It’s not something I plan on, by any means.� Making a grand entrance calls too much attention to me and makes me uncomfortable.� but inevitably two or three little things hold me up. (Usually Emily and Faith and sometimes one or both of the boys.)

So, I went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando on Saturday night to see Sheila, who I was very lucky to meet at BlogHer09 and fall in love with when she peed her pants.� (She didn’t *really* pee her pants.� But when she spilled her drink on her lap, it sure looked like she did, and that’s all that matters to us cackling hens, yanno!)� Her husband and son are tres adorable-I spent much of dinner chatting it up with Travis about Universal Studios.� He’s a chatterbox, which I was totally prepped for, having a daughter the same age.� (Sometimes I have to literally BEG Emily to stop talking because my ears are going to bleed if I listen to one.more.errant.thought. that she lets slip past the filter� But that’s another post, my dears!)

I got to see Adam and Britt again, which was super cool.� Adam is being prude about sharing the theme for his world-famous Halloween party, “Avitaween,” just yet, but I completely forgive him because he knows every word to Britney Spears’ ‘Womanizer’ and isn’t afraid to prove it.� And, Britt, you know, I just love her.� I have a completely heterosexual girl-crush on her because she is fun and so real-I actually get kind of tongue tied around her because I want her to like me so much.� I know, total. dork.� And on the not-so-completely-heterosexual side, I am totally crushing on Hilly now, too-I’m fairly certain we briefly met at another gathering a while ago while she was in town visiting Britt, but we didn’t actually talk and I met fifteen other O-town peeps there, so I’m not 100% sure.� This time we got to chit chat a bit, and she freaking rocks.� And she’s freaking gorgeous, too, which someone ought to tell her every single day because, hello! GORGEOUS!

After dinner, complete with a Thriller re-enactment in the middle of the adjacent dining room, Sheila’s boytoy (*giggle*) and her little man went their own way and the rest of us moved on to Rising Star in CityWalk.� I had never been to karaoke before, and I had all kinds of preconceived notions about what it would be like.� Let me tell you, if you haven’t been, GO.� It’s WAY more entertaining than you think-even if you won’t torture the crowd by getting on stage yourself.� Some people sing so well you think they sound better than half the shit you hear on the radio.� Some *might* sing well if they weren’t totally wasted.� Some can’t stop giggling enough to even choke out the lyrics scrolling in front of their faces.� And some wear way too tight, too white, too short, and too low cut dresses for their, granted, in great shape, but pasty and grandma-year old bodies up on stage to belt out “Proud Mary” while doing a shimmy that gave some of our party the heaves.� Just sayin’!� Sheila was still fighting the bug she thankfully didn’t pass on to Bri or I, lol, so she ended up leaving early.� It sucks we didn’t get more time to profess our undying love for one another, but I love her enough to want what’s best for her-even if it means she leaves me. *sniff* The rest of us left on a high note, so to speak, after a patron and the emcee gave a crowd-pleasing performance of ‘Baby Got Back’ that had half the women dancing in front of the stage-including a bachelorette who could really shake the little tush she was working with-and the other half dancing in their seats.

It was a good time-well worth the four hours total driving time.� And speaking of driving….let me take a moment to please remind you to just pay attention when driving.� We came upon an accident scene on the way home that appeared involved a bicyclist who was hit by a car.� He looked to be in very bad shape, and we said a prayer for him.� Since my oldest lost his father in an accident, I feel a stab of empathy whenever I see a bad accident.� Not that I didn’t before, of course, but now I KNOW how it feels to have to tell a child he’ll never see his Daddy again on Earth.� Also?� I ran over a small alligator outside of Clermont.� Brian told me to go back.� I told him I could drop him off and he could walk back, because I wanted to get home, thank you very much!

Oh, and a word of advice?� If you weigh over 200 lbs, maybe wearing heels to the Hard Rock isn’t such a good idea.� The walk from the freaking parking lot to the restaurant had to be almost two miles, and by the time I made it there, I already had blisters forming.� I toughed it out until we left Rising Star, but by that time the blister on my left baby toe was so bad I couldn’t put my foot in my shoes at all without wanting to find a cigar cutter and remove it.� So I carried my shoes and walked barefoot back to the car.� I had some hand sanitizer in the car which became foot sanitizer, and when I got home, I washed and Lysol’d my feet.� Because-Circle K feet is not a good look. Especially when paired with blisters on four toes.� Guess I’ll be giving myself ghetto-fabulous home pedis until they heal, because OMG, the worst one still feels like an icepick in the toe!

