Share, Love, Celebrate the Best of @PGeveryday with @SheSpeaksUp @TerrenceJ and @Ascending1 #PGmostloved #spon

On March 26th I shared a winner announcement and RSVP information for a special twitter party, in case you missed the original post you can just click here and check it out! I was so happy to see that so many of my butterflies participated in the party! I was live tweeting from New York City with the @SheSpeaksUp team with a special celebrity guest who was also the 'Master of Ceremonies' for the fun that was happening at the live event as well as during the Twitter Party itself, Terrence Jenkins from E! News (who goes by @TerrenceJ on twitter!). Terrence shared his enthusiasm for P&G as well as personal stories and jokes, as well photo-bombing a few attendees and taking pictures with everyone.

Household name Procter & Gamble (P&G) is celebrating the hundreds of awards that their brands have received from leading magazines, some of the brands being celebrated include: CoverGirl^®, Olay^®, Pantene^®, Venus^®, Gillette^® Bounty^®, Cascade^®, Charmin^®, Dawn^®, Febreze^®, Swiffer^® and Tide^®.

I thought I'd share a behind the scenes in pictures of what the event was like:

We started out by grabbing a signature mocktail called the 'Best-ini' which consisted of pineapple, sparkling white grape juice and garnished with 24K Gold!

Signature mocktail -'Best-ini' - pineapple, sparkling white grape juice garnished with 24K Gold

And there was also some eats to go along with the Mocktails!

Signature Mocktail Cocktail made with pineapple, sparking white grape juice, garnished with 24K Gold + eats!

After grabbing a quick bite it was time to check out the different stations, this was the first one:

Instructions on how to make bun updo using a donut hole (hair tool, not a real donut!)

How to make an updo with a donut hole instructions:

(1) Make a ponytail as high or low as desired

(2) Pull pony tail through the donut hole

(3) Wrap excess hair around the donut making sure the donut is fully covered

(4) Secure with Bobby Pins

Tips: Better with day old hair. For Fullness and texture, tease hair before wrapping around the donut. Here are the tools use:

Bun Updo Station: Ponytail holders, Brush, Comb to tease, Bobby Pins, Donut Holes and Mirror

Mama Butterfly decided to get an updo:

Left: Mama Butterfly getting an updo bun!

Getting her updo finalized:

Left: Mama Butterfly getting her bun updo hairdo finalized!

What better way to get your tresses bouncing and behaving than with Pantene:

Let Love Wash Over You - Pantene Products Vignette at #PGmostloved tweet up event in New York City!

Super cute Pantene products vignette at #PGmostloved Tweet Up in New York City

What better to follow up haircare and hair styles than with Skincare?

Love is a Fountain of Youth - Lovely Fountain Vignette overflowing with great skincare products by Olay!

Check out this display of Olay products:

Display of Olay Products at #PGmostloved tweet up event in New York City

Mama Butterfly was super excited to see the Olay Display and learn what's new, she is a regular user of Olay skincare, it's what keeps her skin so young looking! I can't wait to try these out!

Be a Goddess of Love Venus Display at #PGmostloved Tweet up Event in New York City

Part of great skincare is keeping certain parts smooth and hairfree, and keeping armpits and legs soft and smooth with Gillette Venus razors for women makes it easy!

The Venus ProSkin^™ razor 

The Venus ProSkin^™ razor is designed with 3 blades and lubricating MoistureRich  Shave gel bars for a comfortable shave and beautifully smooth skin.

• 3 blades and built-in MoistureRich Gel Bars with extra-rich body butters for a smooth shave
• Simply wet the razor for skin-loving light lather and a smooth shave
• For best results, hang razor on shower hook to air dry between uses
• Easy-to-change cartridges

and Gillette didn't forget the men:

Gillette 'Love Me Tender' Product Display at #PGmostloved tweet up in New York City

The Gillette Hydrator Body Wash for men and the Gillette Fusion ProSeries Irritation Defense Soothing Moisturizer for men were part of the shaving station for men at the #PGmostloved tweet up event in New York City!

Let Your Heart Flutter Cosmetics Station Product Display at #PGmostloved tweet up in New York City

This of course was my favorite display station, "Let Your Heart Flutter' was such a cheery and creative display using CoverGirl^®mascaras as the sunflower on the lower left and those butterflies were actually eyeliners from CoverGirl^®

Sunflower made of CoverGirl Mascaras at #Pgmostloved Tweet Up event in New York City

I thought that was totally creative!

