New Year, New Enterprise.

A couple years ago I made a major career change from marketing manager to full time mom, what a drastic change that was!
Checking diapers replaced checking emails, play groups replaced conference calls, and the park became the board room.
You see, I had some of the best meetings and brainstorming sessions amongst the trees and swings between snack time and playtime.

I met intelligent, caring women just like myself who had all been promoted to the job of mother. We all had the common goal of doing the best for our children and families.
As we would gather and speak about our lives and our children, we would recommend products and places, give advice, tell anecdotes and relish in our new norms.

What snacks do your prefer? Someone would ask, leading to a debate about Raisins and fruit snacks, or what's your bedtime routine? another would ask as tips and tricks were shared and analyzed.Then as nap times neared,we would depart carrying diaper bags, tired children and all the little gems of advice. I for one felt pride with every tidbit I had passed on, and fortunate for to have this network to live, learn and experience with.

In this new world of motherhood there was so much to consider, so many choices and preferences which led me back to my marketing roots.

I worked with Bzzagent and passed out samples of Aveeno baby shampoo, or Gerber graduate coupons and as the comments and praises would come back from each mother or father they were usually coupled with questions; what stroller do you like?, what are some good snack ideas?, and they kept coming. If I was unfamiliar with an item, I would research it and come back loaded with information.

sharing this information and promoting products and services I believed in was so much fun which is why I went into marketing in the first place. I had a passion for my former career, so I decided to start a blog to share my information and experiences with a wider array of people nationwide.
Just then as luck would have it, I was approached to do some freelance marketing work with the producer of an excellent organic baby product line, and I thought to myself; this is like the old days, my former life as I like refer to it.

Yet it felt different and it was, this time I am in charge! I am able to pick and choose the products I really believe in, the products and services i truly feel are useful, quality products.

I knew people trusted my opinions and thoughts. I had a duty to them and myself as a responsible parent and person.

I have now branched out to take on all types of products not just products for babies and children.

On the first of the year I will be taking on 2 product lines and an event all of which I am very proud to work with and I will shout their praises from the roof tops!

In the future, I will be looking for some fellow bloggers to try products and host giveaways.

Follow my blog to enjoy this journey with me, and some great products services and events along the way.

I look forward to comments, questions and conversations with all who become part of my network.

Happy New Year!

Erin M.

Pinecone Turkeys

As parents we can get so busy that we forget the fun of arts and crafts. Yesterday I sat down with my 2 year old daughter and we made pinecone turkeys for our Thanksgiving table.
We had so much fun it will be a memory I will cherish.
I try to do a all kinds of crafts with my daughter or my nieces we use a lot of found or nature items so it is not only fun but affordable.
This quintessential thanksgiving craft so simple yet the experience of doing these things together and adding colored paper feathers a some googly eyes to a pinecone really made the holiday feel warm and special.
So in short I can only say that crafts with your kids promote imagination, family togetherness, shared memories and confidence.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!

RedButler.com - Virtual Concierge Service

I love RedButler.com they are an awesome virtual concierge program that will book travel, make reservations, research items, give suggestions, help find discounts and almost anything you can think of.
They also offer errand hours for an additional fee. Just $4.95 for a 5 requests.
For busy moms or dads this service is awesome!
www.redbutler.com

Frugal & Fantastic.

Every morning when I check my email, I grab a cup of coffee and sit down to my computer and I open my work email first and find out what is on my agenda for the day. Once I have fulfilled my adult responsibilities I open my secondary email and begin to feel a bit giddy as the emails filter in I see words like screamin coupons, groupon, dealon, social buy and ohh am I happy!
These services offer amazing local deals with a new offer everyday. The only catch is that they need a certain number of people to purchase the deal to make it valid. In my area the deals are so awesome that the quota of people who purchase is always met.
Here are some of the deals I have taken advantage of:
For fathers day social buy was offering 2 indoor skydiving flights and a training session, a $15 credit to their site for future purchase and a $10 arcade credit all for $50. Then I took the $15 credit and used it when they had an offer for $15 for a $30 credit to our favorite seafood shack on the coast.
These services have saved me money on little luxuries like a $100. spa visit for only $50.
It is great for the kids as well, I was able to purchase 3 passes to the local indoor playground for $3 each instead of the $8 it normally costs.

These deals are frugal and fantastic.
Some of the sites are still growing and may not be available in all cities and / or states.

Here are a list of my favorites and I would love to know of any more out there.

1. www.groupon.com
2.www.dealon.com
3. www.socialbuy.com
4. www.screamincoupons.com
5. http://dailyd.com

Little Bookwormz Kids Clothes

Hello all! Today my friend Janice emailed me with a link to her new line of kids clothes. They are super cute and a portion of each sale will fund the WORDs Literacy Program, a project of Vox Box Arts Collective, Inc.

http://littlebookwormz.com

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