About Last Night

I'm not sure what happened this last week. It was all such a whirlwind, trying to get everything ready for the 2nd Annual Parenting Party last night.

My dearest friends came to support me and I met some fantastic moms and dads that are passionate about parenting so the event was a success and everyone who came had a great time.

Just to re-cap the night, here are the great sponsors and advertisers who made the event possible and who offered some fabulous giveaways to those who attended:

• Songbirds Music
• Usborne Books & More
• Chocolat
• Indigo Village
• La Jolla Learning Works
• Time Out Mom
• Lakeshore Learning Materials

I do have some Goodie Bags leftover if anyone wants one! I'll be bringing them to the upcoming events to hand out, such as Baby Time Expo and BlogHer (if there's any left by then).

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Happy Mother's Day to Me

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I woke up (a bit hungover) to my son staring at me and asking me to play first thing in the morning. One of the first things I typically do when I get up, regardless of what day it is, is visit my Twitter account and Facebook to see what's been going on. I was surprised to see so many congratulatory notes and assumed people were congratulating me on my Front Page feature in the San Diego Union Tribune. But wait, how would people outside of San Diego know about that?

It wasn't until I saw the tweet from Totally_Toni of Just Stop Screaming, that I realized that my blog (yep, the one that you're reading right now) was listed in the Top 50 Power Moms list published by Nielsen! So, what exactly does this mean?

It means that the audience is listening, or reading to be exact. They're commenting, sharing links and passing along valuable information and resources that are shared on my site and those of the other moms on this list.

I couldn't be more honored to be listed with such influential and successful mommy bloggers. These are the women who I look forward to meeting in person at the upcoming BlogHer convention in Chicago.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting was mentioned - or appeared - elsewhere over the last few days. Thanks to Keep It Classy Jen and Sugar Jones for putting together this awesome Mother's Day video:






Mammarazi Knows Best and San Diego Momma did a lovely re-cap of the San Diego Mom's Nite Out event that took place last Thursday night. If you're a San Diego mom or dad, you'll definitely want to join us on Thursday, May 21st for the 2nd Annual Happy Healthy Hip Parenting Party. It takes place at The Airport Lounge and each guest will receive a FREE drink ticket, half-price appetizers and be eligible for some GREAT giveaways provided by our many sponsors. I hope to see you there!

Second Annual Parenting Party

The second annual Happy Healthy Hip Parenting Party is taking place on Thursday, May 21st at The Airport Lounge! Save the date, book your babysitter and get ready for an amazing time. If you weren't at last year's party, read about it here and check out the photos!

Join parents and parent educators for the 2nd Annual Happy Healthy Hip Parenting Happy Hour! Sponsors will once again provide amazing prizes that will be given away throughout the night!

Parents will be able to unwind and meet other like-minded individuals while being pampered by local parent educators who will ensure that everyone feels supported as they go home and continue their greatest role ever, as Mom or Dad!

Come out and enjoy the special Happy Healthy Hip Parenting Happy Hour drink menu and half-price appetizers, not to mention some pretty amazing music!

Tickets are ON SALE now!

If you would like information about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, please contact me for details.

Read All About It!

It's the end of October and the start of a holiday season that begins with the 2008 Presidential Election. Whether you're looking for ways to explain the election process to a child, or want to learn more about the candidates' positions from a non-partisan source, ePals will have the answers you need. You can also use this resource as a way to connect children with a PenPal from another country and introduce them to another culture or community.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting is pleased to share with you an opportunity for growth and possibility for the New Year. 2009 is right around the corner and I want to thank you for being so supportive of one another and yourselves as a parent, business owner, or whatever role you choose to define yourself with.

Our community has grown over the last year, allowing me to evolve into the new technology of this new email program. This will allow me to better serve you and will provide you with the opportunity to customize the information you receive from me.

Please take a moment to manage your preferences or unsubscribe if you should no longer wish to receive correspondence from me. I do hope you prefer to continue to receive blog posts, Parenting News and event announcements directly to your Inbox each and every week.

In the next few weeks I will be sending out a Holiday Gift Guide as well as an invitation to an annual Happy Healthy Hip Holiday Party which I hope you will each be able to support by either attending or sponsoring.

If you attended the Parenting Party in May then you'll know that these events are a great way to meet and mingle with other parents, along with the chance to walk away with some great prizes. It would be great to have a sell-out event which would send a message to San Diego that the parents in our community work together and play together! Tickets will go on sale soon.

