5 Ways to Experience "Christmas on Nantucket"

Disclosure: I received Christmas on Nantucket to facilitate this review; all opinions expressed are my own. 

Yesterday we had our first snow of the season, and I'll admit it: I picked up a couple mini-Christmas trees for our mantle decor. The Christmas season is upon us! We're looking forward to sticking close to home and spending some time on Cape Cod which will be a fun opportunity for my family's first visit to Nantucket, an island 30 miles off the Cape. The new book Christmas on Nantucket is a beautiful guide of what to expect during our visit, and I just have to cross my fingers that it snows so it looks as dreamy as the photos!

Author Leslie Linsley's way of describing Nantucket interspersed with over 200 gorgeous images of the island makes planning my family's visit truly enjoyable. I'm excited to share 5 ways that I'm looking forward to experiencing Christmas on Nantucket:

Let's Read

Coming off Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend I've been reflecting on actions I can take to move towards becoming the American citizen I want to be as President Obama challenged us in his recent farewell address. One of these areas I want to improve upon is reading, and today I revisited the talk that Lisa Bloom, the author of Think, gave at S.H.E. Summit in 2014 about the importance of women being informed in our currently dumbed-down world. Sure quick snippet articles here and there help to keep one informed, but what about deep dives into a particular topic or learning from someone's life story? I'm a self-help junkie who reads 99.9% non-fiction, and I recently reconnected with someone who laid down a list of recommended books for me to read. Some of them I had read years ago, but it's been good to revisit them. 

Introducing My Kids to Princess Cupcake Jones

Disclosure: I received a book for review purposes; all opinions expressed are my own. 

Nia's a pro at Kindergarten so far, and her reading skills are constantly surprising me and Uka! I strive to find books that reflect diversity and have been happy to find several at our local library, which we frequent, but it's important for us to have diverse books that we own as well. 

The Princess Cupcake Jones series has been on my radar for a while now and while I've had trepidation with princess culture, we've come to embrace in our household especially as there's been a shift towards showing princess as empowered heroines. 

Princess Cupcake Jones definitely fits the bill!

{Image source}

We read Princess Cupcake Jones and the Missing Tutu. It tells the story of a misplaced item and follows Princess Cupcake Jones on her journey to find it all the while teaching kids how to pick up after themselves and take responsibility for their belongings. 

Having shared my thoughts on my kids' New Year's resolutions and goals, one of the things Mr. Lovebird and I gave Nia for Christmas was a responsibility chart and a cleaning tools set to share with Grayson. Having reinforcement from Princess Cupcake Jones definitely helps!

What I really like about the books are the colorful engaging illustrations, and the fact that a special word is embedded in each page creating a hide and seek experience for kids. 

Uka's read the book with us too during bed time (he's the one taking pictures for this post!), and he's expressed his delight with the story as well. A personal bonus? The author, Ylleya Fields, born in South America, currently lives in my home state of Ohio with her family. I think I feel the connection!

Check out the series and explore the website too - there are fun coloring and activity pages for kids which I printed out and stapled together to make Nia a packet to keep her busy on our flight to Texas. It was also her first time playing me in tic-tac-toe and it was quite emotional! 

Be sure to follow Princess Cupcake Jones on Facebook for more fun!

"Stolen Identity:" Book Review and LifeLock Flash Weekend Giveaway

Disclosure: I received promotional items from LifeLock, Inc. to facilitate this review; all opinions expressed are my own.

The day before I gave birth to Gray I attended LifeLock's luncheon at the famed Tavern on the Green. I literally went into labor on the way home! I learned during the session which included finance expert, Jean Chatzky, that new parents are 5x more likely than the average population to experience identify theft. When they shared the information about new homeowners and identity theft I wasn't as alert since we weren't planning on home-owning soon, but they informed us here in NYC-metro it can apply to renters too. At the time I had no idea that we'd be moving this fall but now that we are I've picked up the book Stolen Identity which we received at the event to refresh on a few pointers shared during the discussion.

Only 138 pages and full of anecdotes, it's a very easy read. Published by LifeLock but written by an independent journalist, Katie Morell, I really appreciated that the book wasn't a hard sell for LifeLock and had clear checklists at the end of each section to help the reader avoid identity theft. 

Thinking back on my own experience while I've never had outright identity theft I did have my Pinterest account hacked earlier this year (first world problems I know!), but it was definitely an eery feeling as the person then started generating content and changed my settings so it was cross-posting to Twitter. Mr. Lovebird on the other hand did have a bigger and bizarre breach a few years ago when someone purchased hundreds of dollars worth of Burger King in one fell swoop using his credit card. While we never found out who the culprit was his company was quick to clean up the charges and issue a new card. Prior to that I remember an incident in college when someone asked to borrow my ID to get into a party. There was no way I was going to hand over my ID, but now the thought of what could've gone wrong even then makes me shudder.

Throughout the book there are also mentions of what the government is doing to help consumers combat identity theft. Since the book was published just this summer it's very update on legislature, and I have to say I'm quite disappointed at some of the bills that have gone flat. Big business vs. ID theft is a tough balance apparently. 

Stolen Identity also makes it clear that the rest of the world is way ahead of the U.S. when it comes to implementing technology to protect its citizens. Just like smartphones, it's going to take a while before we're up to speed. Even with fingerprint technology there are still even workarounds that have been developed to hack it. Nothing is fail proof!