Closeup of Butterfly made of CoverGirl eyeliner!

This is a totally creative butterfly made of CoverGirl eyeliner!

Super cute False Eyelashes!

There were even instructions on how to apply them:

Instructions for the Application of False Eyelashes

How to apply False Eyelashes:

(1) Remove False Eyelashes from their container

(2) Draw a small straight line of lash glue on the container

(3) Take a Q-tip and dip in the glue

(4) Aplly glue with Q-tip on flash eyelash lash line

(5) Hold lash in both hands and put on top of your lash line

(6) Hold in place for 20 seconds until fake lash is attached

(7) Rrepeat with second lash

Cleanliness is Next to Loveliness - Charmin and Dawn Housecare Products Display Station

There were super creative display stations for various P&G household cleaning favorites including a very creative Peacock: (Can you guess what the peacock is made out of?)

Swiffer Duster Peacock Display at #PGmostloved tweetup in New York City

Had to get a closeup of this Peacock that was made with Swiffer Dusters, How Creative is That?

Closeup of Swiffer Duster Peacock Product Display at #PGmostloved tweetup in New York City

Check out this cute use of Pods:

Love is in the Air - Birds Nest with Tide Pods inside instead of birds!

After checking out all the stations there was time to grab another signature mocktail and some eats and mix and mingle, and then there was a raffle, Master of Ceremonies, Terrence Jenkins from E! Online got ready to announce the winner:

Terrence Jenkins of E! Online News gets ready to announce raffle winner at #PGmostloved Tweet Up Event in New York City, hey notice any difference in this photo from the others? This was taken with my iPod Touch instead of my camera so I could post it on twitter!

When he went to draw the winner's name, this little cutie stepped up to help draw the winner:

Terrence Jenkins about to announce the winner with some help from  a young member of the crowd! - I also took this shot with my iPod so I could post on twitter during the #PGmostloved Tweetup in New York City!

She's definitely a little emcee in the making, everyone just couldn't help but smile! Lastly the winner claims his prize:

Terrence Jenkins gives raffle winner his prize at #PGmostloved Tweet Up  Event in New York City - I also took this with my iPod instead of Camera so I could post it to twitter!

The raffle winner was totally surprised! I got this shot in action so my apologies for the slight blur, but I will admit the three above shots came out pretty good for it being with the iPod instead of a real camera!

Left: Terrence J and Right: Ascending Butterfly at #PGmostloved Tweet Up Event in New York City!

Of course my eyes were closed so we took another one:

Left: Terrence Jenkins of E!Online News and Right: Ascending Butterfly at #PGmostloved Tweet Up Event in New York City

I realized that I had my glasses on, and Terrence was patient enough to pose for another photo! :)

Left: Terrence Jenkins of E!Online News and Right: Ascending Butterfly at #PGmostloved Tweet Up Event in New York City

This was the most unique 'Make Your Own Swag Bag' event that I have ever attended! We got to visit with each station and learn what was new, and take the products that we liked best! Pretty Cool! Here is a picture of me and mama butterfly holding up our P&G Treasures:

Left: Ascending Butterfly Right: Mama Butterfly holding up our custom swag bags at the #PGmostloved Tweet Up Event in New York City!

We participated in the #PGmostloved twitter party with a ton of great bloggers, the team at She Speaks and Special Guest Terrence 'J' Jenkins of E! News.

My Take:

The Team at She Speaks really knows how to treat their bloggers! They provided us with roundtrip carservice to and from the Tweet Up which was such a thoughtful touch, and I thought the stations were very creative and allowing us to custom design our own swag bags was also a very neat touch! If only all Twitter Parties were this carefully crafted! I normally host twitter parties from my own computer by myself so participating in an actual live 'tweet up' twitter party was super fun and WAY more interactive!

Get Social:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @SheSpeaksUp on twitter to participate in other great promotions and twitter parties!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @PGeveryday on twitter to participate in their great promotions too!

And hopefully you remembered to pick up the P&G brandSAVER Coupon Booklet in local newspapers on March 31st to save on P&G's award-winning brands!

