Disney Social Media Moms Blog Hop

.

Cindy over at Mom Maven had this absolutely fabulous idea for those of us attending the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration March 17th - 20th. She has set up a linky so all of us can write up a post about who we are, who is going with us, whether it will be our first time at the event, etc. This way, we will all ready "know" some people when we get there and have begun our social media networking. 

My husband and I live in Celebration, Florida which is just 5 minutes outside the Disney World main gate and we go there quite often using our annual passes. We also were VERY privileged to be invited last year to the Disney Conference last year and had an outstanding, unforgettable time. Which is why we were so thrilled to be able to attend this year as well.  This year, however, we WILL be staying on property because I have always wanted to stay at the Grand Floridian - one of the MOST majestic hotels anywhere, let alone Disney World. We are hoping that our two sons who live in Connecticut will be able to come down to spend the vacation with us - if they can both get the time off from work (they are age 20 & 23) ; they love Disney World and I know they will adore the special features of the convention. 

If you'd like to see the recaps from last year's conference, just check out my posts here and here. 

We are so looking forward to meeting all of the wonderful bloggers and their families and cannot wait to learn as much, if not more from the fabulous speakers (like Chris Brogan, who Cindy just informed me is going to be there again - WooHoo!!!).  It is getting closer every minute.... and I'm getting more and more excited!

Write up your post and link up with Cindy over at Mom Maven so I can get to know you.  HUGGLES!!

.

Valentine's Day Monday Mingle: February 14th - My First Vlog..... YAY!!!

.



 “Mingling with you since August 2009!” 
  "Welcome to Monday Mingle! Each week three questions are asked, and you can answer via a written post, or a vlog post. If you have always wanted to try vlogging, Monday Mingle vlog meme is a fun way to try vlogging. If you’d like to join in the fun, answer the 3 weekly questions in short vlog on your blog, or a written blog post, then link up over on Eighty MPH Mom in the linky. Please post the above button within your post and link to Eighty MPH Mom, so readers can easily find other participants. Visit the other participants, learn about them and have fun! It’s not too late you can link up anytime during the week."


Here are the Current questions for the week of 2/14/11:



1. What is your favorite ride at an amusement park?
2. Whats the nicest thing you have ever done for someone?
3. What do you like best and least about your life?


Monday Mingle - February 14, 2011 from Shewbridge on Vimeo.

Some references in my vlog that I'd like to make sure you were able to get:


First:  Erin of Slice o' Heaven ~~ The sweetest, most generous person and most incredible mother you could ever know... please head on over to her blog so that you can get to know her. You will be happy you did!! Do you know what this incredible woman did for me.... I mentioned last week that I'd been trying to win a Flip cam so that I could do an actual VLOG when I participate in Monday Mingle. Well, she immediately emailed me that she had an extra one and that if I was truly going to mingle, she would be more than happy to GIVE it to me. After a couple of emails from me to make sure SHE was sure, I graciously accepted and, as they say..... the rest is history. Thank you so much, my dear friend Erin.... Lubs you forever!!


Second: Dawn of It's All About the Jewels ~~ A girl after my own heart!! Anyone who knows me, knows that I am never fully dress without some bling. She is the lovely woman who made the beautiful earrings that I word during my vlog. I wasn't up t getting all dolled up or even putting on make-up, but thanks to a fabulous giveaway she had on her blog, I was lucky enough to win these beautiful earrings to wear during my vlog. Thank you so much Dawn for such a gorgeous gift.



I wish you all a spectacular Valentine's Day with the ones you love, and as a favor to me, please remember those who are serving our country in the armed forces an are unable to be with their family, friends and all of their loved one..... Please say an extra prayer for those brave men and women who put their lives in harm's way every day just for our freedoms -- THAT is true love!

One more thing... Happy Birthday, Jennifer and many, many more! You deserve only the BEST!!!

.

Bloggy Event: Hearts of Love at Kidsumers and My Little Review Corner

.




