Sk*rt's Getting a New Name!!

Have you heard the rumor about sk*rt getting a new name? Well the rumor is true. And there's a fantastic contest going on where everybody gets to help choose the new name. And the prizes are big. A fancy new cord-free/hands-free phone. A Magic Bullet blender/food processor. And a free BlogHer Registration. That's over $700 worth of goodies.

Entering the contest, as usual, is as easy as pie. Just leave a comment here or here letting us know what your favorite choice is from the list of new names — or you can even suggest your own.

Enter as often as you'd like. But you've got to do it fast. Because the contest ends this Friday. As in day after tomorrow.

Happy Earth Day

Craving green today? Me too. To help you get in the Earth Day mindset, check out the fabulous sk*rt Young At Heart Contest. You can win a $400 Fuji Crosstown bike!! Because the only greener transportation than biking is walking. How to enter? It's easy: just leave a comment over on the sk*rt link or the sk*rt blog.

The Sk*rt Paramount Meetup

This is really going to be a fantastic week. Laurie and Laura are coming to New York and we have a jam-packed schedule full of business meetings and lunches and get togethers and drop bys for sk*rt. On Thursday or Friday we're even hoping to make it to at least a little bit of the BlogHer Business conference. But the coolest part of the week will definitely be Wednesday night.

We want to make sure we get to see friends and internet buddies while we're all together, so we're hosting a fabulous meetup. Here's the 411:

The Sk*rt Paramount Meetup
NYC Wed. April 2, 8 p.m.
Paramount Bar
235 W 46th St (@ 8th Avenue)



par·a·mount [par-uh-mount] –adjective: Of highest importance, chief in importance or significance.

If you’re sk*rty or (Design Mom-y) and you happen to be in NYC, we are going to have a get together on Wednesday, April 2 at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Bar at 235 W 46th St (@ 8th Avenue).

And we totally want you to be there. It's paramount. Plus, just in case you need more convincing, check this out:

Blurb, the super-cool custom bookmaking company — the very same one that just hosted a Giveaway right here on Design Mom — will treat all sk*rty paramount meetupers to a free book! Whoohoo! That's right. Everyone that attends will get a code to make a free Blurb book. Everyone.




Make a cookbook. Make a wedding album. Make a book for Mother’s Day. Make whatever book you like. Or try the famous and exclusive Blurb Slurp: Your blog. Automatically slurped into a real book. So freaking cool. Now, it’s even more paramount that we get together.

Seriously. Can't wait to see you. And give you a Blurb certificate. Let me know if you can make it!

SXSW

photo by Karen of Chookooloonks

I'm back from Austin. And it is good to be back. Things I want to tell you about:

1) How incredibly nerdy-awesome SXSWi is. As in 99% of attendees were 21-30 year old males who love to spend hours building lego sculptures (and if at all possible, motorizing them), wear flip flops through all four seasons and think Facebook's announcement yesterday (that Facebook is now in French) was a life-changing piece of news (either because they live on Facebook or because they are so-over-Facebook and are offended that anyone has deemed it newsworthy).

I've hung out with people like this all my life and I always enjoy it, but it was a tiny bit disappointing that I was with thousands and thousands of people and there was no one to notice my cute shoes. :)



2) How fun it was to meet Heather and Jon Armstrong. They are lovely and basically stood in a reception line for hours and hours so that adoring fans (the sk*rt chicks included) could kneel at the alter of Dooce and pay their compliments.



3) How delightful it was to host the sk*rt meet-up yesterday with yummy cupcakes, prizes from Everyday Food and lots and lots of attendees who braved the cruel daylight savings time change to join us for breakfast. Oh. And there was a unicorn.



Plus more stuff. Like how this was the third time Laura and Laurie and I met in person — and how they are the most bestest people to work with. Yummy lunch at the Whole Foods flagship. Meeting and hanging out with some awesome sk*rt editors — like Karen and Gwen and Betsy. Power-lunches with Shannon and Jesse. And on and on and on.

