textdrivebys.com » thoughts

new blog!

xenia — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 03:03:50 +0000

i’ve decided to move to a more friendly www dot com after talking with a few blogger peers about companies not wanting to associate with a blog that has “drivebys” in the name. i thought i was being clever with the wordplay but i could see the negative connotations… i’m so thankful for the companies that did not judge me or my family and gave us many opportunities! the new blog is currently being worked on and we hope to open in a few weeks… our new home will be raisedbyculture.com

toy review: perplexus rookie from imaginetoys.com

xenia — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:39:22 +0000

i absolutely ADORE imagine toys! i love how they are picky about the toys they carry because we’re definitely picky about the toys our sons are allowed to have. my sons duke and damien have great imaginations and imagine toys is the type of shop that caters to their love of different, quality toys. i had been eyeballing a few items on their site because of several twitter contests and i was thrilled when i had the opportunity to work with them!

when the box arrived from imagine toys, duke was so excited as was i, i had no idea what we were sent and it was all part of the fun. inside was a perplexus rookie – which made duke all the more curious. i didn’t even have to explain it to him, somehow he knew that he had to get that little silver ball through the maze. for the first day, he played with the rookie for over 3 hours straight and on the second day, he played with it for another 3 hours and finally, he got that silver ball into this little plastic dome and celebrated!

duke says: he loves perplexus rookie because he felt like he had a job to do and couldn’t stop doing his job until he got the ball “home”. he also loves that it had a stand and he can set it up in his “library”. duke also says it’s very fun and he would love to share it with his classmates and friends.

i love perplexus rookie because it kept duke focused on a task and he didn’t give up! i was amazed at how many hours he spent playing with the rookie and he has asked what other toys perplexus offers. i even caught C playing with this toy and duke is always asking to look at imaginetoys.com

highly recommended by our family!!!

buy perplexus rookie from imagine toys for $21.95 – recommended for ages 6-10

concentrating but having fun!

disclosure: i received a perplexus rookie, free of charge, to review from imaginetoys.com – all views/opinions solely are our own .

my first klout perk!

xenia — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:39:03 +0000

from sharpie! you can’t even imagine how excited i was that i qualified for this perk – i’ve been a fan of sharpie since i was in jr. high.

what is klout? when you recommend, share and create content you impact others. klout measures that influence on a scale from 1 to 100. my klout score fluctuates between 58 – 60 and i still don’t (who does?) understand how klout works – i just know that klout says i’m influential about blogging, food, concerts, california, san diego, video, lady gaga, amy winehouse, dallas mavericks and rihanna. i find it funny about lady gaga, amy winehouse, dallas mavericks and rihanna but the others make sense. definitely stuff i talk about all the time. it would be ideal to have a klout score in the 60s-70s range but i’ll take what i can get for now. i have to continue to build my network and create content. my advice is to interact and engage on twitter. and if you have a private twitter – your score will remain between 1-10.

so for family, friends and coworkers that always ask – this is why i twitter!

when we did some back to school shopping, i eyed these 80s glam sets at walmart – was so happy to get them for free!

my next klout perk should be arriving anyday now – wonder what axe has in store!

disclosure: i was given a free product or sample because i’m a klout influencer. i was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. i get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

toy review: hexbug nano

xenia — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 23:19:19 +0000

C & i aren’t the type of parents to research a toy when one of the kids asks us to buy – if the price is right and it doesn’t promote violence, we’re usually game. i received a hexbug nano glow in the dark starter set while at BlogHer ’11 from the mom select swag suite. i’ve seen the products at my local target and honestly, wish i had bought them sooner because hexbugs are very entertaining and educational. we’ve since bought an additional hexbug, hex cells and curved bridges.

duke loves creating different tracks with various curved pieces, hex cells and hexagons – there are hundreds of endless possibilites and he doesn’t get bored (or stuck) with only one track. you can also close areas to contain the nanos. the nanos are interesting in themselves, you turn on a switch at the bottom and they vibrate which facilitates their movement. when they are full of hexbug food (aka batteries) they move so fast and it’s funny to watch them bump into eachother or even flip on their side. duke has also showed me that nanos play well with other toys – he builds tracks with his legos and adds pieces to the hexagons so they are 2 story. his creativity + imagination runs wild!

duke says: hexbugs are robotic creatures, they move on tracks and they do great. they hit eachother and smash in walls. they flip by themselves and can go fast. you can get them by themselves or with tracks. i love them!

highly recommended by our family!!!

guess what’s on someone’s christmas list?

here’s my 5 year old being silly with a hexbug!

