A Lesson In The Importance Of Childproofing

Perhaps the more appropriate title of this post is "why I should not keep water or other beverages bedside if I am not going to finish them."
This morning my son came in to greet me in his special way. He knocked on my partially open door and proceeded to bust it open while pushing his train. He came to my bedside, asked " what you doing mommy?" and got in the bed with me. He sweetly asked for a hug, got down and went on his merry way. I looked in the other direction for (I swear) one moment and when I glanced at him he was drinking water from the glass on the side of my bed.

Here is the thing, the water in the glass was a couple of days old. I have a habit of bringing a glass of water up with me before I retire with the intent of getting one last glass in. If I don't finish my water I refuse to drink it in the morning. Most times I will take the glass to the kitchen but there are times that it just doesn't make it downstairs. So imagine my surprise and chagrin when my son was trying to drink 2 day old water! I am pretty sure I caught him in time but when I tried to explain to him not to drink things my husband called out "that will never work, he will always drink or eat random things. That is why they childproof!" Great point dear husband.

But the kicker in all of this? My husband asked "What did he drink? Wine?" Now that is funny. Because although I may not finish my water up at night, if I have the occasional glass of wine you will be hard pressed to find any leftovers in a glass around here!

Walking the Red Blue Carpet

About a month ago I had the honor of being one of 10 bloggers to attend Hershey's Night at the Museum at the Smithsonian. You can read all about that here, it was an amazing time. I mean imagine the stories I can tell my son of the time when we visited the Air and Space Museum on a tour with the Curator and he touched Amelia Earhart's plane. Never mind that the curator almost had a heart attack (the plane was not officially on display and we were getting a behind the scenes look) because most multimillion dollar museum exhibits are no touch zones! Fun times.

Nevertheless, I won a trip back for the premiere of Night At The Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian to rub shoulders with the stars. On May 14th, the shoulder rubbing commenced. I along with executives from Hershey's, fellow bloggers Linda and Amy and my friend Rhonda walked the red blue carpet. Throngs of fans were in frontof the museum but when we descended the steps of our bus not one head turned.

That was okay because the fun was on the carpet upstairs.Happy Ticket holders - Rhonda and I

We arrived shortly after Owen Wilson and while the papparazzi commenced to shooting his picture and interviewing him we had a birds eye view from the carpet. After our slow glide down the carpet we set up camp at the end of the paparazzi line. Stratigic planning on my part, I figured I could get a pose in with a few stars by bribing them with candy.

It worked!

Here are photos of me with several of the stars.

Shawn Levy - Director (The Hershey's Kiss worked magic!)

Alain Chabat - Napolean


Patrick Gallagher - Atilla The Hun

After the photo ops we watched Night At The Museum- Battle of The Smithsonian on the IMAX screen. It was loads of fun and my favorite character had to be Hank Azaria's King. Which seques into the after party! Here are Hank and me at the party

I also had a chance to chat it up with Amy Adams.

Mizou Peck played the lovey Pocahontas.

I don't have the photo but my girlfriend and I got chummy chummy with Robin Williams. When I have that photo I will post it. Robin. Williams. Love him!Robin Williams and Chief Justice John Roberts

All in all the night was great fun. I wished for a photo with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson but their "handlers" aka publicists were like bodyguards and unless you had a child handy to throw into the picture no photo ops were happening.

I have to give Hershey's a big thanks for giving me my first opportunity to attend a premiere. I had a great time, a reunion with a College friend and met some wonderful people. I have more to share about Hershey's - I was a fan before but after my trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania I have become the uber fan. More on that later.........

For more Wordful Wednesday visit Angie's 7 Clown Circus.

Trying To Get My Groove Back

I have been running, running, running and it has taken a serious toll on me. I guess 4 plane rides and a two hour car ride in the span of a week can have that effect on you. I am currently recovering from a cold that hit last week Wednesday - Mekhi was the first to get it and now everyone is dealing with it. My mom in NY, me and my husband. According to my girlfriend I look good which is always a bonus but night time is a constant battle to breath and not choke to death from post nasal drip. I am sure that is much more information than you ever wanted or needed to hear about my respiratory tract but I am suffering here.

In any event, all of this travel, birthdays, sickness and the like have gotten me off of my blogging groove. This week I hope to play catch up and let you in on all of the wonderful things that I have been up to. Althought I am sure this deserves a post of its own I do want to share with you that at the culmination of my 30 Day Challenge using EA SPORTS Active I lost 10 pounds AND 5 3/4 inches!

