The last time I crimped my hair I was 14 years old pining away for Simon LeBon of Duran Duran. (Why, oh why, wouldn’t he love me? Sniff…)

The last time I used AquaNet I was 16 getting ready for a show choir competition. (Jazz hands and big hair that never moved, by God!)

That is, until this past Saturday night’s Momz Share event.

Pac Man, wax lips, Michael Jackson, big hair, movie posters, leg warmers… we had them all!

It was so great to connect with all of the bloggers and social media mavens that attended! Special thanks to Lara and Sunday, who help keep me sane while we arrange all of the festivities along with Amanda our fantastic hostess! (More pictures from the party can be seen here at betterinbulk.net She can capture a photo like no other!)

Special thanks to Dolci Gelati for the unbelievable treats (Coconut and pistachio? I’m in heaven!) as well as Pop Chips (new. obsession.) and Rita’s Italian Ice in Frederick, MD! (Rita’s provided us with the ice that we used to make these unbelievable “adult” beverages. Expect a post with a recipe soon!)

I would also be remiss if I didn’t thank the Anastacia Dellaccio of the United Nations Foundation and Girl Up! for their gift bags. It is a wonderful cause and we are proud to be helping spread the word about the Girl Up movement.

Are you a blogger in Maryland, DC, Virginia or the surrounding areas? We’d love to have you attend one of our events! Sign up here and we’ll email you when the next event is announced…

What to say about the Fall Momz Share event?

Should I start by telling you about how I completely forgot my pants (yes, I said PANTS) and had to go back and fetch them? Or perhaps let you in on the secret that I later discovered that I also forgot my bra? (Ridiculous much?)

Maybe I will skip that part and begin my tale with the scruptious food from Piv’s Restaurant or the social media themed cupcakes.

Hmmm….But if I did that I would be missing the heart of the event, which is the bloggers themselves. These women are my tribe, my peeps, my virtual therapists and without them I am fairly certain I would go stark raving mad. When people ask me why in the world I spend my time planning these events, I tell them about the women of Momz Share. That is all the explanation they need…

Come to think of it, it might be best to instead tell the tale with pictures…

The Fall event was hosted by the awesome and fantastic Jill of Scary Mommy and brought to life by the Momz Share power trio: Sunday Stilwell, Lara DiPaola, and yours truly. (Okay, obvious self-promotion but, DANG, we worked hard y’all!)

I would just like to take up a little bloggy space to send out my heartfelt thank you to some of the people who made this night a success:

Pivs Restaurant – Seriously? Their food rocked. I had no idea what to expect. If you live in the Baltimore area, stop what you are doing and go to their restaurant. Right now.

Sponsoring this event was Washington Family Magazine. I’ve been lucky enough to have worked with Jolie from Washington Family for some time now. They are fantastic and super supportive of moms who blog!

A big shout out to Amy Phillips of Social Pollen who was another event sponsor. Not only did she provide hands-on help for all sorts of WordPress issues, she also brought the killer social media cupcakes. Honestly? Social media cupcakes? Phenomenal, just like her.

We were also treated to our first splendor station courtesy of Leiann from Love and Kindness.  She gave lotioned hand massages and we all fell in love. Not only are her lotions and candles to die for, she is also a terrific example of a mom entrepreneur.

I can’t go any further without mentioning the photographer, Eddie Winter of Edward Winter Weddings. He went above and beyond to make everyone comfortable and captured the essence of Momz Share perfectly. I admit to being a little biased here because, well, he is my brother. That being said, his work speaks for itself. He was the consummate professional and put everyone at ease. (Plus he is way cute, if I do say so myself…)

One last shout out to Michael Guill of 107 Designs who streamed our video LIVE on Saturday night. It was our first time live streaming and it was mighty fun! (He is not only tech-ily gifted, he is also one hell of a dishwasher.)

Other sponsors of our fall Momz Share event that I have to mention are Madeleine from La Papillon Spa who hosted a fun Twitter beauty Q & A contest last week and Melanie and Theresa from Sisarina. Sisarina designed our new Momz Share website. Stunning, right?

