Win a Children’s Hoodie From Brooklyn Industries!
I'm a huge Brooklyn Industries fan. I own at least four of their hoodies, and whenever I step foot into the Brooklyn Industries store on Union Street in Park Slope, I want to buy everything.I not only love their women's clothing, but I adore their children's clothes too!So I wrote to Brooklyn Industries and shared my love for them (as well as my Brooklyn pride) and asked if they would be willing to do a hoodie giveaway.Teddy (one of the designers) wrote back immediately and said that they would love to collaborate on a giveaway!Without further ado: I am giving away the children's hoodie that Ari is modeling below!It can also be found here on their website All you have to do to enter to win this hoodie is subscribe to the Brooklyn Industries Newsletter by clicking here and entering your email address! Leave a blog post comment to confirm your subscribed to the newsletter!And for extra entries see below! Contest ends 6/6/13 a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Dear Ari,You are five years-old. I can remember the moment I found I was pregnant with you. I was in disbelief, yet wildly happy and excited. When I was pregnant with you, I was working as a vocational rehabilitation counselor with recovering addicts in the Far Rockaway. I remember you moving in my belly at night every time I ate Hostess cupcakes.I remember when my water broke and the hospital told me I peed on myself. I remember when my flamboyantly gay doctor marched in carrying a red bull and said "Let's have a baby!"I remember when you came out of me and I held you and said "My baby! I love you so much!" I remember making the tough decision to quit my job working with ex-addicts and stay home with you for your first year. It was the best decision I've ever made. I have loved you since you were growing inside of me and continue to love you as a little person. You have grown so much in your first five years of life. You are inquisitive, bright, stubborn, funny, fun to hang out with, and changing and growing every day. It's wonderful to watch you grow in [...]
Mancala Giveaway and Enter to Win a $10,000 Educational Bond From University Games
I was first introduced Mancala when I was nine years-old and in the 4th grade at P.S.87 on Manhattan's Upper West Side.In Lucy Mahon's class (my fourth grade teacher) we called it "the rock game." It was a wooden board with several slots and colored rocks of all shapes and sizes.The other day I was in a local toy store looking for a birthday present for a five year-old. The salesperson said, out of the blue, "what about Mancala?"All of a sudden memories of playing "the rock game" came flooding back, and I knew I had to purchase this game, not for a birthday gift, but rather to play at home with my kids. I want you to love Mancala AKA "the rock game" as much as I do. So I wrote to Jordan at University Games, and they agreed to do a Mancala giveaway!But there's more! University Games (makers of this version of Mancala) is hosting the National Young Game Inventor's Contest!Children ages 5-12 can design and create their board game and enter for a chance to win awesome prizes including a 10,000 dollar educational bond, a trip to San Francisco, and a Toys R Us gift card! How cool [...]
Big Daddy’s Rules – Steve Schirripa Makes Me Laugh
When I first read the title of Steve's Schirripa's book, Big Daddy's Rules, I have to admit, I was hesitant to read it. Being a strong maternal figure myself, my immediate reaction was, uh oh, am I going to like this book? But then I opened it, and began reading and before I knew it, I was laughing aloud as I turned page after page.Steve Schirripa is best known for his roles on The Sopranos and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.Steve describes his journey of fatherhood, filled with hilarious bumps in the road.My fears about this book being anti-feminist were relinquished with reading the first 15 pages. Here's a particularly significant quote:"So here's the next rule for new dads: Get your hands dirty. And I mean, dirty. As in, change a goddamn diaper once in a while. Guys act like they don't know how to change a diaper. These are the same guys who can pull an engine out of a two-ton '92 Jeep Wrangler while drinking a beer and watching the ball game on a 12-inch TV they've had in the garage since the first bush administration, and they can't change the diaper on a ten-pound baby? Please." -Schirripa P. 15Schirripa's writing [...]
