My Random Selection Machine (a/k/a Gangsta Boo) agreed to assist me in choosing our Suave Shower Yourself Beautiful Giveaway winner.


BBBDDDRRRRRRMMMMM!! (That's a drumroll, in case it's late in the day, and you're not on your best mental game :)

...and the winner of the very first Execumama giveaway is...


VEGGIE MOM! She'll get to chillax and indulge in some much-needed mommy time with Wild Cherry Blossom, Ocean Breeze, and Apricot Exfoliating body washes. Congratulations to you, Veggie Mom!

To all of you, my bloggy buddies -- thanks so much for participating! I appreciate ya!

Mommy Escapes: Oh So Suave! Giveaway

I'm not really into smelly stuff. Scented lotions, perfumes, body washes, potpourri and the like usually send me running in the opposite direction. My bath and body products of choice are usually natural-based with light scents such a shea or cocoa butter (in its natural form, which is a lot less scented than the unnatural stuff), or simply adding essential oils to purified water and spritzing it after a warm bath.

Sometimes though, the natural products can get pricey, so what's a frugal cent and scent-conscious mama to do? How about some well-priced products with a variety of lightly scented options to give you reprieve at the end of a long busy day? When Suave sent me some body washes and lotions to sample, I gladly indulged in the opportunity to try something that might aid me in my quest for all things relaxing. The verdict: SCORE!

No heavy, borderline brash scents to offend my nose or interrupt my chill-fest! Just mild, smoothing scents to compliment the warm water and candles, completing the trifecta of chill -- aaaaahhh! Want some? Great, because I have some for ya! Want to "Shower Yourself Beautiful?!"

Suave and Execumama Holly Robinson Peete are offering several opportunities to capitalize on some pretty sweet deals. Holly even offers chillaxin' tips to fellow Execumamas! Check em out here

ENTER TO WIN:

Suave's brand new, Wild Cherry Blossom Indulgent body wash that just hit the shelves this month! (My favorite!)

Suave's Ocean Breeze Refreshing Body Wash

Suave's Apricot Exfoliating Body Wash

To enter this sweet scented giveaway, simply comment here and tell me how you relax at the end of a typical mommy day. For an extra entry, you can tweet about your need to chillax, and use the hashtag #execumama. Be sure to let me know if you tweet by commenting here.

The giveaway ends Monday, June 29th at 6 PM EST, and the winner will be contacted via email by 6PM on Monday, June 30th.

Now, excuse me while I go chillax, courtesy of Suave...

Marley on a Monday

I gave in. She now has her very own blog, and tells me at least four times per day that she has a great idea for a blog post. Yesterday, she dropped her digital camera (given to her by the tooth fairy), and her first comment upon realizing that the camera was no longer working was, "Wow, I guess I'll have to use your phone to take pictures for my blog!". Um, excuse me?! LOL!

Hop on over when you're in the mood to giggle or get into the mind of our five-going-on-twenty-five year old sweetie. From the comments you've put on my posts, I'm thinking her words can give you some perspective regarding your very own li'l ones in this age group. I have to admit, this was a fabulous idea on Marley's part, because I get yet another means of peeking into her beautiful little mind. Gotta love the blogosphere!! Oh, and I'm pretty sure her li'l sis, Sage, will be a frequent contributer, so that's another PLUS!

Enjoy!

Red-carpet Ready!

...I'd like to thank Creator, the Academy, my mother for putting up with a talkative firecracker of a daughter, my hubs, my daughters...yep, *breathing on my nails and raising my right eyebrow*, some pretty fancy awards have been bestowed upon this particular Execumama, and I gotta say, I'm SO GRATEFUL! There are thousands of incredible mom and dad bloggers with whom I happily share this blogosphere, and I truly feel special when someone decides to share their sunshine with moi! I've littered this post with my awards, and yep, I'm braggin' (LOL)!

Here are the daaahlings who threw me e-fist pounds...and I thank ya!


Theresa and Damon over at Jamaican Bun in the Oven
I'm glad they decided to include us in the updates of their biggest and best baking project ever -- A BABY!

