* hip mama blog *

HELP WANTED: I Need Votes For My Photo

2009-12-08T20:45:00.002-06:00

Hello Hip Mama Blog friends,

I need a HUGE favor from you all.

First off, I'm happy to announce that Corner Bakery Cafe has chosen Hip Mama's Place (my review blog) as one of 12 mom blogs nationwide to host the "12 Days of Christmas" CBC Holiday Catering Challenge. I am trying to win $150 worth of Corner Bakery Cafe food to give away to one of you, lucky readers of Hip Mama's Place!

Of course, being a winner for this contest will not only mean great exposure for Hip Mama's Place but will also mean new buyers for my Etsy store as well (www.DesignsbyJocelyn.Etsy.com).

So here's how you can help me (and trust me, this will only take one minute, if not a few seconds of your time). I need you all to vote for my photo on Corner Bakery Cafe's Facebook page.

Here is a direct link to Corner Bakery Cafe's Facebook Holiday page:
http://www.facebook.com/cornerbakerycafe?v=app_191444394706&ref=ts

To access the photos, please become a fan of Corner Bakery Cafe while you're logged on to your Facebook account first from the link above.

*Step by step what to do:

1. While you're signed on to your Facebook account, click the button, "Become A Fan" on Corner Bakery Cafe's page (link above)

2. Find the "Holiday" tab on Corner Bakery's page (3rd tab). There you'll find their "12 Days of Catering from the Corner" page.

3. Scroll to the bottom to find the "Party Photos" section and click my photo that has the two elf boy and girl dolls surrounded by all the yummy CBC food. My photo is on the second row, second from left), which is this photo:

4. All you have to do to vote for me is click "I LIKE THIS". Make sure the photo says, "Hip Mama's Place" on the top when you click on the photo. :)

That's it! You will have until December 13th, 2009 to vote for me.

I thank you so much, friends! You will be doing me a HUGE favor, as well as a two-in-one "holiday and birthday gift" to me when you vote for me!
Pretty, please? :)

And you don't have to be in the USA to vote, everyone on Facebook is welcome to vote. Please forward this to your friends if you can. Your help is greatly appreciated. If in the future you need my help on votes or anything similar, please count me in and I will gladly help you out as well. :)

Happy holidays to you and your family! :)

Jocelyn Duncan, Blog Editor/Founder
Hip Mama's Place.. where cool, trendy moms hang out!
www.hipmamasplace.com
Handmade Jewelry: http://www.DesignsbyJocelyn.Etsy.com
Follow Me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hipmamasplace
Become a Hip Mama's Place fan on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hip-Mamas-Place/134189539767

Holiday Gift List

2009-11-28T07:57:00.002-06:00

I've always been the last-minute shopper. This Christmas holiday though, I want to start my gift list early and look for deals. I do have a very limited budget for gifts this year so I've started looking around online for great and affordable holiday gifts.

As much as I want to give everyone in my list a beautiful present this holiday season, I'm also thinking "affordable". I was looking at this store for espresso machines. Hmmm, I wish I can afford one.

How about you? Have you started shopping for people on your holiday gift list yet?

Holiday Decorating

2009-11-28T07:47:00.002-06:00

This weekend will be a really busy one for me. We're starting to decorate our house for Christmas. We usually don't "deck the halls" this early, but part of the reason is because we're inviting friends over for a catered holiday party next Sunday (day after my birthday).

I won't divulge the full details yet, but I'm so excited to share that Hip Mama's Place was chosen as one of 12 mom blogs nationwide to host a free catered Christmas party sponsored by a top bakery chain in the U.S. With thousands of mom bloggers in the U.S., I felt elated to be one of the 12. No, I won't have a catered food from a Syracuse italian restaurant, but it will still be yummy food with a "12 Days Of Christmas" theme.

So this weekend, Dan and I will be preparing our house for this party. We've invited a few friends over to celebrate it with us and we're very excited! :)

Travel Tips

2009-11-28T07:28:00.006-06:00

(I took this photo while visiting Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, Colorado last August 2009)

Do you have any upcoming travel plans this holiday season?

I was just browsing through this website that offered tips for packing for a holiday trip and there were two valuable tips that I'd like to share to you all:

1. Bags will hold more if the clothes are rolled rather than folded. If you roll in tissue paper, the clothes will also get less wrinkled.

