Coast 2 Coast Mom

12 Days of Change ONE.org Campaign - Day 8 May Linger

I'm excited to write about our experience participating in the ONE.org campaign "12 Days of Change." My friend SelfishMom and ONE.org have enlisted a dozen mom bloggers to try one of 12 ways to help better the world by starting in our own communities and families. I hope this inspires someone to try one of these ideas to help make a difference - without spending a dime. . .

So what did I choose to do to support ONE.org in building awareness and bettering the world?

After dinner, turn off all electronics for one night and enjoy an evening with your family.

That's it.

Simple enough, right? Those of you who know me in person know that this was actually a pretty significant sacrifice for our family. I can't remember the last time we watched a movie as a family and didn't also have our smartphones, tablets and laptops nearby to quickly look up a point of trivia, investigate a reference, or something along those lines.

Ford Warriors in Pink supporting Komen Race for the Cure for the 17th Year

2011 marks the 17th year that Ford has been supporting Komen Race for the Cure through the Warriors in Pink program. To date, Ford has dedicated more than $110 million to help promote breast cancer awareness, increase early breast cancer detection and help find a cure. The Warriors in Pink program is one way they raise funds, partially through the branded line of apparel (for women, men and even tots!) and accessories (scarves, ties, hats and mugs, etc.), for which - get this - 100% of the net proceeds for each item goes to Susan G. Komen for the Cure! I love it!!

I checked out the newest line of Warriors in Pink store items last week and have a few of the items that caught my eye:

 

Toyota 100 Cars for Good Submission Deadline Monday

We were watching NBC's Chuck the other night when C2CDad and I looked at each other and laughed at the tongue-in-cheek product placement of the new Toyota Sienna during a stake out. It reminded me that there's less than a week left to enter Toyota's "100 Cars for Good," where 100 nonprofits in the US will receive a Toyota vehicle as voted by the public.

I come into contact with so many deserving nonprofits throughout my day-to-day life and I don't always have more time or money to offer them, so I'm happy to share the news that Toyota's giving away 100 vehicles over the course of 100 days to qualifying non-profit organizations (they must be a registered 501c(3)). Interested groups can submit an application until March 21, 2011, and then beginning May 9th, Toyota will profile five of the qualifying organizations on the Toyota Facebook page for people to vote for the one they think is the most deserving. Selected organizations will be eligible to "win" everything from a Toyota Prius to a Tacoma, Tundra, Highlander Hybrid, Sienna, or Sienna Mobility.

Wear Red on Friday and Capture My Flag for Heart Health

February is all about hearts and Diet Coke is reminding women not to forget about their own. In support of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's effort to celebrate American Heart Month with The Heart Truth campaign, Diet Coke is helping to send an important message to women about the risks of heart disease, the leading cause of death for American women.

Diet Coke's Capture The Flag campaign places heart flags both in the real world and online. When you find one in your real life (check in using Facebook Places) or find one online on popular websites, you can trigger donations to heart health programs. You can also plant your own flag online (like I have here on this site - over to the right) and if someone clicks on it, Diet Coke will donate $.10 to this important cause. So go click on mine!

. . .and please note that this Friday, February 4th is National Wear Red Day - to show that "Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear-It's the #1 Killer of Women," - so please wear red in support of combatting heart disease. 

Design Your Own T-Shirt for Komen For The Cure

In another nod to help find a cure for breast cancer, Hanes recently launched their Design and Buy program that allows you to design your own t-shirt with messages to support the cause. They even offer some t-shirts designed by Melina Kanakaredes of CSI:NY available for purchase, or simply to inspire your own creations. Hanes is donating 10% of the proceeds from all of the custom designed t-shirts to Komen for the Cure.

While you're on their site, be sure to check out the cute Hanes Pink Collection with all of their Passionately Pink for the Cure products. This year Hanes is supporting Komen for the Cure with a $500,000 donation, and I find it endearing when a company supports the same causes that I do.

Special thanks to Hanes for sending me a sample t-shirt and to my sister for modeling it! She reports that it's comfy (as you'd expect from Hanes ;-) ) and fits "rather well."

 

Three "Pink" Tech Accessories Worth Buying

You can't really enter a store or open an email this month and not realize that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It's fantastic seeing pink ribbons everywhere, and hearing about all of the money - and hopes - being raised to find a cure for the disease. There's a comprehensive list of all of the websites and tech-related items supporting the cause this month on Techlicious.

Three of my favorite tech accessory items with a pink twist are the Otterbox "Strength" Blackberry Curve case , the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 Susan G. Komen Special Edition and AblePlanet's foldable active noise-canceling headphones with LINX audio.

Ten percent of the price of each Otterbox pink "Strength" case for Blackberry Curve smart phones is being donated to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade. If I had a Blackberry Curve I'd likely pick one up; I'm such a fan of most everything Otterbox makes. (Honestly, I bet we've sold over a dozen of the Otterbox iPad cases just from us using them around the city and people stopping us to see ours and ask where to get it.) For a limited time, Otterbox is including a "pink is strength" bag with each phone sold. Let's be honest, their associated marketing campaign asking people to "show off your curves" is pretty clever too.

GIVEAWAY: Extend Your Summer with Coldstone Creamery and Make-A-Wish

I remember the first time I entered a Coldstone Creamery. It must have been about nine or ten years ago when we walked into the Town & Country location in Palo Alto. The line was out the door, and we could hear the singing staff members announcing to everyone that they’d received a tip. It was a joyful atmosphere, aside from the smiles that a bowl or cone of ice cream can illicit on its own. I waited my turn in awe, pointing out the signs featuring concocted mixtures of candy, pie, cake and ice cream on the wall to my hubby and watching the staff chop and mix the ingredients together on the icy cold stone counter.

With sizes named “like it,” “love it,” “gotta have it,” and over 11 million possible “creations,” it was as though I’d found my heaven on earth. I mean, come on – they have cake batter flavored ice cream! Lest someone inject, “But that stuff’s so bad for you!” I offer you their webpage with tips for limiting the calories, fat, etc. to enjoy one of their healthier indulgences.
 

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: