eBay MoneyMakers: Tristan O'Brien and eBay Giveaway Gift Card

It's Holiday Time!

Gift giving. Celebrating. It all adds up in a time when the stock market is rocking back and forth. The good news is that eBay MoneyMakers is here to the rescue. Seriously, eBay has some awesome answers for you, your family and friends.

Check out eBay MoneyMakers - eBay's Tristan O'Brien made the most of his layoff. In fact, this Indiana man went from no job to supporting his family with eBay. You can do this.

As a stay-at-home Mom to twin sons, I get this idea of going form earning to earning non-income rewards at home. It's a wonderful life. And so is the satisfaction of earning at home while you successfully do what you love.

This is Tristan. He loves what he does and he is successful at it.

Fellow eBay Parent Panel Member, Danielle Smith of Extraordinary Mommy caught up with Tristan here.

This is something you can develop for your family whether you stay at home, work at home or at the office. It's fun, too. Especially if you are like me - I love eBay Fashion! Just saying!

Remember that eBay helps you with eBay Seller Tips; and eBay Buyer Tips.

Learn more tips and tricks for earning on eBay from Tristan's blog, The eBay Entrepreneur Blog.

Enter to Win the eBay Gift Card of $25. Contest begins Tuesday, December 6th and closes Monday, December 12th. Open to U.S. Residents. Do not leave email address in comments.

1) Leave a comment on what you would Sell on eBay to enter.

2) Tweet this Contest link and enter again; good luck.

Warmly, Carolina Mama

*This post is written as part of my eBay Parent Panel partnership with eBay. As I work closely with eBay, I am happy to share all opinions that are my own.

Giveaway: Two T-Mobile Smartphones, Yes! (Value $249 each)

This Giveaway is closed. Katie ad Terra won the myTouchQ and the myTouch. Thank you.

You know I fell hard for my Smartphone.  My life demanded it and I devour / live by it - daily.  I was an early advocate of the Smartphone.  Okay, I'll admit it, I was Smart about it! : ) 

                                                   

I never rode about town with one of those GPS boxes on my dash because I went straight for my Smartphone. I went for:  Sleek, fashionable if you understand.  No box on my dash. :) 

With the Smartphone, I love the simple and elegant size and yet the power pack.  My Smartphone jumps at my command.   Some days, I daydream about the Tigers first eight years would have been like had I had my Smartphone at my command.  I am sure I would have found a Diaper App. :)   

Seriously, as a Mom of Twins, I quickly learned to be more and more efficient with my family, business and life in general.  My Smartphone has made that actually fun.  

I love that all in one day I can be on a conference call, answering an email (sometimes it is necessary :) and snapping a picture of my children in the midst of an art project using my Smartphone.  And I share how I love to stay powered up with my Smartphone.  

And now, you can, too!  T-Mobile is partnering with me to GIVEAWAY: (2) Smartphones. 

You would like, ummm LOVE, to win either the T-Mobile® myTouch® or the T-Mobile® myTouch® Q (valued $279 each)? RIght?! 

Here are the myTouch and myTouch Q Features: 

"The myTouch and myTouch Q are designed with a number of features that make them approachable, including the option of two different styles of hardware to suit customer needs: 

the myTouch touts a 3.8-inch touch screen and a virtual keyboard with Swype®; 

while the myTouch Q is equipped with a 3.5-inch touch screen plus a physical slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. 

myTouch and myTouch Q are equipped with advanced multimedia features, including a 5-megapixel camera and 720p HD video recorder for capturing photos and videos while on the go. 

The myTouch also includes a front-facing camera with access to T-Mobile Video Chat powered by Qik for face-to-face video chat. With access to T-0RELOH¶V 4G network*, the myTouch and myTouch Q allow customers to browse the Web, access email and social networking services, download free and paid applications through Android Market, and much more. 

Both devices also offer built-in entertainment applications, including T-Mobile® TV and YouTube® for real-time mobile video streaming and on-demand TV.

Enter to Win:

1) Tweet this Giveaway;
2) Leave a Comment:  What is the biggest question you have when it comes to buying a wireless product as a gift?  
3) Bonus: leave a comment if you post about this Giveaway. 