I think that bloggers tend to represent a more aware segment of the population than most.  We are often right on top of technological advances.  We discuss current events both on our own platforms and those of others.  We break news to each other and spread the word on things we feel people need to know about.  And one of the biggest interesting things I have noted is how eager we are to help others.  I tend to circulate in ‘mommyblogger” social circles, but I am happy to have some lifeblogger pals, too.  Regardless of the segment we feel the need to place ourselves in, or the ones others feel they need to compartmentalize us as, I find that when someone, anyone-not just other bloggers, is in need, the community rallies to help.

My family is of limited means. Like most other people out there right now, the money we have doesn’t go as far as it did even a year ago, and as my kids grow, so do their expenses.  As an employee at a non-profit organization, I am not getting a raise this year, as our funding contracts just don’t allow for raises for any employee in our organization.  Honestly, with budget cuts falling all around us, we are lucky to still have our jobs at all.  The point is, it’s hard for us to find corners to cut so we can give.  We do give some time in lieu of money, but the one area we think we can make the most impact on others with as little impact on our own budget as possible is to be more selective about choosing what companies we support with our spending dollars.

That was one of the first things that attracted me to HairZing, my sponsor for BlogHer09.  I am a member of the forums at NaturallyCurly.com and I heard about the HairZing there for the first time.  Everybody seemed to adore these beautiful accessories that did not damage delicate and typically dry curls, so I did what I always do and started looking the company up online.  I was obviously impressed by the vast variety of styles, and also by how many hairstyles you can use them to create, but what took it beyond “Oh, how cool” to “I have to get some!” was the social philosophy of the company.

See, Hairzings are all individually handmade.  There are no mass production factories with laborers barely making enough to eat each day.  That’s not how they roll.  Instead, they reached out to women in depressed economies in China and Kenya who struggle to find jobs where they slave away, often far from their families for much of the year.  Education is rarely even an option for these women, and female entrepreneurs are few and far between.  They gave the women in China the opportunity to become artisans, crafting HairZings for fair wages, often at home where they can be with their families.  They provided the funding as well as marketing and management support for a female-owned and operated beading cooperative in Kenya where the women of the Maasai tribe, which has long been celebrated for its beading skill, can support their families as well as learn the skills necessary to launch whatever small business they can dream of in the future.

By creating a framework for these economically disadvantaged women to become independent and self-sufficient, HairZing has contributed to a global shift toward a more stable world economy, but more important, in my eyes, is the contribution toward women’s rights.  By empowering women in China, where women are still sold into marriages, female infants are many times abandoned or murdered, and 70% of the illiterate are women, strides are being made toward equality.  Giving women in Kenya, where female circumcision is still practiced, a girl as young as 10 can be married off for a dowry in the low hundreds, and there is an illiteracy rate of 80% among the Maasai women, the opportunity to learn how to establish and grow their own businesses is an unbelievable step in the right direction for the future of those women, as well as every woman they meet and the daughters they will raise up with the expectation that they can do more than they ever dreamed of before.

I plan on buying hair accessories anyway.  I have curls I finally love, and I like to dress them up.  I have two daughters, one with thick, heavy hair and one with fine waves.  I love to have fun embellishing their already adorable looks.  So, for me, finding a beautiful product with so many ways to be worn, and that supports the status of women not only here in the US by being founded by women who have been friends for years, but across the globe, was a no-brainer.  That’s why I love them so much, and why I approached them about representing them at BlogHer.  I know that my sister bloggers will love these products, but even more so, I know they will love supporting a company that with socially responsible practices.

Be sure to visit them at www.HairZing.com, right now there is a Buy One Get One Special going on, and if you enter the promo code “Angel” at checkout, you’ll get free shipping, as well.  Find me at Blogher to grab a sample, if you want to check them out first-I know you’ll be as in love with them as I am once you do!

So, we are just about a month away from the conference that has come to be known as THE conference for blogging women, BlogHer.  Last year I was new to blogging, and I wanted to go SO FREAKING BAD that I tried for days to rearrange my finances to allow me to go.  Unsuccessfully, I might add. *chuckle*  But I told the Huz back then that I *would* get to this year’s conference, and it looks like all systems are go!  I would not be able to attend, however, without the generous sponsorship of my favorite hair accessory, HairZing!

