Katherine and I

Saturday was pretty much a full day of hanging with the girls!

It all started Saturday with a meet-up I organized at a Starbucks in Birmingham and ended with gift certificates, really cool luggage style shipping boxes from UPS and Drag Queen Bingo in Royal Oak.  It was an eventful day, to say the least.

Cindy and Christina

For the Starbucks/UPS event, I invited a bunch of moms that I know through social media.  Only one of these ladies, Jennifer, have I actually met face to face.  The others I have know 1-3 years, but only online.  Cindy and I have had chance meetings on multiple occasions, but one thing or the other has come in the way of us meeting.  I’ve worked  with Kristie on multiple occasions, but we’ve never met face to face… I consider these ladies my friends.

Jennifer and Kristie

We had a great time talking/meeting over a hot cup of Starbucks coffee and we decided that this type of meeting needs to happen more often.  The internet is great for bringing people together, but it’s those face to face meetings that really matter.  These ladies are now not just my “online” friends, they are my friends, period, end of story.

Nicole and Katherine with "Trixie"

The same night, Saturday, I was invited to attend Drag Queen Bingo in Royal Oak at Five 15.  I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time!  My friend, Katherine, set the whole thing up.  We had about 16 of us that met for the ultimate girls night out!  We drank lattes, ate pizza, played bingo and laughed our asses off at “Trixie” the comical drag queen that ran the bingo.  The place was packed and the experience was priceless!  Again, the women I spent the evening with were ladies that I have started with an online relationship, but one way or the other have connected with in real life.

I plan on scheduling more events for Detroit Mommies to get together for a cup of coffee, lunch or maybe a little bingo.

What type of get togethers would YOU be interested in attending?

Detroit Mommies has teamed up with Beyond Juice in downtown Rochester to help win the fight against child hunger.

In Michigan there are 10,003,422 people and 16.2% are children facing hunger,  17.2% are children under 5.

You are cordially invited to attend “Smoothies to End Child Hunger” on Wednesday, July 27, 2010 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

There will be crafts for the kids, face painting, balloons, story time and tons of fun prizes!

For every non-perishable item you bring to donate, you will receive one raffle ticket to enter to win these great prizes:

Froggy’s gift certificate
Body wrap from The New You Body Wraps & Wellness Center
Smoothies for a year!
Sally Lumpkin’s Party (2 books)
Charmz n’ Chainz: One Jewel Kade Charm
Plastic Surgery Arts & Spa: Mani-Pedi
more to come!

To RSVP, go (here).

If you are a company that would like to donate a product or service to be raffled off, please contact Courtney detroitmommies(at)gmail(dot)com.

Would you like to host your own rally?  Go (here) to register one today!

This past weekend I was given the opportunity to speak at a local conference called Gleek Retreat in Olive, MI.  My  sponsor  was Collective Bias and I am so grateful to them for sending me!

I got to speak

I was so excite for Gleek because I go to speak at my first conference!  I’ve been doing segments for Fox Detroit over the past few months and I just love doing them.  I get a rush off of the nervous butterfly feeling that I get right before the segment goes live and then when it’s done, I feel so good that I made it through remembering all of the product info I have memorized.  It’s a great feeling and the challenge of speaking in front of a live audience was even more of a thrill.

I put together my very first power point presentation and just went for it speaking about Building Your Brand and Social Media In Real Life.  I was uber nervous, but after the presentation I got great feedback and I felt a sense of accomplishment.  It felt great!

I got to meet some MI bloggers

I was really excited that I was going to get to meet some more Michigan bloggers.  I know just a few around the metro Detroit area, but since there are supposedly millions upon millions of bloggers, it was nice to meet to ones local to Michigan.  When you are a blogger and people ask you what you do, most of the time, you get a blank stare and the conversation ends there.  Being around like-minded individuals was pretty refreshing.

