22 posts categorized "Virtual Inspiration"

August 13, 2011

Power of The Blogosphere for Support and Peanut Butter Pie

I just returned from back to back trips to BlogHer11  in San Diego and a family East Coast beach vacation (lots of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins abound). Every time I go to BlogHer I am envigorated at the power of the blogging community. When I spend time with my family I am reminded of the power of family vacations to create special memories.

While we did not have Wi-Fi at our vacation house (which helped me get some needed "unplugged" time), I did check my emails when I got reception. One morning I happened to see an email that brought me to tears. A fantastic food/mom blogger that is part of our extended "blogging" community (Jennifer Perillo of In Jennie’s Kitchen) shared sad news: her husband died suddenly. When my sister in law saw me tearing up while reading my email on my phone - she asked me what happened. After I told her, I realized that there were bloggers and blog viewers across the country (maybe world) also shedding tears of saddness at the news. Many people have questioned how "real" the blogging/social media connections I have are. This is another example of how the blogging community shows their support.

Peanutbutter On that note, to support  Jennifer Perillo and honor the memory of her husband, bloggers have been making and posting about Peanut Butter Pie. Here is the Food Network post that summarizes all the posts to date.

Because I just got back from my vacation - I missed making the Pie and taking a picture for yesterday's community event. But I want to honor Mikey by heading to the store today to get the ingredients and attempt to do something I have not done in a long time - cook a pie.

July 27, 2011

One.Org - A Movement To End Poverty, Mom to Mom

Emily McKhann, Co-Founder of The Motherhood, and some other fantastic mom bloggers shared that they were participating in a very special movement called OneMoms for One.org. With all the information shared on social media, "grassroots" cause campaigns are the most worthwhile of all. Here is information about One.org from their website:

"ONE is a grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa, by raising public awareness and pressuring political leaders to support smart and effective policies and programs that are saving lives, helping to put kids in school and improving futures. Cofounded by Bono and other campaigners, ONE is nonpartisan and works closely with African activists and policy makers."

Those mom bloggers (#OneMoms)  are in Kenya this week to meet with local moms to see what their lives are like in a developing world. Follow their amazing trip this week by reading their blog posts http://one.org/blog/category/mothers-day-2011/  and join the movement by signing up at http://one.org/us/actnow/moms/.

I did!

Here are links to some posts from the other mom bloggers on the trip:

Jyl Johnson Pattee - MomItForward, Jennifer James of the Mom Bloggers Club, Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks  and Emily McKhann's fellow Co-Founder at the TheMotherHood - Cooper Monroe.  

June 07, 2011

Secrets to My success: Guy Kawasaki's Social Media and Business Tips (with info on current deal!)

Enchantment When I first starting blogging in 2006 one of the first people I followed on Twitter was Guy Kawasaki.  He already had a successful business career and was one of the early ones to fully realize the potential of social media. I also read Guy Kawasaki's books. His tips are explained in a authentic way that helped me understand the intricacies of business and social media, and he reinforces these key messages by reaching out to his community with presentations and social media events. One of my favorite social media events was the USS Nimitz Blogger Embark, which Guy, I and a team of bloggers went on together. 

Last week I interviewed Guy Kawasaki about his book Enchantment for a REP Interactive video (more details to come on my video). Using his hints and tips were invaluable to me; I now have my own online brand, TechMama, so I can say his tips worked! I looked forward to reading Enchantment to learn more.

Beth&guy
 Guy Kawasaki and Beth Blecherman talking about Guy's book "Enchantment" during a REP Interactive video. More details about the video to come...

Deal alert, read on to find out details..

Continue reading "Secrets to My success: Guy Kawasaki's Social Media and Business Tips (with info on current deal!) " »

March 10, 2011

Inspiration by Drake & Dominick and Avid - To support Foster Kids College Dreams

While I met Deborah Perry Piscione for the first time at a media event, I was already a fan of her website Betty Confidential. Then I was inspired to find out about a foundation started by none other then her sons Drake and Dominick in lieu of birthday gifts to raise money for the AVID program (Advancement via Individual Determination) that helps put foster kids in public school on a college readiness track.

The Drake and Dominick foundation website explained "This remarkable non-profit, AVID, is an innovator and leader in preparing first-time college go-ers on a college readiness track. Offered as an elective class in public schools (starting in the 4th grade), AVID kids learn lifelong skills such as organization skills, financial essentials, and tutorial support for any classes they need additional support in. The AVID life becomes a family for so many foster kids as they participate in AVID through 12th grade."

Continue reading "Inspiration by Drake & Dominick and Avid - To support Foster Kids College Dreams" »

January 27, 2011

Chris Medina on American Idol - Why I just may start watching that show..

I have been too busy to watch much TV, but I do like the reality shows because they make my life seem less crazy (ehh, ehh Real Housewives). I don't really watch the singing/dancing reality shows that often, but happened to walk by when my hubby was watching American Idol last night. Chris Medina was auditioning - and it was so powerful that I may start watching American Idol (as well as Steven, JLo and Randy make a great judging panel). Here is Chris Medina's audition. It is especially touching to me because I have such ethical, caring boys of my own - but as my eldest is in middle school I see how mean kids can get. Chris Medina is a role model for boys - his mom should be so proud!

