Blog conference season is among us with the Blissdom Conference only two weeks away. There will be many bloggers attending their first blog conference this year. Conferences can be be overwhelming even to veterans, so never fear if you are having a little anxiety about attending your first conference. I attended my first conference in 2009 when I went to BlogHer in Chicago. Why did I pick the biggest conference as my first blogger conference? I am not so sure, but it helped get my feet wet.

Here are my 5 tips to survive a blog conference.

1. Check out the conference hashtag on twitter such as #blissdom. Start conversations or even reply to people in the stream. Get to know other attendees before you even get to the conference. Plan to meet-up at the conference. You will not feel so alone once you get there.

2. Do not try to attend all sessions and every party. Your body and your voice will get too worn down. It is not worth the tired feeling. Take time and relax in your room. Drink water and eat a healthy snack to re-energize while you are in the room. Your body will thank you!

3. Leave the heavy laptop at home. All the muscles in your body will be aching from carrying the huge laptop bag around with you. Believe me, I am speaking from experience. A tablet, an iPad or netbook works perfectly as each of these technology devices can be easily stored and are very light-weight.

4. Pack comfortable shoes. I know we all want to be fashionista’s but there comes a time that we need to pamper our feet. You will do a lot of walking at these conferences and blisters are not fun at all on your first night. I am unfortunately speaking from experience once again. Pinterest can be your best friend to find super and stylish shoes.

5. Bring business cards. You will network your little heart out at these conferences. There is no way to remember everyone that you connect with so in return you cannot expect everyone you meet to remember you and your blog.

Tiny Prints have such creative business cards that will help you stand out among all the attendees. You want to make a great impression as this is your personal brand you will be representing at the conference.

Just remember to relax, don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation and you will do just fine. Let me know if you would like to connect. Remember, I was once a conference newbie

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.

Life is so much more grand when friends join other friends to make a difference. Who said we need to sit in our house and only look at our walls without letting anyone in? Life just would seem so miserable to me. I have a heart to help others and be there for others. Now, granted life is so busy right now with my work schedule and all day on campus three days a week, that I do not have as much time available these days. This busy schedule pulls me away from helping others like I would want too, but I still can manage a bit of online time right?

Friends as we all know, autism has been on the rise for the past few years. Now, I am in no way or fashion going to get in a debate here on why the increase. I do know though, that more awareness needs to be brought to our attention. If we all work together, we can make a difference. Recently, I was made aware of the Autism United Organization. Their tagline is “If we join together, we can make a difference.” This statement is 100% truth.

I see through my computer screen every day how much my sweet and dear friend Nan has to go through during her child’s autism journey. She loves her son unconditionally and is such an awesome mom. She is committed to all his daily therapies, his daily medicines and his well-being. She is his voice. Even when insurance shuns them and are not willing to pay for his therapies anymore, her husband and her work hard to ensure he still receives his therapies. I try each day to be there for her, support her with words and love, and just lend a listening ear. Can you imagine if she had no one to talk to and had to keep this all bottled in? I would not even want to begin to imagine.

When is the last time you reached out to a friend? When is the last time you gave encouraging words to make their day better? Let’s put our woes behind us and remember that others are going through a different struggle daily. It helps to build a community just as Autism United as done. Here are a few of their objectives:

1. Raise autistic awareness
2. Bring together a community of people dealing with Autism
3. Share stories of inspiration
4. Provide quality information and help to those in need
5. Work with top autistic research facilities
6. Provide special education and developmental learning resources

Moms… let’s all join together and make a different for Autism Awareness. Will you please?

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.

Sit back and imagine you are in a lodge with a fireplace and you are being treated with several courses of delicious meals. Wake-up! It does not have to be a dream as you can head over to Firebird’s Grill to be served up a dose of reality.

We love living in the mountains and love dining out in the mountains. I get all cozy when I walk into restaurants that have that lodge feeling atompshere. We were treated to a meal recently at Firebird’s Grill and I am still licking my lips. It was that good. Would you like to try it out for yourself? Stay with me till the end for an awesome giveaway.

As you walk into the Firebird’s Grill lodge, you are welcomed with their state of the art wood grill. Your food is actually cooked right in front of you with this huge grill that is open with a full view for all the guests.

Also, let me just say. There are no worries if you would like to be served up a little wine during dinner. HUGE selection across the wall.

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill introduced a taste of Colorado to the Carolinas when it first opened its doors in Charlotte, North Carolina in December of 2000. The restaurant is the creative concept of owner and restaurateur, Dennis Thompson, who regularly travels out west. He fell in love with the feel of the area as well as the food. Drawing from those experiences, he developed Firebirds.

As we were enjoying the lodge atmosphere, we enjoyed chatting with friends and having a fabulous taste test with appetizers.

Is your mouth watering yet? If the appetizers were this delicious, you can imagine how dinner filled our taste buds.

I ordered the pecan crusted trout. I can sit here and taste it now. Hands down the best trout I have ever tasted. It was divine!

