds. After rinsing it, it can be placed into the filter holder:

You can also select the month you inserted the filter using the dial located at the top of the filter holder. It will then display the month on which it should be replaced.

Once you've completed the steps above, the filter holder can be placed into the water reservoir of your Keurig 2.0 machine and that's it you're done. Just fill the reservoir back up with water and place it back on the brewer to enjoy your next cup, or carafe, of coffee.



Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Influenster Review: O.M.G., the #Keurig2point0 K500 is in the house!

Now that our faithful Platinum brewer has been retired and the Keurig K500 sits in its place. JG and I are starting to enjoy a few of the features that our new brewer has to offer.




In the past, a.k.a a week ago, we would go through 3...sometimes 4 K-Cups before 10am. This included one travel mug for him and 2...sometimes 3 cups for me. Enter our new brewer and it's K-Carafe packs. We now brew one K-Carafe pack to get our day started. It's just like the olden days, a.k.a. 3 years ago, when I used to have a pot of ready made coffee waiting for me.




With the included plastic carafe, I do find that the coffee cools down a lot quicker than I would like. I'm probably going to pick up the thermal carafe to solve that issue. Although, with Mini & Micro JG around, I barely ever get to drink hot coffee anyway. It's a good day when I get to the bottom of my cup and my coffee is still warm.


Entertaining guests has also been lighter on the wallet since we just have to brew a couple K-Carafe cups versus going the standard K-Cup route. I just wish there was more variety for K-Carafe packs but I'm sure that will change eventually.


I have yet to try non-coffee K-Cups (i.e. tea, hot chocolate, lattes, etc.) in the 2.0 brewer. Based on my experience so  far, I can't imagine the brewing experience and flavour being any different from our Platinum.  
Another feature that I personally enjoy, as silly as it may sound, is the ability to change the colour of the nightlight and backlight of the brewer. The green goes great with our bar stools. 

After almost a week of having this brewer and using it everyday since it landed on our doorstep, I have to say that it is a welcome addition to our home. 



**I received the Keurig 2.0 brewer complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes**

Monday, December 8, 2014

Influenster Review: #Keurig2point0 - Candidate Selection & Product Arrival

Last week, I received my very first Influenster VoxBox and boy was it a doozy. I couldn't have asked for a better box to suit me. I was chosen to test the new Keurig 2.0 brewer. I received the K500 which has the largest water tank.

I purchased my first and, up until last week, only Keurig brewer back in 2011. Our Keurig Platinum brewer has been used 3 to 4 times a day since it arrived in our home and is still going strong. I really don't know what I would do without it. It's so simple to use and the K-Cups come in a vast variety of brews and flavours. In our house we use our Keurig to make coffee to enjoy at home or to fill our travel mugs while we're on the go. I also use the brewer to make tea or even soup since the hot water is ready quicker than having to boil water.

I've been eying the Keurig 2.0 brewers since I heard about them through the Keurig websites. A few features have been keeping me from taking the plunge, so I'm super excited that Influenster chose me as one of their product testers for this campaign.

Here's a recap of my Influenster #Keurig2Point0 journey so far...

A couple of the mommy sites that I follow mentioned that they got free stuff for posting reviews. Since I'm on mat leave, I decided to look into it further. Influenster seemed like the best site. On November 26, 2014 I decided to sign up. I answered a few questions, known as Snaps, and started posting reviews on products I knew about and/or used. Then, on December 1, only 5 days later I got an email with the subject heading, "Want a VoxBox? Just Take Our Survey!"


I answered all the questions which mostly pertained to coffee. Three days later I got another email that said "Check Your Mailbox: The Keurig VoxBox is coming!". When I received this email, I squealed with excitement. I was also really relieved that I managed to hold off on purchasing one for this long...:


The next day, I received my brand new Keurig 2.0 K500 brewer. Below is my unboxing YouTube video (best viewed in full screen):



I'll be writing a couple other posts on my experience with the the K500 in the coming days/weeks, so stay tuned.



**I received the Keurig 2.0 brewer complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes**

MiniJG & MicroJG

My son was born just over 3 months ago and I've been on mat leave ever since that wonderful day.

With this being my second child, a lot of the first time mom jitters have already passed. The one thing I did have to prepare for was how my 2.5 year old daughter a.k.a MiniJG was going to react when my son a.k.a MicroJG came along. 

I'm happy to report that so far, it's been great. We haven't yet experienced any major regressive behaviours and for the most part she's been an amazing big sister. She's helpful, when she wants to be, and helps soothe her l'il bro when he's crying (for the record, this happens mostly when MicroJG is crying during one of her shows). 

She's a very independent and strong willed two year old. This sometimes leads to some pretty intense tantrums. I'd like to think that those outbursts are a result of the so called Terrible Twos rather than the arrival of MicroJG.

Let the adventures continue...

Friday, December 5, 2014

Influenster

Another reason for starting up my blog again is because I recently joined Influenster. Influenster is an online community of reviewers. There are a variety of products that can be reviewed and badges to be earned. Another huge benefit of joining and reviewing this site is the potential for being selected for one of their campaigns.

Selected users are matched up with products, aka VoxBoxes, that are sent to them free of charge to review. Each review has a variety of tasks that need to be completed through various social media outlets. The more tasks are completed the higher the probability that you'll be selected for another campaign/product review. 

I've been a member of this site for less than a week and I've already received my first product to review. More on this later...I'm still in shock, 

It's not a bad deal for 15-30 minutes of your time every few days. So if you don't mind flooding your social media sites with product reviews than this could be for you.  

Let's get this party started...

It's been years since I've had a blog. When I was up at random hours in high school & university my blog was like a good friend. It was there to listen to all my rants and be a place to gather my thoughts when my recollection of my weekend had drowned in the alcohol I had consumed.  Fast forward 10 years. I'm married, have a house in the burbs, 2 kids and a dog.

I'm once again in a position where I'm up at crazy hours at night with a newborn and a toddler to juggle. So I figured, I'd try to start up this relationship once again.

Here we go...
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