Wordless Wednesday- #Brandcation Sneak Peek Edition
Stay tuned next week to hear about all the exciting places I recently visited during my trip to Pigeon Forge.
I’m uploading and editing pictures as I type. Have fun and see you in Pigeon Forge.
“Elmo Makes Music” with Play Zone October 25 – 28 #Nola
Guess which loveable red monster is coming to New Orleans? Elmo is Coming to Town!
My kids have always enjoyed going to see Sesame Street Live when they were younger. In fact since our kids are about 4-5 years apart, as parents we have seen many shows over the years. MY loved seeing our children’s faces light up as the lights would go dim and the music would begin. Those are memories that will be etched in our children’s heart as well as ours for many years.
Are you interested in taking your furry monster to see Elmo? If you check out the Ticketmaster Site for more information on times and locations. You can also save $3.00 per ticket by following this link and using the promo code: USF
More information on Elmo in #Nola:
– New Orleans , LA: “Elmo Makes Music” with Play Zone
October 25 – 218
Lakefront Arena
The Discount is: $3 Off
The Promo Code is: USF
Want to know more about “Elmo Makes Music” w/ Play Zone?
Mark your calendar for a musical event like no other-monsters making music! Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird and all their Sesame Street friends are taking to the stage to share their love of music in Sesame Street Live “Elmo Makes Music.”
Jenny, an enthusiastic new music teacher, arrives on Sesame Street only to discover that her instruments are missing. Jenny’s new Muppet friends quickly come to the rescue and discover ‘instruments’ they never knew existed…rubber duckies, trash can lids and even cookie jars. Elmo and friends teach children that everyone can make and enjoy beautiful music together.
Adults will hear music they’ll recognize and enjoy sharing with children, such as “The Hustle,” “You Should Be Dancing” and “Rockin’ Robin.” “Elmo Makes Music” features nearly two dozen songs, including classics that children will love to sing along with such as “C Is for Cookie” and “The Alphabet Song.”
What was your favorite Sesame Street Character as a child?
Disclosure: I was provided with passes to this event in October. All opinions are my own & can not be influenced in any way.
Soaring High in the Sky w/ Shaun White Supply Co. #ShaunWhiteSupplyCo #Cbias
My son is a typical boy that if something has a wheel on it, he LOVES it! But since his nickname is “Crash” (not kidding see pic below) we are bound to find him running into something, destroying household property or even worse injuring himself! He is a boy and inevitably we can not keep him in a bubble (he would find a way to destroy it anyway). So as doting parents, we encourage our son to enjoy the excitement & adrenaline rush of many outdoor sports including skateboarding.
We started our son a few years ago with a small skateboard. Nothing too pricey, just something we was able to balance himself on while he learned to flip and perform tricks. As the months went on, he became pretty good at it. Since he is only 8 years old, safety is always a huge concern for us. Our son was not quite 4 years old when he broke his wrist jumping out of the cargo trailer connected to our riding lawnmower. Six weeks of his short life and already wearing a cast. If anything it made him cautious of what he is able to do and what he should restrict himself with, but that doesn’t stop him from having fun.
Since he was being cautious and loved to practice we decided to get him a new skateboard. Luckily for us our local Walmart had a great selection of skateboards. My son instantly gravitated to the Shaun White Supply Co. I couldn’t blame the boy, the designs on the skateboards were pretty awesome. No need for added stickers when the Shaun White Skateboards already had an amazing look to them. The price was right so we decided to get it for him.
But you know what? My 12 year old daughter was equally impressive on the skateboard. It’s no surprise that our daughter is pretty fearless. I guess anything a boy can do she can do better! They both enjoyed having some backyard fun together and seeing who can do the best tricks. But after seeing some of Shaun White Supply Co. Youtube Videos, there is no comparison!!
My kids may not be X Games ready just yet but you never know, they may be soaring in the skies one day!
You can find more information on Shaun White Supply Co. on Twitter & on Facebook. Make sure to check out the 10/28 Walmart ad for full Shaun White Supply Co. Skateboarding details. Christmas is coming don’t forget to start thinking ahead
Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Shaun White Supply Co. All experiences and opinions are 100% my own & can not be influenced in any way. #CBias #SocialFabric
Let’s Have a Fiesta-Celebración Latina:Audubon Zoo + Giveaway #Nola #Latina
Are you ready to enjoy a fiesta? Sunday October 14th, 2012 the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans will be hosting the big celebration to honor Latina America Cultures & traditions. Live music, local Latina American Cuisine and children’s activities will be on hand for the celebration. What a fantastic way to introduce your children to a different culture and enjoy our beautiful simultaneously!
