Holly's Golden Twig

The War Room

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 19:40:00 -0400

Opening this weekend in theaters is an inspirational movie called "The War Room." It's a insightful look at the how the power of prayer can change lives, even in situations that seem far beyond hope. I was lucky enough to attend a pre-screening of the film a few months ago and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think that the target demographic for this film is primarily for people who would already claim faith in God and it sets out to light a fire under anyone who is lukewarm about their beliefs. However, this story had me both laughing and crying at different points - it definitely covers the whole spectrum of emotions! There were a few scenes that had the entire theater erupting in side-splitting laughter such as the delivery guy, and also the dinner scene at home with Tony (played by T.C. Stallings) and his wife Elizabeth, played by renowned women’s speaker and author Priscilla Shirer. Shirer makes her film debut playing the lead character who finds herself and her family in a less-than-desirable position without much hope to overcome it. Elizabeth then meets Miss Clara (played by Karen Abercrombie) who introduces her to what Miss Clara calls her “war room” and that begins to change Elizabeth’s life forever.

However the limelight for acting was completely stolen by the *outstanding* and adorable performance of Tony and Elizabeth’s 10 year old daughter, Danielle Jordan, played by Alena Pitts. The skill level of the kids’ jump-roping antics alone is really impressive and the filmmakers did a great job of clearly integrating real-life jump rope teams into the film. But Danielle and her friend Jennifer provide quite a bit of comedic relief to the story. The uber-famous Beth Moore, speaker, author and Bible study leader also makes her film debut here. However, I found Moore’s character to be a very minor one overall, especially in comparison to the rest of the story.

A few of Miss Clara’s insights that I picked up: “You’ve got to have the right strategies and resources, because victory don’t come by accident.” Also “You’ve got to plead with God to do what only He can do, and then get out of His way to let Him do it.”

Since I’m not one for spoilers, I’ll leave it at that and give you a short clip of Miss Clara and Elizabeth when they met for the first time. Enjoy!

You need a MOMS' NIGHT OUT!

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Fri, 9 May 2014 05:08:00 -0400

I should have written this post ages ago, but today is my chance to finally tell you about a fantastic movie coming out this weekend, May 9, 2014, just in time for Mother's Day! Moms' Night Out is an absolutely hilarious comedy that some family members and I were privileged enough to get to see a sneak preview of back in March. The film synopsis from the official website says:

All Allyson and her friends want is a peaceful, grown-up evening of dinner and conversation . . . a long-needed moms' night out. But in order to enjoy high heels, adult conversation and food not served in a paper bag, they need their husbands to watch the kids for three hours—what could go wrong? MOMS' NIGHT OUT is an endearing true-to-life family comedy that celebrates the beautiful mess called parenting.

The movie has a star-studded cast of recognizable faces: Sarah Drew from Gray's Anatomy plays the lead character Allyson, a germaphobe, clean freak and mommy blogger who is at her wit's end as the mother of three young children and an oft-traveling husband; Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond fame plays the pastor's wife who does her best to maintain a cool appearance despite her harried life of raising a teenage daughter; Sean Astin, best known for his roles as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (who doesn't love those cute hobbits?) and Mikey in Goonies plays Allyson's very likeable husband; and country music singer/recording artist and occasional actor Trace Adkins fills out the last main role as the very important biker tattoo artist. However many of the supporting actors are not no-name actors either. Harry Shum Jr. from FOX's Glee has a fairly significant role which is technically pivotal to the entire plot of the film. Fans of Christian-based films like Fireproof and Courageous will recognize the faces of Alex Kendrick and Robert Amaya. Though you WON'T recognize him, Jason Burkey of October Baby fame has a really funny part - I challenge you to figure out and tell me which character he plays. I even realized last week that Abbie Cobb, who plays Sean's younger sister in Moms' Night Out, also stars in a few films of Francis Chan's BASIC.video series.

I can't begin to describe how much roaring laughter took place in our very crowded theater during the screening. Despite the audience's verbal acclaim of the film, there was this little bubbling laughter within me throughout the first half of the movie that kept saying, "Yes! That does really happen!" and asking, "I'm not the only one that does that!?" The first of my favorite scenes was when Allyson was hiding in the closet - my husband turned and looked at me to laugh when that happened... not that I would ever do that... ever... especially not with candy... um. Another scene I could completely relate to is when Allyson attended a book club but states with her wry voice-over something along the lines of "Since I have kids, I don't actually have time to read books, but I aspire to read books some day. Coming to book club however makes me feel smart." I'm sure I butchered that quote, but nonetheless - my growing personal collection of to-read and started-but-never-finished books attests that I can completely relate to that statement.

I myself actually hate spoilers and tend to think that most movie trailers (including this one) give away far too many of the funny jokes (because I have an uncanny ability to either remember the trailer while watching the movie or use that to predict what's going to happen next). Therefore, I'm not going to embed the actual trailer here and will tell you to just trust me and go see it without watching the trailer first. However if you aren't the trusting type, I will share a few links with you below.

1. Clip of Patricia Heaton and Sarah Drew on ABC's The View talking about the film.
2. Fandango has a great article entailing 5 Reasons Moms Must See 'Moms' Night Out.'
3. The Moms' Night Out Facebook page has dozens of video clips.

And finally, hear from other moms who have also seen the film have to say about it:

Post by Moms' Night Out.

While the movie contains characters who are Christian, there is really nothing "preachy" about its message. The most touching scenes come from the least likely characters and will have you laughing or crying - if not both together. The film's main purpose is to inspire, encourage, and refresh stressed-out, overworked, and exhausted moms who just need a break [from the chicken nuggets and laundry] once in a while. Which is pretty much every mom.

My main takeaway on this film is that it is a hilarious, clean (no cursing), FAMILY-FRIENDLY film that your whole family can enjoy. Although taking young children along seems pretty antithetical to the title of the movie, it's rated PG for mild thematic elements and some action, and there's really nothing I can think of in it that I wouldn't let my kindergartener see. (I'm fairly strict on what she watches). However it's the MOMS that are going to get the biggest giggles from this film. In the vein of the classic Adventures in Babysitting, Moms' Night Out will not disappoint!

Our Crazy Night

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:49:00 -0400

Thank you to those of you who left messages of support on my Facebook page on Sunday night and Monday. For those who would like to hear the full story of our crazy night, here’s the complete picture of what happened:

On Sunday night, the kids and I were on our way home from a fun birthday party at a big park about 20 minutes away from home. Much akin to my iPhone’s battery, my car’s gas needle was pretty much on E, so I stopped at a gas station. Since I have an iPhone 5 with the new “lightning” connector, we don’t have a car adapter. However, even if I did, it wouldn’t matter because apparently a fuse is blown or something in our RAV4 and none of our AC adapters seem to be working. Another thing to add to the never ending fix-on-the-vehicles list!

It was nearly bedtime for the kids, so S. was already on edge wanting to eat since he had slept through dinner at the party. I went to pump gas and my credit card was rejected, twice. I found that odd, so I called my husband who said he had already purchased gas twice earlier that day, for both the car and the lawnmower. He told me to call the credit card company and ask them to reactivate the card to allow me to buy more gas, so I did. However, the representative on the phone said he couldn’t see the denied charges for my card at the gas station and asked me to try a different gas pump. While I was talking with him, R. had unbuckled from her car seat and was swinging back and forth between the two front seats by holding onto the vertical headrest bars. I asked her to stop, but like many 5 year olds, she of course didn’t … until she slipped and landed with her head underneath the back bench seat, bonking her head LOUDLY on the floor’s metal runner which the seats slide back and forth upon. Immediately she broke into tears, rubbing her head, and joining into the loud chorus of cries already coming from S. who was by then STARVING and was not going to let me forget it! I was still on the phone with the credit card guy, so I tried to console R. and asked her to buckle back into her car seat so that we could drive over to a different gas pump. She obeyed immediately this time and seemed to better understand why I had asked her to stop swinging between the seats in the first place. I tried my car 3 more times at the new gas pump, but the credit card guy still couldn’t see the attempted transactions, so he decided that it was a problem with the gas station itself. This left me with a predicament since I only had pocket change in cash on me leftover from the previous day’s yard sale shopping, and I didn’t want to chance driving home on fumes. However, I didn’t have much time to worry about this because as soon as I stepped back to the front of the car, R. cried out, “Mommy, I threw up all over my car seat!!!” Uh oh. I immediately asked the credit card guy who was still on the phone, “What does it mean when you hit your head and then throw up? Is that a concussion?” “Um, yeah, it could be,” he answered. “I gotta go! My phone battery’s almost dead!” I said and quickly hung up.