I got to re-connect with old friends

I was so excited to re-connect with my lovely blogger friends Sandy and Melissa.  As bloggers, you form friendships with women all over the US and when you get the opportunity to reconnect “in real life” only a few times a year, those times are quite special!

I needed to get away

I was in need of a relaxing getaway and that’s just what I got!  We stayed at the most lovely retreat called Into the Woods Retreat.  It was like going to sleep-away camp because there were 20 beds, 6 to our room, but it was the upscale, adult version of the sleep-away camp you might go to as a child.  There were women there that made all of our meals, turned down our beds, placed chocolates on our beds and were so charming.  The food was plentiful and extremely good…we were all extremely satisfied.

All I can say it that I had an amazing time and met some wonderfully, amazing women.

The conference was perfectly put together and extremely organized.  You can bet I will be back next year for Gleek Retreat ’11!!!

Why YOU are the world’s best mom:

1.  Look at your kids…they are darling!

2.  The necklace says so

3.  The t-shirt says so

4.  The frame says so

5.  The mug says so

6.  The key chain says so

7.  Your kids say so

8.  Your husband says so

9.  Your mother-in-law doesn’t say so, but what does she know!

10.  We say so!

Detroit Mommies hosted our second neighborhood rally to help Child Hunger Ends Here.

Our first rally was a popcorn stand at the Recycle 411 event at the Village of Rochester Hills.  I know the Marketing director at the Village of Rochester Hills and asked if I could jump on in and sell popcorn the 411 event.  Then I called Carnival Bounce and asked if they would be willing to donate the use of a popcorn machine during the event.  All we had to do is purchase the popcorn and bags for the event and set up our stand.  ConAgra Foods and Feeding America provided the other supplies and we were all set.  It was easy.

Our second Neighborhood Rally was in downtown Rochester at Gus O’Connors.  We had about 40 people turn up for the event and it was a lot of fun!  Gus O’Connors is an Irish restaurant/pub that has great food and a warm atmosphere.  They agreed to donate 5% of our invite’s food and drinks to Feeding America.  We included a 50/50 raffle and our local smoothie shop, Beyond Juice, donated a year of smoothies to 5 lucky winners!  Every little bit counts and we decided since we were all planning on having dinner anyway, might as well enjoy it with friends and give to a great cause at the same time!

You too can host a Neighborhood Rally!

It’s so easy and you can be as creative or as simple as you’d like. I hosted the popcorn stand and the tweet-up.  You can host a bake sale, lemonade stand, yard sale, breakfast or whatever your creative self conjures up.  You can make your event as big or as small as you’d like.

Like I said…every dollar counts and the money stays local!  $1 provides SEVEN meals…SEVEN MEALS!  So, if everyone in Rochester, MI (population in 2008 was 11,002) gave one dollar to Feeding America, they would provide over 77,000 meals!  That would be pretty amazing!  Sign up (here).

Kids are counting on us!

1 in  4 children don’t know where their next meal is coming from.  How can these children concentrate in school if their belly’s are empty?  I know if I’m hungry, I get kinda grouchy.  Also, I have a hard time concentrating when I’m hungry, but I have the luxury to walk into my kitchen and grab something to eat.  It breaks my heart when I think about hungry children.

Thanks to all of you that attended the event!

Disclosure:  I was chosen to be the blogger correspondent for Detroit and will be compensated for my travel and expenses to LA and  other expenses that will  I am expected to incur.  I feel very strongly about making this campaign a success and all the opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone and are not influenced in any way by anyone.

The Detroit Mommies have pledged to help End Child Hunger and we would love to invite you to do the same.

On April 11,2010 from noon-3pm, the Detroit Mommies will be at the Village of Rochester Hills selling popcorn at an event called Recycle 411.  We will have a popcorn stand set up and all of the proceeds from our sales will go to Feeding America to help end child hunger.

We would love to see you there this Sunday!  There will crafts for the kids, lots of information about recycling, free stuff and of course popcorn!

