BlogHer Book Club: The Magic Room

The Magic Room by Jeffrey Zaslow is my fourth BlogHer Book Club read and a truly extraordinary book. To say that I loved it, is an understatement.

Reading The Magic Room reminded me of watching two of my favorite documentary style television shows: 60 Minutes and Real Sports. I love the way the correspondents and producers on those programs tell stories. Likewise, Jeffrey Zaslow has a gift for drawing readers in and getting us to care about the characters he he writes about, in this case women of all ages, shapes, sizes and backgrounds who have one thing in common: they are engaged to be married and are in the market for a wedding dress.

In The Magic Room Zaslow tells about the journeys to the alter of a number of brides-to-be with fascinating research mixed in about the history of marriage and wedding traditions. He talks about how both have evolved over the past century and what that has meant for the family who runs "Becker's Bridal" shop in a small town called Fowler, MI, outside of Detroit, which has been in business for four generations. The bridal shop carries more gowns in stock than the town has residents!

I found that the description of the Becker family, especially how each generation has been torn as to whether or not to try to keep their business going in Fowler was reminiscent of of the fictitious Bailey family, who ran the Bailey Building & Loan in Bedford Falls in my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life.

A master storyteller, Zaslow had me hooked and in tears as I read his introduction to The Magic Room. I love his intention of writing a book for his three daughters, as a sort of "love letter" about his hopes and dreams for them, before they are of age to consider marrying and sharing their lives with another person someday. Reading this book was also very nostalgic for me, as it moved me to reflect on my own journey to the alter and my life since my husband Bob and I were married eleven years ago on September 23, 2000.

I highly recommend this book and am grateful for the opportunity to have been among the first to get to read it as part of the BlogHer Book Club!Please join our discussion over on the BlogHer Book Club page where you can share your thoughts and find out what others are saying about The Magic Room.  over on the BlogHer Book Club page where you can share your thoughts and find out what others are saying about The Magic Room.

In the spirit of The Magic Room, I thought it would be fun to include a picture here of me in my bridal gown, in my parent's living room, before the ceremony on Bob and my wedding day 11 years ago. So I will leave you with that.

If you have already read The Magic Room or decide to check it out in the future, I would love to know what you think of it.

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Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book to read for this review and to participate in the related BlogHer Book Club discussion. However, I was in no way encouraged to write a positive or negative review about The Magic Room.

Note: This is a cross post with my main blog Four of a Kind, as I know that some of you who follow this review blog, may not also follow me over there and I thought you might be interested in reading what I thought about this book.

BlogHer Book Club: Slow Love

Slow Love by Dominique Browning is my third BlogHer Book Club read and my least favorite so far.  It is the first book club selection that I chose to read that I thought was just okay. There were some good insights and tidbits to chew on, but as another reviewer @yesnofilms commented on Twitter and I agree, at times Slow Love felt like I was "reading a friend's ramblings." The author would jump from one topic to another and by the time she got back to where she started, I was not clear where she was trying to go with her story. Then she would go on yet another long and often seemingly random and disjointed tangent.

Slow Love started strong for me with the back story of how the author, once the managing editor at House & Garden magazine lost her job when the periodical folded in 2008. I really bought into the premise of Slow Love, that it "is about knowing what you've got before it's gone." When I first started reading it I couldn’t stop highlighting inspiring and thought-provoking quotes in my Kindle. However, unfortunately that did not last very long.

Slow Love deals with some universal themes about when our lives feel out of balance. Often a significant event will cause us to review, reflect and reevaluate our priorities and especially how (and with whom) we chose to spend our time. I appreciated Dominique’s perspective and insights as the mother of two grown
sons, as my oldest child is almost eight years old and I often wonder how my son's personality will evolve in the years to come. I also liked what she shared about the nature of adult friendships, especially those we form and/or strengthen when our "worlds collapse."

