LaurieWrites

Hi. We're Your Serve Clever Girls

This post is sponsored by Serve from American Express. Sign up for Serve and receive $10 credit towards your first use. Comment below within the next 7 days for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account!

*****************

Serve works well if you know what you're doing. 

Ahem. 

When Clever Girls told me I was going to be part of the #CleverServe project, I was psyched. Things are nuts around here, and also, given the holiday, money is...well, what money is: a fun, elusive thing that allows you to eat well and have fun but is not unlimited and nor are those blasted elves on shelves bringing any extra for kicks (at least not that I know of.) So it was really cool to be able to invite Jean, Sue, and Sarah to a nice dinner at Grapeseed Bistro in Bethesda to try out the Serve card. These are three of the busiest working moms I know, and I jumped at the chance to spend some time with them. 

Also, wine. 

Dinner was great, as it always is at Grapeseed. My favorite thing was a Mediterranean wine pairing that kicked off the night beautifully, and the pork shank that was thankfully more memorable for how delicious it was than it sheer size. We sat and ate and drank and talked for a few hours, which as you know if you're trying to grab any kind of time with friends in December is a gift itself. 

Then oysters with bacon buerre blanc. And I told you about this pork shank. 

Seriously, so full. 

I had activated my Serve card, and hoped I'd done it correctly because after all the wine and the oysters and the pork, well, no logistics, please. 

And that is where I think I screwed up. Rather than go with the best, and intended, usage of the card, which is to split and easily reimburse people for dinner, I just thought I'd cut out the middleman and pay for the meal. 

I am a dumb, dumb sugar sort of mama. 

For some reason the card was only approved for part of the amount in the account, and therefore part of the cost of the meal. This left about $100 left over, which left Sarah and Sue in charge of making up the difference, and me, aka Failed Sugar Mama, trying to sort out the whys and wherefores with a waiter who probably hated me and my Serve card. 

(This is entirely my fault and not Serve's.) (Please don't blame me if you go to Grapeseed with your Serve card and they process it, but look terrified while doing so. All my fault.) 

Jean would like you to know that this was all my fault. 

Anyway, the cool thing about this, and the silver lining and the cherry on top, etc., is that I was just able to go into my Serve account and reimburse Sue and Sarah from the account. And voila, that is, apparently, how the card is supposed to work, which is the point that I missed although it was clearly pointed out to me several times. 

Is it New Year's yet? 

So all things considered, this card is cool if you use it correctly, plus it's hooked up with American Express, so it's easy to get any problems resolved and customer service is solid. The neat thing about it is if you do split dinners, amounts can be reimbursed to bank accounts right from the table, via the Serve app, or you can handle it from a desktop later, as I did. Also, sign-up was very easy, the card came very quickly in the mail, and all communication was great. 

You just have to read the directions, Laurie. (These directions would have told me to go to the Serve blog to figure out just what in the world I was doing, and also that I'd get an extra $50 credit to somehow embarrass myself with if I referred a friend! And if you comment below? You'll be entered in a giveaway to win a $100 credit to a brand new Serve account. So do it! If you want to know more, they're of course on Facebook and Twitter too.) 

And all in all I don't think the ladies were too bothered by it. They  hang out with me enough to know to expect some...gaps here and there. 

Also, wine. 

*****************

Remember to sign up for Serve and receive $10 credit towards your first use. Comment below within the next 7 days for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account! Official sweepstakes rules and regulations may be found by clicking here. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

 

Luminous App -- Women Like Me? (Review)

Thank you to Karizmac Luminous for sponsoring this review. For more information about Karizmac Luminous please visit http://www.karizmac.com/luminous.html.

One of the things they teach you in counseling school is how to administer personality assessments, which means you have to take them, too.  Some of us -- i.e., me -- become more obsessed with this activity than others. 