No gas. No working credit card or cash with which to get gas. 6% battery left on my iPhone. 12.5 miles from home. Two very upset kids in the backseat, one horrified that she has a puddle of vomit in her lap and dripping from her hands and the other screaming his lungs out because it’s nearly bedtime and I’m actually raising him on somewhat of a schedule.

I immediately dialed my husband to bring him up to speed on what was happening and it went to voicemail. Again. And again. And again. … He was vacuuming out his car in the garage and couldn’t hear the phone ringing. FINALLY he picked up the phone and I talked as fast as I could to give him the full scoop. We decided that I should call the $10-per-call after-hours hotline for our pediatrician’s office. Down to 5% battery now.

I quickly explained to the nurse hotline what was going on. She asked me how R. was feeling and to feel around R’s head for any large bumps. While we were on the phone though, R. threw up 2-3 more times. That sealed the deal... the nurse said she’d contact the on-call doc. right away and have them call me back.

In the meantime, I found a banana in my bag and started feeding it to S. still strapped into his carseat while we waited for our Knight-in-a-blue-Jetta to show up and rescue us from our penniless, gasless, dead-battery situation. 1% battery. Once my husband arrived about 9 pm, he handed me a $20 bill and sent me inside to pay for gas. While I finished pumping, he handed me his phone with the nurse/doctor calling us back (guess my phone had finally died) and he took R. over to the dark corner of the parking lot toward the pay vacuums. The doctor was asking me all of the same questions, how’s she feeling/acting, how many times did she throw up, etc. when I started laughing... my husband was spraying R. down with a garden hose attached to the back of the convenience store, clothes and all! It was rather hard to concentrate on the phone while watching them, as my daughter thought it was hilarious. She didn’t want to take off her dress for modesty reasons, so he had her hide behind a large towering stack of crates and then gave her his men’s size Large Adidas shirt which wore like another dress on her. (Thankfully she was wearing shorts under her dress that day!) By this point, the doctor was recommending that we go ahead and take her to the emergency room and we were debating over the pros and cons of the closest one vs. the area’s premier “children’s” ER. Despite the warm temperature outside, my hubby was now pulling all kinds of blankets out of the car for shivering R., huddled on a cement slab in the dark corner behind the gas station store.

By this time it was 9:45 pm, 90 minutes after the initial incident first happened. I convinced them to pile back in the car and off we headed to the far-away child-friendly ER for her own emotional security’s sake and also because they specialize in child-sized procedures and pediatric docs there. My husband had brought my iPhone charger and plugged it into the Jetta’s AC adapter during our garden hose escapades, but because VW outlets don’t stay on when the car is turned off, it didn’t charge at all. So we traded phones for him to keep the dead phone charging in his car, but it was SO dead that it wouldn’t even turn on again yet. So when he ripped out of the parking lot without waiting for me to follow, I wondered if he knew how to get there... apparently not as well as me, since I beat them there by a good 10 minutes. Luckily they did show up though and he carried wet R. in without her wearing any shoes. After putting our name on the list, we got another phone call as we were sitting down. I sent hubby back out to get her shoes and he brought them in saying, “But they are covered in vomit...” to which I replied, “Well obviously she can’t wear them then... take them back out.” Little did I know that that was the last we’d see of my husband for a good 30 minutes or so. We wondered if he could really be parking the car for that long, but since my iPhone was still dead, he couldn’t answer when I called. By this time, R. was completely back to her normal hyper self and at least 3 different times I had to ask her to stop climbing across chairs in the waiting room since that was what got us here in the first place!

R. watched the last 10 minutes of Toy Story 3 on a waiting room TV but soon a bunch of late-night Disney and Nick sitcoms came on. After all, it was 10 pm by this point! R. politely informed the check-in desk, “Excuse me. These are grown-up shows on the TVs and I don’t watch grown-up shows. Do you have any PBS Kids?” Ahh, I’ve trained her well to think that dumb tweenage sitcoms are not worth watching. ;-) They told her when she got to go back to a private room, she’d have her own TV to control there. I think that’s when she suddenly decided, this hospital stuff is pretty cool!

We convinced the check-in desk to at least find her a pair of kids gripper hospital socks when I cringed at having to go into the bathroom barefoot. Finally they called our name for the admissions desk and while we were filing the paperwork to get admitted, my hubby suddenly showed back up - with a Walmart bag containing dry underwear and new pants for R., a new plaid shirt for himself (since he had been wearing nothing but his undershirt this whole time), and of course a large 24 oz. Diet Coke for himself. :-) Apparently he just got in the car and drove until he found a Walmart (never too far away) and then shopped the Clearance rack.

Skip ahead, a few more hours of waiting, we saw the triage nurse, discovered a playroom without TVs full of books and toddler toys (much better!), and then FINALLY she got called back into her private room. By this point it was midnight though and there is NO kids television programming on Sunday nights after midnight!! haha, oh well. The Physician's Assistant checked her out, gave us some tips to watch for, and diagnosed her with a mild concussion. Luckily for her, us, and our wallet, they decided not to do a CT scan on her head because the radiation wasn’t worth it since she was no longer displaying any symptoms by this point. However the final criteria she had to pass was: eating a popsicle. Seriously! They gave her a purple popsicle to eat and if she kept it down, which she did, we were free to go. So I found a Charlie Chaplin silent movie on TV (seemed fairly safe) and R. decided to turn off all of the lights in her room while she finished her licking. My crazy kids were both still awake at this point, but I finally managed to feed S. and get him back to sleep in the carseat since he had only napped earlier at the gas station. It was 1:15 am in the morning when we finally were allowed to leave and start the 45 minute trip home.

So that pretty much sums up our crazy Sunday night adventure. I spent the following two afternoons dismantling and cleaning her carseat and then cleaning the car for 2 hours. Lessons learned: Carry cash. Charge your phone. Don’t drive until “E” on the gas needle. :)

October Baby... premiering in March

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:44:00 -0400

About a month and a half ago, my husband and I attended a pre-screening of a new movie called October Baby. Despite the title, the movie has a limited release date of Friday, March 23, 2012 (today!) in around 300 theaters nationwide. If you don't read anything else I write here, skip to the last paragraph below to read why the number of theaters is significant and what you need to do to help!

Being a media-focused individual, I have an uncanny knack for watching a movie trailer and figuring out plot details that I'd rather not know because they ruin the suspense or surprises in the film for me. Therefore I allowed my busy schedule to prevail and I avoided taking the opportunity to read up on or watch much of anything about this film before our screening... and I was SO glad I did! I knew the gist of the film was something to do with abortion, so honestly I expected that this would be a fairly cut-and-dry "choose life or not?" struggle for a young female in the plot line. However, I couldn't have been more wrong! This isn't another incarnation of the movie Bella but rather a completely unique storyline that I had not imagined before. I will say that going into the screening without reading any reviews or seeing the trailer greatly impacted my enjoyment of the story for the better. There were plenty of plot twists and turns that continued to surprise me which was nice that it wasn't as predictable as I had feared. (So read into that as you may... if you want to be totally trusting of my review, don't watch the trailer and just go see the film this weekend!!)

The premise of October Baby is the story of 19-year-old Hannah who sets out on a Spring Break road trip with some friends to discover the missing keys about who she is and where she came from. Her adorably sweet lifelong best-guy-friend (seriously, I want to find a guy this awesome for MY daughter!) and his girlfriend are among the humorous menagerie of college kids who pile into a classic Volkswagen Bus and head across the country.

One of my favorite surprises as the credits flashed during the opening of the film was to see the name of Chris Sligh. For those who aren't familiar with him, Chris was a contestant on Season 6 of American Idol (2007), finishing in 10th place but not before clashing during a few bold verbal exchanges with AI judge Simon Cowell. That was the first year that we had ever watched AI. Chris was my husband's immediate favorite contestant and one of my top 2 (gotta love Melinda Doolittle as well!) so we followed him and his "self-deprecating humor" all the way to the Top 10. I include this tidbit of information about him because Chris plays a very "humorous misfit chaperone" in October Baby and there is a comment that his character makes about reality TV shows which I found quite hilarious... but it requires knowing who Chris is for one to find it funny! The rest of the cast is dotted with well-known actors as well, including John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville) who plays Hannah's father, and Jasmine Guy ("Whitney" on The Cosby Show spinoff, A Different World) who appears in a very pivotal scene of the movie.

We found the story to be gripping and emotional, yet filled with hilarious laugh-out-loud moments too. I think this will be one of my favorite films of 2011 for sure as well as many years to come. On a personal note, I must say that being specifically 24 weeks pregnant myself when I first saw it added a special touch of emotion for me. The PG-13 rating stems from the maturity needed to process the senstive issues which are dealt with in the film, not from the more common reasons such as sex, drug use, bad language, etc. Speaking as a parent, this is a film that doesn't contain anything bad for young children to see, but they just wouldn't "get it," or it might cause lots of questions that would be very hard to answer at a young age.

