When is the last time you did something nice for someone? Just because you could.

I asked other VlogMom members to share how they pay-it-forward. Maybe we can all get some ideas.

In my vlog, I share three examples of how people have been nice to me, just because. I also promote my involvement in a very special trip I just returned from called Social Media for Social Good Retreat.

Gosh, I hope I can attend another one. I hope it becomes a habit. It’s a good one.

Our reason why.

Your reason why. We encourage you to head to the shore for some fun on the sand, in the surf, on the boardwalk, in the casinos, shops, night clubs, and hotels. Pretty please! I promise, I’ve seen it, I lived it for a long weekend. You won’t be disappointed if you plan a trip there. You won’t soon forget it.

They need our tourism dollars to help rebuild what was lost or damaged after Super Storm Sandy came ashore just seven months ago. They’re back, but there is so much left to be built and saved. Families are still displaced. You don’t bounce back from a storm that devastating overnight.

Here’s what I’ll call a random overview. A highlight reel in photos and a video. I was happy to join forces with one of my VlogMom friends, Amiyrah Martin from “4 Hats and Frugal,” as we taped an impromptu (that’s non-scripted for those not in the world of vlogs, haha) sign-off from our weekend in New Jersey. Her home, my new ‘special place in my heart destination.’ If you like our vlog, subscribe to each of our YouTube channels!

A heartfelt thank you to Social Media Moms, New Jersey Digital Moms, Caesars Entertainment and D6 Sports for an amazing adventure. The last two were gracious sponsors of this inaugural Social Media for Social Good Retreat. Also thanks to Rita Cheng for the wonderful group photo of attendees! Check her out on Facebook and at her site Pui Pui Photography.

YOU ARE MY PEOPLE! XOX

The final moments captured on tape. A digital postcard and a toast to #JerseyLove! Cheers & Clink!

Share any stories of how you have enjoyed the Jersey Shore.

A combination of:

The Cause:

Helping to restore the shore where hurricane Sandy left her mark just seven months ago. New Jersey relies heavily on tourism and just because a big ‘ol nasty storm reared her ugliness on the people and places in her path, and some may call the area “MY CITY OF RUINS” – many beautiful people have come forward to help rebuild. The beaches (most of them) are OPEN and all the beach towns are ready and waiting for US. Let’s let them “FEEL OUR LOVE.” If you’d like to learn more, read the press release. Better yet, please share it!

The People:

A group of good friends and new-to-me friends, all colleagues. I’m talking about Social Media Moms and New Jersey Digital Moms. We’ll “COME TOGETHER” to share why you need to be in New Jersey this summer and all the summers (and other seasons) after. We’ll gather in and around “Atlantic City,” and show you how to have a good time, for a good cause and for all the right reasons. Our goal is to share through our collective social media savvy until you can’t wait to schedule your trips, be they one night or one month!

The Sponsors:

The good people of Caesar’s Entertainment and D6 Sports are leading the way so we must “Thank You For Being A Friend.”

Finally, I’d like to personally shout out a “Thank You For Loving Me,” on behalf of all my friends mentioned above. This dedication goes to all those people who have already worked tirelessly to restore the shore and will continue to do so. To the team who have spent countless months planning the inaugural Social Media for Social Good Retreat. Again to our sponsors, named above and not yet named. To the people of New Jersey who are rolling out the red carpet for our visit this weekend. And to you. If you’re reading this, if you follow us on social media (look for the hashtag #JerseyLove), if you share our content and especially if you plan a trip, send a donation, whatever you can do to help, this is our song!

*A debt of gratitude to Caesar’s Entertainment for providing our lodging and food per-diem and to D6 Sports for sponsoring our beach day event and to others for hosting certain experiences. All opinions are always my own.

I’ve got my luggage out and I’m eagerly planning my upcoming adventure. I am proud to be in a select group of 40 women from Social Media Moms and New Jersey Digital Moms headed to Atlantic City to support Jersey Shore tourism post Superstorm Sandy. For a long weekend June 6-9, we will all have our hearts and wallets in the right place and we’re taking you along by way of our collective social media influence.

We hope to encourage you to plan your trip to the Jersey Shore because one of the best ways we can help those hit hardest by the destruction of the hurricane named Sandy is to show up and bring our tourism dollars back to where many are rebuilding, stronger than ever. But it has been a tough road. I’ve watched and listened to friends who had homes and businesses leveled and were scared for their lives during the storm. We can’t forget that, months after a storm.

What will we get?

Vacation memories to last a lifetime. Or at least until we return.

This Ohio turned Colorado gal has never been to the New Jersey shore, which is surprising because I love a beach town.