But really, until I have photos (someone please send me photos), this is the most boring story in the world. (And even with photos, I fully realize that this story is mostly for my mom.) And thus I end my picture-less report.

Edit: Oh. Hooray! I found some great shots on Gwen's flickr page. Thanks Gwen! And more photos from Laurie. And even a photo from Karen. This post is now overflowing with glorious photos.

I'm Going to SXSW!

I'm super excited. I'm heading to SXSWi tomorrow. I've never been before but I keep hearing it's a kind of Geeky-Disneyland-Circus-Awesome-Event. (I told my techie brother Josh that I was going and he almost passed out because he was so happy for me.)

Of course, I had no idea what it was until maybe 3 weeks ago — I'm clueless like that. But if you're a player in the interactive world, apparently you have to be there. And since sk*rt is all that and all web 2.0 and all social media and all, we will be there. Handing out mints.

We're even hosting a little SXSWi get together Sunday morning. And you are so invited. If you are going to be anywhere near Austin this weekend, here's the official announcement:

Meet us at City Hall Sunday, March 9th! Swing by Austin Java (301 West 2nd Street) at 9 a.m., and we’ll all be there for an hour or so (or more, or longer or however long we want) and we’ll hang. It’s super close (steps away) from the convention center, so if you’re going to SXSWi, you’ll be right there.

We might even have cupcakes.* Because we’re crazy like that.

Of course, we know that there’s a lot happening on 3/9, so we’re getting an early start…with coffee… and sk*rt lovers…and breakdancers**… and trained monkeys***, and then even more coffee****.

We can’t think of a better way to start a day. You can even let us know you’re coming if you visit the event listing at Upcoming.

And! This just in! Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and their awesome magazine Everyday Food have just let us know they’ll be giving 10 subscriptions plus 10 cool counter top magazine holders to 10 random people there. So, the most random people win. Kidding. But something like that. Plus, everyone who comes will receive a copy of the latest Everyday Food issue. You know, to read if a SXSW speaker gets boring. It could happen.

We hope you come — we'd love to meet you.

Kisses,
the sk*rt chicks

*Cupcakes could be anything.

**Okay, so not really breakdancers.

***And probably not monkeys. Probably.

****Also, herbal tea.

Girls Day. Pencil Day. Happy Day.

Fair warning: you're going to hear a lot about sk*rt from me this week. Because there's lots of cool stuff going on over at that cool site. And because I (and my partners) have worked really, really hard on sk*rt and want to talk it about it all day long without stopping for meals.

But. I promise that what I share this week about/from sk*rt will be wonderful and worth your time. And that after this week, I will tone the sk*rt speak down. Way, way down.

Now that I've cleared that up, I can't wait to tell you about more fun stuff I found on sk*rt yesterday.



Like this fantastic tutorial from Photojojo on how to apply your favorite photo to a set of pencils. I'm totally bookmarking this. It will be perfect for next Christmas when my kids make gifts for their siblings. Found on sk*rt.



Also. Did you know that yesterday was Hina Matsuri or Girls Day in Japan? March 3rd. Or 03/03. (Apparently Boys Day is 05/05.) Here's the basic scoop:

"The overall idea of Hina-matsuri is to wish girls a healthy growth. In a family where a baby girl is born, parents give a set of dolls called “Hina-Ningyo” to the baby at her first Hina-matsuri hoping that she will grow happy, healthy and beautiful. Every year they keep decorating the dolls on the day of Hina-matsuri and hold a party to celebrate the child’s growth with some cake or tiny rice cakes."

Too sweet. I'd love to celebrate this with my kids. Now I know. Found on sk*rt.

The Great Big Grande Brand Spankin’ New Sk*rt Contest!

There's a great new contest at sk*rt celebrating all the big changes I mentioned yesterday. Ihave to tell you all about it because I don't want you to miss out. Entering is easy. Just tell us sk*rt chicks what you think of the new changes — Snazzy? Chic? Brilliant? Disaster? — we want to hear what you have to say. Leave your comment on the sk*rt blog or the sk*rt contest post and you could win over $1000 worth of prizes:



1) An InGrid Home Security System and a year’s worth of monitoring service. $660 value.