Duke being silly with Hexbug from textdrivebys on Vimeo.

hexbug nanos are recommended for ages 3+ – hexbug can be found at target, walmart and toys r us.

the hexbug nano glow in the dark set is $12.99 directly from hexbug.com – $14.99 from amazon.com
the hexbug nano habitat set is $24.99 directly from hexbug.com – $21.19 from amazon.com

for more information on hexbug nano and other products innovation first international offers, visit hexbug.com / @hexbug

disclosure: i received a hexbug nano glow in the dark starter set and hexbug nano habitat set, free of charge, to review. all views/opinions solely are our own .

duke’s first day of kindergarten

xenia — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 05:50:55 +0000

duke is wearing a paul frank hoodie ($12.99 from tj maxx), lego batman t-shirt ($7 from walmart), H & M denim shorts ($9.99 from H&M) & vans ($23.99 from WSS) – the only thing new are his vans.

that’s our boy! this day was harder for C & i than it was for him. i’m proud of us though, we didn’t cry when he waved bye to us. in fact, it’s like he didn’t even want us there – i took out my camera to take pictures of him while waiting with his classmates and he gave me a look and kept waving me off. it was funny.

duke was in a private preschool 2 whole days a week for a year so he is somewhat used to school life. he’s a really picky eater so we packed him a lunch but when we picked him up he told us he ate the cafeteria lunch of nachos, a banana and milk – he was so proud and so were we!!! this is a huge step!

we had a set of rules & reminders that we kept going over with him:

don’t say “crap”
listen to your teacher
make sure you eat at lunch because there’s no snack time like in preschool
if you take off your hoodie, put it in your backpack
don’t forget your lunch bag – put it in your backpack
talk to your classmates, don’t do all the talking yourself
listen to your teacher!

it is going to take some getting used to for all of us. from what he told us, he likes his teacher and he had a good day… & so did we, C & i had a nice lunch out together. enjoy parenting & teach your kids to enjoy their little lives! r

disclosure: duke’s back to school outfit was purchased entirely with our own money.

i watched a live birth on the internet.

xenia — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:08:54 +0000

true story. a couple thousand of you were there. it was amazing. i asked a couple questions on twitter. i made a new friend. i think i cried. now i’m sitting here, a month pregnant, inspired & ready to sign up to have my own home birth. did i mention that it was amazing?

i started watching at around 11pm

by 1155pm, their daughter was woken up to witness the birth of her baby sibling

a few minutes later, she’s here! IT’S A GIRL!

1217am they tell her to squat so the placenta can come out

1225am – mommy and baby are good so daddy starts taking pictures! after this, @TalinaN gets checked to see if she needs stitches, she does.

talina’s site is currently down | harvestofdailylife.com – i’m sure it got hit with tons of traffic and her host suspended the account for going over bandwidth.

it is one helluva thing to have a baby but to share the live birth with the world? you have my respect. thank you for sharing and congratulations to your whole family!!! i don’t think i have the strength to do it at home but you made me super curious and i promise to research! i’m on a contact birth high!

encyclopedia series: A

xenia — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 05:24:10 +0000

A is for Apartment living

the 24 unit complex we live in is in the ‘hood but wasn’t bad. until last year. and then it just got worse. i blame management choices. the building was sold last year to an older couple and the new property manager they hired told C one afternoon she was drunk that “she wanted to make this place a little more livelier” – well, she got her wish last weekend. we were on our way home from shopping (actually just hanging out at stores to stay cool from the heatwave, heh.) when we saw a police car zoom by us. we joked with eachother and said it was the next street over because that’s where all the gang members hang out at. and then we pulled up to our cul-de-sac and saw 4 police cars with their flashing lights. i started to freak out and had C pull over. what if there was a shoot out, what if, what if…

as we pull into our parking space, we notice one of the neighbors – sitting on the ground, surrounded by police officers. we get into our courtyard and our next door neighbors have broken glass bottles everywhere and are yelling at us not to step in the blood. blood, what? i start freaking out and thinking, i can’t believe this is happening! C rushes us in and goes back out to see what happened. turns out the neighbors i was complaining about being loud on twitter the night before were in an argument and she broke bottles in front of their door, started stepping in the glass and trying to break open their window.

