2nd to last post for Mommy Madness

So that's what I look like on the road!

*A post from mommymadnesshouston.com

I can't believe it has been 8 weeks! EIGHT WEEKS! It has flown by faster than I could have ever imagined! Tomorrow morning the family and I will be taking the long drive to Pearland to give back the Traverse :( and the even longer drive home without it. We strongly considered keeping it and still have not thrown that idea completely out the window, but truth be told we just were not and still are not in the market for a new car. We love the Traverse. We are a very active family and have so many memories from all of our trips big and small in it. Earlier this week, I drove my regular car (the minivan) for two days. I literally had driven my car only once in the past 8 weeks and I didn't want to go through the "cold turkey" shock of no Traverse once we handed it back. I have seen so many new Traverses out on the road (even 2 new ones for people I know at my church) and I can't help but feel a little bit envious.

I hope that all of you reading took advantage of the free massage being given away to every person who test drives the Traverse. Believe me the test drive and the massage are worth it! If you haven't, time is ticking and your window of opportunity is quickly closing! Go do a test drive! You won't be disappointed!

Now for my Thank You speech, part 1! *Part 2 will pretty much say the exact same thing, but be posted tomorrow with pics! ;)

I want to give a very BIG Thank You to GM and Strickland Chevrolet for entrusting me with one of your Traverses for 8 weeks...to what I wanted with...except of course leave the country! I want to commend GM for the purposeful (is that a word) thought put into the design and construction of the Traverse. It has been said before and I will say it again here, it is a well thought vehicle from the outer design to the many great interior features. Clearly a vehicle with the family in mind!

Need a re-cap, here ya go...

Top 10 features of the Traverse:

10. It fits in the garage!...well, not mine or Christine's, but for everyone else it does!

9. 4 overhead air vents in the 2nd and 3rd rows...in Houston, this is important!

8. Rear view cam w/beeping sound if you back up too close to something!

7. Blind spot mirrors

6. Fold flat 2nd and 3rd row seats...and it is so easy!

5. Sliding second row seats

4. Great gas economy

3. OnStar

2. 10 cup holders

1. It's not a minivan!

Plus, great gas economy, lots of storage space, and big tires giving it a higher ground clearance! OK so that is more than 10, but really the list goes on! Go see for yourself!

I also want to give a BIG thank you to CBS Radio! I cannot express how honored I feel to have been selected out of hundreds of mommy bloggers in Houston. My head is still spinning on that one! Thank you for putting this whole thing together. It is in a word brilliant! Mommy bloggers have become such an amazing voice in the world and I thank you for one "getting it" , and two for offering us this opportunity!

Thank you to the CBS Radio DJ's for continuing to support us over the radio...and thank you for putting me on the radio! That was so much fun!

Thank you the many readers and supporters we've had over the past 8 weeks and for the many comments and questions that assured us we were not talking to space! Thank you also to everyone who voted, and an even bigger thank you to those for voted for me!

Angie, Christine, Larami, and Stephanie it has been a blast sharing this experience with you! Thank you for your creative posts! You are all so inspiring and I am thankful that the world has moms like you in it! Thank you to the Dallas and Kansas City Moms Squads for your continued support! It has been so much fun reading your posts and antics! Great job ladies!

Lastly, I want to give thanks to my wonderfully tolerant and patient family who day in and day out dealt with me and my arsenal of digital cameras and video recorders! We took A LOT of pictures and video and spent countless hours editing and uploading them. Everyone was a good sport about the pictures and video and the kids were pretty good during editing hours...they didn't destroy the house too much! I am so proud of them and so thankful for them!

Tomorrow is the final post (for me anyway) and I invite anyone who has not taken a test drive yet to do so. Also if you have any remaining questions, send em' along!

Voting for Mommy Madness

Look for this logo on the Mommy Madness Houston website and vote!

The voting has begun!

Here are a few FAQ's for voting...

How many times can I vote?
As many times as you wish! You have to fill out a little form for your submission and then select your favorite mom (insert throat clearing noise here)! That's it! The voting stats are given once you submit your entry.

