BlogHer
« Previous EntriesThe year that was 2010
Saturday, January 1st, 2011Happy New Year everyone! It is really hard to believe that 2011 begins today. This past year seems like a whirlwind of events that just blows me away. Here are just a few of the highlights from the year that was 2010.
January:
- JSL fell in love with Piggy Oink-Oink. A year later and he is still going near and far with us.
- Disney was on my brain a lot in January. A quick invite to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration required planning a Disney trip in just about a month and a half. As a Disney planner, this was fun and challenging. A lot of Disney posts followed with Dining plans, stroller rentals, and more!
- I realized that knitting and reading is possible. Thanks to audio books, I was able to knit and listen to books on my MP3 player.
February:
- TechyDad bought a new scanner to capture photos from his Grandma. While he was doing that he scanned a few from my childhood. A lot were from Disney in the 80’s.
- Lots to share from our Disney Social Media Moms Celebration trip. It truly was a magical experience and I can not wait to head there again for the 2011 event.
- My little brother and his wife welcomed their son into the world. He was sweet enough to wait until we were back from Disney so we could be there for his bris.
- I wrote about the importance of a formal Technology Education program in schools. With budget cuts in most schools, this seems to be something that was never there, or first to go.
- NHL learned the fine art of wearing your PJ’s inside-out to bed.
March:
- We traveled between winter storms at the end of February to be there for cousin BA’s bris. It was a fun time being with lots of family.
- My bloggy shell was really starting to crack and let me spread my wing. After DisneySMMoms, I realized that it was a necessary step.
- Once back from Disney, we decided it was time to push the envelope with JSL. He was almost 3 and had to ditch his binky. We finally said Bye-Bye to Binky and celebrated with some fun.
- Threats to close NHL’s school dominated a lot of time. The unknown, getting the word out, interviews, and rally’s filled much of the month.
April:
- Much to my horror, NHL became his own barber at six years old. The scissors are now kept where I have to get something to reach them.
- TechyDad and I finally managed to have my December birthday dinner. I really enjoyed going out and celebrating without having to worry about snow and ice.
- The weather was gorgeous one day and we went to get supplies to plant some fruits and veggies. Everyone was excited about the prospect, but in the end we know it was a bust.
- I wrote a post to bloggers to beware of content scrappers. This continues to be an issue and getting more and more difficult to stop and track.
May:
- A freak storm literally blew a section of our roof off. I never heard it happen and noticed it several hours later.
- More of my bloggy shell came off in May. Christina (from CutestKidEver) and I were interviewed by Elaine Houston for a local news segment. I wrote about Elaine coming here and then about the actual segment.
- Lots of time was focused on finding Winnie the Pooh items for JSL’s 3rd birthday. The weekend of his birthday was filled with family, fun, and a fire!
June:
- The boys love to see live shows. We won tickets and took them on an adventure to see Curious George Live and had a blast.
- If the roof flying off in May was not bad enough, our house tossed another one our way. I went down to start a load of laundry and was greeting with a river flowing in our basement. A burst water pipe changed our world for several days and beyond.
- We traveled to a family wedding and the boys had a blast. Both declared that they needed another wedding to go to since they had so much fun.
- Father’s Day weekend was filled with lots of fun memories, including a trip to bowl.
July:
- To celebrate the 4th of July we took the boys to see Toy Story 3. This was also JSL’s first time seeing a movie in the theater. We had a fantastic time.
- We went to see Uncle I, Aunt M, and cousins SG and BA for a fun filled family weekend. We went cherry picking and did a lot more during the time together.
- While our roof was finally getting fixed, we became potty training central. Thanks to NHL helping out – JSL was using the potty after a few days. Good bye diapers!
- I also wrote about how not all Amusement Park First Aids are created equally. To update this, nobody from The Great Escape (a Six Flags Park) has ever gotten back to me about my son’s injury, the safety of the ride, or their horrible response time. Numerous e-mails, phone calls, and Tweets were sent with no reply from the powers that be. Sick, sad, and not a good PR day for Six Flags.
August:
- Growing up I spent most summers with my neighborhood best friend J. After going way too long without getting together, we finally met for an afternoon of chatting.
- TechyDad and I went away without the boys for the first time to BlogHer 2010 in NYC. We had an amazing time learning, laughing, and meeting many people over the long weekend.
- Time refuses to stop, so NHL turned 7 in the middle of the month. No fires at his party, thank goodness. We had a fun weekend with family going to a fair and celebrating.