Mother’s Day Should Be Every Day
I have a tough time with holidays. Mother's Day is a Hallmark holiday. It's a holiday where you are obligated to go out and get your mom some flowers, or a card, or a gift certificate to get a massage or whatever. That's all well and good, but seriously...why do we need one day to celebrate our mothers?Mother's day should be every day.Your mother carried you in her uterus for nine months. That's a long time! She endured the joys and the not so fun times of pregnancy all so that you could enter this world.If you were adopted, your mother nurtured you and continues to do so every day.My other issue with Mothers Day, is that when you have your own kids, it gets complicated. What do you do? You have to appreciate your mother, and then somehow make time for yourself to be adored. It gets messy and complicated and someone ends up feeling resentful.Not to mention, what if your mother passed away? Mother's Day might be a tough day for you.I could go on.But I'm gonna say this:Supreme gratitude to all the dynamic, wonderful mothers! You don't need one day to show you that you're amazing. Because [...]
The Winner of The Listen to Your Mother Giveaway
The winner for a pair of tickets to see Listen to Your Mother is...Etophia Lane!Come on down! You won tickets so see LTYM at Symphony Space on Sunday 5/12/13 at 5pm 😀 Enjoy Listen to Your Mother at Symphony Space, my homegirl!
I’m Not a Blog Rock Star
I've been writing this blog since 2009.I started it as a way to document my son's life, and then my daughter's life, and of course my life. Then it evolved into something else.I started doing product reviews. I began actively soliciting companies to send me things to try out and giveaway, because (after all) I am Liz Fader's daughter. My mom is a super Jewish mother and she's also a former public relations executive.Since 2009, I've connected with some incredible people over the internet.One of them being the amazing Holly Rosen Fink of Culture Mom Media. I have to give a shout out to her because she's given me countless opportunities to shine. Mad love coming your way, Holly.Where am I going with this?I'm a real person. I don't post dolled up instragram pictures of myself. Yeah, I'm totally guilty of taking the occasional selfie, because I'm a lady. But look, my hair is messy in the morning and I require coffee before anyone speaks to me at 6:00am. This is the internet. The internet is full of fancy attractive bloggers who do fancy things. I'm not one of those people. Sure I love to write. Yes, I would love [...]
Listen To Your Mother- Win Tickets to The Show!
Listen to Your Mother is a show that gives mothers a forum to share their unique stories. But it gets even better that that; LTYM is now giving Mother's Day a microphone! On May 12, 2013 at 5pm, the mamas are ready to tell you all about their lives at Symphony Space. For the record, I love my mom. She's a bad ass. I try my best to listen to her.Featuring former Editor in Chief of Redbook Magazine (now the editor of Blogher.com), comedian Jamie Fernandez, author of the soon to be released "momoir" Lost In Suburbia, Tracy Beckermen and many more dynamic maternal figures.Listen to Your Mother began as a single show in Madison, Wisconsin and has since evolved into a national movement, uniting mothers across the United States.Guess what y'all? Now's your chance to:WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO SEE LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER AT SYMPHONY SPACE!You could even take your mom to see the show!Enter below to win a pair of tickets to see Listen to To Your Mother at Symphony space on May 12, 2013 at 5pm!a Rafflecopter giveawayGood luck!!! Contest ends May 8th!Winner will be selected by random.org**Thank you to Holly Rosen Fink of Culture [...]
Ari Reviews Ghostbusters
If you haven't already seen this, you should watch it. Ari reviews Ghostbusters.
To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate – To Dr. Saul Hymes There’s No Question
Let me start out by saying that my children are vaccinated. When they were born, it wasn't a question for me. Vaccines save lives. They prevent humans from contracting dangerous conditions which are sometimes fatal. There have been recent outbreaks of measles in England and Wales this year. So it's still important to get vaccinated. My friend and pediatric infectious disease doctor, Saul Hymes, would agree with me on this. In fact, he feels so strongly about children getting vaccinated, that he wrote an article about his thoughts on the anti-vaccine movement as well as what can happen when parents refuse vaccines for their children in a publication called The Magazine. The article is called: Give it Your Best Shot The Magazine is an iOS based magazine founded by Marco Arment, creator and developer of Instapaper and lead developer of Tumblr. The anti-vaccine movement has been an axe to grind for Saul ever since he was in medical school. The fact that it seemed to him to coincide with the Bush administration and a trend of anti-intellectualism didn't help much. As Saul learned about the anti-vaccine movement, there were celebrity activists who were vocal in their stance against vaccines including [...]
