mommy bytes

APM's Piano Puzzler Turns 10!

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:02:00 +0000

For several years, I had lost the Piano Puzzler from my podcast line-up because I hadn't realized that it moved from National Public Radio (NPR) to Performance Today on American Public Media (APM). But happily I was reuinited with my favorite classical geek podcast through this post on the Piano Street Blog. I also didn't realize that you can now purchase the scores for some the super cool creations from Bruce Adolphe here:

Piano Puzzlers: Thirty Familiar Tunes Disguised in the Styles of Famous Composers

Wow, how cool is that? Last time I geeked out over the Piano Puzzler was back in 2006. Lately, I've been catching up on everything on the feed and was really awed by the April 25, 2012 show (clicking the link will open a streaming window). The contestant was a pianist in the US Marine Band. Not only did he correctly guess the tune (Mozart Symphony No. 40) and the composer (Chopin) whose style it was performed in, he also took to the piano and played the Mozart Symphony in a jazz style. A piano conversation between Bruce Adolphe and the contestant! It made the music geek in me completely flip over the awesomeness of it all.

If you're in Minnesota, check out the Piano Puzzler 10th Anniversary party being held at the UBS Forum in St. Paul on June 20th. Happy piano puzzling!

Happy Mother’s Day to Me–Kitchen Gadgets

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:14:00 +0000

Everyone knows that you should never buy utilitarian gifts for Mother’s Day, such as a vacuum cleaner or kitchen gadgets, because it sends the inadvertent message that she is only good for cooking and cleaning. In fact, on Chicago Tribune’s list of What NOT to Get Mom, you can see that kitchen utensils hit the list twice:

Chia Pet – tacky!!
Obscure kitchen gadgets – that’s me!
A wig – “Only really reminds us about how often mom can make us want to pull out her hair!”
Socks – this must be akin to ties for Father’s Day
Pots and pans – cook, woman, cook!
Vacuum cleaner – only if this was specifically requested
Popcorn – tins of popcorn are only acceptable from work suppliers during the holidays

But if you’re a gadget geek like I am, and you specifically pick out the obscure kitchen gadgets yourself, it can make for a very sweet Mother’s Day. This year, Amazon was running a 20% discount on Kitchen and Dining items with their credit card up until Mother’s Day (hmm, did they not get the memo on what not to get?). I took the opportunity to find some really cool kitchen gadgets for fruit. We love eating fruit at our house (all of us except for Adam who will only eat soccer oranges), so anything that makes preparing fresh fruit easier is welcome. Here’s my new arsenal:

Chef'n StemGem Strawberry Stem Remover: Kitchen & Dining

This little gem works like a charm! Press the button, insert, twist and a perfectly hulled strawberry emerges. Even 8-year-old Dova can handle it. It will also save my marriage because I always complain that Doug lops off too much of the strawberry when he uses a knife.

MIU France Stainless Steel Pineapple Corer/Slicer: Kitchen & Dining

I absolutely love fresh pineapple but hate the huge time sink and mess of cutting one up. This pineapple slicer and corer took all of 30 seconds to extract the juicy pineapple slices from a fresh pineapple. A co-worker joked that you could use the leftover shell as a huge drinking cup for a tropical themed party. Well, it would work if you didn’t core right through the pineapple like a did the first time. But, we can still pretend.

OXO Good Grips Cherry Pitter: Kitchen & Dining

This cherry pitter looks like fun as well as being useful. I can’t wait till cherries come into season. In the past, I’ve actually sliced cherries and pitted them by hand for fruit salads. Now cherries will regularly appear in fruit salads as well as fresh cherry pies! Mmm, pie.

Starfrit 93013 Pro-Apple Peeler with bonus core slicer: Kitchen & Dining

For over ten years, I have used the the Apple Master Apple Peeler, Corer, and Slicer for peeling, coring and slicing apples for apple pies. The kids have loved the tradition of peeling apples for Thanksgiving pies. Here’s a shot of Adam from 2007:

I’ve always had issues setting up this contraption because the core has to be lined up exactly or else you have to touch it up afterward. Sometimes the peeling blade cuts too deep, sometimes it misses huge sections. So when I spotted the Starfrit peeler and read the reviews, I jumped on it. I peeled one apple and it came out perfect with far less waste. Can’t wait to make the next apple pie, because you know we love pie around here.

Hope you had a Happy Mother’s Day!

Hiking for Photographs

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:52:00 +0000

Beautiful Dova tree-hugger taken by Adam.

Last summer, when I suggested to hiking to the kids, they immediately said, "Nooooo!!! That's BORING!!!" So I bribed them with a camera for each and lots of snacks. Adam got my brand new Canon EOS Rebel T3i and Dova used my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K.

Adam has taken photographs along these trails for years now, and he's always had a great eye. This year, he was more interested in getting as many "butt shots" as he could.

Good thing Dova has a cute caboose! Dova took the high road with her camera and captured this amazing photograph of the waterfalls near a dam. Such movement! Such texture! And the light through the water!

Later, Dova gave up the camera and took to tree hugging.

I asked Adam to take a close up of her. Closer! Zoom in! He starting joking around and exaggerated everything I said. And then this beautiful shot emerged.

This has now become our favorite photograph of Dova. It is framed in our house and in the homes of both grandparents. Wow, Adam you are quite the photographer!

Later, Adam finally gave my camera back and I captured these shots during the golden hour on our hike back. Here they are taking a rest along the edge of the trail.

It was a beautiful spot to stop, overlooking a lake.

They got a bit silly, here's Dova pretend-slapping Adam in the face.

It was a beautiful day to get outdoors for a hike. I love to see the kids this happy.

We've since moved onto to mountain biking as a family, and now they've finally stopped groaning whenever I suggest hitting the trails. Yay!

Percolate My World

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:52:00 +0000

There are so many apps for the iPhone and iPad that modify and enhance photos that you can spend days just wading through them. But when I happened upon a photo run through the Percolator app, it was an instant "I want!" It's retro, it's bubbly, it's altogether an awesome way to be creative just a few taps.

The gingerbread man and Christmas tree above were simply to remind myself of the graphic that came inside cookie molds.

Instantly transformed from boring to pop!

Since then, the kids and I have gone into quite extensive percolations. Adam took a shot of a street light going by in the car and percolated it.

Dova took that image and percolated it again.

And then again with stars.

