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Blogging Conference in July

Posted on March 26, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

If you have been following my Tweets recently, you may have noticed that @CutestKidEver and I are up to something. The two of us have been working on a big project for quite a while now. We figured that it was time to have a blogging conference in the Northeast. Sure, BlogHer is in NYC this year, but typically it moves from place to place. We wanted to offer something that would be easier for people that lived within our region of the country to have a chance at something in driving distance. In addition to this, Christina and I wanted it to be budget friendly for people further away to come.

We have visited a few venues for the event and are pretty close to making a final decision. Things have been hushed to this point because we are still ironing out the details. My question to you this week:

Would you be interested in a blogging conference in July? Let us know things you would like included in a conference.

At this point, we believe we are talking about July 9-11 and it would be in the area close to the Albany Airport in New York State. We are working on a package deal that would include lodging, meals and the conference itself. Transportation would be the only additional item you would need. Many items are in swing in this area during the summer, so you could even make a mini-family vacation to locations like Saratoga, Lake George and beyond! So excited to finally let the cat partially out of the bag. I hope to see you this summer!

Please be sure to check out my mirra products, Cook’s Ham $30 for Easter, and Dove Men+Care giveaways. Stay tuned because more will be coming very soon.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #92

Categories:
Aloha Friday Blogging Conference bloggy friends decisions interesting

Children Count Too – Census 2010

Posted on March 11, 2010 10:31 am by TheAngelForever

Every ten years, the United States does a Census to update important information about the population within each area of the country. This will actually be the first time that I participate in this event. In past years, I was unmarried and still living with my parents while going to college. In mid March, we will be receiving these important papers and it is extremely important to fill them out and record information accurately.

Right now, the United States Census is trying to get the word out to all Americans that children count. Why is this so important? Here are some of the facts:

Why Children Count Too

Children have been undercounted in every census since the first one in 1790. Local communities rely on census information in planning for schools, child care, health and other critical services. Babies need to be counted today, so they can benefit tomorrow from community services.

Census counts are used, in whole or in part, for more than 140 programs that distribute more than $400 billion of federal funds to states and localities, including such child-focused programs as:

Special Education Grants to states ($10.8 billion)

Head Start ($6.9 billion)

State Children’s Health Insurance Program ($5.9 billion)

Foster Care Title IV-E ($4.7 billion)

Improving Teacher Quality State Grants ($2.9 billion)

Unlike adults, who may bear some responsibility for making sure they are counted in the Census, children are dependent on others to make sure they are included. Yet in 1980, 1990, and 2000, Census Bureau data show children, particularly young children, are one of the groups most likely to be missed in the Census. In fact, in the 2000 Census, there was a net undercount of more than 1 million children under age 10.

As a parent, teacher and more importantly citizen of the United States, it frightens me that our children are not properly counted and could possibly not get federal funding for needed items because of something so simple. The Census form that will show up in about a week will consist of 10 simple questions. Please do your part and fill it out and remember to count ALL of your children – including infants. You can learn more about the 2010 Census here.

My question for you today:

Have you filled out a Census for your family in the past? If you did, did you make sure to count your children?

Disclosure: I am posting this information as a public service because I feel it is important to get the information out to my readers. Global Influence is helping spread the word about this public service campaign.

Categories:
interesting real world news

Guy Kawasaki and Day of Volunteers – DisneySMMoms

Posted on February 25, 2010 3:52 pm by TheAngelForever

One of the items I learned to love about the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration was the element of surprise. Few details were given to us about most of the days of the conference. We knew about certain key note speakers and family events at night, but most details were mysteries to those of us that were attending this first ever event. As a first time conference goer, I did not know any different. Of course, it made me nervous, but by the end of Thursday I embraced them.

Thursday morning of Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we had to be on the bus to Epcot at 7:30 in the morning. I met up with @CutestKidEver to go to the event. The buses took back entrances that dropped us off right at the are where the breakfast with Guy Kawasaki was taking place. Guy did a live Twitter presentation about how to use Twitter as a Marketing Weapon.

For more about the session, please head over to Christina’s Live Blog from the event (holy cow does she type fast). What I learned from Guy Kawasaki is that I can use Twitter more to reach my readers/followers. Rather than simply Tweeting about a new blog post, it is ok to do it a few times. Of course, the balance in my mind is not to get to the point that people think you are spamming up their Twitter feeds. I had done this with Tweets about my giveaways, but never thought to do it with my regular content. This is something that has been changed.

Now for a confession. During Guy’s talk, I received a text message from my husband. My heart sank because I knew he would not send one unless something was up. Sure he would Tweet, but a text was not good news. There I was sitting at a table right in front. The message was that my 2 yr old son fell and was hurt. Insert mommy guilt here. I sent a text back asking for more information. All I knew was that he fell out of the stroller and went forehead first into the marble floor at the Polynesian. Howls were heard and ice was received thanks to the cast memebers nearby. They decided to head to First Aid at Epcot and get checked and get more ice. Soon after, I received this picture message of the item bought to bribe JSL into putting ice on his head:

When the breakfast and session were over, we were told to walk to the next area in Epcot . These Volunteer Cans were all over the World Showcase area with tents for things going on throughout the day. Please note the details about the volunteers that Disney included on these decorations:

Soon we would see the new can structure World Record and celebrate volunteer families from each of the 50 states (well at least the ones that were not snowed out from getting there). The room was absolutely amazing. Press was there from all over. Check out the stage area and the balloon that were clearly hiding something.