This weekend the most popular movie in the box office will most certainly be the Hunger Games. As I mentioned before, October Baby has a limited release in about 300 theaters nationwide. Hunger Games will open in more than 4,000 theaters (4,137 to be exact). What is significant about this is that opening weekend for a movie is monumental to the box office... it's the make-it-or-break-it point as to how many more theaters want to pick it up for the following week and how many of the original theaters will continue to carry it for an additional week. The way I see it, Hunger Games isn't going to go anywhere anytime soon... it will continue to run in theaters for many weeks or probably months. An indie film like October Baby has a very short window of time in which to prove itself as worthy and this opening weekend is the start of that short window. I encourage you to check the listing of theaters to see if October Baby is playing anywhere near your area this weekend, and if so, bypass the crowded theaters and head straight to support an amazing look at how Every Life is Beautiful.

http://www.octoberbabymovie.net

Meet the new Freddie Mercury...

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:21:00 -0400

Throughout the day yesterday, my Twitter and Facebook feed EXPLODED with links and posts about my buddy Marc Martel of the band Downhere who uploaded a video to YouTube a few days ago which went viral. And by viral, I mean more than 1.5 Million views in less than 3 days! The video he submitted is a recording of himself singing a cover of the Queen song Somebody to Love as part of the Queen Extravaganza competition. Queen drummer/songwriter/singer Roger Taylor launched the competition only a few days ago in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the band Queen and offers the opportunity for winners to tour in the Queen Extravaganza Live Tour in early 2012. Music fans worldwide have suddenly discovered what we downhere-fans have known for years: that Martel's Freddie Mercury impression and likeness are beyond stellar. However it's not just an impersonation - Marc's actual singing voice lends itself not only to Mercury, but in the early days of downhere, he was often compared to the likes of Bono of U2 and even former DC Talk member Kevin Max. (I really should dig up a copy of Downhere's cover for U2's Beautiful Day; my husband and I preferred it over the U2 version, but I know that's a bit sacrilegious to say out loud.) Marc has even ventured into singing opera in the past few years, which may seem a little farfetched for a rocker, but as one commenter stated, "This guy is the Swiss Army knife of singing!"

Though it may seem like videos go viral all the time, Marc stated in an interview with WGBL that the reporter he talked to from the Wall Street Journal on Friday said it truly isn't that common. Nonetheless, views today (Saturday) have grown to more than 1.8 Million total views, and strangely enough many fans including myself have noticed the YouTube counter seems to get "stuck" on the play count for several hours before jumping up again.

I have known the members of Downhere, Marc, Jason, Jeremy and Glenn, for about 10 years now, ever since a friend at Word Records introduced me to them and asked me to edit a promotional music video for their first album release. From the moment I first heard clips of their to-be-released debut until now, they have been my absolute favorite band. I've always told them that someday I expected them to get a big break like Christian rockers Switchfoot did in 2003 when their fourth studio album suddenly sold 2.6 Million copies after being marketed to the mainstream music industry. While this is certainly not the same story, Marc's new-found fame will certainly prove to enhance the awareness of Downhere. Over the years I have heard SO many new fans discover Downhere's music and say things such as "WHY aren't you all better known? This band has so much talent!" However, I also believe that God has used their journey to keep them grounded as the most down-to-earth set of performers that I have ever encountered. Not a concert goes by where they don't spend at least 30-45 minutes after the show in the lobby greeting every single fan who wants to meet and talk with them. This deep connection to their concert goers has established a grassroots fan base for them that has grown and sustained them as a band over a decade when many Christian performers have come and gone.

FINALLY an opportunity has arisen that will shine the spotlight on these guys who spent 9 of the past 10 years touring North America in a 15 passenger van. Media coverage by outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Huffington Post, and the CBC to name a few, has just started. Whether Marc gets a chance to perform with Queen in early 2012 or not is yet to be seen, but many fans feel it would be a travesty otherwise.

Marc's Original Audition video:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dREKkAk628I)

Amazing "Mashup" video with Marc and Freddie Mercury singing simultaneously:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPhkfk8EBsI

CBC interview:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV1-9TeMS4w&feature=share)

GREAT Radio Interview out of Chicago: http://twt.fm/491745

Celebrity Values article: http://celebrityvalues.com/marcmartel.html

CNN clip: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2011/09/23/ctw-han-viral-videos.cnn?hpt=hp_c2

Marc Martel Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marc-Martel/283556381655697

SOUL SURFER in Theaters Tomorrow

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Thu, 7 Apr 2011 22:01:00 -0400

A few months ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to pre-screen a new movie that releases in theaters nationwide tomorrow (Friday, April 8, 2011) called "Soul Surfer." Made by Sony Pictures, it includes an all-star cast including Helen Hunt (whom I loved in Mad About You), Dennis Quaid, AnnaSophia Robb (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and American Idol's Carrie Underwood in her film debut. The movie depicts the true life story about a thirteen year old surfer from Hawaii named Bethany Hamilton who endured an unimaginable tragedy when she lost her left arm in a shark attack on Halloween day in 2003.

I remember when the event happened in real life, as Rick Bundschuh, one of the writers at interlinc (where I worked at the time), lives on the same island of Kauai. I wasn't sure how Sony would depict this story of a girl who was so well known after the tragedy for her strong Christian faith, but I have to say that I was not disappointed. The pre-screening was introduced by a marketing rep, Bob Gordon, who asked the audience before the show started, "What if Hollywood decided to make a film about a normal Christian family?... Well funny thing, Hollywood decided to make a film about a normal Christian family and this is that film."

What impressed me most about the film was that the production quality was by far the highest standard that I've ever seen in a movie that focuses so heavily on characters with a Christian faith. This was not made by a cast of all volunteers, but rather has the same production quality of any other movie playing in your local theater this weekend. However, all of that being said, while it's a film about Christian people, it does not get preachy or have any kind of underlying conversion message. It just shows how this family leans on their faith to hold them together and deals with a very tough situation. Bethany did not allow the loss of her arm to stop her in anything that she wanted to pursue in life, despite the great odds that were against her to achieve those dreams. Perhaps my favorite part of the movie was the end credits, which showed real life home movies shot by her video-enthusiastic brothers that directly paralleled with earlier scenes from the film.

Helen Hunt does a superb job as Bethany's mother, Cheri Hamilton, while Dennis Quaid played her very encouraging father, Tom Hamilton. Carrie Underwood makes her big screen debut as Bethany's youth pastor from church. I even recognized Kevin Sorbo (from the 90's show Xena, Princess Warrior) who starred as a very key family friend during this story. There is a lot more that I could say about how inspiring this film was to me, but I know it definitely will be to thousands of young girls who need a fabulous and inspiring role model to look up to in life. Read more about the real life Bethany Hamilton here on her website, and watch the trailer below. Check out http://www.soulsurferthemovie.com to read more about the movie and find it at your local theater this weekend!

2011 Spring/Summer Kids Consignment Sales (Raleigh-Durham area)

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Fri, 4 Feb 2011 00:47:00 -0500

So it's been a while since I've compiled a list of all of the upcoming, local-to-Raleigh children's consignment sales. However many of you have been asking me about it, so I took a chance this past week to gather some updated sale dates and website links. I didn't get this blog post up in time for the big Kids Exchange sale at the NC State Fairgrounds as I had hoped; however I took plenty of photos this year to give you an idea of what will be there again next July 11-18, 2011. Click on the photo below to see nearly 40 photos of the Kids Exchange.

If you haven't already read my previous posts on consignment sales, please do so to get the full scoop of how wonderful they can be for a parent's wallet! But first, before I get to the list of sales, I've got some photos from the Twice as Nice kids consignment sale that is going on THIS WEEKEND (public shopping starts Friday morning at 10 am; half-price shopping starts Sat. at 11 am). This is the sale where I sell all of my items, so I highly encourage you to go check it out! (Hint, hint!!)

Click on any of the photos above to see the full-size version or click here to see all 60 images from the Twice as Nice sale.

I have photos from many (most) other sales I've attended in the past, and if I can go back and find them all, I'd like to come back soon and edit this post to add a picture to each sale listing below to give you a better idea of what each sale looks like. In the meantime, here is the list of upcoming Raleigh-area 2011 Spring/Summer kids consignment sales. As always, if I've missed your sale, please add the details in the comments section below.

SALE NAME & DETAILS
Kids Exchange
January 19 - 23, 2011 (Public sale days: Fri-Sun)
Fall/Winter Sale: July 11-18, 2011 NC State Fairgrounds
Jim Graham Building & Expo Building
http://www.KidsExchange.net
Notes: With 2500+ consignors, this is the largest sale in the region, covering two buildings/123,000 sq. ft!