Angela over at Hanging with Mrs. Cooper
A simply insightful Mama whose posts span the full spectrum of topics, but never disappoint. She's witty and funny; a great combination!

Tanisha Renee over at Girl, Lemme Tell You...
A true artist, who (in my humble opinion) takes scrapbooking to another level over there in Jersey! You absolutely MUST visit her site and see what I mean!


Okay, so I didn't follow the reciprocity instructions as directed, BUT I did hip some mamas to three fellow bloggers, and that's gotta count.

Bath toy bonfire, my place! Who's in?

Call the Fire Department, Mama, because I promise, if I trip over one more Easter egg, princess paintbrush, or sailor ship, I'm going to gather them all, channel my ancient native spirit, and burn them in the backyard while chanting around the fire!

I like that the girls get to hang out in our "indoor pool" at least 3 days per week while I take a shower or clean the bathroom, but how in the heck they get their toys to go forth and multiply, increasing the approved 4-toy maximum to a solid 10-toy parade is beyond me! What's the solution? No bath toys? Not an option! They'd probably try to drown each other for fun!

Enter All Modern Baby! Purveyors of all things cool, and saviors of my messy bathroom floor! All Modern Baby is a modern children's furniture site that offers a variety of items for home and baby, including Maclaren baby carriers, Stokke Tripp Trapp high chairs, and Bugaboo strollers. I tell ya, it's the little things that keep us Execumamas from going (more) nutso! I can't believe how anxious I am to get bath toys, but I ... um, I mean my daughters are about to experience the multiple award winning Frog Pod Deluxe Bath Toy Storage, featured on HGTV (which is my version of TV Nirvana), and I'm pumped! Ha!


I have high hopes for this frog and its accoutrements, so STAY TUNED for my upcoming review! I hope Froggie is sturdy, because my li'l ones go HARD! Who knows, perhaps I may have stumbled upon something that might add a bit of coveted simplicity to my life, and hopefully yours too!

Clifford needed Emily, so...dah, dah, da-da-daah!

You know you love Clifford! Don't even try to front! I'm a Clifford, The Big Red Dog fan because the program is educational, and just plain cute. But what the Clifford folks truly used to reel me in was Charley, Emily Elizabeth's 9-year-old best friend, who happens to be from my home town, Jamaica. Two weeks ago, Charlie and his dad brought me back to memory lane and also had me in tears when they showcased a true old-school Jamaican child pastime; a game called wheel-and-wire. Let me tell ya, I could hang with any of the little boys with my wheel-and-wire skills back in tha day!!!

Anyhoo, I digress... Note to self: Do a post about games we played growing up on the island.

Here's what I wanted to share with you:

Scholastic Announces Last Call for BIG Idea Submissions

After submissions from all across the country, this is the last chance to enter Scholastic Media's Clifford The Big Red Dog® “Be Big™ In Your Community” Contest.

The contest calls upon kids, parents, teachers, and community leaders to submit their BIG ideas for creating positive change in their communities by demonstrating Clifford’s Big Ideas; Share, Play Fair, Have Respect, Work Together, Be Responsible, Be A Good Friend, Help Others, Be Truthful, Be Kind and Believe In Yourself.

The BE BIG Fund will help bring the winning BIG idea to life by awarding one (1) Grand Prize $25,000 community grant and ten (10) runner-up $2,500 community grants to implement the winning BIG ideas via HandsOn Network local affiliate organizations.

To enter, go to www.scholastic.com/cliffordbebig and remember....IT ONLY TAKES A LITTLE TO BE BIG!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Contest ends on June 26, 2009

Mommy Escapes:The Clone-ish Edition

As luck would have it, roughly 24 hours after I figured out that the @Execumama "word thingie" to the right of my Twitter screen gives me access to tweets directed at me, I received a message from Outright.com. When I looked them up, I swear I almost did a backflip, but fortunately, I remembered that I didn't know how to do one.

Why was I backflip inspired, you ask? Here's a snippet...