Another connection I felt to Dominique’s story was the experience of selling and moving from the place that was her home for many years, where she raised her sons and which she thought would be her “forever house.” She talked about how it was full of memories and happy moments, the bittersweet experience of packing it all up and the transition of settling into a new space. Since my family and I moved to a new house this summer, I could relate to some of what she shared.

However, the further along I got into Slow Love, unfortunately the less engaged I felt. Dominique focused a lot on a relationship with an old lover, whom she calls “Stroller” in her memoir and though I appreciate that it took her a long time to realize that he was not a good match for her long term, it was tedious to have to read through the experiences she shared before finally coming to that conclusion.

I do believe that the heart of life is found in the journey, however Slow Love's path didn't work for me. I loved the concept, enjoyed the beginning and found redemption in the end, but the middle left me lost and uninspired.

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As I mentioned in my review above, though I didn't love this book, I was able to relate to many of the topics that Dominique covered in Slow Love. Please join our discussion about Slow Love over on the BlogHer Book Club page, regardless of if you read the book I think it is worth checking it out, as the facilitator has tried make the questions engaging to both those who have read Slow Love and those who have not. To share your thoughts and find out what others are saying about Slow Love click here.


Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book to read for this review and to participate in the related BlogHer Book Club discussion. However, I was in no way encouraged to write a positive or negative review about Slow Love.


Note: This is a cross post with my main blog Four of a Kind, as I know that some of you who follow this review blog, may not also follow me over there and I thought you might be interested in reading what I thought about this book.

There's an App for That (and I'm in It)!

Last month I got an email from Julie Godar, the Managing Editor at BlogHer (yes, I felt very special). She said that one of her colleagues suggested she contact me (I felt even more special). Julie explained in her email that "BlogHer has a fun new partnership with a company called Gourmet Live – featuring local expertise a la Yelp, but with the focus on local eats. We’re supporting this effort with cool, clickable maps and other fun features. Gourmet Live is a part of Gourmet Magazine – yes, THAT Gourmet!"

Julie also shared in her email that they were targeting Chicago (where my family and I live) for their fifth local stop and invited me to "contribute a tip or two to help out." She said that for the local bloggers, like myself, who chose to participate, that our tips would be "featured on BlogHer.com and/or the app developed by Gourmet Live – and you’ll receive credit with your name and your blog URL everywhere this tip appears."

I was both honored and excited to be asked and jumped at the chance to participate!

A "Google Doc" was created for the local Chicago area bloggers who had been tapped with questions that we could choose to answer. They encouraged us to pick one or two questions and share our answers in the document. There was really only one question that I saw which I felt confident about answering. I don't consider myself a "foodie," by any means and didn't want to do this unless I believed that I had a recommendation truly worth sharing.

So the question that I answered was:

"What's the best brunch spot with a view?"

Yesterday the Chicago Food Guide: Tips from Local Bloggers was released both on BlogHer and as a part of the Gourmet Live app. Whether you live in the Chicago area or plan to visit here, you will find some great tips in this guide. If you want to find out where I think the best brunch spot with a view in Chicago is, you can go to iTunes and download the free Gourmet Live app!

You can also find some fabulous recommendations for other big cities across the U.S.A. featured as a part of the Gourmet Live and BlogHer Road Trip, including Austin, Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington DC, San Diego and New York City.
Bon appétit! 
Note: This is a cross post with my main blog Four of a Kind, as I know that some of you who follow this review blog, may not also follow me over there and I thought you might be interested.

BlogHer Book Club: A Good Hard Look

I am happy to share that my second BlogHer Book Club Review for A Good Hard Look by Ann Napolitano has been posted on BlogHer today! Here is a little preview of what I thought about the book:

A Good Hard Look is a story about expectations and the people we encounter, as well as the experiences we have, which help to shape our lives. The narrative explores how change, loss, pain, time, hope and grace can lead to breakthroughs and transformation both personally and in our relationships with loved ones, especially those we find it hard to love. It also touches on how we put the pieces of our lives back together when we have experienced a great loss or tragedy -- when we feel we have been broken.