Who can vote?
Anyone who is over the age of 21, lives in TX, and is not an immediate family member of me (sorry Jason) can vote.

Why should I vote?
Of course the main reason is because you love and support me your Houston area Mom Squad!

Another perk to submitting your vote is you will be entered for a prize package to the Barton Creek Resort in Austin, TX. The prize package includes two rooms at the resort and a $400 gift card to spend while there (ladies can you say spa treatment)!

I promise its easy, its painless, and you will be helping one lucky mom to win favorite out of the Houston Mom Squad!

More on Mommy Madness

Today marks the official start of the Mommy Madness campaign for Houston! We've had the Traverse for a few days and I can already tell it will be tough saying goodbye to our temporary family car!

The kids love it, especially their own sunroof! I will be doing an ongoing tour of the Traverse over the next few weeks! There are a lot of cool features and you'd be watching a short feature film starring yours truly if I were to do it all in one video!

I have to give props to all TV personalities out there! I definitely need to work on my "on screen presence"! A bit of trivia for you...for every video posted there about ten filmed that were, well they were not good!

Another side note!...I had to take a 5 minute break from writing as Riley came in from outside and with her sweet 2 year old voice and said "Mommy Domino (the dog) eat it and its yucky." Domino was sitting innocently in the yard with a look of "what?" It is still undetermined what yucky substance she ate. I'm sure I will find out though when she pukes it up later!

A little history on how this whole Mommy Madness campaign came into our lives...

A few weeks ago I was contacted by an executive from CBS Radio (Jeanie) via facebook. She sent me a message asking if I was the owner of the Moms Living Fit blog and that she wanted to talk to me about a campaign that CBS radio was doing in collaboration with Chevrolet. It is not uncommon for various reps to contact me and ask me to blog about upcoming events or products so I figured this would be the same thing. I contacted her the very next morning and got her voicemail. I left my message and went on about my day. Jason and I joked around and said, "what are they going to give you, a car?" We'd been offered an assortment of stuff from other reps like Disney on Ice tickets, Got Milk? goodies, etc. I was expecting a hat and key chain or something along those lines! A few hours later, she returned my call and started to tell me that they would like to offer me a spot on the Mom Squad for their Mommy Madness campaign and all of the details. I heard her say (although it didn't compute right away) "We would like our moms to drive a Chevy Traverse for 8 weeks...pay for gas...spa treatment...other mommy mission...vote for your favorite mom." Imagine me eyes wide open, mouth agape! My first reaction was "this can't be real!" I told Jason about everything and vowed not to mention it (I did tell a few close friends) until I was certain it was real!

A week later, we started getting our paperwork and a few prospective dates. I still sat on them since I was still uncertain of it all. Another week went by and that is when the ball really started rolling! We were told we could announce our participation in the campaign and that we would have our new Traverses the following Thursday (last Thursday).

To my utter amazement and shock I drove out of the CBS Studio parking garage last Thursday in a brand new Chevy Traverse! The other moms and I (minus one who was out of town) all got to meet along with the CBS Radio and GM executives (all of them fellow moms) working on the campaign. We also got to meet several of the radio personalities that will be promoting the Mommy Madness campaign on the air waves and making announcements about our blog posts. We were given our Mommy Madness packets which were filled with some really cool stuff and also given a really cool video recorder to film our adventures with!

Can you believe it?!

What an honor, what an experience! We were told that they reviewed over 200 mommy blogs in the Houston area and that ours were the best. Thank you Jesus!

So now what...

We will be continuing to post our blogs and video over the next 8 weeks on our experiences driving a Chevy Traverse. I will be posting here, on my home blog, and most importantly on the Mommy Madness website. Bookmark that page and don't forget to vote for your favorite mom! You can vote as many times as you wish! Each vote will enter you into a drawing for a girl's getaway weekend (you, or your wife/significant other/some girl you know, and 3 friends) to the Barton Creek Resort in Austin, TX. Not bad for the click of a mouse! Also if you are in the Houston area (or just feel like driving here), you can get a free massage from Massage Envy by test driving the Traverse! To do this go to your Houston area Chevy dealer and request to test drive the Traverse. When you come back from your test drive you will have your certificate waiting for you! Trust me you'll love it...and you'll enjoy the massage too!

