Disney Store will celebrate the opening of the newly designed store Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, March 30, 2011. This will be the first of many newly designed Disney Stores to open in 2011. Jodi Benson, the legendary voice of Ariel, from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, will join Atlanta families in celebrating the new store opening.

The new Disney Store offers a one-of-a-kind, interactive and magical experience for Disney fans of all ages. Disney Store’s new design concept aims to deliver “the best 30 minutes of a child’s day” through immersive experiences including a Disney Princess with Magic Mirror, Translucent Trees, Disney●Pixar CARS-branded Ridemakerz experience and the Disney Store Theatre featuring the latest Disney entertainment.

*The first 250 guests who attend the public celebration will receive FREE Mickey Mouse ears.

With each new store opening in 2011, Disney Store will donate 10 percent of the first day’s sales to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the United States.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 30, 2011
• 9 a.m. – Private tour of new Disney Store
• 9:30 a.m. – Interview opportunities with Disney Store executives
• 10:00—Disney Store Opening Ceremony and Jodi Benson “Unlocks Magic”

WHERE:
Disney Store at Perimeter Mall
4400 Ashford Dunwoody Road Northeast
Atlanta, GA 30346

SPECIAL GUESTS:
• Beth Moller, Disney Store Regional Manager and Ranna Edwards, Disney Store General Manager
• Jodi Benson, Voice of Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid

ABOUT DISNEY STORE
The Disney Store retail chain, which debuted in 1987, is owned and operated by Disney in North America, Europe, and Japan. Disney Store is the retail merchandising arm of Disney Consumer Products, the business segment of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and its affiliates that extends the Disney brand to merchandise. Disney Store carries high-quality products, including exclusive product lines that support and promote Disney’s key entertainment initiatives and characters. Disney Store opened its first store in Glendale, California and, in doing so, originated the themed retail business model.

There are currently more than 200 Disney Store locations in North America; more than 40 Disney Store locations in Japan; and more than 100 Disney Store locations in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal, plus online stores www.DisneyStore.com<http://www.DisneyStore.com> and www.disneystore.co.uk<http://www.disneystore.co.uk>.

Each Disney Store location offers a magical shopping experience that can only be delivered by Disney, one of the world’s largest and most successful entertainment companies.

For more information, please visit www.disneyconsumerproducts.com/press/us/disneystore or follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Free Family Event is a Sweet Way Dress Up Breakfast

SUNDAY, MARCH 27, 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.

WHAT: Springtime is here, and Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup invites families from all over Atlanta to join her for a Family Breakfast Ball at Piedmont Park on Sunday, March 27, 2011. In celebration of her new limited-edition spring bottles, Mrs. Butterworth’s will serve a complimentary pancake and waffle breakfast along with her rich and buttery syrup and a heaping helping of fun for the entire family.

Families get a sneak peek of Mrs. Butterworth’s new, downloadable wardrobe collection with accessories designed to complement and customize her bright new look. Families can play designer by adding their own personal touches to new Mrs. Butterworth’s spring edition bottles. After the event, accessories will be available for everyone to download from her Facebook page with a special purchase code found on Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup limited-edition spring bottles.

WHO:              Mrs. Butterworth’s Family Breakfast Ball is open to breakfast lovers of all ages at no cost.

WHEN: Sunday, March 27, 2011, 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.

WHERE: Piedmont Park’s Magnolia Hall Lawn

400 Park Drive Northeast

Atlanta, GA 30306

MORE INFO: Visit Mrs. Butterworth’s page on Facebook at facebook.com/MrsButterworths and follow her on Twitter attwitter.com/MrsButterworths.

Infiniti – the Official Sponsor and exclusive automaker of Cirque du Soleil invites two people to share the inspired performance at the Grand Chapiteau, Atlantic Station.

“The Cirque du Soleil OVO is a headlong rush into a colorful ecosystem teeming with life, where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy and movement. The insects’ home is a world of biodiversity and beauty filled with noisy action and moments of quiet emotion.”

Two lucky Twitter followers of me, @StacieinAtlanta will be attending the show this Saturday, November 20, 2010 courtesy of Infiniti.

As part of Infiniti’s sponsorship, there is also a sweepstakes to win a luxury trip – here is where you can enter to win: http://bit.ly/bhBbVw.

Infiniti offers a full-line of luxury performance automobiles that inspire at every turn, including the G Coupe, Sedan and first-ever Convertible, M sedan, EX and FX crossovers, and the QX full-size SUV.

At Infiniti, the intention is to move people emotionally as well as physically, which Cirque du Soleil does through its many performances across the country.

