The May 1st nwaMotherLode.com launch party was an absolute blast! Thanks so much to everyone who made the evening a success, especially our premier sponsor, Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas. You might notice we only have one measly picture of the party and it’s of the humongous cake. Well, that’s because we got all excited about chatting with our girlfriends and giving away door prizes that we failed to take pictures of the event. We’ll all have to wait to see pictures when they come out next month in Celebrate Magazine!

As promised, we had an abundance of chocolate and door prizes, which were donated by some fabulous businesses across Northwest Arkansas, including: Fresh branded treats from Glo Cosmetics; a style-ish hair cut from The Fringe Benefit; a $25 gift certificate from the The Pink Papaya; a silver-plated notepad holder and notepads from B LaRue; “Fun in the Sun” products from Mary Kay; baby goodies from Babies & Beyond; gift certificates to Basil’s, Bonefish Grill and Shogun’s from nwaRestaurant.com; some parenting and kids’ books from the new bookstore Pages of Parenting; and some gift certificates for pizza pies from Eureka Pizza.

The Embassy Suites room was decorated in a cozy living-room motif, with lots of low tables and chairs as well as a sofa where friends could hang out and chat. Laptops on three tall cocktail tables made the MotherLode website available for surfing.

If you missed the party, you missed a few announcements: We first reminded moms to enter the De-LUXE Mother’s Day Getaway Giveaway contest to win a really cool spa experience at Luxe Derma Spa and Lounge. Gwen and I really stressed that moms shouldn’t worry about whether the grammar is perfect; it’s the story we’re interested in! The deadline for that contest is Wednesday, May 7, and the winners will be announced the Friday before Mother’s Day.

We also announced some really BIG news! Be looking for our first Gold Mine Giveaway in the next few days because the first item is being donated by Underwood’s Jewelry of Fayetteville! We can’t say what it is, except that it’s SPARKLY! It can pop up on the website any time and it will only be there for 24 hours. It’s easy to win. Just look for the details when you see the Goldmine Giveaway icon.