A moment in my life…

As I drove away from JFK trying to blink my eyes as fast as I could so I could see the traffic signs from my tears, and pretend for the children’s sake that I wasn’t crying, I couldn’t help by thinking my life once again felt like a movie scene from a Nicholas Sparks novel made into a movie.

We said our goodbyes to my husband at the airport as he already headed to Sweden, and the reality of the entire move hit all of us.
We are really doing this.
We are really moving to Sweden, and little by little, every uncertain thing about this move is revealing an answer and showing green light for go.

I don’t know which one made me want to cry more, the thought of not seeing my husband for a few weeks, or the sound and sight of our children crying on the backseat.

Nomadic life with children can be easy but yesterday was not one of the easiest days. Ever since we talked to kids about the possibility of moving to Sweden they have been adjusting to the idea and getting ready, packing and talking about the move, and I’ve thought how ready they are and I’ve been so proud of them. But yesterday I realized, we still have a lot to do. We have been preparing without really letting go of the everyday life here. And we can’t not truly leave until we have let go.

One thing we did to start taking steps away from life here. We didn’t take kids to school on Friday, and wanted to spend the day together as a family.

You have to understand; you can not pull off this kind of move if the family unit isn’t solid, if we are not there for each others and if we are not doing this together. While we have been busy managing the move, we have also been very strict about keeping the family dinners going, spending relaxing time together, and talking about everything else in life too than just about Sweden and this move. I like to think this nomadic lifestyle has actually made our family unit tighter than most families are. We are used to not having a support group around us and just leaning on each others. And having our family unit break with my husband already leaving for Sweden was tougher than I had expected.

We, too, might have to say farewell to New York and our life in the US sooner than I thought of and this slow transition might not be working for us and we might just have to jump to it, like ripping a bandage off fast, it hurts like hell first, but then it’s done.

Farewells are tough, but I’m taking every moment in and imprinting them in my heart, because life’s good moments would never feel so good if there weren’t moments like this.

In these tough economic times it’s harder than ever to teach children about money management and saving money. So easily we get into living month to month and just try to pay our bills and survive, that even we as adults forget about smart money management and saving money for long term goals. I’m all about living in the moment and enjoying what your money can get you right now, but nobody can live your life worry free when living hand to mouth each month – long term money management and savings are a must! And that’s why establishing the right money management routines and skills for children when they are still young is so important!

Kidworth Teaches Kids About Saving Money

Kidworth is a new website where children can learn to manage money, set up savings goals and get ideas how to reach them. Parents can open a free account for their children at Kidworth, and create a specific account for each kid. Kidworth helps in setting, tracking and sharing money saving goals, and teaches children how to set up goals for specific items they want to buy (like a laptop) or how to set up a money saving goal for money to be shared, for example for a school-fundraiser, or how to best save money for a long term goal like college. Kidworth teaches and inspires kids to use their own efforts, and help from their support network, to save and spend wisely.

Kidworth has several resources for kids – and parents – to learn about money. They also give tips how to make money, like selling your crafts on Etsy. While the site is geared towards children and their goal is to get children educated about money management, they are making it easy for any parent to do it together with their child. Kidworth also supports parents and you’ll find resources how to talk and teach about money with your children and much more.

According to Kidworth children earn an average of $25,000 by the time they are about 18? This money comes from gifts and summer jobs etc. and yet most children have no money and no skill sets to manage money by the time they enter adulthood. This really hit home with me, and I think I never learned the healthy money management skills when I was a child. My parents bought what I needed, we didn’t have allowances, and I never really worried about money. And somehow as a parent I never thought of doing things differently with my children, and am now slowly realizing that having an allowance for kids isn’t such a bad thing and doesn’t have to lead to meaningless spending – but can result to smart saving and learning about money.

What Is Your Kid’s Net Worth? from MediaBlitzz on Vimeo.

I am ready to be a better parent and start taking a better responsibility about teaching my children about saving money and money management, and one of the first steps is going to get very well familiar with Kidworth – together with my children.

What about you? Do you have any tips how to teach children about money?

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post but all of my opinions are my own.

