Coast 2 Coast Mom

Milk Mustache Breakfast In Bed GIVEAWAY #GotMilk #MilkToastToMom

I’ve been working over Mother’s Day weekend with The National Milk Mustache “got milk?” Campaign to promote their milk with breakfast initiative, and the launch of the new Katie Couric Breakfast Project ad campaign. They’ve sponsored this giveaway and given me an inside look at the making of the ads with Katie Couric and her daughters.

Mother’s Day morning can feel a lot like Christmas morning: filled with anticipation, whispers, and when little kids are involved, proud li’l helpers. After an hour and a half of laying in bed listening to the Kiddo and my husband in the kitchen, I was antsy and attempted to creep downstairs to start the day when the Kiddo ran up to block my descent yelling, “We’re almost done! Go back to bed! We’re bringing you breakfast in bed!” So back I went, to complete another Sodoku puzzle or two.

When they did come up bringing breakfast on a tray, it was beautiful and de-lish! :-D Here’s what my first ever Mother’s Day breakfast in bed looked like:

GIVEAWAY: You can win your own items to toast yourself or someone you love with breakfast in bed, thanks to the Milk Mustache campaign. The breakfast in bed giveaway set includes everything you see here:

That's 1 breakfast in bed tray, 1 decorative plate, 1 cereal bowl, 1 milk jar, 1 mug, 1 spoon, and a fun fresian aerolatte moooo milk frother - a pretty set to make anyone feel special!

ENTER TO WIN: Just leave a comment below by Monday, May 20, 2013 at Noon EST. I'll pick the winner using random.org, and contact the winner that afternoon to get his/her shipping address. The breakfast in bed gift basket will be shipped directly to the winner from the Milk Mustache campaign.

Good luck!

 

 

 

Angry Birds Saturdays - Play and Win a Samsung SMART TV

So playing Angry Birds on our Samsung SMART TV is pretty cool, but what if you don't have one and would like to try it out too? Or better yet, what if you'd like to WIN a Samsung SMART TV by playing Angry Birds? It could happen.

Just tweet a photo of yourself playing Angry Birds on a Samsung Smart TV to @SamsungTV with the hashtags #AngryBirdSaturdays and #AngryBirdSaturday for a chance to win prizes including a Samsung Blu-ray player, Angry Birds plushies, or a grand prize of a new Samsung ES8000 SMART TV. Just be sure that you're following @SamsungTV on Twitter.

If you don't have a Samsung Smart TV, you can play the game on one at these stores nationwide: Best Buy, Sears, Fry's Home Electronics, ABC Warehouse, BJ's Wholesale Club, P.C. Richards and Sons or Electronics Expo (see full list here) and tweet a picture of yourself from there. :-)

Their contest runs for the next four Saturdays, so go check it out.

Good luck!!

Thanks to Samsung Visual Display for sponsoring Coast to Coast Mom this month as part of the #FamiliesInMotion initiative, and providing us with a Samsung SMART TV ES8000 to try out all of the great features like the Angry Birds app.

Residence Inn Hotel Stay GIVEAWAY!

I'm excited to share that I've been invited to join the Resident Mom team of bloggers sharing our experiences as we travel with our families and visit Residence Inn hotels. As a member, I'm also practically giddy to announce that I've been given a $250 Residence Inn gift card to giveaway to a reader! 

Since Carol Cain first introduced me to the Residence Inn hotel chain last summer, we've sought them out during our travels. I was invited to stay at the Residence Inn Times Square for a night last summer, then we stayed on our own dime at a Residence Inn in Pittsburgh, and a Residence Inn in Port Canaveral and thoroughly enjoyed both stays. Here's a few of the elements that make Residence Inn hotels so family-friendly:

1. Complimentary bottled water waiting in the room. Also, microwave popcorn, which kinda makes everyone in the family feel like a kid.

2. Free Wi-Fi in all suites and lobbies. FREE, people!

3. Complimentary grocery shopping service to have items awaiting you upon check-in. Are you going to need baby food? Diapers? You can order grocery items to be picked up for your arrrival, and you're only charged for the cost of the items, there's no service fee added. Niiiiice. 