If you head over to the Momz Share site later this week, we will have a full accounting of all of the amazing people who provided giveaways and gave support to Momz Share.

Remember, if you live in the DC, MD, VA, WVA, PA area – you are always welcome to attend!  Our next event will be announced soon!

Just a little reminder that we’ve moved all of the Momz Share info to our new site: http://momzshare.org

I’m happy to announce that the fall 2010 event is now registering!

HOSTESS: Jill Smokler of Scary Mommy

Who doesn’t know @ScaryMommy? This popular and talented blogger will be hosting the Fall 2010 event at her home!

WHEN: Saturday, October 2, 2010
ADDRESS: For privacy reasons, participants will be privately emailed directions once registration is confirmed. (Baltimore, MD)
COST:$10
NOTE: Bring business cards!

So excited to announce that the official Momz Share website is live!  So very, very excited!

What you can expect from the new site:

• News about blogger networking events in the Baltimore / Washington D.C. Metro Area
• Guest posts by fantastic bloggers on important topics.
• Features on area bloggers and much, much more!

My life has moved so fast since last December, sometimes my head spins.  I left a secure job in the non-profit sector and started a new company with another power mom. I teamed up with a dear friend and blogger to form Momz Share. And, oh yeah, I’ve started training for the New York City Marathon.
Hectic much? Kinda.

People often ask me how I “do it all.” Honestly, I’m not really sure how to answer that question.  I know that for me, what I choose to do doesn’t feel like WORK.  It is, well…FUN.  ”Doing it all” in this case is the same as breathing and SMILING.

I recently had a striking conversation with a childhood pal about her passions. She wanted so badly to step out and make her dream a reality.  She is just not happy at this stage of her life.  Now, I’m not exactly qualified to give business advice, being a novice myself, but I do know a couple of things about blazing your own trail and taking a chance.

“The secret of making something work in your life is first of all,
the deep desire to make it work,
then the faith and belief that it can work,
then to hold that clear definite vision in your consciousness
and see it working out step by step,
without one thought of  doubt or disbelief.”
- Eileen Caddy

If there is something you want so badly that you can taste it, then I believe that you owe it to yourself to take a chance.  Just TRY.  Sure you will be scared.  Terrified, even.

Yeah, risks are scary. No doubt about it.  But think of how you will feel if you DON’T make a move.  If you don’t even make an attempt.  Regret is the worst feeling of all.

I encourage you to write down you innermost goals and start your action plan.  Ignore the insecure girl inside of your head and make your own opportunities. Take a risk. Making your dream a reality is so worth it!

RESOURCES

Career girls will appreciate this book: Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do – Kate White

I’m exhausted.

But in a good way.  In a very, very good way.

This past Saturday we (Lara & I) held our second Momz Share event. (First event details here.) This one, appropriately titled “The Silver Spring Soiree” was hosted by the wonderful (and hilarious BTW) Jessica McFadden of A Parent In Silver Spring at the The Little Gym in Silver Spring, MD.  We had over 70 (totally lost count) bloggers from the DC Metro area in attendance!

Some of the night’s highlights?  Well, where to begin…

–>RAISING MONEY FOR CHARITY! An auction to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and Team Why Mommy, anchored by Sunday Stillwell of Extreme Parenthood in honor of our friend Susan Niebur of Toddler Planet‘s courage and tenacity.  The women in attendance were extremely generous, buying up raffle tickets for the cause.  And the donations?  Well, we had THOUSANDS of dollars worth of DONATED items from business as well as an additional $1,000 donation from Bit Defender!  Truly overwhelming!

Our gratitude goes out to:

La Papillon Spa, Peace Love Lip Gloss, Bring It To Fruition, The Round House Theater, The Maryland Science Center, Port Discovery, The National Aquarium, Tuscan Home Decor & Design, All things Italian, Certifikid, Then Again Photography, The Melting Pot of DC, Tech Savvy Mama, Be Lifestyle MedSpa, Simplify Organizing,  BitDefender and their BitMoms community!  (Although she won’t want me to, I really must mention my creative-cohort at this point – Lara Dipaola.  She worked like a maniac to arrange all of this.  I did none of it.  She is my personal hero!)

