Because we all need an excuse to go to San Diego in the Fall (#myprintlymoms)

How thankful am I to MomSelect and Maria Bailey?  I was invited to come to a Print and Pamper Retreat for HP to learn about HP and My Printly for a group called MyPrintlymoms and hang out with some fantastic ladies at a place called  Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego and it was delightful.

It was 100 degrees the weekend we were there.  100 wonderful degrees of heat and glorious sunshine which is just what the soul needs in October when you come from Seattle.

We basked in the sun and drove about the golf course and hung out in the palm trees.

We learned about innovative things in the social media/blogging world and the worlds of Disney and HP printables and we were treated to delightful little printed goodies in our rooms.

I was proud of these Mickey ears I learned to make from Tanya Staab on a craft night!  They were adorable and surprisingly easy.

And I loved a speaker named Arlene Pellicane who came and talked about kids and social media.  I didn’t win her book “Growing Up Social” so I bought it and it’s pretty inspiring and it’s making me think about how I interact with my children in this crazy tech-ed up world we live in.

We even spent a really awesome day at Disneyland too! I’ve never been to Disneyland at Halloween and it was so festive!  We also had our own little spot to watch the parade and fireworks and it was truly a VIP Disney experience I’ll remember for a long time.

When I returned from the conference, a new printer, an HP ENVY 5400 was waiting for me at home and because I’m a little scared of technology, I let it sit in my office and stared it down a while until the other night I almost installed the whole printer by myself while my husband supervised.

I did it.

And it was pretty foolproof.  I can even print from my phone, even while I’m waiting at school pickup, so of course I’m all over that.  Like with Pic-collage, an app I learned about at the retreat, I made a collage, and pressed print.

And instantly I had a photo I could tuck in my husband’s things so he had a nice surprise for his work office.

The printer came with an ink subscription program called Instant Ink and it’s crazy because apparently this printer will know when it needs new ink and just order it and it will arrive at my door.  So now I’m printing like mad to see if it actually works.  (I’ll let you know.)

But San Diego?

It was gorgeous.

And warm.

And should be visited by everyone who lives in dreary, wet places in the fall.

(PS. I paid to attend the HP Print and Pamper Retreat conference and as mentioned above, I received a printer and 3 months of Instant Ink but the opinions here are always my own and not required.)

(PPS. my family also came to this retreat and I barely even knew they were there.  Apparently they had a great time wandering around San Diego too and I’ll let you know what else we did when we were in San Diego soon!)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)