Sponsored - Justice Fergie Lifestyle Media

The 3rd Annual ‘Mama’s Day Our Way’ Campaign: a sponsored story

May 2, 2013 By Justice Fergie 2 Comments

I spent 10 minutes in the greeting card aisle on Monday, searching for a card to congratulate one of my besties on her newly announced pregnancy. I ended up leaving the store without a card in hand because I could not find something appropriate for the occasion – so frustrating! My only options were cards that congratulated the parents-to-be on their first baby (it will be my friend’s second) or on their ‘baby boy’ or ‘baby girl.’ Well, given that she’s early on in her pregnancy, the baby’s gender isn’t yet known (and what if she and her husband decide to be surprised?). I was really disappointed in the card selections and decided to use a blank card and write my own message.

As a content creator, that experience really annoyed me because I was being limited in my choices; it was like the ‘powerful, all-knowing greeting card wizards’ had decided exactly what situations warranted a particular New Baby card, and my friend’s wasn’t one of them.

The good news is, I did have another choice. I could head home and create my own card, reflective of the joy and excitement of a new, second baby whose gender was yet-to-be-determined. It’s this same concept of taking control of the mainstream image of Mother’s Day that’s resonating with me with this year’s Strong Families ‘Mamas Day Our Way‘ project.

According to the 2010 census, nearly 80% of households in this country do not reflect the traditional nuclear family form – with 2 heterosexual parents and their 2 biological kids.

That’s an amazing percentage! And one that is certainly not apparent from a walk down the greeting card aisle at your local store, right? Which doesn’t make any sense – think about the single-parent or adoptive or same-sex parent households that you know, for example. That’s why I think it’s so cool that, today, Strong Families, a national initiative of Forward Together, announced their 3rd annual ‘Mama’s Day Our Way‘ e-card series and campaign. Their goal is to “highlight the real experiences of mamas in our lives, and providing a more meaningful celebration beyond flowers and traditional greeting cards.”

They’ve partnered with a diverse group of artists who have designed a fun, thoughtful and non-traditional set of Mother’s Day e-cards. You can share them, for free, with a mama in your life across Facebook, Twitter, taking action in support of policy reform that supports families, and engaging in dialogue about families during their #MamasDay tweet chat on Thursday, May 9 at 11am PT/2pm ET.

If the mainstream isn’t providing us with content that reflects our lives and ideals, we should create our own. Now that’s a bandwagon that this content creator can jump on.

Filed Under: family, Sponsored, Uncategorized Tagged With: #mamasday, Mother's Day, Sponsored, Strong Families

#GoMighty Life List Check-In: On Navigating An Entire ASL Conversation

April 22, 2013 By Justice Fergie Leave a Comment

I’m about 4 classes into my ASL course, sponsored by Olay and Go Mighty, and while I am still stumbling along in the communication department, I’m proud to say that during the last class, I managed to follow a 2-hour conversation entirely in ASL!

Or ‘mostly’ follow anyway.

One of the great things about ASL is that it’s based on concepts rather than specific words, so you can get by picking up the gist of an idea rather than having to understand every single word in a sentence, like in English, for example. Last class we started off by reviewing Unit 13: More Ways to Express Yourself, and our instructor started telling us about her life story to demonstrate some of the signs. Before we knew it, it was 90 minutes later and she had shared her challenges growing up in a small town in a school where she was the only deaf student, and where her teachers and principal didn’t know “what to do with her,” to her desire to become a math teacher but getting discouraged in college when she couldn’t follow along with the lesson in class, to her ascent up the management chain at various government agencies, to her finally fulfilling her passion to teach, as an ASL instructor years later (yay!).

And she shared this entire, moving, riveting story in ASL.

Read the rest on my Go Mighty page…

Filed Under: family, life, Sponsored, success Tagged With: Go Mighty, Olay

{sponsored} Why Your Should #TalkEarly w. Your Kids About Serious Issues, Before You Have No Choice

April 16, 2013 By Justice Fergie Leave a Comment

Yesterday was hard day. It started out like any other – the kids at school, Hubby and I both working from home. Then I went to do my kid pick-ups and got settled again, back in my home office to get some more work done before dinner. I had the television on, volume low, and looked up to see the news about the Boston Marathon tragedy. Of course, like everyone else, I was glued to the TV, trying to understand what was going on while going from moments of disbelief to sadness to disgust.

