I switched it up a bit, and wore jeans, a tank and a cardigan on Friday rather than the dress I had planned. The vibe in San Diego was so relaxed and the weather so cool that I was happy I made the switch.

Friday night I donned my navy and white stripe dress (a color combination I’m totally obsessed with at the moment) with a coral open cardigan. I was so thankful for the cardy on the pedicab right home with Jo-Lynne, Nicole and Brooke from a party to our hotel. It was chilly!

I spent much of Saturday in the Mom’s Fashion File Style Suite. I got to hand out awesome Lands’ End Swag Bags to the lucky makeover moms.

Jo-Lynne, the other Style Agent send by Lands End, and I rocked our Lands’ End Canvas all day long.

Saturday night was the big Mom’s Fashion File Secret Style Suite party. What a great party! Again, Jo-Lynne and I were sporting Lands’ End. I loved my dress – it was so comfortable!

Huge thanks to Lands’ End for providing airfare, hotel and stylish clothing so I could attend BlogHer ’11.

Right before we packed up our house and moved to Alabama, we gathered at Firefly Play Cafe in Columbus, Ohio to assemble all the wonderful donations for our NICU care packages. Firefly was a wonderful place for us to meet because the children have plenty of room to run and play and there was space for us to spread all the awesome products for the care packages. Big thanks to Firefly for hosting, promoting and waiving the entrance fee for folks who donated a gift card to the cause. Many bags got a bonus grocery store or restaurant gift card!

I’ve been blessed with two healthy, full-term babies so I can’t personally imagine the stress associated with having a baby in the NICU. But, I put on my thinking cap and contacted some generous sponsors who were VERY supportive by donating great products to the project. After lots of planning and a fun morning of work, it was so fulfilling to see the 25 beautiful care packages!

Assembly line: Baggu bags, SwaddleDesigns Original Receiving Blanket, CuskiBoo, Sophie the Giraffe and Pampers Wipes and Diapers

More assembly line: grocery store gift cards, Sticky Bellies, BabyLegs Newborn, Bath & Body Works HandiBac

The kids were entertained with painting and bouncing and running around!

Monica and I with all the care packages

A HUGE “Thank You” to all the brands who made the care packages possible: Pampers, SwaddleDesigns, Sophie the Giraffe, CuskiBoo, Baggu, Sticky Bellies and Bath & Body Works!

Make sure you check out the Pampers Facebook page for Miracle Mission projects and to find out how you can make a difference.

The transition from hobby to business was a slow one, but this year I’ve been particularly aware of making decisions with the business in mind. For example, I hired an attorney to create an LLC. Yes, The Shopping Mama is a registered Limited Liability Corporation. My corporation. I’ve also invested in that attorney’s help to defend my brand on more than one occasion. On a lighter note, I’ve really enjoyed bringing on – and paying (albeit not much) – friends who contribute their time and effort to making The Shopping Mama a better blog.

The best thing about owning a small business is the satisfaction of knowing that I’m doing something for myself. While The Shopping Mama is a business about creating content for you, the readers, it is one that makes me happy and brings me joy.

Intuit, a company known for its dedication to small businesses, is rewarding local businesses, like The Shopping Mama, with incredibly generous grants. The Love a Local Business promotion gives YOU the chance to recognize a small business by voting for your favorite. Each month Intuit will be giving away $25,000to a deserving local business. Plus, in July they are awarding $50,000 in grants to businesses in the two citiesyou love the most!Your nominations and votes will help secure a better future for local businesses in your communities.

It’s been very exciting starting my own business, so I’m curious to know: What dream business would you love to start? By replying you will be entered to win an iPad 2!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Intuit’s Love A Local Business competition. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest runs July 6 to August 9, 2011. A random winner will be announced by August 11, 2011. Official Contest Rules

.

Check out this quick video that shows how one young expecting couple was surprised with an amazing baby shower to celebrate the upcoming birth of their daughter.

Pampers wants to give you the warm fuzzies that come from showering a deserving parent and celebrating a new baby by providing money to throw a baby shower.

Win! A $300 American Express Card to Pay for a Baby Shower!

How to Enter: Leave a comment telling us who you’d like to honor with a baby shower.

Bonus Entries – valid only after completing the first required entry. Please leave a separate comment for each you do.