Please click here to read my full review on BlogHer and feel free to share what you think over there in the comment section. Thank you! 

Note: This is a cross post with my main blog Four of a Kind, as I know that some of you who follow this review blog, may not also follow me over there and I thought you might be interested in reading what I thought about this book.

Summer Block Party Winners!

A drum roll please.... It's the moment we've been waiting for! The winners of the Summer Block Party!

First, the technical stuff. All the valid entries from all the participating blogs were put into a spreadsheet that assigned a unique number to each one. There were a total of 156 valid entries. Then Random.org was used to find the winners.

Special thanks to Jen at Here We Go Again for orchestrating this and many other parts of our Summer Block Party!

And the winners are:

Winner of a year's subscription to AboutOne: Valerie Stayton @ My-2-Cents, who said "I am a Google RSS feed subscriber, Valerie Stayton, my_2_cents at hotmail dot com"

Winner of a year's subscription to AboutOne: Kim, who said " And because I really, really want to win a b-day onesie: Bonus Entry No. 2: Your birthday is June 2. Melissa is also part of the trio. I generally remember because mine is the 3rd :)"

Winner of a year's subscription to AboutOne: Lisa, who said "I like being able to track medical information on AboutOne."

Winner of a year's subscription to AboutOne: StacyT, who said "I have signed up for my free trial."

Winner of a year's subscription to AboutOne: Cassie, who said "You prefer to read!"

Winner of the Amazon Gift Card: Maria D., who said "I signed up for the Free trial!"

Winner of the Blog Bling Button: JJ, who said "I'm cooool and subscribe to your blog with Google Reader"

Winner of the Cookies: Seussgirl, who said "Hmm..favorite summer song...right now, I'm loving "Knee Deep" by the Zac Brown Band. I also love "Redneck Yaught Club". Apparently, I go country when it gets hot. :)"

Winner of the Birthday Shirt: Tasha, who said "I follow you through my Blogger feed."

Winner of the Necklace: Geek by Marriage, who said "Following as GeekByMarriage "

Congratulations, winners! If you won a prize, please get in touch with Jen by using the contact form on her blog and she will either get you your prize or get you in touch with the person who will get you your prize. If we don't hear from you this week, we have a list of alternates who will get your prize!

Thanks to all who participated in this (my first) giveaway here on One of a Kind Reviews! Thank you also to my fellow bloggers who co-hosted with me and especially to AboutOne for giving us this opportunity. If you haven't already checked out AboutOne, I highly recommend that you do. If you haven't already, you can read more in my review about why I have been so impressed with AboutOne, since I started using their web service this summer!

iYogi Tech Support: Feelin' the Good Karma

When I woke up on Sunday morning I had no idea that it would turn into one of the worst days of my Information Technology (IT) life in recent memory... It started with realizing that our avast! Internet Security software on our desktop computer was not functioning properly and was followed soon after by the discovery that while we were at church (of all places) that my personal email account had been hacked into, for the first time ever! Apparently whoever, or whatever automated program, managed to do this was sending suggestive and inappropriate emails to everyone from our pastor at the Catholic parish we regularly attend in our neighborhood to my most of my husband's aunts, uncles and cousins! I knew that of my friends and family would know better than to think that I wanted to help them improve certain body parts or areas of their personal lives. It is definitely one of those times and moments in life where you don't know whether to laugh or cry!

There is more to that part of this story and you can read the rest of the background in this post on my main blog, Four of a Kind. Go ahead and click over if you like and then come back here to read this post or you can check it out later if you are interested.

It was past 8:00 p.m. Sunday night when I finally got around to being able to spend the time and effort to do something about all these problems. I had briefly spoken with a tech support person in India around noon, before leaving for a family gathering (as I shared about in my blog entry on Four of a Kind), who let me know that he or someone else would be able to take remote access of my computer(s), with permission, and that he was confident that they could help me to solve the problems that I was having with our internet security software and then some. Knowing that helped me to keep from overly obsessing about what was going wrong on the home front and I was able to still enjoy a fun day out at the race track and dinner with my family before coming home to attack our IT issues with the experts at iYogi Tech Support!

