Today is NARAL’s Blog for Choice Day – a day to recognize the important fact that a woman should have a right to choose on issues regarding their reproductive rights. To know me is to know that I feel very strongly about this issue.

I’m very involved in NARAL Pro-Choice America. In fact, this year I’ve been selected to Co-Chair the Chicago Leadership Council – a great group consisting of NARAL national board members and local influencers in the Chicago community dedicated to keeping pro-choice candidates in office.

On this Blog for Choice Day, NARAL is asking bloggers to say what they are going to do to help elect pro-choice candidates in 2012? What am I going to do? Taking on this leadership role is one of the most important things I think I can do to help keep things stable in Washington. We’re in a decent place right now, and I hope this year we can continue the momentum to make sure women can keep on choosing what makes sense for them, their bodies and their families.

What will you do? I’d love to know and if you’re in Chicago (or anywhere else, for that matter), and you’d like to know more about NARAL, please feel free to comment here or send me an email.

My dad always had a saying, “Once you’re in the stream, you’re golden.” Meaning, if you want to be networking and doing, and working, you have to get in the proverbial stream of fish, and go…

I’m obviously my father’s daughter. When I see a chance to jump in, if I can, I will. This weekend I jumped into She Streams, a conference leading women and brands into the future of social technology. I was asked to speak on a panel about finding success from your passions with the amazing Mojo Coach Debi Silber and the incredible Angela Santomero, also known as the creator of Blues Clues, Super Why, and the forthcoming new take on Mr. Rogers, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. And me.

Before our session, which concluded the break out sessions for the day, I attended yesterday’s terrific keynote speech from Build-A-Bear founder Maxine Clark and a good talk on branding with my new idol, Luxury Travel Mom and the go-getter Go Mom. Had a terrific post-lunch chat with the CEO of Macaroni Kid (boy is that woman smart!) and got great advice from Audrey McClelland and Maria Bailey herself about videocasting (it’s what we should all be doing, apparently.) And, I was labeled by one attendee of our session as “that marketing woman in the red blazer.” (It was in a good way.)

Me and my passion posse.

Mostly, I learned that it’s good to go out to conferences like this and see people and remember that you’re part of the school of fish.

Other key learnings from She Streams:

1) If you’re not doing video for your content, you’re missing the boat. What blogging was 3 years ago, video is now. So, if you feel like you are camera-savvy, hop on that train!

2) Bloggers want money. I don’t really know how to couch this any other way. The debates are ongoing, but the experts keep telling the bloggers – you are worth something, so ask for it. As I’ve said before on other blogs, I agree with this — to an extent. I don’t think every blog or blog post or tweet or what have you is worth the same amount of money. Sometimes I think product should be worth enough, if the product matches what you talk about on your site. But look for money to continue ruling the conversation between brands and bloggers in the days/ weeks/ months to come.

3) There’s no substitution for in-person or face-to-face communications. In my prior life I would coach corporate execs on this very thing – it’s important to see your employees in person every once in awhile. Same with my blogging and marketing co-horts. Best part of going to these conferences, again, is talking to people in the flesh. Much less snarky and more fun than on twitter.

4) Let’s remember to be supportive of each other. Too many times, I think we, as moms, worry about the backstabbing and the superiority factor. In my short talk, someone came up to me afterwards and thanked me for being honest that I have a lot of support to help do what I do and to make my career and beautiful life happen. She felt that we, as moms, sometimes put up the facade that we can “do it all.” I told her you’ll never get that from me – so let’s try to be as real as we can be…

Ten years ago today I sat in my cubicle in a big NYC skyscraper in Times Square thinking about what a beautiful, clear, crisp fall day it was.

Next thing I knew I was walking down 20 flights of stairs and 2.5 miles downtown to my Union Square apartment thinking the world as we had known it had ended.

But it didn’t. We survived one of the worst moments in our history (and by that I mean the creation of the TSA. It’s me, I needed to insert a little comic relief.)

I still don’t want to explain to my child what happened on 9/11/01, but I still believe we are stronger because of it.

To all those who loved and lost on that tragic day, I remember you.

It’s been a week since I posted, I know, but for every emotional post, I must add one of fluff.

Believe it or not, I still contribute to Chicago Parent, just now with the new biz, not as often as I like. Now, I have a post up on their Chi-Town Parent blog about the lull between school and camp being a SAHM problem. Just because I felt like venting for a change on a public forum because I don’t do that nearly enough.