And the kids were all home.

My husband had the news on upstairs too and suddenly my 8 1/2 year-old was full of questions: “What happened? Who’s hurt? Who’s fault is it? Was it an accident?” And my 4 1/2 year-old had his own questions: “Why are all the police there? Why is this on TV, again? Who is the bad guy?”

Fortunately (unfortunately?), we’d had the conversation with our kids before about tragedies unfolding on the news – most recently with the Newtown tragedy. We let them know that they were safe, that there were more ‘good’ people than ‘bad,’ and that there are always people around whose jobs it is to help everyone and keep them safe. Having already had that kind of conversation made yesterday’s terrible development a little easier to swallow when it came to explaining the events to our kids.

The same line of thinking applies to hard conversations with our kids about other serious issues, like underage drinking. I’ve wrestled with this topic a lot because in my mind my kids are just babies and why the heck would I be talking to them about alcohol at this stage. But reality sets in and I see just how fast they are all growing up. Chatterbox is in third grade and the subject matter that gets discussed during recess is shocking – I can see that conversations amongst her peers about alcohol are, sadly, not that far off.

And so, we’re being proactive and making it a point to #TalkEarly with our children about it. Explaining why it’s ok for Mom and Dad to order a cocktail at dinner or have a beer at a BBQ. Talking to them about the law and why they need to be 21 before they can drink. I think the most important conversation for me will be where we discuss the potential harmful effects of alcohol and why they absolutely must stay away from it until they are old enough to make proper judgment calls. We’ve had this discussion about smoking and they all seem to have internalized that smoking = death. It’s a bit harder with alcohol, though because my husband and I, and our friends and adult family members to drink socially, so there isn’t the same kind of taboo associated with alcohol in our kids’ minds.

I’m also expecting the depth and focus of the conversations to evolve as the kids age. But we’ve already started the discussions and want to maintain an open line of communication. Talking with them early will allow us the time to answer specific questions and prepare them for dealing with situations on their own, rather than waiting until a situation arises where we have no choice but to dive into the issue.

Something we managed to avoid yesterday.

Wondering how to #TalkEarly with your kids about underage drinking? Talk with me & experts tomorrow, 4/17 at 1:00pm ET on Twitter for tips & info. Follow the hashtag: #TalkEarly and @AskListenLearn @TheMotherhood @JusticeFergie

{Disclosure: This post is a part of a sponsored project that I am working on with The Motherhood and The Century Council. All opinions are mine.}

Filed Under: family, Sponsored

Happy Holiday Countdown Week 3: Simplify Your Gift List

November 19, 2012 By Justice Fergie Leave a Comment

This is it. It’s here. Thanksgiving Week and all that it means:

The official kickoff to the holiday season.

Christmas carols playing in the background while the lady makes your Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast Sandwich at Subway (true story from today) and twinkling lights on the houses of overzealous neighbors (ditto).

The rapid approach of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday.

But the most daunting prospect of all is creating and shopping for those on your holiday gift list.

Not this year!

Here’s how we’re going to handle this. A lovely 3-step approach:

Tip No. 1: Pare Down Your List of Gift Recipients

This is hard, I know. But just think about it for a moment: if you didn’t get a gift from everybody you knew, or even everyone in your family, you’d probably not mind one bit. Before we get swept up in the materialistic madness, let’s remind ourselves what the season is all about. Love and family and kindness…and those can all be shown in ways beyond a wrapped package. So take a moment to think about who you really and truly need or want to purchase a gift for (as opposed to bake some cookies for or send a card with a thoughtful note or treat to lunch) and write their names on a list.

Hopefully that took a little bit of the pressure off.