Maggie                                Sam  



I want to let you know about a FANTABULISTIC event going on over at two of my friends' blogs. Sam at Kidsummers and Maggie at My Little Review Corner have a terrific event that starts tomorrow January 31st and runs all the way through February 14th with over $1400 in prizes available to be won on both sites - and the good news.... prizes will be available for both Americans and Canadians {did you hear that Freda???}!!


You can get to Sam's site by clicking on her button here or the event button above and by following her on Twitter @kidsumers.

Follow Maggie on Twitter @ReviewCorner or click on her buttons.

I've already got the buttons on my sidebar... I don't want to miss a thing.


Don't forget to follow theTwitter hashtag #heartsoflove all throughout the event.... I know I will be.  Good luck to you all, and let me know if you win anything, I'd love to feature you on my blog.



.

Brandcation Stay at Global Resort Homes - THANK YOU!!!

  

{Banner courtesy of UPrinting.com}

While I was at Brandcation this past weekend, I had the privilege of staying at Global Resort Homes at Windsor Hills Resort in Kissimmee. There where 33 of us that stayed in 4 of these gorgeous homes... here is the house that me and 8 other women stayed in.... and I would like to thank those women for being SO generous in allowing me to have the bedroom on the first floor so that I didn't have to worry about navigating the steps all the time.  I had the best roommates EVER!!!

The first night we were there we had a get to know each other party with TONS of snacks and drinks provided by Pepperidge Farms, Dole, Cabot Cheese, Deans Dip, The Candy Wrapper Store, and Sam's Club; along with party favors from Blog Friendly PR (I love you Shasta!!)...

When each of us arrived, it was like greeting old friends because of the connections we had made via our blogs, twitter and the Momdot forum, but then we had SO much more fun getting to know each other even better through talking, game playing and a whole LOT of laughter.  We also got to win lots of prizes that were gifts from several wonderful companies (listed below) - some of the ways we were able to win was by playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors," Musical Chairs, Fashion Shows and even something like "Let's Make a Deal."  I was so lucky to get a fantastic Margarita Maker from Kelty Kids. {Party at my house!!}  I was also very privileged to win a beautiful rosewood keepsake box that you can record a message and include a photograph from VoiceQuilt that I can send to my son in Afghanistan - I am SO excited about that!!



 

This is such a fantastic place to stay, I really think that if you are going to be in the Kissimmee area, you TOTALLY need to look into Global Resort Homes for your all your vacation needs. They are clean, pretty and comfortable. Since I live in the area, I know there are lots of places you can chose to stay and Global Resort Homes is definitely one of the best that you can pick. I especially LOVE our rep Tara Salinas, she went out of her way to make sure everything was working perfectly in our houses.

Right now Global Resort Homes is having a contest on their Facebook page for a 7-night stay at one of their resorts! WooHoo!! Don't forget to tell them who sent you, as they are also giving away a 4-7 night stay to those of us who refer you (you can also be a recipient of that if YOU refer people to them, so spread the word.). We had a wonderful stay at their resort, so I want to again say a huge THANK YOU to Global Resort Homes for all they did to make Brandcation a fantastic weekend.

Stay tuned for more posts about what else we did all weekend.....

Thank you to the following sponsors for their awesome gifts:

~ Food Should Taste Good Chips

~ Cleavitz

~ Zondervan

~ BitDefender

~ Ikea

~ My Scent Image

~ BAZI - Energy Drinks

~ Blunders Manner Mats (My grandson is going to LOVE these)

~ ShawneTV

~ Proforma Green Marketing

~ Bumble Bee

~ Uncle Ben's (I have donated this in our local Boy's Club pick up for the food bank)

~ Little Lamb Kidz

~ Journey Bars Nutrition Bars (kept us going on our adventures in Disney World - post to come)

~ Carolina Pad (this was one of my FAVORITE gifts)

~ Backyard Safari Outfitters Adventure Kits (another wonderful Christmas gift for my grandson)

~ Maple Leaf Farms Cookbook

~ Shoe Wallet

~ American Historic Inns

~ Cherb Chronicles

~ Canine Colors Book (bet you KNOW I can use this - TeeHee!!)

