The Wedding Singer

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008, 11:06 am

My wedding is so close I can hardly believe it. It's less than two weeks away. We're pretty much set on most of the details and I can't wait!  The one thing I still need to do is come up with a track list for the karaoke portion of the reception (yes, I briefly considered having the entire wedding orchestrated in karaoke style, but it was really hard to find a karaoke minister…) — the trick is, in order to avoid having someone sing “Cat Scratch Fever” or something by Eminem at our wedding celebration, I’d like to restrict the song selection to love songs. Yeah, I know, I’m such a drag… While making such a list sounds really easy, it’s … not. Especially when you want to have a lot of songs so as to make it seem like people have a lot of choices even though you are stifling their inner diva. Luckily my awesome friend Lauren from work is an expert in all things cheesy and cool, especially when it comes to music (plus did I mention she happens to be an ABBA-ologist? It’s true.) and provided a quick list to get me started. Check out some of her picks:

Wedding Bell Blues - The 5th Dimension
Even the Nights are Better - Air Supply
I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do - ABBA
Lady - Little River Band
If I Can’t Have You - Yvonne Elliman
God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain & Teneille
You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate
I Love You - Climax Blues Band
Hopelessly Devoted to You - Olivia Newton-John
Kiss is On My List - Hall & Oates
More Than a Feeling - Boston

Totally awesome, right? Well, even though I’ve been pretty quiet about all of this wedding planning stuff, this is the audience participation portion of the program so I’m asking you, Internet people, nay — begging you — for help in adding the best karaoke love song choices to add to the list. I know you probably have your own private list of favorite karaoke love songs, so leave your suggestions in the comments and help me out!

Tags: karaoke, song, music, wedding, list

They Take the Cake

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008, 5:08 pm

Last week the community team, including the community managers, communty moderators and support staff, gathered in NYC for our annual conference. It was a busy, but fun time, full of meetings -- both of the office kind and of the "hey, so THAT's what you look like in person" kind. Our wonderful PR team always goes above and beyond to take care of the group while they're in town and this year was no exception. From travel arrangements to goodie bags to food and entertainment, they think of every detail. Knowing this as I do, I should have suspected something, but didn't even think that Kristie and Mary Ellen would surprise me with a lovely cake to commemorate my upcoming wedding. It was a great cake with an awesome filling -- and it was HUGE. Luckily we had several of the editorial staff and folks from other departments to help us take care of that. Thanks to Kristie, Mary Ellen and everyone for the well-wishes!

Tags: wedding, community conference, thank you, cake

What's *your* iVillage Story?

Thursday, May 8th, 2008, 10:46 am

As the Director of Community here at iVillage, I know first-hand just how powerful the experience of finding 24/7 support, advice, friendship and women like you can be. We see examples of this each and every day on our message boards. Whether it's a first-time mom finding advice on getting her child to sleep through the night or a woman facing a new diagnosis of breast cancer, the experience and compassion of the iVillage community is often the support network that women turn to. I've long been awestruck and proud of the connections that are made in our community and this is why I'm so excited we're bringing these stories into the spotlight with our Voices from the Village project. We've selected six women around the boards who have graciously offered to star in their own short videos to tell us their stories. Be sure to view these videos and I think you will agree that they are not only heartwarming, but inspiring as well.

Tonight I'm honored to be able to attend a local event for one of our long-time members and community leaders, Lauren Sue (aka cl-lsb210).  Lauren Sue's an amazing woman with an amazing story and I'm very much looking forward to sharing her story with her friends, family and community -- not to mention meeting her in person.

Share your own iVillage story and tell us what your iVillage experience has meant to you -- has there been a special message board community that has helped you through a tough time? Or a best friend that you met right here on iVillage? We want to hear *your* story!

Tags: ivillage, community, story, voices

M is for the Many Gifts She Gave Me...

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008, 2:40 pm

I can't believe it's May already and that Mother's Day is just around the corner! In honor of Mother's Day, we've created a special profile style to celebrate. You can add it by logging into your Connect profile and clicking on "Styles". Speaking of Mother's Day, it's also a great time to honor not only your mom and moms in general, but also to give a shout out to all of those who make life as a mom a little easier by providing encouragement, help and support -- your momtourage. Check out what others have to say about their mom network and tell us who's in your momtourage.

Who Doesn't Love Cookies?

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008, 7:57 pm

Today was my daughter's 11th birthday. We did the cupcake and party thing on Saturday (at the bowling alley) and went out to breakfast before school today (at the friendly local Cracker Barrel). Still, what's a birthday without a little something sweet, covered in icing and laced with sprinkles? I thought these cookies fit the bill and were delicious. Similar to this recipe, these sugar cookies are soft and very cake-like -- a lot like Lofthouse cookies or those you might pick up in your local bakery.  But actually, between you and me, these are much better because they were made by Mom. Not that I'm biased or anything... 

Tags: birthday, food, cookies