I didn't set out to work with iYogi to solve our problems on our desktop and eventually our laptop computer as well. I just called the customer support phone number listed on the avast! Internet Security website. However, from the first moments I spoke with a tech support person there, I was charmed. I am completely serious! I couldn't have been more frustrated or annoyed when I placed that phone call on our way out the door that day after lunch and somehow (could it really be that good karma?!) my brief conversation with the tech support representative was enough to calm my nerves and give me hope that at the end of the day (or in this case, in the wee hours of the morning) all of the problems we were having with our computers would be resolved!

Before I continue, here a little information about iYogi from their website:

They define Good Karma this way:

Karma (Sanskrit) karman- "act, action, performance" is the concept of "action" or "deed" in Indian religions understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect. The effects of all deeds are viewed as actively shaping past, present, and future experiences.

I discovered on their Facebook page, that they were founded in May 2005. Here is a bit more info about iYogi that I found on Facebook:

About: The first Global Consumer Tech Support services brand from India.

General Information: iYogi Provides Computer technical support in United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

Mission: Helping millions of people around the world by relieving the frustration and stress caused by technical issues, utilizing the extensive source of talent with high technical know-how available in India.

Products: iYogi's support ranges from business to consumer PCs, digital photography to entertainment, inkjet to LaserJet printers, Internet browsers, MP3 players and lots more.

Now back to my personal experience with iYogi...

So when I called iYogi Sunday evening at about 8:00 p.m., the tech support person I was connected with asked for my Account ID. The tech support person I had spoken with earlier had encouraged me to spent a few extra minutes with him on the phone so that we would set up my account to make it easier to "pick up where we left off" when I was available to later. He even offered to call me back or have someone else do so at whatever time was convenient for me. Talk about great customer service! I declined his offer, only because I wasn't sure what time would work best, since my family had plans for the majority of the remainder of the day.

After the iYogi tech support person got my Account ID, he was able to aquatint himself with the issues that I was having. He then asked for my permission to take remote access of our desktop computer (and ultimately and simultaneously my laptop to). The tech support person was quickly able to access the situation and problems I was having. He explained that they were more complicated than just fixing the issues with avast! Internet Security that we were experiencing. Had they been only related to our paid version of avast! he would have been able to take care of it for free. However, he was upfront about and I fully understood that if he was to help me address the other problems, that there would be a fee.

As the tech support person began to diagnose all the issues contributing to our desktop computer malfunctioning, I started to feel embarrassed, not because of anything he said, but because I realized how lax I had gotten about "taking good care" of our computers. He would ask me if I had "noticed" something was wrong in a many instances and I would own up to being very aware of the problems, but as long as I could resolve things enough to make our computers do what we wanted to do in any given moment, I often would ignore many of error messages we were getting. The man I was speaking with was very kind and understanding and didn't try to make me feel bad for having let things go this long without trying harder to fix them or get help to do so.

My husband Bob told me recently that he and some of his coworkers (they work in accounting) like to joke there is a point when you have learned enough about something (in my case that would be computers) that you have the knowledge to be "dangerous." And by dangerous they don't mean doing bad things on purpose, but rather, as I seem to have done in this instance, mess things up when I had only the best intentions of trying to make things (our computers) work and function better.

So anyway, the iYogi tech support guy explained that he and his colleagues would be able to help me, but that we would have to pay for their assistance. For awhile now Bob has been offering to pay for someone to try to help us with some of the computer issues we were dealing with, but since I consider myself an above average IT consumer, I believe that I could fix our problems all by myself, if only I had a little more time to focus on them. Ha, ha...  The tech support person explained the various subscription plans that they offer and I went over them with Bob. We both quickly agreed that $169.99 a year per computer (with discounts for additional computers) was more than reasonable to both fix the problems we were having on Sunday and to be available 24/7 in the year to come to help us with anything that might arise with the software on our computers (though they can help with much beyond that, this was the plan we agreed to sign up and pay for).