~ ShaToBu' Body Shaper

~ National Association fo Moms In Business (1 Year Membership - isn't that FABULOUS!!)

The fantastic giveaways were sponsored by this wonderful companies: (on top of those mentioned in the post)

~ Eversave (Special thank you to Eversave for the DELICIOUS baskets in each house! YUMMY!!)

~ Out of the Blue Delivered (They have the greatest items on this site - I WANT so many!!)

~ My Little Pony (I also received one of these, but passed it along to one of the ladies with a daughter)

~ Hip Fusion Designs

~ Karma Kitaj

~ Sears Home Appliances and Kenmore (They gave away FOUR vacuums - AMAZING!!)

~ Bounce Houses Now (Congratulations to Maria - she will be a ROCK STAR to her kids this Christmas!)

A special shout-out to Sounds for Fun Karaoke Store who had arranged for us to use a karaoke machine, but we were unable to go pick it up for our party. Thank you so much for the offer, I can only imaging how much more fun our party would have been if we ALL began singing. HaHa Also kudos to Kissimmee Guest Services (Keith Brady) and Kissimmee Visitors Bureau, with particular mention to Gail Bartashy, for all the work you did to help make our entire weekend in the area marvelous.

(I sure hope I didn't miss anyone... you were all so wonderful to help make our weekend amazing!)

{Disclosure: While I was given all these fabulous gifts, I did not pay for my stay and only paid an extremely nominal fee for all the activities that I participated in. I drove my own transportation and was graciously given gas money by the lovely ladies that were at the event with me. All the views expressed in these posts are ALL mine.}

Brandcation Event: Global Getaway Nov 5th-7th!

I am so excited to be going to the Brandcation Event put on by Kim and Trisha of MomDot. There are going to be no formal classes at this event, instead it will be "real life conversation in an environment conducive to learning and growing" {from the MomDot blog}. I am so looking forward to meeting all of these wonderful bloggers and learning so many new and exciting things; plus, the event is going to be here in Orlando, FL.  I think there are only a few spots left, so if you are interested, head on over and check it out soon!  For more information, contact kim@accidentalmommies.com or trisha@momdot.com.  Hope to see some of you there!!

Look What I've Got.....

 

I'd like to thank my good friend Erin from Slice o' Heaven for so generously offering to help me with my very own custom signature for my blog.  She made this wonderful graphic for me today for which I am eternally grateful. I have met some of the BEST people while blogging and am awed by the generosity and love that has been shown to me and my family over and over again.

Please head on over to Erin's blog to let her know how fabulous I think she is and see her absolutely terrific blog and her terrific family, including the most beautiful daughter, Charlie.

Thank you so much, Erin... I really appreciate all your hard work and love you lots!!!

Happy First Blogiversary to Me

 

   

I couldn't believe it when I looked back on my blog and saw that this week marked the one year anniversary of my regularly blogging.  I cannot believe how quickly it has gone by and how much has changed - for the good! 

I first started blogging quite sporadically in 2005 and really just let it fall by the wayside.  Then in 2009 after my spinal surgery while I was recuperating on the couch and couldn't do much of anything but watch TV, my darling husband {who is the most wonderful man in the world, by the way} suggested I try entering some giveaways on blogs that he saw on a sweepstakes site that he was entering other giveaways.  He told me I had a "flare for that kind of thing," and it might keep me from being bored for the next 3 months.  So, I started to enter the giveaways and then I won a few... but more than that, I started to read other posts on the blogs.  I started to learn about the incredible women (and a few men), some who where a lot like me, some who where nothing like me, but had these interesting lives and these great families with whom I started to become friends.

