Coast 2 Coast Mom

Cupcakes for a Cause this Saturday in Ridgewood

Okay, so I don't need a reason to stop into Cupcakes by Carousel this weekend, but now I absolutely cannot NOT stop in. This Saturday, June 5th, Cupcakes by Carousel will host "Cupcakes for a Cause," with proceeds from their S'mores cupcake benefitting Comfort Zone Camp, a bereavement camp for children ages 7-17 who have experienced the loss of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver.

The camps are located in New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Texas and Virginia and the children attend free of charge. Cupcakes by Carousel's goal for the day is to cover the cost for a child to attend this summer, so there's no reason to feel badly about taking home a dozen . . .even if they are all for yourself. Cupcakes freeze well . . . right? ;-)

"Hours for indulging" at Cupcakes by Carousel on Saturday are from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and they're located at 192 E Ridgewood Ave in Ridgewood, N.J. next to the Clearview Cinemas Warner Quad Theater.

Volunteerism On The Rise: Yay! We're a Part of a Movement

This post is inspired by the Yahoo! Motherboard's topic of the month: volunteerism. Evidence points to an increase in volunteerism this past year, and while I can only guess as to why that is, I can say definitively that our family is a part of that upswing. Check out the site to read more posts by other Motherboard bloggers.

Our frequent moves have made me hyper-sensitive about raising our son with a connection to his family and community. It's important to me that he knows where he comes from, and feels a part of the world around him. So we walk around town completing errands and chatting with the store owners and workers we've come to know, we attend the local summer parades, and last year we started the habit of participating in charity walks and races in the greater NYC area as often as we can. This gives us the opportunity to explore and connect with our community as a family.

There are just so many different causes that we'd like to support, but we don't have the funds - or time - on one full salary to support 'em all, though we do as many as we can, usually two a month from spring to fall. I've written before about doing 5ks as a family and how we do it to instill a healthy lifestyle in the kiddo while getting us up early and moving so we're all outside breathing fresh air and circulating the endorphins for a great family day. I personally enjoy doing so many walks and races because it gives us the opportunity to explore the greater NYC area without traffic early in the morning, and we usually get some great views, photos and experiences out of it. ...plus those warm fuzzies for having done some "good."

Help Share Our Strength with the Bread Art Project

I took our budding little artist along with me into the city recently to learn more about the Bread Art Project, a program created by the non-profit Grain Foods Foundation and launching in 2010 with Food Network host Melissa d'Arabian and Share Our Strength, working toward the goal of ending childhood hunger in America by 2015. (Food Network fans may remember Melissa as the winner of season five of The Next Food Network Star and now host of her own series, "Ten Dollar Dinners.")

We listened to Melissa speak about why feeding hungry kids is so important to her and how critical whole grains are to nourish growing bodies. (Whole grains being a good source of complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins and nutrients and can play a role in lowering a person's risk for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.) I was surprised to learn that 17 million children - nearly one in four struggles with hunger, and the ways children can suffer because of hunger:

 

Raising a Baseball Super Fan, or a Sports Diplomat?

It's a dreary day today, but yesterday was near perfect for the Run for the Wild: Save the Tigers 5K at The Bronx Zoo. Li'l Boo insisted on wearing his Detroit Tigers shirt for the Tiger run. (Thanks to his aunts for sending it to him.) He covered it up in the chilly morning with his zip-up Yankees hoodie, which was a great choice as we learned upon arrival for the race that the Yankees World Series trophy would be on display for photos at the end of the race.

Check Out Headphonies for Haiti: A Donation with Each Purchase

Now that holiday gift-giving is behind us, many of us are looking for ways to customize their techno gifts (such as iPhones, Droids, gaming devices and the like) with personalized cases, coverings or other accessories. One speaker accessory that I saw and liked the looks of at CES was the Mobi headphonie.

I haven't tried them out myself yet (soon), so this isn't a review or endorsement, but I just learned about the headphonies for Haiti fundraising campaign and this DOES endear them to me. If I'm going to purchase something, I like that the company is supporting a cause that I care about.  Announced earlier today, Mobi will donate $1 from the purchase of each headphonie sold on www.headphonies.com from January 18th - February 28th, 2010 to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.