HOW TO ENTER TO WIN TWO TICKETS TO CIRQUE DU SOLEIL OVO IN ATLANTA COURTESY OF INFINITI

Simply Tweet out with the following included in your tweet:

@StacieinAtlanta

@InfinitiNews

Plus the hashtag #InfinitiOVO

That’s it. Come back, leave the link to your tweet below along with your twitter name and you are entered. Tweet as much as you like and make certain to leave a link below to every tweet.

Winner will be drawn by Random.org and announced on Friday. You have until Friday, November 19, 2010 at 5:00 PM EST to enter. Any tweets after this time will not be counted towards the giveaway.

DISCLOSURE: Infiniti provided me with two tickets to Cirque du Soleil and a luxury Infiniti vehicle for the weekend.

Have you been considering attending BlogHer ’09? JVC wants to help you get there. Today, JVC announced the Everio “Send Me To BlogHer ’09” Sweepstakes, which will give mom and parenting bloggersa chance to win a trip to this year’s conference in Chicago (July 23-25), along with a new JVC Everio camcorder.  Whether you’ve already made plans to attend or not, the sweepstakes is open to all mom and parenting bloggers.

The JVC Everio “Send Me To BlogHer ’09” Sweepstakes will give four winners a chance to experience this event and capture it with a new JVC Everio camcorder.  With a variety of model and color choices, the JVC Everio line of camcorders is perfect for capturing and sharing family memories in stylish and simple fashion. To register, tell us which Everio camcorder best fits your family’s lifestyle and why.

Enter today by clicking here. Good luck and let me know if you win!

The contest runs through May 29th and winners will be announced on June 2nd.

Here it is, the first of May and for over one month, (yes, that is correct) I have been stressing about Teacher Appreciation Gifts. I mean really spending time every day devoted to thinking, planning, shopping for the perfect teacher appreciation gift. It’s not like it is for hours a day but I do it.

The picture is Huntly’s (named after my beloved, paternal grandfather) first day of Kindergarten with his BFF from Pre-K, Sebastian and his new teacher, Miss Rhoades. Doesn’t she just epitomize what you think of when you think of a Kindergarten teacher?

I wonder how I can truly show my appreciation for the first, true “other woman” who entered my son’s life. By “other woman” I mean his first love, in a sense. I am pretty excited that my son got such a cute & smart teacher and that she is so totally worthy of being his first crush. She should be honored (deep down, I believe that she is)!

Also by “other woman” I mean the first woman who has spent just as much time with him as I have. Miss Rhoades  has really played an integral role in his development during this one, short slightly-less-than-a-year time period and I think that she has done a better job than I ever could have, most definitely from the teaching aspect (not that I don’t admire all of those who try).

I really think that Miss Rhoades has treated my son like he is her own. At no time during this year did I ever get a hint that she favored one child in her class more than another and I have spent a lot of time  in that classroom. I have three kids and that is hard for me sometimes (I do have the occasional bad mommy day, believe it or not, and sometimes a little favorite occurs). But with 18 children, I cannot imagine how she manages to remain so neutral every day.

She is also the first woman (besides yours truly, of course) that he has really respected. He listens to her, he is polite and she has taught him skills that he will use for the rest of his life. He gets that. Miss Rhoades also got the first glimpse (just as I did this year) of the kind of man that my son will become. She is a great person to share that with. I am sad that this year is soon ending and that she will never teach my son again.

I will always remember Miss Rhoades and I know without a doubt that my son will too. While I know we must move on because that is how life is, my wish for her is that she will truly realize the value of what she held in her hands this year as a teacher, how she exceeded my every expectation and that she gets that she is respected, loved, admired by more people than she will ever know.  I want her to also know that there really are not enough words to thank her (although judging by this lengthy post, I certainly tried).

So being the incredibly crappy crafter that I am I am going to try to do a few crafts for her, maybe get her a gift certificate and possibly give her the title to my car (DISCLAIMER: It is only worth about $50). I am definitely getting the kids to help so I can blame them when things go wrong or look all lopsided. People always believe “the kids did it” story (Thank God!).

Here are some places to get some great ideas about gifts that you can make:

Seriously every one of the crafts the uber creative Skip to my Lou posted about rocks!!!!

Then one of her comments posted these cool, clipboard crafts. I like these so much that I may make a few for myself.

Family Fun magazine had some great ideas in this post for Teacher Appreciation gifts and even more here plus a couple here.

Here are some ideas from a site in the UK.

Here are the mandatory apple related things. Why the heck is that anyway that teachers are associated with apples? I missed that in the Introduction to Kindergarten to book. [Really please let me know if you do know the answer because now it will probably bug me until I know]

Last, my own idea is that during the next week, I am going to take pictures of every child in her class. Then I am going to ask each child what they love about her, what they learned from her and why they will miss her. Then after printing the pictures off and typing  up a page for each child, I will have the pages then laminated and spiral bound in a book.

