And I asked myself - How did I get here? or Contemplating existentialism at Knott's Berry Farm

I have not been to Knott's Berry Farm in about 18 years. Growing up in LA, we did go there a lot as "older younger kids", tweens and teens. Fast roller coasters, scary Halloween parties - all the things beloved by the 8-20 year old range. 

This weekend we had the chance to visit Knott's and their child-friendly Halloween-themed "Camp Spooky" (normally Camp Snoopy). My kids were thrilled to try a new amusement park and I was curious to see how the park has changed over the years. You know, the whole "seeing things through your adult eyes" experience. 

Being 8 1/2, Lucas is just now entering the roller coaster phase of life. Being a whole 52 inches tall, his world is now open to the amazing world of being strapped in and propelled down metal tracks at high speeds. He had his first taste of a pure coaster-induced adrenaline rush after his first loopy-loop earlier this year, and the boy is addicted. A few years back we realized that Jason can no longer do roller coasters. While I think in his early 20s he attributed the post-ride migraines and vomiting to the Jagermeister they were drinking in the parking lot, in his late 20's it became clear that wasn't the case. He just can't handle the speed and loops. Which leaves me to ride with Lucas…

Sunday found us staring at coasters with drops of up to 109 feet and loops that just keep going. Talking about going on a coaster is nothing compared to standing next to it and seeing how it spins, drops and flips you over in real life, and I think Lucas was a little relieved to learn he was still too short for a few of the bigger ones. But the one that I {kinda} forced him onto was the classic Montezooma's Revenge. One of the oldest coasters at Knott's, this ride holds a special place in my heart. Walking through the waiting area (lines were nonexistent since we were there so early) I was flooded with memories of my 12 year old self waiting in line with my friends for that same ride. I remember we were there for my BFF's birthday, flushed with hormones and wearing a neon yellow and lace sweatshirt with a scrunchy around my wrist as we waited in these hot long line with our "boyfriends" at the time ('cause you know it was serious at 12…) excited to maybe hold hands on the ride. I remember feeling SO GROWN UP because Debbie's mom had let us go off by ourselves at the park - that taste of controlled freedom craved by all tweens. 

"SO GROWN UP."

That was the feeling that stopped me in my tracks as I was now, at 37, going on the same ride, walking though the same area with my 8 1/2 year old child. Standing there, I felt the urge to yell "This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful car!" Because, really? How did I get here? And while we are contemplating these heavy, existential questions - why are neon yellow lace sweat shirts back in style?? 

*****

My kids had a fabulous time at Knott's Berry Farm on Sunday. Camp "Spooky" was perfect for Zoe - the rides and decorations were perfectly fitted to her (almost) 5 year Halloween sensibilities. Being that we were lucky to be there bright and early before the park even opened to the public, we were able to go on almost every ride we wanted to. We hadn't even left the parking lot before the questions of "when can we go again?" started from the backseat. 

*disclosure: Knott's Berry Farm was nice enough to host us, and other bloggers, for a fun day at the park to promote their kid-friendly Halloween activities. Opinions and memories are my own. 

Yes, We NEED to Take a Disney Cruise

A few weeks ago I had the rare pleasure of boarding the Disney Wonder as it sailed to far off Bora Bora was ported in San Diego. This occasion marked the first time the Disney Cruise line docked in San Diego, on a special Pixar cruise of the California coast. As we toured the ship, the one thing I kept thinking was "WHEN are we going?"

I've never been on a cruise before, but I will say that Disney sold me hands down on not only taking a cruise, but doing it the Mickey way. Not only is the cruise 100% DISNEYTASTIC, but it seems like it would be a trip the entire family would enjoy. While I'm not sure I really need to talk Jason into taking this magical journey on the sea, if you are thinking about taking a cruise, here are my top reasons why Disney Cruises are the way to go:

• 100% Family Friendly - Disney takes family friendly to a new level. With every little detail thought of for every age and height, a Disney cruise allows everyone to have a vacation. Parents - when was the last time you really relaxed on a vacation? Oh, the one without the kids? Yeah...vacations with young kids are about as relaxing as being at home - and you have to pay to eat and you're all in one room. Disney cruises offer the longest complimentary child care of any cruise line - with facilities often open until midnight for "Goofy Slumber Parties" so parents can enjoy a little time off the clock. (As in "go hang out in one of three adult only bars".)
• Personal Service - On a Disney cruise, you are assigned a server that travels with you to all of your pre-determined dining experiences (if you chose to go - you can always eat at the buffet or order room service too!). Why is this cool? Because these people get to know you and your needs. Like for me - they would never offer me a tomato and always have a glass of chardonnay waiting upon my arrival. (I kid. Kinda. Not really.) But that's great with kids too. If your kids are antsy, they will know to have food waiting for them. If they know you don't allow dessert every night, they won't even offer. Little personal services that makes traveling with the family easier for all involved.
• Mickey Bands - The techy in me geeked out over this, but upon checking into the ship, each child gets slapped on the wrist with a Mickey Band - a "lo-jack" for your kid. If you are worried that your kid is going to fall off the ship when no one's looking, this is perfect to put you at ease. But mainly it's so your kids have the freedom to roam the secured kids' areas (all connected with hallways only accessible to kids and Disney counselors). If you drop your kid off at one side, but they decide to head to another area, the counselor at the front will be able to check and immediately tell you where Jr. has run off to.
• Wave Phones - another genius techy tool! So, apparently your cell phones don't work when you are crusing (duh, right? But I never thought of it!) so in each room there are two "Wave Phones" available for your family to use to stay connected while on the ship.
• Pirate Night - Yes, I would chose a Disney Cruise for Pirate night alone. Who doesn't want to get dressed up and have a pirate theme dinner, dance party and fireworks on a cruise ship?!

