Coast 2 Coast Mom

On My Way to the Yahoo! Mother Board Summit

Today I'm flying to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend the Yahoo! Mother Board Summit. All of us Mother Board members were invited to Sunnyvale to meet with some of the working moms at Yahoo! and to discuss some topics like online safety, Flickr photo and video sharing for our blogs, and advertising among other things. I'm excited to be back in the Bay Area again and I'm stoked to meet some of the other YMB members from around the country! It does feel weird to be going to that neighborhood, though without c2cDad . . . I hope I don't cry as I pass the Holly Street exit off of 101 - our exit home for five years while we were out there.

The YMB is a fun and intelligent organization of mom bloggers, and I feel honored to participate with such other admirable women. There are some groups of friends or contacts that tend to have a more positive impact on you than others, and this group of mom bloggers is just that for me. They raise my game, and I get the opportunity to have thoughtful discussions with the other members - which is something I sometimes find lacking in my everyday life. c2cDad and I barely get the chance to discuss our weekend plans or what to do for dinner, so to have a lengthy insightful chat with other adults is like heaven for me.

I'm actually typing this up while on my flight, in anticipation of arriving at the event and to Yahoo!'s headquarters. I can't wait to land and begin meeting everyone! I can't wait to take some photos with the new camera :-)

Spectacular Macy's July 4th Aboard the Norwegian Epic Cruise Ship

WOW.

It's July 6th and we're still coming down from the high of our super swanky Fourth of July night. We were so excited about the event that we cut short our vacation in Michigan to awake at 3:30 a.m. on July 4th and drive back to NYC to make the party. Oh, and we splurged on a new DSLR camera so we could take better photos of the fireworks (so excuse the abundance of photos here, we had to practice!). You see, Macy's, Inc. invited us to celebrate the Fourth of July right on the Hudson River aboard the brand spanking new Epic cruise ship, the newest and largest ship to set sail from Norwegian Cruise Lines. DOUBLE WOW!

Needless to say, it was a night to remember. The combination of the freedom of a night away from the kiddo, the crystal clear summer sky, the balmy yet breezy air, our front row seats for the fireworks and the eighteen stories of luxurious merriment for us to explore left us feeling like we were kids let loose in a high-end resort.

A Memory-Making Dino Dinner: T-Rex Cafe at Downtown Disney

During our trip to Walt Disney World for Disney's Social Media Moms Celebration, we had one open evening to plan our own dinner and we knew exactly where we wanted to go: T-Rex Cafe. We knew there was no way we'd be able to walk past the dinosaur-themed restaurant without Li'L Boo running and pulling us inside anyway, so we made reservations before we arrived for a dinosaur dinner. As if being at Disney World wasn't filled with enough special treats and excitement last week, the T-Rex Cafe was still a highlight from our trip.

Changes Coming to Disney's Magic Kingdom And Cruise Line

Disney's Social Media Moms Celebration started off with a bang this evening as we attended a media conference to hear some of the additions coming to Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Cruise Line and the re-branded ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. The event took place at the sports complex and if I wasn't already "wowed" by how wonderful this conference has taken shape, the mouse definitely got to me with the changes on the horizon for the resort. A couple of things that I thought were such a BIG DEAL that I wanted to share them right away:

1) Fantasyland expansion of Fantasyland Forest with a groundbreaking in 2010, is slated as a three-year project. Fantasyland Forest will launch with special attractions and encounters with three of Disney's most popular princesses - and totally makes me wish I had a li'l girl!:

Giveaway: Allergy, Valentine and SafetyTats for Kids

I'm giddy - GIDDY! - about an opportunity that came up last month to attend Disney's Social Media Mom's celebration conference at Walt Disney World! We thought we were blessed when we visited Disneyland last fall, and now this opportunity to head to Florida and explore DisneyWorld has exceeded my expectations for 2010 already. I'm looking forward to taking Li'l Boo to the different Disney parks, enjoying some sunny days (hopefully), and meeting other moms with new blogs to follow. So very exciting!

Then came a sponsorship opportunity with SafetyTat that I'm pleased as pie about. (Ahem. Did ya notice that square button to the left?) SafetyTats are clever little temporary tattoos designed to help keep children connected with their families while traveling or visiting theme parks, stadiums, malls, airports, museums - anywhere you may run into crowds and the potential for getting separated.

Waking up in Cleveland

The snow and wintry weather made our drive back to New Jersey difficult, so we stopped in Cleveland to stay for the night. Thank goodness for my Hyatt Gold Passport points so we had a free stay. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at The Arcade right smack downtown, and had a very nice stay. It was snowing on our drive in past Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena, though the holiday lights in Cleveland's Public Square was still cool to see (we'd never seen that many red or blue lights at once before!). It was our first time in Cleveland, and it was fun learning bits and pieces about it during our brief stay. (Seriously - the first things that came to mind before when I thought of Cleveland were: 1-LeBron James, 2- Grover Cleveland and 3- the movie Howard the Duck.)

For example, the first indoor shopping mall in the U.S. was opened in Cleveland in 1890. That's what it looks like today up above. The Hyatt is attached to the mall, and the mall looked beautiful as we came in from the snow. We learned about the 57 floors of the Key Tower on Public Square which was beautifully illuminated in holiday colors, and was the tallest point between New York and Chicago when it was built in 1991, until the Comcast Center went up in 2007 in Philadelphia.