This has completely blown me away. Although I know I have a long way to go, my progress so far has truly encouraged me to keep going. I actually did a vlog to share my new shape with you but in the midst of this mess that I call my office I misplaced my camera. Hopefully I will find it and post some photos from the wrap up in NY. Including a photo with Meredith Viera (unfortunately she blinked)who is a complete sweetheart.

In essence this post is to share with you that Renee is trying to get her groove back (don't you love when people refer to themselves in 3rd person? Not) and please stick with me. Interesting posts filled with pictures are coming.

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Baby Boy!

When I was younger keeping track of time simply meant thinking about my birthday, watching the year go by and not thinking very much of it. For some reason, birthdays have never given me pause, they come and go like the tide and I am just happy for one more year on planet Earth.

This has changed with the birth of my son. I am able to watch the time pass like clockwork - every new word, each step, new abilities, everything indicates that my son is getting older (and I am too). Today I celebrate my son's second birthday. We have kept it low-key, cupcakes at daycare have been the extent of the celebration today. Tomorrow I may take him to the Aquarium and when his grandmother comes to town we will have a family celebration.

It is so hard to believe how quickly the time has gone but I count every moment as precious(even the hectic ones and admit I am happy that his first public falling out episode occurred with grandma and not me!).

Happy Birthday Mekhi!

Oh The Places You Will Go

It’s Close to Midnight, something evil is lurking in the dark - Michael Jackson

To be specific it is after midnight and the evil lurking is my 4:45 am call time. Yes, you read that correctly, 4:45 am. I am here at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square for the wrap of the EA SPORTS Active 30 Day Challenge. I am happy to be here with my fellow challengers and have had a wonderful time so far. We ate at Tao which I have been longing to do forever- the best sushi ever! And my room overlooks the lights on Broadway, can it get any better than that? 

Just to put everything in context this is my third hotel in five days in two states and the District of Columbia. I have been a traveling fool, loving every minute of it and I have many tales to tell about my wonderful visit to Hershey, PA and the Milton Hershey School, and my trip to the Night At The Museum: Battle of The Smithsonian premier where I walked the red carpet(which was actually blue) and hobknobbed with the stars of the movies. Funny how the papparazzi was not interested in interviewing me - ha!

But alas, these are tales for another day because right now I need to get some sleep. You never know, you might see me on The Today Show this morning. Well, please watch out for that (but don't blink you might miss me) and until I am able to dazzle you with my tales of adventures far and wide please check out my latest post on BlogHer.com it is all about traveling with my son. To read it please click Here.

Renee's Tips - Making Life A Little Easier

One of the things that I really enjoy about blogging is having the opportunity to share things that I like with you. I've decided that I want to start a series called Renée's Tips that highlight products, recipes, and things that I enjoy that make my life easier. I'll do this whenever I am inspired and in the long term maybe I will be able to do it on a weekly basis. For now, I am making no promises!

Today I am want to share a new product by Purex that I absolutely love, it is called Purex 3-in-1 Complete. Last week, I tried out this product before it come out on the market because I am one of 200 people chosen to be a Purex Insider.

If you are anything like me, you probably dislike having to purchase laundry detergent, fabric softener and dryer sheets. I know I sometimes make a mess and having all of these things in one sheet just makes my life easier. I've done a vlog (from my laundry room no less) to share my experience with Purex 3-in-1 Complete with you.



I think my enthusiasm for Purex 3-in-1 Complete is evident in my video. I really think you should try it, I am pretty sure that you will thank me. If you take a visit to Purex.com you can get a downloadable coupon to try it for yourself. I am really interested to hear how you like it.

Bringing Sexy Back! Mascara Does Wonders

Twice in one week? I am really trying to bring some sexy back aren't I? Anyhow, today I wanted to share with you one of the easiest things that you can do to bring sexy back. What is it? Wear mascara. I know many of you probably think that you don't have time for makeup and that very well may be true; however, applying a little mascara and a quick swipe of lipgloss(you like how I added that in don't you?) can take you from looking drab to looking fab in 2 minutes or less.