Also, Caitlin and I have a new column up on Cheeky Chicago – Love being a part of their fabulous female community. This week we talked to Ellee Pai Hong. Go read it!

I’m still on the Totsy Mom Committee and it’s been a really good experience so far. Today, Totsy is having a sale on Tellurian Baby – a new skin care line from Jane Leeves of Frasier fame! Stuff looks great. Go buy!

Next up… a real post. Until then, enjoy the fluff.

My grandfather passed away last month at the age of 87. Besides being a WWII vet and a successful dentist, my grandfather fancied himself a poet. Funny, wistful, whimsical, his words are his legacy for us to remember his personality. Since he was an avid reader of my blog (as long as I would print out the posts), and that it’s coming up on Father’s Day, I figure I should post a few of my favorite of his poems up here for them to live long on the Internet. It would give him a kick to know he was “published.”

My mom actually put a book together of all of his poems for my grandparents’ 50th anniversary. The book, titled, “If I was Married to Me,” says something about his personality and zest for life. The cover drawing my mother concocted is something else:

Herewith, some of my favorites of papa’s poems.

He created lullabies that have transcended generations:

“Sleep, Sleep Baby Sleep”

Sleep, sleep, baby sleep,
Tomorrow will come too soon,
Dreams Dreams full of moon beams,
Sent by your pal the moon.

The stars up above,
All send their love,
Up in the sky so high,
Sleep, sleep, baby sleep,
This is your lullaby.

His optimistic view of life lasted to the end. And he loved to gamble. Somehow, that goes together.

“Life is a Game of Craps”

Life is a game of craps,
The dice are yours to throw,
Snake eyes or seven,
Box cards or eleven,
When they stop rolling, you’ll know.

Life is a game of craps,
Enjoy the good rolls when you can,
You never know,
When the dice you throw,
Will change the life you plan.

Life is a game of craps,
The bounces determine your fate,
Changing happy times to sad,
Undying love to hate.

Life is a game of craps,
Where the stickman runs the show,
Is he in charge of our destiny?
Better we never know.

Life is a game of craps,
The dice are yours to throw,
Snake eyes or seven,
Box cars or eleven,
When they stop rolling you’ll know.

He had a wicked sense of humor:

“If I was Married to Me”

If I was married to me,
What a great couple I’d be,
No more nagging or hassle,
I’d be king of the castle,
What a wonderful life,
If I only was my own wife.

If I was married to me,
No more fights what to see on T.V.
Boxing, hockey, golf and lacrosse,
With the remote in my hands,
There’s no doubt whose the boss,
What a wonderful life,
If I only was my own wife.

If I had me for my wife,
Vacations would be paradise,
I would ogle bikinis,
While sipping martinis,
And be where they’re throwing the dice.
What a wonderful life,
If I only was my own wife.

If I was my own spouse,
I’d wear my shoes through every room in the house,
Drink my beer with no glass,
Burp out loud from the gas,
and no one would call me a souse,
If I was my own spouse.

If I had picked me for my bride,
What great wheels I would drive,
A Jag, maybe a Vet,
Either bright red or black jet,
With creamy white leather inside,

No fun tooling around town,
In a dinged Chevy that’s brown,
It could have been a wonderful ride,
If I had picked me for my bride.

If I had me for my wife,
One thing does not seem quite right,
Would life get boring, not too enjoying,
If there never was ever a fight?
Making up can be tender and sweet,
Especially between smooth satin sheets,
Soon on thinking things through,
One thing is so true,
I’m so lucky to be married to you!

He thought deeply about life and death more than I ever knew.

“My Spirit”

When I sleep,
My restless spirit flies,
To unknown places,
Far away lands,
Over bounding oceans,
Through spacious skies.

When I die,
O’spirit,
You are forever free,
But I always wonder,
What will become of thee?

“Live Each Day”

Live each day,
In a special way,
Leave no time for sorrow.

Have no regrets,
Or laments,
There may be no tomorrow.

Life zips by,
Like a flash in the sky,
Precious time yours to gamble.

Whose to know,
When the wind will blow,
The flame out from your candle.

Papa, your flame may be gone, but you will always burn brightly in our hearts. Happy Father’s Day.

In case you missed it on my twitter/ Facebook feeds, here’s my latest story in this edition of Chicago Parent Going Places magazine on the best cupcake shops in the city (+ one in Evanston) for kiddos.