These Headphonies won an Innovations Award from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) at CES last week and drew quite a crowd at their booth. (Yeah, these small speakers were a BIG deal.)

Join Me In Taking The Pearl Pledge - It Doesn't Cost a Dime, and May Save A Life

Womens healthcare is a hot button for me, as I find that many women manage the health of their family members, their careers, the household, and seem to let their own healthcare slip through the cracks. It doesn't happen on purpose. It's as easy as leaving the dentist and telling them to just send you a postcard because there's no way you can commit to an appointment six months from then as you race out the door to pick up a child from an event or get back into the office. Then the postcard arrives, and it gets buried in a drawer or on a desk pile, and when you finally get back into the dentist, it's been a year and you now need a root canal. (Not that this has happened to me, but it isn't far from the truth. I wouldn't be surprised if it does happen - and often.)

Night at the Museum 2 DVD Launch Event at Madame Tussauds

It was a fun coincidence that we saw Night at the Musem 2: Battle of the Smithsonian a month after we last visited Washington D.C. with Li'l Boo. He was excited to see the sequel - even as a three-year old - and sat rapt in the theater commenting along the way in his sweet little boy voice "that's Abraham Lincoln - we saw him!" and other sites he recognized throughout the movie. Beyond the sites, one of his favorite characters from the Night at the Museum movies is the capuchin monkey. In fact, he throws out "capuchin monkey" whenever we get to the letter "C" in the animal alphabet game on our roadtrips or at restaurants.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian was just released on DVD on December 1st, and will find its way into Li'l Boo's hands this holiday season. Though I had to opt out of taking my son to the DVD launch event for one of his favorite movies, I had my hubby attend for me at Madame Tussauds to celebrate the unveiling of historical wax figures featured in the movie. Actress Mizuo Peck (Sacajawea in Night at the Museum) and the Crystal the Monkey both attended the DVD launch event, and I instantly regretted not taking Li'l Boo as I reviewed the photos and video my hubby took. Li'l Boo would have loved seeing the capuchin monkey! The kids in attendance all looked to be having a fantastic time petting Crystal and making wax casts of their hands. The new exhibit features the likenesses of Amerlia Earhart, Napoleon and President Abraham Lincoln. They look SO lifelike! You can check out the Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian wax display at Madame Tussauds now through January 3, 2010.

Crystal the Monkey was such an entertainer. She was smiling, would raise her hand when everyone else in the photo did, and held up a DVD for photo shots - check out the video below from the DVD release press conference below. Kinda makes me want to get a trained monkey instead of another child . . . kinda. I'm planning to take Li'l Boo to the museum to check out the exhibit once we're all healthy again.

Easy Ways to Help Stand Up For Heroes With Remind.org

Wednesday night c2cdad and I attended Remind.org's annual Stand Up For Heroes event at the Town Hall  in NYC. Stand Up For Heroes is a part of the New York Comedy Festival and is a night of comedy, fundraising and special musical performances. This was our second time to attend Stand Up For Heroes, and I can say that I left both events grateful, inspired and motivated to do more for the cause. The Bob Woodruff Foundation has done a tremendous job understanding, anticipating and responding to the stresses and difficulties involved in a wounded soldier's road to recovery and reintegration into his/her community - no matter if the injury in question is physical or psychological.

One of the examples of their work that struck home with me was how Remind.org helped a new mom by covering the cost of childcare three full days a week so that se could focus solely on her husband's rehab and recovery and relieve her of her dueling priorities in the hospital. I could not imagine what it must have been like for her to have had an infant/toddler with her stuck inside the hospital while she supported and tended to her recovering husband for months on end. Because not only would she have likely needed just a moment to think or a few minutes to take care of herself, but also how stifled the toddler must have felt stuck inside a hospital or rehab room, and not getting the freedom of being home, or in the outdoors or fresh air. Not only do the returning troops need support returning to their communities, but the entire family is affected and may need resources or advice in adjusting to their new life together. 

