As you know, Emily and I were sponsored to Mom 2.0 Summit by our favorite company to work with EVER, Lands’ End.  Let me tell you how we felt like rock stars in these beautiful outfits. Over and over and OVER again we heard two things from attendees at the conference. Number one was: “THAT’S Lands’ End???” in a shocked voice, and number two was: “I am going to have to take a look at Lands’ End now! You make me want to shop them!”  I am not even kind of exaggerating when I say we heard that numerous times.  Of course, those remarks were always preceded with, “I love your dress!”  Emily and I were posting pictures of our outfits on Facebook this weekend, but now we want to include photos along with some of our favorite features of them as well.

For travel, I went with my favorite – classic Starfish Collection comfort:

It was blissfully comfy and oh-so-adorable!  I have on the Starfish tunic, striped scarf, and cropped leggings, which you can’t see, but they are adorbs (that’s how we cool kids say “adorable” these days) and I want to marry them.  (Sorry, honey.) Also, I carried this gorgeous linen and leather handbag.  It was big enough to be my carry-on on the plane, and it held my prized possessions – my iPad, my breast pump, and my makeup bag with room to spare!  It has all kinds of pockets, a detachable wristlet, and even a place for your business cards. It’s pretty much the perfect bag!

We neglected to get a photo of Emily in her traveling gear, whoopsie!  But she was also looking splendid in these pincord pants, matching drapeneck tee, and pointelle cardigan:

She had these shoes (pictured) on as well and they were so cute!  I wanted to steal them!

(Emily jumping in here – I loved this outfit so much! It was super comfortable and I know I’ll probably wear it about once a week for the rest of the summer. The shoes were SO cute, and comfortable as well.)

When we got to the hotel, we immediately changed for the much-anticipated WHITE PARTY!!! We were both just soooo over the moon about our white linen dresses.

I loved my dress because it was so comfortable.  The pleating on the bodice was a fantastic detail that really made the dress stand out. I felt great in it and very beachy.  Emily’s halter was actually from the Lands’ End Canvas line (which you should totally check out if you’re not familiar with it!)  Hers had pockets, too, which was so convenient.  We felt amazing and confident in our white! (I was kinda bummed though, that Emily’s spray tan turned out so good. Dangit! My creamsicle dreams were totally melted.)

Friday’s dresses were my personal favorite.  Em and I were both all decked out in linen.  I must tell you – these linen dresses are gorgeous, the colors are SO vibrant, and they fit like a DREAM!  This green portrait collar dress made me feel like I was straight out of the offices of  ”Mad Men”.

Here’s a look with my gorgeous Kinzie Linen Tote. The freshwater endless strand pearls are Lands’ End as well!

I really felt super-glamorous in this portrait collar dress.  (And the shoes are great, too! More on those later.)  Everywhere I went that day, people stopped me to tell me how much they loved it, especially the color (which is called “Asparagus”.)  By the end of the day, Emily and I were saying, “Asparagus is the new black!”  Everyone loved it!

Emily’s v-neck linen dress was equally beautiful.  And check out her striped handbag!  I was soooo jealous of it! (I know, my greed for Lands’ End cannot be satiated. It’s a DISEASE!)

(Emily here again – this was one of my favorite dresses too. I just loved both the fit and the cut. I am also slightly obsessed with that handbag.)

Something we both loved about these dresses is that they have little snaps inside the shoulders that hold your bra straps in place!  Genius!!  And again, I cannot emphasize enough how amazingly well they fit & flattered!  The backs of these dresses were also so pretty and lucky for us, the Mom 2.0 official photographer caught that detail!

Friday night the party was a little more casual and Emily and I chose dresses that were super fun and comfortable.  Once again I was jealous of Emily’s dress. Seriously I could easily own one of everything!

Don’t you love this bold print?  And the belt was such a great touch. This dress also had pockets, FTW!  And I know it’s kind of hard to see but she was wearing these shoes, which are sooooooo cute – I wore the same ones in white to the white party. Hers were orange and I LOVE them (orange is my favorite color. If we wore the same shoe size I totes would’ve ganked ‘em.)

