A quick word about a helpful website...

I was recently introduced to a new website, HotelsCombined.com. It is a website that does a search across the many travel websites to find the best deal. There are a lot of great sites out there such as Travelocity.com, Hotels.com, Expedia.com that can search for a great deal on hotels and Hotels Combined does a search through all of them...combined! There are currently about 20 of these partner sites (such as the ones listed above) that provide the search results and once you find what you are looking for, a link is provided for you to book your hotel. Simple!

One big reason I decided to do a post on this website, aside from me thinking it is a genuinely helpful site, is the company's method for getting the word out. They are using the power of word of mouth marketing, which if you are not familiar with marketing strategies is considered to be one of the most if not the most powerful form of marketing, and in doing so are sending money to charitable organizations rather than an advertising firm. World Vision is an organization that I strongly support and by doing a post that gives what I feel to be helpful information to others, Hotels Combined will send World Vision a donation of $20, helping those in need. In a world where every little bit can make difference, especially given the severe need in parts of the world, I am appreciative of their willingness to take this approach.

I hope next time you are planning a trip or vacation you take a look at HotelsCombined.com and are able to find a great deal!

Stroller Strides February Calendar

Classes for the Spring are finally starting back up this Friday! Here is the rest of the February Calendar!

Heart for Haiti

**also posted at Smells Like Awesome (Val's family blog)

Here in Houston we have an amazing Christian radio station, KSBJ (89.3 FM). Today they are doing an all day fundraiser called Heart for Haiti. This fundraiser is "KSBJ's initiative to support the organizations that are currently providing relief on the ground in Haiti." The funds they raise today will be distributed to four reputable ministry organizations including:

World Vision

Living Water International

Samaritan's Purse

Compassion International

The goal of today's fundraiser was $50,000 and praise Jesus it already up to $66734.90!

Please consider donating to this fundraiser even if it is just a few dollars. Every little bit helps!

Bringing the blog back to life!

I finally got around to "cleaning up" the blog and have a few things I'll be posting throughout the day!

Thank you to the many people who have contacted me over the past few weeks regarding the blog, Stroller Strides classes, and community outreach. These are among the list of things to be posted!

more to come...

FREE Pass to Cy-Fair Pump It Up!

So how has everyone been for oh, you know the past few months?

I will be updating the blog, cleaning things out, etc over the next week or so and will hopefully be back to some "real" blogging soon!

But for now, enjoy this Free Pass to Cy-Fair Pump It Up!

You'll have to print the pass out, so click on it and print from there. If you print directly from this page, you will be cursing my name as you will get the many posts along with it!

As you know (or maybe not) we moved to Cy-Fair a few months ago and have been very happy here! Everyone is very friendly and it is nice to have the comforts suburbia and the big city at arm's reach!

And now a word from Cy-Fair Pump it up...

Pop-In Play Open Jump session during the month of January, 2010. Pump It Up Cy-Fair is the ultimate inflatable jump center in the Houston/Cy-Fair area. We pride ourselves in being the safest, cleanest and most fun indoor fun center in the city of Houston! We are family owned and family operated and take great pride in our facility. We would love for you to visit! Our friendly staff will make sure your visit is enjoyable!

Simply print this coupon and bring to our facility anytime during the month of January 2010 and let your child jump for free. Limit one free coupon per customer per visit. Call us at 281.469.4205 or visit our website at http://pumpitupcyfair.com for our Pop-In Playtime hours.

Raise Your Hand For Chocolate Milk

Speaking of milk...

I was contacted by Got Milk and asked to help spread awareness for this new campaign called Raise Your Hand For Chocolate Milk. Here is the deal. There is debate now among schools to remove chocolate milk from school menus in efforts to boost nutritional quality of their meals. The result is less and less kids are drinking milk at all at school. During these developmental times in a child's life, milk is essential in their diet be it chocolate or plain.

Leading health and nutrition organizations – like the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Heart Association, National Hispanic Medical Association, National Medical Association, and School Nutrition Association – recognize the valuable role that milk, including flavored milk, can play in meeting daily nutrient needs. All agree that the small amount of added sugar in flavored milk is an acceptable trade-off for the nutrients provided. In addition, studies show that children who drink flavored milk have better quality diets, do not have higher intakes of sugar, fat or calories, and are not heavier than non-milk drinkers. source: raiseyourhandformilk.com

Here is a pdf file outlining the top 5 reasons to Raise Your Hand for Milk.