All in all the experience upon the Disney Wonder ship seemed to be the perfect {family} trip. The only negative part I could see was the experience of having to leave the ship at the end of the day - it was hard going back to my daily life even after just a few hours.

Is it too late to chuck it all become a cruise ship performer?

For more information on Disney Cruises, visit their website.

For detailed information on the Disney Wonder ship, please visit here.

*This is not a sponsored post and besides being served lunch, I was not compensated in any form for this post.

In Defense of PR: View from A Blogger / PR Practitioner

When I was 24 I got my first real PR agency job. The agency was one of the hottest and fastest growing in the San Diego tech sector. We had red walls, a fully stocked refrigerator and "team-building outings." The CEO had her slew of 20-something girls in little business suits, lined up in their cubes pitching, writing and trying to figure out what the hell a 802.11 repeater was. 

Let me tell you a little about Public Relations... see, there has always been a misunderstanding of what it really means. 

Public Relations is the forward facing communicator for a company, brand or product. This department writes the news of the company and spins it to make it a good story for public consumption. PR professionals are paid to get news to journalists in such a way that a journalist wants to write about it.

But the reality is that for every piece of news, you are lucky if you get one - five publications to cover it. So you constantly build your list of contacts through journalists who write similar stories, cover your client's competitors or look to understand the space you are in. And part of an overall plan is keeping journalists informed on news information and story ideas by "blasting" pitches to lists. Are the lists perfect? Never. Does a PR person try their hardest to keep the lists as clean and relevant as possible? They should.

A common complaint I hear is that the pitch isn't personalized enough. PR people use massive data bases - Cision and Vocus to name a few - to form their lists. These databases have very, very basic information listed about journalists and, more recently, bloggers. Mainly keywords and a snippet from your bio. When a PR person searches through the system to build lists, they will search for general phrases. A shampoo company may search for things like "beauty products" and "reviews" - so if your niche is organic-only products, your name may slip through the cracks and your name added to the list. Why? Because the bio on the database may make you look like the IDEAL CUSTOMER for this shampoo and there is a chance - maybe only a slight one - that you will want to write about their story/brand/product. 

And journalists write these articles at no cost to the company/brand/product. 

Yes. Journalists write for FREE. 

Well, kinda. See, it's the job of the journalist to fill the publication they write for with valuable news and information to get people to buy and subscribe to their publication. In the PR world if you want to pay for content, that's an advertorial, or a straight up ad. Technically, it's considered unethical for traditional journalists to even get gifted with products and services.

Here is where PR people and bloggers don't see eye-to-eye.

Bloggers see it as "I have this amazing platform that I've worked my ass off to get to the point it's at, why would I talk about your product, post pictures of your brand and include links to your sites for free?" To a blogger, it's like Revlon asking Vogue to run it's ads for free.

But honestly, in traditional PR, the company would never think of paying for journalistic coverage at publications like Wall St. Journal or Allure. And there is the tipping point. 

So what is a blogger and a PR person to do?

First, we need to keep in mind that both of us are humans, prone to mistakes. How would a blogger feel if a PR person blasted them across social media, or sent an email to 300 PR reps about the professionalism of the blogger? Another thing bloggers need to keep in mind is that today's PR associate is tomorrow's Marketing Manager with a $500,000 blogger relations budget. 

Additionally, as the blogosphere is growing and as we bloggers are trying hard to make a dime, many of us will become the brand/product/company. And we all know who the bloggers are we would want to work with... if you are negative and bitching, would you want to work with you based on what you've said on various platforms?

The thing we all need to keep in mind is that daily, our scope is is changing and morphing into something it wasn't yesterday. We all need to figure it out together, to get us all to the point where we think we should be. 

But this change isn't going to happen overnight. So we all, Bloggers and PR reps, need to work together until that day comes. And I have a few suggestions for bloggers to ease the frustration.

1) Check and see if you are listed in PR databases. If so, contact them with the information you want noted. If you don't like getting press releases - you can put that in your bio. Make sure the databases have the information YOU want noted.

2) Have a full disclosure sheet and few sentence information about how you work with brands easily found on your website. Figure out for yourself what you will do on a straight publicity front, and what you charge for. 

3) NEVER ask for money to review products. Both the integrity of the brand and the blogger are hurt by paid reviews. Obviously you need product to even write a review, but  be up-front with the PR person that just because product is sent, they are not guaranteed a review or mention. 

4) Be professional. Don't take on everything. It's OK to just delete emails that are not right for you. It's ok to email back and asked to be taken off a list for a brand you don't gel with and most of all - it's ok to just say "No Thanks!" 

While I don't want the comments to turn into a bitch session on either side - I would love thoughts from bloggers and PR peeps on this! Did I miss anything? Have you had a great experience you want to share?