{Scroll down for giveaway details.}

To balance the sea of estrogen that flooded The Hotel Preston in February, a few guys braved the waters of Blissdom '09

Walmart's John Andrews at Blissdom '09 There was John Andrews (@katadhin on Twitter), Walmart's Emerging Media Strategist.  I'm not sure what all that encompasses, but I DO know it involves traveling with groups of mom bloggers.  John's brilliant move to build a team of women–Walmart's 11 Moms–has elevated the brand of Walmart and advanced the voice and careers of the smarty, savvy women associated with the group.  He understands the influence of women and actively supports their development, as evidenced by the two sponsorships to SXSW he awarded at Blissdom.  I still can't believe I won this amazing trip simply by tweeting!!

Me, Amber, Chris Mann and his accompaniest SO SORRY I CAN'T RECALL HIS NAME! Then there's Sony recording artist, Chris Mann.  Oh, my, this fella is well rounded–easy on the eyes, infectious, engaging personality, and a voice you could listen to all day.  He's a fun-enthusiast who's loving life, and his career is exploding in part because of his use of social media.  Smart boy, he is–Chris is an active Tweeter (Twitterer?), youtuber, blogger, Facebooker…you get the picture. 

Nathan Pacheco, Yanni Voices

What exceeded expectation the most–the biggest surprise of the weekend–was the amazing performance by Nathan Pacheco and Ender Thomas, the male counterparts of Yanni Voices.  Blissdom participants knew we'd be screening the PBS Ender Thomas, Yanni Voices concert Disney Pearl produced for Voices, but their live performance was kept hush-hush.  Because I was in on the secret and I wasn't a Yanni fan, I almost skipped it.  OH, what a LOSS it would've been had I missed it!  Yes, Nathan and Ender have beautiful voices, but they also have beautiful souls.  Both men shared their passion for music and their love of people, and their appreciation for women is evident.  My favorite quote of the weekend?  By Nathan–

"A mother carried her son to her dream.
You mothers have more power than you know.
"

Yanni Voices  I applaud Yanni's development and promotion of these talented performers.  Most impressive is how he's making opera accessible to many; he's chosen accessible people, which makes the music easy to touch, if that makes sense.  I became a fan of pop opera–popera??–when I discovered the Cinderella tale of Paul Potts; and if you've never given it a try?  You're missing out!  After listening to the CD over and over and OVER, there's not one song I don't like!  Nathan and Ender, together with Leslie Mills and Chloe deliver unforgettable, haunting performances.  Do yourself a favor:  visit Yanni's site, click the music links, and you can taste a morsel of this music deliciousness (plus meet all the "voices").

Thanks to One2One Network for offering a copy of Yanni Voices to one of my oh-so-lucky readers!  Since I'm posting this the day before Easter, to win simply comment your favorite Easter tradition or recipe; additional entries can be earned by tweeting about the giveaway and commenting its URL (multiple entries are fine, just comment separately).  Random drawing will be Friday, April 17th.

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