Musings on Motherhood, The Abington Moms Club Gets Real at Cocktails & Conversation Night

Below is the help4newmoms 1st official video blogpost! I discuss my night with the Abington Moms Club for an evening of Cocktails and Conversation. We had a great time and a lively conversation. Contact me at help4newmoms if you would like me to come out and visit your Mom's Club or Mom's playgroup.

With Gary Vaynerchuk's "Crush It" You'll Be Social Media Mogul In No Time

I love to talk to moms. When I speak at MOMS International Club meetings or at an evening "Cocktails and Conversation" group or even if I am simply speaking at a mom event, one of the most common questions asked of me has absolutely nothing to do with being a mommy. That question? "How did you get published?" I always tell folks the same thing. I am just like them. I had an idea and I felt passionately about it and I simply would not stop until I got my message out there. Clearly, I am not alone. In Gary Vaynerchuk's, the WineLibrary.TV guy, new book CRUSH IT, it's clear that passion has a lot to do with success. The next time I'm asked how did you do it, I am going to point my new friends to Vaynerchuk's very readable, tell it like it is, guide for entrepreneurs looking to learn more about the way to "Crush It" on their own. (I just love the way that sounds, don't you? Say it with me? "Crush it!" Feels good, doesn't it?)

I'll be honest, I first saw Gary on FOX and Friends and not on his famous video blog. On the show, he had a few bottles of wine in front of him. I am a closet wine enthusiast, living for 24 months in the Bay Area and visiting Napa with family and friends 8 times over 2 years will do that to a person. My prior wine experience? Let's just say, when I first moved to CA from PA and was offered a Cabernet, I put an ice cube in it. After I heard the deafening gasp from the other guests, you can bet ice never ventures near my wine glass.

So, back in PA, I am listening to the TV interview with Mr. Vaynerchuk and he starts to talk about social marketing. Well, now I'm really interested in the interview. For over the two years I've been promoting my book and my speaking gigs, I've been teaching myself everything I could wrap my brain around regarding social media. There's no doubt that social media is a must in any business today, but the volume of what is possible is so overwhelming and can be expensive that it can get very frustrating and a bit disconcerting. I think I found Gary's book, Crush It, at just the right time.

The book speaks to those who are simply considering going out on their own in a new business venture with guidance for how and why you may want to make that decision but also speaks to those who are knee deep into their dream. I, for example, know my passion, my message, my platform and my "DNA"! I needed Crush It for the validation, confirmation, and the direction to keep at it.

Gary's Crush It has given me validation - I know I am on the right track - my marketing plan matches his marketing plan (you have to read the book to know what marketing plan I am talking about.) It has given me confirmation - yes, I was right, in order to do the things I need to do, it's going to take every speck of free time I have and maybe well into the night. For many of us delving into the social media world for the first time, we quickly realize how much time we spend sometimes writing just one comment, for example. We start to think, this is taking forever, are we doing this right? You bet, Gary says. (I don't know if Gary actually says the words "you bet" but you get my point.) It's all about "hustle" and it does indeed take time. Finally, I needed some direction. I feel like sometimes I am all over the place. What is really important to address? Gary provides a map to keep you on target and on point. I especially like Gary's theory that following too many analytics can be unproductive - I feel the same way but reading him say it has lifted a weight!

Crush It is a valuable guide for anyone who is going to navigate the world of social marketing. If you are just beginning, Gary will save you oodles of hours trying figure out where to get started as he identifies the most effective social media to date and the most effective way to use that social media. If you are already knee-deep in your venture, as I am, you'll get right back on track, learn the latest tricks, the new social media on the horizon and find the direction you need to stay focused. The book is very easy to read and does a good job of weeding things out, which I suspect this guy is all about. It's a real breath of fresh air.

Has anyone seen Gary Vaynerchuck on WineLibraryTV.com? How are some of the ways you've learned about social media?

Palin on Palin - Going Rogue Book Review

I had to do it. It has debued as #1 on the NY Times Bestseller List. It stands with the #1 ranking on Amazon Bestseller Book list. It was written by the second woman to ever be nominated for the Vice-Presidency - a working mother with young children - and old children for that matter. It is the culmination of the past year for one of the most polarizing individuals ever to enter the political scene. I am talking, of course, about Sarah Palin's new book, Going Rogue. I had to read it and review it.

