I’m an avid Black Friday shopper.  I love the rush of the sale.  Every year it blows my mind at how much money I save while finishing my Christmas shopping on that day.  I have three children, five nieces, three nephews and one great-niece that I buy for.  That’s a lot of kids.  The cost of gifts can add up quickly even when I buy simple and small items.

Digital Folio is a free comparison shopping app that finds and tracks price savings for you!  Currently it’s compatible with Firefox and Internet Explorer on both PCs and Macs.  Digital Folio provides real-time pricing updates and comparisons on a wide variety of products which makes saving money even easier.

Current product categories include:

• Computer/Printers
• Personal Audio Players
• Camcorders
• Children’s Car Seats
• Point ‘n Shoot Cameras
• Televisions
• Computers
• Blu-Ray Players
• Refrigerators
• Microwaves
• Washers/Dryers
• Dishwashers

Your intelligent shopping list is always with you while you shop across the web, whether you are shopping from your computer, from your phone, at home or in the store.  You can add products to your list from five of the top online retailer websites with a simple click, drag ‘n drop from Amazon, Best Buy, Sears, Target and Walmart.  The real-time price comparison happens instantly, giving you price updates across each of these major retailers as you shop the web, updates on your saved items happen even when you’re offline.

On Black Friday my mom and sister both join me in shopping.  We will sometimes split up and visit different stores trying to make sure we get the best deals.  Digital Folio makes group shopping with shared lists even easier.  You can share your list or registry with friends and family so everyone can co-shop and compare in real-time.  It also makes price matching a synch with retailers such as Walmart.

Download the Digital Folio app and let me know what you think about it.  Then join Digital Folio and Resourceful Mommy on Tuesday, November 8th at 8:00 PM EST for a Twitter Party.  Follow @ResourcefulMom and @DigitalFolio and tweet with the hashtag #DigitalFolio to join in the conversation all while being given the chance to win one of six $25 Target gift cards to help with your holiday gift shopping.  Or shoot for the $100 Target gift card for the grand prize.

On Tuesday, November 15th Digital Folio will select a winner to award a $200 Target gift card out of all registered users of their price comparison shopping app.  That’s exactly one week after the Twitter Party so make sure you download the shopping app today to make sure you are eligible.

Full Disclosure: I was compensated for my time sharing this announcement with you.  All opinions are 100% mine.

School is just around the corner.  If you haven’t already started your back-to-school shopping with your kids I’m sure you will soon.  In preparation for college, Macy’s is hosting a College Lifestyle Party at several of their locations.  They are inviting teens and parents out to their Home Department for savings!  All you have to do is either show your child’s student ID or acceptance letter and you’ll receive 10% off your total, even sales and clearance items.

While you are at Macy’s dorm room shopping, don’t forget to check out their back-to-school sales on clothing.  If you purchase two pairs of Levi jeans during the event then you’ll receive a $10 Macy’s gift card.

I love shopping at Macy’s.  They have some of the best sales and always offer high quality items.  I buy my jeans from their store as well as my makeup and have a habit of checking out the silver jewelry section.  You can get your college bound son/daughter ready to head off to their dorm by fulfilling all their needs at Macy’s.  Decorate their dorm room, purchase their back-to-school clothes and don’t forget a new backpack or shoulder bag.

College Lifestyle Shopping Party Events:

• Boston, MA – Washington St. – July 29 12-2pm
• Madison, WI – The Hilldale Shopping Center – July 30 2-4pm
• Towson, MD – The Towson Town Center Mall – July 30 2-4pm
• Alpharetta, GA – The North Point Mall – July 30 2-4pm
• Austin, TX – The Barton Creek Square Mall – July 30 2-4pm

Full Disclosure: Macy’s sent me a gift for my time sharing their event information with my readers.  All opinions are 100% mine.

I’m so excited to announced I was selected as one of the new iVoices on iVillage.  I sent in my audition video towards the beginning of June and they announced on June 21st that I was one of ten selected.  I believe this is an amazing opportunity for me and I feel beyond blessed to be chosen.  You can view the announcement video below.

For my first assignment I was asked to cover the topic of Living Life to the Fullest.  My first thought was to discuss my Life List.  I am a strong believer in having a Life List no matter how long it is.  I feel if you have a list of things you want to accomplish in your life no matter how simple, how small or even those long term goals that it gives you perspective to look at and work towards.  Putting something in writing helps give that extra boost you need and acts as a reminder to not only do the things that make you happy but also to live life to the fullest every day with no regrets.  My teen daughter was also featured in my first iVoices report discussing her teen life list and why she created it.

I hope you enjoy my very first iVoices report and I would love for you to visit the iVillage iVoices website to see what else is going on over there.  I’m amazed by the great team I am a part of now and there are many other truly amazing reporters providing content regularly.

From now until June 20, 2011 World Harbors is running a sweepstakes on their Facebook Page.  One lucky entrant will be selected at random to win an all-expense paid trip to an exotic island and a video camera to take with them to document their travels.

