Coast 2 Coast Mom

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!

 

 

GIVEAWAY: Smucker's Stars on Ice at IZOD Center Tickets

It may be only a couple of days into Spring, but the weather here in North Jersey has been cold enough to still bring on some snow and ice after our initial 70 degree warm-up!

Well, the ice will heat up next weekend when the Smucker’s Stars on Ice 25th Anniversary Tour comes to the IZOD Center in East Rutherford. Headlining this year will be 2010 Olympic Gold Medalist Evan Lysacek and Olympic Silver Medalist Sasha Cohen.  

Joining them will be some of today's most well known skating athletes like stellar including Olympic Gold Medalists Jamie Salé & David Pelletier (Canada) and Four-Time World Champion & Four-Time Canadian National Champion Kurt Browning.

I remember watching this air on television each year for as long as I can remember, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to see it live in person next weekend. It should be a great family show and one lucky winner will receive a family 4-pack of tickets to attend the performance at the IZOD Center on April 2nd too! Just leave a comment below and you'll be entered for a random drawing of the tickets. I'll use random.org to choose a winner.

If you don't win, you can still purchase tickets, including the Smuckers Family 4 Pack. Just enter two valid UPC codes from any Smucker's® Jam, Jelly or Preserves product to receive a promotional code for discounted tickets AND get an autographed photo of Evan Lysacek.

The drawing will be held on March 25th at 2 p.m. ET, and the winner will be notified by email Friday afternoon.

Good luck!

 

 

 

Disclosure: I received tickets to check out the Smuckers on Ice show for myself and am grateful for the opportunity. I received no other compensation.

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.

GIVEAWAY: Thomas & Friends Live! On Stage Prize Pack

There's something about trains that many boys just instictively gravitate toward. Even during my son's most recent play date last week, the kids found the Thomas the Tank Engine set that goes around the Christmas Tree packed up in the basement and proceeded to bring it upstairs and spend the majority of the playdate playing with it.

The kiddo's excitement around Thomas the Train is well timed, as Thomas and Friends Live! On Stage will be steaming into town at The Theater at Madison Square Garden this weekend, on March 5th & 6th. 

The whole gang - Thomas, Percy, Diesel and others are on the job as they work together to save the Magic Lantern Festival from a big storm rolling onto the Island of Sodor.  In advance of the show, I'll be giving away a prize pack consisting of a Thomas the Tank T-Shirt and Magic Wand.

Tickets are on sale now for between $25 and $125, but using this SPECIAL OFFER you can get 50% off select tickets with code 20DIESEL.

GIVEAWAY! Enter to Win: Leave a comment below to be entered to win the Thomas t-shirt and magic wand. The giveaway ends at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 3, 2011 when I'll use Random.org to pick a winner.

 

Good luck!

 

 

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Jeopardy's Man vs. Machine: The IBM Watson Challenge

I think this is so cool. To give you some background, the kiddo and I watch Jeopardy every weeknight we're home. Every. Night. It's really one of very few shows on at 7 p.m. that are kid friendly, unless we go to the kid channels. 

The Kiddo's such a smartie, that I don't know why I'm surprised anymore when he knows an answer on Jeopardy, and he usually knows at least one every episode. (Yeah. At five. I know. <Sigh>) The last episode he knew that Mary Poppins was the correct answer on a Broadway category. He usually gets something correct in a travel, music and definitely animal category too. Even if he doesn't know the answer, it becomes a bit of a competition for him to see if I'm going to be right or not with whatever I blurt out. It's our thing.

So we think it's pretty cool that starting tonight, through February 16th, Jeopardy will be airing a historic Man vs. Machine: The IBM Challenge with Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and IBM's Watson computer. Most people know Ken from hearing about how he's the "most winningest" player in Jeopardy history, breaking the record for the most consecutive games played by winning. Brad has won the most amount of money playing Jeopardy between his original appearance and subsequent "Tournament of Champions" wins.

Watson is the computer, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, and developed by a team of IBM scientists trying to create a computer system that can answer questions in human natural language - including irony and riddles - quickly and accurately.

I'm excited to tune in and share the experience with the kiddo - maybe c2cdad will get home in time to join us for an extra special Valentine's Day dinner and Jeopardy viewing. :-) There's actually a book, Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything by Stephen Baker, that will be released on February 17th that will provide the background story and details of how The IBM Challenge came about and what was involved with the process.

2011 Doodle 4 Google Contest Is On

I remember chatting with @MorethanMommy last summer about her admiration for the Google logo design team and how cool it would be to work on the logo doodles for your job each day. (A "doodle" being the creative changes made to the Google logo to celebrate different holidays, anniversaries or famous artists or scientists.) You can see all of the Google doodles that have been used at http://www.google.com/logos/, and can even sport one of your favorite Google doodles on a shirt.

While my fascination with the design team behind the Google logo doodles is now clearly evident, I'm thrilled that the Doodle 4 Google contest is back for 2011. It's a contest for students in K-12 to try their hand at creatively adapting the Google logo, with just "art supplies and some 8.5" x 11" paper." Students have an opportunity to win a college scholarship, a technology grant for their school, and have their own Google logo design featured on the Google homepage on May 20, 2011! How cool is that?!

Check out the Doodle 4 Google Website for all of the details. Have fun and good luck!