From there on out it was relatively smooth sailing. The tech support guy did suggest that fixing everything would take about 45 - 60 minutes, when in reality it was closer to 4 hours, but that time was well worth it to me to get all of this taken care of! One of iYogi's big things is being able to "optimize" computer systems so that they are able to run faster. One of their new ad campaigns is called "kill slow!"  They were very successful in "killing slow" on both of our computers Sunday night (we decided to sign up for $139.99 a year, they give a $30 discount for each additional computer), as well as fixing the problems we were having with our avast! Internet Security program on our desktop.

Once we were ready to roll with the major work to be done, the initial tech support person, who I was speaking with over the phone, transferred my case to another tech support person (who deals with computers that use Windows operating systems). From that point on I dealt directly with that person through a messaging system on both computers that was part of the process of his working on our computers remotely. They did request that I stay in front of both computers as much as possible, to allow them to communicate with and demonstrate some things as needed. It was a long four hours, but I was very impressed watching the tech support in action and even more pleased with the outcome!

As an aside, I also asked them if the could help "network" our desktop (which runs on Windows 7) and our laptop (which uses the Windows XP operating system) to allow file sharing. I know if they were both on Windows 7 it would be a piece of cake, but they aren't and won't be for awhile (I already looked into upgrading our laptop, but decided against it for a variety of reasons). They were also able to help me with that   which was an added bonus!  There are some other "projects" I have in mind for them to help me with in the future, but by after 1:00 a.m. on Sunday night/Monday morning, I realized that those could wait and that I needed to get some sleep.

So granted with all the expenses related to our recent move and settling into our new home we were not looking to invest over $300 in to our computers, we believe doing so was a smart choice. Now for the next year of our lives (or longer if we choose to extend, they do offer multi-year plans at a discount, but we weren't ready for that yet, especially financially) we will have our very own IT tech support available anytime of the day or night we might need their assistance. Which after all this sounds very good to me! As much as I like learning about IT stuff, I appreciate that the tech support staff at iYogi will "have my back" from now on and I am no longer in this alone.

Thank you for reading my review of iYogi! Though I would love to say that I got a discount or some other freebie for sharing my thoughts and experience here, iYogi has in no way asked or compensated me for this review. I just thought some of you out there might appreciate hearing about my experience and if and when you are in a similar situation in the future, you can consider whether or not contacting iYogi might be right for you. Until then, as all of the iYogi tech support staff say when they end a phone conversation with you, Good Karma.

Special thanks to all who participated in my first giveaway here on One of a Kind Reviews with AboutOne and some of my blogging friends! The winners will be announced soon and I will let you know which, if any of you who entered, have won anything.

Welcome to the Summer Block Party!

Happy Summer! I hope that you and your loved ones have been making the most of this wonderful time of year, enjoying the extra day light and (hopefully) a vacation or two. As some of you know, my family and I are packing and preparing to move into a new house next week, so this has definitely been a unique and overwhelming summer for us so far.

Since this can be a pretty quiet time of year here in the blogosphere, some fellow bloggers and I are celebrating summer by throwing a virtual block party! Parties are always fun with gifts (especially when they are free), so we decided to have a giveaway with lots of prizes and lots of chances to enter. I am so excited to be co-hosting my first giveaway here on One of a Kind Reviews! I teamed up with five other bloggers and AboutOne (you can read my review about their web service here) to bring you:

So pull up a lounge chair, grab an icy cold one and join our block party!

