Hango Lunch Bag Set Has Quality "In the Bag"!

Much of my product reviewing arises from one of those things: necessity or convenience. Sometimes, these things overlap with novelty. I love trying new things, so when offered a product sample that I can use in daily life for free, I jump at it! The Hango Lunch Bag Set was no exception! I was very excited about this promotion because it gave me the opportunity to really get up close and personal with the product and form a thorough opinion of it! To keep it easy to read, I'm listing my top three favorite features of the lunch bag set! 

#1: Quality. These lunch bags aren't the cheap, easy to tear ones that you remember from your childhood. You know...the ones made of barely-there plastic or nylon. These bags are durable, heavy, almost canvas-like material that is resilient to injury. The stitching on the edges and on the handle is even, thick, and neat. All of the edges are neatly tucked into seams, which are stitched up. No fraying here! The zipper operates smoothly and doesn't get caught up. It is black, so it blends nicely with the fabric of the bag. When you open the bag, you see metallic, silver material. This is to better insulate the bag...either hot or cold. And it works! This bag looks basic, but it can't be beat if you're looking for a bag to last for years! 

#2: Simplicity of Design: As mentioned previously, the bag is very basic looking. It's black with a brown handle and tan stitching on the handle. The Hango logo is on the front, bottom right corner and is very smart looking. It's nothing fancy, because it doesn't have to be. It's fantastic quality and that speaks volumes. Black matches everything! The bags come with a cotton gift bag similar to what you would get with a pair of Toms. It's a nice, simple touch, but it adds a lot of class! 

#3. Price. For a low price, you get two lunch bags of different sizes! The smaller one is the one that I prefer, as I barely take anything! My husband uses the larger one. We both have lunch bags that will last for years and years, and both of them have a value of $25! Finding a lunch bag that will truly last a long time and not wear down for that price is awesome. But then to have two! Great!  

Overall, I really enjoy the convenience of having a durable lunch bag! I'm especially happy to have one that goes with everything! 

Easy as 1, 2, 3 Swing Dancing!

Learning a new hobby can be an intimidating adventure. There's so many questions about how to know if what you're doing is the proper technique. Without a physical example, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what to do. Dancing is no different! If anything, it's more frustrating! There's so much pressure to perform correctly and gracefully because it's a performance hobby. In most instructional videos, it feels as if the instructor expects you to be intermediate level instead of beginner. Fast instructions, speedy counts, using terms that you aren't familiar with, and awful camera angles all contribute to this frustration. When offered the opportunity to review a Dance Lesson Starter Kit DVD set in exchange for my opinion, I quickly agreed!

Many assume that the only way to achieve the level of learning desired is to pay hundreds of dollars for studio classes. Or even worse, they completely give up on their goals. As an educator, I can tell you that money doesn't equal quality. Some of the very best teachers that I know are far under paid while some of the most apathetic are the ones that are making the "big dollars". So even IF you ARE willing to shell out the money, there's no guarantee that you'll actually get a quality, productive instruction session.

That's where Dance Lessons Starter Kit comes in! You can learn FOUR different types of dance, all in your living room! The kit offers Salsa, Swing, Merengue, and Bachata. My personal favorite was the Swing, because I've always felt as if I was born in the wrong era!

I popped the DVD in, and was greeted by both a woman and man instructor. This was convenient, because it easily depicted the gender roles and the respective dance steps, which made it easy for me to learn with my husband. The instructors were somewhat too posed and staged for me. They were VERY mater-of-fact about the instructional process. It may have been the extremely clear, articulate, and descriptive way that they gave instructions. This was VERY effective in helping me understand, but it almost gave them a monotone voice, which was, at times, difficult to follow.

Their instruction, the camera angles, and the clarity of the video were fantastic. In fact, as far as the camera goes, almost all of the time you see two angles at once. There was never any question about what to do and when to do it. I really liked that the pace was slow enough to not only allow for easy learning, but to allow for finding the perfect stopping, rewinding length, and play points.

My only complaint is, like I mentioned, the "stiffness" of the instruction. The instructors were very dry. When they showed humor or emotion, it almost felt forced and cheesy. However, if you can handle that (I thought it was worth it!), then you've got a fantastic resource for learning a new hobby without spending big bucks!