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Six Day Road Trip With Preschoolers in Tow Seattle To Park City Utah: The Results #evoconf #winchamps

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I spent yesterday gathering my thoughts, resting and trying to catch up on e-mail. I know the reality of the e-mail is that after a trip I never really get caught up. Where did I go this time? I took my two kids, Zoe age 5 and Miles age 4 on a road trip to EVO sponsored by Microsoft Windows. When I was telling people my plans, I heard over and over again, You are a brave woman, translation…YOU ARE CRAZY LADY. I was starting to think maybe I was.

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We loaded up the car (Honda CR-V) with enough snacks for an army, enough activity bags for a few pit stops along the way, and pillows for naps and headed off to Park City Utah last Tuesday. I drove from noon until about 8 PM and decided that I was ready to stop. The kids were fantastic. They played really well together on the way down, we talked and I feel closer to my kids now than I did before we left.

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I expected fits, I expected to hear “are we there yet”, I expected to hear, “I’m hungry”. What I didn’t expect was all the laughter, jokes and fun games the kids came up with themselves. I didn’t expect my son to look out at the mountains and say, “wow, mom we’re in the mountains, this is the best trip EVER as we were driving through the Snoqualmie Pass. They played so well. They sang songs, they of course fought and took things from each other, but they were also a team and helped each other while I was driving. On the way back we made it from Twin Falls Idaho all they way home in one day and made excellent time. We were home in time to have dinner with my husband. These kids of mine are troopers and I’m ready to go on another road trip. Miles was ready to as soon as we got home, he told his dad let’s go again and you come too.

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How did Microsoft Windows Help me along the way? I’m sure you read my how to prepare for a road trip post with Windows right? If not go read it now. Microsoft lent me a new Windows Phone so that I would be able to take outstanding photos and upload them directly to Facebook, Twitter and my SkyDrive. I also downloaded the Skype app onto my phone for face time. I was going to use it for GPS when I got lost, but I never got lost and it’s a good thing because out in the middle of Idaho and Utah my phone had no service. Sigh! My phone did pair well with the Honda CR-V though. I was able to listen to texts and text back while driving which I found really cool. My phone also had a hiccup as I wasn’t able to talk or take in calls through the car until I took out the battery and then repaired it. In the hotel my phone was always at my side as I took more pictures of the kids enjoying all the suites. I even uploaded a video of Miles hammering away creating a Madagascar in the Lowes suite. A friend of mine said she loved seeing the video and I’ve heard from tons of people that they loved keeping up with our road trip through all the photos on Facebook. Technology is an amazing way to keep up with everyone. IMG_4015

I’m so in love with road trips now. Who wants to send me on another one?

 

 

Microsoft Windows was my road trip sponsor to EVO. I’m also a Windows Champion.

Ways To Prepare for Road Trips: On Our Way To The EVO Conference with Microsoft Windows

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Microsoft has sponsored me to the Conference EVO: The Evolution of Your Blog in Park City Utah. I’m so excited to be taking my kids with me on this over 800 mile road trip. Growing up I traveled a lot with my grandparents. We would load up the car and take a road trip and I did it with both my mom’s parents and my dad’s parents. It was some of the best summer memories that I have and now I’m creating some with my children and I want to be able to save the memories. So I set my my Windows phone to automatically update video and pictures to SkyDrive.

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Did you know that 36% of those surveyed have lost vacation photos in the past. While on the road, make sure you are backing up your photos to SkyDrive so they’ll be there when you get home. Save your photos in the cloud (SkyDrive) while you are on vacation to ensure your memories are safe and sound. With Windows Live SkyDrive, you can store or share media privately and securely, meaning that whether you’re in New York or Tokyo, you get the same great experience at your convenience. Start by setting up your account here, Hotmail users are already set up. From there, click “add files” and then your photos there with one click. So easy!