I chose a cotton modal print dress.  This was without a doubt one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing I have EVER worn.  It traveled SO well too,  I did not have to do anything but pull it out of my suitcase and put it on!  And I loved the print, but it also comes in lots of great solids.  The matching espadrilles were the icing on the cake!

Saturday at the conference found me back in linen again and Emily in this great v-neck chambray dress.  Her “sherbert frock” as one conference attendee called it, was much-coveted!  And isn’t her necklace gorgeous? I wore the same one later that night.

I loved the way my shirred linen pattern dress fit. The shirring on the top is hard to see in the photo but you’ll see it later when Em rocks a solid color.  Once again, Emily and I both got tons of compliments on these dresses!  Despite the fact that it is linen, I didn’t have to iron this one out of my suitcase, either. I couldn’t believe it!  The ultra-fashionable Nicole of Momtrends loved our dresses so much, she included us in her fashion wrap-up!  We were so honored!

photo courtesy of Nicole Feliciano of Momtrends

Finally, we were SO excited to get our looks together for the big closing party of the conference, at the VERSACE MANSION!!! We were both feeling very glamorous in RED – me in red butterflies, Emily in red linen with the shirring detail on top.

This dress was soooo FUN!  I adoooore the print.  It was ultra-comfy, and had pockets and the snaps to hold my bra straps in place.  I felt super-fabulous in the bold print and color.  I honestly felt like I fit right in at the Versace mansion!  And check out my gorgeous and comfy Elizabeth buckle sandals.

Emily’s shirred linen dress was super RED hot.  Look how beautiful she looks! The shirring on the top is so elegant, and it fit like a glove.

She had cute linen & red matching espadrilles, too! We both carried the Kinzie linen tote in red to complete our looks for the party. We got some great photos in these dresses!

Like this one, and of course, again for your enjoyment, the soon-to-be-legendary shot of us in Versace’s shower!  Lands’ End REALLY infiltrated the Versace mansion in this one!

I can’t tell you how much we LOVED every minute of wearing these amazing pieces of clothing.  We couldn’t have been any more proud to be representing Lands’ End – the brand that truly took us from the conference room to the beach to the Versace mansion!  We hope you’ll head to their website, get your shop on, and show them some love!

Which one of our looks was YOUR favorite?

It was just…so well done.  Simple words that carry a lot of weight.  So. Well. Done.  The content was excellent, and effectively communicated!  The people were fun, open, friendly, supportive.  The venue was breathtaking!

The view from our room at the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne

We cannot think our generous sponsor, Lands’ End enough for sending us to represent them at this epic conference! We will have a whole Lands’ End fashion recap for you this week. We hope you enjoyed the photos of all our outfits over the weekend on our Facebook page!

decked out in Lands' End for Thursday night's White party

A highlight of Mom 2.0 was making some new friends, Jenny and Rachel. They are AMAZING and deserve a whole post just about themselves, which we will deliver later in the week! But in the meantime click on their names and check out their blogs!

Rachel (left) and Jenny, we LOVE you girls! (photo by TimeDog)

But let me talk a little about the content. Right off the bat, in Brene Brown’s keynote the first day, we were reminded to be vulnerable. There is power in being vulnerable! I have said before that we need to share each other’s hard stories. Those are the stories that we learn from, and that we benefit by sharing. I haven’t been sharing those with you for awhile. But I’m no longer afraid to or ashamed to. I do my best, I do – but I fail. And I’m tired of pretending that I don’t.

The first session Emily and I attended also had some brilliant and inspiring content. I was so excited because it was led by Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct. I first connected with Kat a couple of weeks ago after my rant about the over-”mommifying” of us by marketers. Kat asked me to guest post on her businesses blog, (and I’d love for you to read it here if you haven’t already), so I was THRILLED to meet her at Mom 2.0!

