MOM CONFESSIONALS

{ disclosure : received a Filtrete Water Station to demo but the opinions expressed here are always my own }

After observing all of my environmentally conscience classmates over the summer with their reusable water bottles I was determined to kick the bottled water habit.  No matter how small a step I managed to take, my family never seemed to climb on board.  I couldn’t believe they thought the mere act of filling up the bottles before leaving was just too much for them.  Sheer laziness I tell you!  It was simply easier to grab a bottle from the shelf and walk right out the door. Yet I was shocked that they could remember to bring back the empty bottles for recycling redemption and yet couldn’t be bothered to fill up their own bottles and bring it back, as if the 5¢ really makes it an incentive.  If there was a sale at Target or BJ’s Wholesale Club my basement would be filled with cases and cases of Poland Spring water, much to my chagrin.

When I spotted the Filtrete Water Station at BlogHer, I thought it was sheer brilliance!  It took the Brita or Pur water pitcher idea one step further and was just the thing to help my family kick the water bottle habit.  The station is small enough to move under the faucet to fills 1 to 4 reusable crystal clear bottles rapidly.  When I say rapidly, it’s not a drip drip drip like the filtration pitchers I’m use to.  Within a couple minutes I have 4 bottles of water ready to go.  The bottles have a uniquely designed cap that creates a spill proof seal each and every time and also serves as a handy handle for transportation.  Every morning as I leave for school, I grab a bottle and go.  It’s been a life saver in the heat wave we’ve had this week.

My family is slowly coming around.  This past weekend as we headed out the door, we grabbed 3 bottles for the car and were on our way!  I guess the sleek bottled water design helps too!  Another added bonus, I can twist the cap off and add in a few ice cubes for an instant chill.  That’s one over on bottled water!

The Filtrete Water Station boasts a savings of 3000 plastic water bottles from landfills per year.  The filter doesn’t have to be replaced for an amazing 3 months, almost 2 and a half times longer thn traditional pitcher filters and is recyclable with #2 plastics. The Filtrete Water Station comes with a docking station, (4) 16.9oz bottles and 1 Filtrete Fast Flow Filter and retails for around $42.99.  Additional bottles can be purchase in a 2-pack for $15.99.  Replacement filters are only $12.99 and only need to be changed 4 times a year.  This mom loves Filtrete and Mom Confessional readers can download this coupon for $5 off their own environmentally friendly Filtrete Water Station.

{ disclosure : received complimentary business card printing but the opinions expressed here are always my own }

{ comments are closed for this post, to enter giveaway please fill out this form }

My husband always says without even looking at the prices I always choose the most expensive item on the menu.   What can I say other than I’ve got good taste!  When it comes to design, I’m pretty much the same way.  When it came time to think about getting new business cards I wasn’t going to get the same design as before.  I saw it as an opportunity to do something different and change things up a bit.  A new design wasn’t going to be cheap… or so I thought!

When the kind people at Uprinting.com offered me a chance to try out their printing services and dangled “square” business cards in front of me… I was drooling.  I had previously priced square business cards and they were NOT cheap.  I always got the same lame excuse, it’s a unique size, requiring a special die… as if I was the first person to think of this brilliant idea of a square business card.  Added to my idea of a double sided card, my internal calculator was working overtime.  I thought I was in for a REAL treat… getting all fancy smancy with square business cards.

As I uploaded my design with their easy to follow guidelines and handy Illustrator template, I was shocked to see how affordable they made it.  Not only was I getting square business cards, but double sided, hi-gloss, full-color with bleed too.  In laymen terms, the whole nine yards!  Each of the features individually would exponentially add to the final production price at a print shop… but not at Uprinting.com!  There is even an eco-friendly option printing with 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock.

Even more amazing is their customer service.  During the process I got a free proof (before you pay) sent to me and then a personal phone call to approve my draft for production.  Every question I had was answered and my own little quantity mistake was rectified during one of our phone calls.  The perfectionist side of me asked the graphic designer to double check the red on the back matched the red of the lips and she happily complied.  From start to finish my order took just a little over a week with standard delivery.  When I opened the box, they were perfect! and gorgeous!  It was my design come to life!  Nothing makes me more giddy than seeing my design come to fruition.  A similar order would have cost around $120 easily at another unnamed printer using one of their own single sided designs.  For approximately $33 with 3-day shipping I got the whole she-bang!