THE PRIZES:

5 winners: will receive a one year subscription to AboutOne
1 winner: $25 Gift Card to Amazon.com complements of AboutOne
1 winner: awesome custom blog bling button from Plaid House Designs
1 winner: one dozen delicious cookies from Frank's Big Ones Bakery 
1 winner: adorable custom embroidered birthday shirt from Little Star Shop
1 winner: beautiful custom necklace from I'm Not THAT Pregnant

Please Note: This giveaway is open to US residents only and you must provide a valid e-mail address.

HOW TO ENTER:

• MANDATORY ENTRY: Check out AboutOne's site and leave a comment telling me what feature looks the most interesting to you. Note: You can only get credit for this entry on one of the six Summer Block Party Neighbor Blogs.

1 BONUS ENTRY:
• Follow me in one of three ways: follow me on Google Friend Connect (see the right side bars of both of my blogs) or subscribe to my feed for my review blog One of a Kind Reviews, my main blog Four of a Kind and/or my follow Twitter account @FourofaKind2009 and leave a comment to that effect. Note: Though I would love for you to follow both of my blogs and my Twitter account, I can only give you one "bonus entry" here, regardless of which/how many you choose to follow.

1 BONUS ENTRY:

• Check out my main blog Four of a Kind. Read one or more blog entries there and choose one to comment on. Then come back here and leave a comment with a link to the blog entry that you chose and tell me why that one caught your attention to read/comment on. Note: I would love for you to read and comment on as many of my blog entries as you like, but I can only give you credit for doing so one time here.

2 BONUS ENTRIES:
• Sign up for AboutOne's totally free trial by clicking here and leave two comments letting me know you signed up (the two comments will make it easier for us administratively at the end of this giveaway). Note: You can only get credit for this entry on one of the six Summer Block Party Neighbor Blogs.

Now let's get this party started!! After you enter as many times as you are eligible/choose to here on my blog, you can go visit one (or all) of my neighbors co-hosting this block party for more chances to win one of these fabulous prizes (you can click on the blog buttons below to go directly to the other Summer Block Party Neighbor Blogs):

There are TEN more ways to enter! Check out one or more of the other Summer Block Party Neighbor Blogs and find out how!

This giveaway ends on Sunday, July 31, so be sure to party hop to and from as many of the other blogs co-hosting this event with AboutOne between now and then to increase your chances of winning!

Good luck, have fun and I hope you enjoy getting to know all the wonderful ways you can use AboutOne to organize your life and family, as I have been finding out this summer!

Disclaimer: This contest is sponsored by AboutOne and the participating bloggers. All participating bloggers were given a free one year service but all opinions in their posts are their own. 

BlogHer Book Club: The Beach Trees

I am very excited to share that my first BlogHer Book Club Review for The Beach Trees by Karen White has been posted on BlogHer today! Here is a little preview of what I thought about the book:

Have you lost a loved one? I believe that those who have will really be able to connect with and find solace in The Beach Trees by Karen White. As a bereaved mother I could appreciate and relate to how the author described the main character Julie's experience of grief and loss, especially some of the physical ways we respond and feel when a loved one dies or you lose contact with them.

Please click here to read my full review on BlogHer and feel free to share what you think over there in the comment section. Thank you! 

Note: This is a cross post with my main blog Four of a Kind, as I know that some of you who follow this review blog, may not also follow me over there and I thought you might be interested in reading what I thought about this book.

AboutOne: Helping You Manage What Matters Most

Welcome to my very first review here on One of a Kind Reviews!

Thank you to those of you that have come over from and have been following me over the years (or more recently) on my main blog Four of a Kind!

If you are here for the first time, I have been blogging regularly for over four years now about parenting, secondary infertility and loss at my main blog Four of a Kind (formerly Three of a kind working on a full house...).

I recently have gotten more involved in the blogosphere, beyond my own little corner of it at Four of a Kind, including joining the team at Exhale Magazine as the PR person (doing most of the Facebooking and Tweeting) and as a regular contributor to the quarterly issues (our Summer Issue will be out later this month), as well as the BlogHer Publishing Network, BlogHer Book Club as a Reviewer (my first book review will be posted on BlogHer next week) and BlogHer Reviewers Program (a component of the BlogHer Publishing Network). In doing so, I decided that it made sense to start a separate blog for me to be able to share my thoughts and opinions about products and services that you might also be interested in learning more about. From time to time I may also have the opportunity to do some "giveaways" and pass some product and service discounts that I am able to receive as a reviewer on to you, as my readers.