Before we took off in the morning, we walked down the restaurant row on 4th Street to Erie Island Coffee Co and were glad we ventured out before climbing back into the car home. We all split the French Toast Crush and the Applewood Bacon Crush - a crush being a mix between a bagel sandwich and a panini. c2cDad LOVED their Ivory Mocha, Li'l Boo enjoyed his whipped cream and kids hot chocolate and I had a very nice Chai. Because everything was so tasty, we took a strawberry smoothie to go (trying build up our Vitamin C reserves).

East 4th street looks like a fun summer hot spot, and a place we plan to explore when we return to Cleveland. Oh, we'll return alright - to check out the Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (with the largest primate collection) and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and maybe see Progressive Field up close and continue Li'l Boo's tour of baseball fields this summer.

Our 2009 Holiday Roadtrip

We had a Merry Christmas in that the weather cooperated for our twelve hour drive to Michigan, and counting gifts from all of our extended family, Li'l Boo received most of what he asked for (alas, no puppy). The downside to our trip was that Li'l Boo and I caught a flu bug and we cut our visit with my in-laws to celebrate a very late Hanukkah waaaay short. One of the most difficult things about our roadtrips to Chicago, Kalamazoo and Detroit is that we can never fit in visits with everyone we want to see or do everything that we want to do, but alas that's what email, Facebook, blogs, etc. are for - right?

Some highlights:

• Seeing family! We miss 'em dearly and I always cry when we have to leave.
• Biggby Coffee (friendly and de-lish as always) and we tried Penn Station East Coast Subs in Kalamazoo which was great - kind of like Potbelly Sandwich Works and the fries reminded us of Five Guys.
• Li'l Boo's gifts: all of 'em. The entire family played his Beatles: Rock Band on Christmas Day (he asked for a drum set, and I thought Rock Band drums would allow him songs he could play rather than blindly and briefly banging on a set of drums - so perhaps he'll get a set of drums for his birthday ;-)), and he LOVES his new Trek bike and Leapster 2. We're going to have lots of fun playing with all of his new dinosaurs, trucks, puzzles and games!
• Missing having a country music station in NYC. Oh, and my favorite new cd: Carrie Underwood's Play On. It's been a LONG time since I could pop a cd in and listen to the entire thing without fast-forwarding past songs.
• c2cDad and I both stayed off of our laptops for three full days - a near record!
• Stopping off in Cleveland to get off of the snowy roads on our way home.

We're so thankful for our friends and family around the world, and hope everyone is enjoying a blessed holiday season!

Try Pedialyte Travel Packs To Take Along On Holiday Travel

Just in case you're traveling over the river and through the woods with your kids this holiday season, I thought I'd share with you a new travel version of Pedialyte that I checked out while at the Garden State Plaza today. If your family is anything like mine, someone is bound to get sick on the return trip, or a week later.

Pedialyte was giving out samples of their new powder packets near the photos with Santa, and offering tastes of the grape, strawberry and apple flavors (they offer tropical punch as well, but it wasn't available to taste). Li'l Boo tasted the strawberry flavor and liked it - I was shocked seeing as how he hasn't eaten a strawberry in about two years. You just pour the Pedialyte powder packets into water (8 oz of water per packet, so two packets to fill a normal 16 oz water bottle), shake it a bit, then drink. Kids must be 1 year or older to drink it.

In a nutshell, Pedialyte quickly replaces lost fluids and electrolytes due to dehydration when sick, and it contains less sugar than juice or regular soda, which can make dehydration worse when sick.

It makes perfect sense to me. I was one of those Airborne purchasers over the years, dissolving the tablet in a water bottle just before take-off, and I carry the Propel powder packets with me to mix into my water bottle on the ride home from the gym. Though I have to admit that I've been carrying the current packets in my purse for a looooong time as I haven't been to the gym in several weeks.

If you'll be at Garden State Plaza tomorrow (Saturday 12/5), stop by the table near Lord 'n Taylor to sample it and see if you like it. They also have coupons for $1.50 off a purchase of a Pedialyte product. Oh, and Westfield was also handing out Westfield Wednesday  WFamily loyalty discount cards to save money at a list of stores in the Garden State Plaza every Wednesday of the year. Westfield is also promoting their 12 Days of Shopping with special activities and discounts each day.

 

Blog the Olympics! Enter To Win a Trip to Vancouver #blogathlete

One cool opportunity I learned about from the Office team at the Microsoft Open House in NYC earlier this month, is that they're running a blogger contest "Office Winter Games," where one female blogger and one blogging college student will win a trip to Vancouver, BC to cover the 2010 Winter Olympic Games (Feb 11-17 or Feb 23-March 1st) as a credentialed member of the press. Woo-hoo! As if that's not cool enough, the winner will ALSO win a trip to Las Vegas

to attend and cover the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show! (Jan 7-10th; Ahem, I'll be there!) Think this prize can't get any better? It DOES! They're giving both winners an Acer Aspire 4810 laptop with Office software. (Which I'm sure will work well with the LifeCam Cinema HD video webcam I'm testing out and absolutely LOVE!) Do I have you practicing your crowd chanting skills already? (USA! USA!)

All you have to do to enter is fill out an online form and post up to 250 words explaining why you deserve the opportunity to attend the 2010 Winter Games as a blogger. Oh, and did I mention that five-time Olympic Gold medalist Bonnie Blair is one of the judges? I'll have to work on an entry myself as I'd love to have my CES trip paid for, and I'd LOVE to attend the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver! But I promise I won't be bitter - I'll still read the posts of whomever wins. Maybe ;-)

For more information, and to enter: https://www.officewintergames.com

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.