Blogalicious Weekend: The Beach, The Bling and The Booze

I spent the past four days at The Blogalicious Weekend in Miami at The Ritz Carlton South Beach and in four words - I had a blast.

The conference brought together approximately 200 women to celebrate the diversity of all ethnicities in social media. And celebrate we did. We also networked, learned, laughed, bonded and created memories that we’ll hang onto until Blogalicious 2011. I had the privilege of speaking on The Chronicles of Fit Divas panel and enjoyed the awesome dialogue and real talk we had with the audience. Thanks to everyone who came out.

The Beach
So, I was staying on South Beach and there was no way I wasn’t going for a run while I was there.

My pre-run pic. Trying to be fabulous – it is South Beach

There’s a path that goes horizontal to the beach that I started to run along, but my foot quickly began hurting – that damn because of my plantar fasciitis – so I decided to slow down and just walk.

The path

The beach

The Bling
Yes, the swag at the conference was in full effect. There were lots of great goodies and everyone seemed to handle it in very good taste, but one swagadocious item really stood out.

Bling, Bling – Gasp!

This gorgeous Fossil watch was given to all the attendees from the wonderful folks at Feeding Your Dreams at Sunday’s breakfast. I haven’t worn a watch in years, but um, now I will be rockin’ this one.

The Booze
That sounds so harsh. It wasn’t booze. It was wine, and lots of it.

Nice, right?

My BlogRollin’ partner, Christie, and I had the pleasure of working with The Wine Sisterhood at Blogalicious where they debuted the newest wine in their Middle Sister line, Sweet & Sassy. Throughout Saturday we hosted the Sassy Suite were conference attendees could come and meet the newest sister, sip a little wine and enjoy some yummy snacks. Needless to say the Sassy Suite was a huge success – good people, good conversation and good wine. We even gave away an iPad, gasp! Jessica hasn't put it down since she took it out the box.

Me, Christie and Sweet & Sassy

I’m trying hard to get back into the swing of things today. My mind and body think they’re still in South Beach, but my family and my inbox disagree.

Winks & Smiles,

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Feel Good, Live Positively Recap

Our Feel Good ~ Live Positively ~ Be Blogalicious Tweet Up was a huge success last night. We ate, drank, chatted and had an engaging online question and answer session with nutritionist Michelle Stewart, The Nutrition Planner. While our livestream had some technical difficulties it all worked out wonderfully – just ask the online winner of a brand new iPad – Aliah Davis-McHenry.

Dana Jones was our in person winner …

Dana, Me, Christie, LaKeidra Veal from Coca-Cola, and Intern Sunny showing off Dana’s new toy

But everyone walked away with goodies …

I really wanted that super cute lunchbox!

A huge thank you to our friends at Coca-Cola who sponsored this event and to everyone who joined us in person and online. To learn more about the Live Positively initiative please visit LivePositively.com; and, make sure to do something today, to take care of you!

Winks & Smiles,

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Live Positively Tweet Up: It’s Not Too Late to Win an iPad

That’s right, my BlogRollin’ partner, Christie, and I are hosting the Feel Good ~ Live Positively ~ Be Blogalicious Tweet Up tonight with the good folks at Coca-Cola Live Positively; and we’re giving away TWO iPads. Gasp!

The Tweet Up starts at 6:30 p.m. EST at Gordon Biersch in Buckhead.

Not in Atlanta? No worries, you can join us via livestream from 7-8 p.m. as we chat with a nutritionist and give away one of the iPads exclusively to our online participants.

Click here for more details. You must RSVP to attend and win.

Hope to see you then!

Winks & Smiles,

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RMHC Day of Change: Clink-Clink!

A little change can make a HUGE difference in someone’s life. I’ve been fortunate enough to see firsthand how the Ronald McDonald House Charities does this for so many people in so many ways when I visited one of the Atlanta Ronald McDonald Houses late last year. That visit touched my BlogRollin’ partner Christie and I so much that we planned a Moms Nite Out Event there for Mother’s Day to offer the resident moms a special night of pampering.

Ronald McDonald House Charities Day of Change is tomorrow September 9 at participating McDonald’s. From 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. they’ll be collecting spare change in their collection boxes inside their restaurants or at the drive thru. Every penny, nickel, dime or quarter that clinks in the box can make such a big difference in a sick child’s life. You can learn more about RMHC Day of Change at their Facebook page here.

Full disclosure, I was not paid for this post in any way … except for the wonderful feeling of giving.

