Yes, I admit it. I have “belly fat“. Thanks to body slimming products like Spanx, I can keep it “under cover”. I know that this is my fault, as I have not found the time lately to excercise. Add on to that my cravings for chocolate after 8:00pm, it is no wonder I have “belly fat”. I think that it is time I really made changes and after listening to The Joan Hamburg Show yesterday afternoon, it is not that hard to do. Listne to Joan Hamburg interview Dr. Mark Hyman about “The Blood Sugar Solution” . I have included a link here.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a birthday party with my kids. The guest of honor, a three and half year old red monster named Elmo. I think I was more nervous and excited than my kids.
The party location was at the Sesame Street corporate offices in Manhattan. When we arrived to the party room, it was full of moms, kids, press, and all out fun. There were two very talented balloon artists (I think that is what you call them) creating balloon versions of Elmo and Abby. In an adjacent room, a couple of long tables were full with young children coloring and creating projects with stickers. The food included Apple & Eve, Sesame Street themed juice boxes, Earth’s Best cookies, birthday cake, and more. We were only able to eat the items that had the kosher symbol on them, which included the Apple & Eve and Earth’s Best products. My 5 year old daughter kept asking everybody if the food was kosher, what a little mamala she has become! I kept looking around because I knew that the guest of honor would be making his appearance at any moment. My 3 year old son was with me on that one.
An announcement was made and we were treated to sneak peak of Elmo’s World: Birthdays,” from Elmo’s World: Favorite Things DVD. My kids loved the video, and we even have a copy to give away (see instructions below).
Following the presentation, Leela from Sesame Street introduced Elmo. He is even cuter in person. They sang a couple of songs together, which the kids just loved (and so did I!). Then, the lights were dimmed and a woman came walking into the room with a very nice cake and 3 and a half candles for the Muppet of honor. You can see it in the video below. Elmo made a wish, and the crowd was invited to meet him. Imagine an entire room full of kids gitty with excitement. I was thrilled to have my kids in a picture with so many Sesame Street Celebrities! Leela, Elmo, and Elmo’s creator Kevin Clash. Pinch me now!
Leela Sings Happy Birthday To Elmo
Once again, my daughter, at this very moment, inquired if the cake was kosher. Yes, in fact, the cake was from Costco which has a kosher bakery. Sweet, but that’s not all.
We were provided with a goody bag of Sesame Street goodies complete with the new DVD! For all of you families looking for a great family vacation, Beaches Resorts for Everyone by Sandals has kids programs like the Caribbean Adventure with Sesame Street. I want to go! These fun activities include: Birdwatching with Big Bird, Story Time with Elmo, Weekly Parades, Sesame Street Character Breakfast, Character Tuck-ins with Sesame Street Friends, and Birthday Parties with Sesame Street Friends. I can’t wait to check it out!
Do you have a favorite Elmo moment? Share that with me in the comments below and you could win a copy of Elmo’s World: Favorite Things DVD. For more chances to win:
Follow @primetimeparent, @sesamestreet, and @sandalsresorts on twitter
tweet this out:
I just might win Elmo’s World: Favorite Things DVD from @primetimeparent, she is gving away a copy at http://bit.ly/4wxe8y
This past Monday, I had the opportunity to cover a very special Disney Junior event for Nancy Horn, a.k.a., themamamaven.com. When she asked if I could cover this event for her, I said “yes” the minute I heard Disney mentioned (and he even had a chance to finish her sentence). I still remember my first visit to Disneyland (over 35 years ago). The other day my sister found our original tickets from 1971! Like most of the world, those memories transport me back to my childhood and times with my family. Now that we are all living away from home and we insist that our parents call us when they get home, memories from simpler times are golden. As a mom, I am now sharing these wonderful moments with my children. Even after so many years, Disney continues to make me feel like a kid again. I was so thrilled to see and hear first hand some very exciting announcements from Disney Consumer Products. Continue reading →
I love that so many things are happening this time of year. Great sales, holiday parties, new movie releases and vacation destinations that are warm and sunny. I was especially excited when I was invited to attend a very special Bake Sale Event in Support of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer hosted by Ivanka Trump (OMG!) and The Glad Products Company.
I wasn’t able to attend, but I was very fortunate that Lauren Finkelstein, a very special primetimeparent and founder of Save1person.org, went in my place. Here is her post and some pictures! Continue reading →
There are a lot of conversations going on these about BlogHer 2010. If you have never heard of BlogHer before, you can find out all about it at BlogHer.com.
