Restore the Shore #JerseyLove

As many of you remember Hurricane Sandy went through the Jersey area and devastated most of the shore line. Small shops, homes, restaurants and boardwalks were destroyed. Some have rebuilt, other's are still working on rebuilding but they will come back and some have sadly had to close their doors. 

In less then one week I will be on my way to the first EVER Social Good retreat where a group of 40 incredible women from both Social Media Moms and NJ Digital Moms will come together to do Social Good in Jersey. I am humbled to be a part of this amazing opportunity to show Social Good throughout those areas hit hardest by the hurricane. A huge thank you to D6 Sports and Caesars Entertainment for joining forces and supporting this amazing trip for all of us! From June 6 – 9, 2013, we will be visiting Atlantic City and Belmar for a retreat. While there we will be sharing our entire experience along our social media channels. The goal is to encourage people to come back to the shore if they used to be regulars and encourage newbies (such as myself) to experience it for the first time.

If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow me at @ShanaMama9197 to catch before, during and after  tweets. To keep up with everyone during the event follow along by searching for the #JerseyLove hashtag. You can also follow along on Facebook through the Social Media Moms page, my page ShanaMama and of course I'll be sharing on Instagram on Piscesvirgo, because as you all know I am a wee bit photo addicted. And lastly make sure to keep an eye out on Pinterest as everyone will be sharing there too. If you would like to help us get the word out about our mission to get people to visit the Jersey shore (that would be awesome and we will love you forever if you do). You can help by retweeting, sharing, repinning, and some all around spreading of the #JerseyLove!

All opinions in this post are my own.

Under Armour What's Beautiful

You are beautiful in every single way, words can't bring me down. It may be corny and tacky and all that sappy stuff but I don't care. It's what I sing to myself whenever I get down and feel like just giving up on my journey to a healthier me. Yeah sure I have my down days where I just want to shove my face and veg out but all I have to do is look at my kids and I snap myself out of it.

See my kids are my inspiration. I want to be there for them as long as I can. My body has been falling apart the last ten years, I simply let myself go and I am paying the price for it. When you don't take care of yourself things don't just magically happen so I am done being that person. I am taking better care of myself. Part of my commitment to myself is to include exercise in my weekly routine as often as I can and on the days I don't get a chance to then I have to have walked at least 5,000 steps. No more I cants, all I will be chanting is #IWILL

I know you may be thinking what a low goal that is but let me explain a little. I work from home, on the computer all.day.long. So while I do get up to do lunch and dinner and household chores I still spend the better part of my day on my rear end. Not good for me and sure as heck not good on my butt. So while 5,000 steps is in fact a small number for the avid runner or walker for me it's a start to my journey and get back to the kick butt, in shape, running for the pure enjoyment of it person that I used to be.

Under Armour wants to help redefine the female athlete. But not just in their eyes, in yours. What does it mean to you to be a female athlete? Sounds like something you want to do right?

• Set up an account at Under Armour: What's Beautiful
• Put in your goal(s). Don't be scared to aim big because 3 finalist will get to attend the Under Armour Retreat in Costa Rica! They will also receive yoga sessions, surfing lessons, spa treatments and more.
• Do whatever you need to do to reach those goals and don't forget to keep track of it on the website.
• Encourage, Inspire and Support others the community. 

One of the fabulous things about this community is that you can encourage others to keep up the amazing work. Think of it like a giant message board. You can see others status updates and completed challenges and comment on their progress. 

If you'd like to see a quick demo on how the site works be sure to check out this video What’s Beautiful 3.0. When you sign up and do your social sharing (you like how I said when not if, that's the #IWILL speaking there) use the hashtags #whatsbeautiful and #IWILL to follow along with everyone else! And don't forget to follow Under Armour on Twitter and Facebook.

This is a sponsored campaign through FitFluential that I am receiving product for my participation. All opinions expressed therein are as always my own.

The Oklahoma tragedy and how to help

First let me say thank you to those that have messaged and called, we are okay. We are safe, our kiddos and our home are all safe. I still haven’t been able to fully process everything that happened yesterday. I personally have never experienced this kind of weather before, I am not from Oklahoma originally so I don't have the May 3, 1999 devastation to refer to like so many of the lifers out here. All I know is that this tragedy happened close to home. I had a few hours of panic when I couldn't get a hold of my one my close friends who resides in Moore with her family. I was finally able to get a hold of her and thank goodness she was one of the lucky ones. The tornado hit 1/2 mile from her. 