Holy triple percolation!!!

Stars look mighty fine on cute chihuahuas too.

I went for artful usage of percolator with this sunset.

And this view of a concert held in a church, like looking through stained glass.

Or looking through a water-spotted window at this foliage.

Last but not least, here are some shots of the kids all happy and percolated. Their faces are relatively untouched by using the "dark" mode, where only dark areas get percolated.

Have fun with Percolator!

Friendship Bracelets Made Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:48:00 +0000

Although friendship bracelets became popular when I was a child in the seventies, the whole fad passed me by and I never learned to make them. So when Dova asked me to show her how to make friendship bracelets, I thought that googling some instructions would be enough to get her going. But with a mess of colored strings, we completely failed in making a bracelet with a stripe pattern. Dova was stuck making only the Chinese Staircase she learned from a friend.

Now we have the wonderful My Friendship Bracelet Maker (MyFBM) by the Choose Friendship Company, originally known as Crorey Creations. Built-in fingers keep up to 10 strands in their numbered slots, so there is no more confusion over which color comes next. It really works to keep bracelets neat and tangle-free while you make them. You can really see what is going on!

Best of all, it is an all-in-one portable solution which holds the bracelet in progress, so there are more bracelets taped to tables and pinned to cushions. My Friendship Bracelet Maker comes with 56 pre-cut threads in 14 colors which is plenty for a dozen bracelets.

On the MyFBM.com site, we found the patterns and instructional videos to be extremely helpful. These are just some of the patterns they offer. Dova wants to make all of the them!

Since friendship bracelets are ultimately about friendship, The Choose Friendship Company has also created a music video to promote the message that kids should choose friendship, not bullying, which has become such a destructive force for kids today. Proceeds from song and t-shirt sales will be donated to non-profit organizations that support anti-bullying initiatives. You can check out the “Inside Out” anti-bullying video on YouTube.

For Dova, she was extremely proud to complete a beautiful friendship bracelet with My Friendship Bracelet Maker. What a sense of accomplishment!

Special thanks to the Choose Friendship Company for providing the My Friendship Bracelet Maker for review. No other compensation was received.

Inspiring the Violinist in Us

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I recently posted on BlogHer about how my family and I were inspired to learn the violin. I’ve also posted here about how I first ~~got sucked into~~ became reacquainted with the violin. The BlogHer story ends where inspiring the violinist in us has come full circle.

My mother-in-law’s friend had once played the violin quite proficiently as a youth. Now at 80 years of age, he hadn’t picked up a violin in forty years. At a get together, I urged him to try my violin. After a couple minutes, he was able to play a Danny Boy with beautiful vibrato. He even became choked up over how much he missed the violin.

This occurred about a year ago (drafts are forever languishing at mommy bytes) and here is the rest of that story. I had come to a family get together in February last year, and was planning to visit with my fiddle friend afterward to try yet another one if his fiddles. I brought my own violin inside to keep it out of the cold. I had no intention of taking it out, as I had yet to perform in front of them.

My mother-in-law’s friend, RUP, kept asking me about it, telling stories of his glory days as a violinist. I kept urging him to try mine out, but he refused until he heard me play first. Finally, I took it out and performed the Thomas Gavotte from “Mignon” from Suzuki Book 2. This was after less than six months of lessons and no expectation of having to perform it. I played it passably enough (darn accidentals!) to garner applause from the family. Then RUP picked it up. At first, he had trouble placing his fingers, but once he found the notes, his fingers reflexively started to vibrato, and incredibly beautiful sounds came out.

RUP was so moved by holding and playing the violin again that he vowed to have his violin repaired so he could pick it up again. I received a thank you card from my mother-in-law, where she specifically thanked me for inspiring her friend.

Angela - you have inspired RUP to have his violin repaired. He told me he had a "great time" at the party which he has never said before and he thanked me for inviting him.

Wow, I guess it did leave an impression. About a month later, I received some sheet music in the mail with this letter.

The duet with RUP has not come to pass, but we’ve had many duets and more with the kids. I might even dare to say that they actual enjoy playing with me. Now if I can only get these darn posts out of draft, you’ll see what I mean.

Chamber Music with Falling Leaves

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:15:00 +0000

I recently posted on BlogHer about Introducing Kids to Classical Music. Our children have been taking piano and violin lessons for some time now, so they are quite familiar with the music. But they have never attended a classical music concert. I grew up attending classical music concerts, ballet, and the like, and always remember falling asleep at those events. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I really began to appreciate them. So was it too early to think about taking the kids at ages 10 and 7 to a classical music concert? It hadn't really dawned on me to take them until our violin teacher suggested that we see one to watch the technique of the violin players.

Our first opportunity came in form of a Groupon to see the Worcester Chamber Music Society. Sadly, many of our family activities come in the form of a Groupon like last summer, but heck, it works for us. When we asked the kids to join us for this very adult program featuring contemporary works by South American composers, Adam refused but Dova was game because she got to dress up. Not wanting to "force" him to attend, we set him up with a babysitter and ventured out with our precocious seven-year-old.

PIAZZOLLA Four for Tango
GOLIJOV How Slow the Wind & Lua Descolorida
VILLA-LOBOS Duo for violin & viola
Assobio A Jato
GINASTERA String Quartet No. 1

Maria Ferrante, soprano; Tracy Kraus, flute; Krista Buckland Reisner and Rohan Gregory, violins; and Peter Sulski, viola
With Guest Artists Gabriela Diaz, violin and Jan Müller-Szeraws, cello

The concert performance was phenomenal. Doug and I thoroughly enjoyed the music which included wild techniques on the violin as well as a theme based on the open strings of guitar. The music in the program was new to all of our ears, but the musicians made it quite accessible.

We allowed Dova to bring a bag with quiet activities such as drawing in case she got bored. Dova was attentive, thoughtful and quiet through most of the performance. She even bopped her head around during the rhythmic portions of the program. The only time she took out her Hello Kitty notebook was to write about what she was doing and compose a poem for school.

"today I am at the chaber music concert. tomorrow we might go to the corn maze. On monday I have computer. I have to write a poem that has words that spell Fall. I am going to write Fun jumping in the leaves. all the fun is in fall. Leaves fall red yellow and orange. liveing in the fall. I hope we go apple picking tomorow"

Sure enough, we did go a corn maze and apple picking the next day (which I posted about one day later instead of 5+ months). And Dova created her Falling Leaves poem in Computer class the following day.