Winks & Smiles,

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Race & Relax Recap – Part 1

Our first Get Moving! Race & Relax event took place this past Saturday and I’m thrilled to say it was a huge success! Eighteen lovely ladies joined forces to run in the Virginia Highlands Summerfest 5K then celebrated in style at a scrumptious brunch. To keep things simple, I’m going to split my recap in half.

Part 1 – Race

We gathered at 7:15 a.m. to meet up before the 8 a.m. start time. Thankfully, the weather cooperated with us, we had threats of thunderstorms, but it was sunny and somewhat cool for Hotlanta so we couldn’t complain. It was fun to put faces with blog and twitter names as many of the ladies hadn’t met before. Some of us did gather the night before for an impromptu Tweet up to celebrate the race and welcome our contest winner, Fiona Bryan of Bantering Blonde and MomActive, who we flew in from Denver for the race. We had a blast at Buckhead Pizza Company where we mingled, had a drink and had the lovely Funkidivagirl and her husband @KeyInfluncer come through and do his Friday Night Mix live from our little soiree. Good stuff!

Back to the race, it was a beautiful course through the residential streets of historic Virginia Highlands in Atlanta. It was rather hilly, ahem, but the ladies did awesome – some of them even PR’d! We had runners, walkers and even “woggers” – a new term coined by the fabulous Broke Socialite. I ran with my sister, Nicole, who totally rocked it. This was her first time running since giving birth to my beautiful niece, Haven, and probably sometime before that. I decided not to pay attention to my time for this race but to focus more on making sure everyone else was happy, motivated and moving. Once Nicole and I crossed the finish line, Fiona and I went to find the walkers and finish the race with them.

I’m so proud of the Race & Relax Beauties and all that they accomplished. While a handful of them have run 3 miles before, this was a first for many and a huge notch on their belt. With that said, they definitely deserved the “Relax” part of this journey. More on that in Part 2, but for now here are some pics from the Race.

Our contest winner, Fiona, arrives to the race in style! Well, we couldn’t let her walk to the race.

Lisa C. Writes and @TheGreatDanaJ were chatting it up while we waited

Krystal Grant and new mommy Joan of All Trades were ready for their first race

The Race & Relax Beauties before the race

OK, so we were pumped and a little silly before the race, too

Me and my BlogRollin’ partner, Christie

Getting my music right, this was my new baby’s first race

The slim and trim Renee J Ross taking pics and cheering folks on after finishing the race (She PR’d – Yay, Renee!)

Me getting ready to cross the finish line. Aren’t our Powered By Red shirts cute? A huge thanks to the Cherry Marketing Institute!

All the Beauties afterwards

Still Smiling and having fun

Race & Relax had several wonderful sponsors including The Cherry Marketing Institute, Walt Disney World Resort, The Wine Sisterhood and Pampered By Adrienne. A huge thank you to them and the lovely participants for making it happen; and another big thank you to our wonderful photographer (and my brother-in-law) Corey Shelton for caputuring the morning in pictures for us!

Stay tuned for Part 2. We all had no problem Relaxing …

Winks & Smiles,

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WifeSavers: Bringing Sexy Back

What do you get when you combine 10 women, 10 chairs, a few poles, some high-heels, the best sex columnist on the web and the most popular sensual dance studio in Atlanta? The BlogRollers’ first WifeSavers: Bringing Sexy Back event, of course!

A few weeks ago My BlogRollin’ partner, Christie, and I sent out an e-mail to a couple of our bloggy-buddies asking them if they’d be interested in attending the launch of our new WifeSavers series.

WifeSavers is a series of events and experiences for brides-to-be, newlyweds and veteran wives created to help them thrive in the throws of marriage. The series offers a variety of individual events geared toward enlightening and enhancing one aspect of wifehood including exercise and fitness, cooking, intimacy, personal makeovers, home décor and repair, and auto maintenance. Informative and entertaining, WifeSavers arms wives with tips, tricks and tactics to help them be the best they can be.

We were met with a resounding, um, hell yes! In fact, all the slots filled up so quickly we didn’t get to open it up to our WifeSavers VIP Club like we planned. So, last Friday night, ten of us got together to learn some new dance moves at Pole La Teaz in Atlanta. Our fabulous instructor and co-owner of Pole La Teaz, Ro, was awesome. Not just at moving her hips, but at encouraging us to unleash our inner sex-divas that so desperately wanted to come out. After learning how to work the chair, we sat in them, sipped some wine and chatted with sex columnist and author of "The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex: A No-Surrender Advice Book for Naughty Moms" Kristen Chase. Kristen shared some tips from her new book about recharging your sex-life and led us in a candid, ahem, discussion about – sex! It was informative, exciting and refreshing to tackle a subject that’s so taboo, but so important in marriage.