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FTC Disclosure: I received VIP perks as a SheSpeaks blogger for this program including transportation to and from the tweet up event as well as a swagbag, however no monetary compensation has been received and all opinions are 100% my own!

Wordless Wednesday: Rock on with your Bad Self!

Yesterday I got the chance to see Kinky Boots on Broadway, and it was so fun and uplifting I thought this graphic would make a perfect Wordless Wednesday, and a perfect reminder that every now and then you have got to let out your inner rock star and let him/her have some FUN! I will definitely post a full event recap of the show soon!

Well it's official butterfly this is my Birthday Eve, and my birthday is tomorrow! I can't wait for the big day! Today I'm off for more social Butterfly fun with several New York City entertainment related events (another play is just one of the things I will be doing today!), and in the next week or so I'll share all that I've been up to this week!)

Rock on with your bad self Butterfly and if you are a blogger share your Wordless Wednesday link as a comment to this post so we can all see your pictures for this week too, and if you haven't already done so, please don't forget to enter our 'It's MY Birthday, But YOU Get The Gifts!" Giveaway of this week for the cake of your choice from We Take the Cake!

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

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FTC Disclosure: This is NOT a Sponsored Post, no monetary compensation has been received, the Giveaway referenced above will be fulfilled by the Giveaway Sponsor.

{CLOSED} It's MY Birthday but YOU Get the Cake #Giveaway sponsored by @wetakethecake via @Ascending1

Ever since I founded Ascending Butterfly (except the first year because it was founded after my birthday) I have hosted an annual 'It's MY Birthday but YOU Get the Gifts!' series of promotions, because it's my birthday and I can, because it's fun and who doesn't like presents? Am I right?

But what's a birthday without cake? We've had some fun cake collaborations over the years, for my birthday, for Easter, for our Mother's Day Buying Guide, for our blogaversary, I mean who really needs a holiday or a reason to enjoy cake?

Well this birthday I had the privilege of trying a cake from a company whose cake is one of 'Oprahs Favorite Things'! I discovered her favorite bra well before she began talking about it (and of course after she did my favorite colors and sizes were always sold out!), but this time I will admit I found this great find from her, and what a sweet find it is!

About We Take the Cake:

With a cake for every occassion, from birthday, baby shower, holidays and even cupcakes and corporate gifts, We Take the Cake has got you covered! Madame 'O''s particular favorite is their Key Lime Bundt Cake!

What began in 1997 as a mail-order bakery got its start when Lori went to visit a bakery to buy a cake for her son Sean's third birthday, it was 'love at first bite' and she ended up buying the business! It's a small team that makes each cake by hand, and butterflies I can tell you that you can literally taste the love!

"To us, cake isn't just a dessert. It's a symbol of celebration, happiness, friends and family. That's why we take so much care in creating the most splendid and delectable cakes and cupcakes... because we know what it means to you." ~ Lori Karmel, Owner, We Take The Cake

Unboxing My Cake!

My Take:

I love the background story on We Take The Cake, can you imagine loving something so much you just decide to buy the business completely? What started out as something so simple, buying her son a birthday cake became a thriving business operation that still makes each cake by hand!

Here is a picture of my cake:

We Take the Cake Award Winning Chocolate Cake with Creamy Rich Cheesecake!

I love that it's wrapped in plastic, and once I removed the plastic it looked like this:

Is it a bit too much to admit that I wanted to just dip my face directly in it? I didn't do that, but I was tempted to!

I swear I cut two slices one for me and one for Mama Butterfly, I didn't eat it all!

And above is a picture of my slice!

There are two things I didn't like when I was younger that I absolutely love now Yogurt and Cheesecake, it took me forever to eat them both, and now I appear to be making up for lost time! I can't enough of either one! This Cheesecake enrobed in Chocolate Cake is totally decadent, totally sinful and totally delicious! My advice for when order a Cheesecake that arrives cold is to let it thaw well so you get a creamy rich moist bite the first time and every time! I personally knew better than to even try freezing any because I knew it would all get devoured rather quickly!

I couldn't recommend We Take The Cake highly enough, it's fantastic, and now I want to try out their other flavors, maybe I'll even relent and try Oprah's Favorite Key Lime Bundt Cake!

Had to use a pro-shot of the Award Winning We Take the Cake Chocolate Cake with Creamy Rich Cheesecake, because my cut was not so neat or so even!

