Notable Newness

First of all, As you may know I am one of Walmart's More Than Elevenmoms. They are conducting a survey about your local stores and would love for you to be a part of it. It's only 7 questions long, only takes a minute, is completely anonymous and your thoughts will be taken very seriously! It's their way of trying to listen to you, the customer, a little better. You can take the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WHHX8LY

Thank you so much for your participation!

Freebies

• Free samples of AVEENO Nourish+ hair care collection. Get a free shampoo and
  conditioner sample and coupon sent straight to your door - http://www.aveeno.com/hair-care/free-samples
  
• Free Sample of Axe Shower Gel - http://www.samsclubmemberservices.com/showcase/unileversamplecenter.aspx (Note: You do not have to be a Sam's club member to get this freebie!)
• If your a Huggies Rewards member Julie at Coupon Savings Family has codes for you to add more points. Even if you're not a member or a Huggies user, Julie posts codes all the time and they can add up quick to redeem for prizes. :) Between the Huggies overnights, reward mailers, and her codes we are always redeeming them! This post has codes for 51 more points, this post has 20, and this post only the 1st and last codes work for 10 extra. There may be more valid codes in other archive posts but I didn't check.
  
• Cozi is only 2 weeks from picking a winner for their groceries for a year contest! Make sure you are getting your last minute entries in by going here. SO easy for extra entries! You also get 3 chances daily to win some awesome instant win prizes!
  

Blogs & Posts

• If you're a blogger I highly recommend checking out this post:20+ Useful Desktop Blog Editors I personally have tried many of these. If you use Firefox I recommend checking out the Scribe Fire add-on blog editor. It's so simple and great. (This post was actually written it in. As I find links for Notable Newness during the week, I save them in a draft in here. So easy to add to whenever the mood strikes without having to open blogger.) I also recommend (since most of you are Windows users) checking out Window's Live Writer. As much as I am Team Apple, that is a great blog editor with so many options.
• Here is an awesome idea for your kids favorite Valentines cards from classmates from Feels Like Home Blog! http://bit.ly/bif846
  
• I found an AMAZING design blog while surfing around. Design is mine is one of my newest favorite blogs! The author, Summer, shares her daily finds in photography, art, typography, vintage, modern design, and handmade goods. You should definitely check it out. Her latest post interior inspiration: like a story. is SURE to inspire.
• The Hidden Art of Camouflage Photography - This is so awesome! The work that goes into this! wow!
  
• Have you ever seen anybody make art in a cup of coffee? So neat! Check it out here.
• This article on how you should 'ignore expiration dates' has definitely won the award for 'worst article of the month.'
  My advice on it... Smell your milk, freeze your meat until the day you are going to use it, and use COMMON SENSE. Obviously don't be like the guy in the article eating 7 year old canned chicken. Yes, canned goods last longer, but seriously. 7 years.

Shops

• Cookies Kids - Specializing in Children's & Infant's School Uniforms, Urban Fashion & Baby products, Cookie's has become known as the World's Largest Kids Department Store. GREAT prices! I added tons of their stuff to Elijah's wishpot wishlist! You can also follow them on twitter @cookieskids
  
• little odd forest - 'frest, fairytales & wanderlust inspired oddities for all mankind...' Totally cute stuff! I added quite a few things from this shop to my wishlist! (Note: Yes the shop does only accept SGD but if you pay with paypal it auto converts it from USD. Use a conversion calculator like this one to determine the price in USD)

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Note: Notable Newness post content is NEVER sponsored. It is stuff I find on my own while surfing the web that I think you would enjoy.

Freebies 2.26.2010

A few new freebies!

Wordless Wednesday - Elijah's first police station visit

In December Elijah got to go see his Godmother, a police officer, hard at work at the Police Station.
He loved the precinct tour and thought the cells were really neat. He especially liked the radios and was tickled to have his own Miranda card so he can 'read' us our rights whenever he gets the urge.

Happy Wednesday!

Twitter Party TONIGHT! 2/22

Who do you turn to for support when the time comes to have those tough talks with your kids?

Join @ResourcefulMom on twitter tonight for #MomsSupport. There will be lots of great conversation on the tips and tricks for navigating what can sometimes be an awkward part of parenting!