2. While it is a good idea to take some small gifts with you while traveling, pre-wrapping them can be a waste of time if you are flying and your bags are opened.

Dan and I are planning to go to Georgia after Christmas to visit his grandmother there. I'm already thinking about what to pack for this trip and the kind of luggage I'm going to use. I have one similar to a Rimowa, which works great everytime.

How about you? Any travel plans for the holiday? Do you have any helpful tips to offer for holiday traveling? Share them here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-28T07:19:00.002-06:00

Oh, wow. I know it's been a real while since I've posted here.

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I had a great one. My two boys and I spent Thanksgiving mostly at home and had dinner at Dan's parent's house. I made two sides: Chicken Fried Rice and Corn Pudding which both turned out yummy and everyone loved it!

Anyway, I thought I was very good as far as my eating this Thanksgiving. I didn't go crazy on food so I didn't need any appetite suppressant or anything like that.

So how was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was a happy one!

Check Out My Etsy Store

2009-10-19T23:04:00.003-05:00

Hello, friends.

I haven't been posting here for a while. But here's one of the reasons why.

I've been really busy trying to set up my handmade jewelry store on Etsy and now it's finally launched! :)

Not many of you know, but one of my favorite things to do in my free time is beading jewelry. I love working my hands with all kinds of semi-precious gemstones, sparkly crystals and pearls as much as I love wearing them!

I'm happy to announce that I recently joined the handmade artists community on Etsy and have turned this wonderful hobby into a little home business! :)

I hope you will all come by visit my Etsy store some time at:

www.designsbyjocelyn.etsy.com

There are pretty stuff you can wear yourself, or give to your loved ones as gifts. Since I just opened my store two days ago, I haven't made a sale yet. So I am holding a GRAND OPENING SALE for 15% off plus free shipping for the first 5 buyers within the US and Canada.

Here are a few of my handmade jewelry items currently up for sale:

*Vintage Modern Rose and Crystal Bracelet, $35

*Fall Into Style Blue Turquoise Magnesite Puffed Oval and Amber Glass Mix Bracelet, $40

*Diva Chain Necklace, $28

I will be adding more of my jewelry creations in the next two weeks and I'm planning to hold my very first blog giveaway from my store soon. So keep checking in.

Thank you all for looking! :)

Hello Friday!

2009-09-18T08:15:00.002-05:00

How are you all?

First, I wanted to say that I'm feeling truly blessed. I'm doing great. Despite the challenges of being a single mom.

I got so much on my plate these days. Sometimes people would comment that I have no time to sit down and just do whatever. That's so true. With my two kids, my online job, taking care of a fairly big house, I am super duper busy. And lately, I've been trying to set up my Etsy store. Yes, I'm joining in the handmade artists bandwagon and I will be selling my handmade stuff on Etsy. It's still a secret for right now since I'm not totally ready to launch it yet. But I think I will be ready in the next week or so. I am very excited about that.

Today will be a busy day again. I wished I wasn't too tired to wake up at dawn this morning to go out and run. I weighed myself last night and I was four pounds heavier. Ugh. Now I'm thinking I wish I have the extra money to just go get some type of liposuction to get rid of my muffin top, lol. But oh well, I don't really know if I want to do that too. Although someone had told me about apatrim. Hmmm, I'm somewhat hesitant on diet pills, but I will look into it.

Anyway, so much for the weight talk. I hope you all have a happy Friday and a fantastic weekend ahead! :)

We're Getting Me A New Car

2009-09-13T15:34:00.004-05:00

I'm a little excited about getting me a new car this October. We've been shopping around and I think we're either getting a Jeep Liberty or a Ford Focus. There is nothing wrong about my present car (a 2005 Nissan Xterra). I love it and it's really great! Sadly, it had to go due to personal reasons.

Anyway, I'm not looking to get a fancy car with all kinds of extras in it. Although I heard having some type of air intakes can improve any car's performance. Well, as long as it's a four-door car, automatic, has room enough for my kids' car seats and has a CD player- I will just be fine.

So let's see what happens.

Hectic First Week of School

2009-09-13T07:34:00.000-05:00

Hello, friends.