Win It:

It's THAT time! While Thursday, April 4th is MY birthday, YOU get the gifts too! Our friends at We Take the Cake want to provide 1 lucky Butterfly the opportunity to win a Cake of their own! How cool is that? Not to mention if you sign up on their website to receive their newsletter, you get another chance to win a Key Lime Bundt Cake that way!

Don't you just ♥ We Take The Cake? I know I do!

DISCOUNT: Do you know someone celebrating a birthday soon? Send them an incredible birthday cake with "Happy Birthday" written on the cake and birthday candles included. Save $10 using code BDAY10 (use all caps, case sensitive) when checking out at http://www.wetakethecake.com/birthdays.html

Follow all instructions using the rafflecopter contest entry widget below! (If the widget doesn't load for you the first time, just re-fresh the page!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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FTC Disclosure: We Take the Cake provided Ascending Butterfly with one cake of our choice for editorial consideration, and they are also fulfilling to one prize winner, all opinions are 100% my own. Sponsor is responsible for Prize Fulfillment. Neither Ascending Butterfly or it's giveaway sponsors will be held responsible for lost, late or mis-directed mail. Our full disclosure policy can be found at: http://www.ascendingbutterfly.com/p/disclosure-policy.html

Spring Skin Care with #Neutrogena helping us all to feel #ntgbeautifulinsideout

Feeling Beautiful Inside and Out certainly doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg! For every pricey Department Store Brand, I'll bet that I can find you an equivalent product at your local drugstore! As a blogger I get to test a lot of wonderful products, but my skin tends to need a break, and when I'm not testing anything specific, the brand I usually go back to is Neutrogena! I started with Neutrogena in my teens, their iconic Glycerin Bar was the only thing that would work for my skin for a long time, and it's still the one I turn to when my skin gets angry from playing with so many different products per week.

For me beauty starts on the inside, being emotionally, mentally and spiritually in balance gives you an inner glow that you can't help but radiate outward! Getting the outer you to reflect that beauty inside doesn't have to be complicated and can definitely be super affordable.

I am now days away from my birthday (April 4th), and as you know after me spending a year in the hospital, 3 different hospitals in fact, this year I want to go all out for my big day, I want to have fun and just be happy that day, so when a package arrived at my door with Neutrogena's essentials for Spring I couldn't have been happier! I considered it an 'Easter Basket' Blessing for us grown ups!

Here is a picture of the goodies:

From Left to Right: Top left: Oil Free Cleansing Wipes, Shine Control Primer,   Shine Control Powder,  Top Right: Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock with SPF 45, Far Left Center row: Neutrogena Shine Control Makeup w SPF 20 in color Fresh Beige, Very Center: MoistureSmooth Color Stick in color 'Sweet Watermelon', Bottom Row/Far Left: New Healthy Lengths Mascara in color 'Carbon Black 01', Bottom Row Center: New Crease Proof Eye Shadow in color 'Constant Copper 40', and Bottom Row Far Right: Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes

Not a bad haul right? (Happy Birthday to ME!)

Here is a closer look at what I received:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Pink Grapefruit line

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - RTR Moisturizer

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Ultra Sheer Sunscreen

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Shine Control line

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Healthy Lengths Mascara

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - MoistureSmooth Color Stick

Let's Break Them Down One-by-One:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - The Oil-Free Cleansing Wipes in Pink Grapefruit is geared to those with Acne Prone skin, the premoistened wipes help cleanse the skin of pore-clogging impurities leaving your skin clean and with no greasy residue. I personally always carry makeup remover in my cosmetics bag, and I never thought of remover wipes formulated for acne prone skin until I tried these!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Neutrogena® Ultra Sheer® Dry-Touch Sunscreen SPF 45 - This is a light weight formula that provides heavy protection from UVA/UVB rays. It provides 80 minutes of water-resistant coverage, and it's non-comedogenic so it won't clog your pores and it's PABA-free! Please protect your skin from the sun butterflies! I lost my Aunt/Godmother to Skin Cancer!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Shine Control Line - The Shine Control Primer is step one for a shine free face all day, you then follow it with the Shine Control Liquid Makeup and then lastly the Shine Control Powder is a quick 3 step system to help keep you shine free and beautiful inside out all day! Oily girls or just those with an oily T-Zone will love this system!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Healthy Lengths Mascara - Exclusive Vitamin E and Olive Oil formula will nourish and strengthen your lashes so they stay strong day after day, it lengthens and I can tell you I have experienced absolutely NO clumps, flaking or smuding, it replaced a different very popular 'available in drugstores brand' that I was previously using. I really do love this mascara!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - MoistureSmooth Color Stick - These moisturize and continuosly condition your lips so they are softer and smoother day after day. Made with fruit extracts along with Mango and Shea Butter, it goes on easy and it's sheer tint of color lasts for hours. It's a twist up color so you don't need to sharpen this. I loved the feel, but on it's own I found the sheer color too light for me, so I use this over my lipstick to give myself more pigment. (I might have to get these in the darker shades like Plum or Raisin to see if those colors give a slightly deeper pigment as I lean toward a darker lip even on a day-to-day basis)