I added several gifts from Scandinavia or with Scandinavian influence in the Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Kids and wanted to highlight some of my favorites from the gift guide, and add a few others as well.

Scandinavian Clothes for Kids

Polarn O. Pyret Wind Fleece Bunting $87 Nordic moms know how to bundle their babies even on the coldest days. One of their secrets is Swedish Polarn O. Pyret and their high quality kids clothing. This fleece bunting makes a cute gift for any baby!

Snowflake or The Elk print mittens $21.50-$25 is another great gift idea from Polarn O. Pyret and follows the Nordic traditions. I got many pairs of mittens like this when growing up for Christmas – knitted by my mother.

Marimekko’s Lumikoja one piece for babies (top right picture) $79 Finnish Marimekko made the original Scandinavian stripe shirt already in the 1950′s and still sells stripes for everyone in the family. If Marimekko’s high prices are not appealing, also Polarn O. Pyret has their own line of classic stripes from socks to underwear to rubber boots.

And when talking about Scandinavian style children’s clothing… Let’s not forget our American alternative for Scandinavian style: Hanna Andersson. This year, check out the classic Swedish moccasins $14 (sale price) or the gorgeous Speaking of Sweden collection, my favorites are the hoodie romper for babies and the sweater dress for girls.

Scandinavian Classics

Scandinavian Suitcase Puzzles $26.59 This beautiful puzzle suitcase has two puzzles in it. You can choose from Finnish Moomin or Swedish Elsa Beskow’s Forest Children Puzzles, both beloved Scandinavian classics.

Maileg Little Brother/Sister Mouse toy Starting $25.75 This cute little mouse from Denmark lives in a match box.

ISAK Fika Cups set $34 Cute heirloom cups in a gift box. Modern and timeless design, perfect for toddler – or adults alike. The designer is originally from Sweden, and her design inspiration is clearly Scandinavian, even though her company is based in UK.

Gingerhaus® Ultimate Gingerbread House Kit $29.95 While this Gingerbread House isn’t coming directly from the North, baking gingerbread cookies is a Scandinavian Christmas tradition you should not miss. If making the gingerbread house from the scratch isn’t for you – this gingerbread house kit from Sur La Table is for you.

Favorite Furniture

Stokke Tripp Trapp Highchair $265 This Norwegian designed chair is worth every penny, and makes a great gift for anyone in the family. We own 3 of these, and all of my children still use them daily, now they have just moved from around the dining table to accompany the school desks. Perfect from starting 6 months old to grandpas.

DODO rocking chair by Oiva Toikka $229 This modern rocking chair is designed by famous Finnish designer Oiva Toikka and manufactured by Magis. Now, only if all kids toys looked like they came from modern art museum.

Angry Birds Gift Ideas from Finland

You can’t go wrong with Angry Birds gifts for kids this year. You may not know this but Angry Birds are from my home country Finland!

Angry Birds: Bad Piggies’ Egg Recipes $10.99 (sale price) This eggcellent cookbook is a must for budding chef at home.

Angry Birds T-Shirts $12.99-$19.99 If cooking isn’t his thing but Angry Birds are the hit in the house – check out the wide selection of Angry Birds t-shirts available on many stores.

Angry Birds: Knock On Wood Game $27.49 I know… you’d rather have your kiddo off the Angry Birds game and the phone.. No problem, there is an Angry Birds gift for that too. This Angry Birds Knock on Wood Game will be fun for smaller Angry Birds fans of the family.

BRIO & LEGO Toys

Two of our family’s favorite toys companies LEGO and BRIO are both from Northern Europe, BRIO from Sweden and LEGO from Denmark, and their toys seem just to get more and more popular in the US as well each year! The best about the Brio and LEGo toys is that they are heirloom quality and your kids’ kids will be able to play with mommy’s or daddy’s toys one day making spending the big bucks for these sets double worth while.

Brio Metro Railway Set $114.81 This Brio train set won several best toy of the year awards in 2011 in Europe, and it is already hard to find in the US and sold out in many places. This link works for now – but order fast if you want to make sure to get it.

