Every time we're in the car running errands, and Things 1,2 and 3 are chattering away: yelling, asking 5,000 questions, singing to some song on the radio that I feel so uncool for not knowing - I try to take a deep breath and instead of screaming at them to be quiet, remind myself that, soon enough, they won't be saying a word. With Chatterbox starting 5th grade (today!), I'm hyper-aware of the fact that she is a full-fledged tween and with that means the gradual transition to private, mono-syllabic teenager. I want to enjoy the constant chatter while I can. Over this past year, I've noticed that the long-winded conversations have slowed down with her and that I have to pry more - which totally makes me annoying. But I've found that, if I can catch her in her comfort zone, then there is no end to her animated stories and joke-telling. In June, while we were spending 4 weeks at my in-laws' in Miami, Chatterbox found the Food Network's YouTube channel. It started out cute and benign, and I didn't pay much attention to it, even as she begged her grandfather to let her pick limes off of his tree so that she could make homemade limeade from scratch. What I noticed the most was how focused she was and how she came to life narrating her steps to an imaginary kitchen audience. During that particular exercise we chatted about her track and field teammates and how she was bummed to be missing a couple of the summer meets and how she was happy to be keeping in touch with a classmate who went to visit Brazil over the summer via FaceTime. Because her mind was distracted with cutting, squeezing and stirring limes (and making a seriously sticky mess on the counters), she didn't give talking to Mom a second thought. Since that day in June, she's become a veritable mini-chef. She's made countless versions of infused waters, lemon bars and a summer spritzer (she wanted to make Sangria, but I explained why that wouldn't be appropriate), and homemade french fries and Italian ice - all by her own choosing and with minimal help from me. Her newfound obsession with cooking has been teaching me to take a step back, let go of my control-freak tendencies and let her flourish (while making impressive messes). And of course, I get the bonus of getting her to open up about everything from how her little brother drives her insane, to how badly she wants an Instagram account (HINT: badly), to how she wishes I could 'take a break' from working all the time. I have no idea how long this culinary kick will last, but for now I'm enjoying it. It also shows that my hours in the kitchen have not gone unnoticed! For the first time, we finally have a shared interest; I find myself clipping pages from my food magazines to show her and impressing her with the fact that: "YES, actually, your mom does know Ree." I think these moments are conducive to her opening up to me because her siblings aren't around to derail the conversation or get on her nerves or put … [Read more...] about {Sponsored} Summer Cooking w. Chatterbox: An Unexpected Avenue for Conversations #TalkEarly
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{Sponsored} Sangria + Yoga = Love: My #BlogHer14 #NamastEppa Party Recap
The Eppa Sangria Sundown Soiree, in collaboration with Soybu and The Whole Planet Foundation, was my first event of BlogHer14, and it set the tone for my entire weekend! You couldn’t have asked for a better ambiance: good music, yoga, tasty bites and toasting to friendships, new and old, over a cool glass of sangria. And I do mean cool. Seriously, how awesome is that dispenser?! I’m not a big wine drinker and I hardly have time to labor and make my own sangria like my ace, Jazzy Jonez, so Eppa Supra Fruta Sangria with its screw cap and blends of super fruit could truly make my soirées the life of the party. Eppa is the only certified organic premium bottled sangria and each glass contains as much as 2x the antioxidants found in a glass of red wine! Now that is wine I can feel good about. You can find Eppa brand Sangrias at Whole Foods, and, as if this sangria couldn’t be any sweeter; from now until August 31st, Eppa will donate a portion of sales to Whole Planet Foundation, whose mission is alleviating poverty by providing micro-loans in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to support entrepreneurs who provide service or product solutions to combat poverty. For a serial entrepreneur like me, that’s a cause I can get behind! Do you know what else feels good? Soybu, designer yoga pieces made out of breathable eco-friendly materials you can wear in the gym, or out and about while doing errands without losing your cool. I wore my Carolyn Wrap paired with these Killer Caboose Crop Capri Pants and got rave reviews from the #NamastEPPA attendees. When I tell you that I love my Carolyn wrap, I mean I L-O-V-E it! The fabric feels absolutely divine and I love that I can switch it up and wear the wrap in different styles. I’m spreading the love! Soybu was generous enough to share with me a code for my readers to get 25% off their next purchase. Check out Soybu.com and enter #NamastEPPA at the check out to redeem. I felt so good in my digs (and from enjoying a glass or two of the Eppa libations,no doubt), that I stayed in my yoga gear for the entire evening - BlogHer Expo Hall, and to dinner with Xiaolin Mama and all. If you have questions about either the sangria or the clothing, drop me a note! Thanks so much to Eppa, Soybu and One2One Network for inviting me to be a VIP at the event. I received complimentary sangria and my yoga outfit as well as compensation for my social sauce. … [Read more...] about {Sponsored} Sangria + Yoga = Love: My #BlogHer14 #NamastEppa Party Recap
