Here is part one:

Here is part two:

And I did a Whrrl story on my experience:

Here are some details about the conference:

Type-A Mom Conference is a unique mom blogging conference designed to help you take it to the next level. The conference will feature some of the most influential, admired and insightful mom bloggers talking about topics like power social networking, branding, blogging, finding your voice, and turning your passion for blogging into a real paycheck.

When? Sept. 24-27

Where? Asheville, NC

Find out more at the official Type-A Mom Conference site.

And be sure to register before 11:55 p.m. July 1st. The current Super Early Bird rate of $100 is half the full price, and it ends (and bumps up $50) in mere hours.

_{Photo © National Rural account on Flickr, used via Creative Commons license.}

Now to figure out how to not look fat and/or act stupid… Secrets anyone?

_{Photo of TV, &copy http://www.sxc.hu/profile/mzacha}

There are a few reasons why we love taking the kids there:

• It’s cheap. It costs $6 for the whole family (as long as they fit in one vehicle, since the only charge is for parking). Better yet, it’s free on Tuesdays.
• It’s a semi-contained area to let the kids run free. There are a few places, like the bonsai garden, where it’s a series of walkways and bridges with railings, so for those of you with multiple kids like us, you don’t have to worry as much about each kid sprinting a different direction. In fact, the Arboretum was the first outing where we took the kids and let the twins go stroller-free when they started walking.
• They have kid-friendly hiking trails as short as a half-mile tound-trip.
• It’s one of the few attractions I’ve seen anywhere (not just Asheville, but in all my travels in seven countries) that actually caters to toddlers and preschoolers. They have a Wee Naturalist program for kids age 2-4 to encourage parents and kids to explore.
• They always have a cool, hands-on or personal experience type of exhibit that kids love. Currently, it’s an exhibit on bats. One of the coolest was a greenhouse filled with real live butterflies that the kids could walk into and experience.

The coolest part is probably that adults can actually enjoy this. With maybe the exception of winter, the arboretum is, beyond all the things I listed above, a very cool attraction for moms, dads, grandparents and pets, too. (I see lots of people walking their dogs there.) Each season is unique. Right now, spring is just emerging, and it’s gorgeous.

But my husband and I, and the kids, love the bonsai collection (the largest in the Southeast from what I have heard). Here’s a cool thing some people don’t really think about either, but these bonsais go through the seasonal changes as well. If you get a chance, I definitely recommend checking out the arboretum during the fall color change.

Here are several other pictures I took yesterday and last fall:

My husband took a couple tubs of books we don’t need any more to a local used book store, and now we have a sweet credit to buy more used books. We’ve also been hitting some local antiques stores, the cool Asheville Habitat for Humanity home store, and even a free book exchange (you’ve got to love Asheville!). I’ve made some cool finds, price tag for everything below like $10 (actually I’m still in the negative if you figure we still have bookstore credit).

This was my favorite find, a first American edition of Larousse Gastronomique packed with dozens and dozens of great classic French recipes. I’m so in love…

Here is the cover (it has a protective wrap, so I apologize for the glare):

And here’s the cool thing you get with a vintage cookbook that you just won’t find buying new. There was an old New Orleans Times-Picayune article on truffles tucked inside the back cover (which has great food illustrations on it):

And check out these hilarious 1961-era French food pics. Gag me!

And here is my personal favorite find, a hilarious 1963-era book, The Working Wives’ (Salaried or Otherwise) Cookbook. I was just going to laugh at it, but the whole theme of the book is recipes you make ahead the night beforehand and heat the day of. That actually could come in handy, and it included some classics like Beef Burgundy.

As cool as those cookbooks are, the coolest find was at the local Habitat store: a vintage Betty Crocker recipe card file in which the person actually got all of the recipes. How retro-cool is this?

And here are some of the categories. My personal fave? “Men’s Favorites,” whatever the hell that means (no it isn’t cards with recipes for beer, pizza and sex… but it probably should be):

I was sold when I saw a whole file section on recipes for kids to make, but I think we might skip the pizza with hamburger crust. It’s kind of a miracle the baby boomers who ate this crap in childhood are still around, don’t you think?

