For those of you who are wondering — I recently attended the International Housewares Show here in Chicago. They had every product under the sun from vacuums to internet and cable packages to knives to frying pans to hair products. Seriously, a huge section of products. I’ll be writing a post about the top products I saw, but this picture was too fun to take the O-Cedar booth (you’ll notice the mop in between us). They are part of Celebrity Apprentice this season, and this photo shoot was beyond fun!  So needless to say, this is not the real Donald Trump.  However, it sure did look and sounds like Donald Trump!  I hope you enjoy this picture!

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I blogged recently on Lisa Reviews about how much I can’t stand the Chicago Tribune.  Yes, my favorite paper since I moved down here has made me cancel my subscription.  I know, hard to believe.  I have been through many, many, many changes to the look of the paper.  However, this last one I cannot stand.  It drives me nuts to the point that I swear its giving me acne. I can’t find the sections that I like.  I swear there is less content.  Some of pages look like a blog page which would be fine if I was looking at a blog.  However, I read the newspaper for more content not less.  My husband has always wanted me to subscribe to the Chicago Sun Times, so I finally did.  Today, our first paper came, and I loved it!  Their articles had real content and weren’t just all pictures.  I could easily find what I was looking for.  I only have two complaints.  I am not sure how I am going to share the paper with Bill.  We tend to read it at the same time.  The other problem I see is that I get less coupons.  However, the Chicago Sun Times is a third of the cost of the Tribune, so at least I am saving money there.  If I remember, I’ll just ask my mom to keep her coupons, and I’ll go through them when we go up to Green Bay.

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I am so bad. I have been so busy since I got back, I am finally now writing about this awesome event. I was contacted about this the day before my birthday (I know, what a great birthday present!!!). Sony wanted to talk to 15 mommy bloggers and give us some cameras (I didn’t know this last part till the day before I left for the trip!). All expenses paid trip, how could I say no?

I flew out on April 16th to San Diego. They got me an a flight through Midway (which I seriously needed since Midway is only 15 minutes away and Ohare is about an hour). Sitting in the airport always sucks, but I made due. My plane flight there sucked. A little girl screamed the whole way. This is why I don’t fly with my kids. I am terrified that is going to be me. The mom was by herself, and she walked up and down the aisle for the four and half hour flight. I felt so bad for her.

We then got to San Diego and I had a limo driver waiting for me. He had my name on a sign. It was super cool. I know I’ll never see that again. He took me to the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla (it was about a half hour drive). The hotel was awesome (I’ll be writing about it on my travel blog, so I won’t go into too many details here). Sony had boxes set up in our room (to use to Fed Ex our cameras back). They also had left us headphones for our kids, a rose, and two chocolate candy bars. They obviously know the way to a woman’s heart. We were on our own for Wednesday night (though we did have a $50 certificate to use at the restaurant). I met up with Deanna and Anne Marie , and we went to dinner. I had filet mignon. It was super yummy. It was one of those steaks that you didn’t even have to chew it — it just melted in your mouth.

The next day we had to be at breakfast at 9:00. We had a buffet breakfast (which was awesome). This is the view we had from the room we were in. Beautiful, isn’t it? We spent the first two hours after that introducing ourselves. We then had lunch out in the beautiful sunshine. We were only out there for about an hour eating some of the best food ever and I got sunburned!!! Here’s a list of all the awesome ladies who were there (if you have more blogs that I haven’t listed, let me know and I’ll get them added):

• Ciaran from MommiesWithStyle.com, Celebrity-Babies.com, CarandCaboodle.com
• Jenny from Momminitup.com
• Stacy from MomCentral.com, MomCentralConsulting.com and Mother-Talk.com
• Deanna from DomesticChicky.com, Apronista.com and HappyHousewivesClub.com/hotmama.html
• Kim from InAShoe.com
• Tracey from Sweetney.com, MamaPop.com and RocknRompBaltimore.com
• Erika from PlainJaneMom.com and emomsathome.com
• Heather from TheDomesticDiva.org and idivalicious.com
• Anne-Marie from AMamasRant.com, MyReadableFeast.com, ThisMamacooks.com, The-Write-Spot.com
• Christina from GeekGirlfriends.com and Tynanwood.com
• Amy from Amalah.com, MamaPop.com and Advice Smackdown on AlphaMom.com
• Laura from PaulnLaura.com
• Janice from 5minutesformom.com

After lunch, we got to learn about Sony and the impact of women on their business (Let me tell you, we have a huge impact!!!). We then got to start playing with the cameras we got. Oh wait, I didn’t show you the cameras yet —-

Camera #1: Sony Cybershot

Camera #2: Sony DSLR-A300K

Camera #3 – Handycam HDR-SR10

Yes, Sony gave us all three cameras! They also set aside time for us to work with their trainers so we could learn how to use them!