Designed by Klaus Rosberg, the designer who created Target’s ClearRx prescription bottle and Heinz’s EzSquirt ketchup bottles and whose work has been featured in MoMa and The New York Times. The InGrid Digital Home Security System. It provides important home security AND it’s aesthetically pleasing. InGrid has e-mail and cell phone notification, as well as Web site access and control that allows you to customize, manage and monitor your home protection systems from anywhere in the world. It has about a million other features too, so you can set the system to work simplest and best for you. Awesome.

2) Gillette Venus Embrace, One-year supply. $75 value.

That’s 3 Venus® Embrace™ razors, 3 cans of shave gel, and 2 replacement blade packs for the year supply. That adds up to 14 razors for the year. Venus® Embrace™ is the most technologically advanced shaving system we’ve seen. Snazzy. It has lots of blades and even a Protective Ribbon of Moisture™ (doesn’t that sound so spa-like and schmancy). It really makes shaving swell.

3) SIGG: A Collection of 5 Bottles. $125 value.

We LOVE SIGG and their most stylish reusable beverage bottles in all the land. And we thought they were a relatively new thing, but SIGG is celebrating its 100-year anniversary at: www.SIGG100.com. The site will launch on Feb. 11th and last through April 22nd (Earth Day). During this 10 week period, SIGG will partner up with Laurie David’s organization, Stop Global Warming, to explore 100 Significant Eco-Moments in the past century. Visitors to the site will have an opportunity to win a trip for two to Hawaii to attend the 5th annual Kokua Festival headlined by Jack Johnson. SIGG will also be hosting online Q&A’s with 5 environmental activists, which include Zem Joaquin, Ed Begley Jr., P. Simran Sethi, Christopher Gavigan and Laurie David. How freaking cool is that?!

4) Lands’ End $250 Gift Card

Lands’ End was an “early adopter” of the Internet, launching its web site in 1995. Initially, the site featured 100 products as well as stories, essays and travelogues, but today, the U.S. site offers every Lands’ End product. And you can take your pick from the massive amounts of Women’s, Men’s, Kids’ and Babies’ clothing, shoes, home and travel gear as well as overstocks.

Fantastic right? How fun will it be to receive all those goodies?!!

It's a big contest to celebrate a big exciting new look at sk*rt. Leave your comment before midnight, March 15th, and you’re registered to win big! Hooray!

(Note: I'm going to turn off comments on this post, just to make it clear that you need to make your comment over at sk*rt.)

Sk*rt Excitement

Have you checked it out yet? Sk*rt unveiled its makeover today — under the genius direction of Laurie. It's got some major new features and is getting all kinds of attention and we couldn't be happier about it. Laura wrote up a fantastic little announcement about the changes and I'm dying to share it with you:

sk*rt: Now with Extra Kick Pleats.

Kick pleat, n. : An inverted pleat in a skirt used to give breadth.

Notice anything new around sk*rt? Sure you did! How could you miss sk*rt's new kick pleats...they make the whole ensemble extra fierce with even more breadth and style and schhwank. We just made that word up. But it still doesn't even begin to describe all the coolness happening at sk*rt. And since goodness comes in threes, we have three very exciting things to tell you about:

1) sk*rt has a new look.
Isn't it great? You can read more about it soon — we're still getting it all written! But the biggest difference is the popular page now features two columns...a Popular section and an Editors' Picks section. Which brings us to number two...

2) sk*rt has new editors.
That's right. 20 new editors who won't actually edit anything per se. They'll just be on the lookout for the coolest items posted on sk*rt and everywhere elsewhere on the internets. Each editor is an expert genius in her area, so we can't wait to see what all they'll find near and far. Far and wide. World and wide and web. Look for more details soon on all our amazing sk*rt editors.