My heart absolutely breaks for the families affected by this disaster, especially for those parents who lost their children. I just cannot imagine what they are going through right now. I want to do something and I know I cannot go over there and help, not yet. They are asking that people stay out until given the okay that it is safe and to let the professionals do their thing. So until we are given the go ahead all I can do is pray and spread the word on how to help.

If you want to help the victims in Oklahoma (Moore and Shawnee) here are some ways you can.

• Feed the Children: They have set up donations areas at some local news stations and are accepting  donations in the form of water, sports drinks, canned food, diapers and blankets.  

• Samaritan's Purse:  Samaritan's Purse is on their way to the Moore and Shawnee area ready to help in any way they can. You can donate via their site and/or volunteer to help in the efforts. You can volunteer here.

• The Salvation Army: You can donate online, text STORM to 80888 to donate $10 or you can call in a donation to 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769).

• Red Cross: You can donate at Redcross.org call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation

• Disaster Relief of Oklahoma: You can donate here or mail a donation to this address BGCO
  Attn: Disaster Relief, 3800 N. May Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73112 

• Animal Resource Center: If you find any animals, you can take them to the Animal Resource Center at 7949 S. I-35 Service Road (405) 604-2892.

• The Pet Food Pantry of OKC is offering dog food, cat food, leashes, collars, food bowls, etc to those in need (405) 664-2858
   
• Central Oklahoma Humane Society: You can make donations online or if you are local they have two drop off locations set up at 5420 N Classen Blvd Oklahoma City, OK AND 2905 NW 70th St. Oklahoma City, OK. They also have a lost and found page set up here.
  
  
• Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma : http://www.regionalfoodbank.org/ or text FOOD to 32333

If you are in need of shelter here is a list of local shelters

• University of Oklahoma – they released a statement earlier that they have opened up student housing in Norman for those seeking shelter

• Oklahoma Baptist University – student housing (Shawnee)

• Graceway Baptist Church, located at 1100 S.W. 104th in Oklahoma City.

• Oakcrest Church of Christ at 1111 S.W. 89th Street in Moore.

• Victory Church, located 4300 North MacArthur in Oklahoma City.

• Journey Church in Norman I-35 and Tecumseh Road is open as a shelter.

• Fifth Street Missionary Baptist Church, located at 801 N.E. 5th St. Oklahoma City.

• St. Andrews Church, located at S.W. 119th and May.

• Trinity Church of the Nazarene is open as an emergency shelter. It is located at 7301 S. Walker, just on the north side of I-240.

Friends of mine, Amy Bellgardt of Mom Spark and Kelby Carr of Type-A-Parent  posted a list of ways you can help the residents out here.  

If you have a family member in the area and cannot locate them please make sure to check the Red Cross Safe and Well site. You can check in for loved one's to know you're safe or you can search for your loved one's.

Please continue to send your thoughts, prayers and love to Oklahoma.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Official poster

Confession time.....I just saw The Hunger Games a few weeks ago and :::GASP::: I've never read the books.

I know I know, who hasn't read the books yet anymore. It seems as though everyone out there who knows how to read has read them. And if they haven't then they have plans to. Another confession, I had no interest in reading the books until after I watched the movie. In fact I was being completely silly and boycotting it because, well I don't know why. It was ridiculous of me and I totally feel silly about it, but I have to read them now. I mean, hello??? I have to catch up before the second movie comes out right?

So without further a due, and embarrassment on my part, I give you the official poster for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

And in case you haven't had a chance to take a peak at the trailer I'll be super nice and include a peak for you.

Looks awesome right? Good thing I have until November to catch up on all the books so I am not lost like I was while watching the first one. Be sure to follow Catching Fire on Facebook and Twitter to keep up on the latest happenings!

Tagg Pet Tracker Review

I received a Samsung Note along with the Tagg device from Verizon Wireless to facilitate this review

In February we added a new member to our family, Theta. The cutest little runt Beagle you have ever seen. She is a handful, one I will admit, that I was so not prepared for. See I have never had a dog on my own. I guess I did it backwards. Most people have plants, then dogs then kids. Me...I kill plants and had three kids young, then for some reason I decided we should get a puppy since the kids are a bit older.

Fast forward three months and here we are with our soon to be six month old insane active puppy. When we adopted her the office mentioned getting her chipped and I immediately cringed. You mean like a chip implanted in her skin, that kind of chip? Yeah sorry that would be a no thank you. I just can't agree to chipping an animal. So when I was approached about reviewing a non invasive pet tracker I couldn't say no.

Tagg is a tracker that attaches to your pets collar. It is easy to attach and remove. There are three components to the tracker. Two of them attach together for you to slide onto your pets collar and then main piece (the tracker) then snaps into the other pieces and locks into place. To remove simply press the button on the each side of the tracker and it will unlock.