–>WE MUST NOT FORGET THE FOOD! Food for the soiree was provided by Sarah of The Soupergirl,  Theresa of Treet, and the last minute heroics provided by  Done Right Catering.  (Seriously, they saved the day and personally supervised the entire time.  What a fantastic company.  Hire them NOW!)

–>GOT PASSION? We were also lead in an exercise in finding our passions by Lauree, life coach and owner of Simply Leap .  (I’m planning on writing a separate post on this tomorrow.  Inspiring stuff!) Also much gratitude to Melanie Spring of Sisarina, our Momz Share mentor and sponsor extraordinaire.

–> DID I MENTION THE NETWORKING? This is just such a unique opportunity to meet other area bloggers and network offline.  Someone told me that evening that Momz Share was “the best part of a conference.”  Which totally made me smile.  BECAUSE THAT IS THE POINT.  The entire reason we began this project was so that bloggers can network offline and build strong relationships.  We want everyone to form partnerships so that they can reach out and have support in their online efforts.

INTERESTED IN SEEING MORE PHOTOS? We have a Momz Share Flickr group and photos can be found here.  (Many thanks for Then Again Photography and Laura from Better in Bulk for their skills.  You ladies are amazing!)

INTERESTED IN READING OTHER BLOGGER’S TAKE ON MOMZ SHARE? There will be a link up here.

FEEDBACK? If you went and would like to provide feedback anonymously, do so here.

DC Metro Bloggers… our second Momz Share is this weekend!  Woo hoo!

Some quick bits of information for you:

• If you haven’t already registered, please check out this post and register. Our theme is “FINDING YOUR PASSIONS!”  Lauree Ostrofsky, life and career coach from  Simply Leap will be offering some tips and hints for busy moms on cultivating their inner passions and dreams!
• The location and time have changed.  Our new location is the Little Gym In Silver Spring from 8-11pm.
• There is a $10 food and beverage registration fee.  All money raised in excess of administration costs will be donated to charity.
• In support of Why Mommy’s battle with cancer, there will be an raffle auction with tons of goodies to benefit cancer research.  Bring $1 bills!!!
• Follow us on Twitter @momzshare and fan us on Facebook to learn the latest!
• Hashtag on Twitter is #momzshare
• We will have a McLinky link up after the event, details will be announced.  We also have a Flickr Momz Share pool for pictures after the event.  Video is encouraged as well!
• Blogroll can be found here.  We have 74 people registered so far.
• Jessica McFadden of A Parent In Silver Spring is the host!
• Melanie Spring of Sisarina will be at the event!  Melanie and Sisarina are official Momz Share sponsors and will be developing a website for Momz Share in the next month! Be sure to thank her when you meet her!

See ya Saturday!  (MUST REGISTER TO ATTEND – DON’T FORGET!)

On Saturday night Lara Dipaola and I had the privilege of launching Momz Share and playing host to 45 amazing DC Metro area bloggers!

In case you are not familiar with Momz Share:  The concept  is to simply provide a real life opportunities for moms who have a passion for blogging to connect, build relationships, learn, share information and form strong personal networks.  The events are held quarterly and hosted by a different, fabulous D.C. Metro Region blogger.  It is one part girl’s night out and one part networking.

Okay, official speak over. If you wanna read more, click here. It is now time to gush!

I don’t even know where to begin except to say that we had the most fabulous, interesting and diverse group of women.  I was humbled and in awe of every single one of them BEFORE they even got there. And to have them all assembled under one roof was truly an honor.  I am putting a linky on the bottom of this post because I think that while we were the hosts, THEY will tell the real story!

If you would like to see some photos from the event (Because, as we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words and I don’t have enough space on this blog for that.) —->We have a Flickr group here. More pictures will be added by the attending bloggers in the future so check back! (Why am I wearing a tiara, you ask? Lara provided it and well, the Tarara wine was so yummy that I felt a little “uninhibited.” Enough said.)

And permit me, if you will, to acknowledge the wonderful companies who came on board and donated services to help our vision come to fruition.  This would still be in concept stage if they hadn’t offered their services!