My husband of course took this chance to order steak. I am not a fan of red meat, but my husband sure is a big fan. He enjoyed every bite and it was a quality size.

The girls enjoyed chicken tenders and I was so pleased it was paired with a fresh fruit bowl. As you can see, the kids portions were plentiful.

After all this delicious food, the team brought out a huge display of their desserts. Now, if your mouth was not watering before, please beware. The desserts hit the sweet spot just right. Oh can you imagine?!

DELICIOUS!

Firebird’s Grill is the place for a date with the one you love or even a huge family gathering. You will not be disappointed.

The whole experience was unique. You can just sit back and relax by the fireside and enjoy each others company. The restaurant was not loud. Also, the employees take great pride in their job. Everyone was very knowledgeable and delivered superb customer service. The interior design is also just so welcoming and inviting.

Since you are about to lick the screen with the food photos (haha), you should totally go for Valentine’s Day coming up. I can even help you a little. WIN!

One lucky reader is going to win a $50 Gift Card to the Firebird’s Grill of your choice.

Disclosure: I am so grateful to Firebird’s Grill for treating my family to a full course meal. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.

Living in the mountains of NC allow so many festivities right in our backyard. This weekend was the Blowing Rock Winterfest. We have been attending this festival since M was a year old. It was bittersweet showing her the pictures of when she was a year old. Where does the time go?

The big hit each year of the Winterfest is the polar plunge. I am trying to talk my dad into jumping with me next year. We shall see?

Close to 100 people jumped for a cause this year. All money raised was going to Wine to Water to ensure people in Ethiopia have clean water. Such a remarkable cause to jump in freezing water for right?!

We headed over to Blowing Rock Park to partake in the kids activities. So many kids were filling the room from wall to wall. I loved seeing all the families come together for the kids and showcase so many smiles. The kids were enjoying designing their own snowflakes, making winter crafts and listening to a local artist do a group story-telling.

All of the designed snowflakes were used in an afternoon snowflake parade. After a quick bite of lunch, we headed over to watch the ice carving. I cannot wait to get back over to the park and take a sneak peek at all the finished carvings. The artists are so talented each year.

The fun doesn’t stop there. There is a chili cook-off, pet show, build your own snowman contest with real snow, bonfires, hayrides, shopping, game shows, concerts and more. Make sure to put it on your calendar next year and come visit beautiful Blowing Rock, NC.

How do you keep up with the latest trends? My girls are the ones that have to keep me up on the latest trends. Who knew that I could be so involved in social media, but be so far behind on the latest kid trends. Thankfully, my girls are fashionistas and love to dish on the latest trends when I pick them up in the carpool line. The latest trend to hit here in NC is the PocketBac holders from Bath and Body Works.

The girls love to use these holders on their lunch bags, their back packs and their little purses. It is so cute and actually a trend that I am loving for healthy reasons. The girls love to use their hand sanitizer now after they eat lunch, come in from playing at recess at school or any other activities they may be taking part in during school hours.

The holders range from $.50 to $4.00 here in NC. Of course, my frugal self allow the girls to purchase the $.50. Also, the miniature sanitizers are on sale right now for 5 for $5.00. I hope this trend will stick as it is an affordable one, a cleaner one and shall I say fashionable one?

According to the girls, they test out each others different sanitizers and see which ones they like the best during class. I have to say, well thought out marketing for the Bath and Body Works team.

Each morning, I check my e-mail first thing. You would think I would wake up and go take a shower, eat breakfast and get dressed before I hop straight onto technology? That would be a negative. I am a tech geek, always have been and sure always will be if I continue this same route. I am a computer information technology student afterall. Being addicted to technology though has really started bothering me. This morning, I opened up an e-mail from Proverbs 31 Ministries. A sentence in the e-mail said to the effect, why is it easy to pick up a tech gadget but not easy to pick up a Bible instead? This really hit home to me so much.

I have a super busy semester this time. I am on campus unfortunately 4 days out of 5. All my classes are on campus this semester and it has tossed my routine out the door. I feel like I am always on some type of technology device lately. I am doing homework with my graphing calculator, I am checking work e-mail and keeping tabs on all work’s social outlets, I am blogging, I am checking personal e-mail and the cycle just continues.

I put off getting a smart-phone for so long but finally mid 2009, I could not put it off anymore. I knew if I got a smart-phone I would always be glued to the device so I put it off for as long as I could. Now I need the smart-phone for work. I just wish I could tell myself to turn the device OFF. I wake up in the middle of the night checking work’s social outlets to make sure all is okay. Do I get paid for those hours? Well, no but it just worries me that something will happen if I am not continuously checking. If I am so worried about picking up the phone, why can’t I be so worried about picking up my bible. I read my devotions each day, but do I pick it back up any other time during the day? The answer would be no. This troubles me.

I don’t want this addiction. I love technology, believe me, I am head over heels in love with technology. Family and friends from all over, call me, e-mail me, or text me to ask my opinions about technology or how I can fix their technology device. I enjoy that so much, but I don’t want to do that 24/7. I need the break. Instead, I want the addiction and to be head over heels in love with my bible and Jesus Christ. I want the girls to know that they are more important than a technology gadget.