I'm a mom of three and all three of them drink chocolate milk. I'm Ok with it! There are other drinks out there like sodas and other sugary drinks that they do not drink because they know they have the option for something better. Luckily (as far as I know anyway) our school here has not booted chocolate milk off the menu but should that happen it would be a cause for concern for me. If you have school aged children I hope you visit the website, sign the petition, and help out in spreading awareness for this campaign. Our kids need us!

Ebeanstalk.com...a place for toys

***Introductory paragraph written by Ebeanstalk

What makes a good toy? A toy called the Activity Bus from Plan Toys who makes safe green toys was sent to me from a toy website called ebeanstalk. Ebeanstalk has toy experts and moms that find the great learning toys and baby toys through a toy testing program. I’ll let you know what I think of the toy now.

This post is literally months overdue, along with the other posts starting at me from my notebook of blog ideas! I received this Activity Bus back in July and handed it over to my kids. They were excited about it when it first arrived and they liked all of the little parts and pieces that came with it. The bus opens up to make a mini class room complete with chalkboard, desks, teacher, and students. Very creative!

I love the design of the bus. It reminds me of the classic wooden toys...something that looks like one of Santa's elves made! The parts and pieces however really didn't stay put. They popped out of place easily and fell over easily. For a my three and five year old, this got annoying. The Activity Bus didn't really grab the attention of my oldest child. She played with the younger two for a few minutes and then lost all interest. This toy is not really made for her age group so that is not a bad or surprising thing.

In all honesty, this is not one of my kids favorite toys. That being said, Ebeanstalk.com does have several toys that I think my kids would like better. All of the toys sold at Ebeanstalk are good for learning and development and there are several neat toys that they carry that I have not seen in stores. One thing I like about the website is that it is easy to navigate through. You can search for toys by several different categories making it easy to find just what you are looking for.

This is a late post, but as it so happens just in time for Christmas! If you've got little ones to shop for this season, this website might be a good stop!

In the NY Times...

Published recently in the NY Times Fitness and Nutrition section is an article about running with a stroller! A few of my favorite keywords from the article...stroller, running, Stroller Strides ;), and last but certainly not least Texas A&M University (I'm an Aggie if you didn't know)!

A few excerpts from today's article:

Farel Hruska, the national fitness director of Stroller Strides who designed a 5K race training program with strollers, said that many runners feel compelled to keep both hands on the stroller handle, but that it’s not necessary.

“It’s fine to run with one hand on it, but alternate hands,” Ms. Hruska said. “Occasionally swing one arm to avoid shoulder and neck discomfort and to run more naturally.”

...and

A study of five male and five female runners done at Texas A&M University, published in 2005 in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, found no increased injury because of stroller use while running. But some runners say that compromising form, pushing too much weight or increasing stroller mileage too quickly can cause problems.

Source: The NY Times, September 30th

You can read the entire article here.

I have been walking/running with my jogging stroller for a while now and I am at that point where I am completely uncoordinated without it. With a jogger in front I can run a straight line, no problem! Without it I feel like a train off the track and end up weaving all over the place! Obviously I need more practice and now that the weather is cooling off (well kind of) I have no excuses!

For Princesses and Fairies!

Bubblegum Tree Photography is offering an amazing promotion for $99 mini sessions...not just any mini sessions! The first is called Urban Princess and your little princess will be outfitted with a beautiful tutu or gown made by Baby Cha Cha for her pictures! This event will be September 30th from 10-1 pm. I am an associate photographer with Bubblegum Tree so I will be available for these fun mini sessions! Also Fantasy Celebrations will be there with a full princess tea party set up! Talk about fun for mom, and fun for kids! My kind of event!

The second event, called Woodland Fairy, will be October 5th from 10-1 pm on Market Street in The Woodlands. I will be there too! Same adorable outfits (and wings), same great photographers ;) , same great price!

These are both a great value! Each person will get a cd with 5 edited photos! With the holidays coming, what better time to have your pictures done and in hand! I promise, your pictures will stop traffic!

