We are huge Shawn Johnson fans in our house, she is such a great athletic role model for kids, absolutely adorable and so talented, an Olympic medal winner! Kids and me have been rooting and voting for her during this season’s Dancing With The Stars, and she is one of the three finalists still on (keep voting!).

I had a change to meet Shawn Johnson last week while she attended to the Bed Jump in Bryant Park, NYC, part of GetAFreeNight.com promotion.

I asked Shawn how she lives life to the fullest and what kind of tips she would give for kids who want to achieve their dreams. Shawn told me she started gymnastics when she was 3 years old, and she has loved it ever since, and wants to encourage others to do what they love and are passionate about. Her tip is to pick one thing that you are passionate about and stick with it, and I think it’s a good one, not just for our kids, but us moms too. Speaking of moms, I love that Shawn’s mother travels with her all the time, she is a common sight at the DWTS audience as well. You can only imagine how much this mom has worked to make her daughter’s dreams come true and I have a huge respect for her.

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Thanks to One2One Network I’m always in the know of the music news. I was sent the Ballas Hough Band CD for a review and if the names Ballas and Hough ring a bell – you are right, they are the Dancing With The Stars dancers Mark Ballas and Derek Hough. They are the lead vocals and play guitar in the Ballas Hough Band. In addition to the Dancing with the Stars dancers Ballas and Hough, the band consists of Harry Sullivan on Drums, Sam Marder on Bass and Emily Grace as Vocals/ Keyboards/Piano.

Their debut CD is already a winner, the CD made it to the Top 100 Billboard Charts after being out only for a few weeks. The two DWTS dancers are used to winning, Derek won the Dancing with the Stars with Brooke Burke last season and Mark won in season 6 with Kristi Yamaguchi. I love their attitude to take it all and do it all – these two young men are so living the Skimbaco Lifestyle, living life to the fullest and I think are great examples of how hard work will pay off.

The BHB CD is easy listening pop, that both me and my kids like. In fact it’s one of those rare CDs we all agree on listening. The music is pop/dance and makes us want to dance and it’s perfect car music to keep the daily car pool fun and kiddos and mommy jammin’. One of my favorites is Underwater though, little blue with great melody and makes me want to cuddle under blanket. Over all the CD has a nice variety of music, and it’s really impressive that the young members of the band wrote the music themselves.

I think Ballas Hough Band is here to stay and I’m hoping they will go on tour once the Dancing with the Stars season is over, because with the boys’ dance experience, and music talent, I could almost bet Ballas Hough Band is the next Big Touring Band everyone wants to go see. The only question I have… what will happen to DWTS when BHB will be touring the world and no longer dancing in the show?

You can also find them at Facebook and MySpace.

Photo: ABC/KELSEY McNEAL

I have to admit… before the last season of Dancing with the Stars, I had no idea who Brooke Burke was. In fact, when I heard she was going to be in the same VIP event with me on Tuesday, I still had to google her, just to make sure I remembered the DWTS star’s name correctly… But now I have three reasons, why am very excited meeting her.

1. Brooke Burke won the Dancing With The Stars.
Me and my kids are huge fans of Dancing With The Stars, and the show makes me want to be a Star, just so they could ask me to be on the show. I did ballroom dancing when I was a kid until I was around 18 years old, and just love, love, love dancing. You could just tell how passionate about dancing Brooke is too.