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.}

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!