Me with Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct

Kat and her co-presenters did a great job at their session – it was all on how you can use social media to effect change. You guys saw Emily and I do that last year when we asked you – and you SO DELIVERED!!! – to help our friend E cover her cancer care expenses. (You guys, I got teary-eyed just typing that. YOU are so generous and amazing!) Emily and I want to to more of that – of using this blog and all the other media that go with it to support local businesses, non-profits, and women in business. So look for that, and thank Kat, Shelly, Kathlene, and Kami for inspiring us!

Speaking of inspiration – we got to see so many successful women speak at this conference! Raise your hand if you were CLOAKED in Liz Lange during your pregnancies!! We got to hear Liz speak along with Pilar Guzman of Martha Stewart Living, and Lee of GlassyBaby, and they were (there’s that word again!) AMAZING!

You know who else is amazing? Amy Clark of MomAdvice (she is also a human kitten. Meow!) We knew this already, but we LOVED the face time we got with her this weekend!

Liz Lange (in the blue)!!!

Mom 2.0 also had some generous and wonderful sponsors. Thanks SO MUCH to companies like Dove, Intel, ALDI, and LG for taking such amazing care of us, and for speaking frankly with us about how we can work together.

Ok, so – we learned A LOT! And we also had some FUN!  The parties were a blast, and the company was superb!  Here we are enjoying the white party with our new BFFs, Jenny and Rachel:

these. girls. ROCK! (photo by TimeDog)

The party at Gianni Versace’s mansion sponsored by the spectacular INTEL was OFF THE HOOK! You guys would not believe this place! Here Emily and I are just chillin’ in Versace’s shower – like we do!

we just wanted to freshen up...

The “shower” was a circular, ornately-tiled room with several gold shower heads – nowhere near a sink or a toilet. I really do not want to know what actually went on there but it made for a great photo-opp!

Here are some other breathtaking sites from the mansion.

Open air courtyard with pool. Unbelievable!

I only took this picture because I have the exact same tiling on my floor at home. Weird, right?

courtyard when you first enter the mansion

another view of the second courtyard with pool. I stepped on a lizard near here! Indoor/outdoor for real!

As great at allllllllllllll this was, let me tell you what my true *favorite* moment was. It was Emily, my buttoned-up cuz, getting goofy and silly over the Bloggess. If you don’t know who the Bloggess is, please smack yourself in the face, then go read her blog and buy her #1 New York Times best-selling book! She is the funniest, ever. The end. AND as we were heading out to Versace, there she was standing right outside the hotel! OHEMGEE!! So, in the spirit of celebrity awe, Emily PHOTOBOMBED her!

PHOTOBOMB w/the Bloggess!

Seriously, THIS is my favorite picture EVER in the history of the world. I love it MORE than my children’s newborn photos. Feel free to judge. I can’t help it! I am going to frame it and put it on my desk for inspiration!!

Despite the fact that we are HUGE nerds, the Bloggess graciously agreed to have her photo take with us and Rachel in our red dresses (if you know the Bloggess, you know why the Red Dress is important to her!) If not, GO READ HER!

superstar!

You guys. Mom 2.0 was the BEST conference we have ever been to! We can’t wait to share more about it with you, starting of course with our GORGEOUS outfits from Lands’ End. (Seriously, I cannot TELL you how confident I felt in those clothes!!) We also want to share with you ALL the wonderful women who attended the conference. So I am leaving a linky below for them to post THEIR Mom 2.0 recap posts, so you can all get to know them to.

More to come this week…leave us a comment about what you want to hear about, or what you enjoyed about this recap so far. We’re back and we LOVE you! We’re excited to make this here blog even better for you!

Thanks to the blogger’s penchant for the overshare, you all know us pretty well.  After all, we have been treating you to the mundane details of our lives for almost five years now!

But we don’t know quite enough about YOU.

And so my dears, if you don’t mind, we have a little survey for you to fill out so we can learn more about you, our readers.

Like, are you male or female, how many kids do you have and did you go to college and how OLD are you?  (We have a nice subtle “age range” so you don’t have to get too specific.)

This survey is totally confidential and anonymous but if you take it we’ll enter you in a drawing for a $25 Lands’ End gift card – for that you have to give us your email address. We promise not to give out your info, or even look at it twice. K?  K!