While it's easy to feel helpless, Stolen Identity armed me with a few tips that I'm definitely going to implement especially as well as we move and our information is floating around between so many hands from the movers, new services to be installed and major purchases. Here's a few that stood out:

• Don't give your SSN freely - did you know it was only created for retirement benefits but expanded to be essentially your ID number as it is now? It's not always necessary when you see it requested. I've started leaving it blank on forms and questioning why it's even needed

• Use your hand to shield ATM transactions - skimmers are scary contraptions basically fronts for the real ATM which take your card and pin number quickly and without most people noticing - they're even Bluetooth enabled now. I watched one of those nighttime specials on skimmers and it's incredible how prevalent they are (check out this clip)

• Use a credit card over a debit card - this one's hard since I'm of the Dave Ramsey mentality that says use a debit card for EVERYTHING, but I'm changing this thinking especially because in the event of fraud debit card liability just can't stand up to the protection a credit card offers

For those who have had their identity stolen in really bad cases it pretty much becomes a full time, and sometimes costly, job cleaning it up. I think it's better to be as preventative as possible and helping consumers with this is LifeLock. They've generously offered one of my readers a 6 month membership. Offering five points of protection from credit monitoring to scanning for identity threats, this is especially handy as we head into the holidays and online purchases increase.

To enter this giveaway simply use the Rafflecopter below. It's a flash giveaway running today, September 12 - Sunday, September 14 midnight with the winner announced on Monday, September 15. Open to U.S. residents only. 

**UPDATE: The giveaway's been extended! It now ends on Thursday, September 18 midnight with the winner announced on Friday, September 19.**

Good luck!

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Have you or someone you know had your identity stolen? How do you protect yourself?
 

Book Review & Giveaway: Praying Circles Around Your Children

Growing up one of my earliest memories was hearing my parents, especially my mother, praying over me. It wasn't just a bedtime "now I lay me down to sleep" type of routine, it was an all the time routine! She would quote scripture telling me I was the head and not the tail and above and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13). It was extremely powerful in forming who I am today.

When I was given the opportunity to review Mark Batterson's Praying Circles Around Your Children it was this legacy that came to mind. It's a quick, yet powerful read - a slim book that can easily be finished in a day, but one that is truly worth revisting. 

Batterson uses the folklore of The Circle Maker (also the title of his best-selling book) to share the importance of creating a legacy of prayer for our children and offers five circles in which to do so:

1. Circling the Promises of God
2. Making Prayer Lists
3. Creating Prayer Mantras
4. Forming Prayer Circles
5. Praying through the Bible

Number 2 really struck a chord with me especially after watching The Help. I loved the concept of writing prayers down that was shared in the movie, and I actually started doing that and have picked it up and dropped off now and then. As Batterson explains rather than using it as a laundry list of wants to rattle off to God, it's more of a way to document God's faithfulness in answering our prayers. It's definitely something I need to continue doing!

If you're an avid pray-er or just starting I think this book is a perfect fit - it speaks to parents in a conversational tone and will be a book you come back to time and time again. 

As Batterson says, "It's time to start circling!"

Would you like a copy of this book? I have two to give away which come with a large sidewalk chalk for your child to symbolize circling them with prayer. Just enter via Rafflecopter below:


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Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Have a good weekend everyone!
 
 

Book Review: This Won't Hurt a Bit

I've been reading fellow Wellesley alum Dr. Michelle Au's blog The Underwear Drawer for years now (she's been keeping it over 10 years), and I was very excited when I learned her new book This Won't Hurt a Bit was being released. Last week my sister Ariane and I went to her booksigning at Columbia (see if you can pick us out in the picture in the link!) and picked up a copy of her book. I have a huge pile of books on my nightstand, but I made a point to put Michelle's book at the top of the pile, and I'm proud to report I finished it in a week! {You must understand that this is most impressive as it's taken me nearly 6 months to finish Eclipse.}.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the book! It had just enough seriousness interspersed with Michelle's dry humor and most importantly, as a mom myself, I felt a connection with her recurring struggle with the challenge of "having it all." Last fall I started a bit of discussion on my Facebook wall when I posted an excerpt from Michelle's observation on this topic: 

"And that's what working parenthood feels like a lot of the time. Trying to do two important jobs in parallel, and half-assing both of them."

Michelle delves deeper into this sentiment in the book, and while I'm currently staying at home with Nia full-time, Michelle's honest thoughts on trying to balance work and family are exactly what makes me not want to work for someone else, especially when she discusses childcare. She laments: 

"Our entire weekly schedule, our entire day-to-day existence, hinges on the fact that we have childcare, and that while Joe and I work, there is someone to stay home with Cal." 

Having explored childcare options in NYC and understanding that it could be nearly half of my take-home pay I completely understand where she's coming from and I agree wholeheartedly when she expressed, "The message I get wholeheartedly from society is clear: the ability to juggle working motherhood successfully is contingent upon having the right kind of job."

Michelle doesn't pretend to have advice or know the answers to the challenges working mothers face, but her candidness allows us to know we aren't alone in this ongoing internal dialogue.

Apart from the working mother theme, I appreciated how Michelle broke down the medical school process for the average reader. I have a few dr./mom friends and this helped me understand a lot of what they must be going through. I look at them in awe now! 

Throughout the book Michelle poignantly highlights various patient interactions she has and at times I could even feel myself catch my breath with a saddened outcome or her quick-paced retelling of a harried scenario. In the same way patients must come in and out of Michelle's daily experience she did the same for her readers.

Michelle's quote sums up what I've thought about on my own following the rare times I've had to be inside of a hospital: 

"Consider . . . all that is happening in hospitals around the city at this very moment, yet outside here in the real world, life goes on as usual." 

I highly recommend This Won't Hurt a Bit, and I hope my readers include it on their summer reading list.