One of my favorite websites, MomsRising, is hosting a blog carnival for Mother's Day. The topic is "What My Mother Taught Me." First Lady Michelle Obama, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and other illuminaries are writing there this weekend.
I have a post up over there called "For the Love of Mom." I hope you stop by and take a look! It's about what my mom taught me about love, family and community.
Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all of you moms out there!
Last week, I took an overnight business trip to Nashville, Tennessee for a meeting. It's not the most glamorous or exciting way to travel, especially when you're in and out in one night. My office is very mindful of budget issues and we try to save money whenever possible. So, how do you plan for a trip that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and provides the creature comforts that you need to work?
Enter Room 77.
Room 77 is a new hotel search website that allows users to find excellent deals gleaned from the top hotel search functions, narrowing the searches by specific parameters set by the user. Need wifi? No problem. Room 77 finds the cheapest options in the locations you want with free wifi. Want a free breakfast? Narrow your search to only include those that include breakfast in the price (a great feature for families who travel). You can also search for special rates, like AAA or Senior discounts if you want to. You can narrow your search by the amenities you want, the star-rating of the hotel, and the Trip Advisor score.
What I really liked about Room 77 is that all the information is displayed on one page, and shows Room 77 deals along with deals from other vendors like Expedia and Orbitz. Instead of searching through ten different sites for the very best deal available, Room 77 does all the work for you, showing the best deals first. I have used other search engines that do this, but open ten different windows at a time, which was way too much seizure-inducing activity on my screen. I liked Room 77's clean, easy user interface.
In addition to narrowing searches by amenities and price, Room 77 also allows users to research hotel layouts and room views, and availability of parking and shuttle service as well. They also offer an exclusive Room Concierge service with fast checkout on 4 to 5-star hotels or stays more than $400.
Whether you're planning an extended family vacation or a quick business trip like I was, Room 77 will give you all the tools you need to plan your trip and choose a hotel that is right for your needs and within your budget. Room 77 also has a convenient iPhone app, so you can make plans right from your phone.
Never wonder whether you’ve gotten the best deal on your hotel room again. Check out Room 77 when planning your next travel adventure!
Disclosure: I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective. I received compensation for the post, but all opinions are my own.
I've confessed here before that I used to love scrapbooking. So much so, my husband used to call it my "cult meeting" when I would dash out of the house to join my friends for scrapbooking time together. Unfortunately, having a full time job, a seasonal job, a volunteer position and a blog don't leave much time for other hobbies, so my scrapbooking gear is gathering dust in a corner.
Still, preserving my family's memories is important to me. I have boxes and boxes of old photos that haven't made their way into scrapbooks yet. With the advent of digital scrapbooks making it so easy to create and duplicate beautiful scrapbooks with a few mouse clicks, all the time and energy spent on paper books seems like a waste.
Unfortunately, most of our family's photos pre-2000 are in paper form. Who has time to stand over a scanner and scan hundreds of photos?
Enter, LiveOn Rewind...A few months ago, Clever Girls Collective asked me to be a brand ambassador for a new photo sharing, digitizing, and restoration service called LiveOn. As part of learning about the company, they offered to digitize some of my family photos without charge to me. It was an incredibly easy process, and I am completely sold on their services.
The first thing I did was figure out which photos to scan. I decided start with photos from before 1990. I ordered a postage-paid box from LiveOn Rewind, which arrived in a few days. I was a little surprised at how small the box was, but I was even more surprised that I could fit nearly 500 photos into it. I included some that were in pretty bad shape, thinking that someday I would learn Photoshop well enough to fix them. Some of these are photos of my mom from the 1950's, when she was a young girl in Korea.
I filled up my box and slapped on the pre-made UPS label and dropped it off at a local UPS store. A few days later, I received an acknowledgement that my photos had arrived safe and sound at the LiveOn Headquarters.
While I was waiting for my photos to return, I got an email from someone at LiveOn stating that they could fix my damaged photos. (Note: there is an extra charge for this service). I was beyond thrilled. They sent me a sample of their work, which I posted. I couldn't wait to see the rest.