3) sk*rt has a new ranking system.
You'll notice the numbering system on the left has changed a bit and the 'Love it' phrase has gone. We all still have a lot of love to give, but the ranking system is much easier now. First of all, you don't have to be logged in to rank. And now, each time you click on a story, the number will automatically increase. This creates a more accurate, smarter ranking system that happens without you having to make that extra step. But don't worry, if you don't like what you just clicked, you can "un-vote" a story back down by clicking the "un-vote" button that appears once a story has been clicked. It's really simple. Much simpler and real than before. If you want more details on this new do, go to the Getting Started or FAQ sections. Or email us at whatsup@sk-rt.com.

And that's not all. Of course that's not all. Because it wouldn't be a big exciting new-look, new-editors, new-ranking sk*rt kind of week without a GIANT CONTEST. That's right, you guessed it, sk*rt is having a huge contest over the next two weeks (March 3-15) in honor of our kickin' new sk*rt, and we're giving away over $1,000 in prizes. You read that right. And you can read more about it on sk*rt and on the sk*rt blog.

So that's the skinny. You were right, sk*rt is different, better, breadthier. You asked for the betterments, and you got 'em. And we agree. These kick pleats are going to be fantastic.

We're so excited about the new sk*rt!

xo,
The sk*rt chicks

sk*rt's Brightside Contest

Fun things I found on sk*rt this past week: First Kiss Stories. 10 Reasons to Drink More Water. Songza: type in a song and it will play it for you. Asian iCandy Store — I especially love this one. It's an online shop full of products by Asian artisans and designers. Lots of great stuff. Guide to Blind Hemming Jeans. And. Best of all, there's a new sk*rt contest with over $500 worth of great prizes.

A grand-prize winner will receive:



1) A personalized hardback copy of The Bright Side of Disaster signed by author Katherine Center directly to you. (Remember Katherine — the fantastic Guest Mom that visited us awhile back?) The two book covers shown here are the hardcover that came out last year, and the paperback that comes out in April.



2) One Stuck on You Essentials Pack.
The Essential Pack from Stuck on You includes 50 Large Iron/Sew On labels (Navy, Red or Pink), 20 Vinyl Shoe Dots (Pink, Green, Redm Blur, Silver, Purple or Orange) 50 Small Vinyl Labels (Retro, Funky, Clear or Pink) and 2 Bag Tags (of winners choice). Labels for everything your child owns.


3) The Peanut Shell Family Pack with three fabulous products:
For maternal types, The Mojito: A Must-Have Limited edition Peanut Shell sling! Super smooth cotton with a chocolate background and fresh lime paisley print. We LOVE it and you will too! For the paternal types that help carry the load, The Temptation: A wonderful dark chocolate brown cotton stretch sling. Super perfect, with 3% lycra, allowing the sling to give a bit to make it easier getting baby in and out and mold to your shoulder! Also, this one’s definitely for mom: The Mojito Nursing Cover — too coordinate perfectly with your sling.



4) A $150 gift certificate from Zutano
From newborns to toddlers, cozies to collectibles, and toys! Zutano has the cutest, softest, coolest, snazziest things. And you can win $150 to spend however you’d like! Zutano is one of my all-time favorite lines.



5) An Ann Taylor LOFT Maternity gift certificate for $100
As we’re sure you know, Ann Taylor LOFT features updated classics that are feminine, stylish, and polished. Now the company has taken another step forward in outfitting women in every stage (and size!) of their lives by taking the look and feel of favorite LOFT styles and re-designing them to make maternity wear that is super cute, comfortable, and stylish. Thank goodness for the brilliant minds behind stylish maternity clothes.

Extra bonus: any sk*rty sk*rts who live in the U.S. or Puerto Rico can get, 20% off plus Free Shipping at Ann Taylor LOFT through February 29th with this coupon code: EXPECTING (The code is case sensitive so the code needs to be entered in all caps when it asks for the promotion code in checkout.)

6) Plus. And this is a big plus. Fifty people will receive a free copy of The Brightside of Disaster by Katherine Center and be invited to participate in a Virtual Book Club coming up in April. A podcast hosted by sk*rt and featuring the Katherine Center herself.