I try to always wear mascara. It makes your eyes pop and if you are a new mom still dealing with the sleepness nights, putting on a quick brush of mascara will help those bags under your eyes look a lot better. And you know what? You will feel better too! As mother's we have to stop putting ourselves on the bottom of the totem pole and do the little things that will bring a smile to our faces. If you don't wear mascara try it for a week. See if it makes a difference in your appearance, I bet it does and you are likely to carry yourself with a little more pep in your step because "you got it going on."

I've done a vlog to show you the difference a little mascara can make. As a Walmart ElevenMom I had the chance to try out Maybelline's new Pulse Perfection Vibrating Mascara and will be showing you my experience with it in my video.



Wanna win one a Pulse Perfection Vibrating Mascara that is not on the market yet?
Thanks to my sponsor Maybelline, I have 2 Pulse Perfection Vibrating Mascara's to giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me what you are doing to "bring sexy back." That is it. Easy as pie. If you want extra entries:

For Extra Entries -LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH METHOD OF ENTRY

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4. Twitter the giveaway. Please leave the tweet url in your comment (click on the time of your tweet and this will pop-up). To make it easy you can use this text:

Enter Earth Day Giveaway on @Cutiebootycakes Blog http://tinyurl.com/chmn92 Pls R/T

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Good Luck!

This giveaway is open until 11:59 PM on Saturday, May 28, 2009. Two winners will be chosen by random. Winners will be notified by email (please be sure to include your email address if it is not in your profile) and have 48 hours to respond. Otherwise, an alternate winner will be chosen.

If you want to see what other Walmart Eleven Moms have to say about the mascara click here and if you win or decide to try it for yourself you can upload your own video on the site!

Congratulations to entry numbers 7 and 35 - Tiffani and Badger Momma!

The Reason For The Season

I truly enjoyed my Mother's Day. I had a chance to enjoy brunch with my husband, my mother and Mekhi and when we returned home I enjoyed a quiet relaxing day to myself. I spent most of that time in the bed napping because that is a treat that I rarely have the opportunity to enjoy. On Mother's Day we celebrate our role as primary caregiver(in most cases) to our children. The other day I spoke to a college friend of mine and she noted how much she enjoys being a mother, I do too. Despite the challenges of the meltdowns, tantrums and all around rowdy behavior at times, my son Mekhi gives me joy. Today I celebrate my son, who enabled me to join the tribe of women that are called Mom. Here are a few recent photos of him that really make me smile.

It is hard to believe it but my bright little boy will be two next week. The time has truly flown but my love for this beautitful child grows stronger every day.

For more Wordful Wednesday visit Angie's 7 Clown Circus.

Who Me(me)?

I can hardly remember the last time I was tagged for a meme. I don't think that is a bad thing because I have a hard time coming up with stuff that is interesting to share. This time Elisa tagged me and only because I love her fashion sense and she recently celebrated her 1st blogoversary (enter her contest by the way) will I participate. OH and I have to mention that she is just fabulous and one of my blogging friends that I have known since the beginning (if you are keeping up that would be oh, about 9 months ago).

On to the Meme. I am supposed to tell you 7 awesome things about me. I am not sure that I am very awesome but I will share some unknown facts with you.

1. I have had multiple poems written for me (before I was married) by different men, two have been published and I am sure many of you have read them because they are written by a famous author (who will remain undisclosed). *ETA I was requested to give the title of one of the poems, it is called "The Power of A Smile"

2. I once stayed overnight in a hotel for truck drivers in Zambia. The hotel was owned by one of the friends that I was traveling with but I was still skeeved out by the situation. I slept in all of my clothes on top of the bed using my own blanket because I just thought things did not look quite "right." This may not be very awesome but you have to agree that it is interesting.

3. It has been almost 20 years since I last ate beef, pork or poultry. I only really miss bacon (for BLTs) and hot wings (perhaps because that was the last chicken I ever ate). Sometimes I get the urge to break down and eat some chicken but I figure I have gone this long why bother?

4. I am an undercover gamer. I love to play the game Mafia Wars on facebook. This may not sound very interesting but I have the tendency to become addicted to games. Once I spent a week straight playing a game on X-Box. I don't think I ate for the entire week! Last week I played Mafia Wars until the wee hours and all day long -I have pulled back now but games suck me in. This is the reason why my Wii is strictly for fitness games!

5. I think I am pretty lucky. I once won an all expense paid trip to Durban, a city on the East Coast of South Africa (I was living in the country at the time). The funny thing is that I won a drawing at a party celebrating Women's Day and I won the 3rd time a name was drawn. The other two "potential" winners left before the drawing. I call that lucky!