This past week had been so busy around the household- lots of running around. My boys are back to school. Yes, they're both in special programs. So far, Gabriel's speech and communication skills had greatly improved since he worked with a speech therapist since he was 2 and now the pre-school program. My two year old Jaden is doing that too now, hoping it will help his speech delay as well.

Anyway, this afternoon is also Gabriel's first soccer game. I can't wait to see him play. It's one of those 4-5 year old soccer games where there are really no rules. They just play and kick the ball, although they have a coach too and they're all going to be in cute uniforms with their team name on it and all. It'll be so cute!!! :)

It's really been hectic. I wish I had a little time to myself to go shopping, check out some Black Friday deals or something, or have my nails done. But it's okay. This coming weekend I will have time for those. The boys will be with their dad and I can finally use the massage gift card I got from my sweetie on my birthday last year, lol. Too much to do, too little time. But at least I'm getting there.

How are you all? Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend!

Catching Up

2009-09-13T07:17:00.000-05:00

I weighed myself last night and wasn't surprised I gained back 2 pounds since the last time I did. I had been running/jogging on and off but since we got back from our two recent trips to NYC and Colorado, I had been less motivated to run again. But tomorrow, I will run again and hopefully I lose the darn extra 10 pounds I've been wanting to lose for some time now.

I'm not one to pop diet pills just to easily get rid of unwanted weight. Although I've heard some people are really successful in using them- along with changes in their diet and incorporating some type of physical activity in their routine.

So far for me, running has helped me a lot. Even my moods and my energy level has greatly improved. I just had to watch what I eat, because I love food and sometimes I really don't care what's in it or how much I eat. Yes, I'm petite. But I really do have a good appetite for food. :)

Home Lighting Solutions

2009-09-13T06:57:00.001-05:00

Are you currently shopping for new home indoor or outdoor lighting?

There's a cool online store for it called Lighting Showplace where you can find all kinds of home lighting you can imagine- whether you need it for indoor or outdoor.

Dan and I are constantly looking for ideas to improve our home decor and this place has a lot to offer! Like, they have the Murray Feiss brand that has exceptional designs for indoor lighting and outdoor lighting. I love their Bob Mackie Home collections- very stylish. They also got chandeliers, ceiling fixtures, pendants and bath lighting. Murray Feiss is definitely a name to remember when thinking about fashioning your home!

Online Backup Services

2009-09-13T06:55:00.000-05:00

Did you ever had a computer hard drive failure that resulted in the loss of your important files such as financial documents, emails, digital photos and music? You all know what a disaster that can be!

Fortunately, we can now totally prevent this type of computer problem with the use of an online backup service. Yes, your files can be recovered as good as new even when it's already corrupted or lost. These online backups can be run automated or manual and are easy to use, secure and will prevent loss of time and money in the event of a file loss.

Getting Back

2009-08-30T10:40:00.005-05:00

Hello, friends. I'm glad to be back. I can't believe it's been three weeks since my last post here. As you well know, I'm very active on my other blog where I write reviews for products that I test. I'm playing catch up on my writing commitments there. But as super busy as I am right now, I'm still not going to totally disregard my personal blog. :)

Anyway, thank you all for your heart-felt encouragement over my 'separation anxiety' with my kids. We've all been back from our trips since last Sunday. I've missed the boys so much I had to go pick them up from their dad's house an hour after I arrived from my trip to Colorado- no matter how tired I was. That night, I cried with joy and thanked God the two weeks of not seeing them was over.

Okay, on a happier note. I had a fabulous time both in New York City and at the Epic Summer Adventure experience in Colorado the week after that. Dan and I took tons of photos on both trips, and we sure had a hell o' good times! It was my first time in the Rocky Mountain High, so I was on top of the world the whole time. It was just perfectly amazing! ;)

Right now, I'm back to my mommy routine. The laundry doesn't look too good right now, but I'm taking it one day at a time.

How are you all? Hope everything is well.