It could never really be enough to thank her for everything but at least it will let her know that we know but that we just had to do something anyway.

I could not be more excited because I was chosen as one of the top ten in the Mother of All Bloggers contest from MomLogic and Mom Bloggers Club. The winner gets a super cool HP laptop which I can definitely use and some really great promotion from MomLogic.

Please help me win. I need your votes! I am making this post a sticky through May 6th. Please take a minute, click the link box above and vote for the Divine Miss Mommy. I promise to mention you in my acceptance speech if I win. Thank you so much!

For me, winter is always depressing. Not that the winters in Georgia are that bad but there is just something about this time of year. I cannot wait for it to be over. Give me spring or fall any day. In fact, I could just skip winter all together. It could be that winter doesn’t really feel like winter in Atlanta, Georgia. This year it was a little different because we had a little snow. That’s right people, S – N – O – W. Snow in Georgia. Woohoo! The entire state shut down like it usually does when we have snow (every ten years or so).

I have lived all over the United States but I have never driven in snow. Which was ok because my son had the day off of school and we didn’t have to go anywhere. Yep, a snow day in Georgia. We had so much fun on our snow day. Snow is a novelty to us Georgians. My kids had never been in the snow, two of them had never even seen snow and they all fell in love. We built snowmen (although I think that the politically correct term is snow people), we frolicked in the snow and we made snow cones. We even used my boogie board to slide down our yard.

Now here is the cool thing that really got my son. The snow melted but the snowmen did not. They lasted an extra week after the snow had melted even though the temperature had risen significantly. He made cajoled pleaded for begged asked me to drive around from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, to see the various snowmen. The following is a tribute to my son and a little glimpse into the snowmen builders of Georgia.

The people below clearly have lived in the North!

These people clearly live in Georgia.

And these people, well I am not too certain. I guess this is how the rich people build their snowmen. Well or at least how their butlers build them. Cute snow couple!

So this is it. My unofficial big day. The day that I really launch this blog. All the hoopla comes later, right? The ponies, the ice cream cones, the parade… If you are reading this, welcome. This feels like a long time overdue for me.

On to the Why?  – I have been a writer my entire life. My mother used to buy me journals when I was a kid because I was a wild child who needed some sort of creative outlet and I never shut up. I would fill them up with stories, observations and even turned one into an entire novel. Although that novel is still unpublished, it is deeply cherished by my mother plus she hides so I cannot steal it from her.

I have spent years writing for business and family. Newsletters, training programs, marketing campaigns…anything at all. I am THAT family member or friend that everyone comes to for a good cover letter or to clean up a resume or even the occasional complaint letter. I also have written for epinions and other review sites for years because I genuinely like reviewing products. I try everything as soon as it comes out and I am also that person who friends and family seek out for advice about new products or to find out where they can get information.

I am new (or fairly new) to the blogosphere. I mean, I have known for year about blogs and checked them out sometimes. But this past year, something happened as I ventured into the freelance writing arena as a way to make a little extra money for my family. I found a cool writing gig that I enjoy and stuck with it.  I started finding some mom blogs, briefly read a few along the way and thought why would all of these people write for free?

It took me a while to realize that “free” meant “freeing.” I was spending so much time looking for work that I was barely writing. I had no niche and I was miserable. I signed up for this cool sounding thing called BlogHer and it was coming to Atlanta. This later got canceled and I was so disappointed. Then I met this cool chick via Twitter and she was planning a conference of her own. I just liked the name BlissDom at first. Had no clue what it was really about except blogging, of course. But who doesn’t need a little Bliss?

So I went to the conference and it was amazing. I met all of these cool mom bloggers and truthfully, I had never really read much of what they have written. I went to the conference to see if I really wanted to be a blogger or not. I had been playing with some ideas.

This conference was amazing. I was in the corporate world for years and I have never seen anything like the Sisterhood of the Mommy Bloggers. In the corporate world (at least the one that I was in) it was competitive. You sabotage help each other out a little but this…this was unheard of in my world.

These women all knew each other (I must admit that I felt a little left out but that was only because I was new) and they all liked each other. Better yet, they helped each other out. Was there something in the water? I couldn’t get enough. They shared leads, they mentored each other, they laughed, they networked…there was something in the water and it was inspiration. It really is a sisterhood. I shared a few things too and people were so genuinely thankful that I was overwhelmed.

All I knew that after leaving BlissDom’09 is that I absolutely had to be a part of it. I came home and literally spent days stalking reading all about these mommy bloggers that I had come into contact with at the conference.  I drank it all in and realized that I had never felt so in place. I had to become a Mommy Blogger. And today, I am!  I am a freakin’ mommy blogger. WOOHOO! Today, I have officially joined the Sisterhood of the Mommy Bloggers. Thanks for making it a place where I really want to be.