Using Windows Phone Bing the Directions – I’ve been using Bing to find my way around the cities I’ve been in and out of during my travels so far. I love the search with Bing is local to the location you are in so if you look for a Starbucks it will find the closest one to you. You can even download the app to find the closest public bathroom to you. I found two different ones while I was searching for one today.

Stay in touch with loved ones face to face with Skype. if you have a phone with 4G then you can easily Skype over your phone. I’m pretty sure that we’ll be Skyping with dad in our room over mommies laptop my phone isn’t quite up to snuff to Skype with him.

When Traveling and in need of an PC Plug in, International free data and Coffee:

Look up Internet café locations before you go. Several websites offer lists of Internet cafés around the world. You can go to online resources such as The Cybercafe Search Engine website or the Cybercafes website where you’ll find thousands of Internet cafés, public Internet kiosks, and even cruise ships with Internet cafés. Of course, not every café is listed, so ask around if you can’t find one on the web. Roaming data is quite expensive so finding a café or free wireless locations is quite valuable when you’re as attached to cell phones as we are. When we were in Canada my husband was surfing around for free hot spots as we were walking. He was determined to check Facebook for updates on our children the entire time we were gone. if you are travelling outside your native country and they speak a different language, check out Bing Translator on your Windows Phone

 

Stay tuned as we keep you updated on our trip to EVO.

I’m a Windows Champion and Microsoft provided some of the information in this post and sponsored me to EVO. My opinion is mine.

Discovering a Way To Turn Your Camera Into a Wireless Networked Camera with Eye-Fi

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I wanted to buy a wireless camera the next time I buy a digital camera after visiting with Sony earlier this year. Because I work with Microsoft as a Windows Champion I get to listen to monthly chats about new technology and learn how it works. I recently sat in on a call about Eye-Fi. I’d never heard of it before and frankly find it hard to believe. How can a little memory card do that? Well it’s not so hard at the rate technology is growing and changing.

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I must be behind the times because the company was founded in 2005. The company is dedicated to building products and services that help consumers navigate, nurture and share their visual memories. Eye-Fi’s patented and patent-pending technology works with Wi-Fi networks to automatically send photos from a digital camera to online, in-home and retail destinations.image

Features include:

o Memory. Store up to 4,000 photos or 3h of video with top-notch Class 6 speed. Works just like your SDHC memory card!

o Wireless. JPEG photos & videos whiz through your Wi-Fi network thanks to built-in 802.11n speed.

o The flexibility of anywhere. Not within Wi-Fi range? With Direct Mode, the Eye-Fi card can send JPEG photos & videos directly from your camera to your iPhone, iPad or Android device.

o Endless. Get the only card that can free-up space for you after pictures are safely delivered. Never worry about running out of space again.

o Automatic back-up. Wirelessly upload JPEG photos and videos to folders of your choice on your computer, or even directly into iPhoto for Macs.

o Organized. Photos and videos can automatically land in date-based folders, so memories are organized effortlessly.

o Compatible. No need to buy a new camera. Check here to confirm that your camera can be turned into a just-get-it-done uploading machine.

o Effortless sharing. Wirelessly send your JPEG photos and videos to a popular website. See the complete list you can choose from, which includes Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, MobileMe, and YouTube.

o Pick your pics. You can select which photos and videos are uploaded.

o Get notified. Get email, Facebook or Twitter alerts when your photos are uploading online.

§ Promo code: Interested in purchasing one? If so, here is the promo code for $20 off Eye-Fi Use : blogpower

 

This information was shared with me as a Microsoft Windows Champion blog ambassador and they are sponsoring me to travel to EVO.

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Evo 12 Pass Giveaway #RiceKrispies #Evo12

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Rice Krispies is going to the 2012 Evo Conference and I’m pretty excited about it. We loved creating our FruitaBu Fruity Sushi Recipe and our Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Hidden Surprise Easter Egg Treats earlier this year. Baking with the kids may be a small challenge for me, but Rice Krispies are so simple it’s very easy to let the kids help. image

Be sure to have fun with Rice Krispies and share your great moments with the brand.