Ro was workin’ those heels

Some of the gals getting ready to go for it

This is about the best I can do with the pole

My Brown Baby and Execumama Tweeting and Facebooking in between moves

Christie’s so sweet she brought me a cake and goodies for my birthday, that's Nancy holding it up

Kristen signing "The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex" – that girl knows her stuff!

Christie, Kristen and moi after a fun girls night out

This was our second trip to Pole La Teaz, you can read about our first adventure here. If you’re ever in the Atlanta or Houston area make sure to put Pole La Teaz on your list; and if you don’t already have "The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex," it’s a must, go get your copy here!

Winks & Smiles,

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It’s Time to “Get Moving! Race & Relax”

RunWifeyRun

I’m so excited to announce the launch of my new RunWifeyRun event with my BlogRollin’ partner, Christie. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve kind of gotten into running a little bit. We’ll, it’s done wonders for my health, my weight, and even my sanity, ahem, (we all need a little release) so I decided I want to share the good feelings and benefits with you.

Introducing the inaugural Get Moving! Race & Relax event in Atlanta. Fifteen women will join forces and get moving by walking or running in the Virginia Highlands Summerfest 5K (3 miles) Road Race on Saturday, June 5, 2010. Afterwards, the ladies will indulge in a post-race celebratory brunch and enjoy other special treats. Created to inspire women to take care of themselves, Get Moving! focuses on the importance of physical exercise and making time for you. It’s the first event in our RunWifeyRun initiative – a WifeSavers series designed to help wives be the best that they can be.

Starting today participants will support each other via social media by tweeting, facebooking or blogging about their journey leading up to, during and after the event. They will receive the official Virginia Highlands Summerfest 5K race registration and race swag bag; a post-race celebratory brunch, a spa gift certificate; suggested training program/schedule and resource list; train to manage your pain with the Red Recovery Routine and a tart bottle of cherry juice courtesy of the Cherry Marketing Institute; a Get Moving! Race & Relax, Powered By Red race-day T-shirt sponsored by the Cherry Marketing Institute; a Get Moving! swag bag filled with indulgent goodies; special surprises; and most importantly they will get moving and hopefully continue to take care of themselves and their bodies.

I’m thrilled that several of my bloggy buddies have already signed on as VIP Movers and will be joining me for this journey – the fabulous Broke Socialite, Krystal at KrystalGrant.com, and The Divine Miss Mommy. We’re also excited that the lovely Joan of All Trades (who is about to give birth any moment) and my sister, new mommy NikkiD13, are also signed on and ready to Get Moving! Fitness is much more fun when you’re surrounded by friends!

I’d like to extend a special thank you to the Cherry Marketing Institute for sponsoring part of this important event. Cherries have such a high level of disease-fighting antioxidants and are an excellent choice for pain relief and exercise recovery. They are sure to help us as we start exercising and Get Moving! I encourage you to learn more about cherries here and follow them on Twitter at @choosecherries.

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to Get Moving! You can join us now by registering here. Hint, hint – there’s a discount if you are a WifeSavers VIP. You can also follow our journey on Twitter; we’ll be using the hashtags #Race&Relax and #RunWifeyRun.

Finally, I’d like to extend my appreciation to all of you who have been so supportive of my running adventures. Your encouragement and kind words have been extremely motivating and hope that in some way I can return some of that love to you!

Winks & Smiles,

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Wifey's Chattin' it Up

I’ll be chattin’ it up with my BlogRollin’ partner and host of The ChatterBox Show, Christie Crowder, on Blog Talk Radio tomorrow, February 19, at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll be sharing wife-saving advice from my book, Help! I’m a Newlywed … What Do I Do Now: Wife-Saving Advice Every New Bride Must Know to Survive the First Year of Marriage, with brides-to-be, new and veteran wives.

Remember, there’s nothing wrong with not knowing what to do in your marriage but there is something wrong with not finding out. Hope to see you there …

Winks & Smiles,

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Bayou Bound

Yup, I’m hitting the road again, well actually I’m flying (courtesy of Air Tran) with my BlogRollin’ partner, Christie, the good folks at Everywhere, and the rest of the Macy’s Path to Peace digital outreach team to take part in an unprecedented LIVE on location #gno tomorrow night, Tuesday, December 8 at 9 PM EST, in New Orleans.