After the concert, there was a reception with the musicians. If it had been Adam, he would have sulked behind us not wanting any attention drawn to him. But the musicians and audience members alike all gravitated towards Dova, exclaiming how well-behaved and grown-up she was. She smiled and spoke clearly to everyone with grace and charm. I explained that she was learning the piano and violin, which served not embarrass her, but to hold her head up high. It was a proud parent moment to have their child carry herself so well.

Many years ago, I met Yo-Yo Ma's daughter Emily when she was about 10 years old. I was amazed at how precocious and well-spoken this young lady was. I thought that someday I would be very pleased and proud have a child like this. This day has come. We love you Dova! You can be an handful, but you more than make up for it with moments like these.

Flying High at Disney On Ice Dare To Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:54:00 +0000

Looking for some great entertainment for the kids this school vacation week? In the Boston area, check out Disney On Ice presents Dare To Dream featuring characters from Tangled. The show is runs from Friday, February 17 to Sunday February 26 at TD Garden in Boston.

We had the opportunity to attend the spectacular event on opening night. With flawless skating, fun story-telling, high-flying acrobats and pyrotechnics, even 11-year-old Adam was impressed. Dova managed not to cave into the myriad of swirling lights and wands but did insist on cotton candy, which we forked over $12. It came with a crown which she decorated later at home but refused to wear at the event, so her goofy mom had to fill in.

This was our first trip to TD Garden with the kids, so I had to point out the Boston Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup Champions flag in the rafters.

The show was emce'ed by Mickey and Minny Mouse themselves with some help from Donald Duck and Goofy.

The first story told was The Princess and the Frog, which featured colorful costumes and sets of New Orleans.

Tiana met her destiny with her frog-to-be.

At the bayou, a chorus of birds skated with Tiana and Prince Naveen in their quest to reverse the curse.

The next story was the time-told Cinderella. Adam and Dova laughed at the bumbling step sisters.

The carriage procession was a sight to see!

As well as the meeting of Cinderella and the Prince.

The clock struck 12 just in time for intermission. When the Prince went to search for the foot that fit the glass slipper, he also tried members of the audience.

The latest story to be added to the Disney On Ice repertoire is Tangled, now Dova's favorite Disney movie. Flynn met Rapunzel under a frying pan (this is Adam's favorite photo of the night).

It wasn't long before they were flying separately, then together.

Even Maximus the horse skated gracefully across the ice!

Tangled ended with spectacular pairs skating.

The evening ended with a ball featuring all the Disney Princesses in their finest costumes, including my favorte, Mulan.

The Disney On Ice Dare To Dream show is definitely Princess heavy, but there are enough "wow" moments for the whole family to enjoy.

It's not too late to see Disney On Ice presents Dare To Dream, find ticket information here!

DISNEY ON ICE is a trademark and service mark of Disney. Disney characters ©Disney. All Rights Reserved.

Special thanks to Feld Entertainment for providing a family 4 pack of tickets for this review. No other compensation was received.

Grandstanding Handstanding Dova

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:49:00 +0000

About a year ago, Dova was asked to join the "team" at our local gymnastics place where she had taken tumbling classes since she was four. I, of course, took this as an attempt by the gym to extort more money from us by raising the tuition. She never really showed any skill at gymnastics and wasn't even able to do a decent cartwheel after three years. But she had her heart set on it, so I shelled out the big bucks. A few months later, they had their spring show and surprisingly, she demonstrated a pretty decent handstand.

After that, she started doing handstands just about everywhere imaginable. Here she is at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA during the airing of "A Prairie Home Companion".

And at the beach.

This past November, Dova had her first gymnastics meet. Now up to this point, our only involvement in Dova's gymnastics was to pay the big bucks and send her the practice twice a week. We really had no idea what her level of proficiency was. So it was pretty exciting to watch her in all events for the first time. And sure enough, her handstand during the floor routine was nearly perfect.

Dova's bar routine lasted all of 15 seconds, but she scored an impressive 9.40.

And check out the height on her tuck jump on the balance beam

Such poise and confidence!! We were beaming with pride.

But the biggest surprise occurred at the end of the meet when Dova took first place in the all around competition for her level. Wow, that's our girl on the top of the podium!

I guess all that money and chauffeuring paid off. What a sense of accomplishment for Dova! It was a proud moment for our entire family. We are so proud of you Dova!

My Brookstone Cat aka Body Bean

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000

Now that I've reached that age that is nine times older than five, or perhaps only three times older than fifteen, the one thing that has changed over the years is my tolerance to cold. I used to be just like my kids, hating sweaters and scarves and never ever feeling cold until just before frostbite hits. Now, when my nose gets cold and I am completely uncomfortable!

Thankfully Brookstone has the perfect solution for cold noses, cold hands, aching muscles, and any place that requires warming. They call it the Body Bean, but I call it my Brookstone cat. The Body Bean is a miraculous cordless device that stays warm for up to 4 hours after a 15 min of charging. Since it is filled with saline, it has a nice weight, transfers heat efficiently (like a water bottle) and conforms to your body perfectly. This doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you all the places it comes in handy:

Sitting in my lap, the Body Bean is just like having a small cat to keep me warm. It never scratches and always comes back after I've gotten up. A co-worker made the kitty decorations for my cat above!
When my hands are cold using the computer, I'll spend a few seconds petting the Brookstone cat in my lap and they are happy again.
When my nose is cold, I can pop my cat right onto my face for a cozy warm-me-up.
In bed, the Brookstone cat is a warm companion that never complains when you smother it. In the morning, it still feels warm!
In the car, my real cat would never sit on my lap nicely to keep me warm.
When I have sore muscles I can actually use the Body Bean for its intended use!

As a Christmas present, I requested a second Body Bean so I have one at work and at home. I don't know how I survived winters before! At work, I inspired a female co-worker to purchase one for herself and we are now twins with our cats at meetings. A male co-worker bought one for his wife for the holidays, and she absolutely loves it and sleeps with it every night. I also bought Body Beans for my mom and cousin and everyone loves their new pets. (I am single-handedly keeping this product in production!)

In addition to the Body Bean at $24.99, Brookstone offers a 3-in-1 Heated Body Wrap at $39.99 which allows hands free holding and warming. My Brookstone cat is very good about staying in place, keeping me warm, and has become my favorite wintertime snuggler. Shh! Don't tell my real cats!