Tip No. 2: Get Help Finding the Right Gifts

Ok, are you ready to hear about the coolest thing to hit Holiday Season 2012? SheKnows.com just launched GiftPicks a social tool that allows you to get personalized recommendations for all of your friends. Here’s how it works:

The tool quickly checks out your friends’ interests and likes and makes relevant recommendations (but none of your friends’ profile info is stored by the tool). I tried this for a few of my friends to see how the tool worked and it was right on the mark! It pegged one of my friends as a Home Chef and another as a Gadget-Lover – both were totally right. Then the tool shared a list of product suggestions based on their profiles and links to articles on the site where you can learn more about the items.

Gun-shy when it comes to using a tool like this? Go the old-fashioned route and ask someone close to your gift recipient what they could really use or what they might enjoy. TIP for all of my friends and fam: Don’t ask my husband – he has no idea. Ahem.

Tip No. 3: Set A Budget for Your Entire List

It’s oh so easy to get caught up in the spirit of giving (or in the excitement of a ‘sale’), but at the end of the day (or the year, as it were), you’ll be left with the credit card statement or suffering bank account to show for it. I’ve done this for the past 3 years or so (more so to keep Santa in check) and it’s worked nicely. But you have to stick to it! If you get something on the pricey side for one, then know that you’ll have to scale back a bit on another. And that’s perfectly OK.

We’re saving your sanity here!

And that’s priceless.

**Tip No. 2 was inspired by my working relationship with SheKnows.com and the Mommalogues videos that I do weekly and this post is sponsored in part.

Filed Under: family, Happy Holiday Countdown, life, Sponsored

I’m a Proud Member of #TeamRenegades … Are You? {It’s a Giveaway!}

November 9, 2012 By Justice Fergie Leave a Comment

{UDPATED: Congratulations to Leticia Barr @TechSavvyMama for winning the book! YOU are a Renegade, my dear!!}

Let me let you in on a little secret:

I’m a renegade.

And I mean that in the most suburban-mom-non-cursing-non-threatening-never-leave-food-out-overnight-for-fear-of-bacteria sense of the word. I’m not running off to go backpacking through Nepal or quitting civilization for a year to live on a deserted island (although portions of the recent election definitely made that an appealing option) – what I am doing is writing my on rules when it comes to my personal goals, my professional aspirations, and my path to get there.

I would have never called myself a “renegade” per se; I’ve heard people refer to me as a trailblazer or a visionary – both tremendously cool terms that I am eternally flattered by. It wasn’t until I heard Amy Jo Martin speak at #BlogHer12 Pathfinder Day this past summer that it occurred to me that there is this tribe of renegades and…I just might be one.

And I couldn’t wait to read her forthcoming book Renegades Write the Rules. As the universe would have it, I was sent a copy of her book to review. In fact, it was on my list of must-reads that I’ve been wanting to get to once #Blogalicious12 wrapped. Given that my schedule has been still be crazy hectic, I’ve only made it to Chapter 2, but what I’ve read so far has been amazing. It’s reassurance that the little voice in my head telling me to buck the status quo at times or to venture down a road less traveled doesn’t make me a nutjob. It’s encouragement that, when I think there has to be a different or better way, then there just might be.

One anecdote in the book that really resonated with me was when Amy Jo shared what her former boss at the Phoenix Suns told her about work-life balance:

“Work, family, self. Pick one. You can’t have all three.”

Instead of taking that as a “great piece of advice” from an accomplished female professionl, Amy Jo took that statement as a challenge. As someone who left her law job to pursue her passion full-time, with the intention of having a fulfilling career that would also allow me to enjoy my family and have time for myself, I agree with Amy Jo that there must be a better way – it’s just up to us to find it.

Being empowered to write your own rules is empowering; a feeling that I want to spread, and so I want you to join the team. Your first order of business? Read Amy Jo’s book. Here’s how I can help with that:

Are you a renegade? Leave me a comment telling me how. Do you want to be a renegade? Tell me why! I’ll select a random winner who will receive their very own copy of the book.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here’s to writing our own rules!

