Hotel Rooms can become familiar friends

I have started my traveling this year….in a big way.  So I really have been organizing to travel!  I just went to Austin, TX to be a judge for the Genesis Today Bloggers Immersion. I got to help pick one of the 5 finalist for the Genesis of a Great Idea Contest.  Debba Haupert won by the way from Girlfriendology.com

I leave on Wednesday to go to Nashville for the BlissDom conference. I am going to see my boys who live there on Wednesday and go to the conference the next day. I will be driving there. I flew to TX.

I come back from there on a Sunday and leave again on Wednesday for the Disney Social Media Moms Conference. I will be flying there also.

Here are a few tips that I have used to make getting ready to go easier.

1) Make a packing list.  Ok..I always do this. But I took it a step further and have it on my computer now. So I just have to print it out and tweek it for each trip.  It has all the items that I am always worried I will forget…like the phone, computer, camera chargers and sync cables, business cards.  I have a section on it for things to take on board the plane.

2) You can also make another list like the above for things to do before you leave.  Cooking meals for the family, make a copy of your itinerary for your husband or wife, leave insurance card and schedule for kids activities.

3) If possible use a little larger suitcase to go with, so you will have room if you get things on your trip to bring home.

4) Pack a base color of clothes and use accessories to change your look to reduce clothing. Scarves are great accessories (I am just learning how to use them myself)

5) Be sure all your electronic items are charged before you leave.

Genesis of a Great Idea Blogger Logo

I am thrilled to be traveling to Austin, TX on Wednesday am.  I have been chosen to be one of the judges on the Genesis of a Great Idea panel to decide which of these fantastic people will win $10,000!  How fun will this be?  The other 4 who do not come in 1st place will still receive $1,000 each.

Francesca Banducci from Mayhem & Moxie  and Jill Smokler from Scary Mommy  are a team.

Debba Haupert – Girlfriendology

Deb Rox

Mike Kunkle at Dream Worthy Gifts

Jan Idelman of Creative Group

Genesis Today has come out with 3 juice that are in Walmart and Sam’s Club. Prior to this you could only purchase their concentrated juices via their web site or Health food stores.  But they developed a juice that is not concentrated (and hence tastes good) that is affordable and easy to get.

I became a firm believer in these juices after I learned that my sister and brother in law (surgeon who investigates everything)  have used them for the last 3 years.  They swear by them!  So that gave me the confidence to look further into them myself.  I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Lindsey Duncan (founder and president of Genesis Today) and Dan and Jeff from Genesis Today when I was in Las Vegas at Blog World.

We are going to get to tour Genesis Today headquarters and have a two hour question and answer session with Dr. Lindsey.  I will be tweeting and whrrling while I am there. I will be excited to tell all of you about it.  We were thrilled to find out that Genesis Today asked to have some more bloggers come with us on this trip.

We started out with the first group of bloggers that were asked to be judges.

Naomi  @superdumb

Danielle Smith @extraordmommy

Jodi Grundig   @ jodigrundig

Elizabeth Norton @ProfessorofPlay

Sandy Jenney (me) @organizersandy

Here are our bonus bloggers that were also asked to join us!

Kim Janacko @craftymamaof4

Courtney   @theappleofmyeye

Sugar Jones @sugarjones

Zipporah Sandler @zipporahs

We are being going to be in great company with Katja Presnal (@katjapresnal) , Brook Austin (@austinbrooke) and Brad Lawless (@bradlawless)  of Collective Bias on this trip.

I am sooo excited to go on this trip!!  We are going to have so much fun.  Watch for my tweets and whrrl stories and blogs!!  I will be thrilled to share what I learn about these juices with you…along with letting you know who wins!!

Disclosure:  My trip is being paid for by Genesis Today and I am being paid for being a judge for this contest.  But I am not being told I have to blog or whrrl or tweet for that matter.  It will also not influence what I say about this juice.  If I have positive comments, blogs, tweets or whrrl stores in regards to this company/product…it is because I believe in what I am saying and I want to share it.

I have this button on my sidebar and although it showed I was proud to be a Columbus Mom Blogger – it lead to no where.
As I was in my grocery store the other day, I had someone comment on my coupon binder. She was a coupon “fanatic” as her husband told me and saves them a lot of money. I asked her if she used any of the couponing blogs and she mentioned one that wasn’t a blog. I told her about the 3 Columbus bloggers and she was writing them down on a Kroger flyer.
I realized I didn’t have a good reference on my blog to my fellow Columbus Bloggers.
So I created this page of them. If you go to my sidebar now and click on the button above, you will get to this list.

1) Thrifty and Chic Mom – Ellen has a blog that can help you find great couponing deals and freebies. She gives you a step by step on how to make a coupon album also. (This is how I made mine)

2) Ali from Blessed Treehouse writes a very comical view on many things. She gives some great tips and ideas on how to do things “green”. I met Ali on twitter and we ended up going to a blogging conference together, meeting for the first time when I picked her up to drive to TN.

3) Marcy from Stretching A Buck blog also has a blog that can help you save money, give you the weekly coupon deals and freebies. She appears on Ellie Merrits First at 4 TV show every other Monday to share the deals she has for that week.

5) Denise from Musings from Mommyland takes you on a journey of raising a premie baby. She has many links to other premie blogs. (Her son actually is turning 1 today!!)

6) Ellie from Elaborating with Ellie is the anchor newswoman for First at Four with Ellie Merritt. She is great! She had me on her show, doing a segment on organizing. She has had Ellen from Thrifty and Chic Mom on before. She also has Marcy from Stretching a Buck and Tara from Deal Seeking Mom on every Monday to tell the weekly coupon and freebie deals.

7) Christina from A Mommy Story has some great articles to read on her blog.

8) Tara from Deal Seeking Mom is on Ellie’s news show every other Monday. Her blog is also a blog on how to save money and the great coupon deals you can get. She is a Walmart 11 mom and has had many wonderful opportunities come her way through her blog and Walmart.