And, yes, I’m back from my trip, but I’m slammed, so until I dig out of a mountain of email, all you’ll get is this filler post stuff. And it’s not even good cream cheese sugar frosting kind. For that, I apologize.

You know how you can hold your mail and newspaper and such while you’re away on vacation? Same goes for the blog. I’m going on vacation, baby!

See ya in a week or so…

Did you know my good friend Alison of Sassy Mom Chicago is hosting an amazing event next Sunday to benefit Bundle of Joy Diaper Bank? I’m going to be away for it, but I wish I was able to join in on this event. Details below. Space is limited, so sign up soon!

Get your sweat on!  Join Sara Haley, six months pregnant and prenatal certified, for 60 minutes of sweating & sculpting.  Sara will take you through a safe but challenging prenatal/postnatal workout like you’ve never experienced before!  All levels welcome.

When: December 19^th 9:00 am – 10:00 am

Where: All About Dance, 501 West North Avenue, Chicago, IL 60610

Who: Thinking about babies, making babies, about to have a baby, just had a baby? All are welcome!

RSVP: Space is limited so sign up soon. Class is $15 and all proceeds benefit Bundle of Joy Diaper Bank of Chicago. RSVP TODAY!

About Sara Haley
As a Global Instructor and Creative Consultant for Reebok, Sara Haley is a hot new personality on the fitness scene. With a focus on high intensity interval and circuit training workouts that make you sweat, her philosophy – “Change your body, change your workout, change your life!” – applies to everything that she shares with her clients and followers. Sara has created and starred in numerous fitness DVDs, like her new Beauty Sculpt fitness workout that is part of Elle Magazine’s Make Better DVD collection with Brooklyn Decker. Visit Sara online at http://sarafitness.com.

About Bundle of Joy Diaper Bank
Bundle of Joy is a not-for-profit Diaper Bank serving families in Chicago. They organize diaper collections with local businesses, civic organizations, churches, and schools, and distribute diapers to families who need them. Help Bundle of Joy reach their goal of 100,000 Diapers Campaign launching December 1st.

Thank You to our Sponsors!

Disclosure – this post has NOTHING to do with any other bloggers I know who attended #chitag – all references are to bloggers in the abstract/ aggregate.

I had the distinct pleasure of attending the world’s largest toy fair open to the public this past Saturday at Navy Pier. The Chicago Toy and Game Fair (#chitag) had vendors ranging from small mom and pop stores like Geppetto’s Toy Box in Oak Park to mom vendors like Little Sib, LLC which created a baby doll that helps older sibs get used to having a baby around. Good thing I’m over that hump already.

The fair was tailor-made for the kids. Mine loved the pile of CitiBlocs and riding the oversized, I mean, really freaking large horse pushed by some poor schmuck for $2 a pop. Family Time, couldn’t you have covered the cost? The thing wasn’t even motorized.

I’m the poor schmuck who paid for this thing.

The kids also loved the R.C. Color Bug, an ingenious remote controlled car with an attached marker that lets kids draw while driving (a new distraction?). I started chatting up the owner/ creator/ mom of the R.C. Color Bug, because well, that’s what I do and naturally our conversation turned to marketing and blogging. I mean this toy has grass-roots marketing written all over it. But my new friend said she’d gotten burned by bloggers in the past just emailing and asking for free stuff for almost nothing in return. She’s working hard for her business and takes marketing seriously. I don’t blame her. I felt bad that she had a bad taste for mom bloggers, but I moved on. Sometimes one bad apple can ruin the blunch. (We haven’t combined blog with anything good lately around here.)

Then I made my way to the Learning Curve booth where I could not possibly avoid the Thomas the Train huge mountain thing-y that had my eldest in a tizzy. Needless to say we weren’t going anywhere for awhile so I did what I do — I chatted up the lovely booth hostess/ PR associate for Learning Curve. When we got to the part of the conversation “well, what do you do” and I said the word mom blogger, she recounted some of her mom blogger tall tales as well. How she’s working with this controversial mom blogger conglomerate and yet is surprised when she gets emails from moms who want a free (or two) samples of a $300 car seat she’s promoting. She also was perfectly nice but did she quite understand the irony of her working relationship with bloggers?

Unfortunately, besides seeing my son go super-crazy-excited for a remote-controlled helicopter, my biggest takeaway from the fair was that real mompreneurs are turned off by mom bloggers approaching them for products (rightly so in many cases IMHO), but then so are PR firms who willingly give away product to some bloggers but wonder why others would be so bold to email for free stuff.