Then I thought, maybe, I could start to write about what we were doing and start posting photos of us and even post things that others might find interesting.  So, I started posting, first about my doggie, Nano - my little baby and love of my life, and then some info about nutritional supplements I learned from other sites and then a Father's Day post.  Interspersed with posts about other people's giveaways, I did my posts about what we were doing and uploading photos of our daily life here in beautiful central Florida.

I remember how excited I was to get my very first follower and my very first commenter - they were both the same person ~~ Crystal from Simply Being Mommy.  Crystal has been there for me since then as a follower, commenter and most especially as my friend.  I was so lucky to meet her at the Disney Social Media Moms Conference this past February.

I continued to make new friends and read other people's blogs with their wonderful reviews and enter their giveaways... then I was offered MY very first review.  I was so excited and I gave it my all, as I continue to do with each and every review I do to this date.  Then came my first giveaway and I felt like a giddy school girl with my first crush... I still get this way each time I'm fortunate to represent a company and giveaway one of their products.

Now as I continue to write and upload my photographs, which have gotten better thanks to the most wonderful man in the world for getting me a MUCH better camera, I want to thank all of you for your support and for continuing to visit my blog and reading what I write - for reasons I still don't understand!!  I am so lucky to have you all as my friends and look forward to continuing this relationship and growing it for a very long time into the future.  Hugs to you all!!

Until next time..... Lorie

A Trip to the Magic Kingdom

On May 16th Bill and I were lucky enough to meet one of my Twitter friends Barb S. (@winterbabe98) and her family at The Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World for an afternoon of sunshine, laughter, and lots of fun sprinkled with Disney Magic!

Here is Barb with Wendy and Peter Pan... she was so excited to see them, she was just like a little kid.  Kind of like I get when I see Mickey Mouse.  I so love that Disney World can turn adults into little kids at the drop of a hat, it is definitely "The Happiest Place on Earth."   {Check out the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World For Grown-Ups (Unofficial Guides) if your not sure what to do at Disney World if you don't have children.}

We of course, rode The Pirates of the Caribbean {I mean, come on, a chance for me to see Johnny Depp - even in animatronics!}; and we went to the Haunted Mansion and the Jungle Cruise {corny jokes and all} because it is still a great ride and a chance to sit down and get a cool breeze.  We also went into Mickey's Philharmagic ~ everybody has to love those 3-D plus shows, they are really amazing.  Barb's son Steven went on Space Mountain, but Barb and I didn't due to our similar spinal issues.

And we did LOTS of talking and laughing... it was like Barb and I had known each other forever, and Barb's husband Steve and Bill got along really great!  Not to mention that their son Steven is an absolute joy!  That is my FAVORITE thing about social networking, the people you meet online you really get to know and become just like family {sometimes even closer}.  You learn all about them, their spouses, children, etc., and you start to care very deeply about them and what happens to each and every one of them.  So, thank you Barb for the terrific afternoon we got to spend together - and both Bill & I are looking forward to doing it again soon. 

I also hope that those of you whom I have met online through Facebook, Twitter and blogging who come down to central Florida and are headed near Disney World, please, let me know, I would love to spend a day with you and your family, because isn't that what Social Networking is all about?  Connecting!

{L to R: Steven, Bill, me and Barb}

Until next time..... Lorie

Need a Laugh Today? Have I Got a Site for You...

I have recently been introduced to a great site that will make you laugh. It is called "Heard on the Playground" and has quotes of things that kids say and adorable photos of kids that will make you smile or outright laugh out loud.

Here is an example of one of the photos from the site:

"Big brother said if I sat in here I'd be cooler like him."

Quote from the site:

Man: WHAT'S YOUR NAME?
Boy: JESUS
Man: Are you sure?
Boy: That's what MOM calls me whenever I DO SOMETHING BAD

Hope you get a chance to check out the site, it will make you smile!

Until next time..... Lorie