As part of the World Harbors Capture Your Adventure Sweepstakes, hints will be posted on the Facebook Page wall for you to find out which exotic island the lucky winner will be visiting.  You can also enter daily to increase your chances of winning!  I know everyone wants an all-expense paid trip to an island during the summer… can’t beat a free vacation so don’t forget to visit World Harbors Facebook Page daily.

When you enter the sweepstakes you answer three simple questions about your favorite destination, favorite activity and favorite items on your dinner plate.  Depending on your answers the screen will show you which World Harbor marinade you would most likely enjoy.  My entry showed me the exact flavor I used last week when cooking, Teriyaki.  I can’t wait to try out the other flavors next.  The Island Mango looks real good and is on my list to use next time I grill out.

Full Disclosure: I am a Mizkan Blogger Advocate and therefore product and compensation is provided for time spent sharing this with you. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have finally launched my business website.  It’s not complete quite yet but I have been working hard on it for a while.  For the past several weeks I had to put it on the back burner with everything going on with Gabby.  Since MommaDJane.com is my family blog where I share mostly stories and updates about our family I wanted a more business/professional landing page to list my expertise and passions in the work field.  My new personal page is DwanPerrin.com which I owe thanks for the design to Erica from TechnoMom Designs.  She did a fabulous job!

Not only is DwanPerrin.com a landing page to tell more about myself and link to my social media networks, I also wanted to provide testimonies and my resume for potential clients to see.  I am still adding a full write up on my About page and adding in testimonials but you can get a glimpse at how it looks so far.  I know sometimes when a company is looking to hire help they will have one person in house search for resumes and then take to their HR department or someone else to make the final decision.  That’s why I thought it would be a great idea to include my resume to be downloaded.  That way a company can print it to review if they’d like.

Instead of just adding a Microsoft Word document to be downloaded, I thought it was safer to protect it somehow so it couldn’t be edited.  I decided a PDF conversion would work best.  When using the PDF converter it was super simple and kept my resume in the same layout and alignment it was in as a Microsoft Word document.  Have you ever used CreatePDF for your documents?

I also added a blog to DwanPerrin.com titled Events.  This is where I’ll write announcements about conferences I plan to attend and work events as well as give a recap afterward.  I love the Events Calendar that Erica added for me so I can list conferences, meetings and other appointments as far in advance as I’d like.  When an event is listed on the calendar I can link to the website of the event or my own blog post announcement.

Do you have a professional website?  What do you think of mine?  Am I missing anything?

Noah is a huge Disney Pixar Cars fan.  Our family has seen the first movie so many times I believe I can even quote all the characters.  It’s such a cute story, which I don’t expect anything less from Disney.  When the kids and I first heard Disney Pixar was coming out with a Cars 2 we were so excited.  It hits theaters June 24th and since Noah’s birthday is June 27th it’s going to make the perfect birthday party theme.

After visiting Disney World last week we are even more pumped to see Cars 2 this summer.  At Disney’s Epcot they were celebrating their flower festival and of course Noah’s favorite was Lightening McQueen in life form.

When visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios we were given the chance to see the drawings and color images for the new upcoming Cars 2.  It was a nice sneak peek for Noah to see how the movie is actually created from drawings.  He was very eager to see it all.

While we were viewing the display at Disney’s Hollywood Studios we also learned something really neat.  If you look at the above image of the Pixar Cars 2 poster and you look closely you can see Mater, Lightening McQueen and the new car that will be featured in Cars 2 named Finn.  I didn’t see it at first until someone showed me so just in case you can’t see it either I edited the image to show you were the cars are located.

Is that not the coolest?

Do you plan to see Disney Pixar Cars 2 in June?  Which car is your family’s favorite character?

I love the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!  The stories are very touching and usually have me in tears, I think that happens to most people who watch the show.  T loves watching it also.  She truly enjoys seeing the remodeling and how the houses turn out.  This Sunday’s episode Extreme Makeover Home Edition goes to Nashville to help assist in the Flood Cleanup.  Many people step up to help and it’s truly inspiring.  Country Music Artists such as Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and LeAnn Rimes perform right in the heart of Country Music – Nashville, Tennessee.

I’m also excited that Leigh Anne Tuohy joins team leader Ty Pennington, and designers Paul DiMeo and Tracy Hutson to cram for one of the biggest builds this season.  My favorite movie this year is Blind Side and if you have seen it you know that story is heart-warming itself.  Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy in Blind Side so seeing the ‘real deal’ on a TV show will be exciting.  After watching the movie and hearing about her family story I know she is a perfect fit for this team.

You can see the latest sneak peeks on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s Facebook Page and catch a glimpse of what is going to air this Sunday at 8/7c PM on ABC.

I will be live tweeting during the show using Hashtag: #MoveThatBus and would love for you to join along in the conversation and tell me what you think of the episode.  I’m sure we’ll make it a fun night on Twitter!

Can’t wait to see what my favorite part of the episode will be.  The above photo looks fun, they dropped a truck on the school because the Pre-Schoolers told them to.

Love the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show? Here are a few ways you can keep up with the latest happenings.

• @ExtremeHome on Twitter
• Extreme Makeover Home Edition on Facebook
• ABC’s Main Extreme Makeover Website

Full Disclosure: This post was brought to you by Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  All opinions expressed were 100% mine.

