Entries Tagged 'Stuff I have' ↓

I’m going to talk computers again. Because a new one has arrived at my home and I’ve been asked to review it. And how do you get this stay-at-home blogging writer mom all kinds of excited? Just send her a computer in the mail. And watch what happens.

Fanning self, staring lustily at hard drives, boot them up, watch them run, look at my blog go, open pictures, speed, plug ins, lots of clicking and dragging. Dang, I need a cold shower.

While I am disclosing this all right up front however, you should already know by now that I am no computer guru. I don’t know the benefits of one processor from another. But I am a user. Obviously. I am also running my own blog which some might consider my own business. I have kids using computers everyday. I have a husband reviewing film for work on computers on many evenings. I have family members who come over and log on and friends who are curious about what we use and a brother who actually is a computer guru kicking the tires on every PC he comes across. We’re users and we’re shameless about it. So let me tell you about this particular PC and how I think it could be, well, used.

The lust-worthy PC that was magically dropped on my doorstep a couple weeks ago is a Lenovo A70z All in One PC. I know, a PC! So many of us use laptops these days. They fold up and go with us. Easy. So why would anyone want to invest in a stand alone PC?

Well, here’s the thing about the Lenovo. It has a lot of the benefits of a laptop, and maybe a few more.

Pros and Cons

1. The hard drive is built into the back of the monitor. The advantage?

• It takes less than 5 minutes to pull out of the box and set up
• It saves a ton of space
• It’s easy to put just about anywhere – you could even mount it on the wall

2. The screen is big – 19″. I don’t know about you but sometimes I just miss a nice big open screen when I use my lap top. Also this makes for great display use since it’s something everyone standing around you can see.

3. It’s easy to pack up. All it has is the monitor, the keyboard and the mouse. If you want to bring it on vacation with you, technically you could without much fuss.

4. It boots up fast. Really fast. Just push the button and it turns on like a TV. Nice.

5. Six USB hook ups, 500 GB of space, CD/DVD drive/burner, a web camera, optional Wi-Fi, and great speakers make this usable right away.

6. It’s Energy Star 5.0 compliant – which matters to this user for sure. Not many PCs can compete with that. Plus it came with a reusable bag instead of the usual extra plastic packaging which is their bit to do something more for the environment.

7. It’s affordable. Depending on the type of processor and other features you select, you can buy it for as little as $500 or for as much as $729.

Some disadvantages? Many users are getting used to thinner screens. While this PC is great in that everything is IN the monitor, it still feels a bit bulky. I think it would feel better if its mounted rather than relying on the kickstand in the back. There is also no SD card slot. My brother (aforementioned computer guru) argued that small businesses wouldn’t need this feature. But I do. Just saying.

Please note that said computer guru gave this PC the thumbs up. He mumbled all sorts of positive sounding words about core processors and nice speed and decent space – I think he even called it a “nice little box”. (Now that I think about it, perhaps he too needs that cold shower. But I digress.)

Who can use this?

Well, obviously this would work very well at a business with a kiosk for customers to use. It would work well for small offices needing to save space and money. It would work well for offices that need to move their equipment efficiently.

But I’m a mom and blogger at home with my kids. So let me tell you how I think this works well for a family too.

This PC is ideal for children. Why? It’s easy to set up in a family area without taking up much room. I like the idea that I could have this set up in a public space and WATCH my children online. The screen makes it easy for me to see what they are doing. It’s also very sturdy and seems to stand up well to children pointing, using, typing, putting disks in, skypeing with Grandpa, playing games online, checking scores, watching movies, doing homework and the rest.

And you know which other family members would do well with this PC? The grandparents of the household. This PC is very easy to set up. It’s user friendly. Everything is built in. Plug in and go. My father certainly doesn’t know much about processors either but this nice big clean screen, fast boot up time, built in webcam for skype (a priority for him) with easy to use Windows 7, and regular sized keyboard would make his user experience much more intuitive and comfortable compared to the day to day frustrations he has with his old, cranky, hard to read laptop.

All in all, I’m impressed. It feels very dependable, fast, quiet and easy to use. It’s got what you need, it is practical, it takes up very little space, it’s energy efficient, it’s no fuss. All of these things make this user happy. For all that it does for the price, it makes an ideal family work station.