The fabulous Jyl Johnson Pattee, founder of #gno and Mom It Forward, will join us for the Macy’s Rwanda Path to Peace in-store at Macy’s Lakeside at 6 PM (CST) and to host her renowned Girls Night Out twitter party LIVE from NOLA celebrating holiday giving.

If you are in or near New Orleans please come out and join us live – I’d love to say hello! If you aren’t in the area you can still party with us by using Jyl’s custom tweet grid. We’ll also be USTREAMing so watch for tweets with the link.

Wait, there’s more. We’ve got some goodies to giveaway …

Make sure to visit Mom It Forward here to enter to win the Path to Peace Prize Pack from Macy’s ($250 retail value).

Good Luck and I hope to see you live or on-line tomorrow night!

Winks & Smiles,

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Blogalicious Bound

A Sneak Peek Inside Wifey’s House

It’s here. Blogalicious 2009. Here as in today and here as in Atlanta. And I’ll be there.

I’m looking forward to networking and learning at the conference and, yes, ahem, partying, too. Not only am I attending, but my BlogRolling partner, Christie, and I are hosting the Blogalicious Princess Celebration, sponsored by Walt Disney World on Saturday night. Can someone say par-tay?

So, I’m Blogalicious bound ... and will make sure to bring back lots of pretty pics.

Winks & Smiles,

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Blogalicious Bound

Not only are The BlogRollers hosting the Blogalicious Princess Celebration sponsored by Disney at the The Blogalicious Conference next week in Atlanta, but we’re giving away a FREE conference pass, too.

That’s right if you’d like to attend one of the most anticipated conferences this year, head on over to The BlogRollers, leave a comment on the contest post before 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, and you could be Blogalicious bound, too.

Simple, right? So what are you still doing here? Good luck.

Winks & Smiles,

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The Hot List

I think it was inevitable. I knew the time would come when I would merge my love for blogging and social media with my background in media relations. My BlogRollin' partner, Christie from My Life … A Work in Progress, and I have officially launched The BlogRollers Media and The Hot List.

The BlogRollers Media Mission
We are passionate about continuing to raise awareness of the power of female bloggers and our impact on the economy and on social media at large. We are dedicated to creating and implementing unique and entertaining digital media marketing campaigns for the companies that support us. We are committed to encourage diversity in all programs we initiate.

As you already know, The BlogRollers are all about promoting the power of female blogging and the brands that support us! Our new adventures in creating digital outreach programs often includes finding fabulous bloggers to participate in them. We are gathering a HOT LIST of bloggers spanning all ethnicities, blogging levels, and subjects/genres for our PR database. Our goal is to have a good mix of bloggers so that there is opportunity for everyone.

No worries, Ask Wifey is not going anywhere. I will still be here managing marriage, motherhood and all the mayhem, but would love to invite you to visit me over at The BlogRollers Media and The Hot List.  Hope to see you there...

Winks & Smiles,

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Vintage Body Spa: G.O.O.D.I.E.S.

I've got goodies to giveaway, folks. Goodies with a capital G.O.O.D.I.E.S.

The lovely and talented Alyssa Middleton, owner and creator of Vintage Body Spa - a specialty boutique featuring the finest natural paraben free home spa products - was kind enough to give The BlogRollers some products to tryout on our BlogHer or Bust Road Trip.

Can I just say her products are fab-u-lous! Seriously. I was so glad that I ordered the Lavender Vanilla Wherever Body Cream because I forgot to pack my lotion. As soon as I opened it I knew I'd be pleased, it smelled so yummy. Smooth, light and creamy are just a few words that come to mind. And, soft. It left my skin feeling silky soft and luxurious.

You know what's coming next ... I've got a VBS "Spa to You" Gift Set to giveaway to one lucky winner. The set includes full-size samples of the following:

Butter Beans (moisturizing bath fizzies)
Suga Lips Lip Balm
Wherever Body Cream (rich body lotion)
Whipped Shea Butter
A few extra goodies from The BlogRollers

All you have to do is leave me a comment. Easy, right? I will give you an extra entry if you friend Vintage Body Spa on Facebook and/or follow her on Twitter. Don't forget to come back here and let me know you did it. For even more entries visit the rest of my road trip buddies, Christie at My Life ... A Work in Progress, Denene at My Brown Baby and Jennifer at Baby Makin(g) Machine and comment on their posts, too. The winner will be announced on Christie's Blog Talk Radio show, The ChatterBox Show on FRIDAY AUGUST 7th at 10:00 AM EST. Good luck and be sure to tune in!

Winks & Smiles,

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