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The year that was 2010

Posted on January 1, 2011 11:30 am by TheAngelForever

Happy 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.

Categories:
Blogging Conference bloggy friends BlogHer cousins Disney DisneySMMoms family holidays jl jsl looking back me moments nhl photos TechyDad

My Keurig cure

Posted on December 13, 2010 7:56 am by TheAngelForever

Just before I met TechyDad, I gave up caffeine over the summer. As a college student, I had become overly dependent on Mt. Dew for breakfast and any other time of day. This constant influx of caffeine (and likely sugar) had caused my body to crave it and resulted in massive headaches. The week I stopped drinking caffeinated beverages was VERY difficult.

Once the caffeine was out of my system, my headaches stopped for many years. Over the last year or so, I noticed the headache pattern was returning. Mr. Migraine was back in full force! One of my doctors suggested some migraine medication, but I was not a fan. A prescription that I tried years ago literally made it so TechyDad was not sure if I was alive. It scared both of us. The doctor then suggested trying something like Excedrin Migraine. I was hesitant because of the caffeine content, but became a believer because it worked!

Soon after that, I tried some coffee at my parent’s house. They had a nifty new Keurig machine and it intrigued me. I noticed that on days where I had a cup of coffee there, the headaches stayed away. Hmmmm…. Although I was not a fan of the caffeine, the small amount keeping away the larger pain seemed well worth the trade off.

There were days when I would run over to my parents house to visit their machine because I could feel the headache coming on. Most of the time, if I caught it quick enough, the coffee would work. TechyDad does not like coffee. We have a coffee machine that we have never opened. I secretly wished for my own Keurig machine, but could not see spending the money on something that would mainly be for me. Each time I heard about Keurig giveaways on blogs, I would enter.

Most of the time there would be hundreds of entries and I never once thought too much about it. Then last weekend I was looking in my spam e-mails. There was a message from Jennifer of The Dirty t Shirt. After reading the note, I ran to tell TechyDad. Yes, I won Jennifer’s Millstone Coffee and Folgers Gourmet Selections K-Cups and Keurig Single-Cup Brewer! Much to my surprise, a rather large box was waiting for me when I arrived home on Friday. Inside was the following:

My parents joke that they will never see me again now that I have my own Keurig. I laugh at them and blame them for making me like the machine so much. I will say, I really enjoyed waking up and having a cup of coffee at home whenever I wanted it. Certainly made for a nice Sunday afternoon.

So, on this Monday morning I ask you, are you a coffee drinker? If you have a Keurig machine, I would love to know tips on places to purchase K-Cups.

Categories:
bloggy friends family interesting looking back me moments pain photos

Vera Bradley birthday goodness

Posted on December 10, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As I sit and type this, my birthday has almost come and gone. I was afraid to wake up Thursday morning and face the day because of what happened last year on my birthday. I even wrote about it with my cake request. Thankfully, it was a very nice day. I will write more about it later on.

Most years, I have a hard time knowing what I would like for my birthday. This year, I knew I needed a camera. TechyDad took care of that for my birthday, along with part from my parents. When my mother questioned me a while back, I mentioned that I thought I would like a Vera Bradley purse. I fell in love with Vera Bradley when I was teaching. Many of my students had bags that they used from various collections. One year, I even received my own Vera Bradley pencil case. I use it to hold my MP3 player since it is the perfect size.

I was not really sure which one that I wanted. We went and looked around a few times. After one stop, I knew just the style and pattern that I liked. My mother eventually went back to the store and got the exact one that I mentioned that day.

Isn’t she pretty? I know it’s kind of bold and funky, but I love her. Here is a closer look at my Villager in Symphony in Hue.

So my question to you is inspired by my first ever Vera Bradley bag:

Do you like Vera Bradley and/or have any items? Please share, I would love to know which type and patterns.

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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 linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #129

Categories:
Aloha Friday birthday family looking back me moments photos

My cake request

Posted on December 9, 2010 7:42 am by TheAngelForever

Hi, I am a figment of your imagination today – you know like the cute purple fellow below:

Today I am going to be here and there. Last year on this day I was stuck home in this:

The day was definitely a day I will remember, but for all of the wrong reasons. This year has to be better. It is freezing cold outside, but no snow is supposed to show up. My mother has the day off to spend with me.

So please excuse me while I dream of warm places and wish I was in a magical location for the day. If only I could have a fun cake like this:

Categories:
birthday Disney looking back me moments winter

The joys of a camera that works

Posted on December 6, 2010 8:55 am by TheAngelForever

Just after JSL was born, I decided that I wanted to get a small digital camera that I could easily transport with me while out and about with the kids. As an early birthday present, TechyDad bought me a Canon PowerShot A570. I have written about my adventures with this camera before, including here and here. To make a long story short, the camera stopped being able to recognize fully charged batteries in less than a year. Many web sites show reviews and similar complaints from other people, but Canon would not acknowledge it. A local camera store gave me a fix that worked for a short time.

Once again, my camera stopped working and was never charged even with new batteries in it. I was frustrated and upset. The timing was perfect with Chanukah and my birthday this week, so I asked to get a new digital camera. TechyDad and I finally narrowed it down to Panasonic DMC-FH20. Unfortunately, each time a Canon was suggested I could not think about it after my recent experience. Sad, since I know Canon cameras are good. TechyDad’s digital imaging friends said the Panasonic was great.

On Friday, my camera arrived and I have not looked back. Although I am still getting used to the menu options and settings, I am in love. My little red powerhouse (seen above in a bad photo taken by my cell phone) takes amazing shots and is easy to toss right into my purse for on the go moments. Below are a few photos from the weekend via my new camera.

The boys sat and were cooperative letting me take photos of their new Agent P pajamas that they picked out for Chanukah.

TechyDad trying to figure out his new camera. I can’t wait for him to share the photos from his DSLR, they are unreal!

Front and back of the new Mickey and Minnie pieces that my parents gave us for Chanukah. Later I will share some of the macro shots of these, they were pretty amazing for a tiny point-and-shoot camera.

The boys concentrating on their games. Note the dimples on both of them! Please excuse the hat hair. All three of the boys had just gotten their hair cut and it was being a bit defiant.

A macro shot of my Chanukah earrings. TechyDad and I were both using them to test our cameras last night. It only took us a few minutes to realize what the Hebrew on them said (we then realized we both need sleep).

While knitting a little, I had to pull out my camera. I have not been able to get a decent photo of the yarn I am currently using. I think this did it. You can see the swirls of purples and other colors within it. Now I just need to finish the scarf so I can use it.

Just thought I would share a few items from the weekend via my new handy dandy Panasonic camera that TechyDad and my parents bought for me. Thank you again everyone, I love it!