I recently saw something called Postcrossing mentioned on someone’s blog. I wasn’t familiar with it so I decided to find out it was. Postcrossing is a site whose international members exchange postcards by mail randomly. That is to say, the members are not pen pals, you never know who your postcard will be from or who you’ll get to send one to next. The site is free to join. Members receive the name and address of the person they’re to send a postcard to, as well as a code that must be included on the postcard. Once their postcard is received, the code on it is registered on the website and their name and address is sent so that they’ll receive a postcard. The number of postcards one member can send is directly related to the number of postcards you have previously sent. Postcrossing seems like an interesting idea, but I’m not crazy about total strangers getting my address. I’d go for it if perhaps postcards were all sent to a central place and remailed, but that would cost money and then it probably wouldn’t be able to remain free.

EDIT TO ADD: For anyone wondering, this is not a paid post. It’s simply a review that I did, just like it says. A link in a post does not mean that post was necessarily paid.

Of course I’m not referring to noses. Or butts. I’m referring to picking your own fruits and vegetables. It’s a fun way to spend a day with family and/or friends and save some money on foods you love. The Pick Your Own website allows visitors to find farms in their area, as well as offering how tos, guides, picking tips and canning instructions. Farm listings are available to the US, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand. Fruit picking can be lots of fun and fresh fruit tastes soooo good. Have you ever gone picking for fruits or vegetables?

Seaside Heights is a community sitting on the Atlantic Ocean and the Barnegat Bay and is aobut fifteen minutes from my home. They’re having free movies on the beach this summer. Two special movie events are also planned. Here’s the schedule, copied from the Seaside Heights PR blog.

07/11 -  Back-to-back triple feature Amityville Film Festival, featuring all 3
franchise movies filmed in Toms River: The Amityville Horror, Amityville II: The Possession, and Amityville 3-D The Demon. Raindate Sunday July 13th.

08/16 - Madonna Birthday Party and Film Festival. At 6:30pm cake and refreshments will be served in honor of Madonna’s fiftieth birthday. A special triple feature of Madonna films including Desperately Seeking Susan, Evita and Swept Away will follow. A Madonna look alike contest will be held. In case of inclement weather events will be moved into the Seaside Heights Community Center.

Children friendly nights (Thursdays)
07/17: Muppet Movie
07/24: E.T.
07/31: Uncle Buck
08/07: Annie
08/14: Bee Movie
08/21: Harry Potter #1
08/28: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

Kids over 13 night (Sundays):
07/20: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
07/27: Talledega Nights
08/03: Jaws
08/10: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
08/17: Grease
08/24: Apollo 13
08/31: Gone With The Wind

All movies start at dusk at the Hiering Avenue beach. If weather interferes the movie will be rescheduled to a different night as soon as possible if it’s possible to reschedule. Check the Seaside Heights PR blog for updates.

I live in a well established family neighborhood. I also live in an area where public transportation stinks. I live at the seashore, in an area that relies on heavy tourist traffic for the economy. Any time weather permits it’s very common to see kids riding their bikes, people riding their bicycles to work and people riding bicycles on the boardwalks. It’s an economical method of transportation, a great way to stay fit and a good way to have fun. Now that my son’s older he’s always looking for ways to get somewhere faster. A motorized bicycle was something he suggested we consider right before Christmas. Not being terribly familiar with them I went online to learn more.

On the Bicycle Engines website I learned that you can actually add bicycle engines to an existing bicycle. The site is easy to navigate and contains helpful areas such as customer product reviews, maintenance guide and frequently asked questions (where I spent most of my time). The faq section was very informative and worth checking out for those new to motorized bicycles. We thought the video section was neat. If you have any doubt that putting an engine on an existing regular bicycle works, just watch some of the videos. Everything the site sells is nicely organized and easy to find because it is classified as either for a 2 stroke or 4 stroke engine, and then further classified as an engine or a part. Parts are then grouped by what type of part they are into another subcategory.

If you’re considering converting your bicycle to motorized to use around town, to get to work or on vacation, the Bicycle Engines site is worth a look.

There is no shortage of activities on a Disney Wonder cruise. Each day we would receive a new Personal Navigator, Disney’s version of a personal newsletter listing all of the events for that day. The front page of the Personal Navigator includes the operating hours of everything on board, including restaurants, bars and child care, as well as menu themes and suggested attire for the day. The inside of the Personal Navigator contains different entertainment happening around the ship. Some of the most popular adult only activities are dance parties, adult game shows, scavenger hunts and pub quest. The ship has an onboard movie theater that shows first run movies. The different children’s club activities are also featured in the Personal Navigator. Favorite family activities include dance parties, karaoke, bingo, Disney shows and magic shows. Contrary to what some may think, there is no shortage of things to do on a Disney ship. I’ll be writing a second article soon on the children’s clubs.