I was in my kitchen with my husband when John McCain's announced his running mate for Vice-president would be then-Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin. My husband and I passed a glance and my eyebrows shot up. Hummm... gutsy choice. The first woman VP nominee since Geraldine Ferraro, I thought - this could be interesting. As the months went by, and the campaign progressed, I was intrigued by the Palin story, the good and bad.

As the months wore on and the McCain/Palin campaign reached full force, my curiosity regarding Sarah Palin grew. How can she stand the negative treatment of herself, her family, and her record? And what's with those bad interview performances, "the bridge to nowhere," her ability kill a moose, her firing of the governor's cook, her saying "no, thanks" to the Governor's plane, her emails being hacked into, her lack of experience, the book burning accusations and then in the waning days of the campaign, those clothes, those dangerously expensive clothes?

I wanted to know the answers to all these questions. I wanted the behind-the-scenes story. I wanted to know why Palin continues to take a beating in the media. I wanted to know what she believes and why? What is her experience as a councilwoman, Mayor of Wasilla, and Governor of Alaska. What is her record? I wanted to know how she found the energy to be in politics as a mother with, at the time, three kids. I wanted to know how she felt when she found out that her baby had Down Syndrome. I wanted to know about her family, her parents, her siblings, and how she came to be the person she is. What does Palin believe and how did she come to believe it? Who are her idols? Whose voice plays in her head when she is making a tough decision? How did she really feel when her daughter told her she was pregnant? My list of questions was endless.

"Going Rogue" is Palin's story with the campaign as the backdrop. She tells the reader all about her life in Alaska and her family - her mother, her father, and her siblings as well as her husband and his family. She tells how she grew up, the expectations of her parents, the choices she made growing up, the influence of her favorite books, her quirks (she's a self-proclaimed "Geek" when it comes to details), her idols, her relationship with her husband Todd, and her relationship with her family. She also talks about Alaska and her beginnings, what it was like to live there as a little one, and the unique relationship Alaskan's have to their environment and how difficult it can be to survive there.

Going Rogue is very easy to read, yet full of details that were interesting to learn especially as they related to the relationship between the oil and gas companies and Alaska. Palin details her experiences in politics, starting as a city council woman, serving as Mayor of Wasilla, Governor and, finally, her run for Vice-President. As Governor, she details her fight against big oil, cutting budgets, and successfully implementing projects that seem to have put Alaskans in charge of Alaska and her resources. She also describes the 2009 VP campaign from her standpoint. The behind the scenes look at the whirlwind that is a campaign is reminiscent of Mary Matalin and James Carville's "All's Fair - Love, War and Running for President". While telling her story, Palin admits her mistakes and what she learned from them.

After reading the entire book you'll have a much clearer understanding of what Palin is all about, what she hopes to accomplish and why. Like all of us, her story, who she is, is shaped by all the folks in her life and how they influenced her and taught her. Along the way, she answers the questions that have been asked since her placement on center stage in this country and she takes the opportunity to tell her side of the story.

Quotes of those who inspire Palin are sprinkled throughout the book. There is a clear theme that runs through all of these quotes, specifically, and I'm paraphrasing here, "one may not be able to control what happens in one's life, one can only control how one reacts to it." I think I might have just gotten the answer to my first question. "Why Palin continues to take a beating?" As well, when trying to determine Palin's future and what she sees for herself, I believe she might have answered that one as well when she quotes Martin Luther King Jr on page 86, "Set yourself earnestly to discover what you are made to do, and then give yourself passionately to the doing of it." Read it for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Nativity of Our Lord Class of 1981 - Reunion Event Revealed

Facebook is an amazing tool. One day you're living your life, your past behind you, and then the next thing you know you are talking to folks you haven't seen in 27 years. That's what happened to the Class of 1981 from Nativity of Our Lord Church in Warminster, PA, my grade school graduation class. This past Friday night, we decided Facebook postings weren't enough and that we wanted to meet in person. So, after 27 years (a decidedly odd number of years to celebrate a reunion) we got together for the first time - not all of us, mind you. Out of the 100 or so of us who graduated that June of 1981, there were 30-some at the get-together.

Although the lighting was a bit too revealing for this 42 year old, the atmosphere could not have been better. No bands to drown the conversation, no strobe lights to make us nervous, just wine, snacks, and catching up. The beautiful girls are still beautiful, the smart girls are still smart, the outgoing girls - still out going. And, I can't leave out the guys. The handsome fellas are still handsome, the charming guys, still charming, and the funny guys are still funny. The change I noticed was the ability of everyone to talk to everyone and the genuine pleasure expressed at seeing each other again. It was so great to see that after spending 8 years in school with these kids that they have turned into such nice adults - clearly a group of genuinely kind wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, friends - just all-around good people.