So if you would be so kind as to take our survey, click here.  We’ll leave it open until Monday, April 30th at 6pm, and then we’ll draw for the gift card.

Thanks for helping us out!

Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne. Future home of Emily and Jenny. For two nights.

I don’t know if you all have heard, I mean, you MAY have missed it but I think I’ve mentioned once or twice that Emily and I? Are FREAKING FABULOUS!

At least we like to think so!

This year, instead of going to the same blogging conference we usually hit, we decided to spread our awesomeness around to what we’ve heard is the BEST conference out there – the Mom 2.0 Summit.  It didn’t hurt that this year’s Mom 2.0 Summit will be taking place May 3-5 in Miami, Florida. {Cue Will Smith in background}.  To say we are excited about this is a major, major understatement!  Let’s see, me, Emily, THE BEACH, the RITZ-CARLTON, 500 fabulous women, and amazing sponsors?? WIN!

And the parties…oh my the parties.  Friday night there is an ultra-fancy “White Party” on the beach and Saturday – you are not going to belieeeeeeve this – Saturday the Mom 2.0 attendees will be attending a party at the legendary and seldom-trampled-by-the-general-public VERSACE FREAKING MANSION!  That’s right, the Versace mansion on Ocean Drive!  We. Are. Fancy!

Emily and I can’t wait to get to the Summit and soak up all the great marketing knowledge to be had, and meet a whole bunch of new people, too!  (Just get prepared, Mom 2.0 attendees: to know us is to LOVE us. So make room  in your hearts because you are going to need it!)  But what we’re most excited about (well, Em is probably actually most excited about being on a plane with me.  Because that’s going to be awesome for both of us.  Speaking of, does anyone have an Xanax we can borrow?) is that we are thrilled, proud, and over-the-top excited to once again be partnering with our favorite brand EVER, Lands’ End, for this event.  That’s right, Lands’ End is fully sponsoring our attendance and we’ll be wearing Lands’ End day and night to all the fabulous, fancy events!  Because they are a brand that can take you from the boardroom to the beach to the Versace mansion, and we are excited to rock out the Lands’ End all over Mom 2.0!

As we choose our outfits, we’ll be started Pinterest boards for everything in our Mom 2.0 wardrobe.  So make sure and follow Emily and me on Pinterest so you don’t miss those great outfits!  (Not that we won’t post pictures of us wearing them in MIAMI!!!!!)

Get ready, Miami!  You think it’s hot there now?  Wait’ll this hawtness hits ya!

Don't act like you're not impressed!

All this to say, I like writing funny post titles!!  But these days, to get lots of traffic from people who are google-searching various topics, you’re supposed to write blog titles that will quickly show up on search engines.  This is called “Search Engine Optimization”.  A couple weeks ago I noticed we had a surge in blog traffic. Like, you know 47 people a day were visiting our blog rather than the usual 14.  After a little bit of fiddling with Google Analytics, I found that it was due to a post I had written about ideas on how to celebrate Leap Day – ideas that I was considering, that I had not yet attemped.  I named the post Leap Day Celebration Ideas because I could not think of a more creative name.  I drew a big ol’ blank on that one. Well my lack of creativity was apparently just what the old search engine was looking for.  What I learned from that traffic surge was that if you write super-boring post titles, people will find the title on google and then look at your page for 2.2 seconds and never come back to your blog again WHEEEEEEEEE!!  Yay Search Engine Optimization!

I think I’ll stick to trying to crack up my cousin.  And hopefully a couple of you ladies and, of course, my Uncle Paul.

I started thinking about this topic when I saw the Facebook status of a great blogger, Beth Fletcher, of I should be folding laundry.  Here’s what Beth’s status said:

“I remember the good ol’ days when people would throw cool birthday parties for their kids FOR their kids and not to just get on Pinterest.”

So, yeah apparently that’s a thing.  Throw your kid a super-awesome creative party so you can take lots of pictures of it and hope that people will pin them and that you will become a Pinterest SUPASTAH!  And subsequently a bloggy SUPASTAH!