Researching this trip, I’m finding so much to love about what I’m about to experience. Packed with history and historic Victorian and beach home architecture - and yes, sadly, many were damaged or lost, but many are being saved – light houses, vineyards, nightlife, big city and boardwalk boutique shopping, casinos, a marina, big-name entertainment, a host of dining experiences from small mom and pop joints to sophisticated venues with world-class chefs, and family friendly activities on and off the beach.

I’m like a kid in a candy store. Speaking of candy, yum, I can’t wait to sample salt water taffy, candy apples, cotton candy and just like in Jon Bon Jovi’s song, ‘I’m a cowboy, on a steel pier I ride,’ – I never knew he was singing about his hometown Steel Pier. I just thought it sounded catchy. I’ll share pictures so we can see what he’s singing about.

The first Social Media for Social Good Retreat kicks off re-opening of the Belmar, NJ, Boardwalk where we’ll proudly present Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty with a donation to Belmar Relief and Recovery Foundation.

Lovingly dubbed #JerseyLove Retreat, our generous hosts include Caesar’s Entertainment and D6 Sports, they along with others, promise to make this four-day event a proper celebration to re-open the Jersey Shore for the 2013 summer season. I’m beyond thrilled to share it with you in blog posts, maybe a vlog or two on my YouTube channel, my tweets, my photos on Instagram, and my pins on Pinterest. Please subscribe and follow all my links so you can see what I’m seeing.

Allow me to be your tour guide and I promise I’ll share the high points so you can plan your trip with ease. Need a wedding and/or honeymoon destination? How about a family vacation or reunion? A long weekend away with your special someone? A retreat with special friends? I can think of no better bachelor or bachelorette destination. Knowing how important your visit can mean to towns rebuilding can sweeten any trip you have in your future. It is a pay-it-forward gesture and I can tell before my toes hit the sand the area is rolling out the welcome mat and nearly 130 miles of sandy coastline.

For the past three years, I’ve been a member of Social Media Moms, a united group of mothers active in social media. It is one of the smartest decisions I’ve ever made, I’ve learned so much about the digital space from the group members and I’ve made wonderful, lifelong friends. For this retreat, we happily join forces with New Jersey Digital Moms, a network of moms and strong business leaders in New Jersey. I’m sure they are anxious to show us what their fine Garden State has been sharing for a long time.

I’m humbled to be in such company. As nasty a storm as Sandy was just seven months ago, what has risen from the destruction is the goodwill of people to restore the areas hardest hit back to life, in some cases, better than ever.

If you’ve enjoyed the shoreline of New Jersey, let me know your favorite memories and where I should make a stop.

*A debt of gratitude to Caesar’s Entertainment for providing our lodging and food per-diem and to D6 Sports for sponsoring our beach day event and to others for hosting certain experiences. All opinions are always my own.

I’ve hit the jackpot and I forgot to buy my winning ticket.

I’ve been lucky in the lottery of life.

A friend on Facebook mentioned a soccer game being played today as part of the Troy, Ohio, Strawberry Festival – near my hometown. Eleven years ago this week I introduced my oldest daughters to the man I liked very berry much.

Photo courtesy: Fulton Farms,Troy Strawberry Festival Facebook page.

We’d known each other nearly six months and dating nearly four and I felt comfortable with my daughters learning more about him. The setting of the family friendly Strawberry Festival seemed ideal. It was. I felt like a family was sprouting, much like the ripe berries on the vine.

It did!

Ten years of marriage and two more berries children make up our overflowing basket of berries. Most days, like the berries, life is naturally sweet.

Last week we were fortunate to have my parents spend time with us and we made each day a celebration. Collectively we have a bushel of birthdays in the span of April, May, and June. When you live far away from family, you tend to pack a lot of punch into gatherings when you can get them. Or you should.

Mother’s Day weekend, 2013, Breckenridge, CO. Back: Husband, Father. Front: Mother, daughter, me, daughter. Front: son. Missing oldest daughter in this photo.

As I type, I reflect upon the many blessings in my basket.  Moments ago I finished the breakfast in bed prepared for me by my ten-year-old daughter ‘because we were away on Mothers Day and she didn’t have her special tray to serve it to me.’

Chocolate milk, buttered toast with a side of cinnamon sugar, a package of muffins and a napkin which she tried to fold ‘all fancy like the restaurants do.’ I’ll keep her.

I’m enjoying the last bits of sweet aroma from the star-gazer lilies in the Mother’s Day bouquet delivered to my doorstep last week. A special surprise for my mother and I from my eldest daughter (her first delivery of flowers, making it even more memorable). Of course we cried.

The card thanking us for making her life wonderful put us into the ugly cry.

Across the room sits my son, on the floor in the sunlight, because “it is the one place in the house where it is most quiet and I am near you.” Coming from a newly minted six-year-old, I realize I’m lucky.

My son and I recently celebrating daddy’s birthday lunch.