All of the proceeds from the sales of popcorn will go to Feeding America to help the fight against child hunger and every penny will stay local to help feed the children of Detroit.

The stats are alarming and heartbreaking, but we can fight the fight together!

Danielle Smith from Extraordinary Mommy is hosting a lemonade stand and is encouraging everyone from all around the United States to go back to the basics and set up your own lemonade stand on a Saturday in the month of May to raise money to fight child hunger now.  Get the kids involved as well, so that they understand to art of giving to help a fellow child.

You too can join in the fight to end child hunger now!  You can host a lemonade stand like Danielle, have a bake sale, have a rummage sale or sell popcorn like we are doing.  If you do decide to help to end child hunger, register your rally (here) and you will be sent a tool kit for your rally.

Any way you can help, will benefit the children.

This Easter has been such a wonderful reminder about how giving can not only affect the recipient, but also the giver.

I headed a wonderful campaign for Hershey’s called Better Basket where 20 blogger were given a gift card to put together 2-3 baskets of Hershey’s goodness to give to someone who deserved a sweet treat this Easter holiday.

Detroit Mommies filled two baskets full of Hershey’s products, some exclusive to Walmert and gave one Better Basket to the nurses at the Children’s Hospital in Detroit and the other basket was given to a family who was going through a rough time.  In both cases smiles graced the faces of everyone involved and those involved are feeling the magic of the Easter season.

Then we also participated in the Better Basket Blog Hop and for the post we wrote here on Detroit Mommies, Hershey’s donated $10 to the Children’s Miracle Network.  There was such an overwhelming response to the blog hop that Hershey’s ended up donating $7000 to Children’s Miracle Network on behalf of the amazing response to the blog hop.  If you were a part of this hop, thank you!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter and appreciate all that you have.  I know I will!

1 in every 4 children don’t know where their next meal is coming from.  No child should have to endure this worry.  They are kids and they should be worrying about kid stuff and school stuff.

What about the parents of these children?  It’s hard enough being a parent worrying about what our children are doing when they aren’t in our line of sight, if they are struggling with peer pressure or if we are giving them enough attention.  To have to decide between buying groceries or paying an electric bill or buying medicine is a worry no one should have to endure, but it is happening every day and it could be happening right next door.

The statistics are hard to ignore.

Detroit Mommies has joined the fight against child hunger with Conagra Foods in a campaign called Child Hunger Ends Here.

Here’s what we are doing:

• On April 6, 2010 I will be flying out to California to the Los Angeles food bank and to the set of Desperate Housewives to learn more and to kick off the campaign.
• On April 11, 2010 we are hosting a popcorn stand at Recycle 411 in the Village of Rochester Hills from noon-3pm.  This is a huge event that is being put on by Whole Foods and the Village of Rochester Hills that will have arts and crafts for the children, a recycle center for items you cannot or don’t want put in your recycle containers like computers, eyeglasses, batteries, ect and there will be free gifts as well!

• On April 28, 2010, Detroit Mommies will be hosting a fundraiser at Gus O’Connors in downtown Rochester from 7pm-10pm to raise more money for Feeding America.  A percentage of all sales that evening will be donated by Gus O’Connors to Feeding America.  There will be raffles, food, drinks and socializing.  Families are welcome as well.  You are all invited!  RSVP (here).

Prize

One lucky winner will receive a Conagra Foods gift basket full of goodies! The basket will include ConAgra Foods coupons, a branded reusable grocery bag, Season 4 of Desperate Housewives on DVD and other cool items!  Winner will be notified via email and will need to respond within 24 hours or a new winner will be chosen.

Entry Requirements

To enter for a chance to win the basket of goodies, leave a comment below telling me how you will rally to end child hunger.  The best entry will be chosen.  If you are hosting a neighborhood rally yourself, you can register (here) and get the supplies needed to help make your rally a success.

