RockStar Events: SteveSongs from PBS Kids to Perform in Vegas

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A few weeks ago, I received an email from a publicist asking for my support in getting the word out about this SteveSongs from PBS Kids.  I’ve noticed that since I have a 7 year old, my 5 year old kind of skipped the whole Sesame Street and PBS channel, and went straight to the Disney channel, much to my dismay.  The twins are far too young to be participating in any educational or non-educational shows, so admittedly, I’m a little behind on keeping up with the new wave of educational performers in the pre-school denom.  I asked if she would please send me some promotional materials on SteveSongs so I could not only educate myself, but possibly peak the interest of my two grade schoolers who know Justin Beiber’s and Selena Gomez’s albums by heart.  She happily obliged, and today was spent cruising around in our car, running errands and getting to know SteveSongs.

Halfway through the songs, my 7 year old, who is instantly bored, asked if he could please watch his DVD now.  He only liked a few of the songs, but that really didn’t surprise me.  I was hoping to get more of a reaction from my daughter, who is 5, and the singer, songwriter, storyteller of the group.  She combated his TV wanting time with, “No! I like these songs!”, and quite honestly, I did, too.  When my son was born, The Dan Zanes Band and The Laurie Berkner Band were all the rage.  My husband and I would bust out with the tunes on road trips, and my son would sing and dance to them.  We tried to revive them again with my daughter, but with both of us working full time, it kind of fell off the way-side.  With the twins, I’ve been looking to increase our collection of that same fun, non-dorky music adults could enjoy, too.  And, I’m tired of listening to the repetition of the DVDs playing in the backseat, and seeing my kids’ eyes fixated and glazed over when I glance back to check on them.  So I killed the power on the DVD player, and forced them to listen to SteveSongs the remainder of the journey.  We were all pleasantly surprised.

He might not have that same hippie-rocker edge like Dan Zanes, but SteveSongs is kind of cute, in a dorky sort of a way, but this is for the kiddos, right?  Being a writer, I really liked the content of his songs.  You know, the message.  He sings about relevant themes in your kids’ life, happening right now.  Colors, shapes, emotions, sharing, caring, and all that jazz.

The Historic 5th Street School in Downtown Las Vegas

When I got home to email his publicist that I would be happy to get the word out, I started to research the event location, the Historic 5th Street School, which ironically, is located on South 4th Street.  Being a native, yes, born and raised, of course, I took a natural interest in wanting to support the culture and arts movement in the Downtown area.  As I investigated further, I discovered that there is an entire Children’s Summer Concert Series located at the Charleston Heights Art Center and Historic 5th Street School throughout the month of July. This is really amazing!  Educational, fun, family entertainment by well-known performers of the pre-school world, in Las Vegas, for $3 a ticket!

I am really excited about this opportunity, and wanted to share my awesome find with you.  In doing so, I can offer the first 20 people an advance, group rate ticket of $2.50 per person.  If you would like to participate in this fun-filled event, please post your comment here saying you want to come, or on my FaceBook page.  SteveSongs will be singing his new song, “Fun With Bubbles” and is asking that all kids bring their bubbles with them to participate!

When you purchase tickets through RockStarMomLV, not only will you get the $2.50 ticket price, but you will also get a sweet goody bag for your little one!

 

What's Cooking: Crab Salad

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I’m always looking for quick and healthy lunches while I’m at home.  Usually it’s because I just got back from working out and I’m famished.  RSH was doing that HCG diet, and he was limited to certain foods and portions, which personally, I found to be the best thing about that diet. One of the things on his list of approved foods was crab meat.  For health benefits from crab meat click here.

It's Fresh, it's so Fresh and Exciting!

Crab meat in itself…fresh, no preservatives, no water or anything added..is not only hard to find, but also pretty pricey.  But, I was craving a crab salad sandwich, so headed over to Whole Foods to see what they had available.  For 6oz of fresh crab meat, so fresh it is packaged, flash frozen, flown in and the seafood guy (do they have names?) reminded me several times to eat it ASAP.  OK OK already!  It’s fresh!  Side Note:  I did notice Trader Joe’s now carries fresh crab meat, but it is Chicken of the Sea brand, with added water and salt.  This has nothing.  It’s literally like someone scooped the meat out of a crab, put it in a ziplock baggie and sent it to me via Whole Foods.

