My dad, a  master electrician and historian has recently grown to love his Pantech Ease. He likes using the Ease to check and send email on the go. As well as responding to text messages from his six daughters. The Pantech Ease comes with so many great features like large fonts, large buttons, user friendly apps, and more that make the mobile phone as easy-to-use as possible.  The Pantech Ease has AT&T GPS Navigation and comes with a free 30-day trial. It also includes other handy applications such as a tip calculator, a pedometer, and video recording options.

Everyone in the family communicates differently and accommodating those needs has been trying for my parents. My son Chris is a texter, my daughter Natalia is a talker, my youngest sister Emily, well she’s a photographer. My oldest sister Angela utilizes Facebook, while I’m a Twitterer. Keeping up with all of us at times can be a trying task! So my parents were in need of a cell phone that can accommodate all of us with “Ease!”

*Free 30 Days available to new subscribers. Compatible phone required. Standard data and messaging charges apply during the first 30 days and ongoing use. You must cancel within 30 days or be automatically subscribed at a cost of $9.99 per month for unlimited routes. Click for more details on AT&T GPS Navigation.

For Christmas my daughter received a new phone, the Motorola Karma. In this video she shares some of the features she likes best.

Standard usage rates apply, depending on your plan. See att.com/dataterms  for terms & conditions.

I’ve done holiday travel before, but haven’t seen anything like this. We were at the airport over two hours early, but the lines were so long that we missed our flight out and ended up having to traverse all over the U.S. in order to reach our final destination. To keep ourselves occupied, in touch with the world outside of the airport, and notify loved ones of changes and updates to the flight schedules, the kids and I pulled out our phones and tackled applications ranging from Southwest Airlines Mobile, Facebook, news channels, to games and videos.

Finally we made it to our final destination, Busch Gardens! It had TONS of activities for all of us and since I could not bring my entire network of family and friend to Florida, I brought Florida to them, taking pics of all of the events and activities and posting them so that we had everyone involved!

 Which application did we use the most during the trip? Facebook, of course! With the Facebook application on my Smartphone I can stay connected to everyone on the go. All my friends and family can follow my every move, enjoying the pictures I post and receive my updates on my status. It’s so exciting to follow others as well and makes keeping in touch so easy… just got engaged, just moved, had a birthday, adopted a puppy… it’s all right there. Whatever or whoever it may be, I love to know what’s going on and keeping track of my loved ones.

Christopher, my 11 year old son stays connected via both Facebook and Yahoo Messenger. He utilizes his cell phone to log in and post updates on his account… updating his whereabouts and posting snippets of his adventures.  As a Mom, I LOVE this because he can be tagged in pictures that were taken along the trip and instantly viewed by his friends, connecting them all together as we enjoy our excursion. His friends leave the craziest messages and I think that it builds a special level of connection between them all, bonding them closer as a group.

Happy Holidays and I look forward to sharing with you all again soon!

Pretty great, right? Well I have good news! We have one Samsung Solstice to give away to one lucky reader.

Here’s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment here and tell us how the Samsung Solstice will help keep you calm, cool and connected.  Your e-mail address and phone number must be accurate in your comment so we’re able to contact you. Make sure you double check. (Don’t worry. These won’t be published.)

2) You can also enter by writing a post on your blog answering the same question. Just be sure to leave a comment here linking to your post so we know where to find it.

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. This sweepstakes runs from today, November 16 to Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009. It is only open to individuals who, at the time of entry deadline, are legal residents of the United States and are 18 years or older; one entry per person. AT&T employees and members of their household are not eligible to win. The winner will be notified via phone on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009.

For complete contest rules, click here: http://att.centralcast.net/rules/.

We all agree as neighbors that at least one of the adults will travel along with the kids since it’s not as safe to let kids walk the streets alone. We send them out with flashlights and glow sticks. Costumes we all know. Leaving parts of their faces showing makes it easier for others as well as yourself to recognize them.

Trick-or-treating isn’t what it used to be. Send a responsible adult or older teenager with them, and a cell phone. Here are some additional Halloween safety tips that I found to be helpful: http://www.halloween-safety.com/halloween_safety_kids.html

Enjoy and have a safe Halloween!

I have a very calculated approach that I take when completing shopping errands. The two tools central to these searches: a phone and a computer. When I have at least a day advance notice, I’ll get online and start browsing through the various stores and boutiques at my favorite shopping locales, clicking away on the pictures of items I like and sending them out to everyone in my inner circle for their opinion. Just like this:

If I’m already out then I can snap pics of the things I like best and either email them to friends, or post them on Facebook immediately, for all to see.

Recently, my son was away on a summer trip and called home frantic. School was to start on Monday and he was desperate for a specific pair of Nikes. He hurriedly gave me a description of what he was looking for and then sent me a pic from his Samsung phone. I was off, utilizing the Nike, Yellow Pages and Shopping applications in order to find the locations closest to me that might have this style.

(I have to tell you that at this point, if it had been for myself and if there had been more time, then I might have also used the Craigslist or Ebay features to see if I could find alternate options at a cheaper price. I’ve found Michael Kors STEALS by doing this.)

The whole thing took a matter of a couple of hours from request to purchase. They were ready and waiting from him when he came back home from his trip. Yes Christopher, I know, your momma ROCKS!!!!!!! Here he is on his first day of school sporting his new shoes:

(Disclaimer:   Standard usage rates apply, depending on your plan. See att.com/dataterms  for terms & conditions.)

I recently took a short trip to San Antonio to visit family friends. We have a Jack Russell Terrier at home that we decided to leave behind.

My girlfriend who lives down the street offered to dog-sit for the weekend. Now, I consider myself a good friend and neighbor, so I TRIED to warn her that my dog is very active and is a jumper.

On Friday I got off work early, packed up the kids and hit the road. We arrived at our destination. The kids hadn’t seen each other in a while, so they stayed in with a sitter to catch up. The rest of us went out for a night on the town. While we were dining at P.F. Changs, my cell phone rang. It was my girlfriend back home in a complete state of panic.

“Steph,” she exclaimed, “You are going to hate me!” I tried calming her down to find out what was wrong, but she just kept repeating, “You are going to hate me!” Finally, she said, “I lost your doggie!”

I told her to calm down and then said, “Relax, no one wants my dog. She’s a Jack Russell Terrier.” She went on to tell me that she had briefly let the dog out into the backyard, briefly, while she went back inside to fill up the food bowls. When she came back to the yard, my dog was gone. He’d apparently pulled “Houdini” and had escaped from the yard! Of course, this was NOT uncommon! I went on to tell her that my dog was chipped and tagged, and that we would find her. No worries.

In the meantime, I decided to use the Safari app on my cell phone to search the “City” site, hoping that something would come up and … IT DID! Only a day after the “incident,” (on a Saturday) there it was – my little Houdini’s dog tag information in clear pixilated fashion listed among the refugees being housed by the city. All of this was right there on my phone!!!

I immediately called my exhausted girlfriend because, no doubt, she was still fretting. Upon arriving home Sunday night, I called the city, and (of course!) no pick up’s on the weekend. We had to wait until Monday to get my Houdini out of the CITY POUND! The fines were as follows: a $35 incarceration fee, and a $5 city registration fee. Of course having my little doggie back is priceless!