This chat will be sponsored by Kotex and every party goer (up to 300) will receive their own First Period Kit to share with their daughter! In addition to that you can also enter to win some awesome door prizes!

• $250 Visa Card
• $100 Visa Card - TWO winners
• $40 AMC Movie Gift Cards - THREE winners
• $10 Starbucks Gift Cards - THREE winners

To find out more information, RSVP and enter to win prizes, please visit: http://resourcefulmommy.blogspot.com/2010/02/momssupport-twitter-event-monday.html

Bodacious Blogger Award

Sometimes there are people in your life that you appreciate so much, but you forget to thank.


This is Brandy.

She's a mom, a virtual assistant, blogger, tweeter, and an AWESOME friend.

She's always first to comment on tons of my posts, she's always leaving me messages on twitter, facebook, and other places we are both members of. She always shares my posts on stumble upon, retweets my tweets, and would help me with pretty much anything if I asked.

Thank you Brandy, for being such a valuable friend! And thank you also for this award! xoxox

Brandy awarded me today with this Bodacious Blogger award and I felt so honored! It's for bloggers that you are totally addicted to reading! I am very blessed to have Brandy as a friend and thankful that she is addicted to my blog(s)! I don't what I would do without her comments! :) Thank you again Brandy!


The rules for this award are simple:

• Choose 5 bloggers that you are totally addicted to reading that you feel deserves a little something something extra for all of their hard work, time and dedication.
• Tag each of those bloggers in a post linking to their most recent blog post.
• Then, grab the code from the box below and add it to your post so the recipient of the Bodacious Blogger Award can grab it and pass on the love. (or rather right click and save image from my blog)

Then, answer the following questions:

1. What do you love most about blogging?
2. What do you dislike about blogging?
3. What is the one thing you hope to achieve from blogging


WOW. 5 bloggers I am addicted too is sort of hard these days. There are so many wonderful bloggers, but so many of the blogs I was addicted to have... well, lost their spark. I know I feel my OWN blog has lost it's spark though too so I can't really say much! :) I also feel terrible... but I must confess I have been sort of very lazy with the blog reading/commenting lately. Sowwies. I will get back into routine eventually. Thy google reader runneth over.

Ah well, on to the bloggers!


I know Brandy's Blog Happily Blended is the one I visit most often... okay yeah. I am addicted to Brandy Ellen. lol I love her mix of personal and business and always learn so much! Can I give the award back to someone? If so I want to...

Well just in case you can't give awards twice here is 5 more blogs I check at least once a week.

1. This and That - I love Tonya. She is amazing. She is also a wonderful friend. Her creativity makes me *squee* sometimes while reading her posts. Her blog makes me LOL and makes me happy! So she is certainly #1 recipient of the Bodacious Blogger Award.
2. Feels Like Home - Tara's posts are creative, informative and really... make you feel like home.
3. Tip Junkie - Junkie doesn't describe how I feel about this site. It's like being addicted to a drug without as many side effects. I spend HOURS going through her archives finding awesome ideas to save to evernote to do later... you know in my 'spare time.'
4. Resourceful Mommy - Does Amy really need an introduction? lol Sitewarming info, Disney tips and bits of humor are just a few things you will find on her site. You have to subscribe!
5. The Online Mom - If you are a mom and your child uses anything electronic, you need to check out The Online Mom. Wondering how young is too young to have a cell phone or how much tv a day is too much? Or how cool is that new video game you've had your eye on for the family? All these tech questions and more can be answered with a mouse click. Oh and Monica is amazing and sweet too! :)

So there are my 5! Give them some love!

Now for the questions:

1. What do you love most about blogging? The personal sharing between bloggy friends. Relating to people like you and never having the feeling like you are alone. There is always someone to listen and understand that has been through the same thing.
2. What do you dislike about blogging? Lately it's the explosion of 'gimme gimme' bloggers that are only out to get ahead (the wrong way), get free stuff and make money. They are giving the 'REAL' bloggers a bad name.
3. What is the one thing you hope to achieve from blogging? I hope to help others with my experiences, make others laugh and have fun doing it.