We then got instruction from photography expert Me Ra Koh. She gave us shooting instruction and tips of how to get specific results. She was really nice and she’s a blogger too!

We then got to go out to the beach and play with the cameras!

We then got a little bit of time to run up to our room and get ready for dinner. I took these pictures from my room!

We then met up with Sony and went to dinner at the Azul Restaurant. I got back to the hotel between 10 – 11 and went to bed.

On Friday, (April 18th), we met again for breakfast. Me Ra took some of our photos and critiqued them for us. She told us how to make our photos better. We then had a presentation from Rocket XL (the advertising agency who helped pull this all together). Us mommy bloggers ended up taking over that session with our opinions and thoughts.

After this session, we were able to do whatever we wanted till we caught our plane. Sony also gave us certificates for the spa, so I went and had a deep tissue massage. I then ate lunch and then had to get on my plane.

And that was my trip to San Diego!

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This is going to be a short and sweet post. The time change here is killing me. I just got back to the hotel a little while ago. Now, on my time, its 12:30 here, so I am dragging major butt! Sony gave us all three cameras we got to try out. We got a SLR camera, a cybershot, and a camcorder. After I get home, I’ll link them up and show you some pictures. I am just too darn tired right now. All I have to say is that Sony is awesome for doing all this for us! This is beyond cool. I am so glad I came. My goal is to get some of the pictures I took downloaded, so you can see how awesome these cameras are. However, that’s not going to happen until I get some sleep.

Crazy thing happened at lunch today though. We sat outside and ate for about an hour. I got sunburned. My arms are bright red right now. I didn’t figure I’d need sunscreen for an hour. Obviously, I was wrong!  However, this is California, so I guess I should have expected it.

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Once people find out that you do blogging and sometimes even get paid for it, they all seem interested in finding out how you do what you do. The hard part for me is taking almost two years of knowledge and condensing it down to a five minute synopsis and still have them understand what I am talking about. I try to hit the major points and let them make their own decisions from there.

One of the first things I tell them is that they should get their own domain. If they just want to try it out, yes, a free platform is okay. However, if you are truly serious about blogging, you really need to be on your own domain. If you want to make any money blogging, it is almost a requirement that you are on your own domain. Most advertisers do not free platformed blogs. Having your own domain shows that your serious. Would you trust an expert whose domain ended with blogspot.com? Most people would not.

After you have your domain, you have to host that domain somewhere. There are so many sites out there to choose from it can actually make your mind spin. There are sites out there like Web Hosting Bluebook that really can help you make your decision. They have everything from a hosting glossary to reviews on each of the services, so you understand what each one is offering.  You have decide what company works best for you.  I personally use Bluehost and love them (which is listed on their list!).

Once you have your hosting, you also have to decide which blogging platform you want to use.  There are several platforms to choose from:  everything from Typepad to WordPress.  I personally use WordPress, and I love that too.  Once you figure out how to use it, it really is easy.  There are thousands (yes, I said thousands) of plugins that can do almost everything you want them to do (now, if you could get one to clean my house I’d be in seventh heaven – lol).

Once you have done all the above, you really need to figure out what you are going to blog about (though you may have figured this out before you bought your domain).  You can have a niche blog or just a general one.  Niche blogs mean that you only talk about one topic whereas a general blog pretty much covers everything under the sun.  This post is on my general blog.  However, I have 3 niche blogs also.

I guess my last piece of advice I can give to you is that you need to have fun with it.  If you dread blogging each day, it will show in your writing.  If you feel like you are burning out, take a step back.  I love all the people I have met blogging, and this is something I will never regret doing.

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