photo-opoly

Create your own Monopoly game! Perfect gift for Christmas. The kit comes with everything you need to complete the project, except the photos, of course. It even includes glue and markers to name the properties, etc. Check this cool game out at photojojo.com.

End World Hunger with Free Rice

Check out Free Rice, a new website (partnered with Poverty.com) that allows visitors to test their vocabulary skills while giving rice to the starving and malnourished. Each question you answer correctly results in 10 grains of rice being given to the United Nations World Food Program, to be distributed around the world to those who need it. Sound too good to be true? Here's how it works:

You visit the site and answer the vocabulary questions. You learn cool words, see how high your vocab level can go (there are 50 levels, but the site says it is rare to reach 48), and earn free rice. The website makes money through advertising, and this money is used to buy rice and give it to the UNWFP. The website started October 7 and so far has donated over 372 million grains of rice. I wonder how much rice that really is.

Check your vocab level!

rockin' mama

You know, the best thing about being pregnant these days, *wink, wink*, is that you don't have to check your style in at the door anymore once you start outgrowing your everyday clothes. Many designers are finally realizing that pregnant women want to feel and look good during those months when they have that blissful glow about them and have started designing hip clothes that don't take an expectant mother back 2 generations whenever she wears them. That's why I love the shirts by Rockstar Moms. A few of my favorite shirts from this site are the Sparrow shirt, the Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt that takes me back to my Free Bird high school days, and I had to laugh at the iBaby shirt. It makes showing off your growing assets a lot more fun than it used to! Not that I would know about being pregnant in the seventies and eighties, but I can just tell those big frumpy smocks would be painful to wear, lol.

aloha lekika kana

If you've ever wanted to know what your name might sound like in Hawaiian, visit The Coconut Boyz and type your name into their translation engine.

I am now Lekika, my daughter is Palikane and my boyfriend is Lukekini. What fun nicknames! What's your Hawaiian name?

anything but dull

Amazing Things posted an entry titled "21 examples of dullness in construction", hopefully they were talking about the brain capacity of the construction workers because these photos are anything but dull.

picture at your wrist

I love photography and I'm constantly looking for unique ways to display portraits. I love these cuffs found at Smoy.net. They are fun and a great way to personalize your style. In this day and age, unique personalities and art has become the front runner in trends, which is why I believe so many people will love this product! You can customize each cuff, with one or more pictures depending on the design that you choose. Smoy also makes the Brooklyn Belt where you can showcase your pictures around your waist. The colors choices are great as well. Calm and neutral colors with the Soho4 PhotoCuffs or rockers can choose a glittery bold color with the Chelsea PhotoCuff. You can change your photos anytime, depending on the occasion; new boyfriend, new baby, or your best friend's birthday. Pictures are secured between the layers of the photocuffs with a clear plastic cover to protect them. Prices begin at $17 and go up to $35. Small price to pay to be unique.

create some buzz

How would you like to come home to a box full of the newest, hottest products on the market? You can, with BzzAgent.

Most people who know me know I'm a BzzAgent -- I participate in viral marketing for products that fit my lifestyle. I signed up with BzzAgent, the leading word-of-mouth media network, and then sat back and waited for the emails. Every month or so, I get an email that asks me to join a particular campaign. If I'm interested, I sign up. If it doesn't appeal to me, I do nothing.

Most campaigns come with free stuff for yourself and for you to share with friends, and coupons to buy more. It's really fun because you get to try new things (without paying for them) and share them with your family and friends. I've been a BzzAgent for over two years, and have done campaigns for Pledge Multi-Surface Wipes, Hershey Take 5, AquaPod water, Ziploc containers, Listerine Whitening Strips, Wrigley 5 gum, and Eucerin lotion.

What BzzAgent asks of its members is to try the products, share them, and then give them feedback. It doesn't have to be positive and it doesn't have to be an elaborate marketing scheme. It can be as simple as giving all your friends a sample, leaving a coupon in a strategic place in the grocery store, or mentioning the product in a conversation.

I used to think this was really weird (I first read about it in Pattern Recognition by William Gibson) because strategic word-of-mouth buzz seemed so, well, contrived. How fake is it to promote something to others that you might not really like or even care about? But the thing I like about BzzAgent is that I don't have to do anything. The more you buzz, the more campaigns you get to join, but you don't have to give false positive feedback or spend a lot of time or money to participate.

There are short surveys to fill out before, during and after campaigns, and then you submit BzzReports which are just detailed accounts of your buzzing. You are awarded points for these activities, which can be traded in for prizes.