fast forward to this past friday night, the arguing continues and the crazy neighbor starts claiming that another neighbor’s husband tried to sleep with her. it all makes sense now. this is what would make neighbors fight. the rumors all week were that the “crazy” neighbor is diagnosed, so my question is, if she is under a doctor’s care - why would the other neighbors keep pushing her buttons? are they insane too? we’re lowkey, we want to come home and just chill out. these new neighbors & manager’s family love being rowdy, hanging out by the pool all day, smoking and drinking in the courtyard all night. WHAT GIVES?

a lot of racial slurs were being thrown around by both sides and death threats were being made. the police were called twice. finally today, when it was quiet – the “crazy” neighbor was arrested. i’m sure after she saw the note on her door:

we are itching to get out of here – we don’t want to be a part of this madness and we had an appointment this past saturday to look at a townhouse. we loved it but the process is like being a candidate for a job interview. there’s 5 other couples interested but only 1 townhouse. we’re optimists but come to the honest realization that we probably aren’t going to get that ONE.

as for apartment living, it’s not all that bad, it has it’s (mostly) GOOD days – afterall, we still have the elotes man & the vieja.

sometimes a story changes your whole life…

xenia — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 03:39:08 +0000

i’m sitting here going through pictures from our trip to georgia & alabama in may for my cousin’s wedding… it was such a good visit & very special trip full of a number of reasons: seeing family i haven’t seen in years, introducing my husband and duke to my grandpa & grandma for the first time, having a good time with my folks a year after my mom’s cancer diagnosis.

and then i see my aunt’s foster son chase in all these pictures and immediately, my heart breaks. chase was put back with his father’s family last month. my aunt and uncle were in the process of adopting chase so it broke my heart to tell my sons that their cousin they had just met and bonded with, is gone – forever.

during my tears, duke asked me what was wrong and i told him that i “miss our family” and that i really wanted to see grandma and grandpa again. duke tells me, “i know, mom. i want to see grandma and grandpa too. i really miss our family – would you like to go back to alabama again?” wiping away the tears and asking my strong and wonderful 5 year old for a big hug – i tell him yes. i wish we were all closer.

chase had been with my aunt’s family for almost a year. he was 8 when he came to live with them, his parents were racist and drug addicts who abused him. they never enrolled him in school and he didn’t know what time of day breakfast, lunch and dinner is. there’s more to the story but i’ll spare everyone the horrible details, just know that he shouldn’t be placed with anyone in that family. granted, i don’t know the family but who doesn’t immediately fight for custody of a small child? i would’ve been banging on doors for custody of ANY of my nieces or nephews. & i’ve since watched the documentary “dear zachary” on netflix so my paranoia is at threat level red and i don’t trust anyone in chase’s family.

the afternoon i met him, i was sitting with my aunt and he came home from school – he ran up to us and gave my aunt the biggest hug and kiss, my aunt introduced us and he gave me the biggest hug, like he knew me forever. he wasn’t afraid to hold back and i admire him for that.

kids aren’t racist, they are taught. kids are taught love, understanding and compassion too. so next time a child wants to hug you tight, do it – no matter how long it’s for.

uncle vince (my aunt’s husband – chase’s foster dad) with chase and ena – duke and damien are on the other side enjoying a ride on uncle vince’s train!

we are pregnant!!!!

xenia — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:35:48 +0000

chris and i have been discussing having another child for a couple years but because of our busy life already – kids, school and work… we kept putting it off. and then i was looking at turning 36 this year and decided it was time. we originally planned on waiting to try until september/october so that the baby would be born after the spring 2012 semester and we could enjoy the summer together with the boys and the new baby but life is funny and here we are! WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!

when we broke the news to duke, he kept telling us that he was proud of us (BIG LOL) and ever since then he’ll kiss my tummy and say, “BABY I LOVE YOU” – it is the sweetest thing. he has been asking a lot of questions (to which we answer everything honestly) and knows that the baby is still very tiny. damien is happy and ty was stunned but happy.

i’m just taking this pregnancy one day at a time and enjoying it. with every pregnancy, i cut out caffeine, didn’t get my hair or nails done, went to bed early every night and kept the stress to a minimum. i will be seeing the doctor next month and we’ll know more then but for now, since we were planning – i’m guessing that i’m only a month along and due sometime in april or may ^_^

the best and the worst of BlogHer

xenia — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:08:57 +0000

BEST BlogHer SURPRISE:

the best thing that happened to me at BlogHer was when i opened my composition book and saw the cutest note from my husband reaffirming his support for me.

