Givit To the People You Love On Video

November 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

My daughter can sing.

And by sing… I mean SING! Sure, I’m her mom.  Sure, I’m biased.  I’m happy to own up to it.  But given the opportunity, I also want the world to hear it.  Because I think she is that good.

One of my favorite songs of all time is Seasons of Love from the musical (and movie) Rent.  When she sings it, I lose all sense of time.  I’ve been known to bribe her with candy just to get her to sing it again and again.  But, the truth is, she is shy.  And though she sings easily as much as she talks, the second you notice her singing, or bring any attention to the beauty of her voice, she stops….she hides, she pretends she has lost the ability to sing.

Last week, I asked her if I could record her singing.  I wanted the people I love – my parents, my in-laws, her god-parents and some of my close friends to hear the magic in her voice.  I will confess… I might have begged a little. At first, she said no, but eventually acquiesced.

At the time, her daddy was out of town.

The recording is glorious.  When she finished….her little brother clapped and whispered to me, ‘that’s my girl!”.

But, she wasn’t willing to let me share it with everyone…. so, how to get this magic in front of the people I love.

My friends at 5Minutes for Mom gave me just the solution I needed…. they asked me to check out a new private video sharing service called Givit.  I shoot it.  Upload the video and share it with as many or as few people as I choose.  Easy and private.  Just the way my small girl likes it.

I win.  I can share Delaney with SOME.  Delaney wins, I haven’t exposed her beautiful vocals to everyone without her permission.  At least until she tells me otherwise.

I listen to it at least 12 times a day.  Her voice makes me that happy.  I promise to share her with you as soon as she will allow me.

This post is part of a sponsored campaign with my friends at 5MinutesForMom.  As always, all opinions and experiences are mine.

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American Girl Launches Two New Dolls with Harry Connick, Jr (And Giveaway)

October 12, 2011 By 71 Comments

 

Update 11/1: Winners posted here

UPDATE 10/22 8pmCST: Contest is CLOSED.  Delaney and I are reading through these amazing entries.  Thank you for sharing your heart.  A winner will be chosen soon. We will have something extra exciting to share so please be patient.

I will admit it. In 2007, when my sweet girl was but one year old, I had never heard of the phenomenon that is the American Girl.  But my mother-in-law had.  And she was thrilled to open both Delaney and I up to the experience. And when Delaney was only a year and half (Fall 2007) we began what is now an annual tradition of heading to Chicago to visit the American Girl Doll Store every November.

When the introductions were first made, I was floored by the culture – the clothes, the hair-stying, the boutique and restaurant, but taken by the stories and history that accompany each doll.  This shared love of these dolls bonded granddaughter to grandmother.

Now, you may already know this – but for the first time ever, American Girl has launched two new dolls together: Cecile and Marie-Grace… as their stories – based in the 1850′s in New Orleasns go hand-in-hand.  Literally.

 

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Allergy Remedies – Have Any for the Miserable?

September 12, 2011 By 3 Comments

This isn’t so much a great big complaint from me (I swear!) as it is a plea for some relief from the uninitiated.  My last go-round with allergies and allergy testing was more than THIRTY years ago.  I’ve been tackling the basic remedies and am relief-less….

Help a girl out, won’t you?

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Smile Like You Mean It…..

September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I am always smiling.  And by always, I do, in fact, mean ALWAYS.

I figure 3 years of braces plus a year of the sexiest neck-gear you have ever seen mean that I have earned the right to flash a smile  every single chance I get.

And I don’t mind telling you that I consider a smile the best asset you have… the best asset I HAVE.  Not because I have an Academy Award winning smile like Julia Roberts, but because it has always made me feel strong, confident and powerful.  When I smile – I let you know I am in charge of my attitude.  I’m CHOOSING to be happy, to invite you in, to tell you, without a word, that I think things are good. And those things ALL combine to make me feel more confident.

As a kid, I didn’t have the fanciest clothes, the designer backpacks, the latest accessories – but I did have a smile.  And I meant it when I used it.  I still do.

Sure, there are lots of things I do to instill self confidence – I’m honest enough to admit vanity plays a role  in my decision to wear make up, get my hair done, exercise (not often enough) and drink water. ( I certainly don’t do it for the taste).  But putting on my smile?  It is the easiest decision I make, the one thing I know I can do at the last minute to make myself feel ready to face the world.