So that’s my two cents. I get to keep this puppy around for awhile on a long term loan so if you have questions, feel free to post them. Thanks to Lenovo for the chance to check out this fabulous PC.

By the way? Stay tuned for a giveaway. Yep, get your cold showers ready. One of these may just be yours soon. So check back here later.

In the meantime, some other great reviews of this PC can be found here:

Gear Diary

Slash Gear

FTC disclaimer: A Lenovo All in One A70z PC was sent to me on long term loan for review purposes.

I’m a big fan of the ladies over at Aiming Low. So I am ripping a page out of their book today (imitation being the highest form of flattery, of course) and will attempt to explain just exactly how low I can aim. Specifically? When cleaning. I make a total shamockery of the whole concept of house cleaning. And here’s how I do it.

Wait, let me back up and tell you why.

While some of my childhood friends had things matched and just so and put away in their places, I did not. I could care less about order. Many memories of my mother include exasperated pleas to do something about my bedroom. But my kind of cleaning usually resulted in finding old stuff and playing with it in the very corner I started in until she came back in and saw me off in la-la land still surrounded by the shambles of my bedroom. Call me rebellious or just a particularly lazy kind of lazy or perhaps distracted by my own unique style of creativity (oh, I like that one), I kind of only barely did anything to make heads or tails of my own living space.

Then I became a grown up. And when dishes got left someplace or the rug pilled exotic animal hair balls, I heard my mother’s voice grumble from under my breath: “Who do you expect is going to clean this up?” Me. Damn. Do I have to? I guess.

So, yeah, I clean now. But only because I have to. And usually only when I invite someone over. Or I get mad. When I’m mad, I love to clean. So consider my home a happy place when it’s dirty (which is often, so yay for us). But maybe worry if it’s too clean. Really. Or else just expect company to ring our doorbell in the next 5 – 10 minutes because that’s about how clean it will remain with my boys at large, trailing dirt from shoes, dismantled toys and sandwich crusts.

But if I hate to clean so much, how do I do it exactly? You should not be surprised to hear that when I do clean, it isn’t the most thorough job ever. Shocked and appalled, I’m sure, but you need to understand that buffing the underside of the frig’s crisper drawers just doesn’t turn me on. It just doesn’t, I’m sorry.

Ok, time to discuss cleaning itself. I’ve procrastinated enough. I usually start with the dishes. Because there is NO way a home can be considered even remotely clean if there are dishes in the sink. So that means unloading the dishwasher, cramming everything haphazardly into whatever cabinet that fits it and slamming the doors shut to keep it all from falling out. Then cramming the dishwasher with whatever could possibly fit in there too. As long as the spinning water thingie on top clears, we’re good.

Then I wipe down the kitchen. No I don’t pick up the toaster and look for crumbs. No I don’t scrub every milk circle off the table. No I don’t scrub the scum off the stove burners. I have, but you have to be some big-wig kind of company for me to go that far.

Then I sweep. Where you can see. (Do NOT move my couches or you will be asked to leave my house.)

Vacuum? …Maybe. It depends. I take a step back and eyeball my carpets. Like a ripe melon, you just know when the accumulated grime is impossible to ignore.

If there is a splat of something on the floor, do I grab the mop and wet the whole place down? I’ve done it before. A few times ago, I did it. But usually? I grab an anti-bacterial wipe and spot treat. Perfection.

(Note: Those antibacterial wipes are fab. No sponges or extra spraying steps. Wipe everything down and you know bad germies are gone(ish). Yes, I know they’re wasteful. But one goes a long way, let me tell you. Or at least they do for me…)

Oh. Clutter. Yeah, there is always a place for that. Usually in the guest room. All things unwanted and undealt with go to die in my guest room. And then when you are looking for tax forms or insurance cards, you always know where they are. More or less.

(No, I file stuff. I have special piles. I know where everything is. Not to worry. …Don’t look at me like that.)

Toys? Oh I have a favorite spot for toys. If they don’t fit into the established toy baskets or if they are falling apart, they usually go in a bag to charity. Seriously. If they are cluttering everything up and aren’t being used, buh-bye. Easy.

Laundry might be my favorite. Well, at least the part where you can throw heaps of it into the washer and shut the top. Voila, gone! It’s just the part about taking it back out again and sorting and folding it. Lame. So my kids get their school clothes out of the “probably” clean hamper. Wrinkled? My husband’s remedy is to sprinkle them with water and throw them into the dryer for a couple minutes. And yes, this is a wasteful use of electricity. Duly noted.