Now to the tracking part. We all know accidents can and will happen. A perfect example happened this past Friday as I was leaving to take the kids to school. We were all climbing in the car when all of the sudden my oldest starts yelling NO NO NO. Me thinking something bad happened I jumped out of the car and ran to him asking what what...what was wrong? To that he ran to the fence where our dog was halfway through this nice little hole that I had no idea was there. If my son haden't noticed her she could have gotten out and who knows what would have happened. The only thing I can think of is 1) thank god she didn't get out and 2) I am so glad we have the tracker if she had because then I could have seen where exactly she was. The Tagg tracker uses GPS to locate the exact cordinates of your animal at all times. 

To do a little test on this I took her out for a walk and waited to see what happened. When you set up your account online you input your home address and that is set to your dogs home. They give a little leeway around the home location but if they go out of that radius you will receive alerts such as this

That alert was sent to me via text and as a notification directly through the app so there was no way for me to miss it. When you click on the alert it will open the app and show you the last location of your pet similar to this. You can also view the map version as well.

We have since covered the hole in our fence but if this were ever happen again I have the piece of mind knowing that I could still find our littlest member of the family no matter where she may roam off too because through Verizon Wireless the Tagg uses GPS and 4G LTE wireless technology to track your pet's location from your mobile device. And of course part of the fun part about the app is that you can share information from the app about your pet on your favorite social networks. Gotta love technology right!

If you would like to check out the Tagg for yourself you can visit their site here http://www.pettracker.com/
This device is works exclusively with Verizon Wireless devices and you can download the app for free directly from their website or via Google Play or through iTunes.

You can also find them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/taggthepettracker and Twitter too https://twitter.com/taggtracker

They love hearing from people on twitter and are always quick to respond to questions and/or concerns!

Disclosure: I received a Pet Tagg from Verizon Wireless to facilitate my review along with a Samsung Note to access the app. No other compensation has been given. My opinions, as always are my own.

Wordless Wednesday-A day at the park

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The other week my youngest got to go on his first field trip day. Seeing 19 little Preschoolers running around the park as if it was their first time there was the cutest thing ever.

When my soon to be five year old (totally in denial that my baby is almost FIVE) went down this rope thing I wasn't sure whether to run to protect him, keel over from a heart attack or cheer him on for being so brave and awesome. 

For more inspiring photos be sure to check out:

The Bonafide Life, Better in Bulk, From Dates to Diapers, Not Your Momblog, The Divine Miss Mommy, Colorado Moms,Rajean Blomquist, High Impact Mom, BrainFoggles, The Centsible Life, Rachel Ferrucci, Lil Kid Things, Resourceful Mommyand Zensible Mama and don't forget to link your own photo stories.

Dinsey PLANES printables

We have only a little over two months left to wait until Disney PLANES gets released! With my families obsession of CARS and now watching and re-watching the preview for PLANES I plan on taking all three of my kiddos to see this the day it comes out.

In the meantime Disney has some great printouts for you and your kiddos to color. Just click the photo below and it will bring you right to them.

Don't forget, to keep up on the lastest with PLANES be sure to check out Disney’s PLANES on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/DisneyPlanes, on Twitter https://twitter.com/DisneyPictures
or you can visit the website www.disney.com/Planes

Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

If there's is one type of food that I could live off of for the rest of my life it would be salads. I love salads. I love creating salads and the options are practically limitless. One could possibly say they actually are limitless. Since discovering a particular salad dressing a few years ago Chinese Chicken Salad quickly climbed my list of all time favorite salads. I may have even eaten four of this particular salads last week. What I really enjoy about it is the light yet full flavor of the salad, and I especially love how healthy it is. 

Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 2-3 chicken breast
• Romain lettuce 
• Spring mix 
• Cabbage (Purple or Green)
• Green onions
• Green olives (optional)
• Hearts of palm (optional)
• Crispy chow mein noodles 
• 1 tsp Sesame oil
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Garlic salt 
• Onion powder
• Cayenne pepper
• Annie's Shitake Sesame Dressing

Directions

• Cook the chicken in the sesame and olive oil until done
• Season the chicken when it's almost done with your dry ingredients (garlic salt, onion powder and a bit of cayenne pepper)
• While that's cooking finely chop up the lettuce, spring mix and the cabbage as well as the rest of your veggies (onion, olives and hearts of palm)
• Toss it all together in a bowl and top with the crispy noodles 
• Slice your chicken (you can do it all pretty or chopped) and place on top of the lettuce
• Now top your salad with Annie's Shitake Sesame dressing

Now sit down, relax, grab a glass of wine or beer and enjoy this beautiful salad.