Houston Mom Squad

I've mentioned several times that I am on the squad but have yet to give you the names of the other 4! Here they are!

Larami Serrano of The Alpha Team
Angie Siders of A Slice of Life
Christine Meeker of Christine Meeker Photography
Stephanie Click of Real Life Mom

They are all extraordinary women and it is an honor to be in their company and on the Mom Squad with them!

You can also check out the other two Mommy Madness campaigns going on in Dallas and Kansas City!

Please feel free to leave your questions and comments! I will try to answer the questions as they come in!

This was the first trip to Stroller Strides for the Traverse! The moms were all excited to see it drive up! My giant double Bob stroller fit perfectly in the back!

Mommy Madness Begins!

Thursday afternoon I nervously walked into a room filled with CBS Radio personalities and representatives, GM representatives, and moms who like me were still in shock that we were there!

I was excited and nervous and listened and watched in amazement to our presenters who outlined our new role as the Mom Squad!

Here in Houston, there were 200 moms considered and 5 selected for the campaign. They chose us based on our blogs (they selected me for my Moms Living Fit blog).

During the presentation, I could not stop smiling! I don't think any of us could! We went through all of the details of Mommy Madness, were given really cool digital video recorders along with some other goodies...and of course the keys to a new Chevy Traverse!

After a quick elevator race (my team won by the way) we made our way out to an arrangement of Chevy Traverses sitting in a circle at the top of the parking garage! Talk about picture perfect (I didn't get a picture)!

I am still amazed that we all drove off in a new Traverse and it is sitting in my driveway! I think it will take a few weeks for it all to sink in...and then it will be time to give it back!

In the meantime, I am excited to get started in my blog and video posts on the Mommy Madness website!

4 of the 5! One of the moms was out of town. From left to right this is Larami Serrano, Christine Meeker, Angie Siders, and me!

I got the silver one! Stay tuned for the video tour!

Larami and Christine...we all piled into Angie's car to get our "walk-around". I'm sure the Julie, our GM representative felt like she was talking to excited 4 year olds! We couldn't sit still!

Angie was very excited to get the purple one! It is her favorite color!

My new (for 8 weeks) Chevy Traverse making itself at home!

I will post all of the details and answer the many questions I have received! If you listen to 100.3, 96,5, and/or 95.7 radio stations, listen for announcements about our blog posts and adventures in the Traverse!

Follow along and vote for us on the Mommy Madness website starting April 20th!

CBS Radio and Chevrolet Campaign - Mommy Madness

Wow! I am shaking as I write this! I have been sitting on this announcement for a few weeks and finally got the green flag to blog about it! I have been picked along with 4 other moms here in Houston to participate in a campaign for CBS Radio and Chevrolet! I will be part of the "Mom Squad" and will be driving a Chevrolet Traverse for 8 weeks! The Mom Squad has to blog and post pictures and video on our website MommyMadnessHouston.com starting on April 20th about our adventures in motherhood with a Traverse! Needless to say I am very excited!

From April 20th - June 14th, you will be able to view all of our blog posts on the website AND vote for your favorite mom (aka Vote for Me)! Those who submit votes will be entered into a contest to win a getaway weekend and/or a massage!

We are supposed to be receiving our Traverse this Thursday at the CBS Studio! Until I have the Traverse parked in my driveway I am still a little nervous about it all so please say a prayer that everything goes well! I will be posting in triplicate about my adventures with the campaign on this blog, my Moms Living Fit blog (where CBS found me), and of course on the Mommy Madness website!

There are three Mommy Madness campaigns going on in the US right now with Houston being one of them and the other two in Dallas and Kansas City (if you were interested in those).

Again, say a prayer for me! I'll be keeping you posted!