Thanks for reading!

Ramblings, Free Offers and a blogger affiliate opportunity

First of all I wanted to say Edy's Slow Churned Samoas Girl Scout Cookie Ice Cream is amazing. SERIOUSLY amazing. We got some last night after I *squee'd* all over the ice cream isle in Wegmans. You should have seen me. I seriously did the happy butt dance so exciting that another girl in the isle got just as excited and had to buy some too. Oh and apparently according to Dave just because the slow churned is 50% less fat and 30% fewer calories does not mean you can eat an entire carton. oh darn. Well at least he is helping me to ration this carton to last more than 10 minutes.

{{HINT HINT Edy's PR REPS.}}

WILL BLOG FOR FREE SAMOAS FLAVORED ICE CREAM.

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Second, sorry about the Wordless Wednesday *fail* today. That was my fault. I didn't bother to schedule the post or remember it was Wednesday. Who remembers days of the week anymore? psh. I have a palm pilot to keep track of those things for me. I will make it up though!

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Anyway. I was finally sorting through some of my Logical Media Affiliate Network emails and found some great offers I wanted to share. Not just because I get a few cents if you actually do the offers, but because these are offers I have actually done myself and have enjoyed or benefited from.

My only piece of advice before I begin is that if you don't currently have one, get yourself a second email address to use exclusively for samples, free offers, etc. OH and if you sign up for a survey company.. or 10.. have another email for just surveys. It keeps the clutter/spam/junk out of your personal email and makes it easy to find/delete/ etc. I have like 10 emails I use for different things. I have had people ask me isn't it annoying to check 10 emails everyday. Well no. I only check my personal and business emails. The survey one I check when I'm in the mood to do surveys and the free stuff ones, etc I only check when I am doing something and need to. It's really making you LESS work so you're not sitting there deleting spam from your personal account all day. OH and I also recommend using gmail for your free email. Their spam fighting filters and tools are miles ahead of yahoo, hotmail, etc.

Okay enough rambling, on to the offers. And like I said *Disclosure* these are all ads through an affiliate program I belong to, so I DO make a few cents when you hit submit joining one of the offers. Not per click, per JOIN. BUT like I said too, I have used every one of these below and 100% honestly have enjoyed some aspect of them. I WILL NOT share something I wouldn't use myself.

{{Psst...Are you a blogger? Do you want to get affiliate offers like this too to share and make some extra $? Then fill out this form and enjoy! Logical Media has quickly became one of my favorite affiliate companies.}}

On to the fun!

I get Website Magazine through this company right now, but have gotten others in the past. There are some really good ones you may have not heard of before.

I signed up for Baby to Bee when I was pregnant and it allows you to sign up for other offers like American Baby and Baby Talk magazine all at once. Saves time finding offers. You can say yes or no to like 4 pages of offers. I highly recommend getting the free subscriptions to American Baby and Baby Talk magazines. They are great!

I also signed up for this one. It has many of the same offers, but a few different. You can never have too many freebies!

I LOVE coupon sites! It's so easy to print the ones that are offered I need and match them with store or newspaper coupons. It's so easy to stack them up too at stores that let you double up. You can end up with dirt cheap or free items. Some cases can even equal money BACK! The following coupon sites I have used and printed from at least 10 times.

I love free samples and have used this site many times in the past to get them.

DEFINITELY use that second email I was talking about. Lots of emails, but if you participate a lot the rewards will add up quickly.

Just one of the MANY survey companies I belong to. I haven't done any of their surveys in a while, but when I did it didn't take too long to save up points. It wasn't the fastest or my favorite, but it wasn't the worst either. I exchanged for American Express gift cards but they also offer cash for points.

Win prizes, influence companies. Through Nielsen. Haven't participated enough to say one way or the other.

Entertainment books can be good or bad depending on where/how often you go out/shop. Most people save the amount they spent on the book within the first 1 or 2 months. There are amazing coupons in them. Especially having children, they can save tons of money.

Now this offer I haven't personally tried yet, but I love book clubs. Maybe read the fine print and see if it would be worth while. :)

I downloaded this today but haven't installed yet. I LOVE Family Feud though so I hope it rocks.
I will update you if I have any problems.