What an Execumama really needs (besides a clone, of course) is SIMPLIFICATION. Indeed, the way to an Execumama’s heart is through her laptop, and apparently, Outright.com figured that out when they launched in February of this year. This company offers FREE online bookkeeping services, and their call to Execumamas is simple: let us help you track expenses, maximize deductions, and reduce liability –- um, yes please!

CLICK HERE for the entire article, then do yourself a favor and SIGN UP!

*Photo Credit

Okay, you got one more time to...

I'm not saying that I desire to, or in any way endorse, causing physical harm upon one's child. I'm not!

I'm not saying that sometimes, when I watch Spike TV--specifically anything UFC related-- that I am relatively certain that the Great Ones think about things their children have done or said to them, and get inspired to press on to round 2. I'm not.

I'm not saying that today, as has been the case on far too many days to count, I am grateful for my ability to suppress my inner Anderson Silva as my 5 year old daughter reels out one verbal roundhouse kick after another, followed by a strategic eye roll, and below-throat mumblings as she walks away from arms reach and harms way. I'm not.

I'm certainly not saying that with each snide remark, or cheeky response, that she seems to grow taller, older, and more equipped to take a hit from someone; namely me. Seriously, I'm not.

Someone once told me that they believe spanking a child is a remnant from slavery days when people were physically punished as a means of psychological control, and that stuck with me. The whole idea of physically attacking my children just doesn't sit well with me, because I believe it promotes a message of using force or violence to control a situation or an emotion. NOTE: This only applies to me and my children, as I'm not here to judge what someone else does with the people entrusted to them by Creator. HOWEVER, I'm thinking that might change...and there's no "LOL" following that sentence.

Pray for me; but more importantly, pray for my 5 year old, and the imminent battle between her and my inner Muay Thai/Judo Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion.

Let. Us. Pray.

OUTTED: The Demise of the Marker & Dirt Party

They must be doing it.

I suspect at 4:17 A.M., a few hours after Kris and I have fallen asleep, our daughters, and 7 to 9 of their geographically closest friends, get together somehow, dressed in as many articles of clothing as they can fit, and armed to the nines with markers, crayons and Ziploc bags filled with dirt. Then, the oldest participant, probably dubbed "Keeper", backs out her thermos filled with water, and pours a 1/4 cup water in each Ziploc bag to create the pièce de résistance: MUD.

Then, in an elaborate and solemn ceremony, passed down for more than 526 years, they stand in a circle, passing crayons to each other, using said crayons to write on each others' clothing, and utilizing remarkable precision to press hard enough so as not to risk the markings being removed by pesky show-stoppers such as washing boards, hand washing, and more recently washing machines. After 4 minutes and 17 seconds of marking, they commence to throat sing the instrumental for The Dirt Song (as captured in a leaked videotaping above), while spreading the contents of their Ziploc bags on each others' clothing.

That, my fellow parents, is the crux of MDP'ing (Marker & Dirt Partying).

The entire ceremony must last no more than 11 minutes and 23 seconds, then they're off to their respective rooms, where - with help from some wicked poltergeists - they carefully fold and hang the ceremonial garbs, leaving no traces of evidence from their recent ritual.

How else could they get so much crap all over their new crap on such a consistent basis?!

This post will auto-delete in...minutes to protect the lives of the innocent.

DisneyMochaMoms Pics

My camera wasn't exactly a Nikon (insert alphanumeric code for fancy-schmancy camera here) but hey, it worked! Though these photos don't quite capture the FANTABULOUSNESS of the weekend, they'll have to do ya for now :) Check em ouuuuut...

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE SLIDESHOW, THEN "FULL SCREEN" FOR A BETTER VIEW

A Hidden Mickey in the Birthmark?!