GIVEAWAY: One lucky winner will win 500 Business cards by Uprinting.com.  Your choice of 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card); 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock; Full Color Both Sides.  To ENTER, from now until September 10th 2010, fill out this FORM.  Get up to (two) bonus entries. 1st Bonus – If you follow me on twitter@momconfessional and re-tweet this giveaway (Win 500 Business cards by Uprinting.com @momconfessional http://wp.me/pLvfH-yD) 2nd Bonus – If you “like” us on Facebook and share the giveaway with your friends.  DON’T FORGET to visit this FORM again and leave a separate entry for each action. Giveaway only open to those with U.S. addresses and must be 18 years or older. Giveaway ends on September 10th 2010 at 11:59 EST. A winner will be selected randomly by Random.org and notified by e-mail.

My FIRST Wordless Wednesday post!  Since I had all 3 kids today and we were prisoners in our home, I decided to have a little arts & crafts fun… oh wait… this was suppose to be wordless…until talkative thursday it is!

{ disclosure : received a box of Pomi Chopped Tomatoes and Pomi Strained Tomatoes to sample }

Added to our cooking skills this summer was homemade fresh marinara sauce.  The toddler and I have become obsessed with making our own sauce.  Since we discovered the relative simplicity of the recipe, its been a fun Mommy and Me activity.  To round out the adventure, I’ve included every step of the process the toddler can be involved in including cultivating her very own herb garden.  Okay, its more like Mommy’s herb garden since it only has my two favorite herbs, sweet Italian basil and golden sage (a nod to my other food obsession, butternut squash raviolis with brown butter sage).  We attempted them from seeds but since Mommy doesn’t exactly have a green nurturing thumb, we had to resort to purchased seedlings from our neighborhood garden nursery to ensure it’s survival.  So far it has survived and then some… and boy do they yield fragrant and delicious herbs!

When Pomi approached me to try their line of BPA free tomato products, the toddler and I had visions of an Italian feast.  Grown in Italy without the use of pesticides or genetically modified seeds, they are packaged in a BPA free box without preservatives, citric acid, or additives bringing moms high quality tomatoes with a garden fresh taste for their kids.  Because we like a chunkier, more homemade look to our sauce we blended both the chopped and strained tomatoes for a thicker sauce.

The toddler ran out to her garden to pick fresh basil leaves while I peel garlic cloves and heated up the olive oil.  While she washed the basil leaves and carrot sticks, I sauteed the garlic until it was tender and golden.  We eagerly opened up both boxes of Pomi tomatoes , note to self — next time a larger opening for the chopped tomatoes — and into our favorite red pot they went.  Bright red and no sign of oxidation, it smelled divine!  A quick chop of the carrots, the toddler pushed the magic button until it was the right consistency, adding just the right sweetness to balance the acidity of the tomatoes.  30 minutes later, we had a delicious sauce begging to be devoured and devoured it was because I didn’t even have time to take a picture of the finished product!  All in all this mom was happy to find a BPA free tomato product finally!

Pomi is available nationwide in stores such as Whole Foods, A&P, Waldbaum’s and Food Emporium in three (26.46 oz) boxed varieties: Strained Tomatoes, Chopped Tomatoes and Marinara Sauce.  Once opened the package will stay fresh for 10 days under refrigeration, but I’m not sure any will be left for refrigeration with my family.  But for such instances, my only qualm would be that it’s missing a resealable cap seen on other aseptic packaging.

I have to admit I’m not big on conferences.  In fact, BlogHer was my very first conference.  I don’t exactly know when it happened but somehow my little blog, has become a brand unto its own and by no way attributed to any strategic planning of sorts.  Everything that has happened to Mom Confessionals has been incredibly organic.  I do admire the ambitious bloggers out there and marvel at how they build relationships with brands and cultivate their own name in the blog-o-sphere.  Very much like my own life, I start to get into it but really I prefer the more laid back approach.  I am never one to get upset about not getting invited to an event and I refuse to be a swag slut.   I mean my life is already full of clutter thanks to a house filled with kids, so really… I don’t need more.  My blog is my life, but my life is not my blog.  I don’t get upset about not getting invited to events for the mere fact that I have other things to do… like enjoying my children.  In fact most days I’m battling to find my voice in the blog amongst the many reviews I have written.  I’m still struggling with how much of my persona to reveal and how much to contribute.  That said, if its of interest, I’ll be there to hear what you say, support my friends and cultivate relationships with brands I really care about and resonate with my family and our life.