A few weeks later, all of my photos were returned to me, with a DVD enclosed containing digitized versions of them. There are copies of both the original image and the restored ones. There is also a gorgeous musical slideshow of photos that is like watching your life flash before you (or in this case, my mother's life). The results brought tears to my eyes.
My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year. I can't think of a better belated gift to them than a scrapbook of their early years together, and this way, I can keep a copy for myself and my brothers as well. I can't thank the folks at LiveOn enough for the precious gift they have given me and my family. I plan to put the DVD in our safety deposit box for safekeeping.
If you would like to let your family photos LiveOn, use this code at checkout for a 30% discount at Liveon.com: cgc65
Thank you to LiveOn for sponsoring this blog post. Please visit LiveOn to learn more about sharing and preserving your most important memories. I was selected for this sponsorship by Clever Girls Collective. Although story ideas were provided, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Last week, 2400 bloggers (including myself) swarmed the BlogHer 2010 Conference at the Hilton New York in New York City. This was my fourth BlogHer Conference in five years, and each year BlogHer helps me grow, discover something about myself, and move forward to a new chapter of my life online. Each conference has been empowering to me in a way that has been hard for me to quantify. For me, BlogHer has been, and continues to be, nothing short of a revelation, an unfolding of a new area of myself to explore and nurture over the coming years. So, my BlogHer recap this year is not about the parties, the sessions or the friends I hugged (there were many; they were fabulous), but a recap of what BlogHer has meant to me over the years.
BlogHer '06, The Writer: I was a fly-on-the-wall at BlogHer '06. I had not been blogging long, and really didn't know where I was going with this newfangled blog thing. I didn't know any of the bloggers outside my little Silicon Valley momsphere. The bloggers I read but didn't know personally, I was way too intimidated to just introduce myself to. I didn't think of myself as a writer, but a lawyer with a blogging hobby. At the closing keynote speech, I heard my personal blog-heroine Grace Davis say, "If you have a blog, you are a writer." That was my revelatory moment. I realized that having a blog helped me to realize the joy that I get out of writing, and reading the work of other women who love writing as much as I do. I decided to keep blogging and exploring what the inner-writer in me had to say.
BlogHer '07, The Activist: In 2007, I realized the power of community and the power that words have to spur people to action. At BlogHer 2007, I heard Elizabeth Edwards in conversation with Lisa Stone about her husband's campaign and the issues she cared most deeply about--healthcare, poverty, and the environment. I had the chance to speak with her personally, and felt a kinship to her and her ideas. Soon after that, Stefania, Beth and I met in a coffee shop in Palo Alto and gave birth to our own form of on-line activism: MOMocrats, a collective of like-minded, highly-spirited, outspoken moms. Although the Edwards campaign (and Edwards himself) faltered, the MOMocrats flourished. Within a year of launch, we had interviewed Barack Obama, gotten Michelle Obama to guest-post, and were invited to be part of the media covering the 2008 Democratic National Convention. I met women through MOMocrats that I consider to be part of my tribe and my lifelong friends.
Recently, sixty-five moms from all over the US and Canada descended on Palo Alto and Sunnyvale to attend the invitation-only Yahoo! Mother Board Summit. The moms are a high-powered group of bloggers who are plugged in to all the latest trends in marketing and social media, and were invited to participate in a one-day conference at Yahoo! Headquarters in Sunnyvale. I was fortunate enough to be invited, and had a wonderful time connecting with old friends, and meeting some great new friends. I was happy, for once, to not have to travel to a meeting.
I have been on the Mother Board for three years, from its inception. At the beginning, we answered surveys and tested out new Yahoo! products and gave the marketing team feedback. In the past year, it has grown into a community of 80 bloggers who support and advise each other through a Yahoo! group and on the pages of the Yodeling Mamas blog.
The Mother Board Summit was a mix of practical advice for bloggers, marketing focus group for Yahoo! products and services, and socializing over great food and drinks. The women on the Yahoo! marketing team and Voce Communications did a fabulous job of organizing the content, and shepherding the attendees from place to place.
Continue reading "Yahoo! Mother Board Summit: The Mother of All Conferences" »
Welcome to the January 27 Edition of the Carnival of Cities! Join us for a virtual tour of some of the world's great cities and towns with our intrepid travel writers from around the globe.