• Follow Pampers AND The Shopping Mama on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway. You may do this every day, just leave a link when you do.
  Celebrate little miracles with Pampers and shower a new parent with a baby shower {$300 giveaway} @TheShoppingMama http://t.co/Qsf2onc
• Like Pampers on Facebook.
• Like The Shopping Mama on Facebook? If you Share or Like this post on your Facebook, leave another comment.
• Subscribe to The Shopping Mama in email or RSS.
• Sign up for the The Shopping Mama Newsletter.

Giveaway ends July 22. Open to US residents only.

Thanks to Pampers for providing the giveaway prize. I am a member of the Pampers Baby Board but I was not compensated for this post

If you’re new to Gilt Children, let me just tell you: it rocks. But, because that doesn’t really explain anything, here’s how they describe themselves: Gilt Children offers hand-selected luxury brands at member-only prices. I’ve been a fan for a while and have scored some amazing deals. They really do curate beautiful deals of high-quality products. Think Maclaren, Skip Hop, beautiful boutique clothing lines you will fall in love with. If you haven’t yet, it’s worth registering so you get updates on the latest sales.

As a Gilt-y Mom I’ll be sharing my best tips and advice on the Gilt Children Facebook page over the next month. I’d love for you to join me there and chime in – I know you have great things to share! Right now you’ll find lots of great ideas for summer celebrations from all the Gilt-y Moms.

Now, for the best part. (Okay, almost best. The best will be the upcoming $100 Gilt credit giveaway.) Gilt Children is providing members of Gilt-y Mom’s Summer Spectacular with a special limited-time offer: Get $10 off when you spend $50 or more on Gilt Children! Offer expires July 18.

So, what are you waiting for? Click through to automatically take advantage of this awesome Gilt Children discount.

I am a compensated Gilty Mom. Opinions are my own.

Later this month we’ll be gathering at Firefly Play Cafe, a very cool indoor play space in Columbus, to assemble 25 care packages for families with a baby in the local Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We have a great group of generous sponsors will are providing some really incredible gifts to these families.

First things first, none of this would be possible without Pampers. It’s their project and I’m just honored to participate! Every care package will include Newborn Swaddlers Diapers and Sensitive Thick Care Wipes.

We’ll be sharing more details about the care packages and the products inside in the next couple weeks, but here’s a sneak peek of all the great goodies in the packages.

Pocket Sized Hand Sanitizer from Bath & Body Works

BabyLegs Newborn

Sticky Bellies Milestone Stickers

SwaddleDesigns Ultimate Receiving Blanket

Sophie the Giraffe

CUSKIBOO

And all that awesomeness will be contained in a colorful reusable bag from BAGGU.

Your Miracle Mission

You can participate in the awesome Pampers Miracle Mission campaign, too. Like Pampers on Facebook and pledge to commit the second Miracle Mission: give dad the time he and baby deserve to bond. For committing to help, you can enter The Little Miracles sweepstakes for a chance to win free diapers and wipes for a year. If Pampers gets 4,000 commitments to complete the mission, Pampers will throw special Father’s Day cook-outs for dads and babies across the country designed to give dads and their babies valuable bonding time.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Pampers Baby Board. I was not compensated for this post.

During the past nine months of my husband’s deployment, I’ve achieved a new level of disorganization. It’s been really bad. I had actually hoped the opposite would happen – that I’d have more control and knowledge about all of our household accounts and bills. I have to think if Manilla had existed last fall when my husband deployed I would have been in a much better position, with more knowledge and control of all of our accounts.

What Is Manilla?

Manilla is a free web based service that helps consumers better manage all of their household accounts, including financial, utilities, subscriptions and travel rewards programs, in one secure place online. Under a single password, Manilla provides customers with an automated, organized view of all of their account information, text and/or email reminders to pay bills and unlimited storage of account documents that Manilla has seamlessly retrieved for the consumer.

Manilla: How It Works

1. Link accounts and loyalty programs, get an organized view with one password

2. View, pay and be reminded of statements and bills while avoiding late fee

3. Get copies of your bills and statements delivered online and enjoy unlimited storage

Online Account Organizer

I’m actually pretty embarrassed by how out of touch I was with all of our finances and accounts. Whether your spouse is travels a lot or is home all the time, it’s important for us moms to know what’s going on. Heaven forbid anything happen, we need to know what’s what and have an understanding on everything from the super important things (hello, mortgage!) to the convenient (airline mileage). Manilla is a great and secure online location with an easy to understand interface that truly makes it easy to get updates at a glance. No need to pour throw paper bills or read line by line of a check book – see it all in one place at Manilla. What does that mean for me? A complete understanding and handle on the accounts and extra time every day.