September:
- We spent Labor Day weekend at the lake with extended family celebrating Mimi’s Birthday. We had fun playing games, running outside in the rain, and driving the boat.
- Back to school was a lot different this year. NHL went off to second grade and JSL started nursery school three days a week.
- TechyDad and I went to open house for both of the boys. The one for NHL brought back a lot of memories.
October:
- The sun came out for a beautiful Fall day, so we had a Hexbug party with the neighbors outside. Fun was had by all – including the adults as the kids played for hours.
- The world of children’s book had a controversy. Some were saying that picture books were not needed. I weighed in on the subject for one of my Tuesday Tales.
- A new adventure began. The KidsFunPlaza NENY magazine was launched at the end of September. Such an amazing experience that just keeps getting better each month. Now available at Price Chopper stores across the Capital District, there were over 20,000 magazines published in November!
- With almost no time to go, we took the boys apple picking. The day was perfect as we managed to get 29.5 pounds of sweet fall goodness.
- The boys were healthy and had a fun filled Halloween. We went to the party at NHL’s school, walked around the mall, and did a few houses around the neighorhood. I think Luigi and Tigger enjoyed the Halloween weekend.
November:
- TechyDad and I went on a date early in the month. It made us realize the importance of getting out without the kids from time to time.
- The beginning of snow falling rekindled my need to knit. One project was frogged for a time, another picked up, and more started soon after.
- My brother and his family came into town to have Thanksgiving with us this year. It was so great seeing them and other extended family. We did an early Chanukah with them as well.
- After several months of keeping it quiet, TechyDad and I told our readers about some serious things going on behind the scenes. Cyber bullying is serious business and we are not going to back down.
- November 30 marked sweet angel Cora’s first birthday. I have written many times during the year about Cora and her parents and their mission to save lives.
December:
- Chanukah came early this year. We lit the candles each night and down played the present giving as much as possible. We also had a nice family dinner with Nana, Papa, Mimi, and Aunt T.
- With two digital cameras that were not working, TechyDad and I bought new ones. It had been so much fun having a camera that cooperates and takes gorgeous photos.
- My birthday came and went without a trip to the ER or snow storm. A new Vera Bradley bag, lunch out with Nana and JSL, dinner out with TechyDad, and cake with the boys made it a wonderful day.
- I won a Keurig machine and no longer had an excuse to leave the house to get coffee at my parent’s house. Thanks to a little caffeine each day my headaches have mostly gone away.
- We scored some tickets for Disney on Ice – Toy Story 3. It was a magical night for everyone. This was the first Disney show for JSL, so he was a bit overwhelmed with everything. Everyone loved the show and even watching the video I took.
- The end of 2010 was filled with sickes and snow. A massive blizzard hit the northeast and we got at least a foot of snow that trapped us in after being sick all the weekend before.
Of course, these are just some of the major events that took place here in my world. Thanks to my blog, I have many other moments captured for our family. Thank you to my family, friends (both IRL and online) who have supported me this year. Another thank you to the wonderful PR people and companies that I have worked with this year. Everyone’s interest has been crucial to helping TheAngelForever.com to be a success. I look forward to 2011 and beyond with all of you.
Happy New Year to all of you and your families.
Mastermind Game – Review and Giveaway
Thursday, November 4th, 2010In August, TechyDad and I went to BlogHer in NYC. While there, we had time to go to the Expo Hall to connect with some amazing companies. One booth that intrigued us was Pressman Toys. The area was set up with their items on display. Betsy, their PR representative, came over and talked with us for quite a while. She introduced us to their products and showed us the revamped version of Mastermind Game and Animal Mastermind Towers (Review and Giveaway coming soon for this). TechyDad and I were immediately interested in them since our oldest son, NHL 7, loved items like this.
A short time after BlogHer, we received both of the games to review. They came just before a big family reunion for my grandmother’s birthday. I packed up the games and took them with us for everyone to play. Here are some photos of my cousin J and Aunt A playing Mastermind. They were quite competitive and tried to make it even more difficult as they got going.
More about Mastermind:
MASTERMIND® Classic Edition
Will you play the part of the codemaker, or the codebreaker? In the classic edition of our MASTERMIND game, the codemaker chooses from six different colors and sets a code of four colored pegs, which are concealed behind a flip-up shield. The codebreaker’s task is to replicate the code in ten moves or less. With each of the codebreaker’s attempts, the codemaker gives clues about the pegs’ color and position. There are more than 2,000 possible code combinations, making every round of this codebreaker logic game an exciting, brain-bending adventure! For 2 Players. Ages 8 to adult.