BEST BlogHer SURPRISE #2:

hallmark had a lovely suite at BlogHer – you could send FREE cards to a friend at the conference or ANYWHERE! hallmark not only provided the cards but also free postage! i received a tweet from hallmark saying i had to stop by their suite, not knowing what was going on, i headed up there and let the girl manning the suite know i received a tweet, she asked for my twitter name, gave me a # and pointed at the cubby holes. inside was a card from ruby of growingupblaxican.com – i thought it was so sweet & thoughtful, awww!

BEST POST-BlogHer ADVENTURE:

i love saving money – i don’t call myself cheap but rather, getting the most out of my money. armed with a bunch of coupons i received at BlogHer and telling C about this experiment – we headed to walmart on a saturday afternoon for our own little adventure in extreme couponing. i let C pay first for the stuff we didn’t have coupons for, his total was about $40 which was good for a normal walmart shopping trip for us. my total came up to $30.54 and after i handed the clerk the stack of coupons – i just had to pay $2.77! the clerk was laughing and so was the family behind me. i felt like i was WINNING.

BEST REUSABLE TOTE:

i came home with THIRTEEN reusable totes. certain cities in california have started banning plastic shopping bags so these come in handy. my favorite one is the dove insulated bag. it’s gorgeous and i don’t know if it’s just me but smells sorta like chocolate! the bongo / searsstyle.com bag i got at the cheap sally party reminds me of the guess and esprit tote bags when i was in jr. high. if those ever make a comeback, i think i’d buy one. i secretly hope to find ‘em when i go out thrifting…shhh!

CUTEST PROMO ITEM:

most of the branded promo items at BlogHer made sense. not a lot of ‘em were cute. this reusable tote from shari’s berries was adorable. i actually became a swag whore for a minute and grabbed 2 ;x i couldn’t help myself! i’m planning on sending it to my mom cause she loves cute stuff like this.

SMARTEST MARKETING AT BlogHer:

i was SHOCKED at how busy the edenfantasys booth was during BlogHer. the swag bag was the topic of many conversations shared over breakfast and at parties. i know most women won’t be blogging about the goodies received but i have to put it out there, thanks for thinking out of the box and going there edenfantasys!

i also received a very adorable swag envelope from babeland at a swag party!

BEST SWAG:

it took me a couple weeks to work on putting all the stuff i got from BlogHer away. i still have a ton of flyers and business cards to go through. although i would like to somewhat “monetize” my blog, i won’t be turning into one of those product review/giveaways blogs. not that there isn’t anything wrong with those type of blogs but that’s not my intent here. i have a few things that are my favorite pieces of swag from BlogHer and i’ll be reviewing those individually very soon. in the meantime, SDMomfia & legoland are awesome! can’t wait to surprise the kid with a trip down there. we’re HUGE carlsbad fans!!! P.S. if you are curious about the swag i received, i made a google doc you can check out here.

THE WORST:

wasn’t a fan of the hotwheels suite. other bloggers agree.
not enough TIME. the expo hall should have extended hours – maybe open earlier? like at 7am? because i was trying to attend sessions and make new blogger friends, i didn’t network with brands like i wanted to.
multiple parties, luncheons, events and sessions happening at the same time.
one free gift code i received doesn’t work. i would put the company on blast but they are working on fixing it right now.
getting an invite to try a new site and the site isn’t ready yet. again, i would put the company on blast but they are working on fixing it right now.
i didn’t think the unicorns at the sparklecorn party were racist but drama after BlogHer confirms there’s still some sort of racial divide (and let’s be honest, there will ALWAYS be). let’s just practice being better with eachother while being proud of our respective ethnicities.
the sparklecorn party had damn good music but it didn’t seem as inviting as cheeseburgHer. not that i’m trying to compare BUT i don’t know what it was…maybe the fact that security and some hired BlogHer goon harrassed me and ricca?
oh yeah, did i mention – STAY AT THE HOST HOTEL!