North America
Starting out in Vancouver, Canada, just in time for the Winter Olympics, Julie Ovenell-Carter shows us the Hottest tickets in town: My Top 5 picks for Vancouver’s 2010 Cultural Olympiad posted at theseboots.travel for anyone who's just not that into sports, or wants to take a break from the action to enjoy some culture.
Jump in your virtual convertible and drive on down the coast to my home state of California, where Caitlin will introduce you to the real Surf City in Driving Highway 1 in California: Santa Cruz and The Lost Boys Railroad Bridge at Roaming Tales. Keep going past Big Sur and Hearst Castle, all the way down the Pacific Coast Highway, where Joanne will entice you with Newport Beach Romance posted at Newport Beach Vacation for you and your valentine.
No valentine? No worries! Follow Peter Kimmich through a tour of The Best Walking Bars in LA, Part 1: Los Feliz posted at TryOurLA. Be sure to sober up before going along with Jim to the Hash House A Go Go, San Diego via Wanderlust Journey.
You'll need to abandon the convertible and fly out to the Midwest, and pick up a mini-van to brave the weather in Minnesota, in order to check out Beth Blair's Family Tips for Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America over at The Vacation Gals. No kids? My son will be glad to join you, since he loves Nickelodeon!
While you're in Midwest, Jordy Clements invites you to check out Omaha, Nebraska with Guerrilla Trail Crew: Tweets, Shovels, and Rides Again posted at Omaha.net - Local
In Michigan, Case Ernsting provides great information on Amish Furniture at Think Local Washtenaw County posted at Home and Decor, and tips on local Couples Getaways in the Midwest posted at FinditLocal411 Blog.
In Kentucky, Jack for Prema Michael shows us Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, Lexington, Kentucky posted over at Eyeflare Travel Articles and Tips. Then, travel down to Texas with Tui Cameron and do a little Shark-gazing at the Dallas World Aquarium posted at Mental Mosaic: Have Blog, Will Travel.
On the East Coast, Jon Rochetti tells us how the DC Flamenco Festival Dances into Town at The PlanetEye Traveler - Washington DC. Victoria gives us a Londoner's nostalgic look The Big Apple at one of my favorite family travel blogs, It's a small world after all.
Europe
After you're done touring North America, head on over to The Continent, to some well-traveled roads, and a few off-the-beaten path locations that our travelers have discovered.
Curious about post-war Bosnia? Look no further than Mostar: From the Ruins posted at Twenty-Something Travel, where you will see how this nation has fared since the war.
On a budget? Find out ways to travel in Germany without spending your life savings with Munich Alberto's Cheap Hotels In Munich posted at Cheap Hotels Inn. For a more in-depth look at accommodations on the Rhine, Jim & Martha show us Bed & Breakfasts vs. Hostels: Bacharach posted at Wanderlust Journey.
Want to save money in Scandinavia? Just follow Martin Andrews Seeking Discount Travel Deals To Explore OsloBrad Alexzander and How To Find Discount Travel Deals To Visit Stockholm Sweden posted at Globe Cheap Travel.
If Rome is where the heart is, check out Sam's New !! The 10 Best Tourist Attractions in Rome Italy at Travel Welcome and Robin Locker's lovely Cul de Sac posted at the beautiful My Melange. Robin's blog gets my vote for best design this time around.
For a gorgeous view of Spain, be sure to read Lena's 3 Facts: Barcelona posted at The Colors Magazine. The photos are muy fantastico!
Asia
Only one stop in Asia this time around, this time a view of Old Delhi as seen through the eyes of a woman traveling alone at Cold SnapDragon.
Africa
For a peek at life in Africa, Lanora Mueller shares moving account of her experiences in the Congo at Impressions of Kinshasa, posted at writing travel.
Last, but not least, we certainly have to acknowledge the devastation brought by this month's earthquake to our friends in Haiti. June Tree presents some excellent advice on Haiti Relief Efforts and How To Help at The Digerati Life. I hope you will all take the time to stop by and find out ways you can help those in the greatest need right now.
Thanks to all the wonderful travelers who participated in this edition of the Carnival of Cities! I look forward to reading the next edition, hosted by Family Travel Guides.
Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of cities using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.