My whirlwind DisneyMochaMoms weekend is over, and I gotta say, they got me! BSM Media and Disney with their Diversity Outreach blabidiblah's and their "Let's spoil them rotten and see if it works" strategy was successful. Special thank-you's to Maria Bailey (a/ka/ the Undercover Party Animal), Valika Shivcharran, Leanne Jakubowski and Laura Spencer (a/k/a Nothing Shy of Fabulous) for putting together an amazing weekend!! It worked, ladies; I'm in, and I can't deny it...LOL. We've been taking out girls to Disney World for the past 4 years, but the experience hasn't been nearly as exciting as the days I spent there this past weekend. Granted, we had ultra-fast passes that allowed us to avoid any and all lines, plus we ate sinfully delicious multi-course meals and drank like sailors (who knew Disney got down like that?!), but still, somehow I feel like my children have been cheated. LOL, not really, because they are (and should be) thankful for whatever we do to enhance their lives or provide enjoyment, but it's great to know that when we do go back to Disney World, we can maximize the experience with a bit of planning and all this new information I've received. I was so strung out all-things-Disney that I swear I found a Hidden Mickey on the hubs' birthmark?! I don't think he'd let me take a picture to send in, but I'm saying though, that has to be worth a Fast Pass or something?!

So, let's start with the DisneyMochaMoms tag. Many people have emailed me asking what on earth is a DisneyMochaMom? It's a name some of my fellow mom bloggers created for our particular group that, hand-picked by Disney's go-to guys and gals, were whisked away from our respective cities to Orlando for a 3-day familiarization trip in exchange for our valuable perspectives on Disney's effect on our particular market. SCORE!

I'll be adding pics later tonight, but in the interim, let me get my DJ Execumama on real quick by giving my shout-outs:

Yo, yo, yo! Whadddup to da DisneyMochaMoms crew who held it down in the O-town with me over the weekend! And who was In da hi-zouuwze?

Ronnie over at blackandmarriedwithkids - a serious trailblazer who, along with her hubs, is creating a long-overdue documentary about successful black families. It due out this summer, and I am so proud of and excited for Ronnie, because this is truly what they call must-see TV! How Ronnie manages to undertake such a project with children AND business ventures is something I'm still trying to figure out?! Whew, chiiile!

Ana over at Quiskaeya - the go-to blog for Green and frugal living and an overall peaceful vibe. Ana is hilariously fun to be around, and a fellow Island girl hailing from Haiti. Her posts are very unique in that they show us how Green living does not necessarily equal empty pockets! Guuurl, 1000 thank-you's!

Christie from My Life, A Work in Progress and Blogrollers - a down-to-earth business woman who happens to be a mommy and a party-picker-upper with her infectious laugh and plethora of knowledge. Check out her radio show and join the Christie Rocks crew!

Tanisha over at Girl, Lemme tell you - this is the woman you want on your side (LOL) because she is a scrapbooking guru with the fancy-schmancy camera to prove it. Wait until you see her work, she truly has a gift!!! I can't wait for her to launch some of the ideas she mentioned, because trust me, I will be knocking down her door with Kris' (er, I mean my) checkbook, no doubt!

Michele over at GingersnapsBaby and Sweet Life Magazine - this college professor with a serious Runway Mama factor is stylish, funny and fabulous! Her line of products, inspired by the little brown sweeties, is beyond adorable and would make perfect gifts for those with brown babies of their own. Watch out for her on Fine Living one of these days, trust me!

Tricia over at 1stopmom - her blog is truly informative and serves as a great resource for moms! Tricia was the very first mom I met on the trip, and after our 20-some-odd minute bus ride, I felt like we'd known each other forever! Who knew Milwaukee was home to some wonderful Execumamas?! Now I know.

Sheena over at mommydaddyblog.com - who gave us all a treat by bringing her beautiful boy, Jayden, along for the ride. Who knew that 1-year-olds could hang with a group of women and not whine or fuss, but instead just chill and bask in the energy that we all gave him. What a sweetie! Oh, and Sheena, the youngest of our bunch, has an incredible blog going on, filled with resources and brilliants stories about her life and experiences. She is SICK with this blogging thang, and knows how to maximize the opportunities herein! Why do I want to be her when I grow up, yet she's significantly younger and I am?? LOL!

I'm sure I'll be featuring these marvelous mamas over at Execumama in the near future, so please subscribe to the site for updates. You're going to want to get to know them, I guarantee ya!