{note: this post contains affiliate links}

Filed Under: Sponsored, success

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em: Technology As a Tool for Education

October 30, 2012 By Justice Fergie Leave a Comment

It’s the day after Hurricane Sandy descended upon the Northeast and the DC area gratefully was spared the worst of the storm. Still, schools and businesses are closed and the wind and rains knocked out power across the region. In anticipation of the outage, we charged up all of our electronics the day before the storm hit.

We’re on Day 2 of No School (following the regular weekend); for our three tech-obsessed kids, this means hours upon hours of free time to attach themselves to laptops, smartphones, tablets, and the Wii. Instead of trying to fight the tech beast, my husband and I have decided to embrace it. Especially given Hubby’s craft as a software engineer, and mom’s work as a blogger, it’s only natural that our kids expect for technology to be a part of their daily lives. And so, we use technology to bridge the gap between home, school, and life. Here’s how:

Schoolwork. Using sites like K-5 Learning and National Geographic Kids and Starfall, we try to reinforce concepts learned in school during their downtime at home. Of course the smartphone app stores provides a plethora of educational gaming options that are attractive to kids eager to get their hands on flashy gadgets. We’ve been successfully sneaking in learning with Giggles and L’il Buddy on the regular.
Current Events and Pop Culture. Chatterbox is at the age where she’s interested in and needing to know about happenings locally and around the globe. Also, she’s super interested in pop culture and music. Surfing sites like KidsPost and YouTube (I know) have been great conversations starters and keeps us connected to what she’s into. In case you’re interested, Mr. and Mrs. Fresh is what’s hot among the 8-year-old set right now (you’re welcome).
Communication Tools. Lately, Skype has been King in our house. The kids have been Skyping with their cousins and grandparents daily. It’s a great way for them to keep in touch with family far away, and to keep the ties strong with their cousins in Atlanta and Miami, whom they miss dearly. It also ends up teaching them how to navigate technology and it sparks discussions about sharing and privacy. By the same token, Chatterbox setup her own Tumblr site over the summer (it’s password-protected). She likes having her own space on the Web (don’t we all?) to share her likes and passions – right now we’re into sea coral and sneakers.

In this day and age, incorporating technology is critical to life success. It also helps that this new generation has a natural talent for swiping, downloading, clicking and ‘webcamming.’ Using tech as a tool to encourage education, communication and discussion has proven successful so far…If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

This post was inspired by my role as one of the Dell Dozen. For more resources on how innovation plays a part in education, check out the recent Dell Think Tank & Town Hall conversation held at MIT:

Full livestream, photos and graphic notes from the Dell Innovation In Education Think Tank @ MIT

Video Segments From the NBC + Dell “Technology in the Classroom: What’s Next?” Town Hall @ MIT

Filed Under: family, life, Sponsored, success Tagged With: Dell Dozen

Working Parents: Feel Like You’re Always There with Karoo

September 22, 2012 By Justice Fergie 1 Comment

Ah, I remember the days all too well (i.e. ahem, last year). I’d be at work, an hour away from home, buried in legal docs or in a never-ending meeting when I’d get a text message from our nanny that [insert a kid's name here] just took her first step or lost a tooth or [insert other cute thing/milestone here]. It sucked and I never felt so far away from my little guys as I did during those times. Even though I had The Best Nanny EVER.

I juggled a full-time legal career with being a mom to my 3 small kids for 8 years and trust me, I know first-hand just how stressful that entire situation can be. Finding solutions for working moms to simplify their lives is a personal mission of mine – it all started with my sharing personal stories about the challenges of being a working mom on my first blog. And, of course, that’s what inspired me to create the {re}Treat Yourself Lifestyle Event Series and have the focus of the first {re}Treat be on working mothers. The exciting thing is that more and more resources are becoming available to help working parents streamline and and problem-solve and innovation promises so much more to come.

So imagine my delight (and, ahem, a tad bit of regret that it was not available before now) when I learned about a new iPhone app from Care.com called Karoo.

