Last night I woke up at about 3:51am and couldn’t go back to sleep. What weighed heavy on my mind was the need to declutter and dejunk my life. I opened my ‘to file’ basket the other day and didn’t realize I hadn’t filed anything in over a year – where does the time go! Spring is always a great time to reevaluate, organize, and I’m glad that Microsoft Office 365 is here to support me.

Sure we all may think of dejunking our cabinets or fridge (maybe ‘friends’), but in such a digital world we can’t forget the importance of dejunking our computer and technology.

On my computer I have tonssss of music files, documents from college, blog posts, and pictures, and pictures, and pictures! I won’t even begin to tell you what my desktop looks like! It’s easy to forget about organizing your digital world, but once you do…life will never be the same!

To assist in spring cleaning your digital home, Office 365 Premium has a variety of features to keep you organized and uncluttered. The fact that I can organize from anywhere has been such a lifesaver. I’m forever snapping photos of my daughter, and now I can access them not only from my home computer. I am currently filling out a summer camp application, and was easily able to access my photos through SkyDrive – what a great feature!

I often wake up (as I did last night) in the middle of the night with my brain churning, worrying, but also pondering new ideas, and new ideas for work or my blog. I no longer write on a post-it note next to my bed. With the help of OneNote I can rest assure that all of my random thoughts and ideas are safe all together for me to access.

Since my daughter started school a few years ago, my schedule has become more and more full with school activities, birthdays, and play-dates  It gets so hard keeping it all straight. So now every event – big or small – goes into my Outlook calendar, and I can color code my engagements differently from school events, so it really helps me stay organized.

These are just a few of the ways Microsoft Office 365 has made me a more organized Mom, blogger, and employee! There are plenty more features that I know you’ll love, below are what you get when you purchase:

 What it Includes:

• The latest and most complete set of Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access
• One license for the entire household to use Office on up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs or Macs, and get Office on Demand from any Internet-connected PC
• An additional 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage, nearly three times the amount available with a free SkyDrive account
• 60 free Skype world calling minutes per month to call mobile phones, landlines or PCs around the world
• Future upgrades, so you always use the latest time-saving technology
• Automatic save to SkyDrive, so your documents — and even your personal settings — are always available from virtually anywhere and on your favorite devices

Amazing, right? And it’s affordable! At just $99.99 for an annual subscription you’ll get access to all the above, and the peace of mind that Office 365 is keeping things together for you! With Office 365 you get your information where and when you want it – access is just at your fingertips! Being that its subscription based you have the flexibility to use just one license for your home on up to five devices! Purchase Office 265 at a Microsoft retail store or at Office.com today!

Because I know how this software will change your life, I’m offering up a chance to clean up your digital life!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How do you organize your digital home?

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with Social Influenz and Microsoft for Office 365. All opinions expressed are my own.

As a Mom to an active seven year old daughter healthy eating is something that we try to incorporate into her diet – and I realize that it starts with me. I really dislike breakfast (even though I know that’s really bad!) and would constantly skip the meal in the morning, and starting noticing my daughter was too. Then noticed she was getting more and more tired. So I got her together and we are coming up with fun new meals for breakfast. I’ve involved her in the healthy living process, and getting her excited about the endless possibilities in the kitchen. Her new addiction? Strawberry blueberry smoothies! Yum.

The new “Run the Rainbow, Eat the Rainbow” contest too understands the importance of healthy kids. Run in collaboration with ChopChop Magazine, The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families, and Boston based New Balance the “Eat the rainbow” campaign helps kids get in the habit of eating a balanced palette of fruits and veggies —and, because different colors are associated with different nutrients, it is an easy way to color your world healthy. What better way to eat multiple colors than with a rainbow fruit kabob?

In celebration of healthy kids and New Balance’s awesome brand-new 890 Rainbow shoe, ChopChop and New Balance invite you to enter the contest for chance to win a monthly prize pack, including a pair of Rainbow shoes, a one-year subscription to ChopChop, and a grand prize of a $400 gift card to a local grocery store. Visit www.newbalance.com/rainbow to enter! The contest is live now and will run through May (entrants must be 18 years or older).

The colorful brand-new 890v3 Rainbow shoe by New Balance are stylish sneakers featuring a synthetic/mesh upper, offering lightweight comfort and support with solid rubber outsole to provide long-wearing durability for active kids. These are my daughter’s new favorite sneakers, I love how they brighten up any outfit, and they’ll be the perfect addition for our upcoming Disney trip!

Be sure to enter today for a chance to win some amazing prizes!
Just for my readers, one lucky reader will win a yearlong ChopChop Magazine subscription AND a pair of the stylish New Balance Rainbow shoe!! They’ll make the perfect addition to any summer wardrobe and they are so comfortable!! You don’t want to miss out on this great giveaway, entering in easy just use the widget!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post between ChopChop Magazine and New Balance. I received a pair of New Balance kids sneakers and a ChopChop subscription. All opinions, as always, are my own.