Twice as Nice Kids Consignment Sale
February 3-5, 2011 (Thu-Sat)
Hope Chapel
6175 Old Jenks Rd / Apex, NC 27523
http://www.twiceasnice4tots.com/
Notes: This is the sale where I sell all of my items. Come buy my stuff! ;-) {Happening this weekend!}

The Monkey Exchange
February 10-11 (Thu-Fri)
North Hills Club Ballroom
4824 Yadkin Drive / Raleigh, NC 27612
http://www.themonkeyexchange.com
Notes: upscale and boutique children's clothing and accessories. FREE babysitting across the hall on Thursday, Feb. 10 from 9am - 12noon

First UMC Cary Spring/Summer Sale
February 18-19, 2011 (Fri night/Sat morning) *Added 2nd day!
First United Methodist Church, Cary
117 S. Academy Street / Cary, NC 27511
http://www.consignwithfumc.com/

Kids Everywear
February 19-28, 2011
Morrisville Outlet Mall
1001 Airport Blvd / Morrisville, NC 27560-8935
http://www.kidseverywear.com
Notes: Voted Raleigh's Best Consignment Sale in 2010 by ConsignmentMommies.com. Also has early shopping days for Pregnant & New Moms (must pre-register). Has maternity, Juniors and Ladies clothing, as well as "Home" furnishings section as well.

The Friendship Closet Consignment Sale
February 25-26, 2011 (Fri-Sat)
Apex United Methodist Church
100 S. Hughes Street / Apex, NC 27502
http://www.friendshipcloset.com/dates-location
Notes: Accepts/sells maternity clothing. Digital barcode tagging for consignors

Just 4 Kids Consignment Sale
March 1-3, 2011 (Tue-Thurs)
Life Spring Community Church
501 Wake Chapel Road / Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
http://www.just4kidsnc.com
Notes: Digital barcode tagging for consignors

WINGS Consignment Sale
March 5, 2011 (Sat)
Holland's United Methodist Church
9433 Ten-Ten Road / Raleigh, NC 27603
http://www.wingsconsignment.com

Chapel Hill/Durham Mothers of Multiples Sale
March 5, 2011 (Sat)
Yates Baptist Church (new location)
2519 Chapel Hill Road / Durham, NC 27707
http://consignmentmommies.com/CustomContentRetrieve.aspx?ID=2980069

Upscale Resale
March 10-12, 2011 (Thu-Sat)
Cary Masonic Lodge
1142 SE Maynard Road / Cary, NC
http://www.UpscaleResale4Kids.com
Note: Trunk Show, Boutique & higher-end consignment sale clothes up to tween sizes. Digital Barcode Tagging for Consignors.

Divine Consign Show - Raleigh
March 14-17, 2011 (Mon-Thurs)
Location: TBA
http://www.dcskids.com
Notes: Exclusive Trunk Show & Boutique Overstock and Consignment Sales; Also has a Grandparent Preview Show & New Mom Shopping (must pre-register)

Church Kidz Stuff
March 17-19, 2011 (Thu-Sat)
Hayes Barton Baptist Church
1800 Glenwood Avenue / Raleigh, NC 27608
http://www.hbbc.net/Ministries/ChildrensMinistry/ChildrensConsignmentSale/tabid/5922/language/en-US/Default.aspx
Notes: Digital Barcode Tagging for Consignors

KidCycle Sale
March 18-20, 2011 (Fri-Sun)
University Mall, Chapel Hill (former Kerr Drugs)
201 S. Estes Drive / Chapel Hill, NC 27514
http://www.kidcyclenc.com

Nearly New Clothing Exchange
Tentative: March 12-22, 2011 (Fri-Sun)
Location TBA
http://www.nearlynewclothingexchange.com

TMOTT Sale (Triangle Mothers of Twins & Triplets)
March 26, 2011 (Sat)
N.C. State Fairgrounds / Raleigh
Kerr Scott Building
http://www.tmott.org/sale.htm

Kidaround Kidsale
March 25-27, 2011 (Fri-Sun)
The Factory in Wake Forest (MVP Factory Sports indoor basketball court)
1839 US 1-A South Main St. / Wake Forest NC
http://www.kidaroundkidsale.com/

NEXT 2 NEW 4 KIDS
April 6 - April 10, 2011 (Wed-Sun)
Cleveland Gymnasium
8994 Cleveland Road / Clayton NC 27520
http://www.next2new4kids.com

Second Blessings Consignment Sale
TBA (Fri-Sat)
Greenwood Forest Baptist Church
110 SE Maynard Rd. / Cary, NC 27511
http://www.gfbccary.org/consignment/

***Chatham Kids Consignment (Chapel Hill/Pittsboro) asked me to let you know that they have closed up shop and will not be hosting a sale this year.

If you don't live in the Raleigh area, be sure to visit http://consignmentmommies.com for a VERY comprehensive listing of children's consignment sales all over the United States!

The New Hotmail better than Gmail? For real?

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Fri, 6 Aug 2010 23:32:00 -0400

My husband often sends me links to articles from a blog he follows called bnet.com. I typically find the business hacks and tips they provide there to be very enlightening and usually very helpful. However, I stumbled upon an article on there this evening that completely lacked the insight that I have come to expect from Bnet.

In this article, Rick Broida touts that the new Hotmail interface is superior to Gmail, offering a variety of features that you cannot get in Gmail. My thoughts about his comments are as follows.

*First of all, Gmail lets you theme your account so that it looks like whatever you want it to look like. If your Gmail account is ugly, then that's your own fault.

*Labels are far superior to folders because you can apply MULTIPLE labels to one message and then archive it! I dread the idea of having to open and close multiple folders looking for a specific message. There's no mention here of Hotmail having a search feature as powerful as Gmail's.

*I already view YouTube videos directly in my Gmail every time I get a video link. As well as Picasa Album photos and other media too... it's called Google Labs! Does Hotmail have the track record of infinitely expanding its own features? The capabilities that are existant within Google Labs for Gmail are enough alone to wipe out any current competition for webmail, IMO.

*I have filters set up in Gmail to show me only messages from my Facebook/ Twitter/ eBay/ Craigslist/ YouTube (and many more) accounts already. In fact, they are color-coded labels, so they jump out at me easily when I scan my regular Inbox.

Oh and I was going to fire up my old hotmail account to log in and look at the new features before posting this (SkyDrive integration does sound cool), but after one attempt to log on with an incorrect password Windows Live told me I had tried to sign in too many times with an incorrect e-mail address or password. So I chose to reset my password and get reset instructions emailed to me. Hotmail then told me that they would send those instructions to, you guessed it, my hotmail account.

Enough said.

The Rusty Bucket Kids - a new family TV show filmed locally in NC

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:00:00 -0400

There's a new kids television show which you may not have yet heard about called "The Rusty Bucket Kids." Being dubbed as an "edutainment" series, it's filmed entirely in the Apex, North Carolina area and stars exclusively local and regional talent. In a "Back to the Future" meets "The History Channel" theme, the gist of the show is that two young siblings learn from their grandfather that they can travel back in time via an old steam train, so they begin to visit famous historical figures as teenagers before they became famous. Set in the small southern town of "Peak City," Roxanna and JohnColeman "Peakssen" (played by real-life siblings, Roxanna and JohnColeman Demers) travel on adventures that are both entertaining and historically accurate, not to mention safe for the whole family to watch.

I've been enlisted to be a part of the creation of this series working on staff as the Graphic Designer, creating posters, CD and DVD artwork, and a myriad of other tasks. It's definitely stretched my design skills to new boundaries, as I am originally a web designer and video producer by trade.

The first show, "Lincoln, Journey to 16," premiered on April 17, 2010 in three markets across North Carolina: Raleigh, Wilmington and Charlotte. We did a big launch for the Raleigh market station, WRAL, in conjunction with the CoolKidz Expo taking place that weekend at the new Raleigh Convention Center, but only a soft launch for the other two markets.

However, this weekend is the big push for Wilmington, NC, as the CBS affiliate, WILM, is re-broadcasting "Lincoln, Journey to 16" on Saturday, May 22 at 12:00 pm (noon). If you're in the Wilmington/Cape Fear area and can pick up WILM, I encourage you to set your DVR/VCR for the show this weekend! (There will be a re-airing of the show in Charlotte on WJZY at on noon on Saturday, July 10.) I have been asked several times about whether the show will re-air anytime soon in the Raleigh area, but I do not yet have an answer about that. Eventually we hope it will be airing nationwide on a regular basis!