Features:

Karoo is an iPhone app (coming soon to Android!) from Care.com that helps parents, caregivers and relatives stay connected and share all the moments of childhood as they happen. I had the privilege of sitting in on a demo call surrounding the beta launch of the app and logged off of the call looking forward to giving it a try and sharing it with friends and family. Here’s the skinny:

It’s a Digital Memory Book, CareLog, and Private Social Network all in one.
Your child’s caregiver can download the app on her/his smartphone and capture and share photos, video and stories which are then shared with you (and whomever else you want in on the updates).
If you have more than one child, each can have their own timeline updated with their milestones and daily activities
YOU decide who can see the timeline, since Karoo is a private, safe network that stores the information on a secure server.
All of your family memories will be in one place (imagine!) and you can update everyone following your timelines at once (think: Grandparents + Aunties + Special Friends, etc.)

What I like most is the easy-to-use and aesthetically pleasing user interface. Also, I’ve got tons of pics of my kids on my iPhone and sometimes I’m reluctant to share them on Facebook because, well, they’re my kids and privacy is important to me. And, instead of having a slew of random texts sharing pics and updates, with Karoo everything will be in one place.

Also in the works? The ability to create a hardcopy memory book from your Karoo timelines = score!

Best of all? Karoo is FREE. Check ‘em out:

This post is sponsored by Karoo. All opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Apps, family, Real Working Moms, Sponsored, sponsored post, work mommy work Tagged With: Karoo, working moms

#FergiesTideCoolOff: An Afternoon of Ladies, Lunch, Laundry-Talk and Laughs

July 23, 2012 By Justice Fergie 4 Comments

Summer Ladies Luncheon 2012 was a success!

Last weekend, I hosted 25 of my closest girlfriends for my annual summer shindig – an event conceived in 2010 when I realized that entire seasons were passing without my friends and I taking time to stop and enjoy each other’s company or have minute to ourselves. Between our work-a-holic and supermama personalities, not a moment was left during the summer to sloooow down, put on a pretty dress and have a good laugh with the girls. I decided to change that.

This year’s event was extra special thanks to Tide Coldwater who sponsored the Luncheon. I usually use my Ladies Luncheon as an excuse to try out all of the recipes that I collect, but I graciously welcomed the opportunity to move the event from my cozy patio to the lovely Seasons 52 Fresh Grill.

I decorated our private dining room with fresh gardenias in the bright blue water bottles provided by Tide Coldwater and displayed handy dandy facts about the product in silver frames down the middle of the table. Delightfully smelling favors from Lush Cosmetics, wrapped in brightly colored scarves were a nice touch (and, apparently, a nice surprise!).

At the last minute, I decided to invite a henna tattoo artist to glam the ladies up and I’m so glad that I did! It made for a fun afternoon of great food and conversation.

The conversation bounced from summer plans to reality TV (of course) to childbirth stories (naturally) to business ventures to heartthrobs. Right before we dug into dessert, I shared some facts about Tide Coldwater and was pleasantly surprised to learn that several of my friends were already hip to the game! The ones who weren’t were intrigued at the promise of saving money and conserving energy, and were looking forward to giving it a try.

Judging by the excited texts and touching thank you notes I’ve been receiving, a great time was had by all…I’m already plotting next year’s!

This is the final post in a 3-part series sponsored by Tide Coldwater. A huge thanks to Tide for making this fabulous event possible!

Filed Under: Entertaining, food, Sponsored, Style Tagged With: Tide, Tide Coldwater

Women Create Media: Empowering Writers in the Digital Age

February 23, 2011 By Justice Fergie 3 Comments

At the core of most social media is writing. Through our blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook profiles, we communicate our thoughts, ideas and opinions to one another using the written word. Lindsay Maines - a journalist and respected writer – brings us a brand new conference aimed at empowering women as writers in the digital age. Women Create Media is taking place August 4, 2011 in San Diego, CA. The goals of the conference are to:

1. Create a place where women can own and explore their vocation as writers;

2. Equip women with the knowledge to navigate the traditional publishing world with confidence; and

3. Build a diverse network of women writers whose connections and experiences can enhance each other’s.

Does that sounds great or what?