Hip Mama's Place: Wordful/Wordless Wednesday: Our Epic Summer Adventure in Colorado

2009-08-26T11:34:00.000-05:00

Hip Mama's Place: Wordful/Wordless Wednesday: Our Epic Summer Adventure in Colorado

Mixed Emotions

2009-08-08T11:08:00.004-05:00

This morning, my two little monkeys left for Los Angeles (California) with their dad for a short two-week vacation to visit their dad's relatives. I was telling a few friends that I've been having separation anxiety over this. My boys have never left my side for this long since both of them were born. So last night while I was putting them to bed, I held both of them tight and had my mommy moment- a pang of sadness just hit me and I cried. Ugh.

I had to remind myself that this is going to be good for me and a chance to take a break being a mother and full-time caregiver to my boys. I'm sad that I won't see them for two weeks, but I just had to think that they will be alright and they will have fun where they're going.

As for me, I am taking a real break. This coming Tuesday, my wonderful and sweet boyfriend Dan is taking me and his twelve year old son Jordan to New York City for a few days. We're staying in a nice hotel within walking distance to Manhattan and all that is NYC. We'll roam around, do some shopping, maybe even go see some fun broadway show or something. The week after that, if everything fans out well as far as the scheduling and travel expenses- me and Dan will go to Colorado to experience the Western-themed four-day Epic Summer adventure getaway that I won from Mom Central. Hurray for me on that! ;)

So yeah, I guess I will be very busy the whole two weeks my adorable monkeys are gone. But right now, I admit I do have mixed emotions- a little sadness about not seeing them while they're gone, excitement over the trips to NYC and Colorado, and the feeling of relief for having two weeks of "me time".

Anyway, I am going to go get my nails done today and go check out the heart pendant jewelry I've been eyeing for some time- the start of my sweet two weeks of "ME time" ahead. I just have to look at it this way and hope that I will be happier than sad. :)

Had A Great Week

2009-07-31T14:29:00.004-05:00

First off, I apologize dear Hip Mama Blog friends.

It's been a while since the last post. I have just been really busy with the demands of being a mommy and Hip Mama's Place.
But overall, it has been a great week for me.

First, I had two new advertisers on Hip Mama's Place (which means a little moolah for me), and then I won the toy giveaway on Mom Knows Everything.

Gabriel had a big grin on his face when I showed him his two choices of toys, and he picked the Hot Wheels T-Rex Playset. So yes! Wonderful surprises, don't you all agree? :)

And then, my honey told me we're going for a few days in New York City- just to get away. So I am very excited about that too. :)

I had to keep up with some posts I need to do on my two blogs. Plus, I am going to have anew big giveaway event starting August 3rd on Hip Mama's Place. There will be tons of fantastic prizes for the mommies! So I hope you all watch for it.

Thank you for coming by today. Have a blessed day! :)

Great Giveaway on Mom Knows Everything

2009-07-21T14:51:00.000-05:00

Hello friends,

Mom Knows Everything.com is having a great toy giveaway sponsored by All Children’s Furniture who carries everything from toddler beds to toys. Stop by before midnight AST July 29th to enter to win!

-Contest is open to Canada and US residents only. Contest closes midnight AST July 29th with the winner to be announced the following day. Prize will be shipped to you directly from All Children’s Furniture.

Catching Up and a Productive Weekend

2009-07-20T10:06:00.005-05:00

Hello, friends. I hope you had a great weekend. :)

My weekend was pretty productive. I don't know if I've mentioned to you all. But three months ago, I moved in with my boyfriend in his two-storey traditional twelve year old house that I think is very beautiful. It's not a perfect house and it definitely needs a little 'tweaking'. Anyway, since I've lived with Dan we've just been constantly making changes to "our house" (he prefers me to call it that way rather than "his house", lol)as far as decor, re-arranging the furniture, adding stuff in it, etcetera. He's loved the "woman's touch" and has been very grateful for all my new input to the house. By the way, we also have a Shih Tzu dog named Gibson who's so adorable but one that still needs potty training and all. Lately, he's been spending a lot of time in our patio and has left some you-know-what odor there no matter how much we clean up. So last Friday I told Dan that the next day Saturday will have to be spent on cleaning the house- especially our patio and garage to get rid of the odor and do some organizing. It was a great weekend plan. Now the patio is all clean, nice, and smelling good! I didn't enroll in an Organizational development program but I can tell you, I did a pretty good job organizing stuff around the house. ;) The garage is still so-so as far as the organization part, but we definitely got rid of so much junk and dust that's probably been sitting there for about three years or so. Take note that before I moved in to the house, only him and his twelve year old son lives there. My boyfriend is a busy business guy who doesn't have a lot of time in his hands to clean his house full force. So anyway, after we did our thorough cleaning this weekend, the patio, garage and even the basement look so much better! :)