Besides being a conference for women bloggers that are “engaged, influential and info-savvywomen ….women come to BlogHer to seek and share advice, opinions and recommendations. BlogHer’s team works hard to bring you the best and brightest conversations, writers and speakers – online and in person. That’s what we do best” (via Blogher.com). Even with all of this great content and advice, BlogHer participants are becoming more interested in the “bling” rather than the “blog”.
Tweets and facebook updates are all a buzz about everything from what to wear to what private parties are happening. In our every day lives we encounter situations that have the same focus, especially as our kids grow older and become more independent (I was all about clothing and parties at one time). Yet, we aren’t kids anymore and we should be acting more like adults, moms, wives, and role models. I love getting dressed up when I can (being a mom of 3 kids does not allow for that so much) and getting invited to parties (I knew where all the best parties were in college), but I now want to be present for what happens in between the dressing up and the parties. In order to help stay focused on exactly why you are at BlogHer this year, I hope these tips will make your experience more about “you” than “her”:
It is all about you and what you blog about. Get excited about what parties you are invited to this year. Don’t look at what everybody else is doing or where they are going. We are not in High School anymore (but at times events like this can sure make us feel that way all over again).
Talk to the brands that touch “your “niche. Reach out and give them your business cards.
Make a list of some of the bloggers that “you” really want to meet and that “you” follow on twitter.
Be a great listener!
Don’t say negative things about anybody else, even if they just dissed you!
Try not to save seats at an entire table just for the bloggers that you know. Branch out and leave some empty seats, you will really make a first time BlogHer feel so happy!
Just have fun! Smile and if you need a “time out”, it is okay to do that, these events are very busy, loud and can be overstimulating. After a few minutes away from the scene, you’ll feel refreshed and ready to enjoy “your” time.
Come find me, Esti @primetimeparent. I will listen to you and move my stuff so you can sit down and tell me about you!
@primetimeparent loves ShaToBu - The Workout You Wear
I have not posted here since Shavuot and I can’t believe that we are already in summer mode. Please join my facebook fan page for more about what I have been up to lately. For those of you short on time, here is a short listof what I’ve been up to lately: Continue reading →
When I heard the title of this book I thought about two things. My own Jewish mother,my sister, and matzo ball soup. That is why I am so excited to interview Jill and Lisa (sisters) and Gloria (their Jewish mother) on Blog Talk Radio. Their book, “Secrets of a Jewish Mother” is flying off the shelves, as moms of all backgrounds can relate to the wisdom of a Jewish mother. What is a Jewish mother, or family get together, without a bowl of fluffy matzo ball soup? Join me and Beth Rosen as we find out what Jill, Lisa, and Gloria serve-up for their regular family get togethers, especially during the High Holidays in the fall and at Passover in the springtime. Book Description: The Jewish Mother knows what she wants. And what you should want too. In Secrets of a Jewish Mother, you’ll learn how to make her methods your very own, and as result you’ll give and get of love and happiness in great amounts. In what could be thought of as the Jewish Mother’s Guide to Life, Jill Zarin, the breakout star of Bravo’s hit series, The Real Housewives of New York, teams up with her sister, Lisa Wexler, award-winning host of daily radio program The Lisa Wexler Show, and her mother, the estimable Gloria Kamen who made a splash on Jill’s series last year. Secrets of a Jewish Mother shows readers that being clear about what you want is the best policy, and standing up for yourself and your family is always the right way to go. Using real life examples, stories from Jill, Lisa and Gloria, this mother/daughter trio reveals their secrets to life, love, and happiness.
And, remember, a lot of love and a little matzoh ball soup never hurt anyone. Happy Early Mother’s Day!
When I first heard the word Parsha, I thought it was a new fashion accessory. When I was in Hebrew years many years ago, I would have laughed at you if you would have told me how much Torah would be in my life today.
I had no idea that the Torah had such interesting characters-I was so bored in Hebrew school back then. Today, I relish from studying the weekly Torah portion (Parsha) every week. Year after year, there are always new insights into the parsha, and then it becomes “all about me”. Not in a selfish way, but in what I can learn from it. That is why I am especially excited about this week’s parsha, Shemini.
You know the feeling you get when you feel connected to your life. Living your life in the present and being passionate about it-thank you Gary Vanderchuck! His words have stuck to me since I first heard him speak last year at SocComm in New York. I discovered that besides blogging about life as a 40+ parent, I love educating people from all backgrounds and religions about the benefits of kosher certified foods. I know that there are plenty of non-healthy kosher foods out there, but each day new and improved kosher food products enter the arena. I want to to be there when they enter the building!