The first winner will win the myTouch® and the second winner will win the myTouch® Q. We will chose the Winner on Random.org.  No email addresses please. Open to US Residents Only. 


*This Contest Closes at 8pm on December 6th, 2011.  Best to you.  These are some fun wins! Thanks for visiting. 


Warmly,  Carolina Mama


*This Giveaway is in partnership with my work with T-Mobile.

Tablet Sale: 7" Android Tablet With OS $77

Looking for the perfect technology gift for someone one your list?  We've got the deal for you.  Great product and price!

Tablet Sale:  7" Android Tablet with OS! $77.


You read it right!  Order your 7" Android Tablet with OS for $77 on Plum District.  This San Francisco based company is burning up the local market place.

The Raleigh/Durham Plum District is offering the 7" Android Tablet with OS for 40% OFF!  So after taking off the Code:  MOBILE40   The already on sale $129 Android Tablet will be $77!

That is a deal for anyone on your list.  How many are you purchasing?

Warmly, Carolina Mama


*This post is sponsored by Plum District. 

iMemories #PreservingMemories For Life With #CBias

My heart skipped a beat when I was asked if I was interested in working with iMemories on our older family media.  Of course!

Okay, so our Tigers are 10 years old!  Can you young Moms imagine how technology has advanced in those quick ten years!?!  I can and I also know that we have some video footage of our boys which is on an old camcorder so no we have never looked at it.

We were over the moon to collaborate on our videos from the boys younger years!

My husband, Boulder Mountain Man, gathered lots of old mm film from our media closet.  We prioritized it and reminisced at just reading the titles off of the tapes.  Imagine our delight when we got into the process.   Here I am ever so eager to enter the UPS Store and ship off our treasures of 8mm tapes. :)

Introducing iMemories, the Process: 

You can trust iMemories. We're safe.

Our facility, technology, people and process are dedicated to safeguarding and caring for your memories.

We make it easy & hassle-free.

You just get us your home movies and photos - we do the rest. You don't have to do anything up front.

Enjoy & share your memories online.

Our unique and exclusive experience makes online sharing as simple as opening a browser or sending an email.

You can personalize your DVDs online.

Personalize your DVDs just the way you want. It's simple and fast to sort, label and edit all your videos using your iMemories account.

Everything we do is ultra high quality.

You will always get the finest quality from iMemories - from the digital conversion to the final DVD itself.

You'll get old fashioned customer service.

Our skilled customer service team is experienced and available to help in any way - to provide answers, and give assistance.

Back to the UPS Store with my shipment. :) 

We took this box of tapes and our one gem of a Twins Baby Dedication VHS and prayed, and prayed, hard...

and kissed our box good-bye.

We hoped for the best when our UPS Guy sealed up our treasures. 

Then, the real miracle happened.  I opened my email and received the lovely email that our DVDs were available online.  On.line! for our viewing pleasure!

Hello, who knew this came Thanksgiving Weekend!  I cried as I first saw our children at age two running our and laughing, double!

I surprised our family with a "Thankfulness Session" which ended up being our viewing our iMemories  DVDs online for Thanksgiving 2011.  We will always cherish the delight in our boys viewing themselves at such a young age.  Look at how cool these DVDs look! :)

We cannot wait to sit down and plow through all five (5) of them!   They have awesome thumbnail prints on each DVD.

Thank you iMemories for delivering back to us our original tapes and then shipping DVDs for our keepsake. Christopher at iMemories called me about my order, was very efficient and quick. I appreciated the excellent Customer Service throughout the process.

We LOVED this experience and the result!  Now, I would love to do it with some of our old photos!

We will be blessed for a lifetime with these lovely memories.  Thank you iMemories for the care and excellent care you took in our project!

Warmly, Carolina Mama


*This project sponsored by Collective Bias and iMemories. 

Happy Blessed Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all! It has been a full blessed and beautiful family time!

Papa Murphy's: Take 'n' Bake Cowboy Pizza Special

At Thanksgiving and Christmastime, we all need a break from the traditional meal fare....  Enter Papa Murphy's Pizza, Take 'n' Bake.