Organize & Enter to Win $1,000

I got a sneak peek into Manilla, a new household account organization site, and I want to share the scoop with you! And the best news? In June they are doing an amazing giveaway where one lucky new user will win $1,000 cash to pay their bills!

Get organized and be entered to win $1,000 cash to pay your bills!

How to Enter:

1. Sign up with Manilla

2. Link one or more household, financial, subscription or rewards account within Manilla

3. Come back and leave a comment telling me you signed up and how Manilla can save you time!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Manilla. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest runs June 7-30, 2011. Winner must be signed up with Manilla with at least one account linked to win. A random winner will be selected by June 31, 2011.

A week or two ago, when I got the opportunity to participate in the Lands’ End Swimsuit Confidence movement, I was all for it. I love the idea that women – MOMS -  of all shapes and sizes feel confident in a bathing suit. After all, us moms have enough to worry about at the pool or beach. We really don’t need to worry about how we look!

Of course, the idea of swimsuit confidence is great until its time to take a picture of myself in a bathing suit to and actually publish it on the blog. Then I wondered, “Why in the world did I agree to do this?!” But, I’m doing it. So I am sporting the awesome Seaside Halter One-Piece Swimsuit from Lands’ End.

Join the Swimsuit Confidence Movement

Lands’ End wants YOU to show your swimsuit confidence this week, so join the movement. There are lots of ways to get involved and you even have the chance to win a Lands’ End gift card so you can score a fashionable and comfortable bathing suit for the summer.

• Get the Twibbon – Go to http://twibbon.com/join/I-Have-Swimsuit-Confidence-2 and display the “I have swimsuit confidence!” Twibbon on your Twitter profile photo.  Send a tweet to @LandsEndPR proclaiming “I have swimsuit confidence!” #landsend for a chance to be entered to win a $500 Lands’ End gift card – winner announced May 27.
• Participate in a Week of Tweets – Mark your calendar each day May 23 – 27, 2011 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CDST so you can join in the series of National Swimsuit Confidence Week events on Twitter. Follow @LandsEndPR and tweet at #landsend.  We will be announcing exclusive swimwear promotions, giving away great prizes and inspiring women to embrace their swimsuit beauty.
• Bloggers Join the Movement – On May 23, 2011, 21 women from Curvy Girl Guide will show off their swimsuit confidence by posting a photo in a 2011 Lands’ End Swimsuit.  You can join in by posting your swimsuit photo on May 23, 2011 to inspire your followers – send a link to libby.schmeisser@landsend.com for a chance to win one of five $100 Lands’ End gift cards.

Thanks to Lands’ End for providing a bathing suit to help me feel more confident this summer.

Do you ever feel like the only topics you’re prepared to discuss with other adults include potty training woes, the latest episode of Dinosaur Train and sneaking vegetables into your child’s meal? Well, you’re not alone. I find it increasingly difficult to stay on top of and knowledgeable about current events. Well, now there’s an App for that.

the collection is a brand new “appazine” – app + magazine – that uses ground-breaking technology to provide in-depth information in an entertaining method. In addition to first-class articles, audio, photos and videos, inter-active elements will include panoramic photography, 3D digital animation, creative morphing, rubbing, X-Ray lens and much much more. The app is free, but you pay to download each month’s appazine.

I downloaded the collection to my iPad and the premiere appazine focuses on Prince William. It’s separated into three parts with a collection of more information than you can imagine but it’s nothing like reading a long newspaper article. The content looks extremely cool, and is totally interactive. Search “the collection” in the app store to check it out.

iPad Giveaway!

Stay current with the collection on your very own iPad (and the collection App free for the remainder of the year)! All you need to do enter to win is send a tweet with the following message:

Stay up-to-date with current events by using #thecollection iPad App

As a reminder, here’s what the front porch looked like before:

With a $150 budget courtesy of Apartment Guide, I make some strategic purchases and am so pleased with the outcome. Here’s the front porch after:

My favorite part is the cushions that take advantage of the bench seat. If it ever stops raining every day, I imagine sitting here while the kids ride bikes back and forth on the sidewalk.

To spring-ify my porch I purchased: cushions to create a bench seat, a pretty hanging plant, front door wreath, large pot and flowering plants.

Okay, now that my porch is ready for spring I think it’s time the weather improves so we can enjoy it!

Apartment Guide is owned by Consumer Source, Inc. Apartment Guide partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its “Spring in Small Spaces” Blogger Challenge. As part of that program, I received compensation. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products used for the “Spring in Small Spaces” Blogger Challenge. Apartment Guide and Consumer Source believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.