The event was hosted by NBC's very capable Brian Williams who kept the audience apprised of updates in the Yankee/Phillies world series game throughout the evening and if you've caught his appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, then you already know that he has quite the sense of humor. The audience gave perhaps the longest ovation I've stood and applauded for in my lifetime for the recovering soldiers in attendance, which in and of itself was moving. 

Video messages from First Lady Michelle Obama and former President George H. W. Bush, and Jon Stewaqrt were shown as well as a montage of featured soldiers and how Remind.org supported their recovery. Elvis Costeollo kicked off the live performances with two accoustic songs (loved "Sulfur to Sugarcane!"), then came Bruce Springsteen, who performed three songs including "Born to Run" and "The Rising." (Sooo awesome!) He shared some adult humor in between songs, so email me if you're really interested in them and I'Il share them as they're not approriate to share here. The Boss then auctioned off the guitar he played (signed), with Jamie Niven of Sotheby's conducting the auction - which brought in $50k for the guitar and tickets to Bruce's upcoming show at at Madison Square Garden complete with backstage passes!

Louis CK performed after the auction and fundraising portion of the event, and I laughed nearly the whole time he was on stage! He did a bit about volunteering in the school cafeteria, and getting his kids ready for school and I found both bits hilarious. I was excited to see Stephen Colbert for the first time in person, sporting his camo suit and presenting slides of his recent USO trip to Iraq. Then came Lisa Lampanelli who was funny and teased several soldiers in the front row and left me ashamed for laughing at more than half of her material. My bloggy friend @madijack is a huge fan of hers, so I just had to snap a photo of her on stage (see below).

How can you help the Remind.org cause?

1. If you have the means, I encourage you to check out some of the very cool items and experiences up for auction by November 18th to benefit Remind.org

2. Purchase Philosophy's Remind U.S. shampoo, shower gel and bubble bath for $20, and ALL of the net proceeds go directly to the Bob Woodruff Foundation

3. Subscribe to Woman's Day for only 67 cents an issue, and $2.00 from each paid subscription will be donated to the Bob Woodruff Foundation visit http://pay-womansday.com/bwf 

4. Tweet to Remind.org Donate $11.11 by Veteran's Day 11/11/09 to help to raise $1.9 million for Remind.org

5. Or check out Remind.org for more ways you can take action in your own community.

 

Wear Jeans or Test Your Vocabulary Skills To Support Save The Children's Survive To 5 Program And Today's World Pneumonia Summit

Today I'm doing something out of the ordinary, I am attending an intellectual summit for World Pneumonia Day in NYC. The goal of the summit is to raise awareness of inexpensive solutions that already exist to prevent newborn and early childhood deaths, and to encourage citizens worldwide to request increased government funding to reduce deaths in children up to five years old. You read that right. The tools to prevent and treat pneumonia already exist, and they are inexpensive - yet each year two million children under five years old die from pneumonia. According to the World Pneumonia Day coalition, that's more childhood deaths from pneumonia than from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

So what can YOU do to recognize World Pneumonia Day? For starters, you can check out the site to learn more about the coalition working to prevent unnecessary deaths in children under five years old worldwide. You can test your own knowledge and introduce your children to information about the scourge of pneumonia with this game on the SaveThe Children Survive To 5 site. Or, I've become addicted to playing the vocabulary game at GiveVaccines.org, which donates funds to purchase .01ml of vaccines for each correct answer in the game - and it costs you nothing to play! I LOVE it! The hallmark of World Pneumonia Day supporters woudl be to wear jeans today, as the request was made to wear jeans to work in honor of the cause, and to donate the cost of your dry cleaning (@ $8) to the campaign.

Or you may also tune in to the World Pneumonia Summit live online and learn about things like:

• How pneumonia is one of the most solvable problems in children's health globally,
• How to engage global governments to advocate for more funding to improve education and access to healthcare to diagnose the disease in time to save a life, and
• The new 5 by 15: Saving 5 million children's lives by 2015 initiative.

