A Mama's Rant

Goji Berry Juice - another way to stay healthy

Do you take nutritional supplements? Do you think they help ward off colds, improve your immune system, and make you healthier? I do, so when the information about Goji Berries and Goji Juice came across my desk, I thought I should look into it.

Goji Berries.us carries organic wildcrafted Goji Juice from the Himalayas for their tasty, yet powerful health-promoting tonic. The delicate berries (Lycium Eleagnus Barbarum) that go into their juice have long been treasured by the Tibetan people for health reasons.

These berries are naturally protected on plateaus in the Majestic Mountains of the Himalayas. The nutrient-rich soil and the fresh mountain air guarantee nearly optimum conditions for the plant to flourish. It is not uncommon for people in the Himalayas who eat Goji berries on a regular basis to have life expectancies of 100 years or more. 

Mother's Day Gift Ideas - the Chocolate Covered Company

We'll be in Switzerland for Mother's Day, and I'll be celebrating with chocolate. But for those of you staying home, why not get your mom - or yourself - some chocolate goodies for Mother's Day?

Try the Chocolate Covered Company for high end Mothers Day chocolate gifts. One idea is chocolate covered strawberries. The berries are available in 1 dozen, 2 dozen and 9 in a gift box. They also carry chocolate covered grapes, gooseberries, pears, dates, and figs. This is gourmet, luxury candy.

Located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, the Chocolate Covered Company has been serving chocolate covered decadence and confectionaries for over fuve years. They use the the finest quality in imported chocolate, and high quality, fresh fruits from California. Each berry or fruit is hand dipped and packaged with care.

Your order is first placed in a secure foam-like casing in an elegant gift box. Then they are double reinforced with a thick layer of high density foam that surrounds the entire shipping box. To keep the products fresh and cool, a chemical free ice pack is then added to complete the final step. The packaging also gives specific instructions to refrigerate or open at once, right on the box. Finally, they arrive next day service via FedEx.

A dozen hand dipped strawberries will set you back $60. Pricey? Yes. But getting a gift from the Chocolate Covered Company  may be worth it if your mom (or you!) has a demanding sweet tooth.

Get auto matters organized with AskPatty and MyCarPage

AskPatty.com is a safe place for women to get advice on car purchases, maintenance and other automotive related topics. Their new service via MyCarPage is really neat.

If you're like me and take your car in for an oil, lube, and rotation a thousand miles after service is due, you really need this service.

Park Your Car on MyCarPage - It's free.

MyCarPage makes your vehicle ownership more enjoyable, economical and convenient by combining all your automotive needs in a single personalized resource.

Plus you get money saving discounts and special offers, access to your vehicle service history, automatic service and recall notices, traffic reports, resale values, and much more.

MyCarPage currently manages over 4 million vehicles nationwide. This success has enabled them to expand their offerings to include a variety of industries serving the automotive market including banks, insurance companies, car clubs and local car washes.

Car ownership can be a pain in the trunk. AskPatty.com and MyCarPage makes it easier.

AskPatty Gets a Second Life

Do you hang out in Second Life? So does AskPatty, the automotive website for women. It's a safe place for women to get advice on car purchases, maintenance and other automotive related topics.

And now you can Teleport to AskPatty in Second Life. You can visit Patty on Pontiac's Motorati Island, where they have a lounge area with music and capuccinos and freshly baked cookies! Stick around, hang out with Patty, and chat over tea and coffee!

Then check out their information area with advice from our experts, FAQs, and how to find your dream car and get service reminders! You can also check out our $50,000 automotive shopping spree!

Go into their lounge and get yourself a FREE Ask Patty shirt and pin? Or come hang out in our outdoor patio with all of your SL friends and get some E85 fuel while you're at it! Get educated on alternative fuel options and how to drive cars in SL! You can also check out our disabled parking space, the only one on Motorati Island!!

Cool stuff and oh so Web 2.0.

I'm fine, just taking a break

I cracked up when I saw Copywriter Underground's post, Need More Freelance Work? Schedule a Vacation… I wish that was the case with me.

I've had a slow down with my writing and blogging after going fast and furious since January 2. And that's o.k. Being a mom has been taking up my time these days.

I noticed that I've been ignoring my kids and needed to take the time to help Monkey Boy with school work and discpline/attitude issues. He's a smart kid with a lazy attitude. Boo Girl is very good at playing by herself, but we need to get out of the house more and go to the zoo, see friends, and go to the park.

Also, we have a family trip to see my sister in Switzerland coming up. That means a compromised writing schedule even though I'll be taking my laptop and have access to a wireless connection. So why not start slowing down before we go?

Yet it's just not about the family obligations. I've realized that I've become burnt out and depressed. It's come to the point where I had to stop writing for awhile. When I dread writing I know something is wrong, since writing energizes me and gives me purpose. It was time to read, think, breathe, watch lots of Star Trek reruns, and have a glass of wine or two.

Also, I realized I've been neglecting my health. I forgot to get my annual check up, blood work, and mammogram last year - and I never do that. So I've been making doctor's appointments and finally found time to go back to my yoga class. Considering how well I slept that night after class, I need to go to yoga more often.

So it's time to regroup, reevaluate goals, read, and write. I'm going to start doing magazine work, since it's a good fit with my kids' schedules, especially with summer vacation just around the corner. I hope to take advantage of our trip and write small articles for various travel sites. Also, I've been having fun doing the LoudLaunch paid posts. At $15-35 a campaign (posting the same info at several blogs) for 15 minutes of work, that's not so bad. I just hope it hasn't pissed off or bored my readers too much.