Click HERE to see the video:

Continue reading "Chris Medina on American Idol - Why I just may start watching that show.." »

December 25, 2010

More Moments, Less Cancer

Holidays can be a special time to connect with loved ones. I have seen another side with 3 family members and friends that are bravely fighting Cancer. My family decided to live for the today, cherish the time together, let things go that don't really matter and make each moment count.

This is a big cyber hug to families dealing with Cancer. You are not alone.

The American Cancer Society's "More Birthday" campaign is an inspiring movement (their motto is "less Cancer - more birthdays"). Cool Mom Picks posted about the artists that are joining the movement.  I hope everyone will check out the "More Birthdays" site and see the many ways to get involved.

One of my favorites listed in the post was a birthday song by Jack Black (especially after I just interviewed Jack Black about his new movie coming out today - Gullivers Travels). 

So I will take the American Cancer Society's "More Birthday" motto and add my spin as my holiday wish "More Moments - Less Cancer".

December 07, 2010

Elizabeth Edwards Will Be Missed

I was very sad to hear the news today that Elizabeth Edwards passed away after her very brave fight with Breast Cancer. As a member of the Momocrats team I had the honor of meeting Elizabeth Edwards.

Click Here is see the post on Momocrats about Elizabeth Edwards. She has a whole category on the Momocrats blog. Arianna Huffington also posted on the Huffington Post about Elizabeth Edwards strength and legacy.

I agree with the Momocrats post, we should all go out and do something to inspire change just as Elizabeth Edwards inspired us all by her strength and vision for change.

May 09, 2010

Mother's Day: Low Tech and High Tech Adventures

HIGH TECH - CARDS FOR GRANDMOM:

Last night we realized that we did not send Mother's Day cards to our out of town Grandmoms. So this morning I picked 2 digital pictures of my boys and created a Hallmark photo card and then we are going to finish that off with a fun audio card using Fotobabble.

LOW TECH - HANDMADE GIFTS FROM MY SONS:

This morning I had the fun of my three sons busting in the room to give me their homemade gifts. For Mother's Day, I always ask for something homemade.

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One of my twin 7 year olds twin sons (J) made this framed card. I shared the story behind that in my post at my Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

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My other twin 7 year old son (D) made a paper card that said "I Love You".

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My tween son B played me a song on his guitar. His brother's J&D were dancing in the background. I see a brother's band coming up in the near future..

We missed our Grandmoms from far away - but had the fun of lunch with our local Grandmom. Dad cooked a vegetable and tofu stir fry inspired by Jamie Oliver for dinner. All the boys enjoyed it, mom was happy her boys were eating their veggies.

A perfect Mother's Day for me is a combination of low tech handmade gifts from my boys and some easy high tech ways to send cards to their grandmoms.

Being a mom is so yummy!

January 18, 2010

Silicon Valley Doctor and Support Team looking for transport to Haiti to provide relief services

I received this email from a fellow Silicon Valley Moms Group blogger (a dad blogger). He is a doctor and has assembled a group that wants to provide relief services to Haiti but needs transport. Please pass word on and notify me at techmamas(at)gmail(dot)com if you or you know someone that can provide this amazing group transport to Haiti to provide relief support. Here is the information from the email:

"Enoch Choi  (http://twitter.com/enochchoi) will lead a group of local physicians, nurses and support personnel to bring critically needed medical supplies to provide emergency medical care in a mobile outpatient clinic in Haiti.  If direct transport into Haiti is possible, the team will distribute basic life support supplies (water purification, hygiene) and other locally collected health related items (tylenol, ibuprofen, nasal saline).  The difficulty currently is the lack of transport for anything other than emergency medical personnel into Haiti through the Dominican Republic.   This relief effort is significantly different from the large organizations in that:
- 100% of funds collected will be used to provide direct medical care without regard to patients' background, along with Christian prayer offered on an opt-in basis
- medical personnel will deploy for as short as 1 week assignments- as an outpatient clinic, it is more mobile than the hospital based inpatient services
- operations will benefit from local technology donors to demonstrate appropriate use of mobile, green, cleantech approaches to disaster medical relief"

January 17, 2010

Haitan Assistance Relief Telethon - Join In To Help!

LogoHART There has been lots of different ways the blogosphere has been contributing to Haiti Disaster Relief. I mentioned some of my last post about using tech to support the Haiti Earthquake relief effort.

Tonight I am happy to join in on the effort organized by Jim Turner of   One by One Media.  It is callled the Haitian Assistance Relief Telethon (the hash tag #Hart). Here is the description from the website: "24 Hour Internet RadioAthon, 6:00 PM PST Sunday, Jan. 17th to 6:00 PM Monday, Jan 18th - Anchored by wsRadio Host Jim Turner."

The company that will be helping host is WhatGives.com . The show will be on WSRadio.com and livestreaming  on Ustream.com. The Twitter hashtag is  #HART.

I will be joining as a guest on the show tonight (Sunday Jan. 17)  from 8pm - 9pm pst. Join us this Sunday January 17 and help use the power of social media to aid the people of Haiti. We need your help! Click HERE for more information on the Haitan Assistance Relief Telethon.

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