BRIO Record and Play Railway Station $68.99 is another great holiday gift idea from BRIO.

LEGO Space Shuttle $30.02 is one of the most inexpensive yet most popular LEGO sets for this Holiday season. But if you think that your home is already filled with LEGOs and adding more building material is not an option, now worries, there are plenty of gift ideas for your LEGO fan that don’t include adding more chaos to the playing area.

LEGO sort and store storage box by Blip $29.99 (sale price) LEGO enthusiasts love this storage box. You can find it from Toys’r'Us and Target for the cheapest.

LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader Mini-Figure Alarm Clock $23.99 (sale price) is another popular gift idea for boys.

LEGO headlamp $11.50 (sale price) No explanation needed, all boys will love the LEGO headlamp.

Note: I use the term “Scandinavia” loosely, and ultimately wrong. Scandinavia technically only consists of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and I refer more to Nordic countries including also Finland and Iceland. As a Finnish person though, I’ve always considered myself as “Scandinavian” and “Nordic” and with very little difference with the words.

Sale Find: momAgenda Mini Calendar
Normal price: $24 Sale price: $12
Shop: momAgenda

50% off select products, plus free shipping at momAgenda.com until 11/13/11.

This is a new feature at Skimbaco Lifestyle. Simple sale alert posts of great deals to help you to save time and money this Holiday season. Many of the deals are available only for a limited time, so don’t wait!

What is an advent calendar?

Advent Calendar is a countdown to Christmas Eve, one day at the time, starting on December 1st.

The Advent Calendar was first used in beginning of the 19th century in Germany and the first handmade advent calendars were made in the mid 19th century. The first printed advent calendars similar what we still see today was printed in the early 20th century. The traditional printed advent calendar has two pieces of cardboard on top of each other and 24 doors on the top layer, that can be opened each day revealing a surprise picture – this is still the most popular one to the date.

Here are some great advent calendars to count down to Christmas this year!

Advent Calendars Kids will Love

Maileg Garland Advent Calendar ($98) is probably my favorite one this year. We have a handmade advent calendar like this, small bags in various red fabrics, but these bags are even more adorable in this Maileg advent calendar from Denmark.

If you’d ask my son – absolutely nothing beats the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar ($38.98) and getting a small LEGO surprise 24 days each day leading to Christmas.

Another kids’ favorite is this “Christmas Post Office” Advent Calendar by Playmobil ($24.99).

Advent Calendars for under $20

Advent calendars are a very popular Scandinavian tradition so of course my favorite Swedish store IKEA also offers an inexpensive advent calendar version. If you have IKEA close by, get your family the Scandinavian inspired YRSNÖ Advent calendar for only $9.99. The Santa Claus has small boxes that you can fill each year.

Basic Christmas Advent Calendar ($8.95) with peel off doors to reveal a new picture each day until Christmas.

This Printable DIY advent calendar $6.50 is inexpensive and looks cute!

Advent Calendars for Anyone!

Advent Holiday Card Holder ($79) is a display with 25 spots for Holiday cards, photos, Christmas time memories or whatever you choose! You can add one each day or you can of course create a card for each day and flip them as you count down the days ’til Christmas.

I featured this Christmas Advent Calendar Tree Holiday Vinyl Decor Wall $26.95 last year but I can’t help but feature it again. Such a great idea to add one ornament at the time until Christmas.

Heirloom Advent Calendars

Marimekko Advent Calendar ($110) is constructed from Maija and Kristina Isola’s famous prints and it has small pockets for each day. Many of the prints have been famous since the 60′s and their timeless beauty will make this one a family favorite for generations to come.

This painted wooden Gingerbread House Advent Calender ($94.95) will bring Christmas charm to your home all month long and you can fill the little cubicles with treats year after year.

Another gorgeous traditional Advent Calendar is this 25 piece set by Villeroy & Boch ($199.95, sale price). You will add one ornament to the porcelain tree each day leading to Christmas.