Have a safe and wonderful Halloween weekend and let me know what I can do to support you.

The Morning After

Last night's party was a great success! It was so wonderful to meet the happy, healthy, hip parents who came out to mingle, celebrate family and enjoy a night out.

I want to give a big thank you to Alicia from Java Mama for her support and help during the drawing last night. The upcoming schedule for parenting workshops that Happy Healthy Hip Parenting offers at Java Mama will be announced soon.

Another thank you goes to Stacey from San Diego Bargain Mama for her support and promotion of the event. Stacey took pictures during the event and will be sharing those with our on line commUNITY shortly! Keep your eyes out for your face to appear.

Finally, a thank you is extended to Christine from The Neighbourhood for providing - and selecting - my attire for last night. She owns a fabulous boutique in University Heights which is a great place for men and women to discover wares from the latest designers. Christine hand selects her inventory and works with each customer to provide them with the perfect fit. She's great. Stop by.

The Airport Lounge was a fantastic venue for the event and we were all treated like First Class passengers so I look forward to heading there again to enjoy more great food and fabulous cocktails. The female DJ was a hit so a few of us took advantage of the dance floor and relieved some stress and worked off the drinks we were enjoying.

I was so pleased that everyone who came walked away with some great prizes. There are still several to be given away, so if you'd like the opportunity to win even more, we're creating an additional chance to win. SUBSCRIBE to this blog OR the weekly Parenting News You Can Use newsletter to be entered for this drawing.

Here are the additional prizes that will be given away:

from eBags.com
5 people will receive coupon codes to use on line

from Kaboost:
a Kaboost Portable Chair Booster

from Seal Press:
one copy of Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined,
edited by Andrea J. Buchanan & Amy Hudock

one copy of Andrea J. Buchanan's
Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It

one copy of The Stay-at-Home Survival Guide: Field-Tested Strategies for Staying Smart, Sane, and Connected When You're Raising Kids at Home
by Melissa Stanton

5 people will receive a copy of Rebecca Woolf's
Rockabye: From Wild to Child

The biggest prize that was given away last night was the Enrollment (for 2) to the upcoming Parenting Retreat held at the La Jolla Marriott. You can learn more about this weekend course on the Happy Healthy Hip Parenting website or you can simply call or email me with questions and I will be happy to provide you with more details.

Thanks to everyone who joined the celebration last night. The Happy Healthy Hip Happy Hour is destined to become an annual event here in San Diego, and in other cities around the country.

I'm grateful that you have chosen to become a member of the Happy Healthy Hip Parenting commUNITY. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas for next year.

Happy Healthy Hip Happy Hour

Here's the agenda for the Party tonight:

Doors open at The Airport Lounge at 8pm. If you've paid in advance or have been provided with a ticket by a sponsoring company, your name will be on the First Class boarding list. You will need to fill out the information on the boarding pass to receive your drink and food tickets and to be entered into the drawing to win some of the great prizes being given away during the raffle.

With your drink tickets, you will be entitled to choose FREE drinks* from the Happy Healthy Hip Happy Hour menu and you'll be entitled to half price appetizers with your food ticket.

The drawing will begin at 9pm and we will start by giving away the smaller items before getting into the bigger items so be sure to stick around for that! Additional raffle tickets may be purchased for just $10 each. Each raffle ticket purchase will also provide you with 2 additional drink tickets...not bad, right? Everyone will walk away with a Goodie Bag so be sure to pick yours up on the way out.

TICKETS ARE LIMITED so purchase yours BEFORE 6pm!

*Please drink responsibly and designate a driver.

Parenting Party Sponsor - SAN DIEGO BARGAIN MAMA

I was lucky enough to be invited to a women's networking event a few months back and was introduced to many great business owners from San Diego. Stacey, behind San Diego Bargain Mama, was one of the nicest, most resourceful people I had a chance to meet.

Actually, I didn't meet her there. I heard about her and read about her company while at this event and sent her a quick email afterwards (if I remember correctly). We threw a few more emails back and forth before finally talking on the phone and meeting in person to discuss how we could work together. Stacey is a working mom (aren't we all?) who truly believes in the strength of commUNITY. She created the San Diego Bargain Mama newsletter to help San Diego moms find bargains and has managed to not only make a name for herself, but to also reach an on line commUNITY of local moms who are also dedicated to their children and families.