Pretty fantastic contest don't you think? Find out how easy it is to enter (really, really easy) here or here.

Animal Noses Plus etc.

e-Mom at Chrysalis sent me a link to these great animal nose paper cups by Pick Your Nose. Fantastic! Just think of the birthday party you could plan around these.





And then, the animal cups reminded me of these amazing Animal Hand Paintings that I found on sk*rt (I'm not kidding when I say I find the coolest things on sk*rt) from a link that Alpha Mom submitted. (There are a ton of pics and they are all super-cool, go check it out.) My kids were so delighted when we looked at these.


Plus also. Speaking of cool things on sk*rt, there's a fantastic new giveaway that just started today: The We Heart sk*rt Users Contest!

Roses are Red.
Violets are Blue.
Sk*rt Rocks the Casbah.
All because of You.

Go to the sk*rt contest page or the sk*rt blog to find out how you can win one of five Valentine-sy prizes from Shutterfly.


Like a 12-inch Valentine Day Photo Book, valued at $54.99. The content is guided, so all that's needed is to add photos and titles. The headlines and thoughtful designs are all set in place.


Or, for those of you that prefer to design your own book, you might win a 12-inch Love Book, valued at $54.99. And especially perfect gift for guys who really want to impress their long-term special someones.


Or maybe you'll even win a Valentine's Day Sterling Bracelet, valued at $49.99. The kind of treasure that's just right for Mom or Grandma — sure to become an heirloom gift.

Great prizes, no? And we make it so easy to enter because it's absolutely true: We heart sk*rt users.

One last note, if you're curious about who won the Fat/Super Tuesday Contest, watch the sk*rt blog — the winner was announced here.

The Big Easy Way to Win

The Sk*rt Call for Editors Contest was Amazing! Over 400 women were nominated and we couldn't be happier about it. We are having the best time getting to know each and every nominee as we pull together our new team of editors. It's going to take us a bit of time, but while you're waiting you can find out who won the HP Photosmart Printer and Sensio Coffee Machine on the sk*rt blog. If you didn't win, it's all good. Because sk*rt is a non-stop ride of fun and there is another great contest that has just been announced today. A contest that's all about tomorrow:

Tuesday, February 5th is so many things. It’s a day to vote. It’s a day to celebrate. It’s Super Fat Tuesday! And we’re celebrating all week with The Sk*rt Super Fat Tuesday Contest. . . because Voting = The Big Easy Way to Win!

Here’s how it works. Just vote for 10 stories this week in the Up-and-coming or Popular sections at sk*rt, then leave a comment on this sk*rt post. That’s it. Then you’re registered to win. Super Easy. Fat Prizes. And one Super Phat Winner will receive:



Three new Monopoly games from Hasbro. A Disney-Pixar Monopoly edition, a Monopoly Jr.: Disney Channel edition, and a Monopoly Electronic Banking edition that includes debit cards instead of paper money.

What's all the Monopoly fuss? Well. Monopoly totally gets our obsession with voting — with making our voices heard. So they've put together a fantastic campaign. They're about to launch the first-ever WORLD Edition of Monopoly and have opened up a worldwide online vote to determine which great cities from around the globe should be on the game board. Once each day, people can vote for 10 of their favorite cities (from a ballot of 68). The voting continues through Feb. 28th and the top 20 cities with the most votes make it onto the board.



Wondering how your favorite cities are currently ranking? Visit Monopoly World Vote here, and you can see the leader board, which shows what cities would land on which colored spaces if the voting ended today. (At the moment, New York is the only US city that would make the board. . . while Canada and China are both seriously voting like crazy! Whooohoo! Maybe because they aren’t voting on Tuesday? Not sure, but there’s serious worldwide competition going on here!)



In addition to the vote-friendly Monopoly games, the winner will also receive a Mardi Gras friendly Brennan's New Orleans Cookbook! Phat is right.

So, to wrap up, here’s what you need to do this week. . .