"Had enough of frozen? Delivery not delivering? If so, raise your pizza cutter high and declare yourself free of anything less than fresh. Fresh pizza made right before your eyes. Fresh pizza made exactly how you want it. Fresh pizza that you bake at home so it's always hot out of your oven. 'Cause that's how pizza should be."


So here we were at Papa Murphy's picking up our Cowboy Pizza at a SPECIAL right now for $10 per Family Size = huge pizza and more than we can eat in one evening.

This pizza has all the fixings a Cowboy or Twin Boys would love, their amazing crust and sauce, premium pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, lots of cheeses, the Papa Murphy's blend and olives (I love!).  This was a very filling pizza.   I could not even finish a full slices.  The Tigers, they each ate two and declared they could not eat another bite.

Usually they eat an entire pizza.  However, with this rich and full pizza, a couple of slices had them at this is THE best pizza.  Boulder Mountain Man loved it, too.  Was there ever any doubt, Cowboy Pizza and Boulder Mountain Man.  Right!

Papa Murphy's is oven fresh right at home.  We love it and the clean up is a piece of... pizza! ;)

Have you tried Papa Murphy's Take 'n' Bake?  You'll be glad you did.

Warmly,  Carolina Mama


*This post is sponsored by Papa Murphy's.  Our opinions are our own, we love it. 

Happy Carolina Thanksgiving!

Happy Carolina Thanksgiving all y'all. Seriously, we're expecting 70s. Ahhh, I love Fall.

The Thanksgiving meal has fully begun. In fact, preparation went swimmingly today. The Pies... Oh, the Pies.

Boulder Mountain Man does such a fine job of the Turkey. (It's Butterball. ;) they have this recipe no brining, no frying can compare to so it's family tradition and we love it.

God bless you and yours and have a very Happy and Blessed time with those you love.

Here are a couple of shots of our Harvest snacking while baking the Pies. The Cranberries before I made our homemade Cranberry sauce. The Apple pie was the first up. Perfect.

Warmly,
Carolina Mama

Carolina Christmas 2011 - Charlotte, NC - Boulevard of Lights - and Giveaway

Carolina Christmas at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Wednesday, November 23 - Saturday, December 31, 2011

We love Charlotte and Cabarrus County! And we love our Christmastime Tradition that includes a Carolina Christmas and Great Wolf Lodge with their amazing Snowland and the Carolina Christmas Lights of the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  

Open nightly from Nov. 23 through Dec. 31, excluding Christmas Day. Carolina Christmas is returning to Charlotte Motor Speedway even bigger and better in its second year, with an expanded route of nearly five miles, more than 3 million LED lights in 600 displays and double the drive-the-track experience with a one-mile cruise around the track.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is excited to bring the holidays to life this winter season with the return of Carolina Christmas, a spectacular drive-through Christmas light park and village located at the legendary superspeedway. Carolina Christmas is one of the largest holiday light shows in the United States, featuring more than 600 LED light displays boasting 3 million lights.  Carolina Christmas also offers a Christmas Village with a realistic Bethlehem-themed village, a Festival of Trees, photos with Santa and areas with food and music.  You can find a number of great Hotel deals for Christmastime in Cabarrus County. 

Snowland at Great Wolf Lodge is a treat.  The Snow Falls every day indoors here in a truly magical way!  And Santa visits the children.  Snowland at Great Wolf Lodge runs from December 3-25.  Go have fun!  And here are 5 Great Tips for Visiting a Great Wolf Lodge Property. :)  over at TravelingMamas.com.  You can have a Howling Good Time, too! 

Enter to Win $500 Concord Mills Gift Card!
For a chance to win a $500 Simon American Express Gift Card from Concord Mills Mall, guests are invited to visit any four of the seven participating holiday partners between November 23 and December 16 and get the corresponding ornament on the Christmas tree punched. The participants are the Cabarrus County CVB, Concord Mills, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sam Bass Gallery, Reed Gold Mine, Punchy’s Diner and Cabarrus Creamery. http://www.carolinachristmasnc.com/punchcard.html  All the best!  This would be perfect timing with Christmas right here. 

Visit Cabarrus County - "Where Racing Lives!" 

Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season and that you get to Cabarrus County to one of these lovely locales.

Warmly, Carolina Mama

Warmly,  Carolina Mama

Carolina Christmas 2011 - Boulevard of Lights Charlotte, NC and GIVEAWAY

Carolina Christmas at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Wednesday, November 23 - Saturday, December 31, 2011

We love Charlotte and Cabarrus County! And we love our Christmastime Tradition that includes Great Wolf Lodge with their amazing Snowland and the Carolina Christmas Lights of the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Open nightly from Nov. 23 through Dec. 31, excluding Christmas Day. Carolina Christmas is returning to Charlotte Motor Speedway even bigger and better in its second year, with an expanded route of nearly five miles, more than 3 million LED lights in 600 displays and double the drive-the-track experience with a one-mile cruise around the track.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is excited to bring the holidays to life this winter season with the return of Carolina Christmas, a spectacular drive-through Christmas light park and village located at the legendary superspeedway. Carolina Christmas is one of the largest holiday light shows in the United States, featuring more than 600 LED light displays boasting 3 million lights. Carolina Christmas also offers a Christmas Village with a realistic Bethlehem-themed village, a Festival of Trees, photos with Santa and areas with food and music. You can find a number of great Hotel deals for Christmastime in Cabarrus County.

Snowland at Great Wolf Lodge is a treat. The Snow Falls every day indoors here in a truly magical way! And Santa visits the children. Snowland at Great Wolf Lodge runs from December 3-25. Go have fun! And here are 5 Great Tips for Visiting a Great Wolf Lodge Property. :) over at TravelingMamas.com. You can have a Howling Good Time, too!

Enter to Win $500 Concord Mills Gift Card!
For a chance to win a $500 Simon American Express Gift Card from Concord Mills Mall, guests are invited to visit any four of the seven participating holiday partners between November 23 and December 16 and get the corresponding ornament on the Christmas tree punched. The participants are the Cabarrus County CVB, Concord Mills, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sam Bass Gallery, Reed Gold Mine, Punchy’s Diner and Cabarrus Creamery. http://www.carolinachristmasnc.com/punchcard.html All the best! This would be perfect timing with Christmas right here.

Look at the Many Christmas Events and Hotels in Charlotte this Season:

Inaugural Boulevard of Lights
Hotels will light up Bruton Smith Boulevard, welcoming holiday guests to celebrate the season! Perimeter lighting totaling almost 3 miles in length will adorn the hotel rooftops for the holiday season. Light pole decorations and banners will extend from the intersection of Derita Road and Concord Mills Boulevard to the intersection of Bruton Smith Boulevard and Highway 29 in front of Charlotte Motor Speedway, creating a festive Christmas corridor.


Carolina Christmas at Charlotte Motor Speedway – Bigger and Better in 2011
Open nightly from Nov. 23 through Dec. 31, excluding Christmas Day, Carolina Christmas is returning to Charlotte Motor Speedway even bigger and better in its second year, with an expanded route of nearly five miles, more than 3 million LED lights in 600 displays and double the drive-the-track experience with a one-mile cruise around the track.


Enter to Win $500 Gift Card!
For a chance to win a $500 Simon American Express Gift Card from Concord Mills Mall, guests are invited to visit any four of the seven participating holiday partners between November 23 and December 16 and get the corresponding ornament on the Christmas tree punched. The participants are the Cabarrus County CVB, Concord Mills, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sam Bass Gallery, Reed Gold Mine, Punchy’s Diner and Cabarrus Creamery. http://www.carolinachristmasnc.com/punchcard.html


Hotel Packages and Calendar of Events
Discover the many ways to celebrate the holidays on www.CarolinaChristmasNC.com, including Carolina Christmas hotel packages and a comprehensive calendar of Christmas events throughout the county. The calendar features a variety of events from local parades and tree lightings to seasonal tours and theatre performances.