The reunion also made me think about, in a very Carrie, Sex in the City-type way, why do people like to go to re-unions? It's clear that at first, reunions can be a bit intimidating - one worries, for example, "I've gained weight," "My hair is thinning", "I haven't accomplished enough," to name a few - and yet we still attend. Why? Is there unfinished business, an axe to grind, a connection left, well, unconnected. Or does it have something to do with the fact that we all just want to remember what it's like to be our "former" selves, just for a little bit, to be around folks who knew us when we were starting out?

For me, I sensed a bit of that longing for my old self. Once you become a full-fledged adult with responsibilities, it's tough to remember the old you. For example, I found the Nativity 1981 yearbook among my things (Ok, truth is, I have a very special box with my favorite things and it was not only preserved in it's original plastic folder but also re wrapped in cellophane, which worked actually, the thing is in pristine shape!) and the couple times I was mentioned there were references to my singing. I showed my family these tidbits and they were puzzled, "Mom Sang? Ha Ha." Singing was something I really loved to do and I'm thinking about going back to it...just kidding... I'm not. It was just nice to remember something that I did in the past that had nothing to do with what I do now - it adds a new dimension to my story I think...

Perhaps my former classmates feel the same way. Remembering themselves as the class clown, the wittiest kid, the guy who all the girls fawned over, the girl who was so cute, she stopped traffic, the guy who had the talent to make anyone feel like they belonged. Or maybe folks wanted to share how much they've changed. The wallflower who feels comfortable in any group today, the guy who seemed to always be in trouble, but who now is the most interesting guy to talk to, the guy or gal who wouldn't dare to enter a conversation alone but who now has the confidence to show up to a reunion and walk up to any group! Good stuff.

For me, I was proud to introduce my husband to a group of people that I learned with, played with, studied with and genuinely liked. A group who has turned into genuinely kind, interesting, and contributing individuals. I hope we get to do it again soon with an even larger group. My apologies to Mike Leib and Anmoreen Monahan - the two people who I didn't get a chance to say hello to, but who were very nice to see. And, thanks, Pam, for admitting you, too, saved the yearbook, you made me feel a lot better!

What did you all think about the reunion, if you are out there Class of '81. Any reunion stories you would like to share? Tell me why people like to go to reunions?

Sue Miller's "The World Below" is Brilliant, Entertaining, Provocative

Yes, I have a little crush on Sue Miller this month and I suspect it's going to get worse. Ms Miller, if you are out there please get in touch with me, I HAVE to interview you for my blog. After I re-read and reviewed, While I Was Gone which I share with you on a previous blog post, I was hungry for another Sue Miller book. Book number two was purchased at my local library's annual book sale. The volume of The World Below I purchased is the gorgeous, hardcover version of the book, all in blues (and a bit of green) on the front cover. The inside of the book was pretty gorgeous, too. (All that it needs is Sue Miller's autograph..too much? Ok. Ill stop.)

Terrific writing once again, Ms Miller weaves the tale of two women's lives, a grandmother and her granddaughter. The granddaughter is in her fifties and returns to the home of her grandmother who has passed away, Georgia, to reassess her life after a second failed marriage. Georgia's life is revealed both by the journals she left behind, and Cathy's interpretations, as well as by Georgia herself. The effect is amazing as we get to hear the interesting life stories of both these women. We also get to hear how Cathy's interpretations of her grandmother's life was not exactly what she thought it was growing-up. The journals enable Cathy to see her grandmother's experience as it almost was. As is Sue Miller's style, intimate, real-life experiences are not glossed over but examined without prejudice or judgement, they are simply revealed to the reader.

The reader can then absorb the story, relate it to their own life, wonder what they would do in a similar situation, or simply enjoy the path of the story and follow how it works itself out. Miller's writing is beyond reproach as every sentence written is there for a reason and a joy to absorb.
When you want to cuddle up with a great book, this one is a good bet.

The ending had me guessing, though and I'm in a bit of a funk over it. As I might have mentioned before I would love to interview the Sue Miller to ask her a couple of nagging questions? Please? Anyone?

Has anyone had the pleasure of reading The World Below? Share your thoughts.