So them’s my tricks for clean living here at Chez Morningside. Feel free to steal a couple. Or take this post as permission to let yourself slide now and again. Because any parent of young children who takes the time to perform multiple exercises in futility clean regularly should expect it undone within the hour.

Granted, if you get mad about that, maybe you’ll want to clean again.

Funny how it all works out.

So I bought some Diet Coke yesterday. I’m not a huge Coke drinker really but I’ve recently been having the urge to “rest my eyes” at traffic lights on the way to picking up my kid from school. Not good. So I’m thinking an afternoon pick me up once in awhile might just be a good idea.

(Sidebar: I get really… er… hot flash-ish, heart racy and all freakified if I drink too much caffeine. Unfortunately coffee is just a bad idea. Think “Tweek” from South Park. So one Diet Coke has got me covered for a loooong while. Just to clarify.)

But I have this strange aversion to buying drinks that have no purpose. Who needs to get all hooked on the extra sugar and caffeine and aspartame and preservatives and crap for all that extra money. (“Extra money” being the key phrase here. Really? I’m usually just too cheap to shell out for the fun stuff.)

So we mostly drink milk and water around these parts. (Oh and wine. And beer. Both of which have a purpose, but I digress.)

But now and again, I buy some Diet Coke as a treat. (Way to live the life, right?) Oh and it’s purpose? To keep my engines revved so I actually move my car forward when the light turns green rather than take a little afternoon snooze right there in the middle of an intersection.

(… You know what? I should probably just get unsweetened ice tea. I’m betting its cheaper and better for me. Again I digress.)

So I wheely wheeled my kid crammed grocery cart over to the drink section the other day and saw row upon row of Cokes on sale. Which one was the one I wanted? Ummm, the caffeine one with cancer causing sugar substitutes. Yeah that one.

Wait. What’s this? A Diet Coke with pretty blue swirlies on it? What does it mean?

“Diet Coke Plus” it read. “Diet Coke with Vitamins and Minerals.”

Wha…? You mean the Coke peeps are trying to make me think that drinking Coke is good for me? They think that dropping some vitamin B6, B12, some niacin, and zinc in with my phenylalanine and aspartame is really helping a mother out? Or are they thinking that maybe I’ll buy it now because it has a little added value since I can’t get my act together to take a daily vitamin?

Well, it worked. I bought it over the simple red and silver can. Oooh blue swirlies that look all healthy-ish. It can’t hurt, right?

I don’t know. There is something amiss in all of this. I can’t help but feel a little duped. I’ve seen it more and more often these days while I wheely-wheel around my Publix. Crappy products with no real dietary value are suddenly showing up with extra vitamins and minerals. And 5 grams of fiber. And added protein and calcium.

Along side their usual 30 grams of sugar and high fructose corn syrup and trans fat and aspartame and glunk, gook and more bad for you stuff.

It rings a bit sinister I’m afraid.

I mean, SURE, I’d like 5 grams of fiber in my serving of cookies. If I was planning on buying that crap anyway, I may as well have some added something to it. You know, to take away the guilt of buying those dreaded (…nom, nom, nom…MORE…) cookies in the first place.

But if folks think that they can somehow live a MORE healthy lifestyle with these added nutrients dropped in and amongst the regular crap… well… yikes.

There has been a lot more recent priority placed on healthy lifestyles in this country. Which is great. And I am hoping folks are going to make better choices about what they eat and how much they eat. But I just wish these companies would do more to put an overall more healthy product out that we want to buy – rather than keep the same old same old, except for dropping in a vitamin or two, swishing it around and calling it a day.

I know, I know. I still bought the Diet Coke. I still fell for the whole “oooh vitamins in a healthier looking can” thing. (Sidebar: There is a reason for this. And it all traces back to my myers-briggs results which happen to show that I am in the group of people who tend to fall for product placement and advertising more than any other group so its NOT my fault.) I mean, I am not the perfect eater. And my kids need to eat more (ANY) veggies. And we eat fast food sometimes and boxed mac and cheese is part of the rotation and I’ll have a Diet Coke every so often. Sue me.