This Saturday (5/22), from 4:00-6:00 pm, following the WILM broadcast of "Lincoln...", there will be a massive launch party at the Golden Corral in Monkey Junction (map) with live music by The Rusty Bucket Band, as well as appearances by many of the cast members and directors. Actress Irene Santiago, who plays the infamous "Carlina" in the show, lives in the Wilmington area and has appeared in "High School Musical," "Hounded," "One Tree Hill," and "Touched by an Angel." Sunny 104.5 FM will be on site at the restaurant doing a live remote as well, so it should be quite an event. If you live close enough, or just want to make the drive down to Wilmington, please come join us for the event!

If you live in the Raleigh area, be sure to visit the original location for the show's inspiration - The Rusty Bucket Store on Salem Street in historic downtown Apex. They have "Songs From and Inspired by The Rusty Bucket Kids" on CD as well as "The Rusty Bucket Kids: Lincoln, Journey to 16" on DVD available for sale.

Read more about the show at the (soon-to-be-redesigned) official website: http://www.rustybucketkids.com or just ask Google about it.

2010 Spring/Summer Raleigh Area Consignment Sales

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:53:00 -0500

Well the Spring/Summer kids consignment sale season has already begun! I was hoping to get this post online before the big Kids Exchange sale a few weeks ago, but that didn't happen because I haven't finished sorting through the photos that I want to add from a bunch of the previous sales. Yet still I suppose it's better to go ahead and get this list published ASAP, so here it is below.

Kids Exchange
January 20 - 24, 2010
NC State Fairgrounds
Jim Graham Building & Dorton Arena
http://www.KidsExchange.net
With 2500+ consignors, this is the largest sale in the region, covering two buildings/123,000 sq. ft!

The Friendship Closet Consignment Sale
February 5 - 6, 2010 (Fri-Sat)
Apex United Methodist Church
100 S. Hughes Street / Apex, NC 27502
http://www.friendshipcloset.com/dates-location

Nearly New Clothing Exchange
February 6 - 14, 2010 (Sat thru following Sun)
Falls Village Shopping Center
6675 Falls of Neuse Road / Raleigh, NC
Former Great Outdoor Provision Store
http://www.nearlynewclothingexchange.com

First UMC Cary Spring/Summer Sale
February 20, 2010 (Saturday morning)
First United Methodist Church, Cary
117 S. Academy Street / Cary, NC 27511
http://www.consignwithfumc.com/

Divine Consign Show - Raleigh
February 23 - 26, 2010 (Tue-Fri)
Falls Village Shopping Center / Next to Tookie’s Toys in the old Dilly Dally location
6675-127 Falls of Neuse Road / Raleigh
http://www.dcskids.com
Notes: Exclusive Trunk Show & Boutique Overstock and Consignment Sales; Also has a Grandparent Preview Show & New Mom Shopping (must pre-register)

Second Blessings Consignment Sale
February 26 - 27, 2010 (Fri-Sat)
Greenwood Forest Baptist, Cary
110 SE Maynard Rd. / Cary, NC 27511
http://www.gfbccary.org/consignment/

Church Kidz Stuff
March 4 - 6, 2010 (Thu-Sat)
Hayes Barton Baptist Church, Raleigh
http://www.hbbc.net/Ministries/ChildrensMinistry/ChildrensConsignmentSale/tabid/5922/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Kidaround Kidsale
March 5 - 7, 2010 (Fri-Sun)
The Factory in Wake Forest (MVP Factory Sports indoor basketball court)
1839 US 1-A /South Main St. Wake Forest NC
http://www.kidaroundkidsale.com/

Kids Everywear
March 6 - 15, 2010 (Sat-following Mon)
Morrisville Outlet Mall
1001 Airport Blvd / Morrisville, NC 27560-8935
http://www.kidseverywear.com/
Notes: Probably 2nd largest sale in the area & growing each year! Also has early shopping days for Pregnant & New Moms (must pre-register)

Upscale Resale
March 12 - 13, 2010 (Fri-Sat)
Cary Masonic Lodge
1142 SE Maynard Road / Cary, NC
http://www.UpscaleResale4Kids.com
Note: Trunk Show, Boutique & higher-end consignment sale clothes

Just 4 Kids Consignment Sale
March 16 - 19, 2010 (Tue-Fri)
Life Spring Community Church
501 Wake Chapel Road
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
http://www.just4kidsnc.com

Chatham Kids Consignment
March 19-20, 2010 (Fri-Sat)
Lowe's Foods Shopping Center, Cole Park Plaza
11312 US Highway 15 501 N
at Manns Chapel Rd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
http://www.chathamkidsconsignment.com

Twice as Nice Kids Consignment Sale
March 25 - 27, 2010 (Thu-Sat)
Crosspointe Church (new location!)
6911 Carpenter Fire Station Rd. Cary, NC 27519
http://www.twiceasnice4tots.com/

TMOTT Sale (Triangle Mothers of Twins & Triplets)
March 27, 2010 (Sat)
N.C. State Fairgrounds
Kerr Scott Building
http://www.tmott.org/sale.htm

NEXT 2 NEW 4 KIDS
March 31 - April 4, 2010 (Wed-Sun)
Cleveland Gymnasium
8994 Cleveland Road / Clayton NC 27520
http://www.next2new4kids.com

I also wanted to point out a few other resources for those of you not in the Raleigh area. I have a bunch of mom-friends in the Nashville, TN area, and there are a BUNCH of sales, starting in the month of February, for you all listed here.

Another really cool looking resource that I stumbled upon last week is called ConsignmentMommies.com. It's a site that lets you rate and discuss the sales that you've attended, so that new shoppers can get a feel for what it's like before even going! It also has a huge regional listing of sales in the NC, SC, VA and eastern TN areas.

Check back soon for my own evaluations and photos of each sale I've attended in the past 6 months.

To Save a Life

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:00:00 -0500

Today I took 27 friends to go see a new movie that just hit theaters yesterday titled "To Save A Life." This was my second screening of the film, as my husband and I saw a sneak preview last fall. We went in expecting very little, but were both blown away by the quality and substance of this "indie release" film. The quality of the acting, screenplay, and technical aspects surpassed everything I was expecting. It's the story of a Middle-American high school senior named Jake Taylor, who "has it all"... he's popular, has a cheerleader girlfriend, a basketball scholarship to his dream college, and is living up his senior year. That is, until his childhood best friend Roger commits suicide in the school hallway and turns Jake's life upside down. He begins to question everything about himself and realizes there may be a lot more to life than beer pong and sex with his girlfriend. He learns to reach out to some new friends and finds ways to make Roger's death a legacy, not just a tragedy.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I will say that this movie touches on at LEAST a dozen hot topic issues that modern teenagers have to deal with on a daily basis. This is the most realistic portrayal I have seen of a typical high school in a long time, and as one of my young friends said tonight, "It was TOO realistic." The movie is rated PG-13 for good reasons and I wouldn't recommend it to a younger crowd. However I DO recommend it to anyone in high school or older. It is an EXCELLENT movie that all teenagers need to see... It causes the viewer to reflect on the impact that each person has on others around them and how much difference one person can choose to make in the life of another who is lonely.

Though it's touted as an "inspirational" film, there's absolutely nothing cheesy about this movie. It portrays Christians in a very accurate light, with both good and bad attributes acknowledged (such as hypocrisy & imperfection). It's not preachy or pushy with its message, except to say that you CAN make a difference in the world around you. It's also not without humor that this movie entertains the audience, taking on several twists and turns throughout the plot. If you've seen it already, I invite you to leave a comment below regarding what YOU thought about it!

Jon &/OR Kate Plus 8: Power of Prayer

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:24:00 -0400

I have wanted to blog about Jon & Kate Gosselin for several months now, as their recent marital struggles just break my heart. Just before the airing of their "announcement" episode, I stumbled upon a blog called "Jon & Kate Prayers" written by Rick Garner. This heartfelt blog spoke exactly the words I had been trying to find myself, calling us to pray for the Gosselin 10 rather than spew words of hatred, bitterness, jealousy or slander against them. I honestly don't understand why so many people hate them with such a vendetta as if Kate had personally slapped them herself. I am so incredibly far from perfect myself that if people were to watch my life 24/7, I wonder if they would hate me too? It's a scary thought. Judge not lest ye be judged...