So, a couple of ways we made Crab Salad:

My Way

Crab Meat
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Pepper
Squeeze fresh lemon

RSH Way

Crab Meat
Chopped Kale
Chopped Basil
Chopped Red Onion
Smart Balance Omega3 Mayo
Sea Salt
Pepper
Fresh Lemon

Both ways were delicious.  We ended up putting his salad on a Whole Wheat Hot Dog Bun.  We ate mine right out of the bowl.  (This was on two different days.)  Either way, the Crab Meat was a nice splurge for something you have every once in awhile.

Do you have a Crab Salad recipe to share?  Would love to hear from you!  Post it here in the Comments section, or on my Facebook Page.

Sunday Morning Coffee: Picture Perfect

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My Nikon D90 was a gift I hinted to my husband about 2 years ago.  It’s a gift I received, so I could create those beautiful, amazing photographs of my children without having to spend thousands of dollars every year for the rest of my life.  It is a gift that still has the factory settings, and definitely not used to its fullest potential…until now.

My girlfriend, you know, September, and I were preggers at the same time.  Her baby born in January, my twins in September.  She told me about how she was putting money aside to have this amazing woman photograph her babe for his 2 week photo shoot.  When she revealed the pictures, she was right to have put that money aside, because her photos were just beautiful.  So, when she asked me if I would be interested in taking a photography class taught by this woman, Meghan Poort, I signed up right away!  Meghan promised to teach me how to take my Nikon D90 off the auto setting and get some slice of life portraits of my children.  Not that I wasn’t taking great shots of them to begin with, but I noticed how that stinking flash was always getting in the way, casting shadows where I didn’t want them, and making my subjects look flat.

I want to respect Meghan’s business and not give away all her trade secrets in my post, you’ll have to sign up for one of her classes for all that jazz.  I want to share with you, though, how excited I am to be using my camera now.  I feel like a real photographer…well, sort of.  The class went a little something like this:

  • Turn your camera from Auto to Manual
  • Set your ISO, your appeture and your shutter speed
  • When you have all that figured out, you will be owning your camera instead of the camera owning you!

Of course, Meghan explained, you have to work with it.  It’s like a math problem (God, I was horrible at math, but I think I got this figured out!)…more like a math word problem.  Your ISO+Aperture+Shutter Speed=Amazing Photos.  And, depending on if you are inside, outside, how many peeps, action or still, depends on how you set all of those things.  You just keep trying different amounts until the formulas add up and you get a perfect, or close to perfect picture.

Here’s some examples of my practice shots at the class:

My formula was off: Underexposed

 

 

Overexposed-what Meghan calls "hot"

 

 

 

Close to perfect! Subject is even looking into the light. Thanks for being a great model Meghan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby B is underexposed in this pic. My parent's house photographs dark, so this was a challenge for a rookie like me!

 

 

Baby A outside with his great uncle is overexposed

 

 

Perfecto! My sweet nephew looking good!

 

 

 

 

 

Naturally, I did not want to forget my newfound talents, so I took my camera to my parent’s house where we were having a little family bar-b-que.

Do you see how this last photo is close to real life? This photo was taken without the use of a flash.  All I needed was the right formula.  We are headed off to Telluride, and it is one of my most favorite places to photograph my kids.  I cannot wait to test my mad skills out there.  Thanks Meghan!

OH! And Meghan shared two cool tips, which I was happy to know myself:

1. Mpix.com-the only on-line site, or any site, to get your photos printed…I’m just checking it out for the first time, but the other class attendees agreed. It’s the best quality for the best price. Meghan uses it herself.

2.  When organizing or categorizing photos, she gave this great tip for quick finds: Year/Month/Child.  I wish I would have known that 7 years ago!!  Baby steps.

For more information on Meghan Poort Photography or to sign up for one of her photography classes, check out www.MeghanPoort.com.