I’m going to be telling you more about this versatile product in the coming days and weeks, and probably months because I have to tell you, I use it almost DAILY.  I’ve worn it to staff meetings, home visits, doctor appointments, playdates, the beach, the Renaissance Festival-just about everywhere, and it always stays in, always looks like I spent a lot more time and money on my hair than I actually did, and it always, always garners compliments.  It is versatile enough to dress up those days you must be perfectly coifed, to hold your hair back when you work out, or to hide slept on hair if you have to run out of the house quickly.  Seriously, if I could only have one hair accessory for the rest of my life-HairZing would be it!

I’m going to have some samples to trade for business cards at BlogHer, as well as hosting some giveaways here for those of you who can’t join us in Chicago.  I’ll be posting some videos to show you just how easy HairZing is to use, and to share some of the ways my girls and I use them.  I know if you have hair, you will LOVE this product!

PS If you use the promo code ANGEL at checkout, your shipping will be “sponsored,” too!

While I was at BlissDom09, I had the dynamic duo behind MomsMarbles.com at my table-and somehow I got lucky and it happened more than once!  They were sponsored by Smashies, and ingenious take on an old favorite of kids for eons, it seems.  I had never heard of Smashies, but now that I have been touched by the awesomeness, I have to share with you!

What are the drawbacks of old fashioned applesauce in a jar?

1. They require additional serving bowls
2. If on a plate with other food it runs into the other food
3. You need spoons to eat it
4. You need a BIG spoon to dish it out
5. The jar gets funky around the mouth sometimes
6. It takes up valuable fridge space
7. It isn’t portable at all

So, moving on, we more recently have applesauce cups available to us, which is an improvement, but you still have issues.

1. They still require spoons, which kind of negates the portability
2. The are bulky to transport
3. You can’t reseal them at all

If you had an applesauce product that solved the remaining negatives of applesauce, PLUS delivered in a healthy, organic, no sugar added, and no high fructose corn syrup form, why the heck *wouldn’t* you be happy as a pig in poo?  So, obviously, that means Smashies is way on top of the snack heap!

By cheekysweetie, shot with BlackBerry 8330 at 2009-03-02

We were so impressed at BlissDom09 by the novelty of the idea-applesauce pouches?  How neat!  And I *so* wanted to snap pics of Sarah and Mary Ellen downing them during an in-session snack break, heh, but I had just met them and I know how I feel about people taking pictures of me eating.  I took my pouch home, thinking I may do a post and a giveaway, but my plan went astray in a wonderful way.

My 7-yo daughter Emily has been extremely sick.  I wrote about her ER visit the other day, and unfortunately she hasn’t gotten much better since.  She had eaten all of the applesauce cups I had gotten her, and today she wanted more.  My mom has some no sugar added cups but Emily didn’t like them, and this girl needs to eat.  She’s already lost weight and she’s a stringbean to begin with.  I thought I was going to have to actually get dressed and go out in public to get her some, but amid a talk with my mom about a potential sponsor for BlogHer09 that I am SO excited about, I remembered that I still had my Smashies pouch in my backpack from BlissDom09.  So I grabbed it, and I gave it to Emily.  She took one little taste and said, “Mommy, it’s delicious!”  I snapped a picture as she gulped it down, and when she was done, she asked for more-for now, and to bring to school for snack.  She LOVED it.

Before Smashies

By cheekysweetie, shot with BlackBerry 8330 at 2009-03-02

After Smashies

By cheekysweetie, shot with BlackBerry 8330 at 2009-03-02

I totally want to get the word out about Smashies, but I also wanted to illustrate to companies out there that are trying to make and impact on consumers just how powerful the blogosphere can be.  This is exactly how this thing works-Smashies sponsored a blogger, or two in this case.  They spread the word about Smashies and gave away products for people to try.  Bloggers who try the products, like me, are thrilled with them, and write about them.  Now not only have the sponsored Bloggers told their readers about Smashies, and told other bloggers about Smashies, but now other bloggers are telling their readers-some of whom, maybe even most of whom, are also bloggers who now know about and will be eager to try Smashies themselves, and tell their readers.  This *works*.

I hope that Smashies appreciates the work that MomsMarbles.com did to spread the word about them, and I hope they know how invaluable giving out the sample was.  I would have thought it a cool product, for sure, but actually having it make a difference in my personal life is the key to my excitement and going on to actually write about it.

I hope that those of you lucky enough to attend BlissDom09 and snap up a sample will use it, and talk about it.  Supporting the companies that support bloggers is exactly the kind of cycle that we are all interested in building, so use it, write about, and link to it, so they can see the benefits in a tangible way.

I also hope that other companies that are considering sponsorship will be conscious of the changing nature of community and take advantage of the lack of geographical boundaries in such.  No longer are small businesses limited by location, and no longer do large companies have to appear so untouchable.