A Revelation About My ‘Telephone Voice’ and Why You May Need to #RefreshYourFunny
This post is part of a paid campaign sponsored by the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility. Ever since we were dating, my husband used to tease me about my "telephone voice." This was the voice that he said I "put on" when I got on the phone. I used to totally ignore him about that (still do), because I really and truly didn't notice a change in the way I spoke during phone conversations. Sure, I knew that I can get loud on the phone, or I can talk the other person to death - I'm a Leo after all - but even in those gregarious moments, I was still 100% Stacey, so what was the big deal? That was until my eldest made a remark not too long ago. I can't remember her exact words, but we were heading to an event or activity and I was giving my usual: "Be polite. Look at people in the eyes when they are speaking to you. Don't act crazy." talk that I usually give on our way out. And Chatterbox said something like: "Oh Mom, you just want to look good in front of your friends." And she started mimicking me and using my...TELEPHONE VOICE!? It was high-pitched, and peppered with lots of laughter, and was all la-di-da and I nearly died on the spot. Was it true? Did I appear to have a completely different personality once I got around other people? Of course, I immediately denied it and we went about our day, but that exchange has stuck with me. I hate the idea that I might be coming across as putting on airs or inauthentic, in the eyes of those who are closest to me. I've always thought of myself as extremely genuine and transparent and naturally happy, so where was this coming from? I've since really started paying attention and here's what I've noticed: my husband and my daughter are not entirely wrong. The truth is, I'm tired. I'm often overwhelmed. Except nobody wants to hear that. I find myself having to put on a happy face a lot, when in fact my mind is racing with my my endless to-do list and eleven million stressors and, you get the picture. But I've created this Happy Stacey persona and I feel compelled to live up to that. In fact, in the odd moments where I don't convey Happy Stacey, the person I'm talking to has no idea how to process it. I can totally tell. And so, I smile and laugh and keep on swimming. It's not to say I'm depressed or miserable, but everyday isn't all roses for me, but for some reason I am programmed to mask it. As part of my role as a blogger ambassador for the Foundation to Advance Alcohol Responsibility, I had the chance to hear an important talk given by Haley Kilpatrick, the Founder and Executive Director of Girl Talk. She spoke to us about the 'Mom Confidence Crisis' and how it was affecting our daughters at the most pivotal times in their lives - ages 9 - 14 - when their self-esteem is either growing or taking a hit. The premise of this Crisis is that moms are extremely inconsistent with their behavior and it becomes very confusing for young girls who are learning how to act by … [Read more...] about A Revelation About My ‘Telephone Voice’ and Why You May Need to #RefreshYourFunny
{Sponsored} I Have My #BestTeacherEver to Thank for My Blogging Career
This post is sponsored as part of the Teach for America #BestTeacherEver campaign. You know how you can trace certain happenings in your life back to specific events in time? The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that I can pinpoint the pivotal time period in my life that was the deciding factor between me taking Path A or Path B. It was circa 1999 and I was a first-year student at the Howard University School of Law. I was both over-the-moon excited and scared to death of this new and ambitious journey ahead of me - after all, for the previous 4 years majoring in Television and Radio Production, I was CERTAIN that I would have been holding a boom mic on somebody's television set by the fall of 1999. But, there I was, sitting with an amazing class of students who would become my HUSL Family, in a class that I would come to know and love as Torts. As you might imagine, the study of wrongful acts that lead to injury - sometimes crazy freak accidents - is not at all a glamorous subject, and hardly one that you would call "fun"...that is, unless your Torts professor was Lateef Mtima. Professor Mtima took these ancient cases and brought them to life, and