Yes, We NEED to Take a Disney Cruise

A few weeks ago I had the rare pleasure of boarding the Disney Wonder as it sailed to far off Bora Bora was ported in San Diego. This occasion marked the first time the Disney Cruise line docked in San Diego, on a special Pixar cruise of the California coast. As we toured the ship, the one thing I kept thinking was "WHEN are we going?"

I've never been on a cruise before, but I will say that Disney sold me hands down on not only taking a cruise, but doing it the Mickey way. Not only is the cruise 100% DISNEYTASTIC, but it seems like it would be a trip the entire family would enjoy. While I'm not sure I really need to talk Jason into taking this magical journey on the sea, if you are thinking about taking a cruise, here are my top reasons why Disney Cruises are the way to go:

• 100% Family Friendly - Disney takes family friendly to a new level. With every little detail thought of for every age and height, a Disney cruise allows everyone to have a vacation. Parents - when was the last time you really relaxed on a vacation? Oh, the one without the kids? Yeah...vacations with young kids are about as relaxing as being at home - and you have to pay to eat and you're all in one room. Disney cruises offer the longest complimentary child care of any cruise line - with facilities often open until midnight for "Goofy Slumber Parties" so parents can enjoy a little time off the clock. (As in "go hang out in one of three adult only bars".)
• Personal Service - On a Disney cruise, you are assigned a server that travels with you to all of your pre-determined dining experiences (if you chose to go - you can always eat at the buffet or order room service too!). Why is this cool? Because these people get to know you and your needs. Like for me - they would never offer me a tomato and always have a glass of chardonnay waiting upon my arrival. (I kid. Kinda. Not really.) But that's great with kids too. If your kids are antsy, they will know to have food waiting for them. If they know you don't allow dessert every night, they won't even offer. Little personal services that makes traveling with the family easier for all involved.
• Mickey Bands - The techy in me geeked out over this, but upon checking into the ship, each child gets slapped on the wrist with a Mickey Band - a "lo-jack" for your kid. If you are worried that your kid is going to fall off the ship when no one's looking, this is perfect to put you at ease. But mainly it's so your kids have the freedom to roam the secured kids' areas (all connected with hallways only accessible to kids and Disney counselors). If you drop your kid off at one side, but they decide to head to another area, the counselor at the front will be able to check and immediately tell you where Jr. has run off to.
• Wave Phones - another genius techy tool! So, apparently your cell phones don't work when you are crusing (duh, right? But I never thought of it!) so in each room there are two "Wave Phones" available for your family to use to stay connected while on the ship.
• Pirate Night - Yes, I would chose a Disney Cruise for Pirate night alone. Who doesn't want to get dressed up and have a pirate theme dinner, dance party and fireworks on a cruise ship?!

All in all the experience upon the Disney Wonder ship seemed to be the perfect {family} trip. The only negative part I could see was the experience of having to leave the ship at the end of the day - it was hard going back to my daily life even after just a few hours.

Is it too late to chuck it all become a cruise ship performer?

For more information on Disney Cruises, visit their website.

For detailed information on the Disney Wonder ship, please visit here.

*This is not a sponsored post and besides being served lunch, I was not compensated in any form for this post.

In Defense of PR: View from A Blogger / PR Practitioner

When I was 24 I got my first real PR agency job. The agency was one of the hottest and fastest growing in the San Diego tech sector. We had red walls, a fully stocked refrigerator and "team-building outings." The CEO had her slew of 20-something girls in little business suits, lined up in their cubes pitching, writing and trying to figure out what the hell a 802.11 repeater was. 

Let me tell you a little about Public Relations... see, there has always been a misunderstanding of what it really means. 

Public Relations is the forward facing communicator for a company, brand or product. This department writes the news of the company and spins it to make it a good story for public consumption. PR professionals are paid to get news to journalists in such a way that a journalist wants to write about it.

But the reality is that for every piece of news, you are lucky if you get one - five publications to cover it. So you constantly build your list of contacts through journalists who write similar stories, cover your client's competitors or look to understand the space you are in. And part of an overall plan is keeping journalists informed on news information and story ideas by "blasting" pitches to lists. Are the lists perfect? Never. Does a PR person try their hardest to keep the lists as clean and relevant as possible? They should.