It’s just. Dude. I know my Diet Coke Plus won’t make me a healthier person. But does everyone else know that? And will we as a collective group just settle for these “healthier” changes? Or will we push food companies further and start expecting them to take out the bad while putting in the good? And maybe expect them to make a more healthy product for real.

And will WE take more responsibility (rather than rely on a Diet Coke for our vatamin B12) and buy more fresh foods and substitute water for sugar drinks and eat green leafy things and cut back on scary stuff that eats our brains? Or will we buy that box of Cheeze-its because it’s got more fiber now and call that dinner?

I’m just saying.

…I can’t believe I wrote a post about a can of Coke.

…which is sitting in front of me.

…and so I’m totally blaming the caffeine swimming in and amongst my “plus” vitamins for this post’s total random factor and multiple sidebars. For real.

(Disclaimer: I had two VERY large Diet Cokes the other day while waiting for my crappy Hard Rock lunch before the TMBG concert. Which now, in retrospect, might explain my tweeked out fan freak out post. Because, yes, I can keep a caffeine tweek for a full 24 hour period. You’re so jealous, right?)

(Another disclaimer: No the Coke people did not ask me to review Diet Coke Plus nor did I get anything free for writing about it. Other than an annoying, pounding sensation…)

….I think I have a headache.

*Setting down the Diet Coke Plus and walking away.*

It started out innocently enough. All eight boxes of our Christmas paraphernalia had been pulled down from the attic and stacked up in our main room – we were ready to deck some halls.  But as I started pulling each stocking, star, Santa hat and trinket out, I looked around and saw clutter. So much clutter, clutter everywhere and clutter that we would only be adding more clutter to.

Particularly toy clutter. Toy clutter that had not been properly played with in months – maybe years.

That just would not do.

So I pulled out some plastic bags and a couple empty boxes, again innocently enough. It was time to collect all the unplayed with stuff and haul it away. It was taking up precious real estate in our cozy home in dire need of Christmas decor.

I never expected all of that toy clutter would actually retaliate.

I never expected that once I pulled a few things out and started sorting, it would pour out and surround me.

Soon there were little people lined up in formation on the floor, matchbox cars of every make surrounding me and plastic dinosaurs precariously placed on their sides – ready to mangle any bare foot. And electronic devices of all sorts, going off, squealing hideous obscenities, as their batteries died within.

The kids stayed back. Maybe the reason they hadn’t been playing with these toys was now more apparent. Maybe they were afraid. These things weren’t toys. They were parent seeking, clutter making, plastic, broken, noisy, insidious attack militia with my sanity as their target.

It seemed the more I pulled out to sort, the more cluttered the house got, the less I knew what to do with it all and then… I got stuck. Every toy box empty. All of it out. And sorted. But I had no idea what to do next. Trash? Give away? Keep? And where?

And where had it all come from in the first place??

I swear I never buy my kids toys. Their birthdays and Christmas – yes. But I’m not a “stuff” person. And they don’t beg for it either. So I thought we had it under control.

I was wrong.

Happy meal toys, headless Star Wars action figures, dried up markers, broken train track, puzzle pieces, fake food with real tooth marks. And then bits of colorful plastic that I didn’t recognize at all, broken off from something or another. Those drove me most insane. Do I keep this? Is this something they need for something they have but don’t play with because this piece is missing? Or is it a smashed up something or other that we tossed long ago and this one piece remains. What is it???

So, in retaliation, I started bagging. I wouldn’t look those stuffed animals in the eye, I couldn’t remember how much my eldest son adored that ragged old teether, I disregarded all sentiment and just got bagging. It was my only defense, I tell you. What else was a mother to do?

And I think the books were the hardest. Books we read a thousand times over, that my children found so much joy with, that taught them their first words or signs or colors. Words are my downfall. I’m a sucker for them. I loved those stories. But I couldn’t let them drag me down. If they weren’t reading them now, if they weren’t NEEDED any longer, they got thrown in a box. I knew what had to be done.

Panting, an entire weekend after the job was begun, I stood triumphant over two enormous trash bags of toys, two boxes of children’s books – all for give-away – and one huge bag of trash. What toys that remained had a home: the little people were caged in plastic boxes, match box cars parked away, and anything that threatened the tender under sole of an adult foot was snapped shut in tupperware.

Success. Victory! The toy boxes were under my control once again. And as I loaded the back of my car up with my prisoners of war, the kids gingerly stepped forward to peer into them again. There’s my favorite phone! You found my Cars car! My Star Wars book!

