Surprises with Balancing Act Road Tour

Today I had the pleasure of meeting up with some amazing blogger friends, connecting with great businesses and brands, and also getting to meet one of The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s stars, Teresa Giudice, all under the guise of work.

Thanks to The Balancing Act’s, “Balance Your Life Road Tour“, I got to spend a fun day at the Southern Women’s Show here in Charlotte. A few other bloggers and I were toured around the pink carpet and met with great vendors like the PTA, Big Fish Games, Cardraising, Verizon, Envirosax and more. I made some great connections and can’t wait to write about some new things I learned that will benefit parents and kids alike.

I was surprised to learn the most about the National PTA, and found out more about their support for Common Core State Standard. In an effort to make sure that children receive the same education state-to-state. I loved learning about their position on education and their role for parents, children, and schools.

That was not my only surprise of the day, I was surprised with great goodies from several vendors, including our hosts The Balancing Act, and I also got to spin the wheel of brands, which, I must admit, for a moment, made me feel like I was on The Price is Right.

I also got to meet the people from Cardraising.com who have set up, the easiest fundraising system I have seen. {This comes from the top seller in girl scout cookie sales years in a row, and a mom of a Kindergartner.} I loved their system because:

• It makes it easy to find the school/cause you are looking for and know you are on the right page
• Their products are high quality
• Their cards are reasonably priced because they’re not marked up, but schools still receive 30% profit
• Their items are personalized, which rarely happens with fundraising programs

The last surprise was meeting Teresa Giudice. In case you don’t already know I am a Bravo TV fan, and watch The Real Housewives seasons. I don’t write about it much, but New Jersey is my favorite full cast, (Bethenny Frankel is my favorite former Houswife though.) Today, I knew I would have the opportunity to meet Teresa, and while you can’t judge anyone from TV, she has had a pretty bad rap this past season. Going into the meeting I had no preconceived notions, but was delightfully surprised when she started talking to us about life, the cute personalities of her girls, and her upcoming projects. {Although if you watch the show you may have other opinions…}

Thanks BART for lots of surprises today, and for inviting me to this event.

Can’t wait to share even more about the great products and services I discovered at The Balancing Act Road Tour with you, my awesome readers!

Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Ambassador program and have been provided with a wireless device and three months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product.