It all happened innocently enough. The kids were out of school for Martin Luther King Junior Day, so I offered to take my 13 year old and just turned 10 year old daughter and a friend each to Dunkin Donuts. They were very happy and started running down the list of their friends, bemoaning how hard it was going to be to pick just one. But they muddled through. 

Ms. T texted and received a speedy quick affirmative reply. Ms. M’s invitation was done the old fashioned way. A text invitation was sent from my phone, because GASP! I have not caved and bought Ms. M her own phone yet. But that is for another post.

So, did the invite make me cool? In a word, no. 

Nice Mom maybe, but not cool. As any Mom of a teen or tween daughter will attest, coolness is hard won. We Moms are watched and judged quickly by this billion dollar industry group. I have two under my roof, so I know what uncool looks and sounds like. The girls teach me constantly.

As fate would have it, Ms’ M’s friend had to cancel at the last minute due to a stomach bug. Even though Ms. M was sad to not have a decaf latte and donut with her friend, she rose above and happily announced that I could be her friend.  Okay, that is a mini-cool isn’t it? 

We went and picked up Ms. T’s friend and set off for Dunkin Donuts, chatting all the way there.  We were all in high spirits as we set down with our donuts, iced coffees and lattes and the conversation from the car naturally flowed to our table chatter, which was, of course about clothes! That’s when I innocently asked if Ms. T had shared Polyvore with her friend Ms. P.

That is when I became cool!

 Armed with tablets and smart phones, these charming girls started raving about how cool Polyvore was and how cool I was to have shared it with them and how did I even know about it anyway Mrs. Kinsman?

Since Ms. P asked, I shared that I had been asked to write a post on my blog for No Nonsense leggings or tights and part of the requirements for this paid opportunity was to make a Polyvore board.

Double coolness washed over me as these girls gave me, yes me! all manner of attention and asked me tons of questions about blogging and even my opinion on fashion. 

When was the last time you got to talk about your job to the under 14 crowd and keep their attention for more than a second?

Pause for a moment Moms and share my coolness moment… yeah, it felt good!

Ms. T and Ms. P shared their boards and pins with me. Ms. P even shared a site I hadn’t ever heard of, it’s that cool and so totally non-Mom! 

I have it bookmarked for later. 

And I had to give Ms. M. permission to design on my Polyvore account as well.

 I really like their collections so far.

Will this coolness last? I don’t know. I will be happy with just nice Mom status. But I do know of this place called Beso  I’ve been eyeing that has awesome home décor, fashion and beauty I might have to share soon. 

Stay tuned.

If you are hooked on Pinterest and you like fashion and beauty, you will quickly become hooked on Polyvore too. Feel free to follow me at either place and don’t forget to let you teen and tween know where you are pinning. You might just be a Cool Mom for it.

You're welcome. 

Leave a comment with your user name at either place so I can follow you back!

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link to Beso. If you click on certain links, I may receive compensation. Not enough to buy a donut though. :-)

I’m all about sharing love this week and what better way to say I love you than a perfect gift for your sweetie on Valentine’s Day? 

Here is another helpful way for you to decide on the perfect gift. Join us for a Valentine’s Day Gifting Twitter chat tonight 8pm to 9pm.

FTD Flowers Director of Floral Design, Michael Skaff, will be available to answer all your Valentine's Day and floral questions.  Also, there will be a date night prize pack given to one participant in the Twitter Chat. 

We’d love for you to participate in the chat – we’re using #VDayGifts as the hashtag to track the conversation, and will be tweeting from the @FTDFlowers handle.  Sounds like a fun way to spend an hour!

And FTD Flowers has a great Facebook contest for you to enter: 

Go share your worst HERE; you just might be glad you did if you win. Good luck on both FTD Flowers contests!

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, but I may be eligible for a gift for sharing this with my readers. All opinions are my own.

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Did you know that Emmy Rossum, who plays Fiona Gallagher on Showtime’s Shameless, was also a singer? I sure didn’t. 
But I was pleasantly surprised by her voice recently when I got the opportunity to listen to her new CD, Sentimental Journey.

About Sentimental Journey: Release Date: January 29, 2013 
Label: Warner Bros. Records

Sentimental Journey is a collection of covers of classic songs that span the '20s to the '60s. The album's highlights include its title track, which was a No. 1 hit for Les Brown and His Band of Renown with Doris Day as the vocalist in 1945; "These Foolish Things," a '30s standard that has been recorded by everyone from Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby to Rod Stewart and Michael Buble; "Summer Wind," which was popularized by Frank Sinatra in 1966; and "I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time," which was a Top 5 hit for the Andrews Sisters in 1941.

Emmy’s Vision for the CD: Emmy's 12-song 'passion project' is an emotional musical journey, with each song representing a month in the year. 

 "Each song needed to either lyrically or emotionally reflect the corresponding month," Emmy explained. "Some songs were obvious fits, like Summer Wind for June, and Pretty Paper for December. Others songs were less literal fits. I chose Nobody Knows You (When you’re Down and Out) for September because, to me, the plaintive melody and lyric emotionally reflect the cold weather creeping in and the sense of melancholy we can get in the fall months."

My Review:

Having never heard Emmy sing, I was unsure what to expect, but once I understood where she was coming from stylistically, I really enjoyed the CD, with each song reminding me of different places and times in my childhood with my parents and grandparents. 

My personal favorite was her rendition of Frank Sinatra’s 1966 hit Summer Wind. 

Want to hear Emmy sing? Enjoy this video:

"These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" Vignette


Beautiful isn’t it?

You can learn more about Emmy by following her on Twitter. 

You can purchase Sentimental Journey on iTunes and Amazon.  

I recommend Emmy’s Sentimental Journey to anybody who loves romance, show tunes and going back down memory lane with music. 

I hope you found this review helpful.



Disclosure: I participated in this campaign for One2One Network. I received a free copy of the CD to facilitate my review. By posting, I am eligible for incentives. All opinions stated are my own.