To register for your mini session click on one of the following links! Be sure to mention where you saw this announcement!

Urban Princess - September 30th


Woodland Fairy - October 5th





...and here is a sample of my work...with my princess!

Fall is Here!!!

Finally! Fall is here! After months of 90+ degree weather we now have beautiful breezy mornings in the upper 70's! Ah, bliss! If you haven't been out to Stroller Strides yet, ya gotta go! It is great to get out, get some fresh air, and get those muscles moving!

Truly, it is awesome! Come see for yourself!

Coupon Chief - A Gem for Online Shopping

Here is one to file under "nothing to do with fitness", but it is definitely blog worthy!

I was recently referred to a website called CouponChief.com. This site is awesome! Anytime I make purchases online I always do a search for coupon codes. Hey, I say if there is a discount out there (which there usually is) why not use it! Read on for some of the great features of CouponChief.com and see why I considered it "blog worthy"!

Lots O' Coupons
CouponChief.com is the "grand daddy" library of coupon codes! There are hundreds of stores listed and includes everything from clothing stores to home and decor stores. There are even coupon codes for the "big" stores such as Target and Best Buy! You can search by store or by category. It is so easy to find your coupons! You can even create a profile and select your favorite stores and CouponChief.com will email you when new coupon codes are uploaded!

Coupon Ratings
I love attention to detail and this website has done a great job addressing "the little things" that I find very useful. Each coupon code has a rating system where anyone who uses it can not only rate the coupon code, but can also leave comments. Pretty much you won't be surfing through hundreds of coupon codes that don't work!

Pay-2-Share Program
I don't know about you, but my inbox gets flooded with weekly emails (admittedly I opted for) from stores that I love. Most of them have some kind of coupon code in them. CouponChief.com has a program where you can upload your own coupon codes and when someone clicks on them and uses them, you will receive 2% of the sales. You probably won't be able to pay your mortgage with this, but that free cup of coffee or meal sounds great to me!

Its FREE!!!
Did I mention its free to use (even the pay-2-share program)? Really nothing else need be said on this one!

Truly, I think this is a great site that everyone can use! Check it out, pass it on, enjoy!

As Seen on TV!

So if you are a Houstonian, you know that we have had a near drought this summer! No rain! A handful of showers over the past three months with lots of blinding sunshine...right?! Last night I was both anxious and excited about Stroller Strides Memorial re-opening for the Fall after a brief summer break!

Then the rain came! Lots and lots of it! It rained off and on throughout the night and this morning. I thought to myself "NO!!! No one will show up for class and it will be me and camera crew!" Thankfully it wasn't just me! My dear friend and fellow Stroller Strides Allison came to class today! Awesome mommy!

Ryan from KPRC Channel 2 and his camera man were such good sports! They filmed the entire class and put together a mini masterpiece that aired this afternoon during the 4 o'clock hour!

So without further adieu, here is 2 minutes and 19 seconds of Stroller Strides Memorial on the news!

Stroller Strides Memorial on KPRC Channel 2 News from Valerie Gay on Vimeo

.

Join us tomorrow Sept 4th!...

for a free class...that will be hitting the airwaves via Channel 2 News!

Come out for fun time and great workout tomorrow morning at 9:30 am at Memorial Park! The weather is much cooler in the morning now so it should be great workout weather tomorrow!

I am excited to welcome Channel 2 to come out and do a story on our fit mamas here in Houston! Don't miss it!

Hope to see you at the park!

Houston Astros Mommy Blogger Night

Sorry this is going out last minute! I'll be so happy when the move is done!

I don't know all the details, but August 21st (tomorrow night) mommy bloggers...or moms in general...are invited to purchase Astros tickets close to half off! Go to www.astros.com/moms and enter "moms" as the password.

If you are looking for some affordable family fun this weekend, this is a great option!

Where is Val?

I know, I know, I know!

Where's the blog posts, the giveaways, the reviews...where's Val?!