My Take:

I am a long time Neutrogena user, it's what I started with to care for my skin as a teen, and it's what I still use now to regulate my skin between product evaluations! I think I've probably used every product in their line at one time or another, but I will admit the Eye Shadow, Mascara and Primer were new to me, and I greatly enjoyed the chance to try them out! All of them are a re-buy, but the Mascara really stands out, it doesn't clump, it gets really good distribution and I haven't had to double dip and it really applies easily and smoothly. If I get another bundle of love from Neutrogena, I hope it contains their Body Oil (light sesame formula) as that has been my favorite Neutrogena product for what seems like my whole lifetime as my mom introduced me to it first many years ago and I still use it just out the shower with my skin still slightly damp! This Body Oil was a life changer for me, I love the way it leaves my skin feeling and I use it for all four seasons!

I feel ready to face Spring with a fresh face and beauty from the inside out! I will definitely be using these again on my birthday!

Get Social:

You can connect with Neutrogena on Facebook or Tweet them with the hashtag #NTGBeautifulInsideOut

Happy April Fools Day Butterflies! What is your Neutrogena Beauty Favorite?

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FTC Disclosure: I am participating in a compensated campaign with Neutrogena via Latina Bloggers Connect, products were sent to Ascending Butterfly free of charge for editorial consideration, however all opinions are 100% my own. That Body Oil really did change my skin!

Top 10 Road Trip Travel Checklist + Make Your Spring Break Road Trips easier with @Britax new Pinnacle 90 or Frontier 90! @SafeConBritax #travel #springbreak #spon

Spring is one of my favorite seasons for so many reasons! Spring represents renewal, re-birth, potential and you can sort of smell it in the air before it arrives. There are birds chirping outside the window, the clocks have sprung ahead and I am days away from my birthday. Since this week has been all about travel, I thought I'd continue on that theme today, some of you have probably already started the advent of your Spring travel by visiting with family today for Easter.

Planning for a road trip doesn't have to be daunting! But before you go down your checklist, you need to make sure the basics are in place and safety is of primary importance! Spring is the perfect time to have your car inspected, check the shocks, breaks and make sure your car is in shape first. You also need to account for the safety of your little ones and making sure you not only have a carseat, but that it is properly installed is crucial!

FRONTIER 90 Combination Harness-2-Booster Seat by BRITAX - offers leading Head Safety Technologies!

In case you missed it, we featured the newest carseats from BRITAX, the FRONTIER™ 90 and PINNACLE™ 90 and at the press event to announce the launch in New York City, they had vehicles on hand so we all could take a turn at installing the new carseats. I was surprised at just how simple, fast and easy the installation was, but was ven more impressed with seriously BRITAX takes child/infant safety. Getting a safe carseat installed and having your car inspected to check for it's readiness for a long road trip is a mission critical starting point, once that's in place you can then go down your checklist before letting that rubber hit the road.

PINNACLE 90 Combination Harness-2-Booster Seat by BRITAX - The Side Impact Cushion Technology makes this a winner!

Getting your vehicle inspected and making sure your carseat is properly installed is half the battle won for your Spring  Road Trips!

Road Trip Travel Checklist:

(1) Get your car inspected - a well planned road trip is to no avail if your vehicle is not up for the task!

(2) Make sure your carseats are properly installed - I can tell you that with the new BRITAX Frontier 90  (Combination Harness-2 Booster Seat) and Pinnacle 90 (Combination Harness-2 Booster Seat), installation is a breeze!

