This past weekend my family had the pleasure of attending a performance of Playhouse Disney Live and it was a huge hit!  Next weekend we will have the pleasure of attending a performance of Disney On Ice: Finding Nemo!

I’m so excited for my girls to see this show for two reasons.  First, one of my very first live performance shows that I saw as a child was a Disney On Ice show.  And it was amazing!  The skating.  The dancing.  The music.  Amazing!  Secondly, Finding Nemo is one of my girls’ favorite movies.  Finding Nemo was one of the first dvds my girls watched and they still love watching it! I cannot wait to see their faces as they see their favorite sea friends come to life on ice!!!

The world of Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo, is brought to life on ice as you swim along with the frantic Marlin and the forgetful Dory as they search the ocean for Marlin’s son, Nemo.  The adventure has you face to face with sharks, riding the current with some bodacious sea turtles, and plotting with the Tank Gang…without a doubt, laughing along the way!

Disney On Ice: Finding Nemo will be coming to Grand Rapids (Van Andel Arena) March 18-21, 2010 and tickets, starting at just $15, can be purchased through TicketMaster.com.  If you are not from the West Michigan area, you can still check Disney.com to see if one of the many Disney On Ice shows will be coming to your area!

The GIVEAWAY

I have 2 Family Four-Packs of tickets to Disney On Ice: Finding Nemo at Van Andel Arena (Grand Rapids, MI) to giveaway!!!  The winners will get to choose which show time (Friday-Sunday) that they would like to attend.

To Enter:

Mandatory Entry - Simply leave a comment below telling me if you’ve ever been to a Disney On Ice show or if you’ve seen the Finding Nemo movie.

1 entry - Subscribe to Stacey Says… via RSS.

1 entry - Subscribe to the Stacey Says… email newsletter (sign up on the sidebar)

1 entry - Follow me (@Stacey_Says) on Twitter and tweet about this contest (you can do this every day and receive one entry each day!).

5 entries - Blog about this contest and leave me a link to your post.

5 entries - Not a blogger? Send an email to 5 of your friends with a link to this contest. Make sure you CC me (staceysays (at) me (dot) com) on that email and then leave a comment here saying that you did so.

The Details:

The TWO (2) winners will be randomly selected from the comments posted by Wednesday, March 17. All entries will be verified and must include an email address where I can contact you if you should win. Please remember that this giveaway is for an event in Grand Rapids, MI, March 19, 20, or 21.  Please, only enter if you are able to attend the show!  Also, because the winners will be selected so close to the show date, you must respond to my email if you win within 24 hours.  You can read more about Giveaway Policies here.

*Disclaimer: I am receiving complimentary tickets for my family to attend the Disney On Ice: Finding Nemo from Feld Entertainment show so that I can bring you a review of that event in a later post.  However, receiving the complimentary tickets in no way affects my opinions stated here.

Read on »

Oh Finances.  That dreaded f-word.  Raise your hand if you hate talking about finances.  Raise your hand if you avoid talking about finances.  Raise your hand if you actually like talking about finances.

I fall somewhere in between all of those options.  I like talking about finances when the bank account is looking good.  I hate talking about finances and often avoid talking about them when the bank account isn’t looking so good.  Finances seem to be that unique category where our willingness to talk depends on how well things are going.  When things like parenting, weight loss, or work aren’t going well, I’ll still talk about them but, when it comes to finances, I don’t even want to talk about them with my husband when things aren’t going well.  And I’m not sure why.

Our financial situation is always changing. Some times I’m skipping through a peaceful financial forest, other times I’m sinking my teeth into a financially poisoned apple.  The tough thing is that I never know which situation I’m going to be in until I’m already there.  And that becomes frustrating and stressful and disheartening.  Here is the gist of our situation:  My husband works full time and I stay home with the kids.  We also have two small companies.  One company is pretty self contained and the other is where we filter all my husband’s side jobs and my design and writing work.  We own a house and have another that is under land contract.  We have debt.  Credit card debt.  Student loan debt.  We have self-provided health insurance because the other option was bleeding us dry.  We don’t have a budget.

I’m guessing that you probably resonated with a few of those items.  In some ways we are the typical American married couple.  In other ways we are not.  Regardless of how your situation differs from mine, I’m sure you’ll agree that all of this can be frustrating and confusing and you are ready for some clear cut answers!  Now, while I am far from being any sort of financial guru, I do know one thing…when you don’t know the answers you look to someone who does! And that’s what I’m planning on doing!

Over the next year I am going to focus once a month on a specific financial topic. I’m hoping to dig up some answers to the questions that confuse me and come up with ways to demystify the financial fairytale.  At the very least I am hoping that the monthly feature creates some dialogue where we can all help each other, either through things we have learned or mistakes we have made.  Because, let’s be honest, we’ve all made a few financial mistakes and paid a little “stupid tax”.

If there is a certain topic you’d like to see me cover in the monthly feature, speak up!  If you have a field of expertise and want to contribute, let me know!  And if you are a financially geared company and want to jump on board with this project, Awesome!  You can leave a comment below or email me at StaceySays @ me.com.