Special thanks to Brookstone for providing the first Body Bean for review as part of the Brookstone Review Crew.

Just in Time Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:07:00 +0000

If there's one thing that I'm always on time for, it's the holiday season. Usually, the gifts are purchased well before Thanksgiving, the OCD gift list is dotted and crossed, and the decorations go up on Thanksgiving weekend. This year I am woefully behind. Our holiday portrait was not even taken until one week before Christmas!

But in keeping with just in time (JIT) production, we've managed to pull it together before the holidays (minus the gift list). Without further ado, here is Dova's annual holiday video greeting.

"We wish you a Happy New Year! < giggle, giggle, giggle />"
"And... I will be playing, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear."
(I'm not sure what is worse, her giggling or my HTML/XML interpretation of her giggling)

Adam started in a new music school this year and played on a concert grand piano for the first time. He performed the Russian Dance from the Nutcracker in his recital with flair.

Soon enough, all will be quiet through the house and the children will be nestled in their beds. Dova takes her nestling very seriously!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Double Rainbow Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:40:00 +0000

Instead of the usual stories of turkeys, stuffing and pie (mmm four berry pie), our Thanksgiving was filled double rainbows. We had a tiny gathering of 5 including my mother. But she brought along her iPad, a device that my kids had never laid eyes upon in person. And with that came our first double rainbow.

I may have a slight addiction to Bejeweled as evidenced by Jewel Mania in 2006, then denial by using big scientific words like Stochasticity in July 2009 and finally admitting the need for intervention in Novemeber 2009. Nowadays, I have pretty much overcome the addiction, only imbibing the jewels on occasion. I had never reached the 500,000 mark in Bejeweled Blitz and just shook off the high scores over 1 million points as crazy people who don't have anything better to do with their time or harvest the Phoenix Prism gem by luck. When we played Bejeweled on my mom's iPad, it was ridiculous to use the full screen mode because the jewels were so big that you couldn't keep track of the entire board. But then we realized that all three of us (my mom, Adam and me) could play on the same board at the same time, and we saw the potential for really high scores. On our second game together, we managed this incredible score over 700,000 points without any special gems!

OMG, Grandma, Adam and I jumped for joy, whooped and hollered and were completely besides ourselves. On her very first day of playing Bejeweled Blitz, my mom got a 500k star and beat my all time high score!! We finally unlocked a secret of outrageously high scores. Now I just need to get my hands on my own iPad.

Later that weekend, Adam mentioned the phrase, "OMG, it's a double rainbow!" I asked him how he knew about double rainbows, did he see the video? Nope, he never heard of the video, he knew it from the Pocket God game.

In that case, I insisted that he see the original video.

When I first saw this video, I thought it was just a goofball that was totally high. But when Adam saw it, he started laughing and could not stop. He literally rolled off my bed laughing. He laughed so hard that he couldn't catch his breath and his eyes teared up. He laughter was so contagious that everyone around started to laugh despite themselves. He kept repeating lines from the video, "It's starting to look like a triple rainbow", "What does it mean?", "Double rainbow all the way across the sky!", "It's so intense!" and simply, "Whoa!!! OMG OMG!" Then we sang along to the Spongebob version of the Double Rainbow Song.

The double rainbow video was easily the funniest thing Adam had ever seen in his life. I'm not sure whether it was set up by knowing the Pocket God version first and finally learning why those silly people were so gaga over double rainbows. Either way, I'm glad it made his day.

Hope your holiday was filled with double rainbows!

Welcome to the Snow Kingdom

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:17:00 +0000

Oh, the tales of unprecedented October snow and power outages in New England! Ours was not so dramatic, but still a bit of an adventure for our family. On October 29th, Saturday afternoon, Adam had his coldest soccer game ever in rain that changed over to snow. I was fortunate to be warm at home with Dova preparing for a dinner party when the flakes started to fall. She wrote this message on our white board for our guests (changing HTML colors is more painful than changing markers, but I couldn't stop once I started).

Welcome to the snow kingdom!
Where there is tons of snow!
You can sled down a snowy hill or make a snowman!
There is so much stuff to do in the snow kingdom!
There is enough snow for everyone!
So come to snow kingdom where there plenty of stuff to do!

On Saturday evening, we shared stories, good food (ginger butternut squash soup, curry chicken and home brewed beer) and warmth with our friends around the wood stove. When they left, we laughed because they hadn't brought a snow brush for the unheard of October nor'easter. The first sign that something was amiss would have been the drooping trees with branches heavy with snow. Adam immediately donned his snow attire to shake the snow off the trees, but we couldn't find any snow pants or snow boots for Dova. We promised to buy her some the next day. Our friends had to veer around a tree that was hanging low in our driveway to get home.

Later that evening, we settled down for some TV and our satellite was not receiving signal due to the heavy snowfall. I climbed out on the deck to clear the snow but it didn't help. We decided to watch an episode of Psych on our DVR, Tuesday the 17th. This episode was a horror movie spoof based in Camp Tikihawa. In one scene, the power had gone out and the villain was going after a victim with a wet mop against a sparking electric panel. As soon as the sparks flew, our own power went out. Wow, spooky! Our lights blipped a few times and came back. But this time, the satellite receiver would not initialize at all and we couldn't finish watching the episode. We all went to sleep with the wood stove keeping the house warm.

On Sunday morning, I awoke at 5am and noticed that the power was out. I fished through the various items in my nightstand drawer and finally found a flashlight to put some more logs into the wood stove. When we finally got out of bed around 8am, I saw Adam sitting on the couch playing Bubble Ball on my iPhone. I immediately yanked it out of his hands saying that my cell phone was for emergency use only! It was our only connection to the outside world with no TV, internet or phone (free VoIP with Ooma). In fact, there was actually no cell signal at the time, as our nearest cell tower must have lost power. Having no power isn't a major safety issue for us, we have a wood stove for heat and town water to drink and flush toilets. But losing electricity for more than a day is stressful and a major inconvenience. No fridge, no stove, limited hot water, and constantly wondering when the power was coming back...

Adam was first to go out and survey the foot+ amount of snow on Sunday morning. He told us that there was a huge tree down across the end of our driveway. At this point, Doug and I jumped to action to cut up and move the tree, so we weren't trapped in our house. Jumping to action meant that I failed to photograph the full extent of the snow accumulation and damage. My co-workers thankfully came through with these shots from the area.