4. A kitchenette in your room - having a sink and refrigerator can sometimes be a necessity when traveling with kids. It's nice that you don't have to ask for a fridge to be brought into the room, it's already there. Full size.

5. Complimentary hot breakfast buffet - with make-your-own waffles. Enough said.

6. Many of the suites offer separate bedroom and living room areas, so you don't have to hover in the bathroom with the lights on after you've finally put the kids to sleep in the dark hotel room. You can stay up, watch TV - or better yet, enjoy free wifi and share photos or videos for your travels so far, or research and plan your next day of family fun.

7. Many nights of the week, Residence Inn offers free BBQ, dinner or drinks. Check with the Residence Inn property you're visiting to see what they're offering during your stay.

GIVEAWAY: Win a stay at a Resident Inn hotel! I have a $250 Residence Inn gift card to giveaway to one lucky reader. To enter to win, just leave me a comment below from now until midnight, August 17, 2012. I'll choose a winner using Random.org, and email the winner to get their mailing address and mail the gift card directly to him/her. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

North Jersey Tweet-Up at T-Mobile Paramus #NJ and GIVEAWAY

If you're in Northern New Jersey, be sure to stop into the T-Mobile store in Paramus for a casual tweet-up on Monday, July 9th from 11 a.m. EDT to 1 p.m. EDT. I'm co-hosting the event with Jen from Next Kid Thing. We'll have food, be giving away some AWESOME prizes to select winners, send you home with a fun summer goody bag, and chat about some of T-Mobile's family offerings for summer fun and safety. We hope you can join us! Please RSVP in order to qualify for the prizes, and head over to Eventbrite for more details on the #TMobileSummer #NJ event.

As for the awesome prizes to be given to selected winners at the event, how'd you like to walk away with one of these?

• HTC One S ($599 per device)
• T-Mobile SpringBoard Tablet ($429 per device)
• Samsung Galaxy Blaze ($399 per device)
• Four themed gift baskets:
  
  • Family Game Night (valued at $80)
  • Dinner and a Movie (valued at $100)
  • Picnic in the Park (valued at $150)
  • Summer Cool Down (valued at $210)

Hope to meet you there! RSVP for the in-person meet-up at the T-Mobile location in Paramus here.

If you're not near North Jersey, or just can't attend, you can enter to win a T-Mobile Springboard Tablet right here below!

GIVEAWAY: The giveaway runs now through 11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday, July 12, 2012. The requirements to enter the giveaway are the following:

• Follow @TMobile on Twitter.
• Like the T-­Mobile Facebook page.
• Leave a comment below answering the following question: How do you use wireless devices to keep your
kid(s) safe during the summer months?

One winning comment will be chosen using Random.org. Good luck!

T-Mobile Safe Summers

T-Mobile is setting out to keep your kids safe and families connected this summer with a host of great services (and great devices!) like FamilyWhere, which can track your kids' movement through the GPS on their phone. You can set up alerts at certain times to ensure your child is at a certain location by a certain time. The FamilyWhere service is free, but you can upgrade service for $9.99 per month so you can track all the phones on your account.

There's also WebGuard, another free add-on that restricts certain websites from being viewed by your child. The settings can be set for Child, Teen and Young Adult, opening up more content as your child grows in age - and social media experience.

Win One Give One Laptop with Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks

Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks has taken on the task of providing kids in Africa with laptop computers, and in the process encouraging kids here in the U.S. to help. By doing so, you could even win a laptop of your own.

In conjunction with the non-profit organization One Laptop Per Child, for every 100 UPCs entered online at WinOneGiveOne.com, Betty Crocker will donate one XO Laptop to a child in Africa to help them become more technologically saavy. These laptops are built with wireless capabilities and a screen specifically designed to be seen in direct sunlight for outdoor classroom use. Up to 1,725 laptops will be donated from November 15th, 2011 through July 31, 2012.

In order to be eligible to "Win One" - all you need to do is go to the site and enter the UPC code from specially marked packages of Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks.