The Classic Edition of Mastermind retails for $15.00. There are also other versions of the game available including Advanced Mastermind, Ultimate Mastermind, Mastermind Travel Edition, Mastermind for Kids, Disney Mastermind Towers, and more.
What we thought:
TechyDad and I love games that make you think. Before we had our kids, we used to have game nights playing games similar to Mastermind. After taking Mastermind to the lake to use with family, TechyDad and I also tried it out on our own. The first item that I noticed was the compact case that holds all of the pieces. All of the colored pegs are within a storage compartment that keeps them secure. There was no need for an annoying plastic bag to hold them or worries about pegs flying all over the place. In addition to this, the board itself is small and easy to store. When space is limited, this game is perfect to take along, or tuck away.
Game play was a lot of fun. It makes you competitive not only as the codebreaker, but also the codemaker. When you are the codemaker, you have to be able to use the smaller red and white pegs seen above to give hints to the codebreaker about their guess. It was not difficult to figure out how to use these clues and fun challenge to use them to break the code faster each time. TechyDad and I have said we would like to try this game with our 7-year-old one day soon. We think NHL would really enjoy it and is probably ready to try the deductive reasoning skills. We have also said we may step it up a notch and try repeating colors in our codes for an extra challenge.
I highly recommend this game. It will keep you on your toes, make you think/use logic skills, and have a good time. This would make a great gift for anyone for Chanukah, Christmas, or a Birthday. I even think it would be a fantastic item to donate to a teacher for a classroom (the inner teacher in me talking here). Teachers are always looking for educational games to have on hand for students when there is a little bit of down time in the day.
Giveaway:
Thanks to Pressman, one lucky winner will receive their own Mastermind Classic Edition to play.
Rules for Giveaway:
- MAIN RULE – Tell me what your favorite board game is and why.
The following Bonus Entries may also be done. Please be sure to leave separate comments for each that you complete below to make sure you get the right number of entries.
- 1 Bonus Entry – Who will you play Mastermind with and do you want to be the codemaker or breaker first?
- 1 Bonus Entry – Tweet the following about the giveaway (May be done once a day): Put your thinking cap on and enter to #win your own @MastermindGame http://bit.ly/97A3NbMastermind Great for holidays! #Giveaway
- 1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
- 1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of October/November. Leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done three times per person.
- 3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
- 5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries.
To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today November 4 and ends at 10:59 EST on November 18, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.
Disclosure: This review and giveaway was made possible by Pressman Toys and their PR company. They provided me with Mastermind Classic Edition to facilitate this review. The opinions of this review are mine and I received no other compensation.
Meet the Divas – Twitter Edition w/Giveaway
Monday, August 23rd, 2010On our bus ride back to the airport from the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration in February, I saw several familiar faces. Among them were Cecelia and Bridgette. Then I realized that I not only knew them from their blogs and recent venture, they were the ones that had won a night IN Cinderella’s Castle. There they were holding the key, a glass slipper and sharing their magical memories with us.
We talked briefly about their new adventure with the Double Duty Divas. In August of 2009, while at BlogHer in Chicago, they decided to start this project together. To learn more about the Divas head over here.
When I arrived home from Disney, I went to the Double Duty Divas website and signed up to be a part of the group. While at BlogHer in NYC, I was supposed to go for a few minutes to meet up with the other Divas for coffee at Starbucks. Unfortunately, I had a prior commitment and was not able to get there in time. I was in one session with the ladies and Tweeted to them from the front of the room, but never got a chance to say hello.
One of the fabulous things about the Divas is they share with the community of bloggers. An example of this is going on right now!
Meet the Divas Twitter Edition
To help others to see who the Divas are within Twitter, the fabulous Double Duty Divas are having a Blog Tour promoting everyone on Twitter. So why not join in the fun? If you do, you have a chance to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card (Note: one winner will be randomly selected from all participating blogs).
From the Divas: This is a Twitter only giveaway since Twitter followers is our main focus. Readers can use this link to follow the participating Divas with one click. When you click the link and are in the TweepML site, you can uncheck individual Divas to not follow.
So, if you are a member of Twitter and want to have some fun, meet new people and have a chance to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card click on over and follow some of the other amazing Double Duty Divas. Leave me a comment with three members of the Divas that you are following on Twitter along with your Twitter name – it’s that easy!
