77kids Holiday Sneak Peek & Charity Launch - Giveaway

Today we attended the grand opening and holiday sneak peek & charity launch at the brand new location of 77kids in Ross Park Mall!  77kids is part of the American Eagle family and they have clothing for children from size 0-3 months to children's size 14.  The designs are fresh and fun!  Everything is constructed well, reinforced, and the pants have adjustable waists (score!).

Our main purpose for attending was to be introduced to the store and learn about the launch of their holiday charity efforts.  Watch this video for an overview of how you can donate from in the store:



In addition to donating in the store you can also help to raise money for local children's hospitals by making your very own snowflake once a day between today - December 14th!  77kids is asking for 100,000 snowflakes to be made so that they can donate an additional $25,000 to local children's hospitals, this particular store is donating to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.  The BEST part is that for every snowflake you make you are entered to win gift cards (they are giving away one $77 gift card DAILY!!!) and one lucky person will win a winter block party for them and 77 of their closest friends!  Sounds like a blast!  Making a snowflake takes about 2 minutes and the kids can have fun with this too!

77kids has graciously offered a $50 gift card for me to give to one of my lucky readers! Will it be you?  Submit your entries until 11:59 pm December 2nd!  I will contact the winner the following day and you'll have 48 hours to reply, if you do not reply I will have to move on to the next person on the list.

Here's how to enter:

Required for Entry - 
* Make a snowflake here and "like" 77kids on Facebook or Follow @77kids on Twitter.  Leave a comment here telling me you created your snowflake and either "liked" or followed.  INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR TWITTER NAME SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!  

Bonus Entries - You'll get ONE EXTRA ENTRY for each of these below, just be sure to leave a separate comment for each of them noting what you did AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR TWITTER NAME!

*Tweet this: 

"@CaraRolinson is Giving Away a $50 gift card to @77kids! http://goo.gl/twdIs #77kids  "

Leave a comment here letting me know you Tweeted INCLUDE A LINK TO YOUR TWEET and EMAIL ADDRESS OR TWITTER NAME.

* Share your snowflake on Facebook.  Leave a comment here letting me know you shared INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR TWITTER NAME.

* Follow Me with Google Friend Connect, leave a comment here letting me know you followed me INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR TWITTER NAME. (if you already have connected via GFC then just leave a comment stating this is the case)

* Follow Me on Twitter, leave a comment here letting me know you followed me INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR TWITTER NAME. (if you already have connected via Twitter then just leave a comment stating this is the case)

****I was compensated for this post.  However, my thoughts and feelings on 77kids, their stores and their charity launch mentioned above are my own and are 100% honest to how I feel about them.****

Giveaway: Libby's Gift Pack

Remember a few posts ago I wrote about the wonderful afternoon I spent with some fellow local mama bloggers?  We put together 30 meal kits for families in need located in the local Pittsburgh area and enjoyed a lunch together talking about how we all do our best to have family dinners and quality time together around our dinner tables.  We will be continuing our conversation TODAY (September 28th, 2010) at 1 PM ET via a text based chat.  You can join us here before noon if you're not able to make it at that time, leave a question or suggestion and then feel free to follow up with our conversation later in the day!  OR feel free to join us LIVE at 1 PM!  Hope to see some new faces there!

Well, now it's time for me to give back to YOU!  It's giveaway time!

I will be giving away a Libby's tote bag with Libby's product, a state-of-the-art can opener and a copy of Hanna Keeley's book "Total Mom Makeover: The Six-Week Plan to Completely Transforming Your Home, Health, Family, and Life".

How you can enter:

Required for Entry -
* Leave one comment below sharing your tips about how you and your family are "getting back to the table", INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN! 

Bonus Entries (you'll get ONE EXTRA ENTRY for each of these below, just be sure to leave a separate comment for each of them noting what you did AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!) -
*Create your own virtual can drive HERE. Once you've created it, live a comment here with a link to your can drive INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.

* "Like" Libby's on Facebook, leave a comment here letting me know you "liked" them INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.

* Follow Libby's on Twitter, leave a comment here letting me know you followed themINCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.

This giveaway will run until Friday, October 8th at 11:59 PM ET.  The winner will be announced Monday, Oct 11th!

Public Speaking Gig(s): Stepping Outside of My Comfort Zone (and LOVING IT)

Last night I did something for the first time, I was asked to speak to the Pittsburgh chapter of American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) about social media.  Strengthening Your Brand by Continuing the Conversation, was the topic of our conversation. 

Let's say I was a little nervous, I don't do a lot of public speaking and it has always been something that I wasn't fully comfortable doing.  I prepped and prepped for this talk and frankly felt pretty prepared (which admittedly was a new feeling for me LOL) I even had a few slides prepared with links to all of our favorite social media sites to help illustrate my talk.  The group size was between 15-20 folks and included a good mix of newer vs seasoned members.  This directly correlated with their previous social media knowledge. 

I discussed how to integrate Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter and blogs into current routines and explained the strength of the social media conversation explaining how it will eventually lead to the goal of increasing sales, a topic that is very familiar to all small business owners.

The group was welcoming and engaging, they all asked great questions which helped tremendously.  I also agreed to be recorded during my talk, two hour-long tapes later, I've now got raw footage and audio of my presentation which may or may not make it to my blog eventually.  (Who and I kidding!  It probably will - I just need to decide if it will be the full video or just the audio... maybe both....) I am also certain that my audio/video will be shared via ASMP and their social media outlets.

My comfort zone has now been expanded!  I had such an enjoyable time talking to a group of folks who were eager to learn about something that I know quite a bit about.  It was a very new feeling and one that I enjoyed!  Can't wait to do this again.

Salvation Army 22nd Annual Fabric Sale

Here is my updated post regarding the 2011 Fabric Sale!



I am pleased to announced the details for the 22nd Annual Salvation Army Greater Pittsburgh Women's Auxiliary Fabric Sale!  As usual, they will have fabric, yarn, notions and books.  As in years past, they will provide each attendee with a large bag for your new found stash! Join me on Saturday, April 10, 2010 from 9am - 2pm in the Home Economics Building in South Park. 

In preparation for the sale they are of course taking donations for the sale.  They accept those at their Greentree facility Monday - Friday from 10am - 3pm. There are also individual auxiliary members in all areas of the region who are more than happy to receive your donations. Contact the Salvation Army by calling 412.466.1500 they are more than happy to direct you to one of those lovely ladies.  I learned that if you donate fabric to a Salvation Army Thrift Stores in the area, those donations are not set aside for the Annual Fabric Sale but instead they are sold in that particular store.

Are you interested in volunteering for the Fabric Sale? Volunteers from the women's auxiliary meet every Wednesday from 9am - 1:30pm at their facility in Greentree (Map to the volunteer center: it is directly across the street from the Salvation Army emergency vehicle depot).  The volunteers are there to sort, fold and price all donated items.  Volunteers are of course welcome to join!

In case you wish to read more, here is my post about the 21st Annual Fabric Sale.


See you at the Fabric Fair!