Snowland at Great Wolf Lodge
During Snowland at Great Wolf Lodge, the magic continues with a life-size Gingerbread house, daily snow shows inside the Grand Lobby, special appearances by Santa and Great Clock Tower Holiday Show with Rowdy the Reindeer. Snowland at Great Wolf Lodge runs from December 3-25.http://www.greatwolf.com/concord/deals/snowland


Concord Mills Mall
Have you made your list and checked it twice? Then take another cue from Santa and stop by Concord Mills, North Carolina’s most visited attraction to take advantage of incredible holiday sales. At the mall’s 200+ stores, finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list is a breeze. Don’t forget to say hello to the jolly man in red while you’re here – he and his elves have set up shop in Neighborhood 2. Be sure to set your alarm clocks - Concord Mills will open at midnight on Black Friday!

Visit Cabarrus County - "Where Racing Lives!"

Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season and that you get to Cabarrus County to one of these lovely locales.

Warmly, Carolina Mama

Martha Stewart's Cornbread Dressing and Chocolate Pecan Pie

Every Thanksgiving, all of my life, we have had amazing Cornbread Dressing.  It's Dressing Y'all.  And you just cannot put cornbread into "stuffing."  We are truly Southerners, we don't stuff, we dress.

Our Turkey's sitting in the refrigerator right now.... thawing for the big day.

Now that we cleared that up, let's take it up North to Martha Stewart's wonderful version of Cornbread Dressing!  Except she doesn't know it's Dressing y'all.  It's a great one.  In fact, it's the closest thing to My Mama's Cornbread Dressing that you'll see here because I 'm not giving out the family recipe. Even on the "blahhhhg." :)


Martha Stewart's Cornbread Dressing - It's Good! 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups pecans
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 cups crumbled Cornbread
• 5 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 rib celery, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 10 ounces wild mushrooms (chanterelles, oyster, and shiitake)
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, leaves
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup Homemade Chicken Stock

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spread pecans on a baking sheet. Place in oven to toast until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Set aside.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small skillet. Cut cornbread into 2-inch-thick slices. Place, cut side down, on a 17-by-12-inch baking sheet. Brush tops with melted butter. Toast cornbread until golden brown, 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
3. Heat remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a medium skillet on medium high. Add shallots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper; cook until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add white wine; continue cooking until absorbed, about 1 minute. Add cream. Cook 30 seconds; remove pan from heat.
4. Crumble cornbread into a large bowl. Add mushroom mixture and toasted pecans; toss.

Cook's Note

If you bake this stuffing outside the turkey, add chicken stock, and bake in a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish until the stuffing is crusty and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve the extra cornbread to your guests.

Since Ms. Martha does such a fine job, I'll share that famous Martha Stewart's Chocolate Pecan Pie!  recipe.  It is a family recipe now.  We started our own tradition 14 Thanksgiving's ago.  And we love it!

What are your favorite Thanksgiving Recipes, North, South, East or West?  Happy Thanksgiving early!


Warmly,   Carolina Mama

Shadeleaf Studios Raleigh / Durham, North Carolina - Best Photography for Holiday and More

Family Christmas Cards are one of my favorite things about Christmastime!   We LOVED our session with Shallyse of ShadeLeaf Studios here in North Carolina.  Look at this awesome pictures and fun she captured with our family!  Too fun!

This really depicts our family:  A Volleyball, Basketball, and Football and Mom with her Fashion Ear Rings!  This was totally impromptu.  And it worked.  Shallyse totally gets your family in your element.

Then she got the Tigers and Me!  Love this.  They were so excited. 

love what  she can do  with pictures

 These are Timeless beauty.

 Love this of my Prince!  So perfectly relaxed and smiling, life is good! 

You have most likely seen this one around, too! :) 

She is patient and creative in her approach and ideas! 

Profiles and candid smiles are Shallyse's specialty.

You may have seen these around my social networks.  This became my LinkedIn photo in a more professional way.  This tint is more year round has has been great for my profiles.

This one has been fun for Christmas Cheer! 

Here she had us so relaxed, I think it shows the love of our family in such a priceless way.

She captured my love and me in a picture frame.  All of her work is so natural.  And look at her studio. We have had several friends want to have our props or rather, Shallyse's props.

Check out more of Shallyse's great work at ShadeLeaf Studios Facebook Page.  You'll be hooked!  

Warmly, Carolina Mama


*This post is sponsored by Shade Leaf Studios.