Once again, Christina set up to Live Blog the session. Look at her work area that produced the great recap of the events as they unfolded before our eyes.

First, we saw the Rapping Janitors perform. Then we heard from special Disney VIPs about how, during the first six weeks of the Give a Day Get a Day program, over 600,000 people have volunteered toward the one million volunteer goal! Of course, they kept teasing with the World Record breaking can structure that was sitting behind the balloons. Eventually, Kermit the Frog came out (with the help of Sweetums) and he introduced special guest Ty Pennington who would do a reveal like on Extreme Home Makeovers. Sorry my camera is not the best, but here are a few pictures that I got from the event:

For amazing photos and information about the World Record breaking can structure, please head over to The Disney Food Blog. AJ was able to get a behind the scenes tour of the structure being built and has an amazing video on her blog.

When this was over, we went to meet up with the boys. They were waiting on line at Epcot to get photos taken with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy. More about the rest of our time at Epcot, heading to the Magic Kingdom and a special evening including a Dinner Impossible, a song by a brother named Jonas and other surprises coming soon.

To read other posts about the DisneySMMoms Celebration please head over to giant lists that have been compiled by 5 Minutes For Mom –> here and Zannaland –> here.

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The $350 conference fee included 3 nights at the Polynesian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.

Categories:
Blogging Conference bloggy friends Disney DisneySMMoms fun interesting

Scanning old picture memories

Posted on February 2, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I have always loved looking at old photos. Growing up, I remember pulling our old photo albums that my parents had made. They ranged in topics from when I was first born, growing up, birthdays, Disney World vacations and beyond. My parents collected items to do 70’s and 80’s style scrap books. I love looking at the attention to detail in the books. Unfortunately, the old albums contained chemicals that are damaging to the memories within them. We now need to figure out a way to rescue them.

Last year, JL’s grandmother passed away. When this happened, he wanted to help and preserve the photos from her past. He agreed to get a new scanner and capture them onto DVDs for all of his relatives. That project involved scanning over 200 photos. I always figured when JL was finished we would move onto the photos that my parents have.

The other night after dinner, I asked my father to help me find the old albums in the basement. We brought up my baby album, along with two from Disney World. In addition to that, there was a shoebox filled with a variety of photos. These ranged from when my brother and I were little, trips to Disney World, Hershey Park, Circus World, fun with neighbors, and Girl Scouts. My father wants us to figure out how to work on the photos that are in the albums without ruining them. So for the time being I took home the shoe box to work on.

Thanks to getting ready to go away, I pulled out 30 pictures that I really wanted scanned. The other night, JL did them for me. I now have photos scanned of my Nana & Papa, special times with my cousins (whoa the 80’s hair), and little me getting autographs of characters at Disney World and more. Below are a few to preview.

This would be my family at Disney World. We were staying at the Contemporary Resort. This is the day bed in the room. My mother is hiding behind me and that is my little brother just before he turned three.

Here we are waiting for Dad to fix his big camera on the concourse at the Contemporary Resort. This is basically right outside of where Chef Mickey is now located.

This would be my little brother taking a nap in the really old style Disney strollers. Holy cow have these suckers changed over the decades! I believe we were waiting outside a garden at EPCOT waiting to meet up with family friends.

Those are just a few of the photos that were scanned. I will be sharing more in the next few weeks.

Do you scan your old photos to preserve them for future generations? Always curious to see what others are doing.

Categories:
Disney family interesting looking back me moments photos

Meet Piggy Oink-Oink

Posted on January 5, 2010 9:43 pm by TheAngelForever

I would like you to meet Piggy. Or, as JSL calls her "Piggy Oink-Oink" using snorting noises on the hyphenated part of her name. This is Piggy taking a moment to text message her friends on Twitter.

Way back in October/November, when we were bribing NHL to go to swim lessons, he asked for the Mouse from Kohls Cares for Kids. The deal was to go in the pool with no issues two weeks in a row and we would buy him the Mouse.

Of course, when you buy NHL a Mouse, chances are JSL will want something too.

Rather than pick the Moose, JSL quickly demanded the Pig. I figured that Piggy would become like every other stuffed friend in our house – a dust magnet. Seriously, neither of the boys had ever snuggled a stuffed animal. We would buy them for special events, like at Disney World, but they would rest on their beds with perfect fur.

There must have been something different with Piggy. Since she came into the family, Piggy has been all over. As we noticed how attached JSL was with Piggy, we realized we should probably buy a Piggy Part Deux, just in case something should happen to the original Piggy Oink-Oink. The day before Thanksgiving JSL and I went to Kohls and picked up a back up Piggy.

Piggy goes near and far, to the couch and in the car. He is often on the floor and is a favorite pillow or wrestling buddy. After a month or so, we noticed how loved Piggy has become, she is the first stuffed friend that has matted fur in our house. JSL loves her so much that he even allowed Piggy to try on his new scarf that I made for him. Here is Piggy modeling the scarf.

His love for Piggy makes me wonder. Perhaps there is more to this love for Piggy Oink-Oink. This may be my little guy following in my footsteps. After all, I had several Miss Piggy (a la Muppets fame) dolls that went all over with me and collected pigs growing up. Must locate photos of myself with Miss Piggy from years ago at Nana & Papa’s house to compare to photos of JSL.