As a sponsor of the upcoming Parenting Party, San Diego Bargain Mama has generously provided the following prizes to be given away during the event:

• Chelsea Premium Outlets tote bag, coupon booklet vouchers, and $25 gift certificate ($40 total value)
• Three children’s books ($20 value)
• Goodie Bag ($35 plus value) that includes: Two bottles of AVO Juice Body Splash, valuable coupons, Gift certificate for 50 digital camera prints from Snapfish, Gift Certificates to Baskin-Robbins, and other goodies!

There are more great prizes to be given away Thursday. Don't miss out on the opportunity to enjoy a night out, meet new friends and walk away with some fabulous prizes.

Investing in your family makes everyone a winner!

Parenting Party Sponsor - KANE/MILLER BOOK PUBLISHERS

Kane/Miller Book Publishers publishes award-winning children's books from around the world. They represent over twenty different countries and have translated their books into English from over a dozen languages.

They have some exciting series' for readers of all ages, including the Toddler Tales, On My Way, Little Princess, My Body Science, Jack Russell: Dog Detective and The Team. Their Spanish-language line, Libros del mundo, contains picture books that will appeal to many.

They are based in La Jolla and have kindly offered some books to be given away Thursday, May 22nd at the 1st Annual Happy Healthy Hip Parenting Party. We hope to see you there!

This is How Rumors Get Started

I discovered BABBLE a while ago and still find myself laughing out loud while reading Rebecca Woolf's blog, Straight from the Bottle.

Just recently, I heard about her appearance for a signing of her book, Rockabye: From Wild to Child, here in San Diego, but was unable to attend. Then, after two seconds of Google research, I found her personal blog, Girl's Gone Child (love the name).

I got in touch with Rebecca through her website and (and her publisher through theirs) and asked if she might be interested in attending the upcoming Parenting Party ... or offer signed copies of her book to be given away.

Not only did she respond directly (OK so it was an automatic response), but her publishing company representatives also sent me an email, asking if I would like Rebecca to come to the upcoming Event. Rumor has it she may just be there. Either way, we're going to be giving away copies of her book that night. Will they be signed copies? Will Rebecca be making an appearance? Stay tuned...

There are more surprises up my sleeve for the Event...don't miss out!

Parenting Party 2009

There's less than one week until this year's Parenting Party and already I'm getting questions about where next year's event will take place.

I hadn't really thought about it until the idea was thrown out there...take the Official Poll found on the sidebar...Las Vegas, Miami, Portland?

Help me decide!

Parenting Party Sponsor - KABOOST

I can't recall how I discovered KABOOST, but it couldn't have been introduced to me at a more convenient time. I recently threw away my son's booster chair and very quickly realized that there was no alternative for him. He's now sitting on a phone book...until the new Kaboost (in green, my son's favorite color) arrives.

If this video doesn't sell you, think about this - the only reason that phone books are still being printed is because not enough parents know about these chair boosters. Green your home by purchasing a KABOOST portable chair booster today.

Join us at the upcoming Parenting Party for a chance to win your very own Kaboost portable chair booster and carrying bag. You can bring it with you to Grandma's house, on vacation or when you head out to your neighborhood family-friendly restaurant.

Parenting Party Sponsor - NABI BABY

Who said safety can't be hip and fun?

The iddie biddie one-piece is a miniature cotton baby one-piece that hangs by suction cup on the inside of your car window to let everyone know your little one is on board.

Check out all the different iddie biddie designs and other cool stuff at Nabi Baby.

My favorite:

The creative text on the front adds an amusing element, but the shape of the garment allows motorists to immediately recognize that a baby or toddler is on board and reminds them to drive safely.

The variety of colors and designs will be raffled off at the upcoming Parenting Party. Don't miss it!

Parenting Party Sponsor - SUMMERSKY

SUMMERSKY “dares to be different”; you can see that not only from the designs but also through their models.

Together with the Down Syndrome Foundation, they have photographed models with Down Syndrome to model their collections; a group which is sadly seldom or never shown in fashion photography.

Why not? We couldn’t tell you, because look at their beauties. These children represent all children with a disability, handicap or anyone who feels, or has ever felt, "different".

Donations and Support

Of every sold item Summersky donates: in the USA, $1.50 to the "Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network" and in the Netherlands, 1 Euro to "stichting down syndrome".