I promise I have not dropped off the face of the Earth! It has been a BIG August as far as stuff going on! First, after A LOT of prayer and looking, God provided us with a most unexpected blessing of a house for us to move to! This has been weighing heavy on my heart for months now. My oldest daughter has been in private school and we simply just cannot afford to continue sending her there right now. I was adamant that she not go to the public school we are zoned to as quite frankly I think it is a crappy school. The new house is in the Cy-Fair school district which is a respectable one as far as Houston is concerned and her new elementary school is a state recognized school. She is still having a hard time wrapping her brain around the fact that the school will not acknowledge her christian faith or any faith for that matter. Truth be told, so am I! We just have to trust God in this and trust that He will take care of us!

We found out about the house about a two weeks ago and we have been planning, packing, and slowly moving ever since then! Our current house is in shambles and the kids are driving me crazy as expected! Moving with three kids in tow in 100 degree heat...well it sucks! We aim to have the majority of the move completed by the end of the week. Say a prayer (or two, or three) for us!

Also in August...I was hired by an awesome photography company in Houston called Bubblegum Tree Photography! Chara Studios is still in the works but will mainly focus on graphic design and web design. You can read up on my first weeks with Bubblegum Tree at my blog Smells Like Awesome and Jessica (owner of Bubblegum Tree) just posted an intro for me on the Bubblegum Tree blog for your reading enjoyment here!

So where is Stroller Strides in all of this??
Still here on the back burner for now! I'm actually OK with this since it has been so hot and no one wants to be outside for more than a few minutes right now. I am aiming to re-open Stroller Strides Memorial the first week of September with classes three days a week and then when it starts to get cooler, expand to 4-5 days a week. One thing I need right now (aside from prayer) is an instructor...or two! So if you or anyone you know has a fitness certification or is interested in getting one, I need you! Stroller Strides has been such a rewarding and fun part of my life and call me selfish, but I am not quite ready to let it go! I hope you join me in September either as a new member, old member, or instructor! I know it will be a great time!

OK, back to packing boxes! Hopefully I can steal away a few more minutes later to finally post the giveaways I've had for weeks!

Moms Living Fit Maintenance

I am transferring the domain momslivingfit.com under a new host. Please bear with me during this process. If you go to momslivingfit.com and end up at an empty page it is likely because the transfer has not been completed. Instead for the time being please use the url momslivingfit.blogspot.com until I give the "all clear" post!

We're back from the last of our travels this summer and getting back into the swing of things! Please check back in a few days for two giveaways, a few life's lessons, maybe even something about fitness!

Ringling Bros.

Last night we went to see Ringling Bros. circus. The kids had never been so they loved every minute of it! At 30 years old, I had also never been and so didn't quite know what to expect. Jason and I had a great time watching all of the animals and acrobatics and had even better time watching the kids' reactions to the show! We got our tickets courtesy of MomCentral.com. Thank you, thank you Mom Central! The circus will be here until the 20th so if you want to go and you don't want to pay a fortune, use the MC promotion code "MOM" at checkout and you can get 4 tickets for $44! This is a great deal!

Here are a few pictures from the circus!

July Class Schedule

Well mamas, July is going to be one hec of a busy month! Truly what month isn't?!

I will be out of town for the rest of the week as well as the last two weeks in July and have booked weekends till...well till pretty much the end of the year!

Until I find another instructor class is going to have to be sporatic this month.

So here it is, the class schedule for the remainder of July:

July 13, 15, 20, & 22 - 8:45 am at Memorial Park.

Please use the "contact me" button up top if you have questions about class, need directions, etc!

Thank you Houston area mommies for your patience and understanding!

-Val

Interesting Fact about Milk

Milk? Interesting? Why yes!

As women calcium is a big deal (in case you didn't know that, it is)! We are continually at risk of losing bone density and for several reasons (of which I won't go into presently). So it is imperative that we actively and continually consume foods that are high in calcium. An obvious source, milk. I love to drink a cold glass of milk, but I really prefer 2% or whole milk. Anything lower than 2% is just too watery for me! I thought I was doing well in the calcium department because it seems that thick hearty milk would be loaded with it! Right? Wrong! The calcium found in milk is actually found in the non-fat portion of milk so the more fat, the less calcium. It turns out that glass of lowfat milk is even healthier than you thought!

Just some food for thought! ;)

Ringling Bros. Ticket Winner

And the winner is...

Angie!

Congrats! I hope you and the family have a great time!!!