What is so exciting about kosher food? I am going to blog the short answer, as I still have to clean my house for Shabbos-T-minus 2 hours. Last summer I attended the Orthdox Union Advanced Kashrus Seminar for Women. This week long course gave me the opportunity to meet with the OU Rabbinic Coordinators for each different food category. The wealth of knowledge about Kashrut and the sources those laws is mind blowing. There are reason for everything, and even if you don’t keep kosher, you might consider it after reading Chana Weisberg’s article, “Food For Growth”,online at Chabad.org. You know the phrase, “you are what you eat”? Whether you are a vegetarian or not, the following insights from Chana Weisberg will have you looking for the kosher symbol on your next trip to the supermarket.
Here are some of the insights from this week’s parsha that really sparked my interest in kosher food.
The Talmud teaches that all fish that have scales also have fins, but some fish with fins do not have scales and are not kosher. Having fins (ambition) without scales (morality) can lead to less than kosher behavior. Too many people in their climb to success, abandon their values along the way.
Just last night I saw the Nike Tiger Woods FAUXmmerical,. What the add did do is get a lot of people talking about Nike on twitter, facebook, print, and tv. A classic case study advertising 101.However, I am still completely repulsed by Tiger Woods, even with his “I know I was wrong” face. It just won’t make his shenanigans kosher in my world. I don’t know what food Tiger Woods consumes, but the “abandoning values” idea just went perfectly.
On a positive note, eating kosher foods can not only have spiritual benefits but health benefits as well. For example, the cheeseburger. There are a lot of resources online that can expand upon the three separate occasions in the Torah that tells us not to “boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Ex. 23:19; Ex. 34:26; Deut. 14:21). In other words-believe me, I need the cliff notes-the Oral Torah brings down that the Rabbis expanded upon. In order to help me, help you-the laws of keeping kosher can get complicated if you let them-I wanted to include this excerpt from OU.org to explain this idea further , “It is vital to point out that even though Beef Stroganoff (for example) does not fit the literal definition of ‘boil a kid in its mother’s milk’, it is no less a Torah violation than poaching baby goat meat in its own mother’s milk. Not one bit less. The prohibition of eating Beef Stroganoff is NOT a Rabbinic extension of the Torah’s law; it is within the definition of what G-d prohibited…sour cream from the milk of a cow that was unrelated to the cow from which the beef came from”. Are you still with me? Something not mentioned in the Oral Torah is the fact that meat and milk do not digest well. In fact, I found out that The International Wellness Directory included that on their site, http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/nutrition/digestion01.htm “Milk and meat should never be eaten together. This is one of the laws of keeping Kosher. Milk and meat are simply not designed to be digested together. Drink pure, room temp water, with meals”. In other words, why look for trouble!
If you aren’t Jewish, but love kosher food that is healthy, please let me know.
If you would have asked me several years ago if I thought that I’d be in the same room as Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) from 90210, I would have rolled my eyes and laughed. If you would have asked if I’d be in the same room as Jennie Garth with the makers of Hidden Valley Salad Dressings and the Love Your Veggies campaign, I still would have rolled my eyes and laughed out loud. Thank G-d, a lot has changed since those days and I am now dealing with three very picky eaters. Jennie Garth has also grown-up, married a nice boy from Queens, NY, (actor Peter Facinelli) and is raising three girls. She will always be referred to as “Kelly Taylor”, but she is a mom first and she wants her kids to eat foods that are healthy and nutritional. Who would’ve thunk that our paths would cross at an interactive veggie-focused event today in Manhattan, “Veggie Central”. I learned something else about Jennie Garth, she grew-up on a farm in Illinois! I also grew-up in Illinois, but I was surrounded by sidewalks and strip malls. I must admit, since I became a mom I have always been curious in how ‘celebrity” and “mom” can go together. When I saw Jennie Garth in person, there was no doubt in my mind that she excells in both of these “roles” like the star she is.
This was a really fun event and when I wasn’t picking my three year old daughter off of the floor (don’t ask) I had a few minutes to shmooz with other mom bloggers and discuss what our friends on facebook, followers on twitter, and blog subscribers would like to know about getting their kids excited about vegetables. I must add that my daughter ate more veggies than any other person at the event and I apologize for any carrots, tomato, or cucumber remains that were found shmushed on the floor after we left.
We were also joined by a group of fourth and fifth grade students from Brooklyn’s PS 58, and the Bronx’s PS 196 and PS 230. These students met Jennie, prepared veggie recipes and learned about the importance of incorporating vegetables for a well-balanced diet. The event also featured many veggie-focused activities, including veggie trivia, ranch fountains, a veggie forest and plenty of fresh vegetables to snack on.
