Happy New Year!!!
It is already January 11th, 2018 and I hope our first newsletter of 2018 finds you well! We're getting a late start on the new year as our whole family was hit with the flu cyclone that is going around L.A. since December. The flu came, saw our family about to enjoy a winter vacation, and conquered. I've heard from everyone who's been down and out with this that no two flu viruses were the same. Apparently, everyone's had different symptoms and ailments which has made for a wonderful holiday season (not so much.) At best, if you didn't get it, someone in your family did and you had to take care of them while religiously disinfecting every surface they may have come near. At any rate, I'm sure we're all on the road to recovery now, back at work and back-to-school. Here's to good health for the rest of the year!🥂
January is a time to make some resolutions or set goals for things you want to accomplish in the new year. I wanted to take the time to let you, our readers and subscribers, know that I have your best interests in mind when making some of these goals because I hope you'll be able to get as much as you can out of Santa Monica Macaroni Kid, including all the resources, calendar events, book, film, theatre, and special event reviews, toy and product reviews, recipes, arts & crafts ideas, and guides to a plethora of things Santa Monica and the surrounding areas have to offer. I hope you'll understand that even though I'm only a mom to one child, I still get busy and over-involved in all or our activities, and sometimes have not had time to get out a weekly edition of our newsletter. For this, I apologize because before I was the publisher, I relied on this newsletter to help me figure out what to do with my child on any given weekend! It is a great resource and offers so many things to moms, dads, and parents! This newsletter should be your go-to source of information for events, activities, and parenting ideas! I hope you have found it to be a great resource in the past and I intend to make it A GREAT RESOURCE in 2018!
Here are my resolutions for 2018:
- The newsletter will be published every Thursday morning so that you can plan for the weekend! On a rare occasion when a sponsor needs me to publish an article on a certain day of the week or because a review needs to get in the newsletter asap, I will publish on that day specified instead of a Thursday. It doesn't happen very often though.
- Every so often, a dedicated email will be sent to you from our national offices. I have no control over this and it does not happen often, so hopefully if you are not interested in what it has to say, you will understand it was a one-time email. Please do not unsubscribe as you will miss out on getting our newsletter in your INBOX every week. Sometimes though, the dedicated emails do have some really good information. Like yesterday, an email was sent telling you about how you can get a $75 credit towards Urban Sitters...check it out! If you have your own sitters, just ignore it and wait for our newsletter which is very informative and relevant!
- I have hired an assistant who will be in charge of calendar events so please be sure to check the CALENDAR OF EVENTS every week!
- If you are a business or know of a fun event coming up that would interest others, please SUBMIT THE EVENT yourself. It is so easy to do and I can then share it in the newsletter.
- I appreciate and would love any feedback you have about the newsletter or something I've written, whether it's a compliment or a criticism, and I will not be offended. I just sincerely want to hear from our readers about what you are thinking, what you would like to see more or less of, and your interests, number of kids, favorite events, etc. The more I know about what you all like, the more I can tailor the newsletter to your needs. My email is chaninv@macaronikid.com and please do not hesitate to contact me for any reason. This newsletter is for you and your family! I want to hear from you!
- You can also follow our Facebook page, Twitter page, or Instagram accounts for daily info and happenings that you might want to know about. I post about businesses and restaurants in and around Santa Monica that I think are worthy of your attention. I also post things my family is doing that I think others would like to try as well. Plus, this is a way for you to get to know me, the person, not just the publisher. We will be adding some video content this year so you can see businesses up close and personal too. I also do fun giveaways on social media and you must be a follower to WIN! Plus, you can see my feed if you follow and you'll know when there is a contest. It might be for tickets to something you really want to go to or see. POST COMMENTS on things you are interested in or SHARE with friends who might be interested...pay it forward because you never know if they might win something and decide to take you along too.
- Tell businesses you saw it in the Santa Monica Macaroni Kid newsletter! I hear about it! In fact, I just heard the other day that a theatre company sold out in December because YOU saw our review of their great production and told them! That was awesome to hear! I think businesses appreciate hearing from you too!
- IF you see me out and about, please say "hi" and let me know you're a reader! I've met so many nice people and heard so many interesting stories from some of you when I meet you on the street. Unless you're hiding in my bushes, I'm a pretty nice person. 😜
Hope my resolutions bring you peace of mind in knowing you can find your family fun with ease in 2018! Thanks for subscribing and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
XO, Chanin