Clearly we love Pinterest or we wouldn’t have started our Pin for the Wednesdays carnival.  But I doubt that I’ll ever be hand-stitching a princess tent with which to adorn my front lawn for a birthday party just so I can become pinned by all the peoples! (Em probably would, though. She’s such a fame whore.)

It was just interesting to me that writing post titles for SEO (which is fine if you’re a niche, DIY, cooking, how-to-whatever blog, but NOT if you are just being a creative writer!) has a counterpart with Pinterest already.

Hey whatever works, people.

But what works for us is keepin’ it real.  Real real. Real DUMB.  Real dirty.  Real sad sometimes.  And, hopefully real funny a lot of the time! That’s what we can live with.  And we hope you’ll live it with us!

I held out as long as I could. But, now I’m pinning. Pinterest has me in it’s clutches!

I finally capitulated for the good of the blog.  I wanted to join before but I was SKEERED! Scared because all over facebook I’d read statuses like “Well I just lost two hours of my life to Pinterest.”  and “Pinterest is so addicting!”  The only addictions I currently have time for in my life are Mountain Dew and Downton Abbey (SHH!!! I HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO WATCH THE FINALE YET! It’s waiting for me on my DVR!).  I was afraid I’d end up like this:

But, amazingly, I have found that one CAN use Pinterest and NOT let every other responsibility in life go by the wayside!  I have discovered that you can be on if for just a few minutes at a time instead of what I thought was a two-hour minimum. So, I am actually really loving it! I’ve just gotten started pinning things such as my favorite Lands’ End clothes that I want need,  yummy food, things to make with the kids, and apps and games to play for learning and overcoming developmental delays.

SO, I am loving pinning!  I hope you’ll follow my pins!   And while you’re at it, follow Emily too.  Let me know where you’re at on Pinterest and I’d love to follow you too.

Pin it to win it, baby!

The internet is great.  I love that I have a place to come and spew forth my thoughts, my stories, my grief, my craziness, my joys.  I love sharing this space with Emily, one more gift in a life we’ve shared as cousins and friends.

And I love the friends I’ve made through blogging, near and far.

But mostly near.  Because there are amazing ladies I’ve met through blogging who actually live near me, and we’ve had the joy of investing in each other’s lives face-to-face.  You know who you are, #bigdealmoms!

So when I leave a blogging conference and everyone is all mushy-gushy about how much they miiiiiiissss each other and how they’re going through withdrawal, the cynical jerkwad in me just can’t buy it.  Maybe it’s just because I’m fortunate enough to have people.  I’ve got cousins and brothers and sisters-in-law and really wonderful friends, real-live in-the-flesh people. And as much as I love the blogging community, it’s my girlfriend down the street that I want to be mushy-gushy about.  The one who watches my kids when I’m in a pinch or helps me clean my house before my kid’s birthday party, and vice versa.  The one who knows my crap, sees me lookin’ like a hobo, and tells me I’m ok when I think I’m losing my mind.  It’s those people, my family and my friends that I love like family, that I want to embrace and be joyful with every time I see them.  Even if I just saw them yesterday.

So, there, I said it.

Let  the ones you’re with, be the ones you love.  And love the crap out of them!

Here’s the breakfast I shared yesterday:

I love chocolate milk!!

As I mentioned in my earlier post, my Sophie gets her breakfast at school – as does every child at her school- and I think it’s a great program to ensure that each child gets the food they need to start their mornings out right so their brains can be ready to LEARN!  Here are some more details about how easy it is to Share Your Breakfast!  For each breakfast shared, Kellogg’s will donate the monetary equivalent of one school breakfast to Action for Healthy Kids!

Option 1: Online with photo
- Head over to http://www.shareyourbreakfast.com
- Find the upload station in the yellow band and click ‘browse’ to find your photo (You can also click the link to take a photo with your webcam!)
- Be sure that your photo is a JPG or PNG file, that it’s no more than 3MB and that no recognizable logos are included
- Fill out all the information, agree to terms and click ‘upload’!

Option 2: Online with no photo
- Head over to http://www.shareyourbreakfast.com
- Find the upload station in the yellow band and type in a description of your breakfast in the box provided
- Fill out all the information, agree to terms and click ‘upload’!