I will say that I met Kate in person in late April 2009 at a local book signing and was disheartened to see the sadness in her eyes. Little did I know what she was going through at home during that month (this being just a few weeks before the "announcement" episode aired). She seemed a combination of very stressed and very sad. She was not the chipper & happy individual that we had all watched in earlier seasons. I could very much tell that she would rather not be there that day, but felt the commitment to her contractual obligation. On the spur of the moment I tried to think of something to say to her when I walked up to get my book signed during the Meet & Greet. I asked, "Are you having a good day?" to which she looked up at me surprised that someone had broken the silence of the room. She hesitated for a split second and then gave a forced cheerful answer, "Um yes!" (What other answer can anyone expect from a question like that in such a situation?) Five weeks later, as I learned more about all of their ongoing family trials, I kicked myself pretty hard for not saying something more significant such as, "I'm praying for you and your family" (which I already was).

Jon & Kate have professed in the past that they are Christians. The show featured them going to church on one episode and their old house was decorated with scripture verses on handwritten index cards posted around the kitchen. According to their own testament, just about the only time they left the house when the sextuplets were infants was once a week to drive an hour to church. Jon's odd behavior as of late is really not that different from many other Christians I know... I can tell you about the sins of a lot of people I know. I can't explain them or justify or condone them, but I can pray for those people. And that's where the Jon & Kate Prayers: Power of Prayer blog entry comes in... I urge you to click on the link below to read exactly what I wanted to say myself. In fact I wished I could just copy this guy's content and cite it here, but I'll avoid the plagiarism and let you read it on his site.

Jon and Kate Prayers: Power of Prayer

The prayer blog has also garnered international attention as well... a writer for the Vancouver Sun wrote an article about Rick Garner's site entitled, "Jon & Kate should go on a date. With God."

2009 Raleigh-area Consignment Sale Roundup (Fall/Winter Sales)

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:16:00 -0400

It's that time of year again... back to school shopping will start all too soon and parents will be sorting through clothing & toys to decide what still fits and what needs to be replaced. Almost a year and a half ago I discovered a new favorite hobby in bargain shopping called Children's Consignment Sales. I posted a blog last summer about my initial experiences with consignment shopping. Since then I can easily say that I've been to more than a dozen sales total, which are kind of like giant cooperative yard sales. I'm still by no means an expert, but do eagerly look forward to the chance to get nearly-brand-new clothing and toys for my child for about 25% of the original retail cost. Even toys or "play clothes" that look a little worn work fine for a toddler... she doesn't care or know the difference!

For new moms or parents who haven't shopped a consignment sale before, here are a few tips of my own followed by some local news videos explaining the sales and then a list of the upcoming Raleigh, NC-area Fall/Winter sales.

1.) Take a list! Start making a list now of every item you can think of that you need for your child. It can be specific or generic, but just write it down, sort it by category type and even prioritize it by importance. I would never remember everything I want without having it on paper while shopping a sale. Don't think, "Oh that's too specific - I'd never find that at a sale." I've been blown away by very specific items I've found at sales before... such as One Step Ahead's "Walking Wings" (normally $24.95, but I found them practically new for $10). Last year I bought an $85 Kozy Carrier for only $20! The amount of new-with-tag clothing items for sale is often quite surprising too.

2.) Since the sales don't provide shopping carts, take something to carry your items in; I recommend a device with wheels! I use our SnugGlider stroller frame (without the infant car seat) and attach a rectangular laundry basket with a bungee cord. It works fabulously! I also have seen shoppers using carts such as this one, but I've never made the investment to get one of those. A wagon or an empty stroller could work well too.

3.) If possible, sign up for a time slot to work a few volunteer hours so that you can shop early. The best items always go first and once you shop a sale early, you'll realize this. Consignors (people who sell their items) also usually get to shop earlier than the public as well. The only thing to remember about consigning is that there is usually a consignors fee ($5-15) which you pay whether or not any of your items sell. If you do sell your items, depending on the sale you'll typically get about 2/3 of your selling price and the sale owners keep the other 1/3.

The Raleigh area is very fortunate to have quite a few consignment sales nearby and those numbers seem to be growing! I've compiled a list of 10 upcoming Fall/Winter sales with their dates and locations below. There are 4 more area sales that I'm aware of, but have not yet confirmed their upcoming dates/location. First though, here is some local news coverage from two of the area's largest sales, KidsExchange and Kids Everywear. Note that these videos are from last winter's "Spring/Summer" sales and are not specifically referring to the upcoming sales.

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If the crowds in those videos overwhelm you, take heart... all sales aren't as chaotic as those two! In fact, many of the smaller sales are great because since they aren't as crowded, you can find better bargains! Feel free to leave a comment below inquiring about a specific sale and I'll be happy to let you know any details I know about it. (Although there are a few on this list that I haven't been to before.)

Here is the list, sorted by upcoming sale dates:

Kids Exchange

July 20 - 28, 2009 (Mon-the following Tue)

NC State Fairgrounds

Jim Graham Building

http://www.KidsExchange.net

Note: This is the biggest sale in the entire area… it’s MASSIVE!

The Friendship Closet Consignment Sale

August 7 - 8, 2009 (Fri-Sat)

Apex United Methodist Church

100 S. Hughes Street / Apex, NC 27502

http://www.friendshipcloset.com/dates-location

Upscale Resale

August 13 - 15, 2009 (Thu-Sat)

Cary Masonic Lodge

1142 SE Maynard Road / Cary, NC

http://www.UpscaleResale4Kids.com

Note: Trunk Show, Boutique & higher-end consignment sale clothes

TMOTT Sale (Triangle Mothers of Twins & Triplets)

August 15, 2009 (Sat)

N.C. State Fairgrounds

Kerr Scott Building

http://www.tmott.org/sale.htm

Twice as Nice

August 20 - 22, 2009 (Thu-Sat)

New Horizons Fellowship

820 E. Williams Street / Apex, NC 27502

http://www.twiceasnice4tots.com/

Note: One of my very favorite sales, and not just because I designed their website! :-)

NEXT 2 NEW 4 KIDS

August 26 - 30, 2009 (Wed-Sun)

Cleveland Gymnasium

8994 Cleveland Road / Clayton NC 27520

http://www.next2new4kids.com

Divine Consign Show - Raleigh DCS Fall Show

August 31 - September 4, 2009 (Mon-Fri)

Stonehenge Shopping Center

7432 Creedmoor Road / Raleigh, NC

http://www.dcskids.com

Notes: Exclusive Trunk Show & Boutique Overstock and Consignment Sales; Also has a Grandparent Preview Show & New Mom Shopping (must pre-register)

Kids Everywear

August 29th - September 15th
Morrisville Outlet Mall

1001 Airport Blvd / Morrisville, NC 27560-8935

http://www.kidseverywear.com/

Notes: Probably 2nd largest sale in the area & growing each year! ; Also has early shopping days for Pregnant & New Moms (must pre-register)

Kidaround Kidsale

Two Sale Dates & Locations!

#1 - Sept. 11 - 13, 2009 (Fri-Sun) @ The Factory in Wake Forest (MVP Factory Sports indoor basketball court)

1839 US 1-A /South Main St. Wake Forest NC

#2 - Oct. 9 - 11, 2009 (Fri-Sun) @ The Lighthouse Center in South Raleigh

326 Tryon Rd / Raleigh, NC (the Garner side of Raleigh)

http://www.kidaroundkidsale.com/

Nearly New Clothing Exchange

September 16-20, 2009 (Wed-Sun)
Pleasant Valley Shopping Center
6270 Glenwood Ave.
Raleigh, NC 27612
Next door to Kirklands

http://www.nearlynewclothingexchange.com

Chatham Kids Consignment

September 18, 19, 20, 2009 (Fri-Sun)

11312 US Highway 15 501 N
Chathams Crossings
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
http://www.chathamkidsconsignment.com

First UMC Cary Fall Sale

September 19, 2009 (Sat)

First United Methodist Church, Cary

117 S. Academy Street / Cary, NC 27511

http://www.consignwithfumc.com/

Note: Planning Ahead? Spring Sale will be Saturday, February 20, 2010

Church Kidz Stuff

October 1 -3, 2009
Hayes Barton Baptist Church, Raleigh

http://www.hbbc.net/Ministries/ChildrensMinistry/ChildrensConsignmentSale/

Just 4 Kids Consignment Sale

October 4 - 10, 2009 (Sun-Sat)

Life Spring Community Church

501 Wake Chapel Road

Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526

http://www.just4kidsnc.com

Second Blessings Consignment Sale

Spring 2010
Greenwood Forest Baptist, Cary

http://www.gfbccary.org/consignment/

Evian's Rollerskating Babies

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:42:00 -0400

My 19-month old daughter insisted that we watch this video no less than 13 times, after which she finally got enough of it. (After 8 times though, we had to go find her baby doll so it could watch too.)

Kudos to Evian for pulling off a creative concept involving so many babies! :-) Check out the "Making Of" videos to see how they did it.

Uh oh, my daughter's asking to watch it again now...