I'm a Myers-Briggs ENFP, a seven with a dash of four on the Enneagram, and my Holland Code is SAE (that's Social-Artistic-Enterprising, for the record. I am always in the market for Conventional and Realistic friends to balance me out.) I've never met a quiz I didn't like, unless it involves math, and especially if it involves a little bit of self-analysis. Never let it be said that my examined life is not worth living, put it that way. So when I got a chance to check out the Luminous app, I said sure, sign me up. 

This new app give you basic assessment questions in six areas -- Interpretation, Perspectives, Dynamics, Reflections, Clarity and Vision. You pick two categories per "game", and answer questions in each. You can respond "agree" or "disagree" to questions like "In a male-dominated field, you must use your power as often as you can."

Well, I happen to agree with that. So when I click to that effect, it tells me that my choice implies "Focus" and that this characteristic puts me in the same league as Missy Elliott.

I can live with that.

After you're finished comparing areas, the app makes you a "Charisma Map" that charts your characteristics in a constellation graphic. This is the part where I got lost. It's pretty, but I couldn't figure out how to access any additional information, and that was pretty much where the fun ended for me. It also indicated that I had "bonus points" but I wasn't sure how I got them or what that meant. 

The app is large. You need a wireless or laptop connection to download it to your iPhone, so after a little bit of drama with working that out, I was all set. I would say my primary criticism of it, besides the size, is that some of the language is a bit archaic, heteronormative and not so forward thinking. I don't mind being compared to Pink (I so don't) but I don't like the criteria to include the phrase "angry girl," and I'm pretty sure that disagreeing with "don't reveal your true self until you've landed the man of your dreams" makes me rebellious. Also, the women in the mix could be a bit more diverse. 

I can't say I didn't learn anything, though -- besides the fact that I have some apparent similarities to Betty Boop (nah), Miss Piggy (duh) and Carrie Underwood (seriously?) The descriptions of women in history were my favorite part, because I'm a hardcore geek and I like having examples of kickass women to add to my mental file. I didn't know who Dona Gracia Nasi was, but she "steered one of the foremost banking houses of Renaissance Europe," and is credited with saving thousands of Jewish people during the Inquisition. My belief that one woman can change the world is apparently something I have in common with her. 

Not something I needed an app to tell me, but I guess it never hurts to be reminded. 

While Karizmac Luminous provided me with the app to review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Karizmac Luminous, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

Girls for Change, My Sister, and Your (Hopefully) New Yahoo Homepage

The following is a post sponsored by Yahoo! Every time someone clicks here to make Yahoo! their homepage, they're showing their support for Girls For A Change. I was selected for this opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

########

I'm not a bandwagon kind of girl. The things that are close to my heart and about which I will open my mouth become that way for very personal, and often unexpected, reasons.

I'm also not about easy answers and quick fixes. My life has included neither of these things the vast majority of the time, again, for very personal, and often unexpected, reasons.

So when someone tells me that by doing something as simple as swapping out my homepage for the old-school Yahoo variety that I can help an organization that helps girls achieve personal and professional goals? And can I please share this message with the random eyes that happen to read my website so I can encourage others to do that too?

Sure. No-brainer. Sign me up.

This initiative from Yahoo! that I'm talking about today supports Girls For Change:

“Girls For A Change (GFC) is a national organization that empowers girls to create social change. We invite young women to design, lead, fund and implement social change projects that tackle issues girls face in their own neighborhoods. GFC empowers girls for personal and social transformation. The program inspires girls to have the voice, ability and problem solving capacity to speak up, be decision makers, create visionary change and realize their full potential."

Why do I care about this? Well, first of all, I was a girl and now I'm an older girl who cares about other women of all ages.  I was lucky enough to have enough smarts and motivation to do well in school, and I was compassionately directed in a family that cared about me. I was encouraged to pursue a profession of some kind that would allow me to contribute what I knew and what I felt and cared about in the service of other people. I went to a high school that focused on service, and I eventually went into a helping profession as a counselor, working with families coping with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias at the beginning of my career, and then with college students. Along the way I also learned to tell stories in words and pictures. If there is a loose theme to my writing and photography, I guess you could say, it's a reflection of people relate to each other to help make life a little bit easier (along with the usual complaining on random days and yapping about lunch.)