Starting today and running until midnight April 24th, Women Create Media will be offering Super Early Bird pricing of $65, which entitles the ticket-holder to the full conference schedule, breakfast, lunch, and a cocktail reception. The conference will run from 8:30am-7:00pm the day before BlogHer’11 and will end in plenty of time for BlogHer’11 attendees to attend any parties that might take place the night before BlogHer.

As an affiliate of Women Create Media, I’ve been given a discount code to share with my readers! From now until midnight March 23rd, 2011 you can use the discount code: WCM10 to receive $10 off the sale price of $65.

A full day of sessions, inspiration and networking for $55! You can’t beat that with a stick. And if the event is anything like my girl Lindsay, it will be refreshing, brilliant and entertaining.

Learn more about Women Create Media here. Space is limited!

Filed Under: Events, Sponsored, success Tagged With: Conferences, Women Create Media

My Working Woman’s Retreat

January 20, 2011 By Justice Fergie 5 Comments

When our basement flooded last spring, we took the disaster as an opportunity to revamp our basement. We laid new carpet and have plans for a new wet bar and kids’ play area in the works. What made me the most excited though, was the prospect of converting our rarely used guest bedroom into a home office for me.

Our guests have a love affair with our sectional. It didn’t matter that we had decked out the guestroom with new furniture and flat screen tv; everyone who came to visit always ended up sleeping on the couch. I don’t blame them – it’s like sleeping on a cloud. That said, a perfectly good room was going to waste; now was my chance to take advantage!

We had an interior designer friend come and take a look at the space. She immediately said: “This can be your Working Woman’s Retreat!” I was determined to make it so from that point on. I got to work creating a design plan; I envisioned what I wanted my space to feel like {bright, soothing, warm} and what I wanted it to look like {light, chic, feminine} and scoured websites and magazines for the elements that I wanted to include. Of course, in a household with 5 people, my home office was at the bottom of the budgetary and scheduling priority lists, so it’s been slow going to pull it together. But I’m excited to say that I finally reached a turning point in the last month where the ball has gotten rolling!

The first major challenge was finding a desk. I knew exactly the desk I wanted. I had seen it on an episode of “Run’s House” (don’t laugh). Angela and Vanessa had a huge white French Provincial table with curved legs in their Pastryoffices. Like this:

And so I searched. For something similar but that didn’t break the bank. I was flat out of luck. Turns out those tables are treasured antiques and run in the neighborhood of $1500 and up. That was not going to work. I was getting very discouraged and took to checking Craigs List like a madwoman. I responded to an ad that I saw posted and dragged my entire family out to the girl’s place, with my husband’s pick up truck, to see it. What a letdown! Her table was in terrible shape, chipped and yellowing and rickety. After that I gave up the search for awhile. And then…2 weeks ago I FOUND MY TABLE ON CRAIGSLIST. Within a few hours it was delivered to my house in great condition for a great price. Woot! I was on my way.

Meanwhile, I was contacted by CurtainWorks asking if I might be interested in reviewing a set of their curtains. They were featuring all of their styles in blue as the color is one of the design trends for 2011. What perfect timing! I was sent their Messina velvet curtains in Peacock. They are the perfect addition to my space and add a luxurious, rich quality. We had painted the walls to the office a light, light blue and carpeted the floor in a similar shade; these curtains are the perfect accent. The length is great too; I ordered the length longer than needed so that they would pool in a bunch on the floor. Instead of using them to cover the window, which is small is this basement room, I decided to use the curtains as coverings for the closet. I plan to use the closet for file storage and like the idea of sprucing up a typical supply closet with these gorgeous curtains. I am now in search of the perfect curtain ties to complement the curtains…oh and a steamer to get them silky smooth! If you are in the market for curtains, definitely give CurtainWorks a shot. Their prices are super affordable ($49 – $79 for these!) and they are currently offering FREE shipping on orders over $125.

Image Source: CurtainWorks.com

Aren’t they pretty?

In addition to a fabulous bronze snakeskin, studded end table and studded leather chair that I scooped up at HomeGoods, I’ve added a pretty lamp, desk and wall accessories, decorative mirrors and Southern magnolia wreath to the mix.