A common complaint I hear is that the pitch isn't personalized enough. PR people use massive data bases - Cision and Vocus to name a few - to form their lists. These databases have very, very basic information listed about journalists and, more recently, bloggers. Mainly keywords and a snippet from your bio. When a PR person searches through the system to build lists, they will search for general phrases. A shampoo company may search for things like "beauty products" and "reviews" - so if your niche is organic-only products, your name may slip through the cracks and your name added to the list. Why? Because the bio on the database may make you look like the IDEAL CUSTOMER for this shampoo and there is a chance - maybe only a slight one - that you will want to write about their story/brand/product. 

And journalists write these articles at no cost to the company/brand/product. 

Yes. Journalists write for FREE. 

Well, kinda. See, it's the job of the journalist to fill the publication they write for with valuable news and information to get people to buy and subscribe to their publication. In the PR world if you want to pay for content, that's an advertorial, or a straight up ad. Technically, it's considered unethical for traditional journalists to even get gifted with products and services.

Here is where PR people and bloggers don't see eye-to-eye.

Bloggers see it as "I have this amazing platform that I've worked my ass off to get to the point it's at, why would I talk about your product, post pictures of your brand and include links to your sites for free?" To a blogger, it's like Revlon asking Vogue to run it's ads for free.

But honestly, in traditional PR, the company would never think of paying for journalistic coverage at publications like Wall St. Journal or Allure. And there is the tipping point. 

So what is a blogger and a PR person to do?

First, we need to keep in mind that both of us are humans, prone to mistakes. How would a blogger feel if a PR person blasted them across social media, or sent an email to 300 PR reps about the professionalism of the blogger? Another thing bloggers need to keep in mind is that today's PR associate is tomorrow's Marketing Manager with a $500,000 blogger relations budget. 

Additionally, as the blogosphere is growing and as we bloggers are trying hard to make a dime, many of us will become the brand/product/company. And we all know who the bloggers are we would want to work with... if you are negative and bitching, would you want to work with you based on what you've said on various platforms?

The thing we all need to keep in mind is that daily, our scope is is changing and morphing into something it wasn't yesterday. We all need to figure it out together, to get us all to the point where we think we should be. 

But this change isn't going to happen overnight. So we all, Bloggers and PR reps, need to work together until that day comes. And I have a few suggestions for bloggers to ease the frustration.

1) Check and see if you are listed in PR databases. If so, contact them with the information you want noted. If you don't like getting press releases - you can put that in your bio. Make sure the databases have the information YOU want noted.

2) Have a full disclosure sheet and few sentence information about how you work with brands easily found on your website. Figure out for yourself what you will do on a straight publicity front, and what you charge for. 

3) NEVER ask for money to review products. Both the integrity of the brand and the blogger are hurt by paid reviews. Obviously you need product to even write a review, but  be up-front with the PR person that just because product is sent, they are not guaranteed a review or mention. 

4) Be professional. Don't take on everything. It's OK to just delete emails that are not right for you. It's ok to email back and asked to be taken off a list for a brand you don't gel with and most of all - it's ok to just say "No Thanks!" 

While I don't want the comments to turn into a bitch session on either side - I would love thoughts from bloggers and PR peeps on this! Did I miss anything? Have you had a great experience you want to share? 

 

Real or Internet Rumor? The REAL LIFE Barbie Dream Home in Santa Monica

Someone help my {in}sanity.

According to the internets, Barbie creator Ruth Handler has a real life Barbie dream townhome in Santa Monica, CA.  Images of the pink and purple beach front house seems to have popped up recently on Pinterest and Tumblr and the internet is quickly spewing out... well, nothing really other than the pictures. 

Being a Barbie-girl for the past 34 years, my heart skipped a beat. I want to see this house. That's where my search for information, and my confusion, started.

See, Mrs Handler died 10 years ago. The house, located at 1341 Palisades Beach Road Santa Monica, sold in 2007. And while some sites claim that Jonathan Adler custom decorated this home in pure Barbie fashion, the pictures they are posting are actually from a party that Mattel held a few years back for Barbie's 50th birthday at a private house in Malibu.

Additionally, from the pictures of the outside of the house, you can clearly see it's not the same house. 