For as long as I can remember I’ve tried to achieve healthy happy skin. Over the years I’ve taken the time to educate myself on what products my skin responds to best and which products are no good. I’ve always been the type of person to want to look better WITHOUT makeup on than covered up with foundation and blush and etc. This has meant I spend a good amount of time listening to my skin and taking care of it. It’s also meant educating myself with the ingredients of the products I use – cause I only get this skin and I don’t intend to lift, tuck, pull, or stretch it!

I’m a product junkie. I have my skincare regimen down to a science. Got my moisturizer, eye cream, moisturizer with spf, and serum for the day and for the evening I’ve got my moisturizer, toning pads, eye cream, and vitamin based night cream. But over the past few years my skin has changed and I’ve had to adapt to it. In addition to my sprinkling of freckles I find that I now have post-acne scars that just aren’t going away, and also I’m experiencing more hyper-pigmentation – which I can do nothing about. And my lack of sleep has resulted in unwanted dark circles.

So I needed a skin pick me up, and happy thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Aveeno and their Active Naturals line because their mission is the same as mine – to unlock the potential to improve your health and beauty. I really appreciate their lack of junk in their products; looking over their ingredient list I was happy to find nourishing ingredients like soy, wheat, and lotus.

I’ve recently added in the AVEENO® POSITIVELY RADIANT® Brightening Cleanser into my routine to help with my skin’s overall texture and brightness. With a Disney vacation coming up in less than two months, I want my skin to be at its best, and I know that this product will help me achieve just that. Not only will it help brighten my skin, it isn’t drying, and helps lift away dirt and makeup – and it smells and feels great against my skin!

Can you tell I’m an Aveeno fan? Their Active Naturals line is fantastic, but we’ve been using Aveeno in our house for years, as the Mom to a daughter with sensitive, their moisturizing lotion is safe enough to use on her delicate skin and I don’t have to worry about any negative reactions! Win-Win!

Mark your calendars! There is an #AVEENOActiveNaturals Bilingual Twitter Party on Monday, April 22d at 6p.m. PST / 9p.m. EST. Please join us! RSVP ON FACEBOOK HERE. 

Do you or your family use Aveeno products? Would you try their Active Naturals line?

Disclosure: This post is in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Aveeno. All opinions expressed are my own.

The last vacation my daughter and I have been on was back in 2007 when we visited Aruba for my sister’s Wedding. We’re more of the staycation type. If vacations weren’t so expensive and I had more moolah I would love love to vacation more with lil mama! Working in non-profit fundraising is pretty exhausting and it’s been a difficult year for us medically and emotionally, so I know we needed some away time together. It’s important to get away from your normal routine, it’s important to spoil yourself…I really don’t do it enough.

So what did I do? Book a trip to Disney! … I swear I’m crazy. Yup, we’re off to the most magical place on Earth! My daughter has been asking for awhile now to go somewhere, on an airplane, stay in a hotel, and of course visit the castle in Florida. I tried to silence her requests and convince her we should go to Puerto Rico and visit the beach! But she was firm – Disney and the castle.

But how to break the news to her? This is a HUGE trip for us! (My pockets sure feel lighter!). I couldn’t just come out and tell her! I needed some mystery; I wanted it to be a surprise! So I decided I would create an Easter Day Scavenger Hunt Revealing our Trip to Disney. I thought I was so slick! After a long day of visiting family and eating delicious food we got back home and I hid clues for her around the house in left over Easter eggs. Until I realized I messed up the clues, so I had to rush and get them all correct. Sigh.

I wanted to make this FUN, so I made a paper chain (love em) with we’re going to Disney, and lil mama LOVES to scrapbook so I got some Florida scrapbooking stickers and even an airplane I wanted this to be special…I was so excited to share this with her.

Once she read the little sign I had created she was off – off to find clues and find out what BIG surprise Mom had in store for her. From her closet, to the TV, to her bagpack, to the Fridge, to the door she went which finally lead her to ‘a place you love to go into after a long day that is usually full of bubbles’ … the tub! Where we was greeted with a special sign, her paper chain, and other goodies. It’s funny, her reaction – many many smirks – was not what I expected. I thought maybe she’d cry or roll around on the floor. But she grinned, she smirked, and she said Moommmmmy we’re going to Disney. It’s weird…it’s kind of like she already knew we were going! Smartypants.

So, yep we’re going to Disney – everyone’s like aren’t you so excited? I’m not…yet. I’m sure once it gets closer I’ll get more excited, but my fear of flying has clouded my excitement – and the fact that the trip isn’t cheap – ouch! But, we don’t go on vacation much, so it’s time to get away, enjoy some sun, and visit the castle! Lil Mama is counting down the days until June 3^rd!