I have a man who loves and supports me in all the ways you’d hope and he makes me laugh. I have parents who do the very same and children who often, mostly, not always, make me realize my good fortune in the lottery of life.

Remind me on those days when I might write about how frustrated I might be with anyone I’ve mentioned here today. I hope those days are limited. Like the times I purchase a Powerball ticket.

My message? You don’t always have to play it to win it. But you should be thankful when your numbers come up.

How have you hit the jackpot? You know you can think of several reasons why you have.

Joy is a key word in this book title because for me, it was a joy to read. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was this a cook book? A journal? A meal planner?

What I didn’t expect was to cry, sob really, while reading the prologue.

Don’t let that scare you away, for I value a good, cleansing cry. Davis’ eloquent writing and careful attention to detail simply allowed me inside a very personal story and I imagined how I might react to similar circumstances. You might not cry, but I’d be surprised if you aren’t moved. In my opinion, that’s the mark of a good writer. You keep turning the pages, not realizing the time you’ve invested in the story. You just want to read more.

I appreciate the author’s candor, her willingness to share the raw emotions of her story. A story which will strike a chord, especially if you have a blended family and that describes a lot of people I know. I have a blended family and while I’m not a stepmom, I have empathy and great respect for my husband – the stepdad.

My family celebrates or comforts every milestone, vacation - with food. Davis structures her story like a menu and quite creatively ends each chapter with a family tested recipe. As for the recipes, it’s as if I had written to her and requested a favorite meal be written just for me. Beginning with a Pomegranate Cocktail which includes Grand Marnier. Oh, hello!

This book shares the legend of the toast – a bit more than clinking glasses and good wishes. I enjoyed Davis’ inside glimpse of what it is like being a food critic of a major metropolitan newspaper in one of my favorite cities, San Francisco. Foodies will love this book.

I relate to her following the whispers of finding her faith and how “God revealed her life’s real recipe for joy.”

Robin Davis has been a food writer for nearly 20 years and she currently is the food editor at the Columbus Dispatch. She hosts a weekly cooking segment on a Columbus television station. For my Ohio friends, she will host a cooking class and book signing at Dorothy Lane Market in Dayton on June 20 and again at North Market in Columbus July 28. All appearances are on her website. I’m hoping she’ll find a way to add Denver to her book tour.

I saved for last the fact the author and I are friends from high school. Facebook brought us back together and we’ve had fun chatting about being on the drill team together and where our paths have taken us since school. I had a feeling I’d like her latest book but it is refreshing how much I enjoyed this read and I sincerely appreciate sharing it with my trusted readers.

Just as social media has brought Robin and I back together, no matter your journey – this book should present you with hope. Rethink the impossible and most likely never say never again. Cheers.

Once you’ve read it, maybe we can discuss over a Pomegranate Cocktail?

I want to know how often you take it offline? How often do you spend time offline, living your life? Do you unplug? I mean completely. A quick internet search led me to this post about how much time we average online and how we spend that time. Dated 2010, we know these stats have gone up, but it says the average US citizen spends 32 hours per month online.

How do you think this compares to yourself? I think I spend more than that online. Yikes. Yes, a good part of that is for work.

Do you really think about it?

Do you make yourself turn off your computer? Do you feel compelled to check your phone each time you get a notice?

Beep. Did you just check your smart phone?

I recently wrote about having your smartphone out while you’re enjoying a meal. Is your smart phone your dinner date?

This has been on my mind a lot. I just enjoyed a week away with girlfriends. I had many days where I didn’t check in on any of my social media accounts. I haven’t posted here in well over a week. And you know what? It was all here for me when I returned home.

Here I am last weekend with dear girlfriends in Greenville, South Carolina. Offline. Unplugged. They were smart to wear sunglasses for photo, my eyes are squinty but I was very happy in that moment. Offline.

Did I miss it? Maybe a little.

I am amazed by all the people I saw in the airport, on the streets – walking swiftly with heads down buried into their phones. They rarely looked up. Like collision rarely. No smiles as they pass you by. Blank stares downward. Really? Really?

I think it is important we take time offline. Don’t think of every milestone in our lives as a blog post or social media share. Goodness, it hasn’t been all that long ago that none of this was in my life. I was living a full life without the internet and all my connections online.

That’s not to say I don’t appreciate and value the many friendships and business associations I’ve made because of my footprint online. I do. Very much. My online community provides enrichment in many ways.

I simply think we need to remind ourselves to unplug. We need to not feel guilty when we do. Know it is healthy to find the balance and check ourselves when we feel a tilt or a shift to living online more than off.

I’d love to hear how you strike a balance. I could use some fresh ideas. Of course that means I need to remain online to read them. Grins.