You can even print a coupon for Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks here:

Here's a little more about the laptops and the Win One Give One initiative:

 

Skip the Stress and Win a VIP Shopping Experience with Ford

According to a recent study, 87% of American adults experience stress when shopping during the holiday season, with auto-related activities causing the most stress during the holiday season (55%) - thanks in part to traffic jams and longer commutes (23%), or fighting crowds to find find a parking spot (21%). Thanks to Ford, we all have the opportunity to ease some of our holiday stress by entering to win a VIP shopping experience!

The contest is a part of Ford's "Escape" holiday stress campaign highlighting the launch of the 2013 Ford Escape. (My youngest sister just leased the 2012, and I can't wait to check hers out when we see her at Christmas! Of course, I really think she needs to plan an "escape" to visit us in NYC ;-) ) One of the things that I'm sure I'd use on a near daily basis is the hands-free liftgate, where you can open the trunk by kicking your foot in front of a sensor on the bumper. Such a useful feature for athletes toting equipment, pet lovers, and parents juggling babies, strollers and packages.

TO ENTER: Going on now through December 16th on the Ford Facebook page (http://www.Facebook.com/Ford), simply "Like" Ford and submit a tip for how you mitigate stress during the holiday season, and you'll be entered to win a hassle-free shopping experience including a chauffer and $500 shopping spree at the mall. You'll also be entered for their daily $25 gift card giveaway now through December 23rd.

If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, be sure to enter this week. I'd love it if I knew one of their six grand prize winners!!

 

Style Me, Mom's Fashion Files: I've Become a Techcessory!

This post is my entry into the fabulous Mom's Fashion File contest for an opportunity to win a personal style session during BlogHer 2011. Wish me luck! :-D

I can see it in the eyes of my long distance family and friends when we see them after long spells and know I look visibly worse for the wear. Carrying more weight than the last time they saw me? Yep. Looking a bit less stylish? Sigh. These past two years lamenting the transition from office professional to work from home mom have taken the toll on my inner soul to my outward appearance.

What hasn’t changed, though is my interest and involvement in the tech industry. Working from my home office across the country has isolated me from the fashionable friends I used to be so in tune with just a few short years ago. Unfortunately, I'm not near my trusted mom or sisters to tell me the honest truth – in the nicest possible way saying:

“Why don’t you coach our Girls on the Run Team with us?”

Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - New Toys and Video Game + GIVEAWAY

There's some movies that perk up your ears, elevate your heart rate, and give you chills from a few simple  notes of theme music. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies do that for us, and we're looking forward to seeing the fourth film in the series soon. Just in time for the release of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides movie on Friday May 20th, a host of licensed toys are hitting store shelves. Here's a few of my favorite toys that can bring the swashbuckling fun of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie home for your family:

1. LEGO is introducing nine new LEGO playsets of scenes inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. My favorite is the Queen Anne's Revenge LEGO set, which includes Blackbeard's ship and seven Minifigures: the new movie character Blackbeard, Jack Sparrow, the new mysterious Angelica character, the QuarterMaster, the Cook and two pirates. Parts of the 20 inch tall ship are detachable, and it comes with movable cannons and steering too. MSRP is $119.99 and you can enter to win one from Disney and LEGO below!
   
    
    
2. Action figures from JAKKS Pacific. The 4-inch figures with Zombie Reveal are pretty cool. With a black light reveal, these figures change from Jack Sparrow, Blackbeard, Barbossa, Angelica or Gibbs into a ghoulish zombie. MSRP is $7.99
   
    
3. Continuing the LEGO theme, Disney Interactive Studios along with TT Games have released LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game. Similiar to other LEGO video game franchises like Harry Potter, this game takes elements of the first three Pirates movies and incorporates them into the video game. It's already out in stores (we saw it at Costco this past weekend!), and can be purchased for all major gaming consoles including Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 3 and Nintendo DS. LEGO has a way of making potentially sinister Minifigure characters look cute. 
   
    

GIVEAWAY: To enter to win the LEGO Queen Anne's Revenge playset above, simply leave a comment below by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, May 23, 2011. I'll use Random.org to choose the winner and email him or her on Tuesday morning. I'll need the winner to reply with their mailing address so the pirate set can be shipped directly to them from Disney and LEGO next week! Good luck!!