1. Share your Snap, Crackle & Pop moments with them on Facebook and get the chance to have your picture posted as the brand’s weekly cover photo.

2. Find inspiration on their newly launched Pinterest page

3. For more info, check out the Rice Krispies website

Now for the really exciting part. I’m going to go to EVO and I’m going to be giving away a pass thanks to Kellogg’s. I would love for some local person to win and we could even carpool to the conference. Or not. Transportation and hotel accommodations are not provided.

Enter to Win

Rice Krispies Evo pass giveaway (valued at $399 for a full-access pass).

not be providing airfare or travel accommodations, only the conference pass

Check Out the Official Rules

To Enter:

Leave a comment telling me your favorite Rice Krispies moment

Extra Entries:

Use the rafflecopter and leave a way for us to verity it.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

“Kellogg’s Rice Krispies has provided me with a 2012 EVO conference pass to conduct a reader giveaway. However, my opinions on the product are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive sentiments towards Kellogg’s or their products.”

 

This giveaway ends June 26th so everyone involved has enough time to make sure the winner can actually make plans to attend the conference.

Let MomStart Represent Your Brand: Seeking Sponsorship for BlogHer11 and Evo

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MomStart has been growing at such a large and exciting rate this year that I brought on a few contributors to help keep up with everything. MomStart has lots of things going on bringing readers more recipes, green content, and staying true to Mom Start’s beginning, savings giveaways, and product reviews.

The MomStart Twitter account has grown to almost 9,000 followers, The MomStart Facebook fan page is steadily growing, and we have over 2700 subscribers. Our monthly unique hits are at 30,000 with almost 1,000 unique visitors a day which is sure to help your company make a splash in the world of social media.

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How Can I Help You?

Last year I represented Healthy Choice, in the Better for Blogher program. I participated in an on sight session at Blogher and then shared my weightless experience over the next 3 months writing 5 total posts using Healthy Choice. I was proud to work with them as I lost 20 lbs following their tips and guidelines and I would be happy to brainstorm with your brand and find a unique way we could show off your stuff before, during and after the conference.

Maybe you are interested in twitter and need someone to walk you through a twitter party. I have experience organizing and putting together twitter parties. I would be happy to arrange one for your company right before the conference to raise awareness of your presence there, or to just shout out to everyone following the #Blogher11 hashtag that your brand is out there. I would also be more than happy to have all my tweets mention you during the conference weekend.

I am also more than happy to give you an in depth look at behind the scenes of what happens at BlogHer events and why you should have representation at BlogHer or other conferences every year.

The one thing that I can hand out to others at the conference is business cards, and I do need new business cards, I could just add your brands name to my business cards showing everyone who sponsored me.

Other Ways I Can Meet Your Needs

Here is one possible way I can represent your company in exchange for full sponsorship for this event.

  • Include a banner (your company logo) under a "BlogHer Sponsors" section on my blog from the time payment for sponsorship is made until one month after the event and for last minute sponsors we can work out an advertisement spot for six months on my site (500.00 value)
  • Blog and tweet about your company thanking you for sponsorship
  • Brand Promotion by wearing clothing, hats or carrying tote bags with your company logo during the conference
  • Blog promotion about your upcoming events, sales or other advertising needed throughout the year
  • Live tweeting at the event referencing your company

I will be sharing a room with Crystal from Simply Being Mommy (who is also looking for sponsorship) at Blogher11 to cut down the cost of the conference. We will be networking together bouncing ideas and ways to help brands grow off of each other. Now, I already paid for my ticket so all I really need is about 750.00 to cover the rest of the Blogher expenses flight from Seattle to San Diego and the cost of the hotel for three nights. 

I would also consider a full sponsorship in which I would do all of the above, plus advertising space above the fold for 1 full year. Other negotiations will also be considered. Please email me if you are interested in sponsoring me for this event. I can be reached at louise@looksblue.com I am also willing to discuss over the phone. So e-mail me and request an interview.

I’m happy to discuss possible payment increments and what exactly it is that you need.