Black & White and Envious All Over

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 00:25:00 -0400

Well apparently someone from the Thailand Zoo has been visiting Zoo Atlanta and bought the following t-shirt:

It seems that zoo officials took matters into their own hands when the general population of Thailand was recently hit with "pandemonium" after Thailand's first successful captive panda birth. The country's national symbol is the elephant, but the Thai people have focused their attention on the country's most famous little black & white mammal and apparently the zookeepers are not happy about it. So in turn to draw attention back to their charges, the elephant keepers doused their giants in watercolor-based paint! View more photos of this incredible sight here and here. HT to Damon for letting me know about this!

Ikea to take over GM

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:21:00 -0400

Just announced -- Ikea will be taking over GM and manufacturing cars. This is what we can expect to find in the box:

Gov't Wants to Outlaw the Reselling of Kids' Clothing!! What?! (CPSIA)

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 23:38:00 -0500

I am just floored by this.

Last Friday (January 2nd), a LA Times article reported the following: "Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children's clothing." On February 10, 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will go into effect which mandates that all products sold for children age 12 and under be tested for lead and phthalates (chemicals used to make plastics more pliable). This includes clothing! Perhaps the best article I read to explain all of this is at The Simple Dollar. There is also good discussion over at BabyCheapskate and TheSmartMama.com.

New clothing manufactured after February 10th will be tested and have some sort of approval rating seal or certificate. BUT... what about used clothing and products? I am a huge advocate of consignment sales as well as stores like Kid to Kid or Once Upon a Child. I participate on Freepeats regularly too. But the owners of these sales and stores do not have the resources to spend on expensive tests. Nor is that even a reasonable feat for local consignment sales - which have hundreds or thousands (or even hundreds of thousands!) of items dropped off in a short period of time right before the sale opens to the public. A law forbidding the sale of used items & clothing would put these sales out of business! An unverified source I read online said that the penalties are stiff: $100,000 per violation and up to 5 years in jail! The enforcers are going to be State Attorney Generals and the CPSC.

When a consumer buys an article of clothing or a toy for their child, part of the item's purchase cost is justified by the item's resale value. I know that my child will wear that clothing or use that toy for less than a year, but I expect to get some return on the item's value by reselling it at a later date. Essentially this law will eliminate this possibility for everything I already own, which causes an immediate permanent reduction in my wealth. Because of that, I will buy fewer products which helps to slow the economy. This action is contridictory to the objectives which Congress is trying to pursue to stimulate the economy during our current recession.

And this comes at a time of "economic hardship"... that's all we hear about on the news these days. I want to know - is the Congress considering the families who can't afford to buy their children brand new clothes every few months when the seasons change and their kids have grown an inch? If the economic crisis is hitting America so hard, wouldn't the number of families in this category be increased right now already?

This feels almost like a destruction of property rights or a devaluing of the currency. My goods are worth something on February 9th, but come 12:01 am that night, they suddenly lose their value. I believe that the CPSIA will cost many American families much more money than any economic stimulus check has ever benefited them.

What about the environmental impact? According to the LA Times, "Those [products] that haven't been tested will be considered hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead." So whether or not they are actually hazardous, millions upon millions of brand new toys and clothing will be tossed into landfills. Might I add that all of the "non-earth-friendly" plastic toys will surely sit there in the landfills for many years to come, whether or not they are even dangerous. Too bad they couldn't have been used and played with in the meantime! This law doesn't allow enough time for current used products to be properly tested.

Now in general, I think it's a great thing to mandate the levels of lead in children's products. In fact I have often wondered why it wasn't mandated before with all of the crazy Chinese product and toy recalls in the past couple of years. HOWEVER, today is January 4th, and even though preliminary research shows that this issue has been around for at least 3-4 months, this is the first I've heard about this law which is to take effect in only 36 days!

What happened to "being green" and recycling and not wasting products unnecessarily? Freepeats, Freecycle, eBay, and Craigslist have become an integral part of my life, along with millions of other Americans, and I take pride in knowing that I am helping to avoid excessive waste by buying and selling items instead of tossing them out when I no longer need them or always buying them brand new.

My heart goes out to the owners of local consignment sales like Twice as Nice. Stores like Goodwill probably will not go out of business, mainly because they do not specialize only in clothing for under age 12, but have adult inventory as well. Yet I can't imagine not having local resources like Kid to Kid to help me save money on used clothing and toys. I think the law needs to be amended before being passed, so that only products manufactured AFTER Feb. 10th are subject to screening. Used products should receive a longer "shelf life" for at least another year, to allow adequate time for testing and screening to be performed.

It's not that I want my child wearing lead-filled clothing or playing with toys full of phthalates. But I also don't want to see a bunch of perfectly good items - items which people paid hard-earned money to buy - go to waste and then be replaced with costlier versions of the same thing. I think there can be a better balance than the current proposal set forth, and I'd like to see that bill be amended to allow for the resale of used items.

If this whole issue upsets you, the best course of action is to contact your local Congressman and Senator at these links below. I know I will!

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

What do you think?

Posted via web from goldentwig's posterous

Downhere - "How Many Kings" - Live Performance

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:13:00 -0500

Okay, I know I just posted a different video of this song a few days ago, but it's still Christmas and this is such a gorgeous song that I never hear enough of it. Hope you enjoy this live performance by the band on a radio station's broadcast.

How Many Kings - the Christmas fan video

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:55:00 -0500

Just in time for Christmas, the Ross family is making their music video debut with the downhere Christmas fan video. Check it out! :-)

Free Shipping Day - December 18th

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Mon, 8 Dec 2008 22:32:00 -0500

My friend Damon often hassles me about the time when I was running late to catch my flight at the airport and ended up happily getting bumped and earning $200+ in Southwest vouchers instead. It annoys him to no end that I got rewarded that day for being late!

Well latecomers and procrastinators alike can now be rewarded for their last minute shopping efforts... More than 45 online retailers will be offering FREE shipping on December 18th to online shoppers with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. Amazon, Apple, Target and Dell are just a few of the online retailers trying to garner your last-minute shopping dollars. Check it out here to get the details. Thanks to BabyCheapskate for the tip off!

Why My Friends Will Not Be Voting in this Election

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:21:00 -0400

My friend Jeremy posted a great blog entry yesterday about what infuriates me when it comes to illegal aliens voting here in America. Jeremy and his Canadian bandmates have lived exclusively in the United States since 2000, working very hard to support themselves and their families while abiding by the restrictive rules of their work visas. Until Jeremy married an American in 2005, he was only allowed to earn money from playing music in a band - NO other side jobs like Starbucks were permitted. When they first moved to Nashville, the band squeezed 7 Canadian adults (4 band members, 2 wives, and their manager) into one house for more than a year to make ends meet. Each band member was making about $300/month for income. Not exactly what you think of when it comes to living the lifestyle of a "rockstar," eh? So here's a group of honest, college-educated, very hard-working individuals who have followed the rules, while living here for two entire presidential terms, having plenty of opinions of their own. Yet they cannot and will not vote in this election, while millions of others - so many of them uninformed - will vote illegally. What is wrong with this picture?!!? Read Jeremy's blog post here.

Posted by email from goldentwig's posterous

Ending is Beginning

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:17:00 -0400

Today is the 23rd of September and therefore the day that downhere's new album releases! It's called "Ending is Beginning" and I must say, is quite superb! I've been following these guys since 2001, before they even released their first album, and boy have they come a long way! Their music has progressed in quality and maturity over the years, yet still has a defining style to it. I had the honor of hosting a "listening party" for this album several months ago. This band truly cares about what their fans think... insomuch that they solicit individual feedback from fans about which songs should be selected for the final album track list!

For those who have not heard downhere's music before, the classic definition has always been: Freddie Mercury (of Queen) meets Kevin Max (of dc Talk) meets Bono (of U2). For this album I venture to throw in the name of Brit pop sensation Robbie Williams ("Millennium")... Listen to "My Last Amen" and tell me if you don't agree! "Something Heavenly" is definitely the biggest departure from their past musical styles, but the more I've listened to it, the more I really like it! My listening party's initial reaction was that it sounds "X-Files-ish," but you can judge that for yourself and let me know. "The Problem" has a slight bit more of a country twang to it than anything I've ever heard from these guys before. My early favorite was "Don't Miss Now," a nostalgic ballad about not missing the moment you're living in now. A great reminder for me as a new mom!

Check out the album and see if you agree that it's their best one yet. (Isn't that such a cliché statement about every artist's latest album?) Only you can decide for yourself if it's their best! You can find the album at iTunes, Amazon, or your local Christian bookstore (i.e. Family or Lifeway). Grab an autographed copy over at MusiChristian or directly from the band's website. There was some goof up with the distribution company going out of business and therefore the album won't be available in mainstream retailers like Wal-mart & Best Buy until January.