I'm usually skeptical about this kind of thing, but it's actually pretty cool and fun. I've done the BzzAgent thing now for a while, and I totally recommend it!

a new book to read

I'm constantly reading. My life revolves around having something to read at all times or else I become very restless. I just finished up a series of books that I thoroughly enjoyed, called Fablehaven. and I was looking for another series to start that was comparable to the Fablehaven series and someone recommended that I read the Jimmy Fincher Saga series by James Dashner. I'm really excited to read this series! You can check out the books and the author's blog, at www.jamesdashner.blogspot.com.

how old are you really?

This website, Poodwaddle, determines your actual age in relationship to your daily lifestyle. My real age is 7.5 (Biological age, 25) and I have a life expectancy of 91.5, with 24,300 days left. Doesn't seem like a whole lot. Go see how old you really are!!

motherhood is hard. admit it.

I have a new blog obsession. At times hilarious, poignant, scary and right on, the True Mom Confessions blog has become my new lunchtime reading. The concept is that "moms" (although many posts have nothing to do with motherhood) can anonymously post things about their lives, pretty much anything you want.

They can be hilarious and self-baring like:

Or sad, enraging or self-effacing like:

And they can be short and sweet confessions:

You can't respond to posts with comments, but you can click on "me too" to show that you've been in the same situation or feel the same way as the writer. People often respond to certain posts by writing their own post.

Hundred of posts appear daily, meaning that you can never read them all...unless you stayed on the site for hours each day...but there is always something entertaining to read....

And you learn a lot. Or at least I have. I've learned that there are others just like me (and some much worse!), and that I'm not the only constantly worried, daily harried, overprotective, neurotic mom out there. I've read about things I've never experienced myself. I've read things that disgusted me, things that empowered me, things that inspired me, things that made me crack a smile or even chuckle.

And the cool thing is, even though the site is called True Mom Confessions, and many of the posts do concern motherhood, many of them do not. This site really reaches all parts of women's lives, written by women for women, read by women ... it's just really cool, and addicting.

Check it out!

what we don't need, they do

Sarah McLachlan puts money in perspective with this touching music video. Instead of spending $150,000 to make the music video, she put only $15 dollars into it and donated the rest of the money that would have gone into making the video to other charitable causes. If only all celebrities were that giving. It's amazing how a little can do a lot for so many.

fairyland

I love it when I find something unique and fun for my son. My Boho Baby has created the cutest children's shirts and dresses out there! When I first saw these winged shirts I knew that I had to have one for my little guy. These shirts are mystical themed. You can choose from fairies, dragons, a phoenix, a pegasus or even a bat to get your little person ready for Halloween. Each shirt is hand-dyed when you place the order and you can customize several aspects of the shirt, such as the embroidery and wing color. You can find these shirts at Winged Kids, which is a part of My Boho Baby.

free snack from kashi

The Kashi Snack Drive wants you to trade in your favorite sugar-coated or salt-loaded snack for one of their healthier alternatives. And they're so positive you'll love their snacks that they're willing to send you one for free. I just traded in old-fashioned cotton candy for a free oatmeal dark chocolate cookie. And wait till you see the format of their online forms ... tres cool.

If you live near San Diego, Chicago, Boston or New York, you can visit the Kashi Snack Drive for free snacks. Tell all your friends and let's make the world a healthier place, one Kashi at a time :)

I've never actually tried their snacks. I've tried the cereal and wasn't really a fan ... too hard and crunchy for my taste. But I'm willing to give them another try. Anyone a Kashi lover?

and the winner is...

The lucky winner of the Twisted Silver Horse Bit Belt, with a retail value of $120, is Clare Hegg! Thanks for reading, Clare. Send your contact info to braesangirls@gmail.com to receive your totally cool new fashion accessory, courtesy of Twisted Silver.

Stay tuned to Brasean for more chances to guest blog or win fab prizes!

what's for dinner

All Recipes has helped me in many ways to become a better cook, a better mom, and a better wife. I refer to this recipe site all the time. I've never been great in the kitchen and in fact, many times before, I've been run out of kitchens for fear that my horrible luck with food would rub off on whoever was cooking at the moment and cause their dish to instantly dissolve into mush.

So for years, I just used the excuses, "I can't cook," or "I don't know how," or "Seriously, you don't want me near the kitchen." But then I became a mother and there was someone else whose nutritional needs depended on me entirely, and I knew that fast food or the microwave wasn't really how I wanted to sustain my son. So I started buying recipe books and searchingon the internet for recipes that I could make.