(3) GPS - You definitely don't want to get lost so you can go old school with actual Maps or hi tech with a GPS, but you definitely want to make sure you know where you are going and how to get there. (Just remember to allow yourself some room for last minute add-ons to your itinerary, remember butterflies it's about the journey, not just the destination!)

(4) Music - I wouldn't be 'The Official #TwitterPartyDJ' if my mind weren't always on Music and Tunes! The best parts of our lives can usually be accompanied by a song that instantly transports you back to that time. Make a road trip playlist that includes a little bit of something for everyone! And I personally also suggest letting everyone have their own portable players, so everyone has the chance to just zone out with their personal favorites for a little while.

(5) Camera - Chronicle your journey in pictures, the more candid and the more goofy, the better, but don't spend so much time behind the lens that you forget to enjoy yourself, and don't forget to ask someone to take a group photo, especially if you are usually the one to take all the pictures, because then you'll get home and find that you are not in any of the pictures!

(6) Cell Phone - For emergency use only! NOT for keeping up with work, enjoy your journey! But bringing one along in case of emergency is always a smart idea.

(7) Emergency Kit/First Aid Kit - You want to make sure you carry gauze, bandages, antibiotic cream, allergy and sinus medication, and all over the counter and prescription medications that all family members take. Be sure you have water, blankets, flashlight (there are flashlight apps for the ipod/ipad/iphone by the way), batteries, canned food, road flares, spare tire and a car jack!

(8) Budget - Plan for all your gas stops along the way, hotel expenses, entrance fees to parks, and bring along a Credit Card for emergencies!

(9) Clothing - Bring extra layers in anticipation of cooler nights!

(10) Footwear - Bring comfortable footwear, and bring all terrain or sport or hiking boots if mountains are part of your road trip journey!

Butterflies, where will the road take YOU this Spring?

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FTC Disclosure: The Britax Hispanic Digital and Social Media Outreach is in partnership with Mami Innovative Media, a communications and digital marketing company that pairs multicultural and Latino bloggers with influential brands and blogging campaigns. I am a blogger brand ambassador and Latina Advisory Board Member for Britax. This is a sponsored post and I am part of a long term campaign that does provide additional incentives for my participation. However all opinions are 100% my own. You can connect with BRITAX on Twitter and Facebook.  Our Disclosure Policy: http://www.ascendingbutterfly.com/p/disclosure-policy.html

How I learned to make sharing #Travel #Photos easier with #Tripographer powered by @Marriott #spon @NicheMommy

With my birthday swiftly approaching, my case of 'wanderlust' is getting worse and worse! I love to travel, and to me the best souvenir of my travels are my photos, and since I have long since made the switch from 35mm to Digital, I tend to take TONS of photos. I love architecture and nature photos, and take more pictures of WHAT I see, only to get home and realize I'm not in many photos because I was so busy taking them.

I'm always looking for new ways to make the photo sharing process easier and more fun, and I just hit on something I thought I'd share! Note: This is still in Beta! So you are getting an opportunity to be 'in the know' before it blows up!

About Tripographer, powered by Marriott:

Tripographer is a new, fun and easy way to stylishly and dynamically share your trip, whether it was a much needed getaway, an unforgettable adventure, a family vacation or a business trip. Apply filters and edit your photos, create beautiful slideshows and build actual street-view tours and share them all on your favorite social networks!

My Experience with Tripographer:

I decided to try it out and started by creating a slideshow of my pictures to the Audobon Nature Institute Insectarium in New Orleans, Louisiana. When I hit the Niche Mommy Conference last year in it's inaugral year (by the way butterflies the conference is now called The Niche Parent Conference), I got to take some time to see the sites with other bloggers attending the conference, The Audobon Nature Institute brought some animals from their zoo straight to the conference! And they offered bloggers tickets to the Zoo, Insectarium and Aquarium, you know I couldn't pass that up, especially the insectarium because they had butterflies there!

I started creating a slideshow of my insectarium visit, see below:



How it works:

1) You can easily create an account with Facebook or you can create a profile quickly with your name, selecting a user name and password if you don't want to create it with Facebook.