Bench seating for snow only.

Low passage. This tree was hung up on the power lines.

Fallen street lamp and broken power lines.

The kids' immediate concern was how they were supposed to go trick-or-treating for Halloween on Monday. At 1pm on Sunday, the power came back on. We had our dinner guests back over again since they had not regained power so that the dad could charge up his laptop and get some work done, and his son went back to playing video games with Adam. Dova invited over a power-less friend as well. We put on a pot of coffee and resumed life as usual. But our glorious electricity was short-lived as the power went back out in two hours. Doug had taken a shower in the two hours the power came on, and I failed to, so I took one in semi-darkness. The power remained out until late Monday afternoon, and I only remember sketchy parts of it being in "survival" mode. Here's a snapshot of how we spent our time:

We listened to our Grundig FR200 Emergency Radio for news broadcasts and heard nothing useful at all.
I didn't think to look at Twitter on my phone for tweets in my area. I only used my phone to make sparing calls, check email, and listen to our home voice mail.
We learned that Halloween in our town was postponed until Saturday, November 5th.
I heated (burned) milk on the wood stove for hot chocolate. It came out delicious!
We ate cold leftovers for dinner. Mmm, curry chicken.
We put our gallon jugs of milk and other perishables in a large cooler on the deck and covered the items with snow. The milk was icy cold and delicious the next day.
I yelled, "Don't open the fridge" about four times an hour.
I played piano by the light of an LED camp lantern. I couldn't safely put a candle in front of the music. I played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (1st and 2nd movements, the 3rd would've cause the lantern to topple).
The kids actually played piano for fun because it was entertainment without electricity.
We read campfire stories by candle light.
We determined that light from a candlestick is much brighter than a column candle or jar candle.
The scent from jar candles made me wheezy.
I played a long game of Rummy 500 with Adam which he eventually won by setting me back when I was at 490 points.
The kids also played Egyptian Ratscrew.
Dova's friend slept over because we at least had running water. Wells don't run without electricity.
I called into work on Monday morning to learn there was no power. Snow day for all!
We found some snow pants for Dova and she wore an old pair of my boots. We didn't venture out until Tuesday. Stores were closed in Nashua NH, so we went near Boston which didn't experience much of Snowtober.
I made the kids practice piano and violin while it was still daylight. So much for a snow day break.
I cooked ramen noodles on the wood stove. The water took forever to boil, but the kids were glad to have a hot meal.

When the power came back late Monday afternoon, I was so thrilled that I kept chanting, "I love electricity!!" Dova thought I was totally crazy for loving such a thing. But after being stressed out in "survival" mode for 1.75 days, it was such a relief to return to normal life again. My work was still closed on Tuesday, and most of my town was still out of power.

On Wednesday, our school district had a delayed opening, and the kids went back to school. But that evening, we got a message saying that it was still to dangerous for the buses to maneuver around work crews and broken power lines, so the kids had the rest of the week off from school. Four snow days before the start of winter!

I returned to work on Wednesday to find that I was one of the few people that had power. Most of my co-workers were running generators. Every night on my ride home, I would survey the transformers for green or red lights. The main road just behind our street did not have power until Friday. Six days! That could've been us! Thank goodness for electricity at our house. I love electricity! Welcome to the Snow Kingdom!

The Art of Leaf Jumping

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:39:00 +0000

You know you're old when your kids ask you to jump in the leaf pile with them and you say, "No way!" I remember loving to jump in the fall leaves as a kid. Even in New York City before the 1978 pooper scooper law, I used to beg my mom to let me run through the leaves. Nowadays, I whole-heartedly join other types kid fun, but somewhere along the way, I grew out of leaf jumping. But these kids have taken leaf jumping to new heights of joy.

Who would ever think that getting a faceful of leaves thrown at you could be so much fun?

Or a talking leaf pile? I should clarify, a crazy talking leaf pile.

Let's not forget Dova's rendition.

But my favorite photo is this gravity-defying explosion of leaves and kids.

Autumn is good. Too bad it's snowing outside right now here in New England!

Try It On at GlassesUSA

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:11:00 +0000

I've been a long time online shopper of inexpensive prescription eyeglasses for my kids and myself. The kids still go through glasses every 4 to 6 months and at buying glasses at a tenth of retail is a no-brainer. But my own eyeglass prescription is very strong, requiring significantly more expensive high index lenses. The last time I purchased glasses online, I went for some fashionable rectangular lenses, forgetting the fact that a wide frame make high prescription lenses extremely thick on the edges. Plus the wide lenses gave my face the "smashed in" look on the sides. If I had the opportunity to try these frames in a store, I may have realized that the frames would not have worked on my face with my prescription.

When I had the opportunity to review glasses from GlassesUSA.com, I was glad to search for some smaller frames. The one thing that I really liked about GlassesUSA was their virtual mirror. Other sites also allow you to upload a photo, but you can never really tell the scale of the glasses in relationship to your face. GlassesUSA provides a pupillary distance ruler so you can scale your photo to match the size of the frames. See how exact it is?

You can also compare eyeglasses easily and send photos to friends to check out. Yes, those are the real prices for the frames and basic lenses at $38!

I received my glasses within a week and was extremely pleased with the quality of the frames and workmanship. With my new smaller frames, the high index lenses were the thinnest on the edges that I've ever seen. When I wore my new glasses to work, my co-workers complimented me, saying that my face no longer looked "smashed in" and that I didn't look extremely near-sighted anymore. Wow!

Next time you are looking to buy glasses, check out GlassesUSA.com. They are high quality, inexpensive and delivered lightning fast. Also check out these coupon codes!

Buy one pair of glasses and get any other pair for FREE! Use code: BOGOUSA
Take 10% off any order. Code: Blog10

Disclaimer: GlassesUSA provided a gift certificate to cover most of the cost of my glasses for review. No other compensation was provided.

Apple Picking, Corn Maze and Corn Cannons = Fall in New England

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:52:00 +0000

Since the kids have been indoctrinated in the New England tradition of apple picking, we have not missed a fall season of apple picking in recent memory. And since my Groupon Summer of 2011 is spilling into autumn and beyond, we tried a new apple picking farm featured in Groupon this year.

