Sweetie, the beloved mascot of Sweet Tomatoes, just kicked off a Great American Road Trip to help raise money for Boys & Girls Club of America! From Monday, May 3 through May 6, Sweetie will be making stops at restaurant locations around Florida.  In each tour city, 20 percent of the entire day’s sales will benefit the local chapters of the Boys & Girls Club! Plus, Sweetie will be making special guest appearances at select restaurant locations.

Sweetie will continue his journey across the country and make his way back to San Diego, to the Garden Fresh headquarters. Guests located outside one of the 12 tour stops can still celebrate May’s Great American Road Trip in stores and follow Sweetie online throughout his travels via a map that will show him moving across the country. The Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes blog will experience a full Sweetie takeover and he’ll also be keeping everyone updated through on-the-road tweets. Finally, the American Road Trip menu, Sweetie’s visits to the restaurants, activity sheets  will be available for download all month as well as different American Road Trip themed desktops and screensaver and fundraiser fliers at http://www.souplantation.com/roadtrip.

Dates and Places:

May 3rd – South Florida including Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Ft. Lauderdale,  Hollywood, Pembroke Pines,  Plantation and West Palm Beach

May 4th – West Florida including Ft. Myers, Naples and Sarasota

May 6hth – Orlando including Altamonte Springs, Lake Buena Vista, Orlando (E. Colonial) and Orlando (S. Kirkman)

You can also enjoy great food while Sweetie travels.

Road Trip Menu

I know that it’s fall and winter clothing season. Fashion shows began to show their collections months ago and stores began to fill their racks and shelves a little while after. I get how the industry works. But my fashion rant is about common sense, which I don’t see much of here in Florida.

Even though it’s autumn, it’s still summer weather here. On Halloween it was almost 90 degrees. So why can’t I find a pair of shorts or a swim suit in any of the department stores? There’s sweaters, hats, boots and Christmas trees. But when Samantha grew out her bathing suit there was not one to be found. Since we’re going to Hawaii, I wanted some new shorts for myself. I’d be better off finding a virgin in a whore house.

When I asked for help from salespeople, even they were upset. They said that so many people are searching for warm weather clothing with none to be found. Tourists come in and need a short sleeve shirt and end up with a T Shirt that has a stupid logo on it.

Store managers, district managers, whoever makes decisions about what to put in southern markets, consider who you are selling to. Isn’t that the first lesson of sales? My fashion rant is now officially over. Oh wait, one more thing, don’t put string bikinis in the womens department. It’s sad.

What a shock when I picked up my daughter from school yesterday. She told me that a fifth grader had brought 3 throwing knives to school. She had a letter from the principal to prove it. Along with the knives, he had a plastic toy gun that shot plastic darts. The letter went on to say that since the student’s safety was paramount, he was being considered for expulsion.

Never think this won’t happen to your children. With the recent murders of children here in Florida, this has been a time when parents are on alert. I am scared and angry. I’m also surprised that this hasn’t been in the news, not even the local papers here.

When the school board takes up this case, I hope that the child who brought the knives to school will be ordered to get psychiatric help and this his or her parents are investigated as well. Something seems to be amiss.

If you are attending one the best social media events – IzeaFest – then you are in for a treat.  The schedule and list of speakers is gonna make my head explode with excitement! And the parties, oh yeah! And to make it even better, during this event I will be holding some awesome giveaways. To take part, please follow me, ConnieFoggles, The MultiTasking Mom, on Twitter.

There’s lots of sessions that I’m looking forward to attending. For sure, Developing Your Brand with Ted Murphy, Rockstars of SEO with Michael Grey, Rae Hoffman and a Mystery Guest, Marks of An Influencer with Aaron Brazell among others seem to include information that I want to learn. This schedule is jam packed!

I know I’ll be taking advantage of all there is to offer. My favorite after party event so far is the IzeaHunt. Since I’m going to have my scooter, I hope to be an integral part of someone’s team. Pick me, pick me! And the IceBar sounds like a lot of fun, except I’ll probably be freezing cold. I can’t forget about SeaWorld on Sunday either. I haven’t been there in years and I’ll have my husband and daughter with me.

As for my giveaways, they’re surprises. I can tell you that they have a lot to do with Orlando, SeaWorld, Disney and any of the other theme parks or outdoor activities you’ll be attending.