Sundance catalog exclusive peace & love advent calendar ($325) is a family heirloom for generations to come. Jes MaHarry and Patrick Henderson’s advent calendar is handcrafted in sheet steel, handpainted and embellished with trade beads and leather cord. Their limited edition holiday angel advent calendar is equally cute and it’s your for a much lower price for $198.

Surrender, Dorothy! (let the munchkins lead the way already).

We are the grown-ups. The parents. The Wizards.
And as the grown-ups we’re called to act appropriately “grown up”.

Right?

As the ones in charge, our days are filled with climbing ladders that don’t typically have spiral slides or fire poles or tree houses on the other side.

We support our kids from the sidelines, set the stage and make sure they have plenty of play dates, toys, and educational experiences that will help them grow into creative, well-round big people.

But we rarely take a flying leap into the pond of Playfulness ourselves, unless begged by our kids to join in their fun.

What’s up with that?

Every one of us has an innate, cellular longing to PLAY. To let loose, shake our hair down, surrender to our silly selves, act a bit immature and truly, and not while texting, Laugh. Out. Loud.

If we look just below our well-manicured “grown-up” exteriors, we too yearn for those twisty, thrilling; unpredictable slides on the other side of the ladders we’re all climbing.

But we’re the grow-ups now.
Who has time to play around?

We hear a lot about the mental and physical benefits of being well rested and well feed and well hydrated.
But what about being well PLAYED?

In fact, there may be some serious health benefits hidden just beneath the surface of silly.
Allowing ourselves time to play reduces stress, boosts creativity, releases happy little endorphins and unclogs our uptight selves helping us to slip out of our cranky-pants, and making us all a whole lot more fun to be around. But how do we return to a place of play?

Simple really. We take a cue from the munchkins. Those odd little beings that reside in our homes and crave play like the Kardashians crave attention.

These munchkins of ours, with their curious nature and unbridled energy are a constant reminder that our own playful spirit is anxiously awaiting its release. They welcome us into their world, freely. Usually everyday. They don’t care how silly they look, or who’s watching, or what others may think. They are play personified.

SO I say let the munchkins show you the way. Play with them. Like getting on the floor with the Barbies and Matchbox cars and making awesome sound effects kinda PLAY.

Then use what you’ve learned and Play by yourself. And Play more with your spouse and your friends and your dog and your neighbors. And see what happens.

When we have children we’re dropped head first into this fanciful land of OZ, with a munchkin as Mayor.
A place filled with magic wands and talking trees and flying monkeys. We might as well grab some ruby slippers, sisters, pick up some yellow bricks, and start building.

Guest post by Meredith Sinclair. Meredith Sinclair M.Ed. is the chief blogger/vlogger at Hoo-dee-Hoo.com , a site she calls “a shout out to modern motherhood”. She also blogs at Chicagoparent.com, writes two monthly columns for Chicago Parent Magazine, and is an on-air contributor for ABC-7’s Windy City LIVE, where she shares ideas and advice for Modern Moms.

Guest post by: Cynthia Litman who is hosting a great Tele class about parenting this month.

Being a mother is a journey of self-discovery. Most moms are searching for answers while they are giving them to their children. And what we know may be rendered obsolete as our children evolve.

You don’t have to know every thing, you just have to know yourself.

During my journey as a mother, lawyer, blogger and radio show hostess I’ve discovered four cornerstones to the mysterious parenting knowledge bank that if moms can master, our children, communities and the world at large will be a much more connected, happier and authentic place.

- Generational Wisdom
- Integrating Spirituality into Parenting
- Mastering The Present
- Passing on Gifts to your Children

These cornerstones are our parenting gateways.

Your generational wisdom is your greatest natural inner resource. Our genetic makeup records our family history. Our cells store the collective experience of our ancestry. This makeup comprises our nature. You are a walking history book and your children are the sequels. You can acknowledge or ignore your nature but learn to have fun selecting the best parts and netting out the less appealing aspects. Then observe how your children’s nature evolves and how they tap the reserves of your generational wisdom.

How we nurture affects our nature.