But I still could have done more. I can always do more. And in my "real job" as a teacher and counselor for college students, I see every day ways in which young women (boys too, but for our purposes today we're discussing the ladies) need to be encouraged. They deserve to be encouraged. Regardless of socioeconomic status and cultural background, girls can surely benefit from support and opportunities to succeed and be healthier, happier, more productive human beings. But also, and what I find most key about the GFC mission, is that it allows for them to be actors. It allows for them to decide the priorities and goals, and to design the projects and initiatives that support them. It helps them to find ways to channel their own skills and interests to support others.

And I have to tell you? Here on the front lines? I'm not sure they always know how to act. They often don't have the resources or the direction or the support that allows them to use their amazing skills to the best of their ability. Maybe they're marginalized at home or at school. Maybe they're shy. Maybe they don't feel comfortable with their level of English fluency or acceptance in the cafeteria. Maybe mom and dad didn't go to college and, as much as they want them to, they're not sure how to get them there.

The road is long and varied, for everyone. We could all use a lot of help along the way, honestly.

And while I might complain about the nuns in my early schools, I'll grant them one thing: someone opening the door for your abilities to serve others is priceless. In my life, I have found nothing more powerful than the times I have been able to do this in both small and large ways, and I have seen this happen for my students, friends, family members, and colleagues when it's happened for them, too.

Because I don't know about you, but I don't know when I've felt better, when I've felt more capable, when I've felt more able to step out of the problems and issues and tiny little world that sometimes makes me sick of myself, than when I've been able to support someone else.

We can all change our homepage. We can all click a link. And of course, much more, but at least that, I think.

This week, I'm doing it with my favorite the "girl for change" in mind. My sister got married on Saturday. Her wedding was a testament not only to her love for my brother-in-law and to his for her, but a celebration of the power of family, a faith community that suits them, and the work they both do as educators deeply interested in social justice.

In college, Katie discovered the work of Eve Ensler, the creator of The Vagina Monologues, and did her senior thesis on this play that has gone out into the world as a constant reminder of the price of violence against women and the need to continually shape a message of personal power and the necessity of cultural, political and social action amid threats to safety around the world.

One of our best days together was the 10th anniversary V Day celebration in New Orleans in 2008.

Our mother was with us that weekend. Raised in the 50s and 60s with no strong overt message of feminism in her own life, she nonetheless enthusiastically raised two independent, strong spirits,  profoundly disturbed by inequities of all kinds, and allergic to the notion that anything is more or less possible because we are women. (Well, maybe a little more. Ahem.) Whatever is possible is so because we are who we are, nothing more, nothing less. Do not offer us less money for what we do. Do not discount our opinions or our contributions. Do not pretend that you can't hear us speaking. Just don't.

It was exhilarating to see my mother hear the stories and songs in a space where she would never have gone without my sister, and for her to see what mattered so much to her that she chose to take on graduate study in women's studies.It was a powerful, intergenerational weekend, not just for us, but for the thousands of other women there (and I have to admit that ending up "accidentally on purpose" in the after-party and watching Mom dance with Jane Fonda to "I'm Every Woman"? Never regret, ladies. Never regret.)

My sister is working on her Ph.D now. She has chosen to study the cultural traditions of the women of the Gullah community in the lowcountry of the Eastern United States (the Carolinas and Georgia, mostly) and is well on her way to becoming a preeminent scholar in this field. She has crossed traditional gender and racial lines to do this work, moved by story and by tradition. She has been welcomed into sacred spaces,  I have no doubt, because of her level of empathy and intelligence. She is a force to be reckoned with. I am extremely impressed with her. 

