My Mailman Brings Good Cheer

One of the best things about running a resource guide for families is having the ability to connect parents to the information that they need. Something else that's so great about it is having the ability to connect businesses to the information that they need. So a few weeks back when someone I had met a few times called me and told me that she was working for a major magazine now that was revamping their image and she needed a few moms to survey in order for this magazine to revamp their marketing strategy, I was more than happy to put them in touch with a few moms. She did promise that she would send each mom a small present for participating, so I made a few phone calls and sent her a list of 10 moms to call who would be interested in talking to her. Okay, so they were mostly friends of mine, but still, clearly that has it's perks!

A few weeks ago, Self Made Mom posted about joining the frugalista movement which involved missing her Starbucks nonfat-extra-hot-no-water-chai. This happens to be my drink of choice as well, and given my leaving my job, I've also cut out the chai, outside of a few desperate moments.

So how thrilled was I when a $25 gift card to Starbucks arrived in my mailbox from my magazine friend as a thank you for helping her with her survey? Let's just say that for 5 days in a row, I was able to savor the delicious taste of my nonfat-extra-hot-no-water-chai. Guilt free.

Go Out For Dinner

Awhile back I learned about Restaurant.com - a website where there are always deals on dining out. With our economy in the state that it is, every penny counts and families all over are looking for ways to save without a dramatic change to their lifestyle. Restaurant.com is a great way to do this - you can buy gift certificates for popular restaurants at discounted rates, for example, you can purchase a $25 gift certificate for $10. A great part is that Restaurant.com offers a guarantee - if the restaurant you buy a gift certificate for for some reason won't honor it, contact Restaurant.com via phone or e-mail and they'll take care of it. So great deals, great meals and great customer service - can't beat it.

If you're thinking that only lousy restaurants are part of this deal, think again. You can dine at great restaurants, just at a discount. In our area there are extremely high end restaurants offering these discounts and so many families are using these certificates to eat there!

So now it gets better. Through October 31, 2008 (that's THIS FRIDAY), Restaurant.com is offering 80% off all gift certificates! That means that you can buy a $25 gift certificate for only $2 by using the code TREATS at check out.

Hope that you enjoyed the tip!

What a Treat!

A few weeks back, I was asked by BSM Media to be a panelist on the Mommy Blogger Monologues in NYC, a conference where PR people and companies attend to learn about marketing with, approaching and working with mommy bloggers to market their companies and clients on the internet. Why mommy bloggers? Because we rock, of course! The fabulous women on the panel were Gabrielle (Design Mom & kirtsy), Kim P. (Jogging in Circles), Kim C. (Mom in the City), Amy O. (Filming in Brooklyn & Selfish Mom), Kelcey (mama bird diaries), Alexis (The Intrepid Mompreneur) and Andi (Mama Knows Breast).

Things here got a little nutty over herre and I didn't get a chance to write about the panel (which was totally amazing of course), but you can read all the details here, here and here.

Of course I was totally honored that I would be asked to participate in this event, much less be on the panel of experts, and the honor floated me through the next few days. Being with these women motivated me and I came home with a modified outlook on where I wanted to go with my business, how I wanted to market and what I wanted to market, among so many other things.

That was almost two weeks ago, although comingled with the daily grind, it seems so much further away in my mind.

Yesterday when I got home after a long day, I was surprised to see a box on my doorstep. Seeing the return address said Selma's and underneath that said cookies cookies cookies, I can tell you that even with no husband or kids at home, that box was opened in record time fairly quickly. The note inside said it was from BSM Media, who organized the panel, as a thank you to me for participating. It truly should have been from me thanking them for having me on a panel full of these amazing, amazing women. Anyway, back to the cookies....

Warning: The contents of this box that I am about to show you is not for the faint of heart. You truly may need to look away.


If you can't get the true size of those cookies, they are 3 1/2 inches wide (according to Selma's website).

And there were 6 of them. SIX. Oh, did I mention that on Monday my husband declared that he was on a diet? Good luck with these cookies.

Of course I had to check out Selma's website. Immediately. Here's what I found.

Selma's is a cookie movement with two US bakeries - one in Orlando and Las Vegas, to serve the East and West coasts, respectively. Each cookie is 1/4 pound. Seriously, no joke. I could seriously eat all six of these cookies BY MYSELF and, well, I'll just let you do the math. I did share one with my son (we each had a quarter) and apparently my husband ate a half of another one last night, although he claims that my dog at most of it. Hmmm.....

These cookies were ridiculous. Ridiculously good, of course. I need though to get them out of my house so I don't eat the rest of them! They are now on my list of treats that I love, of that I am absolutely 100% positively sure.

Need a gift? Buy 'em. Okay, you should also buy them even if you don't need a gift. They're that good. I'm just sayin'.....