Well there you have it! I hope you find some offers that will benefit you! :) Let me know how your experiences with these companies go so I can share your feedback too!

Thanks for reading!

What a 'Cozi' family journal you have there...

I just wrote about Cozi a few days ago explaining a little of what I love about their site when it comes to help with dinner. If you didn't get a chance to check out that post, you can visit it here.

Now I wanted to take a minute and explain another part of Cozi that I think you will like.

Do you have friends and family you would like to keep updated on what's going on in your family? I know it seems like children do something new and exciting everyday. Cozi has a way to make sharing these moments fun and easy!
Cozi family journal is one of the main tools that Cozi offers. The screen shot above is of my Cozi home page. When you sign up you will see a similar page, complete with your family name and place for you to upload a photo.

Adding entries into your family journal is as easy as clicking the 'Jot down a moment' button.

Clicking that button opens a new box on the journal page for text as well as photo box to add to the memory. You can even choose to change the date of the post or make it private or public.

Once you have your post completed hit the 'save' button. Don't worry if you realize after you save that you need to go back and edit something. You can edit or delete any of your posts at any time.
Once your post is saved you can now share it with your friends and family. One option is to email your posts. You can either hit the send button to email an individual post or you can set it up for Cozi to automatically send a monthly newsletter with your posts to a contact list you specify.

The newsletter is great for families to get your updates and read them without having to visit the site to see if you posted something new. Below is an example of what our email newsletter looked like for the month of January.

Another option they offer is to have your posts display as a web page. To this up click on the 'Share Our Journal' drop down menu, then select 'share as a web page.' It will then tell you sharing is on and give you the option of editing your settings. This includes giving your journal a name, choosing an address for your journal, and privacy post settings.

I named our journal The Pyle's Family Journal. It's easy and simple. As for the location they give you the option of something impossible to remember (for privacy reasons) or the chance to customize your URL. I chose to customize mine with /pylefamily, to make it easy for family to remember.

Once you select your name, location, and privacy settings you can push continue at the bottom of the page. The next settings page, 'Protected Keywords,' is a unique offering for your privacy I have not seen offered anywhere else. You can set your journal to automatically protect key words that you chose, such as your child's name. Say you are not comfortable using your child's real name but always forget to call them by their nickname, you could have it set that anytime you were to type 'Elijah' or 'Eli' it would automatically show up in your posts as his nickname 'Moon' or just 'E.' This is a great privacy tool!

Once you are finished with that page you can hit 'see what our journal looks like' and it will take you to the preview of it. Check it out and go back and make any changes you wish and then hit 'continue.' You can either choose to invite friends and family now or you can come back and do it later at any time.

The last bit of sharing options for your journal are sharing through Facebook and Twitter or subscribing to the RSS feed. To share on Facebook you can add the Cozi Family Journal application. It will automatically share you new posts in your wall feed. If you choose twitter sharing it will send out an update from your twitter account each time a new story is posted. You can get to both of these options by clicking on the 'Let people know when you update your journal' option in the 'share our journal' drop down menu.

To subscribe to the RSS feed you can hit the 'Subscribe (RSS)' button as the top of your journal's home page.

Another feature of your journal offers is for your journal's viewers to add smiles to posts that they enjoyed! You can find the option at the bottom of each post.

Feel free to check out our family journal to get a better idea at:
http://family.cozi.com/pylefamily/

So far I have loved Cozi's family journal. I just recently started utilizing it but I want to find a better way to work in Elijah's updates to that as well. It would be a nice option for family who do not want to visit my blog. I wish I would have known about this during pregnancy too! If you followed my old blog when I was pregnant you know I updated once a day. I could see Cozi being a wonderful tool for pregnant woman to keep track of their growing belly photos and mom/baby stats! I am keeping this in mind for after we TTC again.

What do you think? Is Cozi family journal something you would consider using for you family? What options do you like or unlike?