Prayers work wonder and I am going to pray for peace in this situation. God I need your direction and your strength to turn away from the device. Life will be okay and I will not hyperventilate if I don’t have my smart-phone beside me. Instead, I want you and your word always beside me, my husband and our beautiful girls.

Washing clothes in cold water? Of course, that is how we roll here at One Moms World. My mom taught me this trick long before I left the house years ago. Does cold water really work? Well, on all stains I would always have to spray stain remover before I could wash the stained item in cold water. This could be a problem, because at times I would forget to do the stain remover and would still be stuck with the stain after completing the laundry. I believe I have the problem solved for my forgetfulness.

I took the Tide Coldwater Challenge. The challenge came at a perfect time. M picked out this beautiful white dress for the holidays. She wore the dress one time and what happens? You guessed it… a stain on the beautiful white dress.

Before Tide Coldwater

I stayed calm because we just had received the bottle of Tide Coldwater the day before. M was breathing a sigh of relief because she just knew she had ruined her dress. I put the dress in the washer with the Tide Coldwater. No stain remover was sprayed on the dress. I paced the floor and was pleading with the laundry fairy. The washer buzzed signaling the wash was completed. I swiftly walked to the washer and let out a big squeal.

After Tide Coldwater

A happy mom and a happy daughter equals perfection. I was so tickled and especially since this was a white dress with such delicate material. We have a new detergent in our household. I am so relieved to have one less step with stains as well. Tide Coldwater Liquid Laundry Detergent is specially formulated to help get clothes clean when they are washed in cold water.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I was sent a full-size bottle of Tide Coldwater from P&G and SheSpeaks. As always, all thoughts and opinions are of my own.

Technology is surrounding us more and more every single day. Most kids received some type of technology gift for Christmas. I will go ahead and admit, my girls both got mini laptops for Christmas. Several kids got the new Kindle Fire, or an iPod touch, or even an iPad. Technology can rule your kid’s life if you do not set forth technology rules. It can also ruin your kid’s eye sight.

While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting screen time for children and adolescents to two hours per day, recent studies are finding that children ages 8-18 are spending more than 7.5 hours a day consuming electronic media, from computers and smartphones to e-readers and tablets. How will this increased use impact our tech-savvy children’s eyes?

Digital eye strain, or computer vision syndrome (CVS), is a term for any number of eye or vision- related problems that can occur from using a computer or digital device. Symptoms can include blurry vision, difficulty focusing, dry or irritated eyes, headaches and even neck and back pain. I know I can relate with several of these symptoms. My eyes can get so dry and I have to get up and leave the computer. Most of the time, I have to grab a wet washcloth in order to stop the burning. If this is happening to me, you know it can/will happen to your kids.

How can you prevent computer vision syndrome? VSP shares their tips.

Watch the time. The best way to avoid CVS is to take frequent breaks to refresh the eyes— follow the 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes, make sure your child takes a break to stare at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Also make sure to limit device usage to around two hours a day. This can be a challenge, but the average usage is almost four times that! For children two and under, avoid digital devices all together.

Create a kid-size work space. When working at adult desks, children sometimes have to crane their necks, look up at the screen or sit uncomfortably to do work. Avoid this issue and set up a small desk with an adjustable chair that provides good back support.

Keep the proper working distance. The distance between your child’s eyes and a screen should be approximately the distance between his or her elbow and knuckle. If your child is leaning too close to the computer screen or holding reading material close to his or her face, it could signal an underlying vision problem.

Schedule regular eye exams. Children’s vision changes often and it’s important that they have the best vision possible when using digital devices to help avoid CVS. This starts with a comprehensive examination by an eye doctor, not just a school screening. Children should have their first eye exam at six months of age, then at three years, before starting school and every year after that.

Go outside. Playing is healthy for the body and mind. Research also shows that two hours of outdoor play each day can help prevent nearsightedness. Of course, sunglasses are non- negotiable. Children have larger pupils and are susceptible to more UV damage than adults.

Let’s band together and help avoid Computer Vision Syndrome. Remember there still is life outside of technology. Kids do not need technology 24/7!

Thanks to Nathan Bonilla-Warford, O.D., F.A.A.O. for providing these awesome tips. He practices at Bright Eyes Family Vision Care in Tampa, Florida. Dr. Bonilla-Warford has lectured on visual care of children, the importance of vision in personal development, and options for controlling nearsightedness.

I don’t know about you, but around our house we love to be silly. We love to be silly with songs so VeggieTales silly songs rank high in our household. Stress, intense pressure from school, a fall, or even just having a bad day can be turned around quickly with a case of the sillies.

Your day can go from bad to awesome with a simple song. I present you the newest silly song from VeggieTales. Get ready, be silly and have fun with “Bubble Wrap.”

We are so excited. One of our favorite movie’s Finding Nemo is coming in 3D to theaters in September of this year. We have a sneak peek for you right here at One Moms World. Enjoy!