That’s the problem. We are not sending a consistent message on both sides of the equation. We all want to help the mompreneur, but some of us have an unfounded expectation that we’ll get something for free in return. I wonder if any of the bloggers out there know that Ms. R.C. Color Bug is a single mom working her can off to provide for her family and earn a living? That might change their want or need for that freebie. Conversely, does Ms. Booth Hostess/ PR Associate know that by aligning herself with a known PR bashing blog will just set herself up in the future for freebie hits down the road?

There seems to be little to no logic in this PR/ brand/ freebie dance. The only thing we seem to be able to do well is toy with each other for some free toys. There has to be a better way. I know – it’s already been done. Let’s just all Blog With Integrity, shall we?

]]> http://www.selfmademom.net/2010/11/22/are-brands-and-bloggers-just-toying-with-each-other/feed/ 7 http://www.selfmademom.net/2010/08/15/back-to-school-shopping-for-moms-of-course/ http://www.selfmademom.net/2010/08/15/back-to-school-shopping-for-moms-of-course/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:10:20 +0000 selfmademom http://www.selfmademom.net/?p=1475

Seems like everyone is gearing up getting their kids ready for school with new clothing purchases and backpacks galore. But I’m protesting. Why? Because it’s not fair that only the kids should get the new stuff for Fall. I want back to school clothes for myself! The eldest is starting at a fancy new school and I’ve outfitted him plenty in comfy but cute Appaman tops, City Threads pants, Geox sneaks and Old Navy t-shirts. The baby gets his hand-me-downs.

As for me, because my eldest is starting at that aforementioned fancy new school, I figure I better look good, too, during school drop-off and pick-up. It also doesn’t help that I’m now completely under the hypo-fashion spell of Amy Tara Koch, to whom sweatpants are like kryptonite. She totally critiqued (in a good way) my mom outfit when I interviewed her last week for Chicago Parent and now I’m a woman obsessed with Bumping Up my mommy wardrobe. Last year, I reveled in my maternity lululemon challenge. It was fun and stretchy, but now that I’m back to my fighting weight I’ve got to up the ante. I’m screwed.

Thus, I’ve been obsessively scouring the internet for pieces that make me look something in between A Real Housewife, and well, a real housewife. Herewith, a list of my coveted items for Fall:

1) Dark grey or black jeggings (for your neophytes these are JEAN leggings): I didn’t quite understand the jegging craze last year, but now that I’ve seen them in action (and on me), I’m hooked. I’m debating between these two:

J Brand 901 Legging in Pitch (photo courtesy of J Brand)

And…

Gap Jean Legging but not in this hideous medium wash – it’s a dark grey, but it wouldn’t copy to my blog! (photo courtesy of Amazon)

2) Some sort of olive-colored cargo pant. I caved and got the J Brand ones in gray off eBay for this summer, but what I really want for Fall are these amazing looking stretchy cargo-cords from Current/ Elliott. It’s what Private Benjamin would wear after training camp. Or, me, after the gym.

Photo courtesy of Saks.com

And what else am I going to wear with all my new skinny pants other than ankle boots? Because nothing says the anti-sweat like some motorcycle boots:

Via Spiga Olga Boot (photo courtesy of Lori’s Shoes)

Or release my inner urban cowgirl with these:

Frye Carson Shortie (photo courtesy of Zappos, but FYI I found them cheaper on Endless!)

As for what’s on top, I’d rather splurge on pants and shoes that will last more than one season and buy some wear and tear tops from Zara, H&M, even Target (shhh). But I’m all about the long cardigan with the skinny pants and I’m loving the one I recently bought…

Open Front Cardigan by Splendid (photo courtesy of Nordstrom)

And if you really want to go all out, you’ll go out and buy yourself a military-inspired coat like I just saw in a Burberry ad in Vanity Fair. Amazingly, I had the foresight to buy a coat just like it a few years back by Marc by Marc Jacobs when I was more flush with cash. (Oh, weren’t we all!). Good knockoffs by Juicy, too.

My sad, old, but in style Marc by Marc Jacobs military coat. Needs a pressing. (photo courtesy of my crappy Blackberry)

So, what are y’all buying for Fall? Next up… accessories! And, watch for a fashion challenge come September. I vow to amp up my mommy wardrobe for 30 days straight! As soon as the heat drops and there’s no threat of my legs sticking together when I walk.

(BTW, this blog was NOT sponsored, but if anyone out there wants to throw in some free jeans, by all means.)