1. Vote for 10 sk*rt stories and leave a comment on this sk*rt post before midnight EST on Friday, Feb. 8 to be registered to win the Sk*rt Super Fat Tuesday Contest.

2. GO VOTE for your favorite political candidate on Tuesday, Feb. 5, if you live in one of 24 US states or providences voting on Tuesday. So exciting!

3. Vote for your favorite city to be represented on the new Monopoly World board. Because that’s fun.

4. Eat lots of oyster gumbo, sausage jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, and anything else you can get your hands on. It’s just what you do.

5. Have a great week!

Happy Super Fat Tuesday! (And Happy Voting!) From the Super Sk*rt Krewe!

Sk*rt Call for Editors Contest!

Just a quick reminder: today's the last day to nominate someone, or someones, or yourself, to be one of the new sk*rt editors. We've had well over 200 nominations so far and we can't wait to go through them and find your favorite candidates.

Remember, anyone who sends in a nomination is entered to win an HP Printer and a Sensio Coffee Maker — that's almost $275 worth of prizes just for telling us who you think would make a great editor. The more nominations you send, the more times you're entered to win. You can get the full contest details here.

Also. Look what I found on sk*rt today:



Free paper toys! I had blogged about these gorgeous toys last summer and then promptly forgot all about them. I was so glad to see them on sk*rt. Making paper toys would be a perfect winter day activity.

Sk*rt Call for Editors Contest!

1/24 EDIT:
The nominations are coming in fast and furiously. And we LOVE it!! Keep them coming. Email us at sharethelove@sk-rt.com and tell us who you think would make a great sk*rt editor!

--------

It's non-stop excitement at sk*rt . Yesterday we announced the winner of the Clean Up sk*rt contest. And immediately after that we announced the new big deal that's happening now until the end of the month: sk*rt is putting out a Call for Editors!!

I'm so excited about this I can hardly stand it. Here’s the scoop. We're in the middle of some major redesigns over at sk*rt — including the addition of an “editors’ picks” section. But we need a few more editors to share their excellent picks with the world. We’re looking for smart, snappy, with-it women. We’re looking for women with special interest in sk*rt's nine categories and for generalists who have special interest in everything.

You know that friend you have that's always sending you the smartest links? The funniest videos? The coolest products? She would make an excellent sk*rt editor!

And just to make the finding-of-the-editors even more fun, we thought, why not have a cool contest?! And then we thought, heck yes, that’s a great idea! So here it is. The Call for Sk*rt Editors Contest. Anyone who nominates someone (or themselves) to be a new sk*rt editor is entered to win these two fantastic prizes:



1) HP Photosmart A826 Home Photo Center, valued at $199.99

This printer is made especially for all you mothers with a digital camera surgically attached to your hand. Get those photos off your computer and get them on display already!

Featuring a large 7.0-inch color touchscreen with stylus included, the Photosmart A826 allows users to edit, design and personalize photos with borders, text and creative graphics. With the 100-sheet internal paper tray, users can conveniently print up to 100 photos at a time. Print borderless 4 x 6- and 5 x 7-inch photos, holiday cards, wallets and panoramas from the convenience of home.



2) Philips’ Senseo Single Serve Coffee Machine, valued at $69.99

I'm actually not a coffee drinker and have personally never tried this, but I've been told more than once that these single serve coffee machines are better than sliced bread.

The Senseo® coffee pod system lets you savor a single serving of fresh gourmet coffee at the touch of a button, just the way you like it, whenever you like it. Designed by Philips, one of the world’s largest electronics companies, the Senseo® single serve brewing system brings great taste, in both design and coffee, to your kitchen. Mild pressure and a special spray head produce an optimally balanced coffee filtering process. No messy coffee grounds or filters. Enjoy a single serving of fresh gourmet coffee in under a minute.

That’s almost $275 of prizes. Simply for giving your pick(s) for sk*rt editors. How cool is that? Anyone can nominate as many people as they’d like — and each nomination equals an entry. Email us with your nomination at sharethelove@sk-rt.com.