And so I revel in the room left behind. My Christmas clutter decorations have found spots in and amongst it all. There is peace in the land.

Until Christmas morning. Until everything is unwrapped and the toys begin to regroup, reorganize and rebuild their assault. It will happen again. But until then. I win.

So what have I been doing this morning? Just playing around with the new Creative Memories software I picked up at the Type A Mom Conference. Here’s what I made.

So what did I like about it? It was really easy to use. Click, drag and drop. But it was also easy to manipulate and personalize if you didn’t want to stay within the confines of the the templates. Whether you use the book options or just a page, there is a lot of variation. I am looking forward to tracking down more templates for other options.

What didn’t I like? While I loved that you could publish it right away onto facebook or a slide show, I wish it was easier to capture and save as a jpg or image on my hard drive. But I am still learning it all so maybe if I was a tad more tech-savvy I could figure that out too.

UPDATE:

In the comments below, I got some great tips from two Creative Memories experts so I thought I would just put them up here too.

Great news – you can pretty easily save your pages as .jpgs to your harddrive. On the “home” tab, simply click on “Save pages as” (make sure you choose the save PAGES as rather than the save as)… then you have options for your resolution, selecting certain pages, etc.

Here is another trick you might like to give your page a 3-d look. You can add a shadow (choose light or heavy) .
Format tab is where you will find the shadow option. If you hold down control and click all the elements you want to add a shadow to (for example the red mat/photo, the “beat it” tag and the star) it will add the shadow to all three with one easy click!

Sometimes on pages with many elements I will do a ctrl A and highlight every element, then just unclick the few I don’t want a shadow on (like a text box).

Ok, so remember way back when I bought the “BEST. BRA. EVER.“? Remember how it lifted up this post breast feeding, mid thirties mama and gave me all sorts of much needed confidence? Yeah, well, I have loved those bras ever since. Until about the last month or so. When I started having a burning, itchy reaction to them.

I kid you not.

I won’t post pictures – sorry stalkers – but imagine a very red, bra shaped, welted area on my chest right now. And it itches. And it has totally freaked me out.

I had it happen before to a lesser degree about a month ago. I thought it was a fluke thing. But still, I took a break from them awhile. It was hard because I love those bras, truly they do a fabulous job perking my girls up. But, like weaning myself from a drug, I did and waited for the rash on only one small part of my body to go away. After a few weeks, it did.

And then this weekend, I pulled one out again. After one day of wearing it, I woke up the next morning with the rash covering exactly where I wore the bra. I showed my husband and his reaction was not the usual reaction I get when I flash him. He looked horrified. And along with feeling and looking red, welted and irritated, my breasts also felt sore and achy. And so itchy. Did I mention the itchy part? Really really itchy.

This is not ok.

So, its Monday morning right now and I am waiting to call my OBGYN. But while I wait, I did some bra googling. And what do you know. Check out the google page I got for “Allergic reaction to Victoria Secret bra“.

And THEN, check out the news video I watched about women with SAME reaction. Sure this news story is from a year ago (as is most of the press I found), but still I am stunned. For real. My rash is exactly the same.

And here are some more articles.

And what’s the apparent culprit??

FORMALDEHYDE!!!

My jaw is still hanging open. For all the money dropped on these damn bras, we get formaldehyde and painful, itchy, burning breasts?

This is NOT the way to start my Monday.

My plan? I’ll call my OBGYN today. I will probably take a few pics (sorry folks, park’s closed – you won’t be seeing those I’m afraid, just take my word for it). And then I will call Victoria Secret. Minimally, I want my money back so I can replace them with non formaldehydey bras.

Shoot. I thought external, synthetic, booby enhancing materials were surely safer than internal, synthetic, booby enhancing materials. …right?

I’ll keep you posted.

**UPDATE: July 8 **

I’ve had a few people ask me what brand of Victoria’s Secret bra gave me this reaction. I have two and both are from the Victoria’s Secret Angels “Air” collection. I can’t seem to find the exact bra online however (which makes me wonder if it’s been discontinued). Also, I noticed from some of the news coverage that certain bras which caused a reaction were made in China. Mine were made in the Phillipines. Honestly it doesn’t matter to me where they were made, what matters is that they were made badly.