2) To play with the cool features you need to upload some photos! And you have a variety of ways you can do that, upload from your computer, your webcam, Facebook, Flickr, or Instagram

3) Then comes the fun part, you can 'Treat a Photo' by uploading a photo, and then stylishly editing them, you can also provide a caption and share them on your favorite social networks. You can Create a Slideshow, which allows you to upload multiple photos and order them however you wish. or you can 'Build a Tour' which allows you to create a real street view that takes you to all your favorite destinations from your last adventure. You can also upload photos to go along with your landmarks with a caption AND audio narration!

4) Manage your projects: Just use your dashboard to manage your Tripographer Creations! See it's as easy one, two, three!

My Take:

I think this is a great way to share your travel photos. I know many people are not comfortable about how Facebook uses their info and images and don't tend to put too many there, so it's nice to have an alternative way to share that's as private or as public as YOU want it to be. I have only one small complaint, as I really love taking all my photos in hi-res, I wasn't able to upload all the photos I wanted into my first slideshow because they were simply too large. The size limit per photo is 2 mb, and I only had three files small enough to fit the bill which is why my slideshow is so short. I am hoping that they increase the file size limit per photo, once they do, I'll be a slideshow creating mega butterfly! I can actually spend hours editing, optimizing (and now that I'm blogging WATERMARKING) photos, so I greatly enjoyed finding out about Tripographer and I think it's pretty cool that it's being powered by Marriott! In fact I probably should have tried to find my photos from the last time I stayed at the Marriott in Cancun! Maybe I'll make that slideshow next!

Butterfly have you tried Tripographer yet? If so, please share your photos with us! If you posted the photos or slideshow on your own blogs, then feel free to comment here with the link so we can all check out your creative travel photos too!

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙

FTC Disclosure: This sponsored post was written in partnership with Niche Mommy Network & Conference. While this is a compensated post, all opinions are 100% my own. And I have greatly enjoyed my stays with Marriott and I do love Digital Photography as much as I love Travel!

I'm Celebrating Easter with Hershey's, and you can too!

While church has always been an Easter Tradition in our family, my fondest 'after church' memories include dying Easter Eggs, then hunting for said colorful Eggs, and of course my Easter Basket (or as I remember it, multiple baskets! Grandparents RULE!)

Right: Little Ascending Butterfly!

Above: Me and my best friend dying Easter Eggs! Let's not discuss what year this was! (Special thanks to Mama Butterfly who gets the photo credit for taking this picture! And for letting me borrow it for this story!)

I don't know about you butterflies, but some things never change! I still love decorating the eggs, and I still love Easter Baskets! This year I'm not celebrating Easter alone, I'm celebrating it with Hershey's!

Hershey's let me customize my own Easter Basket virtually (how cool is that?) and then shortly after it arrived special delivery filled with the treats I had selected! And the basket is only half the fun, if you visit their super cool website you can Celebrate with Hershey's too!

Check out my cool Easter Basket:

Custom Easter Basket from Hershey's!

I took another shot just in case:

Hershey's Custom Easter Basket loaded with sweet treats!

There is something about an Easter Basket that just takes me instantly back to my childhood, all the great memories, me and my friends swapping out treats from each other's baskets, dying and decorating our own eggs, and sometimes being silly and putting two balloons on my head and pretending to be an Easter Bunny!

Hershey's Easter Basket De-Constructed!

My Basket Included:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Reese's Mini Reester Bunnies, each bunny is individually wrapped!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Reese's Peanut Butter Egg

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - York Dark Chocolate Peppermint Patties, each piece specially wrapped in Easter Packaging

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses each wrapped in it's own pastel color

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -and a Hershey's Snappy! An all Chocolate Easter Bunny that you can share by 'snapping' off a piece!

And I restrained myself from tearing all the treats open to take a few artistic shots:

It was almost too pretty to tear open!

I could not wait to finish snapping photos to tear into those delicious treats!

But the fun doesn't stop with the basket, on the Celebrate With Hershey's Website they have products, Basket Ideas & Crafts, Recipes, Fun Stuff (like a Happy Easter Screensaver for your Mac or PC), Videos, and a Hershey's Virtual Bunny Trail of Easter tips, memories, and stories from other bloggers across the blogosphere as well!

Happy Easter Butterflies! Bloggers, feel free to post with the link to your Wordless Wednesday photos too so we can hop over to your site and spread the comment love!

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙

FTC Disclosure: Hershey's provided Ascending Butterfly with one customized Easter Basket for editorial consideration, no monetary compensation has been received and all opinions are 100% my own.