6. I am drawing a blank here while trying to think of something else to share. Hmmm, well, I think this is awesome - I was quoted this week in Engage: Mom by my friend Kim, regarding diversity in the Mom Blogosphere.

7. Finally, I am a people person. When (if) you meet me in real life, I will be the exact same person that you read on my blog. I am friendly and outgoing and most certainly will never be called a wallflower.

I will not subject anyone else to this torture by naming names but if you so are inclined please do the meme and let me know. I would love to get to know you better!

Bringing Sexy Back! - Belly Dancing

I think it is important to celebrate being a mother on a daily basis . The celebration does not have to be anything elaborate just do something that is for you and you alone. I know a primary complaint of mothers is that we do not have time but when you really think about it we all have at least a half hour a day that we can use to take care of ourselves. To me that is a celebration. Fit Yummy Mummy has a list of five things that we can do including just surrounding ourselves with scented candles- easy to do and personally, aromatherapy always makes me feel better.

To celebrate myself I am "Bringing Sexy Back." I've decided to make this a series, this way I remain committed to doing something fairly regularly to "Bring Sexy Back." Lately, I have incorporated exercise into my program and in addition to EA SPORTS Active I am doing some other fun exercises too.
(l-r (b)Renee, JEn, (t)Kim, Brook, me, Lorraine, Christy)

Last Thursday for National Mom’s Night I hosted a party for a group of women at Nazeem Allayl Belly dance Studio. We took a Belly dance class that was amazing! It really was a workout and during the class one of my friends asked why couldn’t we have just gone out for cocktails! I am all for cocktails in moderation and we indulged after the class but belly dancing works the body. I took classes when I was pregnant and highly recommend it. You feel sexy and bust a sweat. And just think how “practicing” your moves can spice up your relationship!

Our talented instructor Aseelah was so funny and kept a smile on her face the entire time. I would kill to have abs like hers! We learned moves like the Egyptian Hip Circle and the chest drop (after about 20 of those I caught a cramp but am proud to say I kept doing it!) When the repetitions got to be too much she reminded us to smile. I tried but I think oft times my smile was more of a grimace. The day following the workout my calves were screaming with every step I took but I loved feeling the burn because I felt a sense of accomplishment. If you are in the Atlanta area I highly recommend taking a class with Nazeem Allayl they have 3 locations here and offer a variety of classes. Not all are as focused on the workout aspect of Belly Dancing, check out the website to see the class listings.

After the class we enjoyed some time chatting and chatting at Sambrosa Mexican restaurant, I think Mom’s Night Out was a success and we all got back some of our “sexy” in the process.

The Week In Review! Happy Mother's Day

This week has been so eventful, I don't even know where to begin. I have to start with the best Mother's Day present that I have ever received; according to Nielsen I am one of the Top 50 Power Moms in Digital Media.  Nielsen, you know the one that measures tv viewship and collects all sorts of data? Well, they have identified me as one of the Top Moms. I just had to repeat that because I keep pinching myself. I found out this morning when I read a note of congratulations on Twiter and I have been on Cloud 9 ever since!  I am so very honored to be on this list of fabulous women.

To continue with the good news, this week I had the opportunity to speak at the Mind Of Moms Conference. My topic was Diversity in the Mom Blogosphere. The conference was targeted at companies that are interested in working with Mom Bloggers and I along with Amy of Mom Advice, Tara of Deal Seeking Mom, Katja Presnal of Skimbaco Lifestyle, Lucretia of Geekmommy, Barbara of One2One Network and Kate of Divine Caroline were the speakers. If you search twitter using the hashtag #mindofmoms you can get a glimpse of everything that was discussed. There was media coverage of the event that included me and you can check out the television newscast here and the online coverage here.


Another special gift that I've received for Mother's Day is a new dishwasher!