I’ve had many women react to this post. Interestingly, many women have had the same reaction I have but refuse to stop wearing the bras because they love their support. (I love their support too but still can’t even wear a regular bra for very long thanks to all the itching I’m experiencing.) Regardless its unacceptable that we dish out $40 per bra and then put up with welting and rashes just because it’s a “good bra”. Damn. We deserve better than this.

Finally, I have been in touch with my Doctor, I’ve taken pictures of the reaction and am currently waiting for a supervisor to respond to my complaint (custumer service said it would take up to 24 hours). I will write a new post with the updates as soon as I can. Until then, please feel free to link and retweet this post so that your friends and readers are made aware of what I have learned has been called “Victoria’s dirty little secret”.

So I had a moms night out a week ago. We were all getting gifted pedicures – a special occasion indeed. Anyhoo. The folks at the salon said we could bring wine if we’d like – but nothing could be in glass containers. So what to do? Somehow, impossibly, I retrieved a fuzzy memory from the depths of my brain, probably in a box at the back labeled “cool idea, don’t forget this one”. Maybe I read about them in a magazine or heard of them on Twitter, or something. No idea how I knew about them – but I knew. And after some hunting around, we found them at our local Publix. The most brilliant mommy invention ever. What are they?

Mommy “juice” boxes.

No, they don’t come with straws but each box offers a mom at her wits end a healthy glass and a half worth of wine. And no it’s nothing high end but its in my budget. And it can slip right into any cooler bag along side the Capri Suns. Because nothing spells responsible parenting on the go like wine in a juice box.

Love it. Sign me up. I’ll get the Sam’s Club value pack. For real. Viva the Mommy “Juice” Box.

As I’ve mentioned before, my entire NYC Vivienne Tam experience with HP allowed this uber practical, coupon clipping, “never splurges on self” mommy to enjoy the luxury of a few beautiful things. It wasn’t something for my children or my family – it was just for me. Honestly folks, it’s unheard of around the parts. I am still so appreciative.

And now I want to share a small part of this experience with you. HP has graciously given me three Vivienne Tam HP Wireless mice to giveaway here on Morningside Mom. (Did you know they aren’t even available for purchase in the U.S.?) I am thrilled to be able to share a little bit of beautiful with you all.

How do you enter? Simply leave a comment below explaining how everyday working, parenting, budgeting women can take care of themselves when they so often forget to. I will pick three inspiring comments and announce the winners on Friday, March 6th.

And one last bit of trivia about Vivienne Tam before I sign off. The enter key on the VT HP mini has a chinese symbol on it. Do you know what it means? It means “Double Happiness”. And now doesn’t that just make so much sense? I hope this giveaway brings a small bit of happiness to three of you.

Good luck!

**UPDATE – WE HAVE THREE WINNERS!**

Congrats to our three winners: Cami, Chandra and Carol! They wrote inspiring comments and I encourage you all to read them. In fact, I would encourage you to take a moment to read every comment here – what fantastic advice for women to follow. Thank you to everyone who participated, it means so much that you took the time to share this wisdom.

Here is Cami’s post about her win. Thanks Cami!

Do you know that feeling when you watch reality shows like “Extreme Home Makeover” and you see amazing things happen for people and you say out loud “that sort of stuff never happens to me”? Or how about the reality show ”What Not to Wear”. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wear really nice clothes instead of jelly smeared jeans? I know these sorts of shows well. I watch, I smile and I think “not in a million years”.

Well, during my time in NYC, I kind of had an “Extreme Home Makeover / What Not to wear” moment. A real one. I think it would have made a great reality show actually. And it all has to do with Vivienne Tam.

As you know by now, I spent 4 amazing days in New York City for fashion week thanks to the folks at Buzz Corps, HP and Vivienne Tam. The entire experience in itself was “reality show” worthy in that this sort of stuff *SO* does not happen to me. I spent every day thanking everyone around me. I thanked drivers (oh wait I hugged him too), door holders, hotel folks, waiters, even random people I passed on the streets for slightly stepping out of my way. I was so damn grateful to be there. Every crack and crevice I happened upon heard my gratitude, loud and clear.

But then something even more amazing happened to all the bloggers on this trip. “What? MORE?!” I hear you mumble. Yes, more. We were given a gift.