107 Designs –Michael Guill designed the Momz Share logo and buttons! He is an amazing talent and wonderful friend.  Give him some love on Twitter  @107Designs or check out his totally cool website here.

Sisarina – Lara and I met with Melanie Spring in Bethesda one day and she totally got the concept. Not only that, she jumped on board!  Her company Sisarina designed the Momz Share banner and soon to be collateral material, not to mention…. OUR NEW WEBSITE! (Under construction. More to come!) Wow, right? Tweet her up @sisarina  or check out her business online!

Tarara Winery – I can’t even tell you how overwhelmed we were with their generosity!  They jumped in with both feet and poured wine for our guests all night and even sent each lady home with their own vino.  Thank you to Jordan and Kerri for supporting Momz Share!  Give them some love @tararawinery and on the web.

And there is no way that I can forget Laura of Better in Bulk and Amanda of Then Again Photography for coming in and saving the day with their photography genius. Ladies, you are wonderful! (But I kinda already knew that!)

Special thanks also go out to the Maryland Ensemble Theatre and Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center for loaning us gorgeous linens for the soiree!

EXTRAVAGANTLY AWESOME DRAWING PRIZES WERE PROVIDED BY: e.l.f. Cosmetics, Soge Shirts, Jasmere.com, Thien Kim – Passion Parties, La Papillion Spa, Port Discovery, Lisa Helfert Photography, 107 Designs (Additional information on there contributions can be found here.)

TAKE HOME GIFTS FOR THE LADIES WERE DONATED BY: Tarara Winery , La Papillion Spa, Seed Body Care, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Jasmere, MET – The Fun Company (Additional information on there contributions can be found here.)

The next Momz Share event will be held on May 22nd and will be hosted by Jessica of A Parent in Silver Spring! We will require another round of registrations which will begin this Friday on this website.  Look for details on the event and the topic from @mammamania, @dipaolamomma and @jessicaAPISS via Twitter soon!  And BTW – the next event better not end in a trip to the ER. But that is another blog post entirely, isn’t it?

Name and Name of Blog: Cara Blevins (aka Carabee) Land of Bean

Other blogs you write ? BlogTrotting

Twitter name: Carabee

Tell us a little bit about your blog:

Totally true tales about the insanity that abounds in a home with the most crazy active, picky-eating, loud talking, mess-making, teleporting, destruction-wreaking toddler on the planet. She’s just lucky she’s so darn cute.

What do you love the most about blogging?

It’s cliche, but I really do love the sense of community within the blogging world. When I first became a stay at home mom, I had no idea how isolating it can be. Just me and my daughter day in and day out. Sounds like heaven until you actually have to live it. Blogging helped me get through those early crazy days. When I didn’t know anything about anything, (not that I have a clue now) and felt SO lost and alone. I didn’t want to complain to my husband or friends because I feared they would judge me and think I wasn’t cut out for it. As a type A career woman before, I know they were all watching closely. Which isn’t to say that they weren’t supportive, they were, I’m just crazy like that.

Because of blogging, I have made some amazing friends. Relationships that have spilled over into the real world and become very much a part of my everyday life. I have come to realize that there is no “normal” when it comes to kids. And perhaps most importantly, that no matter how insane I might be feeling, I am NOT alone.

Name one thing that might surprise people about you?

This won’t surprise anyone that knows me in real life, but I am a huge Sci-Fi junkie. Give me a space adventure over a romantic comedy any day of the week. It all began with Star Wars and Luke Skywalker when I was a wee lass of only 3 years old. Since then, it has only gotten worse. I don’t go so far as dressing up as a Princess Leia at ComiCon, but I do know how to say “success” in Klingon. Yep, I’m a geek.

We all love to discover new blogs.  Name two of your favorite blogs on the internet!

Not to Brag - NTB was one of the first blogs I read and she has kept me engaged and entertained ever since.

Momisodes – Funny and touching, Momisodes posts wonderful stories about her life with Dadisodes and Babisodes and is expecting Babisodes 2.0 in a couple of months.