For additional entries (leave a separate comment for each entry.  These entries count only if you have completed the above entry requirement):

1.  Tweet about this contest on Twitter.  Multiple tweets are allowed but you must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for each entry. 

Tweet: Win a basket full of goodies from  @detroitmommies http://wp.me/pGVE2-159#endchildhunger

The Fine Print

No purchase necessary to enter. Winner will be selected. Detroit Mommies writers and contributors are ineligible to participate. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. Open to participants in the US  18 years and older.  Contest ends 4/12/10 at 11:59:59 p.m. EST.

Disclosure:  Detroit Mommies was chosen to participate in the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign and given a stipend for participation. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone and are not influenced in any way by anyone.

Winner’s Info:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2010-04-14 21:13:14 UTC

Charlene Canfield says:

I tweeted at http://twitter.com/cjcmommy
Charlene Canfield´s last blog ..Time To Show Your Style!

Detroit Mommies has teamed up with ConAgra Foods and Gus O’Connor’s for “Feeding America”. We were asked to raise money and awareness for hungry families in our own community. With your help, we can do this!

Did you know, one in every four children go to bed hungry? I’m sure I speak for all parents when I say it would be devastating to imagine my own children being in this situation. Hunger strikes many families right here in America and sadly, the numbers keep growing. YOU can make a difference simply by attending this event with your family and enjoying a bite to eat with others that want to do their part by reaching out to those in need.

Join Detroit Mommies and other Metro Detroiters at Gus O’Connor’s Public House in the beautiful Downtown Rochester, MI on April 28, 2010 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. A percentage of the proceeds will go to hungry families in our own community. Gus O’Connor’s is located at 324 Main Street in Rochester, 48307. We HOPE to see you there!

To learn more about hunger in America click HERE.

Disclosure:  Detroit Mommies was chosen to participate in the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign and given a stipend for participation. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone and are not influenced in any way by anyone.

*Statistics found in this post came from the Hunger in Michigan 2010 report.

Today, the Detroit Mommies were invited to our Local 4 WDIV News Station for a luncheon with the professional people behind the mighty Channel 4 News. We began at a round table with introductions and then moved right into lunch while we discussed what we do as Mommy Bloggers. They were, “picking our brains”, if you will.

It was a positive experience that helped me realize that the media is trying to understand what we do and how we do it. Our use of Twitter, Facebook, Whrrl and many other social media avenues were hot topics. Many Mommy Bloggers have discovered how to obtain loyal followers and have mastered these skills in a way that has some scratching their heads. It’s simple really, I believe just being a mom makes us trustworthy. It’s called Mom Power!

Mommy Bloggers come from all walks of life and no matter what we “blog” about, it seems we all have one thing in common, . . . we are Mothers! Being a parent makes us experts at TRYING. Trying to be a good parent! We are always looking for ways to make our childrens’ lives better without losing ourselves. Trying to find new and improved ways to make life simple but sometimes in the process, we accumulate difficulty. That’s what TRYING is. More importantly, we as mothers want to TRY and SHARE information as we gain it. We share our experiences because we know there’s some mother out there just a few steps behind or several blocks away that may benefit from our seasoned experience rather than making unnecessary mistakes on their own.

The POWER of numbers!

History has proven when women come together, we always make a difference. One woman can scream but several women can ROAR! Join in on some Mom Power in your own community or create it because the only requirement is being a mother with a desire to connect with other mothers. Providing support, information, entertainment and sharing real life experiences with our followers is what makes us Mommy Bloggers.

Let’s talk TRUST, shall we?

How does a Mommy Blogger gain trust from her followers and maintain that same trust? In my opinion, it’s about integrity. Get it or prepare to fail.

Mommy Bloggers and our professional experts at Local 4 WDIV all share a passion for gaining and sharing information and having them reach out to us today, brings a new avenue not only for Detroit Mommies but for our friends at Local 4 WDIV as well. We are looking forward to nurturing this new relationship.
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