 

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Anheuser Busch Family Talk About Drinking Roundtable Highlights

September 2, 2011 By 7 Comments

It may be a conversation you have yet to broach with your children – underage drinking.

But starting to chat with them when they are young is ideal. By young, I mean preschool.  And by ‘chat’, I don’t mean lecture in a stern voice.

I recently hosted a live virtual roundtable for Anheuser Busch on their Family Talk About Drinking Facebook page. I chatted with two experts, MJ Corcoran, a certified parent coach who helped to revamp the program and Kathy Casso, the VP of Corporate Social Responsibility at Anheuser Busch. The Family Talk program is a guide to help you begin the conversation about underage drinking with your children when they are young, stick with it when they are in middle school and continue it into high school and college. The program lasted 40 minutes –  but these are the highlights.

I’m so proud of this project… I hope you take the time to watch.

Tell me – what do you think?

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Childhood Hunger: How You Can Join Me, Con Agra and Mark Saling from Glee in the Fight

September 1, 2011 By 2 Comments

This past weekend, I went home.

And by home, I don’t mean St. Louis.  Right…. St. Louis is where I LIVE, but it isn’t where I’m FROM.

I’m from Los Angeles.  And LA will ALWAYS feel like home to me.  Even when I’m not playing with friends and visiting the beach.

Even when the reason I’m visiting is because of a need in the city, so intense, it makes my heart hurt.

More than 700 thousand kids in the LA area are hungry.  Some don’t know where they will find their next meal.  SOme live, day-in and day-out with that aching in their belly, the headache that starts when you just don’t have enough to eat.

I’m just one person.  But me + a whole lot of fantastic people…. like Mark Saling from Glee (yes! PUCK!) and the amazing team behind the Con Agra Foods Foundation and Feeding America are parterning to End Childhood Hunger. This is my third time joining this effort…. and this time?  We’re getting the schools on board through Schools Fight Hunger.

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Project Motorola XOOM: An Adventure

August 15, 2011 By 4 Comments

I used to sit in my 8th grade classroom and then my high school ones, baffled by the word c-o-m-p-u-t-e-r.

It was a whole new world.  A brave one.  A confusing one.  A big blue screen and flashing cursor.  Bits and bytes.  Out of my league.  I didn’t jump in.  Back then, I wasn’t an ‘early adopter’.

I didn’t speak tech.  And I will confess to being very afraid.

And then there was the Internet.  And email.

But a few years ago something changed. Technology began to reach out to people like me…. a degree in computer science wasn’t a requirement to embrace this space. Computers…  they have moved from my desk to my lap. From cell phones to smartphones and tablets – oh my!!!

The TABLETS…. recently I was given one of these… a Motorla XOOM to try out.  Until it arrived, I had been carrying my laptop with me EVERYWHERE. I took the XOOM with me to BlogHer in San Diego.

(Can I confess my previous inner dialogue regarding tablets?  It is much like someone mentally mouthing off about kids before they have kids…. I would sit…  fill in the blank: at the airport, in a restaurant and think: SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?  It looks like a big phone. Meh. I can admit when I’m wrong.)

And I was wrong… on so many levels.

Though I love my smartphone, it is not a replacement for my laptop.

I cannot update my blog from my phone, but from the XOOM?  Piece of cake.  (You see the picture?  That is me updating my site FROM. THE. CAR. – no, I wasn’t driving…. that would be a good trick, wouldn’t it?)

With the XOOM I can multi-task.  I am a working mom.  Being able to do many things at once is crucial for me. Just like on my laptop, I can open multiple browsers, Twitter and Facebook at the same time.

It is simple to take notes, keep track of my favorite applications and stay in touch with anyone, at anytime.

Oh….and there is VIDEO.  Ok… yes, I know, I know….  everything I do has video right?  BUT, here is the difference…. not everything my husband uses has video.  Let me explain.  1) The XOOM has a built in camera (you will see how well it works in the video below) and 2) I travel a fair amount.  3) I miss my small people.  I mean a lot.  And lately, my small girl has really been taking it hard.  We did a video about it.  So, one of the things that makes the travel easier is a little face to face time.  Makes sense, right? Well, on this lovely XOOM we simply pull up Google chat, my husband can do the same on his computer and home and voila! I SEE MY SMALL PEOPLE.  And that, my friends…. is a little slice of heaven.

Let’s just say we considered exploring the XOOM a bit of an adventure….

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