On my favorite day, I was visited her classroom at San Diego State, where she taught an introductory women's studies class as a graduate student. In that hour it was awesome to see her practice the particular activism and service that a committed educator embodies. I saw her students relate to her as they only relate to a great teacher. I saw her connect effortlessly. I saw her reach out to a girl or two at the end who were struggling. Made me cry a little, can't lie.

Change your homepage, please. I did. Keep doing whatever it is that you are doing for the girls in your house, in your city, in your world. How are we talking to them? How are we helping them be better than we are even? That's what I'm thinking about, because I've been slacking and I could stand to reach out a little more. Learn more about Girls for Change and projects in your community here.

##################

I don't know about you, but I'm not so good with details. So if you want to know what's up with Girls for Change and Yahoo, plus the nitty gritty details about how to switch your homepage, read on below (disclosure: most of these are not my words, but a few are here and there, because I want you to know that even though the organizations doesn't belong to me, the desire to help a worthy effort most certainly does):

About This Campaign

Yahoo! will donate $10 to Girls For A Change (GFC) for each person who clicks here to make Yahoo! her homepage by July 1...up to an amazing $10,000! We're counting on you to help us find 1,000 people willing to make a change worth $10,000 to this fantastic cause.

About Girls For A Change

Clever Girls Collective selected GFC as the non-profit for this generous Yahoo! campaign because it matches our mission of empowering women to help each other. Clever Founder Sheila Bernus Dowd was a GFC volunteer and member of the advisory board, so we have first-hand experience with their commitment to helping girls become community leaders. Here's how they describe themselves:

Making Yahoo your homepage offers...

1. Personalized content: The Yahoo! homepage delivers you the most relevant content based on your interests, time of day, and what’s most popular with other users like you.
2. Your World and The World: The Yahoo! homepage uniquely brings together your world (your email, local news) with the world around you (current events, entertainment news, financial updates and more)
3. Human Interest: Articles on the homepage have a human approach – more than just news, it delivers human interest stories that you just have to click on.

Cube Dog Review -- Cute, Purple, Different

Thank you to Cube Dog for sponsoring this review. For more information about Cube Dog please visit the Facebook page or download it on iTunes.

My Cube Dog Cubano (whatever! Like you're more creative than I am. Um...) is cute. That's the word I keep coming back to. He's cute when he is napping.

He's cute when he wants to be left alone.

Okay, so maybe he's not so cute when he's coming at me with Chinese stars and clubs.

But you can't say he's not multi-faceted.

Cube Dog is an iPhone app that's really more of an animated dress-up opportunity than a game. I had fun constructing my dog -- from what I can tell you can make up to three at a time, but I got a little attached to Cubano and have spent my time interacting with him. I'm a creature of habit, what can I say? You can pick different colors for your cubes, and give the dogs (Cube Dog, get it?) different facial features and accessories.

There is a "Cube Dog Store" where you can add on features, and while I turned down one expansion pack that costs a somewhat-pricey-for-an-app-feature $2.99, I did fork over .99 for a "Parts Pack" that includes "all 84 parts." I'm a sucker for options, apparently, but I may be a little concerned about the plethora of add-ons that I'd probably have a hard time stopping my child from adding on.

I  like the photo option a lot, and it's fun to be able to take a picture of yourself with your dog. If my hair hadn't been in the state it was in when I was interacting with Cubano, I'd have shown you that feature, too. Maybe next time.

If I had a Cube Dog wish, it would be for a more interactive component. Call me needy, but I really just wanted him to do more after I got him all gussied up. But I have to say this was more fun than I expected, and I'm sure I'll be hanging out with Cubano and his yet-to-be-constructed pals from time to time.

Don't forget to keep an eye out for the Cube Dog facebook contest between June 13 - 17th!

While Cube Dog provided me with the app to review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Cube Dog, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.