To set up your own journal and see more of the great tools for your family Cozi offers please visit their website at http://www.cozi.com
You can also Follow them on Twitter: @CoziFamily
and Fan them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CoziFamily

And don't forget, Cozi's celebrating their 10,000,000^th Shopping List Item by giving away free groceries for a year! Entering is as easy as entering your email address and they are giving TONS of extra entries. All you have to do is invite friends through email, twitter, your blog, etc.

Every click you receive on the links you share gives you an extra entry!

You can also spin to win OXO kitchen gadgets or a limited-edition designer Cozi tote 3 times per day, every day until the contest ends on March 11th, 2010. Good Luck!

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This post was written on behalf of Cozi. All opinions are 100% my own.

*Closed* LIVE GIVEAWAY! $25 McCormick & Schmick’s Gift Certificate

With only two days left until Valentines Day, and Baltimore still being under a few feet of snow, people are rushing to get their Valentines gifts and celebrations in order.

McCormick & Schmick’s restaurants has an awesome Valentines Day offering put together to help you out!

"Indulge Your Taste for Romance. Valentine's Day Weekend February 12 - 14. Because romance deserves more than one day."

From their representative:

"McCormick & Schmick’s is offering an “above and beyond service” in addition to a romantic menu all weekend long (today through Sunday). When a guest calls to make a reservation, he or she will be given the option to have roses from a local florist ordered and delivered to the table upon the guests’ arrival for dinner. McCormick & Schmick’s will take care of coordinating the bouquet order and the cost can either be included on the dinner bill or billed separately. Guests can also choose to add a unique touch by having a specially tailored message included on their dinner menu or a personalized note card on the table at arrival."

How perfect does that sound! You could arrange Valentines dinner, flowers, and even a special message with absolutely no work yourself besides a quick phone call. You can even make reservations straight from their web site!

The special Valentines menu sounds delicious!
Pan Fried Oysters Rockefeller-Style, Choose Filet Mignon or Lobster Tail and Choose a Crab Cake, Grilled Filet of Salmon or Skewer of Shrimp.
With soup, salads, and local sides your heart and your belly will be bursting!
Not to mention the dessert special, Sweetheart’s Crème Brulee Chocolate Silk Pie!

Is your mouth watering yet?

McCormick & Schmick’s has locations all around us including at the Harbor here in Baltimore, Annapolis, Bethesda, and in Oxon Hill. To see the locations, map, directions, and to make a reservation at your local McCormick & Schmick’s please visit their locations page.

Visit McCormick & Schmick's on the web at: www.mccormickandschmicks.com
And on Twitter: @McandSchmicks

McCormick & Schmick's would like to help you make this Valentines Day special so they are offering one of you a chance to win a $25 gift certificate* to your local Baltimore McCormick & Schmick's restaurant!

To Enter: Please Note this giveaway rules are very different from my usual rules.

• 1st *Mandatory* entry: Leave a comment below with your plans for Valentines Day.

Additional entries can be gained by:

• Follow me @erinjeany and @McandSchmicks and tweet about this giveaway. (Max 2 times an hour) Leave a seperate comment each time.
  
• Follow this blog through RSS, Email, Google Friend Connect (at the bottom of this page), Networked Blogs, OR become a fan on Facebook. You can do as many of those options as you want as long as you leave a separate comment for each.
• Check out my toy column at the Baltimore Examiner and leave a comment on one of my posts, come back here and leave me the name of the story you commented on. (You can do this 1 time for each article, as many articles as you wish. Leave a separate comment for each)
• Once you enter at least in 5 of the ways listed above you can get even MORE entries by leaving comments below on one of these topics: Baltimore, Valentines Day or Food. You cannot comment twice in a row, you must reply after someone else comments, but you can comment as many times as possible. This is the exciting live part of the giveaway!

Winner will be picked once comments reach 200!

Good Luck!

Winner will be chosen at random once 200 is reached using random.org for the winning number.

*Dining certificates does NOT have to be used for Valentines Day, it can be used at a later date. Because it will be mailed to you, it probably will not make it in time for the 14th. Certificates are for the dining room only, so they can’t be used on alcohol or at the bar. Cannot be redeemed for cash.

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Big Thanks to Brittany from F&H and also to McCormick & Schmick's. I was NOT compensated in any way. My gift to you, my readers! ♥ Happy Valentines Day!