My Favorite Things: My BlackBerry

Seriously without my phone I don’t know how I would be able to manage my life. Although I refuse to add corporate emails to my phone, I manually add my meeting schedules at work to my BlackBerry. I also use my calendar for making plans with the girls (diva night anyone?) scheduling doctor’s appointments, vacation days…it’s the best thing ever.

I also use it for the following:

- Take notes to remind myself of stuff later. Or names of products I’d like to try. Or posts ideas.
- I use the BBM to keep in touch with friends including my fellow bloggy friends.
- Can you say Twitter and Facebook? Love updating my statuses and keeping up with the news on both.

- Getting my emails on my phone keeps me in touch with the latest from Mami’s Time Out readers as well as friends, PR folks and teachers sending me assignments!

- Love taking pictures of my rambunctious preschooler in action!

This is one my biggest arsenal to keep me put together in every aspect of my life. Do you use BlackBerry? Share your tips and tricks in the comments!

This was not a sponsored post. Mami’s Time Out did not get any compensation in any way for this post. I truly just am a techie at heart and heart my phone! This is the start of a series of posts titled My Favorite Things.

Happy Birthday Booba!

Today my cute son is now a three year old! I’m so biased when I say he’s cute…I know. What mami doesn’t think her baby is a little chulo heartbreaker! And to think he was a preemie!! Feliz Cumpleanos Lindo!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I hope you have a great night planned with your significant other tonight! This post was written in advance and I’m still not sure what we are doing but I’m sure it will include dinner. I’m also surprising my hubby with a brand new wedding band…hush don’t tell him! So what do you do for valentine’s day? Is it a tradition or do you do something different and spontaneous with your significant other? Please share in the comments!

Forum Reminder Chat about….anything!

I would love to get to interact more with you through the forums! Check it out or follow the link on the button in the sidebar. Would love to get some conversations going. I see there are some people that are telenovela addicts just like me (glad I’m not alone) so feel free to post about your novelas there! Also check out the post about a career opp in NYC. My mami is a hairstylist so I think this is an amazing opportunity! She had to pay to go to cosmetology school.

Also for fellow blog owners don’t forget to plug your blogs and giveaways! I don’t mind at all! The more the merrier. Hoping to get to know you soon!

A bit about me…update

So we are entering the second week of January and I really haven’t gotten any resolutions. Honestly, at this point I wish that I am able to clone myself since I’m so busy! But I love writing this blog and have been thinking about splitting it up a bit so you may see me make an announcement soon!

As far as the blog I am hoping to get a survey together and send out to you my most loyal readers to see what you’re missing and what you’d like to see more of. I have a few big ideas but not sure how to put it into fruition. I’m still wondering what to do with those forums! I think a new template may be in order as well but I’m working on someone else’s project right now so that would have to be put on hold.

Health wise I’m at a great weight, I haven’t seen this weight since before I got married! I’m definitely thankful for making my goal but now it’s time to tone up. So I will be doing a hip hop exercise class and hopefully that will help tone me up. You know the problem areas…abs,butt and arms!

I may take a page out of Ms. Latina and make a vision board. I’m a very visual person and have all these ideas in my mind. A friend of mine and I may be starting up a business very soon. It’s in its early stages so I can’t say anything yet but I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Here’s to another year of beauty, fashion and bargains! Can’t wait to get to know you better! Do you have any resolutions this year? Please share in the comments!

Image Credit

Happy Holidays!

glitter-graphics.com

As we near the end of year and we are spending lots of time with friends and family filled with good times and good food. At least I hope! So I just wanted to say I hope you had a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Hanukah and New Year!

Hope you and yours stay safe this holiday season and here’s to a successful 2010!

Introducing Mami’s Time Out Forums and Giveaway!

I finally got everything together for the new Mami’s Time Out forums. There you can share your bargain buys, beauty tips, parenting tips and everything else you’d like! Make new friends and get reacquainted with old ones! And as the holidays approach, share your bargain buys and your favorite shopping places online and off! 

In order to get the forums going I am going to personally give away to five lucky readers who become active on the forums a $5 gift certificate to ELF cosmetics! They have some great products most for $1. This could be the chance for you to try it out if you still haven’t. The quality of their products are great and if you use makeup brushes, you can’t beat them for $1! The certificates will be sent through email so you don’t have to wait to shop!

Here’s how to enter:

Go to Mami’s Time Out Forum and introduce yourself! You will get one entry for every discussion you start and two entries for every discussion you reply to. I will be doing daily tallies so that I don’t lose track. And I will enter your name that many times to pull out of a hat. Sometimes it’s just easier to do things the old fashioned way.

The contest starts today November 15, 2009 and runs until December 15th. Suerte chicas and I hope to get to know you a whole lot better! You can also use the button under sponsors to get into the site! Feel free to leave questions in the comments!