Integrate spirituality into your family’s life and help your family find authenticity. You can read every spiritual book and attend every self-help class but without integrating the lessons the books are better off collecting dust on your shelf. Your family is a perfect practice zone. A good starting place is to practice awareness. Monitor your own parenting style, your limits, emotions and how you perceive yourself. Then observe your children’s responses, limits, emotions and how they perceive themselves. Take simple steps to richer familial relationships.

Once you honor what you discover, your family’s truth will manifest.

Mastering the present is any busy momma’s greatest challenge. All we really have is now. Our children grow and evolve at warp speed and each moment you share with them is a miraculous gift. Being fully present for them, for your self, your spouse, your job no matter what is swirling around you takes work. Mom’s who know best, know that staying calm and centered in your present moment better prepares you for the next moment. Be the eye of your perfect storm.

From our whole-hearted center, our true wealth emerges.

Passing on the gifts to your children is your legacy. The feelings, love and qualities remain imprinted upon our generational line and take the form of a memory, photograph or a hand knitted blanket. Your children will restart the cycle to decode the lessons from your past to serve their present and pass on to future generations. Your gifts may be your children’s curse and vice versa. We simply don’t know whether the lessons we share with them will be applicable to their lives. Yet we hope sharing our gifts will create a beautiful ripple in our family pond.

I practice the four cornerstones daily and not always gracefully.

My journey has helped me build a unique framework to help others incorporate these cornerstones into their family life and reinforce what we innately know.

This is the focus of my new 4 week group tele-call series called i-5 Live!! Starting Nov. 8th and I invite you to join me and go on an inward journey. You will gain practical tools, learn the four cornerstones and feel more connected.

SPECIAL CODE TO GET $5 OFF, use code SKIMBACO in the check-out as my gift to Skimbaco Lifestyle readers.

Guest Post by Cynthia Litman. Cynthia Litman is a working mom of two delicious children and is the spiritual and visionary guide of Mommas Pearls. Cynthia began Momma’s Pearls in 2009 when her grandparents passed away as an outlet to remember and pass down their wisdom and provide support to other everyday busy parents. Mommas Pearls has since dovetailed into the Mommas Pearls blog,talk radio show and M’S Gems.

Are you ready for Halloween? I think every year there is one thing that I am prepared with and then the rest of it… I fail. This year I focused on the costumes but not the decorating and quite frankly I like it that way. I know shocking, especially since I love decorating! However when it comes to Holiday decorating I like seasonal decorating better, and even my typical Halloween decorating isn’t about ghosts and witches but more about pumpkins that I can carry on all the way to Thanksgiving. It’s less stress that way and it also comes cheaper and I rather get a few more expensive nice things than a lot of cheap specific Holiday themed decorations. In an ideal world though I make everything myself. This year I made two costumes from start to finish and it was enough of DIY for me, in fact it felt like a long journey just to get those done!

Making your own Halloween or any other holiday decorations (or costumes) isn’t just about saving money or trying to be thrifty. In fact I think my girls outfits cost more this year because of all the supplies we bought. DIY Holidays is more about spending time together and making the Holiday to come alive together. My girls were so thrilled that they got to design their own costumes, and they loved the personal attention I gave them and making the finishing touches together. And that’s what all Holidays really are about – spending time together and making it special that way.

This year Halloween fall on a Monday and while we all probably would prefer it on a different day, think it this way: you have an entire weekend to make it fun for the kids. If you want to tackle some fun last minute Halloween things with the kids, here are some resources for you to enjoy. My favorite Halloween decorations are the edible ones!

HALLOWEEN FOOD
Lisa’s Pumpkin patch cupcakes look cute and tasty and call for green food coloring that you can use for Christmas baking too. Think multi-use every time you buy craft or baking supplies.

Check out several Halloween party recipes at the Daily Blarg, my favorite is the disgusting bowl of jell-o worms pictured above. Not and easy recipe, but so gross it’s the best thing I’ve seen this Halloween.

DECOR
Kelly has a fast and inexpensive last minute Halloween decor that will spook the visitors: the DIY grave yard stones. (Pictured above on the left)

My favorite pumpkin carving tutorial comes from Tina this year – she made Angry Birds pumpkin using Angry Bird template from their website.