Also, if you're in the central North Carolina area, downhere will be in concert for FREE this coming Saturday night (9/27) in Smithfield, NC. Read more about it here and see details here.

Papa Spuds

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:21:00 -0400

So about a week ago, I stumbled upon a local farm co-op website that lets you order their produce by the week! Most co-ops that I have ever heard of require you to join at the beginning of the season and stay committed for the entire spring and summer. But Papa Spuds works a little differently as it's an "online farmer's market," so we decided to give it a try. Tonight we received our first "crop" share and it sure looks yummy! There were a few variances between what I ordered and what I received, which I guess is part of the game due to supply, demand and availability. I ordered Slicing Cucumbers, but unless those aren't all zucchini (which I also ordered), I think they substituted Sweet Baby Lettuce instead. I also learned that ~1 lb. of grapes is actually more like 11 oz., but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this time. The grapes looked so good that we ate them all up as soon as I could wash them! The Acorn Squash is something I'm pretty excited about trying. I've never cooked one of those before. The two best parts about this whole Papa Spud's deal is that most of the order is organic produce (and the order is completely customizable each week) and also they DELIVER it to your front porch! That's worth QUITE a bit extra in my book. I don't have to drive to 3 grocery stores and then the Farmer's Market looking for organic acorn squash! Hopefully this will force us to "eat our veggies" a little more each week. I guess we'll see!

Freepeats - now open for free registration in Raleigh-Durham!

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Fri, 1 Aug 2008 22:10:00 -0400

So I ended up scoring some pretty decent deals at the consignment sale I mentioned in my last post, and another one this morning. What I found that I enjoyed most about this morning's sale was the few hours before the sale started when I worked as a volunteer. I know I'm a pretty outgoing person, but it was a lot of fun to meet other people and help get things ready for the sale. It's open to the public on Saturday and the room was JAM-packed, so if you're in the Raleigh area, you might go check it out.

Consignment sales can save you a lot of money on baby and kid items, but what's even better is when stuff is FREE! About a month ago, I heard about a new website called "Freepeats." It's based on the Freecycle model of sharing items you no longer need with other people who live in your area to keep them from ending up in landfills. The difference with Freepeats is that it's all baby, kid & maternity stuff! Members who have something to give away post an "Offer" ad, and then when someone else has picked it up from them, they change the title to "Taken." It's as simple as that! Members can also post "Wanted" ads if there is a specific item for which they are searching.

Freepeats requires you to join a local chapter group and pay a one-time ever fee of $4.95. However, if you join a newly-formed group with the first 2 weeks of its inception, you get a lifetime membership for free! And it just so happens that the Raleigh-Durham chapter opened its virtual doors TODAY! So if you live anywhere near the Raleigh area, I encourage you to join right away simply so you don't have to pay the fee! (I did notice that the free lifetime membership cut off for Raleigh is listed as 9/01/08 instead of 8/14/08. So I checked with the moderator and found that she will be on vacation during mid-August, so the Raleigh and Birmingham chapters get an extra two weeks to sign up for free!)

Another difference between Freepeats and the Freecycle models that I've used, is that Freepeats utilizes a message board system for listing items instead of the archaic Yahoo email groups that most Freecycle groups still use. This makes it much easier to quickly scan the list and see what is available that you might be interested in. I've noticed they also have areas for free formula as well as coupons and formula checks.

So clean out your closets, check this out, and let me know if you snag a great item for free!
http://www.freepeats.org

Consignment Contentment!

bloggerfeedback@nospam.goldentwig.com (Holly) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:15:00 -0400

This past March I discovered a wonderful little thing about parenthood called "kids consignment sales." Not knowing what I was getting into, I attended the "Kids EveryWear" sale at the 'dead airport mall' in Morrisville (if you live around here, you know where I'm talking about!) and was simply blown away at the options for parental consumerism. Well those impressions were floored tonight when I walked into the Jim Graham Building at the NC State Fairgrounds. The "Kids Exchange Sale" is going on this week and opens to the public for shopping on Friday and Saturday (July 25-26). (See below for more sales and dates.)

Apparently I'm not the only one who didn't know about these huge events before entering parenthood... I've run across quite a few new moms who weren't aware of these massive consumer-fests. So here's a quick guide I've put together with some thoughts about consignment sales.

I didn't really know what to expect with this Kids Exchange Sale, except that I had heard it was the biggest in the area. For some reason, consignment sale websites never seem to have many detailed photographs, which doesn't make sense to me. I should think they would want to give new parents an idea for all that is offered at these sales. Anyway, this sale is MASSIVE... apparently the coordinators are saying this year is the biggest sale yet, and they are overflowing the outdoor toys and bikes, outdoors! As my daughter and I walked around tonight putting out our measly 15 or so items that I'm consigning, parents walked by with huge carts full of clothing and baby gear to sort into the appropriate areas. A volunteer handed me a MAP when I walked in the door and I needed it too! Pretty much any baby/child item I've ever thought of is probably somewhere in that huge room... now it's just a matter of finding it and getting to it before everybody else does! I started a needs/wish list a few months ago, and have been holding out on purchasing some desired items until after this sale and the others have passed, hoping to snag a deal along the way. Since I'm selling more than 10 items, I'll get to shop "early" with other consignors on Thursday, but I definitely won't be beating the crowds, so I hear. Expected wait time in the checkout line is minimum 30 minutes, but possibly an hour or more! Good thing I just updated my iPhone with the new 2.0 software and got some games. ;-)

I ran into my friend Nancy and neighbor Lisa, who both gave me some great insights and help about how to put my stuff out and strategies for shopping and selling. A Kids Exchange worker gave me a suggestion to go buy a large rolling trashcan from Wal-Mart to bring with me while I shop; She said that's it a perfect size (tall with a small footprint) for holding everything, yet navigable through the crowds. How much stuff does she think I'm going to buy? A trashcan's worth?? Hmm, I guess we'll see.

So anyway, just to try to capture the sheer enormity of this sale, I snapped a few pix with my iPhone. A farm of baby swings.

A wall of Board Games

A Sea of Toys

Swim Gear

Changing Tables and Highchairs

Need a bouncy seat or 50? How about an Exersaucer? There are hundreds to choose from!

This is just one row of perhaps a dozen like this, each FULL of clothing.

Videos, media and "educational" games

Enough children's books to fill a small library.

So in case you miss this sale, here is a list below of other upcoming local kids consignment sales in the Raleigh, NC area. If you aren't from this area, look up your state on http://www.kidsconsignmentsales.com.

(Please click on the links to check for updated event information and changes.)
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Kids Exchange
July 21st - 28th, 2008
Jim Graham Building at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh
http://www.kidsexchange.net
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Twice as Nice - I went to this one last spring and found *lots* of cute clothes!
August 1-2, 2008
The CC Jones Building
309 Holleman Street
Apex, NC 27502
http://www.twiceasnice4tots.com
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Upscale Resale - sounds like it's exclusively very high-end clothing.
August 14-16th, 2008
Cary Masonic Lodge in Cary (also planning to have another in Greensboro but have not scheduled that yet.)
http://www.UpscaleResale4Kids.com
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The Divine Consign Show Raleigh - also sounds like it's exclusively very high-end clothing. No toys or other items like that accepted for consignment.
August 26-29, 2008
Quail Hollow Swim and Tennis Clubhouse
http://www.dcskids.com
Contact Kelly at (919) 272-3070
New Mom Registration - If you are expecting your first child or if your first child is less than 12 months old, you are invited to attend the New Mom Private Shopping on Thursday, August 28th from 9:00 a.m.-9:30 a.m. But you must register!
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Kids EveryWear - This sale seemed HUGE when I attended it in March! I got tons of deals on baby gear, toys, and clothes too.
September 13 - 19, 2008
Prime Outlets Mall
Morrisville, NC
http://www.kidseverywear.biz
Adoptive parents, first-time moms of a child under age 1, and pregnant moms can all shop early after registering online!
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Kid Around Kidsale
October 3-5, 2008
"The Factory"
1839 US 1-A /South Main St.
Wake Forest NC
http://www.kidaroundkidsale.com
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Just 4 Kids Consignment Sale
October 5-10, 2008
Life Spring Community Church
501 Wake Chapel Road
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
http://www.just4kidsnc.com
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Most consignment sales offer you the opportunity to shop first if you volunteer your time to work a shift. You also get to shop earlier than the public if you are a consignor, so dig out 10 items from your closet and tag them! It's worth the bargains to get to shop first! Also, many of these sales are actually biannual with one sale per year focused on winter and fall clothing, while the other sale focuses on summer/spring apparel.

Good luck bargain hunting!