The Audubon Zoo offers many beautiful animal exhibits from Larina America but now, your children can enjoy the culture that surrounds these animals in their natural origin. Local Artisans and community partners will be on hand to offer health, education, and social services will be available to offer information to guests if interested.
Vamos a Celebrar! Let’s Celebrate!!
Entertainment Timeline:
Vivaz
11:40 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.
DJ Sosa
12:40 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
AsheSon
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
DJ Sosa
2:00 p.m. – 2:20 p.m.
Sensación
2:20p.m – 3:20 p.m.
DJ Sosa
3:20 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
OVI-G and the Froggies
3:50 p.m. 4:50 p.m.
If your interested in joining the fun, the free Festival activities are included in regular admission to Audubon Zoo, which is $16 for adults, $11 for children 2-12, and $13 for seniors 65+. But guess what? The Audubon Zoo has graciously offered my readers the opportunity to win tickets for free!! Before you put on your dancing shoes, read below for more information on the giveaway.
Giveaway Rules
Must be 18 years old to enter and available in U.S only. 2 Winners will be chosen using Random.org and drawn on October 17th, 2012 at 11:59p.m Central Time (I know, very quick, but I want to make sure you have time to receive your prizes in time for the celebration if you wish to attend). Winners will receive four (4) admission Certificates for One Adult (1) or One Child (1). Tickets are valid to ANY of the following locations. Audubon Zoo, Audubon Aquarium of Americas, Audubon Butterfly Garden & Insectarium in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tickets are valid through December 2013!! You will have plenty of time to use the tickets if you are not available this Sunday.
How to Enter
Mandatory Entry
Answer the following question by commenting below in the comment section of this blog post: What is your favorite animal at the Audubon Zoo?
Additional Entries:
Like Audubon Zoo on Facebook Comment below letting me know you now like them or already are a Facebook Fan. Either way you get an extra entry.
Follow Audubon Zoo on Twitter. Comment below letting me know you are now a follower on Audubon Zoo on Twitter.
Share this giveaway on any other social media site. Comment below and let me know where you have shared the giveaway & a link. You can share on any social media site Once PER day PER site!! Tons of entries!!
Good Luck & don’t forget to share with your friends & family!!
Disclosure: The Audubon Zoo in New Orleans has provided me with tickets to facilitate this giveaway. All opinions are my own & can not be influenced in any way.
Compasionate, Curious & Confident: My Daughter is #DoveInspired
My oldest daughter Sarah will turn 12 this month. As much as I get weepy thinking about those days when she needed me for basic survival needs, I know that these next few years are so important in the kind of woman she becomes. Every morning I tell both my children “Be Nice & Work Hard”. What a proud Mamma I am knowing that they do their best and most of all are kind to others while doing it.
For 5 years my daughter & I were apart of Girl Scouts. We had so many wonderful memories & experienced so many adventures with her troop. Our main goal in being a Girl Scout Troop Leader was to help guide the girls to be curious and confident in any adventure life took them on. We wanted the girls in our troop to reach their full potential and to overcome any fears they may have in themselves and their abilities to do the best job they can possibly do. We wanted them to ask questions, but also be able to find the answers on their own as their life journey took place.
I am so proud that Dove was apart of their journey in finding confidence in themselves and harvesting high self esteem in many Girl Scout Troops. Dove has reached over 9 million girls with self-esteem programming & workshops so far together we can reach their goal of 15 million by 2015. In the third annual Dove Self-Esteem Weekend, a kick-off event in New York is set to spark a national conversation called “Let’s Talk”. It is an opportunity for Dove partners organizations, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A, Girls Inc, and Boys & Girls Clubs, to join in a silent march to Times Square. All women have the opportunity to create a good dialogue between girls in order to enhance their self-esteem and to inspire them to reach their full potential while building their self-esteem. Dove believes beauty should be a source of confidence not anxiety and it can start with us, their mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, friends and teachers. We can start with the conversation about beauty and help them be comfortable & confident using the word to describe themselves.
My daughter is not involved with Girl Scouts this year, but being a compassionate, curious & confident young girl is always going to be with her. I know that I continue encouraging my daughter to “Work Hard, Be Nice”. If she can keep it up, I will always be a proud Mami’!
You can find more information on Dove Initiative in Spanish Vive Mejor’s Hablemos (Let’s Talk) Information or at Vive Mejor Main Site
Disclosure: This post is a sponsored post in collaboration with Dove and Latina Bloggers Connect. all opinions ae my own and can not be influenced in any way.
Saving Money While on Vacation #Travel #Tourism #Family
When your going on vacation the last thing you want to worry about is “How much are we spending?” But it’s something that we HAVE to consider.
We make a budget for our Hotel, Cabin, etc first. Then we consider the location and create a budget. We allocate from that budget an amount that we will spend on traveling there..i.e gas or in some families cases airfare, taxi cabs, train, etc. The left over amount is our final budget to spend.
One way we save money is point saving sites like MyPoints & Swagbucks. They are great ways to earn gift cards all year. I save my points and redeem them for places like Subway, gas gift cards, and even hotel points. I generally use them solely on food for our traveling pit-stops. On our last vacation we ate at Subway going to our destination and coming home from our desintation for FREE!! It was quick, a healthier option, and the price was right.
I also use online hotel reservations sites like Hotels.com or Priceline to book my hotel. The only bad thing about that is that you must prepay in advance especially if your naming your own price. They do have insurance you can buy, but generally your out of luck if you have to cancel a trip.
If I am booking a hotel online and have never visited the establishment before, I go to sites like Trip Advisor and search previous guest’s reviews to get a general idea of what I want and don’t want. I also look to see if the hotel has Continental Breakfast & free parking because this will save your family money in the long run.
I also refer to Ebay and see if anyone is selling tickets or Gift Cards to a popular tourist location. For instance, if I am going to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, I would see if anyone is listing their Dollywood tickets, or Wonderworks tickets that they were not able to use. Many visitors purchases tickets in advance and then don’t find the time to visit the destination. Or they may purchases Water-park tickets, only to see it rained the whole weekend they were visiting. I have purchased Aquarium tickets, Dollywood tickets, and even Ripley’s tickets for a fraction of the cost I would have spent if I purchased them via their website, or once in town.
Another thing I do is bring snack type foods, juice packs, soft drinks & water with us on our trips. not only is it good for traveling to and from your destination, but it’s great to tuck in your vacation backpack while visiting. A zip-lock storage bag of Goldfish or grapes can hold any child over until you leave for a less expensive venue.
Also, we always have 1 nice meal per day. Somewhere we don’t look at prices and just enjoy. In order to do that, we may have a light lunch. Or have an amazing Lunch somewhere, but eat a light dinner. Bypass paying $6 for a slice of cheesecake somewhere and take your kids to Baskin Robbins instead. You will be surprise how much 4 sundaes at a restaurant will cost you!
Also check Groupon in other states/cities and see what deals they may have in your vacation destination in the coming months. If you know your going to Houston this summer, see what they have to offer a few months in advance. You can save big $$$ by stocking up on restaurant gift certificates way in advance.
Either way you save money, just be smart about your vacation. No one wants to come home, broke & full of credit card debt!
How do you save money for your family while on vacation?
New Post: Playing Hide & Seek Where Am I? #Brandcation 4 #PigeonForge #Travel #Tourism
Guess where I am?
I’ll give you 3 hints:
1. Beautiful & Historic Landscapes within the U.S
2: Top Family Travel Destination
3. Hello…Dolly!
I know, the last one really did give it away. But yes, I’m on my way (or in transit) to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I love the Smokey Mountains for various reasons, but we don’t just enjoy ourselves there…My Family LOVES it!! Loves it so much we spend almost every Thanksgiving Week there. Poor me though, I’m going without my children or husband!!! Sad & Happy at the same time doesn’t even sum up my feelings. We have so many memories in East Tennessee with my family but I am looking forward to making new memories with some of my favorite Mom Bloggers at Brandcation 4 in Pigeon Forge!! That’s right, goodbye family, hello blogging pals!
Not only am I going to some of my favorite places in Tennessee, but I will be heading to a few new adventures I have yet to test out in the Pigeon Forge area.Some of the tourist attractions I will be visiting Dollywood, Dixie Stampede, Hollywood Wax Museum in Pigeon Forge, Titanic Museum, Lunberjack Fued, Country Tonite. Okay, if your not jealous yet, we are staying in an amazing cabin from Cabin Fever Cabins. The cabin is so amazing, we’re not going to want to leave!!
So, I will miss my little family but the great news is I’m going again this November just in time for Thanksgiving 2012. I feel a little better, but until then. I’ll be back in the Bayou soon enough.
Some of my most recent pictures from Pigeon Forge:
Wordless Wednesday: Goodbye New Orleans Edition
Tomorrow I’m leaving for Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with 34 other bloggers. Since I’m leaving my family but also my #1 Tourism Hot Spot- New Orleans, I thought I would post pcs from my latest event I attended.
Get Checked or Check Out Breast Cancer Awareness: Football Camp for Her at the Hyatt Recency in New Orleans. The Football camp featured New Orleans Saints players: Cam Jordan (#1 NFL Draft Pick), Lance “Romance” Moore , and Pierre Thomas.
Being three very influential & instrumental New Orleans Saints players comes with a huge community responsibility and they had no problems attending the 3 hour ever for the sake of charity.
A few pictures from the event & don’t forget to get your yearly check up for early detection.
Camera Phone Pics:
My Mother, Early Dementia & the Latina Effect Part 1 #Dementia #Health
As a strong-willed independent Latina, it seems like my mother has always faced obstacles in her life. Whether it was moving from Guatemala as a 16 year old to the United States for the chance of a better opportunity or becoming a single mother to 2 children in a country where she spoke no English, she has managed to fight & win many battles. My mother embraced this country learning to speak English as we were in elementary school and was able to make a smooth transition from Guatemalan to new United States resident, as well as working 3 various jobs to support her 2 children.
When she married my stepfather in the late 80’s, we eventually moved from her second home of Los Angeles, Ca. to a small town outside of New Orleans,Louisiana. It seems like my mother would face more and more obstacles her as she tried to enjoy small town life. My mother was a fighter, a strong willed individual that was proud of who she was, where she came from and where she was headed, but as the years progressed she faced many demons in her life. These Demons that would mask her fears, depression and eventually lead her to an unhealthy lifestyle.
In her early 50’s she was diagnosed with Esophageal Varices, Cirrhosis of the Liver and Early On-Set Dementia. My mother, the strong-willed woman I once knew, had set back after setback in the hospital. From Critical ICU in top New Orleans Hospitals to in-patient treatment for depression and alcoholism. These demons were killing her. As a result, her brain was deteriorating and allowing her Dementia to accelerate. This month during one of her hospital stints, we found out her dementia has accelerated far quicker than we had assumed. Three of her four children (including myself) work in Healthcare. Between my 2 sisters & I, we have all worked in Long-Term Care for several years in addition the Hospital and Senior Assisted Living settings.
We know dementia patients and were very familiar with the territory we were embarking on with our mother. But nothing would prepare us for finding our not quite 56 year old mother had the brain of a 75 year old woman.
More To Come……
Do you have a loved one suffering from Dementia?
Did you know:
PREVALENCE OF DEMENTIA
– Hispanic Americans maybe two times more likely more likely than whites to develop Alzheimer’s Disease by age 90. This increase in risk was not related to differences in education or the presence of a family history of an AD-like dementia. (Tang et. al. JAGS 1999)
– A study of community dwelling Hispanics with dementia revealed compared to predominantly white populations, a lower proportion of Alzheimer cases (38.5) and a higher than expected proportion of Vascular dementia (38.5%)(Fitten LJ et al. 2002)
Disclosure: I’m creating this series as a topic of discussion & to bring awareness to others about Dementia and Early On-Set Dementia in younger patients including the Latino Community. I am not compensated in any way and my position at my current employment has nothing to do with this post. It is simply a way that will allow me to cope and share my mother’s story with others.
Don’t Upgrade Your Husband-UpgradeTo MaLo Men’s Underwear #MaLoUnderwear #CBias
My husband is a very simple man. He could care less about specific brands in clothing or shoes. He doesn’t like anything too flashy and definitely not pricey! His wardrobe consists of polo style shirts, his favorite sports team T-Shirts and naturally, our children’s team parent shirts. But one thing he does care about is comfort. That’s where I come in. I guess in a man’s head, the longer you own something, the more comfortable it is. Is it about security? Probably not, I wouldn’t give him that much credit! Ha!!
So when my husband does have a specific brand, style or texture he cares for, I tend to solely buy it for him. Pictured below is my husband’s sock & underwear drawer. I’m so embarrassed that I am posting this because it is a complete disaster. He does that, not me! He grabs something, then shoves the rest back into the drawer. But, just like I do with my children, I have to pick my battles.
I decided to go to K-Mart and upgrade his drawers by adding some new items to his under wear & sock collection. For this mission, I took my mother! Strange I know, but I was off of work and decided to spend some quality time with my Mami! As we are in the Men’s Department we spot that Mario Lopes has a new line of Men’s undergarments. Who doesn’t love Mario!?! Those dimples those abs and that smile would make any Latina or Non-Latina happy! We spot a nice selection of underwear and Men’s t-shirts, so I go for it.My K-Mart has a nice selection of items to choose from and very affordable. The colors were bright & bold, but since I know my man, I opted for simple grey & black. Hey, I’ll take what I can get in the flashy department.
So now Hubby has an upgraded underwear drawer plus comfort and the wife gets to have a Mario Lopez for the night! Well…not really but close enough.
You can find more about Mario loped & MaLo on Pinterest, Facebook & on Twitter. Use can also search for the Twitter Hashtag: MaLoUnderwear for more updates on finding them at K-Mart and Targets Stores. Check out out my Google + Photo Story to see my adventure at K-Mart and nearly passing out at all the pretty Mario Lopez Banners in the store.
Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and MaLo. All experiences and opinions are 100% my own & can not be influenced in any way. #CBias #SocialFabric