My Friend Lisa is up for a LatISM award! Vote for her!

My bff blogger Lisa at NewYorkChica is up for a LatISM award for best Latino Tweep. Please show her some love and vote for her! If anyone deserves this award she does! And while you’re at it…follow her on Twitter! Good luck Chica!

It’s Riskier to have a baby in the US than Cuba

When I got this email I had to read it twice. Can you believe that?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 7 of every 1,000 babies born in the United States will die before their first birthday, and the rates among African American, Hispanic and Native American populations are even higher. Premature births occurring before 37 weeks and low-weight babies (less than 5 pounds) account for the highest number of these deaths.

Since September is National Infant Mortality Awareness Month, Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway—a board-certified ob-gyn, an advocate for quality healthcare and patient safety and author of The Smart Mother’s Guide to a Better Pregnancy —offers these SMART tips to help pregnant women improve their chances of having a healthy baby.

S = Seek prenatal care early. Tests for potential chromosome problems, including mental retardation and spina bifida (a condition that causes paralysis) can be conducted only in the first and second trimesters. A first trimester ultrasound is also the most accurate in terms of determining a due date.

M = Mention all risk factors such as a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure, Rh negative blood, premature labor, bleeding problems or genetic conditions to your healthcare professional as soon as possible. Do not omit information such as smoking or using “recreational” drugs because such activities can affect your baby.

A = Ask to have your cervix measured during your ultrasound if you have a history of premature contractions or delivery. A cervical length of 2.5 centimeters or less is a risk factor for preterm labor. If you are at risk for delivering before 37 weeks, ask your healthcare provider about receiving steroids to help your baby’s lungs develop.

R = Research your hospital and prospective physician or midwife carefully. Is the physician or midwife skilled in managing high-risk conditions? Will your care continue if you lose your insurance? Has the newborn nursery had any recent outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant infections? Is the hospital a level-three facility?

T = Test for potential problems such as gestational diabetes, sickle cell trait and cystic fibrosis, and check for appropriate fetal growth with an ultrasound.

The United States is one of the most industrialized countries in the world, yet The World Factbook indicates that we rank below Cuba, Taiwan, Greece, Ireland, Canada, England, Czech Republic, South Korea and other countries in national infant mortality rate. Being aware of your risk and following these SMART tips will help you to have a healthy baby.

Our First Family Vacation Recap! NYC Edition

So we decided to take our first family vacation around our anniversary. On August 7th, we have been married for 5 years. Hubby doesn’t fly so we took our car to the Jersey Shore. Not too bad of a drive but I really recommend a GPS. I loved my GPS! It took us to the closest shopping from the hotel, the gas stations, and we were able to do a lot more than we would have otherwise. I definitely recommend them for road trips.

We left around 4 am because I just wasn’t sure how antsy Booba was going to be on our trip. Two and a half year olds can really surprise you one way or the next.  I told him the night before we were going on an adventure and he was very excited. So needless to say even though he was in PJs at 4am he was very excited and didn’t fall asleep until around 5:30 when we were on the road. We got to Somerville, NJ around 10am which I thought was quick. Check in time wasn’t until two so we found a mall to hang out in and have lunch. It was so hot and muggy that day! We ended going out to the Premium Outlets store that day.

Thursday was going to be a cooler day so we decided to take that day to go into NYC. We started our day at Central Park and Zoo. I forgot how big the park and zoo were. Booba is a big Madagascar fan so I thought he would enjoy that a lot. He loved checking out the polar bear swimming and the seals and penguins. There weren’t any other animals there too. He was a bit bummed he didn’t see any giraffes or elephants like at the Buffalo Zoo. We also checked out the Children’s Zoo which he loved as well. Very cute pictures were taken there! After that we headed into Brooklyn to shop.

There is a Spanish/Chinese food place in Williamsburg I just had to go eat at. By dinner time both hubby and Booba were cranky. I guess I am just used to the walking. We walked a lot of blocks to get there. If you are ever in Williamsburg area you must check it out. And yes you read that correctly. It’s a Spanish/Chinese food restaurant. You can get fried rice and bistec con tostones (Beefsteak with Fried Platains). I’m telling you that’s the best bistec I’ve ever had. I swear they put soy sauce on it when they cook it. It’s run by Chinese people and they have a bigger Dominican accent than I do! lol! It’s on the corner of Grand St and Hewes possibly? They also have another location on Myrtle Ave. That was honestly the highlight of my trip I just wished that hubby and Booba weren’t so cranky by then. My meal would have been much more enjoyable. But we did leave the hotel around 9 am and didn’t get back till around 10pm so I am honestly surprised it wasn’t much worse. Booba was such a trooper I was very proud of him!

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