It is a wonderful thing, and I am excited to step into the ring myself and represent a company I can believe in and be proud of at BlogHer09!

So I am still going strong with the Wii Fit, yay!  I even bought a few additional games on eBay to keep me from being bored.  After having the advanced boxing on the Fit kick my ass, I bought a boxing game.  I was shocked at how boxing got my heart rate up!  I tried the run for the first time yesterday, too, and I barely made it half way, lol.  But, in my defense, running without a bra, even in place, SUCKS. I’m really proud of myself for not letting the craptastic week get in the way of my commitment to just get moving every day.  In the midst of Emergency Rooms and all the other nonsense, I took twenty minute for myself every single day.  It seems so simple, and yet it is vital to our outlook that we give something to ourselves.  We have to work on us before we can give to others. I haven’t lost any weight-in fact I gained a couple, but considering that I have been enjoying my favorite foods that I won’t be able to have when I start the low GI diet on Monday, I actually expected that.  I think I have PCOS, or PolyCystic Ovarian Disorder, and everything I’ve read says that women with PCOS benefit greatly from keeping to the foods on the low and lower moderate end of the glycemic index.  The disorder tends to be accompanied by insulin resistance, and a myriad of other symptoms I have just dealt with for *years*.  Including having a very difficult time losing weight, which explains why when I was working out more faithfully than my friends and eating healthier, I was losing half as much. In any case, in celebration of my 10th day loving the Wii Fit, I am giving away a Wii game!  Nintendo’s Disney Princess: Enchanted Forest has entertained my two little girls well, and I’d like to pass on the fun to someone else so I have another factory sealed game to give away. (It’s a $19.99 value according to Best Buy!)

By cheekysweetie

From Best Buy:

So, that was fun, huh?  I was so afraid no one would enter my little giveaway but I really should have known better with the awesome sites that I submitted the giveaway to..here’s a recap:

• Blog Giveaways
• A Contest Blog
• Thrifty Jinxy
• The Giveaway
• Thank you to Sweeties Sweeps for listing my blog giveaway.
• Fun and Free Give Aways
• Deal Seeking Mom
• Money Saving Mom
• Bargain Briana
• and especially…….
• Mom Giveaways! I won five premium listings from a Bad Mommy Blogger Giveaway, funny enough, and my traffic logs are so very thankful!

Okay, so to refresh your mind, here is the prize list:

• -“Daisy Chain” novel by Mary E. Demuth
• -“He’s Just Not That Into You” soundtrack CD
• -Thriving Ivory’s “Angels on the Moon” CD
• -Chris Mann’s Sampler CD ~ Autographed!
• -Cherish Bound books 50% off Promo
• -Care.com 25% off Promo
• -Crocs $50 Gift Certificate
• -Picnik Premium Free Year
• -Ender Thomas of Yanni Voices Autographed Headshot
• -Free Trial Yanni Voices Fan Club Membership
• -My notes from BlissDom09 Panels

And as you can see by the screencap below, Kathemc is my winner!  Yay!  Congrats Kathemc!  I’ll be emailing you to get your mailing address and if that goes smoothly you can expect your loot to be shipped Thursday!

By cheekysweetie

I want to thank everyone who participated.  This was my first giveaway and it was so exciting to get text notifications of your entries!  I have new Twitter friends, new blogs to add to my reader, and hopefully some of you will come back to visit me again!  I will definitely be doing more giveaways in the future-in fact I have my first one planned for later this Wiik! (Before ya’ll get too excited, I am not giving a Wii system away-you’ll have to already have your own to reap the benefits.  I certainly don’t have Nintendo PR beating down my door, but as soon as that happens I’ll be *thrilled* to give away something so big ticket, hah!)

Here’s my shout out to my entrants (If I link to your Twitter or blog here and you don’t want me to, just let me know and I’ll drop it like it’s hot!  Likewise, if you didn’t leave your link in your comment but you’d like it listed, let me know.):

Betty
Dina
Kelly Ann T
Tammy Darling
Estela
Sue
Jessica
Melody
Maureen
Stacie
Kathy
Vickie
Kathemc
Ally
Lindsay
Deborah R
Holly
Wendy Wallach
Emilie
Sarah
Amy
Jill Watkins
Sally Sundeen
Milha
Nicole
Sal Williams
Louise
Lori Z
Carol
Jessica A
Colleen
Tree
Tara
Reva Skie

I sincerely hope that each one of you are able to not only reach the goals you shared, but surpass them!