Woah! What Happened Here?

Let me start off with, I've been using the blogger "dots" template since I started this blog. It gets the job done. I don't pull up my blog and think, wow gorgeous, but I am okay with that. I really love to play around with HTML. Right now I don't want to dramatically switch up my blog until I make the switch to my own domain (coming soon, I hope). Thanks to Blogger Tips and Tricks, I tweaked my stock template to a 3 column design. Now while I know it's best to have your posts to the left side for SEO and all that blah, blah, blah, I kept my posts in the middle. It just looked better that way.

One thing at a time really.

Then I had to resize my header, with out it being gargantuan! Which it has been in the past. I am hoping these quick HTML fixes will quell my desire to complete change my domain and blogging platform, until the new year.

Hope you like it!

Jumpstart Escape From Adventure Island Wii Game & Fantastic Giveaway!

Jumpstart has come out with a new Wii game, called Escape From Adventure Island! I am a huge fan of Jumpstart products. My six year old daughter can manage her way around most Wii games fairly well, but Jumpstart games she can master. Quite often even with some of the games geared for her age, she runs into frustration easily. While realistically many game manufactures may envision parents sitting down and playing the game together with their kids, I like games that my daughter feels comfortable with on her own. Jumpstart Wii games always allow my daughter that independence.

Escape From Adventure Island of course comes with my daughter's two favorite activities, the fashion show and the house design program. As with most games, you can switch up your clothes, skin color, hair, outfits on your self created "Jumpee". With Adventure Island there is actually a fashion show stage! Escape From Adventure Island allows my daughter to learn while playing and I have to admit having so much fun she doesn't even realize that she's practicing math, spelling, or fine motor skills!

A couple of my favorite features:

Rubble Trouble: which contains math lessons, all while using the remote in a horizontal position to control the movement of your Jumpee in a little ball. There are also Punk Punks which you can squash very easily!

Egg Push/Pearl Push: are two games that allow you to roll spheres back into their resting place. What I really like about this game is that my daughter uses the control stick in her left hand while using the remote to flick the object back in place with her right hand. Using both hands comfortably is a great skill!

This game was sent to us from Jumpstart to preview and arrived on our doorstep during a snow day from school! It couldn't have been more perfect timing. What's really wonderful about the Jumpstart design for Wii is that the possibilities are endless. There are water adventures, caverns, coves, jumping, jet packs for flying, slides that are all just so much fun. There are helpers in the game, that talk to the player to help them along their adventure giving clues and tips. Best of all younger children can develop Wii based skills and control with the remote that will enhance their Wii experience as they grow with it. That to me is really important. As a parent there is nothing worse then buying a game that just leads to frustration and boredom. If you could hear my daughter giggling right now, you wouldn't hesitate to buy this game.

Thank you Jumpstart for keeping our kids best interests in mind.
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Jumpstart is having an incredible giveaway right now on their blog! 50 copies of Escape From Island Adventure and 3 Grand Prize packages are all available just by leaving a comment! Good Luck! Enter here!

Great Interview Experiment, Meet Me!

Emma from Where there's a Willer interviewed me. Was it revealing, was it what you already knew? You can find out here! Thanks Emma!

Great Interview Experiment, Meet Motherhood in NYC!

Thanks to twitter, I have come to know many bloggers I read in a different way. Twitter allows a glimpse into small moments, which one may consider more intimate because an update typically hasn't been mulled over and edited like a regular blog post. Two writers that I really enjoy for their wit and sense of humor on twitter are Neilochka and MarinkaNYC.

Neil who writes, Citizen Of The Month, has created the Great Interview Experiment on his blog and this is my first year participating. Lucky for me, I was given Marinka aka Motherhood in NYC to interview.

Let the interview begin, for the record this is my first blog interview ever. I liked it, in a Chelsea Handler, not Barbara Walters kind of way...

Denise: I personally adore your sense of humor and always find myself laughing when I read your posts. Can you give us insight into how to find the humor in everyday situations?