But there actually are some healthy options in the recipes for kids to make:

Here is the best part. Whoever once owned this must have used it to store all recipes, because there are several other recipes tucked in (and even filed properly!). Some are handwritten, and some typed (yes, typewriter typed), and some clipped from magazines. There’s even one that’s scribbled on note paper without even a name for the recipe. I’m dying to try that one!

My husband and I used to be all about nightlife. Then we had a kid. But we still did a lot. After all, we traveled for months living in Europe, so she saw a late night here or there. Then we had two more kids at once. And nightlife was pretty much killed with the exception of the lively party happening upstairs when the twins chit-chat and giggle in their room, and my 5-year-old stays up way later than she should.

We still would love to have a nightlife, and oh we tried to have one. We hired babysitters. They never showed. Ever. Something about twins under the age of 2 seemed to spook them, I guess. No one seemed capable or willing or interested in watching our gaggle of spastic children.

So if you can’t beat them, let them join you. We started doing the nightlife thing anyway. With the kids. Now this isn’t the kind of nightlife we indulged in when we first dated (if there are Jello shots involved, they are virgin, and cut into cute jiggly shapes, and have fruit inside).

Each week, we’ve been hitting downtown Asheville (which is a cool and funky place, but is small enough to feel comfortable out with little ones). Our fave thing is to go to the drum circle, which is a weekly gathering of dozens and dozens of people playing drums, dancing, performing and even (oh, yeah, I said it) playing hacky sack. Umm, anyway.

The kids have a blast, and we’ve gotten them their own little drums. They also get a chance to see many other kids there. We’ve been going out to dinner, and just strolling around town. The kids loved eating at Cats and Dawgs, a little kid-friendly hot dog joint downtown.

No, we don’t get drunk or stay up half the night. In fact, we often end up home before it really gets fully dark. But we all are getting a chance to get out and experience some nightlife. The kids get to see a side of life they don’t normally see during the daytime. We get to have what feels like a semblance of our former socializing selves.

Best of all… and I know this probably sounds a little sad coming from a reformed party girl turned minivan mom… I almost think it’s more fun than real grown up nightlife. But don’t quote me on that.

When we lived in Nice, France, we shopped at a local market almost every day. In fact, we didn’t even own a car there. That meant the most we could ever buy is what we could carry (and not much since we had a 1-year-old with us). We would usually hit the big Cours Selaya Flower Market and buy just enough produce to last a couple days.

We couldn’t even do the big, mondo, semi-ridiculous grocery store expedition where you load up on a month’s supply of things that are frozen, boxed, canned, jarred and came from the other side of the globe.

We also always had the best local food, because in France it was so easy to do so. Want bread? Go to the bakery around the corner. Sweet tooth? Hit a local pastry shop or chocolaterie. Meat comes from the local butcher, and cheese from one of the amazing, divine corner cheese shops.

So this morning wasn’t quite at that level, of course. I’m not in France anymore. But I am in Asheville, and food was a major reason I wanted to move here (a.k.a. Foodtopia) when we returned from France and found ourselves unhappy in Northwest Indiana near Chicago (too flat, and way too cold).

We went to the new Asheville City Market. It’s kind of interesting they even need another market (we have like 45 in the region), but it actually is the only one conveniently located downtown. And it seems to have attracted many vendors. There was a mix of produce, plants, cheeses, meats, local trout, fresh baked breads and pastries, and local-made jams and jellies. In a word, it’s divine. And it was a little like being back in the South of France.

And it’s another check off of my Sustainable Kitchen Project although this, like everything on the list, is something I want to do regularly (at least weekly). We’ll see if I can stick to that.

We made some great purchases, and I spent about $50. I got some grass-fed pastured lamb and pork from Hickory Nut Gap Farm, and some unbelievably delicious goat cheese from Spinning Spider Creamery (the hardest decision of the day, as I wanted pretty much every variety she had). In fact, I’m nibbling on crackers topped with the Provence Chevre right now as I type.

We got some local lettuce (a cool and interesting speckled Romaine variety), plump asparagus, and apple butter.

The kids had a wonderful time and, in an almost unheard-of first, not a one had a melt-down. For morning snack, my husband, oldest daughter and I had chocolate croissants from a local baker, and the twins enjoyed these adorable star-shaped mini croissants filled with rhubarb and goat cheese.

Here are some pictures, including close-ups of my mouth-watering local food purchases: