When I was approached to see if I was interested in receiving a (Customized!) Flip MinoHD I had to sit back and ponder it for, oh, three seconds or so. A few friends of mine have one and they have done nothing but rave about how great they are. I keep a point and shoot camera in my purse that has video capability, but the clips are limited to one minute in length. I could haul our regular video camera around to catch the every day moments that occur when we are out and about but, no.

When deciding what to customize the Flip with, the choice was pretty easy. I have a photo of my three kids’ feet that is blown up and hangs on our living room wall. It’s one of the all-time favorite photos I’ve taken and I was pretty sure it would turn out well. The day the Flip arrived I excitedly opened the box to see how it looked.

Isn’t it FANTASTIC? I sure think so.

I couldn’t wait to try it out and knew that Emily’s ballet class would be a great place to use it. My husband Matthew has only seen photos of her class but hasn’t come with us to see her dance yet. We have to sit behind the glass, which means that instead of hearing the piano you get to hear the conversations of those around me. I thought about dubbing some music over it but I (am lazy, and) found that Graham’s captured conversation struck me as funny. It doesn’t start until about a minute in, but then he does not. stop. talking.

Dancing Queen from Angella on Vimeo.

Welcome to my life.

I’ve also posted a few other daily moments over on Flickr. There’s the one of my kids dancing after dinner,  as well as the one of them singing and dancing to Kung Fu Panda while riding in the minivan. Never a dull moment around these parts.

I was asked to give an honest review of the Flip and, well, I love it. It’s easy to use and is so compact that it fits in one of the small inner pockets of my purse. One other thing that I love about it is that the video is easy for me to deal with. Let me explain further.

We have an HD video camera that takes great video, is easy to use, etc. As I said above, it may be small but not quite “carry around every day” small. The other problem I have with is is that while I can easily download a video to my Macbook, in order to use it in iMovie I have to first run it through another program to make the file compatible. It’s a huge time waster. The videos I take on the Flip are easily downloaded onto my laptop and import into iMovie with no special conversion needed. Easy peasy. Maybe I’ll finally be inspired to learn how to be creative with iMovie. Maybe.

As is usually the case, when a company gives a product away for someone to review, they give their readers a chance to win one of their own. Let the people rejoice!

The people from Mom Central (Who hooked me up with my pretty little Flip) are giving away three Flip MinoHD cameras. You need a “Flip Password” and they gave me one to pass along:

Dutch

Here are the promotion details:

You can enter 2 ways:  By signing up for their Mom Product Testing Panel at www.momcentral.com/canada and entering the promo code when you sign up.

OR

You can enter by sending an email to momcentral@live.com with the promo code in the subject.

You can see full contest details at www.momcentral.com and the promotion ends October 19, 2009.  The giveaway is open to Canadians only and you must be 18 or older to enter.

So, what are you waiting for? Go enter!

I will occasionally receive emails from people asking if I would be interested in receiving a book they are promoting in the hope that I will read it and review it. Unless the book is written or connected to somebody I know, I will often turn it down. I lead a busy life and can hardly find time to read for myself; I can’t justify spending that much time reading for others.

However. When I was approached about reading “The Curse Of The Good Girl” I was intrigued. The information sent in that first email was enough to pique my interest:

In THE CURSE OF THE GOOD GIRL: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence, Rachel Simmons exposes the myth of the Good Girl, a myth that diminishes girls’ power and potential by teaching them to accept only an artificial and very limited version of selfhood.

Unerringly polite, nice, modest, and selfless, the Good Girl paradigm is so narrowly defined it’s unachievable. With self-esteem tied to perfection, girls are unable to know, express and manage a complete range of feelings. The need to be “perfect” leaves girls uncomfortable with feedback and failure, making it difficult to recover from even minor setbacks; a conflict with a peer or a mistake in the classroom is often enough to unleash paralyzing self-criticism. Deprived of the permission to articulate their needs, strengths, and goals, girls are confined by a psychological glass ceiling that can extend into adulthood, stunting the growth of vital skills and habits essential to personal and professional success.

Drawing from the stories of the women and girls who attend her workshops, Simmons traces the impact of Good Girl pressure on girls’ development and provides strategies to teach girls to not only to listen to their inner voice, but also to empower and embrace their real selves. She shows how true freedom of the self is permission to take the healthy risks that can result in great triumphs, and to accept and grow from the mistakes we make along the way.

Rachel Simmons’s THE CURSE OF THE GOOD GIRL is a call to arms from a new front in female empowerment, providing tangible lessons and effective strategies to help Good Girls become Real Girls.

As a girl myself, as well as being the mother to a little girl, this seemed like a book that could be helpful to the both of us. I have to admit that I much prefer to read autobiographies or fiction, but The Curse Of The Good Girl managed to keep me engaged. It also gave me some great tools to share with my daughter. The Three Rules of Friendship are something that I wish my Mom had taught me when I was a little girl.

The last chapter struck me especially. “From Perfect Mothers To Real Mothers” is something that almost every mother I know struggles with, and what has drawn so many moms to blog about their experience. We keep hearing about being a “good mother” but the standard is so high that we feel like we’re failing every day.

The Curse of the Good Girl is a book that I will keep handy not only for myself, but as a reference as I navigate the teenage years with my daughter.

I few weeks ago I posted a review of Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair. In addition to being sent a great skin care product to review, I was invited to attend a party while in Chicago for BlogHer. Given new product and being sent to an event? SIGN ME UP.

I arrived in Chicago on the Wednesday night, checked into my room, then went out in search of somewhere to buy souvenirs for my kids. I ended up failing in my endeavor, but enough friends ended up donating their Mr./Mrs. Potato Heads and Spiderman books from our BlogHer bags that I was regarded as a hero upon return home.

After that failed shopping excursion I walked into my room to see a lovely Estée Lauder gift bag sitting on the table in my room.

The coolest thing about the contents of the bag is that there were things that I will ACTUALLY USE. I don’t shop at department stores that often, but it seems that whenever I get the “Free gift with purchase” I end up with a bunch of makeup palettes that don’t go with my skin color and the lipstick is a bright shade of cherry red.

Not only were there a few makeup bags included, the eyeshadow compact includes colors that suit me and the lipstick doesn’t make me look like a call girl. Even better, the lipstick is actually quite similar to my regular color, but with a little extra depth and shimmer to it. I am honestly wearing it as I type this (Hot Kiss)(RAWR).

As for the event itself, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The shuttle to get there left later than planned but being the eternal optimist I am, I took the opportunity to chat with the other lovely ladies who were attending with me. Upon arrival at Macy’s we were given a “stress reliever” and a bottle of water.

The humidity in Chicago was a bit much for this desert girl so I downed that baby right after I took this photo.

We got to hear about Estée Lauder herself and how she was (an actual person, and) a pioneer in the world of beauty products. It was neat to hear how persistent she was trying to make her way in a world that didn’t encourage start ups.

As I said above, I was not really sure what to expect at this event. I was hoping for food, seeing as it was over the supper time hour (my American friends mock me to no end when I say “supper time”) but there was no food to be found. I didn’t get too upset about it because I figured that maybe the party planners thought that bloggers were like celebrities. In some ways, they may be, but there is one major difference: Bloggers like to eat.

Lack of food wasn’t going to keep me from making the most of the night. I sat with one of the girls at the makeup counter and she was all sorts of friendly and knowledgeable. She wanted to wash my face and start my makeup from scratch (Which, well, NO) but when I said I was happy with my look she tested makeup on my hand and bombarded me with samples.

Everyone associated with Estée Lauder was energetic, informed and extremely professional. If I didn’t have another event to hustle off to, I would have visited with more of the lovely ladies working at their counters.

I was also excited to visit with old friends and make some new ones.

They couldn’t have picked a better group of ladies to spend the evening with. Thanks, Estée Lauder.

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair

If you are a close friend of mine, you have heard me complain about one of my pet peeves of growing older. No, it’s not the shape of my body. I am actually more fit now than I have ever been. Please don’t hate me; I have an addictive personality and exercise is my newest addiction.

I hate seeing the effects of age on my skin.

My husband comes from a family who has dark, olive, oily skin. Those natural oils make it so that the women in his family (And the men) have nary a wrinkle to be seen.

I, however, have Irish blood. My skin is fair, and pretty awesome in general, but the wrinkles? THEY HAVE SHOWN THEMSELVES.

When the call was thrown out for bloggers who might be interested in trying out Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair I responded with an excited, “Pick me! Pick me!” I need all of the help I can get. We all know how costly a skin care regime can be, so the chance to try one out in exchange for a review was right up my alley. Before I knew it a little blue box had arrived in my mail box.

I opened it up and saw an interesting little brown bottle.

I unscrewed the lid and saw something that I had not seen before. A dropper.

Now, maybe you are a makeup/skin care aficionado, but I am a drugstore shopper. I have veered away from the high-end brands because I am cheap frugal. I saw the dropper and had some questions.

How was I to get this potion to work for me? Squirt it up my nose? Add it to a drink? So that maybe it could do its magic from the inside out? I consulted the instruction booklet.

I was supposed use the dropper to squirt the lotion onto my skin. It really was that simple. Just like me.

I have to say that I gave the lotion a run for its money. Summer has finally ARRIVED. After a long (and cold) winter I have been spending every spare moment outside. While we all know that sun is damaging to the skin, I can’t stay away from it. Eight months of winter just about did me in. I’m like that fly on A Bug’s Life that is zooming towards the zapper. When he buddy tells him to stay away from the light he responds, “I…can’t…help…it…”

I didn’t take any “before” photos (Because I am awesome like that) but I did take an “after” photo. This is me, unedited (Except for a bump in the contrast).

My skin may not be dewy and flawless, but I am THIRTY-FOUR YEARS OLD. All things considered, I think that a good skin care regimen makes all of the difference. Seriously.

I am not the only one who had the pleasure of turning back time. Here is the round-up of others who got to try the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair:

BlogHer Reviewers

If you like free stuff then do I have a deal for you.

Estée Lauder invites you to AMERICAS NIGHT TO REPAIR. On Thursday, July 23, 5-9PM, visit any Estée Lauder Counter and get a free 10-day supply of New Advanced Night Repair, no purchase necessary (while supplies last)(It retails for $47.50)

For more information on the Advanced Night Repair, you can check out their website.

I will be at the giveaway in Chicago during BlogHer. Will I see you there? If you can’t make it to Chicago, are you going to hit up your local Estee Lauder? IT’S FREE, PEOPLE.

Please tell me that you’re going to attend somewhere.

A few months back I had the sweetest email from one of my readers named Ruth.  She asked if she could possibly send me and the kids some books that her husband Royden had both written and illustrated.

Free books?  For my kids who LOVE TO READ and BE READ TO?

Um…YEAH.

Before I knew it this bundle of books had arrived.

The kids love, love, LOVE the Barnabas books.  The drawing books are a bit advanced for the pre/barely-in-school set, but my eighteen-year-old brother has been having a heyday with them.

If drawing is your forte, Royden has a blog dedicated to the art.  You can find it HERE.

You can find their regular site HERE.

If you want to purchase any of the above books, they can be found on Amazon, Chapters, and Borders.

Ruth and Royden are sweet people who share the same faith as I do.  They sent these books out of the kindness of their hearts.  They don’t have kids of their own. YET. They wanted feedback from someone who already had kids.  I HAVE THREE.  I (more than) qualified.

I want to give them a huge wish of thanks for sharing their work with me and my family.

If you think that these books are something that your family would enjoy, make sure you tell them that I sent you.

Me and Mine My Main Site (Dutch Blitz) My Photography Site My Etsy Shop My Recipe Site My Flickr Site You need to be a Flickr "friend" to see most of them. Add me as a friend and I'll add you!

My Internets Categories All books reviews products giveaways skincare music interviews parties electronics Archives October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 August 2008 Meta Log in Valid XHTML XFN WordPress Feeds Posts Comments Credits Design by Infektia.net XHTML | CSS | RSS | Wordpress | Design by Infektia.net