Extra chances:
Since this is a collaborative giveaway you can get extra chances by going to other Divas blogs and entering at their posts. Come on back here and let me know where you entered for another entry. Please leave a comment for each comment on another bloggers post with a link. You may do this each time.
You may also Tweet the following for an addition entry: #Win a $20 Amazon GC from @DoubleDutyDivas Twitter follow. Open to everyone. @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/cxPMEx #DDDivas
This opportunity will end on September 2, 2010 at 10:59 EST, so I have time to forward the entries to the head Divas to be included in the prize drawing. Good luck, have fun and happy Tweeting!
A few of my blogging friends
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010Not going to be 100% wordless this week. I wanted to take a minute to share some photos of friends that I met (or saw again) at BlogHer ’10 in NYC. Of course, there were many other people that I met and forgot to get photos of. So, here are the photos that I took and some linky love to their websites and Twitter names.
C’est moi along with Debra (A Frugal Friend), Cathi (Simply Cathi) and Kailani (An Island Life)
Deb (Mom of 3 Girls), Christina (Cutest Kid Ever), Me, Kailani (An Island Life) and Xenia (Thanks, Mail Carrier)
Christina, Jennifer (Jenn.nu), Me, hubby (TechyDad)
Christina, Robyn (Robyn’s Online World) and Moi again
Connie (Brain Foggles, Connie’s View, and My Chronic Life) and Me
Shannan (From Cribs to Car Keys) with Moi
Moi with Tamara (Mom RN) and Christina
Me again with Elizabeth (Table4Five, Mom Reviews, Mom Cooks)
Thanks to everyone pictured above and others that I met for so many wonderful BlogHer memories.
New word – Swag
Saturday, August 14th, 2010Dear JSL,
Last Sunday, Daddy and I came home from our weekend away in NYC at BlogHer. You had a fabulous time with Nana and Papa.You went to the local amusement park, a science museum and to see Toy Story 3 again. I actually think you thought twice about coming home. Then we opened up a bag with some new items in it. That was the moment that you learned a new word – SWAG.
Yes, at three you probably assume that is we go away Swag will follow us home. Thank goodness you were so amused with the fabulous Swiper shirt from the people at Nick Jr. that we hid some items away for another time.
Love,
Mommy
_______________________________________
If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.
Charm City Cakes in NYC
Friday, August 13th, 2010Next weekend, we are having a birthday party for NHL. Once again, I need to find out what type of cake he would like me to make. I have made a giant volcano for dinosaurs to parade around and some simple Cars cupcake cones. We shall see what this year has in store.
Making cakes has become a BIG business and art form thanks to shows like Ace of Cakes on the Food Network. I’ll admit that I am a big fan of Duff Goldman. Watching the quirky antics of the staff in Charm City Cakes as they create masterpieces is inspiring.
Little did I know that last Saturday evening I would come face to face with a creation by Charm City Cakes.Take a look:
Sure enough, the Sparklecorn cake was made by the amazing people at Charm City Cakes. You should have seen people (me included) jumping up and down. We were in awe that there was a cake by Ace of Cakes in the building.
My question to you this week is inspired by the cake that we were lucky enough to try while at BlogHer10:
If you could have a cake made by Duff and crew from Charm City Cakes, what would the cake look like and what flavors would you like it to be?
A huge thank you to the amazing people that organized the Sparklecorn Party – what a fun, fun, fun night it was!
Thursday evening in NYC – BlogHer10
Thursday, August 12th, 2010One week ago, we packed up the boys to go to Nana and Papa, met Christina and were on our way to BlogHer10. We drove into NYC in style via our Chevy Tahoe Hybrid courtesy of Chevrolet for the ChevyBlogHer carpool. TechyDad wrote about our adventure and included a video of the pictures from the road. By the time we arrived and had finally left our car to the valet, our nerves were a bit frazzled.
After circling the block several times, seeing a few too many yellow cabs nearly crash into us, and being told the parking lot of the Hilton was full – we were ready to get inside and relax. Luckily, the valet found our rather large SUV a spot to sleep in for the weekened and we were able to head into the hotel to get our rooms. TechyDad and I went to drop off our things in our room on the 31st floor.
We quickly called the boys, left our things and went back downstairs to see when we could officially register for BlogHer. It was still too early, so we went back to our room and I tried to get in touch with Debra, Cathi, and Kailani about the event we were all going to. While I waited, I got ready to head out for a night in NYC. Just as we were about to go down, I heard back from the ladies that they would meet me at the Hilton. They figured they could register and then we would get a taxi to the Toy Industry Association’s Girl’s Night Out.. Christina met us down stairs and we posed for a quick photo all dressed up and ready to go.