challenged us to analyze the various situations in a critical and precise fashion. What's more, he was funny and energetic and captured my attention for that entire semester. I ended up getting a CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Torts that first year. When it came time to choose electives, I decided that any class (except for Sales and Secured Transactions! UGH.) taught by Professor Mtima would be worthwhile, and so I signed up for...Computer Law. And that, my friends, was my first step onto the path that would later become known as the "How/Why On Earth Did You End Up Quitting Your Legal Career to Play On the Internet?!" path. I instantly fell in love with Computer Law. I already knew that I was interested in Intellectual Property law and the concept of applying those concepts to the burgeoning Web was fascinating to me. I ended up "CALI'ing" Computer Law too, and decided that I would write my case note for my Howard Law Journal requirement on Internet Cookies. This is the part of the story where I lose all my cool points and you realize that I am, in fact, a NERD. Professor Mtima was my Casenote Advisor and he was the perfect mix of guidance and encouragement while pushing me to do the very best I could with this complicated topic. While my case note didn't get selected for publication, I was so, so proud of it and solid in my love for Internet Law at that point. Post-law school, I would go on to practice IP litigation with an AM-100 law firm, specializing in The Internets. Three years later, when the opportunity to apply for a consumer protection position with the Federal Trade Commission, with a focus on Internet advertising, I knew that was the job for me. And that, as they say, was all she wrote. After years of investigating and charging deceptive and … [Read more...] about {Sponsored} I Have My #BestTeacherEver to Thank for My Blogging Career
Three Cheers for Instant Gratification! Order Online and Pick-Up In-Store w. Office Depot Omni Channel
We're in the thick of holiday season and I've been crossing items off of my Christmas shopping list left and right thanks to making friends with the Internet and doing the bulk of my shopping online. This is the first year in recent memory where it's 2 weeks before the holiday and I'm 90% done with buying gifts - oh what a feeling! I took advantage of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday sales and...now the waiting game begins. You know. Waiting for your order to process. Waiting for your order to ship. Waiting for your items to be delivered. It's a whole lotta waiting! If you're like me, and you need instant gratification - or maybe you're simply in a hurry - or maybe you'd like to pad your budget a little by saving on shipping fees - ordering online and then picking up your items in the store might be for you. I tend to forget that this option exists and was pleasantly reminded of its convenience last week when I tried out Office Depot's Omni Channel experience. The process was so simple and fast; here it is broken down into 3 easy steps: I've been in the market for a set of noise-cancelling headphones to drown out the kids. KIDDING! I travel so much and, while I never leave home without my earplugs, I always envy the guy in the row ahead of me with his snazzy headphones looking very urban hispter-like. And so I set on my search for a pair on OfficeDepot.com. Of course they had a huge selection of headphones to choose from and I spent some time reading the reviews and deciding which ones looked cool (because I am nothing else if not vain). Once I settled on the pair I liked, I checked to see if was available for in-store pick-up - which is FREE, by the way! Next up, I had to select the store location that I wanted to pick up at. All you need to do is punch in your zip code and a listing of stores in that radius pops up. As my luck would have it, the store that is literally 1 mile away from my house was sold out of the headphones, but another store a few miles away had them. Did I mention that my order was ready within an hour? I received an email notification letting me know that it was ready, and to bring my order number to the store. I picked up the kids from school, grabbed them Italian ices, and we hit the road. As soon as we walked in the store, the clerk let me know to head over to the online pick-up kiosk. The cool thing is that with Office Depot Omni Channel, you can checkout anywhere in the store. The clerks have a neat-o handheld device that can pull up your order and checkout on the spot. I checked out at the kiosk and it took all of 1 minute. Parents of small children know just how priceless this fast checkout process is. We were in and out in a flash. Other nice things about the Omni Channel experience: Upon checkout online, it gave me the option to give back 5% of my purchase amount to the school of my choice (free money for my kids' school - hooray!); You … [Read more...] about Three Cheers for Instant Gratification! Order Online and Pick-Up In-Store w. Office Depot Omni Channel