It’s simple. Just send us a name and the link to their web site or blog so we can get to know them. They don’t have a blog? Then let us know why they’d be the perfect pick.

I can't wait to see who you nominate!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

We had the day off today. No work. No school. Lovely.

My brother Josh and his kids came over, plus some up-for-anything friends from the neighborhood, and we spent the day making movies. Ralph wrote and directed two cinematic masterpieces starring all the kids. Josh helped him film and edit them with iMovie.

We ended the day with pizza and chicken chili and a screening of the two flicks, plus good conversation (much of which was about living in the East vs. living in the West). A great day.

Then I sat down at my computer tonight and found the coolest link on sk*rt.

Enjoying some time testing my geography skills and pondering this big wide world seemed a fitting way to end a day that's all about celebrating Human Rights.

Clean Sk*rt Contest!!

Did you receive your fabulous sk*rt Newsletter? Than you probably already know all about the new contest. But just in case you missed it, here are the details:

This week, January 14-18, get ready for a super cool, super Clean sk*rt Contest. Great fun. Great prizes. Great opportunities to clean up!

Thanks to some excellent software developers, you now have even more opportunities to vote at sk*rt. That’s right. You can vote a story up OR vote it down. Just to make things more interesting. This also gives the community (aka, YOU!) a chance to better monitor what it likes and, well, what it doesn’t like quite as much.



Spot any spam? See anything unseemly? Simply click the nifty LOSE IT button at the bottom of each post, and cha-ching! It’s lost. If a couple of people do it, it’s lost forever. Whoohoo! And wow, is it satisfying. Kinda like Whack-a-Mole, but without the pesky moles.

And if we do say so ourselves, voting down to clean up is so very fun and addictive. Ahhh, the power!

So much fun and addictive that we’re turning it into a contest! All you have to do to enter is VOTE DOWN 10 stories in the Up & Coming section with your nifty new LOSE IT! button and then leave a comment in this post at sk*rt to tell us of your massive power. (Simple…really…Just vote down ten, leave a comment here.) Then, you’re magically entered to win these extra clean prizes:

1) A YEAR’S SUPPLY of laundry detergent from Dropps! That’s 12, 20-load packets. Free. Their site is cool, and the product is super easy to use…just drop it in, no measuring, no drips. And it’s greener than your average detergent…super concentrated, just a tiny bit of packaging compared to traditional laundry soap. How cool is that?!!!

And…

2) A CleanWell seven-product hand hygiene pack. An all-natural, no alcohol, very cool looking clean collection that kills approximately a kabillion germs. Excellent. The prize pack includes TWO 1 oz. hand sanitizer spray bottles, ONE 6 oz. hand sanitizer spray bottle, ONE box of 20 individual wipes and ONE bottle of each custom scent (ginger bergamot, orange vanilla and lavender absolute) of Foaming Hand Wash. Rad.

So there you go. That’s $125 worth of free, sparkling, spotless, spic-and-span, spectacular prizes. And really, how often do you get cool stuff for cleaning up? We can answer that: not often enough. If you win, we’ll chalk it up to clean living. And clean sk*rting. Good luck!

You can get even more info from the sk*rt blog or on the sk*rt Giveaways page.

Fun Stuff at Sk*rt

More awesome stuff is happening at sk*rt? Yes! It's true! So much awesome stuff that sk*rt is practically exploding with all the awesomeness.

For example, the very first, very cool, sk*rt newsletter comes out today! If you're a registered sk*rt user — and there thousands and thousands of you — watch for it in your inbox. Not registered? No problem. I'll include a link, as soon as I've got one, so you can get the scoop as well.

Also, just last night Sk*rt was interviewed by the lovely Kristen Chase on her Motherhood Uncensored blog talk radio show. Kristen is a fantastic interviewer and it was a blast to talk about sk*rt with her. Click here to
listen! (Kristen doesn't have our permalink up yet but it's coming soon.)