If you don’t have time to go shopping for supplies, no worries, most likely you will find something at home that you can use. Make easy sucker ghosts out of suckers and tissue paper. So easy your kid can do this. If you don’t have lollipops, use different round candy.

If you have white and red candles, Emily shows you can make these creepy Halloween candles in like 2 minutes or less. (Pictured in the middle)

DIY COSTUMES
I admit, these are not the easy-breezy ideas for last minute costumes, but these three are my favorites this year.

Tonya’s DIY superhero costume for her son looks awesome and a bonus is that your son could use the shirt and the pants even after Halloween making it a thrifty choice.

And for your little princess or fairy or whatever girly thingy your girl wants to dress up, check out Lisa’s easy tutu tutorial, this one you can whip up even on Monday.

I created my daughter a spiderweb witch costume out of black sweatshirt, freaky web and a table runner and it’s her favorite costume so far and she made it to the front page of a local newspaper from our town’s Halloween parade with this costume!

If you really want to make an entrance when trick or treating… Check out Gracie’s DIY spider costume, simply amazing.

If you want something simple to get yourself to the Halloween spirit, check out how your nails can turn into creepy bloody mess or spooky mummyfied

As long as you remember – it’s all about spending time together and making it fun, NOT about making it perfect and getting it all done. And Jill has a great reminder… You can make anything fun for kids, read how her kids had the best time playing with Halloween Play-Doh.

I have mixed feelings about this Halloween and motherhood and whether it’s treats or just tricks.

This Halloween I decided to try to be a better mom, and actually try to plan our Halloween a little bit better, at least when it comes to the costumes. About a month of talking and going back and worth and negotiating what is an appropriate costume and what isn’t we finally made it to the Beacon Halloween Parade today, and all three kids dressed in their costumes.

We spent a few days shopping for costumes in the usual mass market stores and the seasonal Halloween costume stores and the selection wasn’t really inspiring so we decided early on to make our own costumes and be as resourceful as possible. Note: I learned that being crafty and doing DIY costumes doesn’t necessarily come with a cheaper price tag, and in fact this year we would have saved a lot of money for just ordering the fancier costumes online.

After we decided to create our costumes we still spend numerous hours trying to find the best supplies for the outfits visiting Target, Walmart, Michael’s and Marshalls, and all of them a few times. I had sort of forgotten that the DIY route is not just a route… it’s like a long journey from initial idea to trying to find the supplies to creating the costume. And each of the girls Halloween costumes too easily 10-12 hours of total shopping and crafting time. What the heck I was thinking, right?

The thing is… I feel like making these costumes was probably the best thing I have done for my kids the entire year. Yes, I have taken them to DisneyWorld (twice), to ski trips, to beach in Cape Cod and many other great experiences and bought them many fancy things from Nooks to designer clothes. We’ve had many great moments this year, yet I think this Halloween costume journey was probably the best so far. Not just because girls got exactly what they wanted, but because they saw that it wasn’t easy for me, but I did it anyways. It wasn’t just buying something and it wasn’t even buying something of high value and then asking for kids to appreciate it because it was expensive.

Girls saw that I took the time, even though I didn’t have the time. Girls saw that I used my imagination and didn’t give up finding the supplies we needed. Girls saw that I did it for them and together with them and let them to be part of the decision process and design process showing them how much I appreciated also their creativity and it wasn’t just about me showing off my crafting skills (or lack of, but you get the point).

But I still have mixed feelings. I do feel like a better mom, but I am entirely exhausted. I started creating a Snow Princess costume this morning at 8AM, which I finished on the afternoon about 20 minutes before the parade started, rushed taking a shower and getting myself ready and took kids to the parade and after coming home started cooking a big pot roast with roasted vegetables and then writing this post. It’s been 10 hours of non-stop mothering and I am entirely beat. What a wonderful day, but I can’t wait for Monday and go to work because I am not as tough boss for myself in any other job in the world than in my job of being a mother.