A group some don’t consider in how they are affected during and after an event like that of the Boston Marathon explosions is the news media. Many are quick to accuse journalists of being heartless or insensitive because they are filming or asking questions in the moments following a crisis.

And some are just that, or appear to be that way.

Others are conflicted. Many journalists struggle with remaining professional, calm, on task and unbiased while covering the event and not being part of the event. Some do become part of the story.

Yesterday, if you were watching any of the live television news coverage, you likely saw images you wouldn’t normally see. Why? Because the photojournalists who were there to cover a marathon were thrust into covering a breaking news event.

The point of this post is to remind everyone we all have our jobs to do at certain moments in our work day and sometimes those jobs require us to step outside of our comfort zones.

So what happens in a newsroom during a time of crisis?

1) Phones ring. A lot. Calls in and out of a newsroom, including cell calls are on hyper-function. Witnesses call to report what they have seen or what they are seeing.  Public relations people call to ask if the stories they have scheduled for this day are still happening. Reporters and assignment editors scramble to call and cancel what they had planned for the news that day. If the newsroom is in a television station and programming switches from what is regularly scheduled to live coverage of what is happening, viewers call to complain. A lot. Once scheduled interviews are scrapped, those people are calling to either complain or inquire when their story will be covered. Law enforcement agencies and hospitals call to seek the media’s assistance in announcing the latest information or to announce press conferences. Newsroom staff call other staff in on their days off. Staff arranges coverage for school pick up and child care, pet care, cancel personal plans or obligations. Live shots are scheduled. Logistics are coordinated. Sources are checked, and sought out. Lots and lots of sources are called. Often the first called are not available or willing to talk. Hometown connections are established. This cycle continues throughout the day or days and weeks following a crisis.

2) Police scanners go crazy. Things echo throughout the newsroom no one can truly prepare for and often such hectic conversations and screaming is not soon forgotten. There is no editing in the time of a crisis.

3) Again, in a television newsroom, crews bring back or stream back raw video which, if not live, needs to be edited for the newscast. In a print newsroom, photos from the scene are reviewed and selected to help illustrate the story. Just like the scanners, so much of the video and the photos are such that will never make a newscast or publication. So many of the images are unimaginable. Certainly hard to put out of your mind.

4) Lunches/dinners are skipped. Or lost. (remember the horrific images I mentioned?).

5) Tension is high. Tempers can be short. Mistakes are made. Individuals are doing the work of multiple people under enormous deadline pressures.

6) Social media is monitored and shared. Often, it is how sources are found, more depth of detail is learned.

7) Competition is monitored. Yes. You need to see what the others are covering, how they are covering it. See what you might be missing or what you may have that they don’t. Yet.

8) Quitting time is ignored. No one punches a clock in times of crisis. You simply jump in.

9) Crying. Yes, journalists are human. Bottling up all those emotions while conducting an interview or anchoring the newscasts has to be released, and preferably, not for public consumption. The damn has to break sometimes.

10) Special reports and series are planned.

Much of what I’ve written can be said about responders in a crisis. I’ve worked in newsrooms and emergency rooms during times of crisis and I have been amazed at how the teams work together. The ten things I’ve mentioned is by no means an exhaustive list, so much more goes on behind the scenes.

We all have our jobs to do and sometimes they are not all that pleasant or popular. In my public relations career I have always tried to put this fact in the forefront of my mind and I try to approach any assignment with mutual respect for what it is we are faced with in the jobs we must accomplish. We don’t always have to like it or agree with it, but I think it is important for us to have mutual understanding.

If you work as a member of the news media, in times of a crisis, you get up the next day or sometimes sleep a few hours at your office and start all over again. People want answers. We deserve answers.

*Photo credit: Images found on NBC News Facebook Page.
 

That happened late last week while I was driving. I knew the female voice I heard was Pink. While I was familiar with the male voice in this duet, I couldn’t come up with his name. I just knew I liked his voice and I had heard it before in a band.

That band is the Grammy-awarded Fun. Oh, no wonder his voice is also familiar. Grins. They’ve been all over the radio. I like their sound and vibe. Just as I like Pink.

The duet is Pink and Nate Ruess. The song is Just Give Me A Reason. The melding of their unique voices seems smooth and natural. Part of that natural sound is likely the fact the duo cowrote it. Which confirms this is not a remake and I did just hear it for the first time. I love the hook of the song.

But we all know, just because we like the singers, it doesn’t always make sense when they are paired together. It doesn’t always work. I like how this works.

“We’re not broken, just bent.” This can be said of just about any relationship along the way. With or without love. I personally think it’s okay to be slightly bent.

Now that I’ve researched the song, I realize this is not a brand new release. It’s been out since late 2012. But I don’t think I’ve heard it before last week. I’m happy I did.

What do you think? Do you have any favorite duets?