I am not a domestic diva by any stretch of the imagination and frankly washing every dish before placing it in my current dishwasher has gotten old really fast. So being gifted with the opportunity from Mom Central to join Frigidaire's Team Dishwasher is certainly a Mother's Day gift I cherish. Fridgidaire has a new collection of over 250 appliances designed to help Mom cut down on cleaning time. When I actually have the dishwasher in my possession I will let you know about my experience using it. In the meantime, visit Frigidaire.com and report the five things they would do with an extra hour each day. All participants will be entered for a chance to win an entire suite of NEW Frigidaire appliances. Plus, check out other prizes you can win – like a gorgeous new Frigidaire Affinity washer/dryer. You can also join the facebook group

In the spirit of Mother's Day I hosted the Mom's Nite Out Celebration last night. It was so much fun. I will tell you more about it later because I think it deserves a post but needless to say we belly danced and it was a workout that I will not soon forget! Thanks to Resplendent Life, Simply Do You, The BlogRollers, Jewelry Rockstar, and Little Brown Jen for coming out to enjoy the fun. After the workout we spent quality time together over margaritas and Mexican food.

Speaking of Mother's Day, if you have not already gotten a gift for your Mom perhaps you will consider this one: making a donation to Infante Sano. For $25, you can honor your mother by helping another---ensuring that women in Latin America and the Caribbean have access to a clean, safe birth and their children have the healthy starts to life that they deserve. Visit Sponsor A Birth for more information.

And if you are looking for some funny this holiday weekend I suggest you visit The Mouthy Housewives. I am not sure who they are - that remains a mystery, but this group gives comedic advice that cannot be rivaled!

And just for moms -
photo credit http://dryicons.com:

Enjoy your weekend and remember to take time for yourself.

Happy Mother's Day!

National Mom's Nite Out

Tonight is National Mom's Nite Out. A time to celebrate being a mother and hang out with the girls without the kiddies in tow. I hope that you already have plans to attend an event in your local area. If you are not sure where they are happening you should take a visit to the National Mom's Nite Out website, there are activities all over the country.

However, it just might be possible that there is not an event in your area or you are just unable to get out of the house this evening. That is okay too - from 3:00pm EST this afternoon there will be a celebration on Twitter. Be sure to follow Mom's Nite Out and Momtv to get in on the fun. Be sure to register on the Mom's Nite Out page to be included in the prize drawings. The party will last for 9 hours and you can participate by using #MNO-09.

You can attend a party virtually by watching a live streaming video on New Baby.com or MomTV.com. Ten parties will be available for you to watch.

Tonight I am hosting a special party for a few of my blogging friends. I will be sure to post pictures of the event. This is sure to be a great evening for everyone and what better way to celebrate Mother's Day than taking some special time just for you? I hope that you join in on the fun.

Drop It Like Its Hot

I have to admit that I really like the song "Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Doogy Dog. I know if I analyzed the song at all and listened to the words closely I might change my mind but I am perfectly content being decidedly woefully ignorant because the beat and his voice really move me. I've decided to use the words "Drop It Like Its Hot" to describe my progress with the EA SPORTS Active 30 Day Challenge. I am currently at the halfway point using this Wii fitness product and I have to tell you that I have been "dropping it like its hot." When I last checked I lost 7 pounds, that was a week ago. Since I do not own a scale I am not sure if I have continued to lose weight but my clothes are fitting looser and that is always an indication that I am doing something right.

In addition to the weight loss the phrase also refers to the exercises that EA SPORTS Active has me doing. Although each workout is on average about 27 minutes long for me, a good amount of that time is spent working my legs. This week I have been doing lunge jumps(ow), holding squats (double ow) and of course the dreaded in-line skating(ow,ow,ow)! I know that working my large muscle groups helps get my metabolism on track and burn more calories.

So far I am pleased with my results, I do continue to monitor what I am putting into my mouth and at times that can be a challenge. But I utilize the advice given to me my Bob Green and question myself by asking "why do I want to eat X food?" if I come up with a great answer I will eat it but if I am having an emotional response to something or I am just bored I put the food down and drink water. By continuing to exercise and watch my eating I am sure I will have great results in the long term.

One of the best things so far has been my son being engaged with my Challenge. Although he is not quite two he knows when Mommy is ready to exercise and he joins in. I love it. Exercise will be something that he sees as a part of our family's lifestyle and making that impression on him is what motivates me to succeed.

Speaking of motivation, I do need your help and support. EA SPORTS has generously offered to give my biggest supporter a copy of the game. You can show your support however you see fit - write a blog post, do a vlog, cheer for me on twitter, it is up to you. I have a supporter page on facebook and you can let me know how you've decided to show your support. Also, you can check out my vlogs and blogs on the EA SPORTS Active website. I have my video below if you have a chance check it out.

EA SPORTS Active