Read on »

You can check out more Wordless Wednesday posts at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Read on »

Not a day goes by that my girls are not dressed up as princesses, ballerinas, or as fairies.  They love to dress up.  And I love that it is something that they enjoy doing together!

Fairy-Gram is an amazing online store that I came across one day on Mom Made That.  I’m pretty sure that Fairy-Gram was designed with my girls in mind!  Ok, maybe not just for my girls, but for any little girl who loves to dress up or loves fairies!

Everything a little girl needs to be a fairy is wrapped up in this amazing little Fairy-Gram.  Each Fairy-Gram includes Fairy Tutu with a stretchable waist to fit ages 1yr to 8yrs, Fairy Wings, Fairy Ribbon Wand, Fairy Halo, and 2 Butterfly Clips.  All your little girl needs to add to make her fairy experience complete is her energy and imagination!

The woman behind Fairy-Gram is a stay-at-home mom who created Fairy-Grams out of the love her daughter had for dressing up, especially as fairies.  She says that Fairy-Gram was founded “directly from the heart of a 5 year old little girl.”  And you can tell because every single piece of the fairy outfit, right down to the ribbon wand, is something a little girl would love!

While the idea is something straight from a child, the quality of each piece is anything but childish!  The Fairy Wings and the Fairy Tutu are both lined with with satin, making them so comfortable for even your littlest girl to wear (and putting my homemade tutu to shame)!  My two-year old wore the wings and tutu for hours in nothing put her pull-up and it never once irritated her skin.

Fairy-Grams are available in hot pink, lavender, lemon, pink, white, rainbow, and turquoise and cost $29.95.  I would definitely recommend sending a Fairy-Gram to the little lady in your life…the look on their face as they open the box will be priceless!  Remember, Easter is only a few weeks away and this would be a magnificent gift for those Easter baskets!

GIVEAWAY

I am so excited to be giving away one Fairy-Gram to one lucky reader here!  And you even get to take credit for it when your little girl opens the box and tells you are the bestest, greatest, most super wonderful person in the whole wide world!!!

To Enter:

Mandatory Entry - Visit Fairy-Gram.com and tell me which color you would choose if you won.  You must do this to enter.  All entries below are extra and optional.

1 entry - Become a fan of Fairy-Gram on Facebook.

1 entry - Follow Fairy-Gram on Twitter.

1 entry - Subscribe to Stacey Says… via RSS.

1 entry - Subscribe to the Stacey Says… Email newsletter (link on the side)

1 entry - Follow me (@Stacey_Says) on Twitter and tweet about this contest (you can do this every day and receive one entry each day!).

5 entries - Blog about this contest and leave me a link to your post.

5 entries - Not a blogger? Send an email to 5 of your friends with a link to this contest. Make sure you CC me (staceysays (at) me (dot) com) on that email and then leave a comment here saying that you did so.

The Details:

The One (1) winner will be randomly selected from the comments posted by Friday, March 19. All entries will be verified and must include an email address where I can contact you if you should win. This contest is open to US shipping addresses. You can read more about Giveaway Policies here.

*Disclaimer: This review was made possible by MomMadeThat.com.  I did receive a complimentary Fairy-Gram from Fairy-Gram.com so that I could provide you with an accurate review of this product. However, receiving the complimentary product in no way affects my opinions stated here.

Read on »

The lovely people over at Mabel’s Labels are currently holding a contest to send one lucky person to Blogher 10 this summer in New York City.  As a part of Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ‘10 Contest, they presented this very interesting hypothetical situation:

Electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet (perhaps forever).  You have one day left to write about your passions: What do you want to say to the blogosphere?

Wow.  Very good question.  And very scary scenario!  No more internet?  Like, forever?  That means I would actually have to open a phone book when I needed the number to a business and I would, once again, have newsprint on my fingers and papercuts from magazines.  Oh the horror!  I kid.  But seriously, one day left to share my passions with you?  Where would I begin.

I could write about my kids, how animals often deserve more respect than we give them, or how to use tech to better our lives as parents.  I’m certainly passionate about all of those.  Although the third seems a little moot in this situation.

No, instead I think I would write about relationships.  Real, person to person, look you in the eye relationships.  Real life relationships.

As bloggers we tend to have most of our relationships and friendships online.  We share our highs and our lows on Twitter and Facebook.  We offer a virtual shoulder to cry on through blog comments and forums.  For many of us we are our most open, honest, and vulnerable selves with our online community.  And they are, indeed, our friends.  But how many of us actually meet those friends face to face?

There is something to be said about our in-person interactions with others.  While online friendships are wonderful, there is something that connects us even deeper when we share a glass of wine together as we soak in each other’s laughter, feel the love your friend has as she gushes over her kids, or the unspoken support that is extended as you reach out and touch the shoulder of a grieving friend.

Yes, online relationships are amazing.  The internet has offered us a portal where we can reach out and connect with others across the world.  I can share my joys and frustrations at 3am and there is always someone there willing to “listen”.  But, what I’m quickly becoming more and more passionate about is extending those online friendships into real life relationships!  Whether it is meeting a local group of bloggers for dinner or chatting at a local or national conference, I believe it is so important that we discover ways to extend our online friendships into our everyday, in-person life!

Read on »