I was first intrigued by the Groupon for Schartner Farms because of the corn maze attraction, or "corn maize". The aerial photo reminded me of crop circles which I've always wanted to experience first hand. How do they mow it so precisely?? (The maze, not crop circles. Crop circles are real, right? Right??)

The kids were a little apprehensive about diving in, but once we had maps in hand, we didn't get too lost (except in the tractor wheel). Four acres of corn maze is pretty expansive, but we got through in about 20 minutes.

And for another new activity, we tried out the corn cannon. I am so not "country", that I had to google "corn cannon" before we went to see what the heck it was. I described it to a co-worker and he said, "You mean a potato gun, but with corn?" I don't even know what a potato gun is. Obviously not a native New Englander.

The kids could have done the corn cannon all day, but my wallet dictated just three shots per kid. Here's Adam trying to shoot the corn through the hoop in the woods. (First day using the video mode on my new Canon Rebel T3i, so I couldn't get the hoop in focus.)

After this apple picking photo op, I relaxed on this bench while the kids did all the apple picking. I enjoyed the fresh autumn air and the view of the corn maze in the distance. It was so peaceful.

Let's not forget a pumpkin or two to bring home. Adam picked out this perfect 25 pounder. He is so photogenic with pumpkins! Remember this technicolor pumpkin picking from two years ago...

And no apple picking day is complete without the bubbly goodness of apple pie. Mmmm pie!

Happy Autumn everyone!

Impressive Calm on the First Day of Middle School

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:27:00 +0000

Before school started this year, I had to spend several days convincing nervous Dova to take the bus on the first day of school. She insisted that someone drive her to school and walk her to her classroom because she wouldn't know where to go. Second grade is now her third year at our elementary school, and I was confident that taking the bus would not be a problem. Maybe she was concerned that it was the first time she would be taking the bus without older brother Adam, although she would never admit it. She couldn't understand that every kid starts out not knowing where their classrooms is and that the teachers magically escort each and every one of them. No students wander the halls lost all day! Anyway, all my energy was spent of calming her down, that I completely dropped the ball with Adam, who was going to middle school for the first time.

Starting middle school in fifth grade at the age of ten is definitely innocence lost in my book. But I can't change the school system so into the pool he went. Since the earlier school start time matched well with my morning commute, I left a message at the bus service over the summer to let them know that he would be driven in the morning and would take the bus home. I never heard back from the bus company and when I checked online the week before school, they had not yet published the bus schedule for our town.

The morning of the first day went pretty smoothly. I finally got the "first day of school" action shots to come out clearly in the early morning light (put the camera in sport mode, dummy). I drove Adam to school in my car, listening to NPR podcasts as we used to do. I was a bit nervous about doing the drop-off line for the first time, but it was very clear where to go. When I pulled up to the curb, I suddenly realized that I didn't find out which bus Adam should take home. I said, "Oh no, Adam, we don't know what bus you need to take home. Will you be able to figure it out?"

Adam responded with his usual, "Yeah, Mom." At the end of the day, Doug went to the bus stop to pick up Adam. A good hour after school dismissed, he called me from his cell phone to let me know that there was no sign of a bus. I assured him that it was late because it was the first day of school. We chatted a bit longer, as I checked online for voicemail on the home number (thanks to Ooma). Finally the bus arrived and he was home safe. I heard from Doug later that he actually had gotten on the wrong bus, got driven back to school, and then our old bus driver saw him standing there with blood all over his shirt from a bloody nose, took pity on him and drove him home. OMG, what a nightmare!!!

When I got home, I felt so bad for Adam that I wanted to cheer him up and calm him down if he was all shaken up. Apparently none of that was necessary, he was unbelievably calm like nothing happened. This is the rough transcription of our conversation.

Me: Did you freak out when you realized that you were on the wrong bus?

Adam: No.

Me: Did you realize it was not going the right way?

Adam: No.

Me: What were you doing, reading your book?

Adam: Yup.

Me: How would you know when the bus got to our street if you were reading your book?

Adam: I don't know.

Me: Did you stop reading and look out the window once in a while?

Adam: No... well I stopped reading when my nose started bleeding.

Me: Did you freak out when your nose started to bleed?

Adam: No.

Me: When did you finally realize you were on the wrong bus?

Adam: When I was the last person on it.

Me: Did you feel embarrassed?

Adam: No.

Me: You didn't freak out at all?

Adam: No, why should I?

Me: OMG, I would've been freaking out if I realized I was on the wrong bus and my nose started bleeding!

Adam: Why, Mom?

Me: Because! I would've been looking out the window, thinking is this going to my street? OMG, am I on the wrong bus? OMG, my nose is bleeding everywhere!!! No, it's good that you didn't freak out, that you're so calm, I need to learn that from you. Dova needs to learn that from you. We all need to!

Adam: I still don't understand why you would freak out.

Me: Good, just keep being like you are.

Adam kept shaking his head like I was the crazy one. It may sound like incredibly zen-like calmness and acceptance of his circumstances, but most likely it is Adam's brand of total obliviousness. He can be incredibly unaware of his surroundings and so involved in whatever he is doing that nothing can break his concentration. Still, to have those events transpire and not be perturbed in the least is quite remarkable. I did explain to him that he should feel free to actually ask the bus driver whether they went to his street instead of just taking one that "looked right". He managed just fine the next day. I guess he'll manage fine in everything he does.

My Groupon Summer of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:43:00 +0000

Everyone who knows me knows that I love a deal. So after I signed up for Groupon earlier this year, I couldn't pass up all the great family activities they offered. Some were from places that we've gone before, some were things that we've always wanted to try and some were places that we go every year regardless. Having a fistful of Groupons led to an extremely tightly scheduled summer with no lazy days to take a spontaneous trip to the beach. In fact our only beach day planned got rained out by hurricane Irene. We finally made it to the beach over Labor Day weekend, AFTER school started.

So here's how the Groupon summer of 2011 went. As you may know, Groupons are only available for purchase for a few days, so these links are now expired. We managed to use them all before the Groupons themselves expired thanks to my OCD scheduling.

Mel's Funway Park in Litchfield, NH

I purchased four $15 passes for Mel's Funway Park which gave us each a go-kart ride, batting-cage tokens, a round of mini-golf, a small bucket of balls for the driving range, a laser-tag game, and a laser-maze game. Whew! It was a fun-filled family outing for an incredible price.

Adam swings for golf like a baseball (nice shot taken by Doug).