We started out mid morning in our shuttle not exactly knowing where we were headed. When we pulled up to Vivienne Tam’s boutique, it was familiar to us after having been there the night before for her show. So we stepped out of the bus and walked in, curious. The entire space had changed into a “store” with racks of her dresses lined up, mannequins dressed, shoes and bags on display. We all wandered around, happy to see the goods in daylight for better pictures and also excited to see more of her line. We snapped pics, picked out favorites, held them up to each other, laughed at the possibilities and moved along.

And then Alan Wang, the Vivienne Tam boutique manager and all around very nice man, got our attention. He stood at the front of the store and thanked us for being here this week. He told us how much Vivienne Tam truly appreciates our support and that she recognizes the important work we do. And as a symbol of her gratitude, she would like to give us a gift. Each of us were welcome to pick out one dress. To keep.

Blank stares. It dawns on us. Mouths drop. Rushed whispering. Quiet squeals. And then me, “Can I hug you right now?”

I am not sure what he said next (although I remember that he diplomatically ignored my invitation for a hug, smart man), but it had begun to sink in. Kind of. We could pick a dress in that room to take home. To wear. To have. To feel fabulous in.

And we were off. Some spending time carefully considering. Others leaping on the handbags and shoes (understandably). And then there was me who grabbed one dress and dashed for the dressing room. What if they changed their minds? Quick. Let me get this on and out the door before they decide this isn’t such a great idea.

I wound up with the second dress I tried on. I truly felt amazing in it. I ran around the store in it. I teared up. Three times. Shamelessly. My friend Moosh in Indy saw my Hanes her Way and that’s cool by me. This was serious business. I got an amazing dress. A Vivienne Tam dress. Glamorous pieces of clothing like this just don’t exist in my life. But now one does. (And it is laughing at everything else in my closet as I write this.)

So what happened next? Just wait. Yes, there’s more.

That night we were welcome to attend another event back at the Vivienne Tam boutique. This was the official launch of the Vivienne Tam Hp Mini. Another night on the town? What better excuse to don our fab dresses. And that we did.

I also brought my VT HP Mini with me. I just figured it would be good to have it since that evening was all about it.

And so what happens? Vivienne Tam arrives, speaks to her guests and then offers to sign anyone’s computers. So now, under my right hand in the bottom corner of my Mini, is Vivienne Tam’s signature. She signed it for me and you know what she said to me? She said I was so beautiful in her dress.

Wow. This mom with jelly smeared jeans and a leaking sippy cup in her purse could be beautiful.

It was a moment. To be sure.

And that’s what the dress and the computer have come to represent. Women running around managing the insanity of their lives, elbow deep in dirty boy socks and sticky pots of mac and cheese DO deserve nice things. A dress like this, a computer like this – well, they are simply special things. Little bits of fabulous that remind you that you are actually “worthy” – socks and mac n cheese aside.

So I had that “What not to Wear” moment. And staying true to the thanking theme of my week, I thanked Vivienne Tam that night. I thanked her for making me feel more beautiful and special than I had in years.

My gratitude is endless, my heart is full and my sense of beautiful is in check.

For that (just one more time) I say: Thank you.

For more information about the HP products I review, please visit my HP Update page.

Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today.

That’s right, the day has come. Morningside Mom is finally heading to the City. My parents have flown in to help take over all of that stay at home, groundhog day, going around in circles, cat corralling that I do on a daily basis. Today I fly away from the “oh so predictable” kid schedule of my life and drop into the land of fabulousness, cosmos, culture, no bedtime routines… hell, I’m about to go spend 4 days at the center of the universe.

Bring it on.

And I am going all for the sake of the Vivienne Tam HP Mini Netbook. See mine sitting there? All ready to go?  And the new uncomfortable looking but actually very comfortable shoes I bought for the trip? (Target, by the way. Don’t tell anyone.)

And check out that bag. My mom brought it back for me from Vietnam. The fabulous part is that the silk lining of that bag almost exactly matches the silk handbag that comes with the Vivienne Tam Netbook. Cool, huh?

Well. I think so.

So. Ok. Here I go then. I am going to try and blog as regularly as I can. I’ll be twittering it all too and uploading pics and video when I have something cool to share. And of course, I’ll be doing everything from my VT Netbook.

So here I go, leaving the mommy gig at the door. Off to be… um… fabulous.

I hope I don’t look as clueless as I feel. See you on the flip side.