Dan and were both so proud of ourselves being so productive. So yesterday afternoon, he told me out of the blue that we should go to Charlestown Races and Slots just for fun. And since we were both "kid-free", it was the perfect time to go there. The last time we did the slots was when we were on our vacation in the Bahamas last May. We had fun with it. I'll tell you honestly, those can get addicting if you're not cautious, lol. But no, Dan and I just plays for fun. I don't think we'll ever become casino/slots addicts, lol.

Anyway, we drove for about 1.5 hours to Charlestown, betted total $60 on the slots and came home with $138 cash. Not bad, huh? It was my first time being in that place so I was a little disappointed when we didn't see the horse racing. We got there too late- about 9 PM- so all the races were done for the day. That could have been fun. Anyway, I'm sure it won't be our first time there. The slots are fun to do and I'm sure the horse racing will be a sight to see the next time we go there. We weren't in bed 'til a little past 2AM this morning, so right now I am still feeling a bit dizzy from lack of good shut-eye. :)

That's how my weekend went. How was yours? I'd love to know! :)

Gabriel: Official Minniekickers League Player

2009-07-15T09:55:00.002-05:00

So I enrolled Gabriel (my very active four year old boy) in the mini soccer league for our county this summer. It's starting in September and I can't wait to see him run around the field with other 3-5 year old boys looking so adorably cute in his little soccer outfit. Wow, I can't believe my first-born is growing so fast! :)

Anyway, I'm just excited to share this to you all. :)

Today is all about catching up with a lot of emails, deadlines and product review requests on Hip Mama's Place. I'm also suppose to check out a colon cleanser review. A friend told me about it and it's suppose to help with weight loss.

And tonight I am excited about starting a nice running routine again around my neighborhood. I've uploaded my IPod last night with new upbeat tunes to go with this new fitness goal. Hopefully I will look more fit by December and lose the extra fifteen pounds already! :)

Our July 4th Holiday Weekend

2009-07-09T10:31:00.022-05:00

Hello, my dear blogging friends!

This week has just been again, super busy for me. But I'm managing okay and I've actually been feeling more energized than before. Maybe because I had a great July 4th holiday weekend. ;)

So on July 4th, Dan and I stayed at the St Regis Hotel Washington, D.C. just two blocks from the White House and stayed there for the night. The hotel was one of those elegant, old-world style hotel. Their room rates start at $400 a night and we stayed on the deluxe one that's like $800 per night. But guess what, we didn't pay for it. Why? Dan gets these free hotel perks from one of his business reward cards. Whew, we certainly don't have $800 to spend on a luxury hotel, so it works great for us all the time! :)

Anyway, we've been wanting to do this for a while so I have a chance to tour Washington D.C. without rushing to go home and fight the traffic. As you know, D.C. is only about an hour away from where we live in Woodbridge, Virginia. But the traffic is quite horrible getting home, especially on holidays. And since we were both "kid-free" for the weekend, what perfect timing to go to D.C. than on the July 4th holiday weekend! ;)

Anyway, all day on July 4th my honey and I just roamed around Washington D.C. We took a lot of photos of the White House and other historical buildings, monuments and statues (a few photos shown here). We both enjoyed our little weekend getaway and we even had a perfect spot to watch the fireworks in between the Washingtton Monument and the Lincoln Memorial- two of the most popular spots in D.C. :)

How did your 4th go? Please share! :)

Happy Birthday, Gabriel!

2009-07-03T13:09:00.006-05:00

My son Gabriel turned 4 today. We had so much fun at Chuck E. Cheese's at his birthday party last night. :D

I didn't actually expect for the party to be nice and smooth like it turned out knowing Chuck E. Cheese's is always crowded no matter what day or time you go but the one in Woodbridge, Virginia where we had it held is actually nicer, newer and cleaner than all the other ones we've been to. And since it was a week night party, we didn't have the same crazy crowd and we even had unlimited time at our tables instead of just the usual 90 minute-limit on their birthday parties. So anyway, everyone had a lot of fun, even the adults!