Singer Josh Groban visits a local middle school in Queens, NY to drop off brand new musical instruments & participate in chorus class as part of the “Our School Needs” campaign kick-off

Bing is awarding a quarter-million dollars in prize money divided among four schools in need.  The Our School Needs contest has 15 finalists videos from various schools across America that need your votes.  The entry with the most votes wins $100,000 and 3 others will each win $50,000!

I personally love the Jessie Beck Elementary School video entry.  I love seeing all the team work between the students in creating the video and how they have laid out what their needs are and how the money would benefit their school and futures.

Do you know teachers who have sacrificed things in their classroom due to budget cuts?  I know my daughter’s teacher has personally bought things for their classroom and always provides the students with special Holiday parties and end of the year prizes to overcome the lack in school funding.  I am always amazed at what lengths teachers will go to in order to make sure their students are taken care of even on a lower salary.

Bing is giving away up to $900,000 to schools in need through DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit website where public school teachers can post classroom projects that need funding.  Be one of the first 30,000 to vote for your favorite finalists each day and receive a $3 donation code to redeem for the classroom project of your choice!

Voting ends Sunday, November 7th.  Winners will be announced Tuesday, November 9th.

Full Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Bing and received a gift card and DonorsChoose.org giving code to thank me for taking the time to participate.

I can’t believe it’s the end of September already!  Before we know it the Holidays will be here and although I’m already looking back going ‘wow, where did nine months go?‘ soon I’ll be saying ‘holy cow, where did 2010 go?‘!  Do you feel that way?  A lot has taken place in my life during the past year and some of it I’m still trying to find time to blog about.  It’s nice to take a moment and look back on what all has been accomplished and try to catch up with reality.  Or does reality catch up with you?  Either way…

Looking back I wanted to share some other blog posts and articles I have been writing around the web.  Maybe this will give some insights on why I haven’t blogged here as often as I’d like.  Hopefully I’ll make some changes in that area soon so be watching for more posts from me.

I’m really excited to share my Forks, Washington Twilight Saga Trip Series.  The whole series of articles is still in the works and although I do plan to share more of a personal view here on MommaDJane.com I am trying to share more tips and advice with a virtual tour feel over on eLivingMedia.  The trip to Forks, Washington for T’s 13th birthday was so involved and filled with wonderful Twilight Saga action that I couldn’t write just one post about it so I’m doing a series.  The first two articles are live now.  The series Table Of Contents shows at the top of each post within the series for easy viewing and moving around between the articles.  Enjoy!

As you all know, I just love Life Lists.  I think publicizing them helps give you the kick you need to remember yours, read it regularly and work towards it, even if just in small amounts.  I wrote an article sharing some tips on creating a Life List and why I feel they are important.  Enjoy!

I shared with you my excitement of buying my new Chevy Malibu.  During the car buying process I learned a lot of tips on saving time.  So I wrote this post sharing my car buying time saver tips that I hope helps the next person going through the process.  It can be exhausting.

I’m so excited to announce that I purchased a new Chevy 2010 Malibu.  Thanks to @GMTexas I have been given the chance to test drive several Chevy vehicles over the past several months.  I drove and fell in love with the Equinox back in February when heading to Blissdom.  I drove the Traverse on my way to visit Erica’s family in July which was the perfect size.  Then for my ten year high school reunion I went in style driving the Camaro RS.  I must say I absolutely love all of the Chevy vehicles and wouldn’t mind owning any of them.

During the month of July the Gotta Love Chevy DFW program had a test drive event locally where they invited people out to drive a brand new Malibu and they received a gift certificate for an one hour massage at Massage Envy.  You might remember the Whrrl story that I shared from my day out with some girlfriends and our experience driving the Malibu.  I just loved it.

Last month I decided it was time to buy a new vehicle.  At first I was sold on the fact of purchasing a Traverse or an Equinox.  I really wanted the third row seat that the Traverse offered yet the Equinox was the same size vehicle that I was used to driving at the time and same expense wise.  While pondering back and forth and being in contact with my local Chevy dealer I just woke up one day and changed my mind.  It dawned on me that T is going to be 16 in three years and the Malibu would be perfect for her.  The back seat of the Malibu fits everyone just as comfortable as the Equinox in width so I felt it was totally doable for my family.  One of my children’s favorite features in the Equinox and Traverse was the DVD player.  That was one feature I didn’t want to lose when purchasing the Malibu so I had them custom install the DVD players in the headrests.  Now everyone is pleased.  My goal was to save some money when purchasing the Malibu over the Equinox or Traverse and pass it down to T in three years.

Favorite Features:

• Smooth Ride {no more top heavy SUV that causes leaning when turning corners}

• DVD Headrests {each headrest has it’s own DVD player which equals 2 movies & 2 happy kids}

• iPod AUX hookup {yeah baby, I now can listen to my iPhone music on the go}

• OnStar {I LOVE this feature, thank goodness for directions}

• Remote Start {I’ve already used it NUMEROUS times in this hot Texas heat}

View my Whrrl story from the day I picked up my new Malibu!