I had to start simple, I mastered spaghetti first with simple ingredients. I made it all the time. All the time. Until finally my husband begged me to try something else. So I went back to this site and started searching for things that I could make. It then became fun! One of my favorite features of the whole site is the ingredient search. You type what ingredients you want and what you don't want and they will suggest recipes that fit your criteria. Neat, huh?

You can generate shopping lists on the site and print them off so you can get all the specific ingredients needed for your recipes. I like making weekly meal plans, so this insures that I get everything I need for the meals I will be cooking in a particular week.

And if you are on a diet, they have a whole section for Weight Watchers that already has the points tallied for each serving. Definitely helps making being on a diet more manageable.

Go check out this site! Find out something to make for dinner tonight!! And for dessert, try this delicious Watergate Salad. YUM!

worst ice cream ever!

Have you ever had Fish ice cream? How about Octopus ice cream? Corn? Tulip? Charcoal? Nope, me either. But they all exist.

Many come from Japan, where seafood is a much bigger part of their diet. There's Seaweed ice cream, Shark Fin Noodle, Whale, Squid Guts, and much more. Some of the flavors are environmentally friendly, like the Miso ice cream or Rice Straw. Others, not so much. Would you like Raw Horseflesh with that?

There are actually some I might try, like Red Wine ice cream ... or maybe Barbecue. I don't know ... I'll have to think about that.

Check out the other crazy flavors on this list of 101 Frightening Ice Cream Flavors from around the world and post your favorite or the one you find the strangest.

Remember to post a comment to our Giveaway entry for your chance to win a $120 Horse Bit Belt from Twisted Silver!

6 million dollar home

No, I don't really have a 6 million-dollar home with four walls, a roof and lots of other fabulous amenities that would come with having a house that freakin' expensive, but I do own one of the best camera bags out there that just happens to be called the 6 Million Dollar Home. I'm not making any sense, am I?? That's because it doesn't make any sense, and that's the genius of it.

The makers of Crumpler Bags give all of their products sarcastic and punny names, I believe in an attempt to get away from the traditional blah-ness of product descriptions. The descriptions for each type of product are hilarious!

My personal favorite bag description on the site is the backpack called The Salary Sacrifice. Its description is a play on the words "salary" and "celery," which really does make you laugh at the price and think it's totally worth it:

"Okay, that’s it: we’re all gunna have to make some cut backs. No more celery for anyone. That’s right. You guys are gunna have to dig for big green sticks some place else. Hey, don’t stalk off when I’m talkin to you . . ."

They have a full line of products from computer bags, messenger bags, camera bags and accessory bags, which, all kidding aside, are amazing products. I covet my camera bag and absolutely love the quality of it ... and it is nice to be able to casually say to people at social events, "Why, YES, darling! I do in fact have a 6 million dollar home! Waiter!! Please get me another Dirty Martini!"

braesan giveaway:$120 belt from twisted silver

Braesan is offering its first giveaway: a Horse Bit Belt from Twisted Silver that retails for $120. This convertible belt can be slung low on the hips, worn on jeans through belt loops, as a long and lean necklace or wrapped twice as a funky, chunky necklace. You can own the same jewelry worn by the stars!

All you have to do to win this fabulous prize is post a comment to this post by Sept. 1st. We will choose a random winner and post the results the following Monday.

Thank you to Debra Mitchell, founder and designer of Twisted Silver, for sponsoring this giveaway!

sleep now forever

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is an infant bereavement organization that allows photographers to volunteer their time to families who are going through unfortunate circumstances. It's a wonderful organization that I have been a part of for nine months and it's a very humbling in so many ways. It is a way to give back and allows the family who is experiencing such a great loss to have a cherished gift of something they will never be able to get back. This world-wide organization has volunteers in every state and in many countries. It's hard to imagine the loss that someone goes through when losing a child and no ever thinks that they will be affected, but when these unfortunate moments do happen in life, it's nice to be able to have a place that the parents can turn to in order to eternalize their little bundle and to one day find closure and comfort in the images a photographer has created for them.

mor chikin yo

Chick-fil-a is giving away a free sandwich and coke to anyone who goes to this website and fills out their information! They have the best ads for any food chain. The cows with protesting signs draped over them pleading people to, "Eat Mor Chikin" is great! Chick-fil-a is the bomb and I'm sincerely sorry to all those folks who don't have one in their state. My condolences are with you.