Gabriel received some cool presents from family and friends that included a giant train Imaginarium from his dad, Thomas the Tank train set, play-dohs, and random little cars and books. No, he didn't get an XBox which is becoming a typical present a kid gets these days. Gabriel certainly doesn't need anything like that anytime soon. ;D

Anyway, to all our family and friends who helped celebrate Gabriel's birthday with us: THANK YOU SO MUCH! Gabriel is currently enjoying his new toys (presents) as I'm writing this entry. ;D

Looking Into Fitness

2009-07-03T12:57:00.003-05:00

I was driving by my local recreation center today and read the big neon sign ad about spinning and yoga classes. Hmmm, it got me thinking. So I went online to see if they offer any night time or weekend schedule for those classes that I might be able to get into. The good news is that they do have a few that will.

One of my immediate fitness goals is to really lose this darn bulge around my tummy. So I've been doing my at-home yoga moves and cardio dancing whenever I get the chance. Spinning, I heard, is a big fat burner so I'm quite excited about enrolling in this class.

Let's see how it goes. How about you? What kind of activities do you do to keep yourself physically fit?

Gabriel is going to be Four

2009-07-01T21:39:00.008-05:00

It's been a year this month since my boys Gabriel and Jaden and I visited my family in the Philippines. It didn't seem that long ago. We even got to celebrate Gabriel's 3rd birthday there last year.

This Friday- July 3rd, Gabriel is turning four. Dan and I decided to give him a Chuck E. Cheese party this year which we're doing one day ahead- tomorrow. We've invited a few friends here in Woodbridge and their little kids so it should be so much fun! I'm always the last minute preparer of things so today I went to the local Safeway and ordered a "Cars" themed sheet cake. Cost me about $32 but I figured it's better to have more than enough for everyone. There will probably be about a dozen kids and a dozen adults who are coming. I also went to Party City for party hats, favors and confettis.

I'll be sure to post photos of the birthday party by the end of the week, I promise! :D

Beautiful Saturday

2009-06-29T14:55:00.001-05:00

How did your weekend go?

Saturday for me was beautiful. My honey and I attended a nice wedding of our friends- the bride was a Filipino girl I've met a few months ago through Dan's friend and co-worker who was her fiance. Anyway, it was a simple but beautiful wedding and although it was one of those quickly put together weddings, it turned out very well. Even the groom's speech was well-said before the champagne toast. Everyone commented how he didn't have any stage fright and how he could very well be a politician for his almost perfect speech. :D

Anyway, here are a few of our photos from the wedding.

Sunday was just all about house chores and laundry. Although I am not complaining about it. Those things are needed to be done and I feel proud at the end of the day when I know I am doing good enough as a mother and partner. ;)

Please share how your weekend went. I'd love to know! :D

Do You Like Jogging?

2009-06-29T14:01:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've been looking into start to go jogging again for weight loss and tone my body. I used to jog when I was single but after the kids, it had been a challenge to find the time (or the effort) to do that. Now if I only have one small kid, I probably would be more motivated to do it with those three-wheel strollers, such as the Bob stroller or similar strollers that I've seen many new moms who jog use. Aren't they neat?

But then again, I'm thinking that I could do it after 7PM on weekdays when I'm already off my duties as a mom and could jog around the neighborhood by myself. Jogging is certainly a cheap way to exercise that doesn't require any gym membership, don't you all agree? :D

*** hip mama blog ***

HELP WANTED: I Need Votes For My Photo

Holiday Gift List

Holiday Decorating

Travel Tips

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check Out My Etsy Store

Hello Friday!

We're Getting Me A New Car

Hectic First Week of School

Catching Up

Home Lighting Solutions

Online Backup Services

Getting Back

Hip Mama's Place: Wordful/Wordless Wednesday: Our Epic Summer Adventure in Colorado

Mixed Emotions

Had A Great Week

Great Giveaway on Mom Knows Everything

Catching Up and a Productive Weekend

Gabriel: Official Minniekickers League Player

Our July 4th Holiday Weekend

Happy Birthday, Gabriel!

Looking Into Fitness

Gabriel is going to be Four

Beautiful Saturday

Do You Like Jogging?

* hip mama blog *