Introducing Films of The 80s to Ari – A Video Series
The time has come. Ari is of an age where he is able to appreciate and discuss more abstract concepts. He'll be turning five on May 6th. It is time to initiate him into the world of films of my childhood. I grew up in the 1980's, which is a decade filled with classic films.Here are some of the films I loved as a child:Back To The FutureThe Princess BrideThe NeverEnding StoryAdventures In BabysittingStand By MeI'm going to introduce these films to him, slowly but surely, with the help of Netflix.I'll be posting video interviews with him documenting his favorites.But I need your help! What are your favorite childhood films of the 80s? Post a comment here and let me know!
Mother’s Day is Coming Up and Nerd Wallet Knows!
I got an email today from Matt over at Nerd WalletWithout even knowing what the email was about I was excited, because I love the company's name. It's fun to say. Say it with me, "Nerd Wallet." See! I told you!Matt told me about this contest they're having over there...wait...over where? Why at Nerd Wallet of course.Nerd Wallet is a financial literacy site that helps people stay out of debt and manage their money. Hey...maybe I should check them out. I'm terrible at managing money.Anyhow, the contest works like this. Nerd Wallet wants to know what would be the best Mother's Day present for $25 and under. The winner gets $1000! So here's my answer.Mother's Day is a Hallmark holiday. It should be Mother's Day every day, because moms are awesome, and let's face it, if it wasn't for your mom, you wouldn't be here on this planet.But you know who makes money on Mother's Day? Greeting card companies and florists. Cards and flowers are overrated.Here's what I think would be an awesome Mother's day present, take some family photos that you love (from your digital camera, phone or that you've already posted on Facebook) and combine them to make [...]
The D.O.E Was Mistaken – Ari Makes Gifted & Talented Along With 2000 Others
When I received the results from Ari's gifted and Talented test, I knew something wasn't right. I read the score explanation over and over again, and no matter how many times I looked at the paper, the math didn't make sense.He was in the 95th percentile for non-verbal and the 84th percentile for verbal.According to the score explanation, the non-verbal accounts for 65 percent of the score, while the verbal only accounts for 35 percent.Now, I'm certainly not a mathematician, but the score I came up with was over 90 percent, while the score they sent us was 89.I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.I emailed my best friend, Mint. She confirmed my sense that something was amiss. When she did the math, she calculated 91.5.So, I wrote an email to gifted and talented as said the following:I was just looking at Ari's score sheet and I'm just wondering about the results.It says that the non-verbal accounts for 65 percent of his score and the verbal accounts for 35 percent of his score.He scored in the 95th percentile for non-verbal and in the 84th percentile for verbal. If you average the two it's 89.5. However, if the non-verbal [...]
Flying Cats and Never Having to Say You’re Sorry- Peter and the Star Catcher
Tonight I had the opportunity thanks to the wonderful Holly Rosen Fink at Culture Mom Media to see the prequel to the Peter Pan story, Peter and The Star Catcher. I took one of my oldest and closest friends, Livvy, to see the show. She was also my doula for Samara's birth.The play was held at New World Stages on West 50th Street. As soon as I stepped through the doors of the theater, I knew it looked familiar. Suddenly I realized that this place used to be the three dollar movie theater when I was in high school at F.H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts back in the 1990's. It had transformed from a theater with sticky floors to a cultural institution with a giant mural that read "create." After embracing the space, Livvy and I headed into the theater to see the show.Peter and The Star Catcher is about a boy who never had a home, a mother or a father. He spends his life in darkness. He meets a girl, Molly, who shows him that there is light in the world. She teaches him that girls are excellent leaders and that some [...]