Option 3: Text message
- Text the word SHARE with a photo or description of your breakfast to 21534
- Be sure that your photo does not include any recognizable logos.
- Message and data rates may apply. See your carrier for details.

March 8th is National Breakfast Day, so Kellogg’s is even allowing us to share our breakfasts on Twitter on March 8th ONLY!  Woooo! Here’s how to do that TOMORROW, March 8th – just share a photo or description on Twitter using the #ShareUrBreakfast hashtag.

Please note: your shared breakfast doesn’t have to be a Kellogg’s product.  It can even just be a cup of coffee!

You can view the whole talk and watch the video with Trinh Le and Dr. Washington at this link here.

This is such an important program because 17 million children in our country live in food-insecure households.  That means they aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from.  Helping them get breakfast, in addition to lunch at school is a lifeline to these kids.

You can share your breakfast once a day, every day until July 31st.  It’s so easy to do and makes a HUGE difference!  Please join me in sharing your breakfast as often as you can!

____________________

I was compensated by Kellogg’s and TheMotherhood.com for co-hosting the Virtual Breakfast chat.  All opinions on the program are my own.

Why yes, that IS me eating a Pop Tart.  I loooove them.  And while I am usually a cereal kind of girl, some mornings you just need a special treat.  So this morning, I had me one!  And then, I shared my breakfast with Kellogg’s at their Share Your Breakfast web site.  I uploaded this very hawt picture of myself to ShareYourBreakfast.com. Why?  Well, obviously because it is a very gorgeous picture and could not be kept from the world.  Duh.  But ALSO, because for every breakfast shared at ShareYourBreakfast.com, Kellogg’s will donate the monetary equivalent of a school breakfast to Action for Healthy Kids, a non-profit organization that focuses on childhood obesity and malnourishment.  One way they combat these problems is by providing funding to school districts  to expand or initiate school breakfast programs.

So how can YOU Share Your Breakfast?  It’s super-easy!  Just upload a photo of your breakfast at ShareYourBreakfast.com. You don’t even have to be in the photo if you don’t want!  Or, you can even text your photo and the word “Share” to 21534.  Kellogg’s hopes to meet their goal of donation 1 million breakfasts to Action for Healthy Kids!! You can share your breakfast once a day, every day, through July 31, 2011.

Personally, I LOVE this program.  Sophie, along with every other child at her school, receives a free breakfast at school.  It’s great for families who struggle to put food on the  table, and it’s great for my Sophie because she is a very picky eater but the breakfast menu at school is very varied and she is constantly introduced to new foods – something that it can be difficult for me to accomplish at home.

Want to find out more?  I hope you’ll join me and some other great bloggers, as well as Trinh Le from Kellogg’s and Dr Reginald Washington, chairman of the board of Action for Healthy Kids, for a “Virtual Breakfast” chat on theMotherhood.com tomorrow, March 1, from 11:30-12:00 noon EST.  You can RSVP for AND attend the talk  at this link here.  I hope you’ll join us!

Whether you can make the chat or not, please go to ShareYourBreakfast.com as often as you think of it, and tell your family and friends to share their breakfasts as well!  Let’s give some school kids a nutritious, free start to their day!

___________________

I am being compensated for my role as a co-host of the Virtual Breakfast talk by Kellogg’s and the Motherhood.com.  All opinions about the Share Your Breakfast program are my own.

You guys are amazing. Amazing.

In one day, one single day, you gave over $2,000 to help my friend Elizabeth.

We asked, “GimmE five!” and you did! And then some!  And today even more has come in…we are blown away.  And some of you are sending checks!  Thank you for making the extra effort.

By your love.  Your generosity.  Your faith in our word that this is needed.

I am humbled.

Grateful.

Just about speechless.

Totally in tears.

Thank you isn’t enough to express our gratitude and joy.  But it’s all I’ve got right now.

Thank you!

_____________________

We will keep the donation account open for a couple more weeks at least…you can still GimmE Five!  Please email me if you’d like to send a check.