Marinka: No, I'm sorry, that's a trade secret. But I think what I find humorous is exaggeration. My husband calls it "hysterical extrapolation". I just asked him about it and he said "you take one small thing and blow it up way out of proportion." Which is a complete lie and I've never ever done that in my life. Except I do it every day.

Denise: I'm just going to assume you eat cupcakes. My big burning question for you is Billy's Cupcakes or Magnolias? And what's your favorite flavor?

Marinka: I have never tasted Billy's. Because cupcakes are girls. Also, like a true New Yorker, I think that Magnolia is totally overrated. My favorite is the Cupcake Cafe, which has its main store on 9th Avenue, near the Port Authority and another spot at The Books of Wonder bookstore. Really, those cupcakes are like works of art. And there's nothing more delicious than art. My favorite flavor, like any normal person's, is chocolate with chocolate icing.

Denise: Can we talk about your avatar? While I adore the photo of your neck and beautifully coiffed hair, are you ever going to turn around?

Marinka: That photo was taken on my wedding day. After my second wedding I'll turn around.

Denise: Three bloggers that come to mind, that we all should have in our reader?

Marinka: insert obligatory there are too many blogs to mention here. But the ones that I've been reading since I discovered blogging and consistently love are Classy Chaos, Mamabird Diaries, The Bloggess and Queen of Shake Shake. Yes, I know that that's four. I'm having a four for the price of three visit.

Denise:If I came to the city for a visit and asked you to hang out, would you meet me and where would you take me?

Marinka: What, suddenly I have to take you around?
I love The Cowgirl Hall of Fame ( a restaurant) and then The Duplex, a piano bar. I went there with Vodka Mom and Comedy Goddess and Smart Ass Mom last year and it was so much fun.

Denise: Husbandrinka calls and tells you to pack your bags for the weekend because he's planned a getaway. Where did you think he'd take you on a whim? And what essential items would you pack?

Marinka: My Vivienne Tam mini computer, my Swiffer duster, oh. But really, a computer, my cell phone and charger and a book. Because I will never again go anywhere without a book. Also maybe a pair of jeans and a sweater. The last time that Husbandrinka and I went on a weekend getaway, we went to Quebec City, so that's what I'm envisioning for this getaway.

Denise: Last year you joked that you blog because you don't have the time, energy, or patience for writing a book. A year later and you're writing a book. How's that going, is it what you envisioned writing a book would be like?

Marinka: I started working on my MS (ahem) just last week. I keep emailing everyone I know things like "I'm working on my MS. I'm lonely!" I'm pretty sure that they are all in the process of blocking my email address. But it's going pretty well. Help me.

Denise: Do you like feet?

Marinka: The only body part that I hate more than feet is the belly button. Please don't mention feet again.

Denise: What's your favorite part of twitter, blogging, or your online life?

Marinka: The instant gratification. People respond, I get to interact with them, all without putting on makeup.

Denise: Do you think Brooklyn is really far away and do you hate going uptown?

Marinka: I do think that Brooklyn is far and I don't like going uptown.

Denise: Have you been to Colorado and what's the first thing that comes to mind when you read the word, Colorado?

Marinka: I've never been to Colorado and the first thing I think about is John Denver.

Denise: How do you feel about Bloomberg spending $100,000,000 on his mayoral campaign?

Marinka: It's his money, so I wasn't outraged. Except for that part of it that he spent having people call my house nonstop to ask if I'd be voting for him. Which I didn't.

Denise: Share with us something you love to do for yourself, that makes you happy?

Marinka: I get a massage every month. It's with a woman who does body work and she helped me a lot with my TMJ and back pain, so I call her it my physical therapy. It's a complete luxury and I love it. 

I would just like to end with a thank you to Marinka. She lives in an area of NYC that I spent time in last fall visiting an old friend, so I had fun focusing questions on her neighborhood. People who live in the West Village have an interesting psyche and Marinka solidifies my theory! I hope you take a moment to check out her blog, if you are the only person in the blogosphere that isn't reading her yet!

Vlog: Meetups, Blogging Conferences, Yes or No?