 

Win A Trip to E3 with Microsoft Xbox 360!

Microsoft is offering a chance to win a trip to E3 this year. Starting today, you can enter the Microsoft GE3K Out Sweepstakes on Facebook to catch all of the thrilling gaming announcements first hand for yourself. I've attended E3 before, and there's always something to text your friends about. ;-) I remember the unveiling of the "project natal" concept at E3 2009, the announcement of the name "Kinect" in 2010...what will be announced this year in 2011?

Entering the contest is easy - just "Like" the Microsoft page on Facebook and click on the GE3K Out tab. One winner will receive the ultimate gaming getaway:

• Round-trip airfare for two to E3
• Two tickets to the Microsoft E3 press briefing on June 6th
• Two tickets to the E3 Expo June 7-10th
• Travel to and from the airport
• Xbox® 360 250 GB Console with Kinect™
• XBox Live® 12-month Gold Membership
• A Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS Digital Camera
• Hotel accommodations
• $250 in spending money

I know! It's amazing! Good luck!!

An Easter Gift For the Whole Family: Win an Xbox 360 with Kinect and Kinectimals

Easter season, Passover celebrations and spring bring to mind the sound of birds chirping and evoke images of flowers, green grass and adorable baby animals ... like the delightful Kinectimals baby animals! The Kinectimals video game for the Xbox 360 with Kinect, allows your whole family - even preschoolers - to play and interact with over 20 virtual baby wild animals like the white tigers, African lions, Iberian lynx and the Kiddo's fave, the Bornean clouded leopard.

Here's five of my favorite things about Kinectimals for Xbox 360 with Kinect:

1. It's a video game that requires physical activity. The game involves teaching, training and caring for the wild animals, as they interact and mimic the player's movements. It makes me smile watching my son grinning as he spins around, jumps or plays "dead" while playing the sensor-based video game.  
2. It's easy enough for a preschooler to play. The directions and clues in the game are easy to follow and require basic body movements or talking. Which means that he can play it on his own without having to call to me to help him with something every 10 minutes. Instead of popping in a movie or pulling something up on Tivo to occupy the Kiddo while I'm on deadline, I've been putting in Kinectimals and he gets more engaging, active time than passively sitting on the sofa waiting for me to be done with my conference call or assignment.
3. It connects the physical and interactive video worlds. The Kinectimals video game brings the physical plush Kinectimals to life on the TV. I love that the Kiddo can spend a half hour playing with the stuffed animals, and connect with them virtually in the game by simply scanning the QR code on the animals' scan tags (via Microsoft Tag technology) so he can "unlock" these new characters to play with in the video game. This enhances it from an isolated and detached video game experience into something playful and brings the idea of interacting and caring for a virtual animal home for kids' imaginations.
4. The graphics are awesome. The graphics are easy on the eyes and kid-friendly. You can see the furriness of the animals, even the slobber from their kisses.
5. The playfulness and cute factor. Kinectimals is seemingly geared toward kids - I'd say the sweet spot is between four and 10 year olds, but tweens, parents and grandparents will have smiles on their faces watching the younger kids play, or even interacting with the adorable animals themselves!

So maybe instead of searching for several small items for each member of your family's Easter baskets, you'll consider a gift the whole family can enjoy. Imagine your family's surprise when sitting next to your festive Easter baskets filled with jelly beans, candy rabbits and chocolate eggs ... they find a family Easter gift of:

• 1 Xbox 360 4GB
• 1 Kinect sensor with Kinect Adventures game
• 1 Kinectimals game
• 2 plush Kinectimal animals

Enter to win the Xbox 360 with Kinect and Kinectimals video game Easter basket or Passover Celebration giveaway! Simply leave a comment below to enter by 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 18th when the contest will end. I will use Random.org to choose a winner and will email the winner Tuesday April 19th morning by 9 a.m. ET. The winner must email me his/her mailing address in order to receive the giveaway prize by Easter. The prize will ship directly from Microsoft.

Good luck!