Today I am excited to tell you about a new web service that I have been using lately and share a way for you to check it out and try it too! A friend of mine recently started working for a company called AboutOne that has created a really interesting and unique website for busy moms, parents and families to organize their lives in one central location online. As an avid computer and smart phone user, that seemed like a technology and service that would be right up my alley!

I love one of AboutOne's tag lines "helping you manage what matters most," which I included in the title of this post, as I think it really captures what they have to offer you through their service. This is how they describe themselves on their Twitter and Facebook pages:

AboutOne makes managing family memories & household information fast, fun, and easy – while saving time and money, and helping you make informed decisions.

AboutOne is a secure web service that helps busy families manage what matters most: family memories and household information. Customers enter pieces of information as life happens, from any location, with any device, at any time.

AboutOne is a practical online service that was designed by moms for moms (and dads too) to help manage household information and special memories in a fun way.

I recently had the opportunity to get a free year long trial membership to AboutOne and have really enjoyed my experience exploring and using this service so far. Since they are still developing AboutOne to reach its full potential and meet the needs and desires of its customers, they welcome and encourage users to to give feedback and suggestions. I have been very impressed with their customer support service. They are timely and thorough in their replies.

Right off the bat when I was getting started entering information about my life and my family on AboutOne, I realized that they didn't have an option for indicating if one of your family members is deceased. As a bereaved mother, I wanted to be able to include our infant daughter Molly who was born and died in April 2008. I also imagined that there would be other AboutOne users that would want to be able to record the deaths of their immediate family members if sadly that was also a reality in their life. I submitted this feedback to their support team and was very impressed with the response I got. From what I understand they will be rolling out a new version, with updates, including this suggestion that I (and apparently other users made) later this year in September!

I look forward to using AboutOne more in the days and months to come, especially in light of our upcoming move to a new home in our neighborhood. I love the way we will be able to use AboutOne to keep track of important details and even documents related to this huge milestone in our life and family!

Now I have something exciting to share with and offer you, as my readers! You are invited try AboutOne out for yourselves for free and if you like it as much or more than I do at the end of your free trial, you can use this discount code FOURKIND714 to get 25% off your membership! The discount code expires on 8/31, so the sooner you get started, the sooner you can take advantage of and enjoy your free trial! Click here to get going with AboutOne.

As I mentioned earlier, AboutOne is on Facebook and on Twitter! Check out their pages and "like" or "follow" them to learn more about what they have to offer.

If I haven't already convinced you to try AboutOne, or even if I have, check out the cute and informative YouTube video below that explains the service really well. I showed it to my husband Bob for the first time this morning on my iPhone, while we were waiting for his train to arrive, and he was very impressed. As the Assistant Controller for a big law firm here in Chicago and the money/budgeting point person in our marriage, he is really interested in how AboutOne will be able to help us manage our finances and organize important documents in one central location, while minimizing the amount of hard copy paperwork we need to hold onto. So I also look forward to exploring AboutOne more with Bob, as well as getting his feedback.



Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think about this new service and my first review here on  One of a Kind Reviews. If you decide to use the free trial for AboutOne, please come back here and let me know what you think. I am interested to hear about your own experience using AboutOne and compare notes! For those that might be interested, AboutOne is also currently recruiting writers for their Contributing Blogger Program. I am considering applying to participate myself and thought that it might be something that you might also want to check out.

Finally, I just found out that AboutOne wants to give five of you, as my readers, a year of free service! So I will be running my first "giveaway" here on One of a Kind Reviews next week. Stay tuned to find out how to enter for a chance to win a year of free service with AboutOne!