A childhood dream dashed in 10 minutes of Google searches. 

And then I cried. 

The End. 

PS: Anyone know the real story behind this Santa Monica house? Was it really built for Ruth Handler? Was it recently repainted?

PPS: One good thing I did learn today though: The Barbie suite at the Palms in Vegas! EEK!

Readin' it Up on my Sony Reader PRS-T2

I like holding a book. I like the smell of books and the feel of the paper. I like turning the pages and once I’m done, either shelving them or loaning them to friends or family.

I’ve fought hard against eReaders because I never wanted to give up the feeling of holding a book. But now, that has all changed.

Like many other things in my literary life, I blame 50 Shades of Grey. I read it on my iPad before it came out in paperback and it opened up a whole new world to me. The world of “no one can see what you are reading.” Which is how I read all three 50 Shades in 4 days over Easter Weekend.

I’ve been using my iPad for reading more and more, but things about it were not perfect. I couldn’t take it to the pool and lay in the sun and read, it was heavy to tote around in my bag and I was always worried about dropping it or losing it. So when Sony sent me their new Reader PRS-T2, I was excited to try it out.

There are a few things I really like about it – like being able to read at the beach or in direct sunlight (thanks to the E-Ink® Pearl V220 touch screen), being able to toss the under 6 ounce reader in my bag, the AMAZING battery life, and being able to purchase books easily over the WiFi connection.

While at first I grumbled at the smaller {than my iPad} screen, I now like that people can’t look over my shoulder to see what I’m reading… as you know of my current addiction to the romance, supernatural and smut genres. And while it may not be fancy like a Kindle Fire – I really like not having to fight with my kids over who gets to use it.

Another cool feature is the ability to post a short passage from books purchased from Reader™ Store to Facebook directly from the device along with the book cover, author and title. That is, if you want people to know what you're reading... lalala!

But now let’s talk about that; What h been reading. I seem to have become the defacto go-to to find out the latest in good, easy to read chic lit books.

The Good:

Shadows of Night – by Deborah Harkness

This was the sequel to Discovery of Witches (#2 in the All Souls Trilogy)– one of my favorite reads of last year. While I did have to go back and read Discovery of Witches before reading this one, it was a good, easy read. It was the obvious middle-child of the trilogy, with lots of lines left hanging. But I can’t wait for book 3!

A Light Between Oceans – by ML Stedman

Amazing book about love, family and children and a lighthouse 100 miles off the coast of Australia. Its beautifully written and you can feel the characters plight and emotions jump from the (e)pages.

Night Circus – by Erin Morganstern

You MUST read this book. The scenes created in your imagination through the brilliant details of this book are insane. The words beautifully blend together to tell the story of a magical circus and the people that create it and love it. This is one of those books that as you read you can’t help but envision what the movie version will look like – and I’m hoping for Tim Burton/Danny Elfman collaboration on this one.

This is Where I Leave You – Danny Tropper

Heart felt story of a family forced to sit shiva together after their father dies. The pain of the main character is almost too much to bare at points, but its also a wonderful reminder that you may not know the people in your life like you thought.

The Romance

Love Unscripted and Love Unrehearsed -  by: Tina Reber

These books delve into what happens when a movie star falls head over heels in love with a small town girl he meets while on location. While every girl at one point has dreamed of George Clooney or Ryan Gosling just walking into you life and making you love him, what would it really be like? Could you watch him pretend to make love onset to the new hot starlet? Could you stand the media attention all of sudden coming your way? Do you just leave your life and business and go on location with him?

I was lucky enough that I finished Love Unscripted the DAY that Love Unrehearsed came out, because I may not have been able to wait. I really enjoyed the fantasy and the reality of the love story between Taryn and Ryan.

Gabriel’s Inferno / Gabriel’s Rapture – by Sylvain Reynard 

Another series climbing to the top of the best sellers list on the 50 Shades bandwagon, although this was more “troubled romance” to me than erotica. Once again its about falling in a deep love with someone that you can’t date and the repercussions of doing so. Lots of historical and art references, so I guess it makes it a thinking {wo}mans 50 Shades?