Makes me think – why I only feel like a good mother on the weekends/days like this when I entirely throw myself to motherhood and when I am physically exhausted because I gave it all that I could? I think this Halloween is throwing tricks on me, because I most certainly am and want to feel like a good mom even when I am not completely exhausted. In fact my kids see my awesomeness in everyday things, shouldn’t I as well?

You already saw pictures and the DIY tutorial to make Isabella’s Spiderweb Witch costume, and here is a picture of Gabriella’s Snow Princess costume. I created it from a flannel sheet with a snowflake print. I probably would have done a little more to it, but I just ran out of time.

Luckily one of the kiddos was easy… Kristian wanted to be Michael Jackson and was pretty low-maintenance!

Here is the entire gang..

Happy Halloween to all of you and especially for all of those hard-working moms who make the magic happen.

Guest post by Lisa Martin.

I am a busy mom. I have kids in two different schools that need to get picked up at two different times. I work from home. I have very little free time, and I don’t get a lot of sleep.

That is why I am always on the lookout for products that make my life easier.

I own a very nice DSL-R camera. However, I have no idea how to use it. I don’t want to have to take a class to learn how to use a camera. It is also big and bulky, and I like a camera that I can throw in my purse or even my pocket for those times when the perfect picture is not something I have planned. Like days you get to wear your fireman hat with your fireman raincoat because it is pouring outside . . . .

The KODAK EASYSHARE Camera is exactly what I have been looking for. The Kodak EasyShare C1530 Susan G. Komen Limited Edition Bundle, is a one-of-a-kind camera bundle from Kodak that features a slim camera case, 4GB memory card and wrist strap with pink ribbons. The white camera with pink accents boasts a 14MP, 3x optical zoom and features Kodak’s innovative Share Button in pink, the official color of Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.

Once connected to a PC, pre-tagged photos will automatically be uploaded to sites like Facebook and KODAK Gallery or can be emailed to friends and family. The Bundle is available for $99.99 for a limited time at http://kodak.ly/KodakKomen and most large online retailers like Amazon and Sears. Kodak will directly support Susan G. Komen for the Cure® with a $4 donation out of every purchase of this camera.

Kodak Easyshare is Intuitive with Good Picture Quality

My thoughts? This camera is easy enough for a 7 year old old to use. How do I know that? I let my 7 year old take it for a spin. It is very intuitive. However, I did still wish it came with a direction guide (which no cameras seem to do nowadays). I had a hard time figuring out to zoom (it is by the button that you click to take a picture), but now I am not sure how I missed that. If you want to pick a specific scene, you have to go into a menu to choose. I am one that prefers it to be a little easier (for example, a button or switch on the camera) to change those settings.

That being said, I took a bunch of pictures on the “Smart Capture” setting, and they look great:

It was raining when I took this picture (hence the water on the petals), and I am quite happy how it turned out.

The way that this camera is configured I don’t find myself accidentally turning it on or changing the settings, because it is in my pocket or purse (which is good, because it takes AA batteries. There is nothing worse than realizing that your camera turned itself on and drained all the battery.).

My favorite feature? It is that share button. There is nothing more annoying than having to first upload your pictures to your computer, and then having to upload them to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. It is normally a time consuming mess. However, this camera made it beyond simple. Take your picture. Hit the share button and pick what networks to share to. Connect to your computer. It does the rest. It literally does not get any easier than that. I can’t tell you how much of a time saver this little feature is. The only thing that could make it better is if the camera could find a wifi signal and do it all for me (and no camera that I know of offers that. Yet.).

Kodak EasyShare C1530 Susan G. Komen Limited Edition Bundle comes with everything you need right out of the box. You don’t have to buy any extra accessories (which is a huge plus in my book!). It is a camera that is easy to use and your purchase helps out a great charity. What more could you want out of your next camera?

Guest post by Lisa Martin. Lisa Martin is a full time blogger and a social media consultant. Her blogs cover a wide variety of topics including travel, cooking, product reviews, and what is going on in her daily life. She has been interviewed by the Chicago Sun Times, The New York Times, and The SouthTown Star. You can read Lisa’s blogs My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings, Lisa Reviews, Lisa’s Travels, and Lisa Cooking.

Disclosure: Lisa received the camera for her review.