Soon it was time to head out with Debra and Cathi, Kailani would be meeting us later on at the dinner. So the three of us went to get a taxi. Thank goodness Debra and Cathi knew what they were doing. We quickly got one and were off to the Dashing Diva Salon for the start of our Girls’ Night Out hosted by the Toy Industry Association. Let me preface this with a HUGE thank you to Adrienne, Stacy, Reyne, Kristen and Joan who made an amazing event for all of us in attendance.
When we walked into this pink palace, there were drinks on the table and gorgeous specialty cupcakes. We signed in and then set off to select a polish color to start with a pedicure. It was during this time that I was able to chat some more with Debra. We had met at DisneySMMoms in February, but never had a lot of time to talk. Here are some photos from the time here.
During our time here, I also met other bloggers. While sitting with my fingers and toes drying, I got chatting with Selfish Mom. As we were talking, she mentioned that she had lived in our area while working at the New York State Theater Institute. When I asked which productions, she was able to list them off and I had actually seen at least two of them. It truly is a small world!
Eventually, it was time to head from the Dashing Diva Salon to Cafeteria for dinner. Once again, we needed to get a cab from one side of town to the other. Here are Reyne and Debra getting us a cab to go.
Once we arrived at Cafeteria, we were whisked away to a private room in the basement. Here there were cocktails and an array of amazing foods served. Check out the bacon popcorn, their infamous macaroni and cheese, and amazing goodies at the end. (I goofed and was too busy chatting and enjoying the other food to take photos.)
Of course, the night was also about finally meeting friends that I have been talking with online for years now. Here are the four of us with our Twitter names above. We represented Hawaii, California, Texas and New York proudly at this dinner.
We also had wonderful conversations with Reyne and Helen from Working Mother Magazine. The evening flew by so fast as we talked about our life experiences, blogs, travel, and love for toys.
When it was time to go, we thanked everyone from the Toy Industry Association, gave lots of hugs and went back in a taxi toward the hotel. TechyDad met up with me to walk back to the Hilton where we went to bed to get ready for a day filled with non-stop sessions, connections and fun. Thank you again to Adrienne, Stacy, Reyne, Kristen and Joan for a magical start to the BlogHer10 weekend. I look forward to working with all of you in the future.
The many characters of BlogHer10
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Post BlogHer10 Tuesday Tales – giveaway reminder
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Today on Tuesday Tales, I was going to review It’s Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder. The book was mentioned in a magazine I was browsing through and I HAD to read it.
NHL and I finished reading the book last week. He was going to help me with the review for today. Then this "little" conference called BlogHer happened from Thursday to Sunday and jumbled up my plans. Rather than rush my review, I am going to postpone it until next Tuesday. Of course, I could not help but smile when there were cupcakes at my first event on Thursday evening. I immediately thought of Isabelle and her family’s adventure within It’s Raining Cupcakes.
In the meantime, please stop by my review from last week on Potty Animals for your chance to win one of 5 copies of the book.
See you next week for my review of It’s Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder.
Wandering NYC and better NY State license plates
Monday, August 9th, 2010On Friday, I wrote about the ugly new license plates in New York State. If you missed that post, you need to check out how far we came over my lifetime, only to go back 10-15 steps. Ugh!
While in NYC for BlogHer, TechyDad and I opted to walk around the streets by the Hilton for a little while. Please note, we were so close to everything it was amazing. We walked a block over to Broadway. First, we saw this:
We opted not to have pizza there and continued to walk down. . .
I drooled and wished that we had tickets to see this:
Sad to say, we did not get to see that or the following:
We kept walking down and saw marque after marque of plays we would not get to see along with other interesting signs. Then we went into the Hershey Store for a few minutes.
There was a lot to see, but it was nothing like their home store in Hershey, PA.
Across the street was another chocolatey retail wonder. Here is the sign as it changed outside:
We had to go inside to wander around the three stories to compare it to the Las Vegas store. Not quite as much, but my oh my a lot of M&M packed into one NYC store!
While there, we saw the solution to the UGLY new New York State license plates. Here they are:
After this, we went back toward the Hilton and stopped by Ray’s Pizza for some slices to go. We wandered back around the corner to the Hilton and went back to the 31st floor to inhale, and relax before day 2 of BlogHer.
More on BlogHer10 coming soon.