In case you're wondering how inexpensive is inexpensive when it comes to preventing or treating the disease,  I spoke with Mary Beth Powers, campaign chief for Save The Children's Survive to 5 program, and learned some ways the coalition is working to educate people to prevent the disease. Such as educating new mothers to breastfeed exclusively for six months to build up immunity to various viruses or infections. The Survive to 5 program is also teaching women to avoid giving newborns honey to sweeten their disposition as it can do more harm to the baby than good. Their training people as healthcare workers to increase access to knowledgeable officials who can diagnose pneumonia and treat it - I was surprised to learn that it costs less than $1 to treat a case of pneumonia!

I'll follow-up with a recap post on the event and information from my call with Powers, and you can check my posts this week for additional information.

Full Disclosure: I am honored to attend the World Pneumonia Day summit on behalf of Vicks, a member of the global coalition to bring awareness to child pneumonia. Vicks is working with Save The Children on programs that enable consumers to help children suffering from pnumonia worldwide. This is a part of P&G's commitment to improve the lives of children around the world to help them Live, Learn and Thrive (LLT). 

When Companies Do One Nice Thing, I Pass It On

I recently read Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer as part of the Silicon Valley Moms Blog Network monthly book club. It's a book filled with easy examples of ways to do one nice thing a week for others - to make their day, to create a domino-effect of spreading joy, and to feed your own soul by doing good for others. I subscribe to the Do One Nice Thing premise and have experienced first-hand how being charitable can boomerang back to you. In my opinion, the one good deed doesn't just stop at the deed, but the kindness lives on in other unexpected ways. The ideas in this book include examples like paying it forward by paying for the next car's order at the drive-thru, among others  . . . Which got me thinking about my favorite drive-thru coffee shop and how they did one nice thing for me, and I've been a loyal customer ever since.

We've taken three roadtrips to Michigan from New Jersey this year and one of the highlights of our trips - other than visiting family, or celebrating the events we were there for, is when we reach Michigan and stop at a Biggby Coffee. With fun and whimsical names like "teddy bear," "moon boot," and "s'mores" the coffee drinks are smooth, rich and inventive. One of my favorites is the white chocolate mint latte, one of my hubby's faves is the caramel marshmallow latte. It's something we actually plan our route by and look forward to along the 10 to 12 hour drive. Each time we visit a location, the staff is friendly and helpful. This may stereotypically be a Midwest-thing, but it is such a welcome change from the service we are accustomed to at our local coffee place on the East coast, that it makes getting coffee a nice, warm experience. At Biggby, they curtail their personal conversations and almost always ask us a question, or remark on something about us: "nice purse,"  "how old is he," or "where are you headed,"  At our local east coast joint, the most I'm usually asked is "what can I get started for you?' or "do you want whipped cream on top?" and I'm there once or twice a week.

It started last winter when I acquiesced to my family's prompting to try Biggby Coffee (they are all regular customers) and I went through the drive-thru of a Kalamazoo, Mich.  location with my sister and our two li'l ones in the backseat. We ordered and after some friendly banter at the menu board, it took a couple of minutes for our order to be ready - in all honesty, we were the only car in line at the drive-thru at that time, and we didn't notice it taking an inordinate amount of time anyway. Before our drinks were ready, the drive-thru worker gave us a card for a free drink to make up for our wait. I was shocked. We didn't make any comments or ask for it; this was just offered to us, and it had only been about 120 seconds longer than it should have taken. So on top of drinking a good, unique latte and having a pleasant experience, our time and patronage were valued. On that first trip when I tried Biggby, I returned through the drive-thru the following three mornings! I've been hooked and visit Biggby now everytime we're in the vicinity, and although that may  only be a couple of times a year, our frequent beverage card will likely be redeemed for a free drink on our next trip, and we live over 700 miles away! I'd love for Biggby to open a location in New Jersey - in part because they did one nice, unexpected thing for us.

Debbie Tenzer is on to something with her book about individuals committing to doing one nice thing a week, and how generosity is contagious. I've learned about Lands End's Feel Good sweater knitting campaign and was moved to not only purchase a sweater, but to register as a volunteer charitable knitter with Warming Families. If you're looking for ideas for ways to bring some joy to your own life or contribute to your community or those in need around the world, I recommend picking up Do One Nice Thing. I also encourage you to check out some of the other Mom's takes on Debbie's book when the nationwide monthly book club recap is posted on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog on Tuesday, September 29th.