How cute is Dova in the batting cage!

Mel's Funway Park (now without the Mel in the name, but all the local's still use it) is good, wholesome fun. We are definitely going back.

Kimball Farm in Westford, MA

Again I purchased four $15 passes which we used for bumper boats, mini golf, driving range, batting cage, the arcade and ice cream. I took the kids with one of Adam's friends. We've been to Kimball Farm many times for gathering with friends and even a company outing.

Kimball's has one of the most beautiful mini golf courses I've ever seen (I would never tell my kids to walk the logs just for a photo op ).

But long before Kimball Farm had all those attractions, they were most famous for their ice cream. Those are the small size. Nom!!

Chunky's Cinema Pub in several locations in MA and NH

Chunky's is a movie theater with tables flanked by individually reclining Lincoln Town Car seats. You can order anything from appetizers to a full meal, including beer and alcohol (my favorite is the Captain Morgan root beer float - an alcoholic meal in itself). This photo was taken at Dova's 7th birthday party last year (they do parties too), complete with 3D glasses.

How cool is it to see your name on the movie marquis!!

Since we go to Chunky's Cinema Pub all the time, it was a no brainer to spend $10 for a Groupon that covered movie admission, popcorn and a $10 worth of food. We ended up going with my mom over the summer to a movie I can't remember because of that Captain Morgan root beer float. Arrrrr!

Hancock Shaker Village in Hancock, MA.

Angela contemplating the Round Barn at the Hancock Shaker Village, taken by Adam (nice composition!)

Every year, we vacation in the Berkshires and we always visit the Hancock Shaker Village. This time we went with a discount thanks to Groupon.

Capturing Adam the photographer.

Yes, Adam used the DSLR and I used the point and shoot camera. Thankfully, you can't take a bad photo in this picturesque piece of paradise.

SkyVenture New Hampshire in Nashua, NH

Indoor skydiving is not something I would normally plunk $95 just to try. But with the Groupon at nearly half price, we decided to go for it. What a blast it was! The kids chickened out, so Doug ended up taking the second Groupon I purchased. I simply could not wipe that goofy grin off my face, partially due to the wind and partly due to the fact that I was giggling the whole time.

Doug was a total natural in the indoor skydiving wind tunnel. He is even considering real skydiving now!

Fishpipe New Hampshire at SkyVenture, Nashua, NH

Somehow I knew the kids weren't about to fly for the indoor skydiving, so I purchased Groupons for the newly opened Fishpipe at SkyVenture. They had 90 seconds of water spinning fun, although I wouldn't say that it was necessarily worth even the discounted price. I expected total craziness in there, but they were fairly calm and still had a ton of fun.

Wayside Carriage House Inn in Sudbury, MA

Grist Mill at the Wayside Inn

The Wayside Carriage House Inn is new ancillary inn for the original Wayside Inn, which only has 9 rooms and a year-long waiting list. Doug and I enjoyed dinner and a night away from the kids with another couple who also purchased a Groupon. Imagine spending an evening only with adults!

Bolton Fair in Lancaster, MA

The day after staying at the Wayside Carriage House Inn, Doug and I participated in my first fiddle contest at the Bolton Fair. Fiddling entrants still have to pay to attend the fair, so we got in for half price using the Groupon. Yeehaw!

If you'd like to get in on the Groupon action, please use this referral link to sign up for an account (I get $10 for opening the world of Groupon to you). I also belong to several other savings sites, the locally-based Eversave (another referral link), and LivingSocial (not a referral, boo hoo), but Groupon has by far garnered the most deals that match my family's interest.

One word of caution for new savers, you will get emails every day from these companies. If you're like me and hate to be inundated with emails, but don't want to miss out on the deals, you can subscribe to the feed for your local city through a reader like Google Reader. The local RSS feeds are easy to find on Groupon, but not so much so for the other sites (I recommend using a Firefox's automatic feed detection or Chrome's RSS Subscription Extension). Happy Grouponing!

Brookstone Review Crew Round-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:15:00 +0000

As part of the Brookstone Review Crew, here are some items that I never knew that I could live without before!

Check out the reviews on contest bytes for:

Compact Rolling Traveler Suitcase - I've transformed from a hippy backpack wearer at airports to super chic expert traveler.
Universal Phone Holder - When you want to be minimalist and simply carry your phone, driver's license and a credit card, this is the perfect case.
Vinturi® Wine Aerator - You will never want wine without this essential device again! It immediately transforms the taste
Rechargeable iPod and iPhone Battery Backup - This small battery backup is essential when your iPhone needs more juice.
LELO Personal Massagers - Ah yes, not shown in this photo for obvious reasons. You'll find out why a $100 personal massager is so worth it.

Thanks to Brookstone for providing some of the products for review. Which ones did I buy on my own? Check out the reviews for yourself.

Also check out the brand spanking new Brookstone blog at www.brookstoneblogs.com.

Are You Boggled?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 04:17:00 +0000

I'm definitely no word whiz as being an engineer doesn't lend itself to being a wordsmith (disregard the mommy blogging, BlogHer and Autoweek gigs for now). But when it comes to word finding puzzles, it's more about logic and pattern recognition than vocabulary knowledge. It all started innocently enough when Dova asked me to help her with the Webkinz game Eager Beaver Adventure Park.

"Manures"? Is that the best I could do?

She would get frustrated with the crushing blocks timed levels, so I started "helping" her out. I never made it past level 7 or so, but one day I finished the entire game. And then I did it again. And I found myself addicted to "helping" her get Webkinz cash with this game and others (Cash Cow, Goober's Lab, Bamboo Break, variations on my favorite games of matching hearts, bejeweled and tetris, all feeding my need for stochasticity).

I tried out Boggle iPhone on a free promotion last year. Granted, Quordy and Wurdle beat the official Hasbro game in the reviews, but they cost more than free. I was hooked again. And so was Adam. I even found a work-related word, "ideates", which sure beats "manures".

The best part of the game is seeing the all the possible words that can be created with the board afterward. You do feel kinda stupid getting only 30-50 of the sometimes 200+ words, but you do start thinking in the serpentine paths and patterns that you hadn't seen before and improve with practice. It's also a great way too kill 3 minutes while you're in line.

You can get Boggle for the regular price of $0.99 here:

L'Oeuf Love Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:09:00 +0000

Silicone Egg Pancake Ring

These silicone heart rings are so sweet! Not only do my kids love having heart-shaped eggs and pancakes, they put a huge smile on my face when I cook with them.