The SMUT

Bared to You – by Sylvia Day

This book has been number 4 on the bestsellers list right behind Christian and Anastasia for weeks now. While when I read it month ago after first reading FSOG, I thought it was almost an exact knock-off, my second read of the book leaves me thinking it’s actually better than 50.

While yes, Gideon is a mega billionaire with a tortured past and he meets Eve when she falls down in front of him, there are plenty of reasons to like this book better. First – the writing is much better. Second – there is no uncomfortable S&M scenes to winch through.

Book two in the Crossfire series comes out in a few weeks, and I’m just hoping we wont find out Gideon’s issues stem from being seduced by his mother’s best friend. But all in all, a good, sexy read. 

**ETA:

I have now finished Reflected in You,  the second book in the Crossfire Series. My feelings are a bit muddled about this one. Even with its resemblences to FSOG, Bared to You is the better of the two books. If you read Bared, then you (obviously) have to read Reflected. You won't hate it, but you may not love it. It's just so much of "Really? Why would you do/say that when you KNOW he/she is going to be pissed??" that it almost gets boring. Between the sex and fighting, I found myself wanting them to end their relationship. I mean, how much can two people take 3 weeks into a relationship? 

But, it kept my attention and was an easy read. I hope book 3 doesn't take as long to come out, but I'm wondering if they are on a 1 a year schedule now?

Have you read any/all of these books? What's on your current MUST READ list?

*Disclosure: I received the Sony Reader PRS-T2 as part of my participation in the #SonyMoms program. For more information and specifics on the new Sony Reader PRS-t2, please visit the SONY website. Opinions are my own!

Make-Up Monday: I'm Lovin' LASHES

Anastasia Steele snagged Christian Grey's heart by constantly looking at him through hers... Iconic movie stars always had long, thick fringes... yes - I'm talking eyelashes. 

Longer, thicker, non-clumping eyelashes can be all your need to finish off your look - or all you need at all to look your best. Think about this. Currently, women in the US spend 7 billion dollars on make-up each year; Breaking it down, the average woman will spend over $13,000 on make-up in her lifetime - with over $3,000 dedicated to MASCARA alone.

We have a thing for lashes. As we should. Our eyes are the portals to our souls - don't we want our souls to be dressed properly? 

So, how does a girl get fabulous lashes?

Masacra and Lashes by hipmamab featuring shu uemura

Mascara:

Every beauty expert agrees that if you put ONE thing on in the morning, it should always be mascara. It's the easiest, cheapest way to get amazing lashes. While make-up artists around the globe swear by Maybelline's Great Lash mascara, my personal favorite is Volumin' Express Falsies. I also love the Votre Vu Eiffel Power and of course, Dior Show. With so many great products at different price levels you really have no excuse not to use mascara daily. 

Grow 'Em:

Latisse is an amazing product. When I used it a few years back my lashes were so long I actually need to trim them. But other products have popped up claiming the same results without the Rx. French beauty company, Talika claims longer lashes in 28 days with it's Lipocils Expert. This lash enhancer was actually discovered in 1948 and is all natural with no side effects. I used this product for about 3 weeks and saw noticeably differences in my lashes*. Maybe not as extreme as Latisse, but my eyes didn't get red when I used it and I liked the fact that its more natural. Plus the applicator is fabulous and easy to use. 

 Fake It, Baby

So why did I stop using the Lipocils? Because I ended up going the fake-route. I've been DYING to try eyelash extensions for years. I did them years back when they first came out, but they were the clumps of lashes, not individual ones. A few weeks ago The Dailey Method had a promotion going on promoting a new eyelash salon in the area. While I wasn't going to do it, seeing the lovely ladies I work out with regularly sporting these fab lashes with their lulu's - I HAD to go for it. 

Ali from Ciao Bella Eyelash Studio in Encinitas worked her magic and they are fabulous. My favorite thing is that I can wake-up, put on a little tinted moisturizer and lip gloss and be done with my make-up. I didn't go all out Kim Kardashian, but more natural. They are perfect. 

*Just a quick digression to the Talika product mentioned above. I know that it was working, because when Ali was doing my lashes, she had to use the longer ones on me, citing that my natural lashes were longer than the shorter extensions she normally uses on clients!

*disclosure: As a blogger I get to review tons of products {Squee!} While services and products may have been provided to me, all opinions are my own.