I'm still working with MOTHERS, the MOTHERS Book Bag. Looking forward to attending Blogher this July in Chicago, and using My Readable Feast to inspire parents and kids to write this summer.

So my apologies if you're wondering where I am. I'm fine, just taking a break.

(Originally posted at The Write Spot, my freelance copywriting site, but edited here.)

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Can you be a feminist and like pinups?

I've been a collector of Varga/Vargas and Elvgren pinup art for years. But I've always had an inner conflict between considering myself a feminist and loving the pictures of beautiful women that these artists portrayed. Was it the innocence on the outside and the steaming hot sexuality underneath the surface that appealed to me? Or was it the vintage '40/'50s era art I liked?

As part of her marketing campaign for her husband Shaun Von Dragen's book, Moon Age Daydream, Izabael appears at various comic conventions and book shows as various characters. In fact, if you read her press releases I believe she may appear as several characters from Moon Age Daydream (click there to see Izabael's pin-up pictures).

From what little I know about comic book and sci-fi conventions, everyone dresses up including the authors and comic book artists. Why not? And Izabael does it well while managing o look like a real woman instead of some airbrushed, surgically enhanced model.

It's fun, it's sci-fi fantasy, and it's marketing theater. Is it feminist? I'm not sure. But I appreciate Izabael's spirit, her marketing savvy, and most of all her sense of fun.

Izabael Productions knows how to market a book

I'm impressed with Shaun Von Dragen, author of Moon Age Daydream, and Izabael, the husband and wife team behind the vision of Izabael Productions (see Izabael's Home). Focusing on exposure and media is done by Izabael, while Von Dragen maintains concentration upon the writing and art. And boy, do they do an amazing job promoting his book via personal appearances and the Internet.

Moon Age Daydream is a literary novel written in the science-fiction idiom from the point of view of a young male using the futuristic slang of his day. So naturally, Izabael and Shaun are doing personal appearances at book festivals and comics conventions:

• March 16 - 18, 2007 Wizard World, Los Angeles Convention Center
• April 28 - 29, 2007 at the Los Angeles Festival of Books on UCLA Campus
• July 26 - 29, 2007 San Diego Comi-Con International
• Oct. 6 - 7, 2007 GLAMOURCON 42 Hilton Los Angeles Airport, Los Angeles, CA

Izabael will be portraying "Isabelle," the devilishly coquettish Artificial Intelligence from the book. Isabelle, like Izabael, is famous for endless wardrobe changes. She also has a strong Internet presence with her blog, Izabael Muses... and a MySpace page.

Izabael Productions (see Izabael's Home) is doing traditional PR, like sending out press releases. There's also a Moon Age Daydream website where you can learn more about the characters and order advance copies of the book.

If the book is half as good as the marketing efforts, they'll have a best seller on their hands. If not, Shaun and Izabael can start a side business on showing authors how to market themselves and their book.

My sheroes

Monkey Boy has lots of posters of Tiger Woods up in his room. He's passionate about golf and loves to watch Tiger play. I'm thrilled that he admires Tiger for being dedicated to his sport, being a hard worker, and acting as a good role model to kids.

So where can I get a poster of the Rutger's Women's Basketball team for Boo Girl's room? And a picture of their coach, Vivian Stringer? These women should be her Sheroes.

They should be OUR sheroes, too.

These women ROCK - on and off the basketball court!

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MyCoupons - not just another coupon code site

I've always looked for online coupon codes by doing a Google search on the merchant and the phrase "coupon code." Well, no more because of MyCoupons.com and its very unique features that sets it completely apart from other coupon websites.

MyCoupons.com has three main sections to their site. There's a place to locate Coupon Codes to use for online purchases. Then MyCoupons.com has a large online community where you can interact with other coupon code mavens and exchange tips.

But the really cool feature is that you have a place to earn Coupon Credits for helping contribute to MyCoupons.com website content. You can earn MyCoupons CouponCredit is for various activities performed for the MyCoupons site like locating coupon codes, interacting with the site, referring new members, and more. As you interact with MyCoupons, you earn CouponCredits. And if you're very active, you can win monthly Visa Gift Cards loaded with up to $100.

Very cool features. I'll be setting up an account and using it the next time I make an online purchase.

Improve your water taste and usage with Friends of Water

Luckily we have pretty good tasting water here in Colorado. But I remember growing up in Southern California and my mom having to buy salt pellets for our water system. If the pellets ran out, our water was disgusting. When Big Bad Dad and I made home brew, we'd buy big gallon jugs of bottled water - no point trying to make yummy beer with crappy tasting water.

Even if your tap water tastes pretty good, you may be concerned about additives like fluoride or chlorine or pollutants like lead. If so, then check out Friends of Water at www.friendsofwater.com and Friends of Water store. They hope their website inspires people to clean their water and save it at the same time.

I'm seriously going to look at their water saving products. Every summer our water bill goes up when my husband waters...and waters...the lawn. I try to save water in other ways around the house, but it doesn't seem to have much effect.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, sign up for a subscription to their email magazine, The Waterfall, which includes water news and information, and inspiration to save water and clean water. Readers will also get discounts on Friends of Water store products.

Isn't it time to invest in your health and save money at the same time?