Also, also. Check in on Monday to hear all about sk*rt's big new contest featuring sk*rt's big new "lose it" button! Now you can vote up your favorite stories and vote down the stories you deem un-sk*rt-worthy — a very useful tool as you browse the "up-and-coming" section and encounter horrid, annoying spam. Click "lose it" and feel the power!


Not sure what sk*rt is? Here's an introduction:

Last summer at BlogHer, I launched sk*rt with two other bloggers I'd met online — Girl con Queso from Houston and Laurie of Upside Up in Charlotte, NC. The site has grown like crazy and we're all delighted with it. I post about sk*rt here at Design Mom from time to time because it's a big part of my online life and I love to talk about it.

Sk*rt is a website where anyone can submit a link of interest. Anybody. Any link. Found a great sale? Instead of sharing it with a few friends through email, post it on sk*rt and share it with thousands. Discovered a great blog? Post it on sk*rt and help spread the word. Read an impassioned political article that left you thinking? Submit it on sk*rt and see what other people have to say. Sk*rt exists to promote every cool website and blog and interesting article out there. Sk*rt is a portal to the best on the web for women.

When sk*rt users see a link they like, they click "love it". If the link gets enough "love it" clicks, it makes it to the main page where it gets tons of attention. Sk*rt is modeled on a highly popular site for men called Digg. It's the same concept, but designed for women, with 9 categories that appeal to women.

If you're interested in voting, the thing you need to know about is the two main sections: Popular & Up-and-Coming. When links are first submitted to sk*rt they show up in the Up-and-Coming section. Only those with enough "love it" clicks make it the the Popular section. The Popular section is the first thing you see when you get to sk*rt — the Main page or Front page, it's sometimes called.

To vote, comment or submit a link, you need to register. It's super quick and easy, and totally free of course.

But there's no registration needed to see the super-cool stories that have made it the front page — made it through the filter of savvy sk*rt users — all you have to do is click here.

More questions? See Getting Started with sk*rt, sk*rt faq's, and the sk*rt about us page.

Lost in Houston

So I've kind of disappeared, but I didn't mean to. I'm in Houston sk*rting it up with Laurie and Laura. I thought it would be internet central and that I'd be blogging like crazy, but it turns out this trip has been all about meetings. Meetings. Meetings. Meetings.

Meeting business advisors for sk*rt. Meeting web 2.0 people for brunch. Meeting cool people like Katherine Center and Karen Walrond (who took the fantastic photo above — thank you, Karen!). A meeting of the minds with Laurie and Laura.

This is my first time in Houston. I love it. I really love it. It's green. It's 74 degrees. The architecture is charming. And there are excellent restaurants all over the place. My already enormous hair has frizzed to gigantic proportions in the thick humidity. I'm officially living large in Texas.

I fly back to New York tomorrow. I'll be blogging again on Thursday. Can't wait.

Oh! And I'll announce the lucky Quiet Hours Toys Giveaway winner on Thursday as well.

Fun Stuff at Sk*rt

Exciting things happening at sk*rt this week and I have to share.

First of all, the smart and witty and always glamorous Laura Mayes represented sk*rt at the Rice Alliance Information Technology Venture Forum in Houston. Each company there was invited to show one power-point slide and give a 90-second elevator pitch. Apparently, Laura’s presentation was flawless (no surprise), because sk*rt won! And we have a very cool trophy to prove it.

Sk*rt is the most promising!




And then, because Laura is such a fantastic presenter — and at this point, a social media guru — she was invited to speak about sk*rt at the Got Social Media event. Go Laura! Go sk*rt!



And now that I've done a bit of sk*rt bragging, I've got something nice, just for you, so that you won't think sk*rt has grown too big for its britches. Sk*rt is so very thankful for it's users, that we're hosting a Thanksgetting Celebration to show our gratitude, with Giveaways all week long. For you. Loyal sk*rt users.

It's easy to enter, just leave a comment on any sk*rt ThanksGetting post, like this one. You can find out more information on the sk*rt Giveaways page and the sk*rt blog. But please note, comments on this blog post don't count as entries.