I love the association between the French word for egg, l'oeuf, and it's subsequent use as the "love" score in tennis. As I learned from tennis lessons in high school, "love" was used for a score of zero because the number zero is shaped like an egg, or l'oeuf, in French. But according to Wikipedia, "the most accepted theory on the origins of the use of 'Love' comes from the acceptance that, at the start of any match, when scores are at zero, players still have 'Love for each other'." To me, when your score is love, you're definitely not feeling the love. The l'oeuf explanation is more likely.

Either way, we all feel the love when eating these heart pancakes.

Happy Love Thursday everyone! Visit Chookooloonks for the original Love Thursday.

UC Berkeley CellScope - Where Science Meets Art

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 04:33:00 +0000

CellScope developed by the Fletcher Lab at UC Berkeley

I have always been an MIT snob, proudly supporting my alma mater and brainwashing my kids to strive to attend it (it's working on Adam but not Dova). I even removed UC Berkeley (MS Mechanical Engineering) from my facebook profile because it bumped MIT off my profile page. Same goes for the alumni magazines. MIT's top-rated Technology Review magazine is read by hundreds of thousands beyond its own alumni and I devour every issue with zeal. When I receive the Berkeley engineering alumni magazine, Forefront, I never allow myself to be impressed.

Recently, Forefront has stepped up its game. I have to admit being impressed with technologies they have developed from affordable exoskeletons, to the new bay bridge, to this little wonder, the CellScope. The CellScope transforms a standard cell phone into a diagnostic-quality microscope, which can transmit images of tissue samples for instant diagnosis from anywhere in the world. But then I saw this cool stop motion video of a 9mm doll, Dot, filmed entirely on the CellScope.

Aardman Animations, the producers behind Wallace and Gromit, created this charming little film using a Nokia N8 with the CellScope technology.

Equally amazing is the behind the scenes making of the video. Fifty versions of Dot were created by a 3D resin printer and painted by hand. Check out the magic behind the artistry.

This month, Aardman Animations was awarded with the Animation Award at Rushes Soho Shorts Festival for Dot. Dot also holds a Guinness World Record for the smallest stopmotion animated character in a film.

Amazingly useful medical diagnostic tool as well as award-winning short film technology? I am truly humbled and impressed.

Return of the Shield Sunglasses

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:02:00 +0000

At the People's Party at BlogHer, Fox Entertainment provided a photo op with Blu from the movie Rio. I donned a pair of ridiculously large shield sunglasses and poses in front of the green screen. Afterward, I loved the photo and the look!

I returned home with a quest for a pair of shield sunglasses. NYS Collection came through with a large collection of contemporary sunglasses including many shield types.

When I put on my new retro sunglasses, Doug looked at me and said that was nothing, he had an original pair of Bausch & Lomb Wings sunglasses from the 80's and produced the Yoko Ono-like sunglasses in a cordoroy covered case. I looked online and a genuine vintage pair of B&L Wings runs for nearly $300! Back when I met Doug in the 90's, I remembered seeing these sunglasses and heartily laughed at their shape. Who knew they would come back in style and be worth so much?

Adam in Doug's B&L Wings.

Thankfully, the NYS Collection including Jersey Shore sunglasses are available for $19.99 at NYS Kiosks in shopping-centers across the US. I love the updated styling. Check out my kids as they model them.

Adam is a cool dude.

Way too big but way cute on Dova's small face. Watch out for that movie star attitude!

Special thanks to NYS Collection for providing a pair of sunglasses for review. No other compensation was given.

Mother and Daughter Time at BlogHer

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:40:00 +0000

For the third year in a row, my mom has joined me at BlogHer. It's our way of getting together without the craziness of grandkids. In 2009, I was mortified and then relieved when she took the mic during my session on mommy blogging balance.

Last year, we rocked her home town of New York together.

This year, we flew to lovely San Diego, where she knew the lay of the land having stayed at the Marriott Marquis for several conferences previously. This year presented tons of great photo opportunities where we didn't have to shoot with a long extended arm.

Here we are with the California Raisin.

And before indulging in Dannon Oikos yogurt. I was actually confused to see the Oikos brand name on a Dannon product, where I've seen it always on my beloved Stonyfield, but this link explains the partnership.

And from the cool blue of Greece, we dressed up in hot pink boas for T-Mobile.

Of course there were long arm portraits as well, here's a pic of us before and during our 1/2 day tour down to Tijuana. More on that to come...

Since BlogHer will be in New York again next year, you can be sure to see the dynamic duo again next year!

BlogHer '11 Brookstone Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Angela) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 03:56:00 +0000

What do you think of when you think of Brookstone? Do images of relaxing massage chairs come to mind? Or perhaps nifty gadgets and accessories for the gadget-holic in your life? Or maybe just super cool toys. Like this AR.Drone Quadricopter. I was lucky to receive this hands-on demo of total coolness. It is controlled by your iPhone/iPod/iPad and can take videos from the front and side. Can you imagine sending it over your house to take photos?

But if you're more practical minded, here are some travel accessories that you might like:

Lightweight hanging Toiletry Kit with tons of zippered pockets for super-organized travel

4-in-1 Power Charger that can power just about any portable device with an A/C outlet, car, USB port or 9V battery

n•a•p® Plush Eyemask that can be heated or cooled for total eye comfort and zzz.....

Wordlock® Luggage Lock where you can use a word instead of numbers to remember your combination

My Life Digital Photo Keychain which holds up to 100 photos to keep your loved ones near

*** If you'd like to enter win any of these Brookstone travel accessories, please fill out the form below. The Brookstone giveaway is open to all US residents. ***

For extra entries, do any or all of the following:

Like Brookstone on Facebook
Like mommy bytes on Facebook
Like this post (use the Like button at the end of the post)
Follow Brookstone on Twitter
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Tweet about the Brookstone event or giveaway (using @mommybytes and @brookstone)
Promote this post using StumbleUpon, blog post or other social media (one entry only)

The Brookstone giveaway ends Friday August 12, at 11 pm EDT.

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Hope to see everyone at BlogHer. Not only do I get to see everyone again, my mom will be making her third appearance! (She should start her own fan club .)

Disclaimer: Brookstone provided products for me to review as well as for the giveaway.