So while I bought a full pass to BlogHer, I didn’t stress it.  I attended many amazing events and I couldn’t even begin to cover them all but here are some highlights:

• Loved the Swag Swap Suite… I visited it only once but regretfully wished I could have gone back to ask where the countless Walmart notebooks went after BlogHer because I knew of a school in Guatemala that could have and would have gratefully used them.  Felt bad for all the Jimmy Dean clocks that got left behind and felt for the marketing exec who thought it would be a cute gift, cause it was, but I hate branded merchandise.  Couldn’t believe I snagged another Filtrete water bottle because really they were really nice, clean and simple.
• Met some incredible people who I’ve been following on Twitter or reading their blogs.  While some of them were so gracious to think I’m on the same level as they are, I felt incredibly humbled to be in their presence. Even attending some events where they called the attendees “cream of the crop” or “key influencers”, they had me looking around thinking they made a mistake in inviting me.  I mean for goodness sakes I was standing in a room with @BostonMamas, @MommyNiri @AudreyMcClelland @MomTrends @MomBloggersClub @ResourcefulMom @XiaolinMama @DuongSheahan… and there I was… in awe and completely perplexed…
• Here is the only time I’m a slut for swag… I was giddy to get Dora and Swiper the Fox shirts for the toddler and nephew… if they had something in the infant’s size, you bet I would have gotten him one too.  The toddler loved the shirt so much she wears it all the time and when its in the hamper, asks how long it will take to wash and dry… and if she’s audacious enough, she’ll even ask why we’re not washing it RIGHT now.  I was happy to grab some tubs of Playdoh for the toddler and was thrilled to see the duffel bag in our bag cause nothing is a sure fire hit at a play-date than a box full of Playdoh fun.
• Oh the greenie in me definitely came out at this event.  I was sorting and swapping every chance I got.  I didn’t take anything that couldn’t be used or given to someone I know who’d appreciate it.  I loved learning about brands and their environmental efforts.  Some of my favorite included Filtrete’s Water Station which would solve my family’s addiction to bottled water in very sleek container.  I even loved the plant-able wild flower seeds their message was printed on to add to the toddlers growing garden.  While I wish my fancy kitchen faucet could fit Pur’s new one-click faucet filtration system, I loved their involvement with P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program which has provided 2 billion liters of clean drinking water to children all over the world and hopes to provide 4 billion liters by 2012.
• Loved putting faces to brands I’ve been electronically in contact with and learning about their newest products.  Juno Baby is our new brand obsession in our house.  Quality music played by real orchestra musicians and my Jay Sean-loving child is tapping her feet right along.  Fisher Price introduced us to the must have iXL Learning System and I am happy to put at bay for another few years, handheld video games.  Kodak Gallery’s soon to be release PYNK system is sheer brilliance!  What wonderful gifts they will make for sure.  The amateur photographer in me can’t wait to have PYNK frames all over my house.
• Loved meeting Nate Berkus at his launch party for the Nate Berkus Show which debuts on September 13th, because I love design, but of course was too shy to say anything other than ask for a picture.  Since he wasn’t a mom, I didn’t have my mom confessionals opening to work with — what’s your mom confession Nate? — sigh! Doesn’t matter, as one of the mommy bloggers on his panel of real moms, once I get over being star-struck, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to interact with him.
• All the amazing parties I went to which, just to name a few, included the Getting Gorgeous event held by my favorite @VeraSweeney and @AudreyMcClelland, Summer Sizzle by @MomTrends, the HP Aiming Low EzPz Party which brought me face to face with the ever so enchanting @AngelaatHP and the Taste of Loews by the amazing @NYCityMama

My experience with BlogHer wouldn’t be complete without a shout-out to my constant companions and hand-holders @Nancy_Horn of MommieswithStyle and @About_Toys. I can’t wait to attend BlogHer ’11 in San Diego!