Aussie Twilight Mums Newsletter – Jan 2010
Hi Aussie Twilight Mums,
Wow, can you believe that it is the New Year already??? The last year has flown by (I think I say that each year, but this time it has simply sped by quicker than ever!). I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and a fun New Years Eve and Day!
2009 was full of ups and downs for me and many of you. For me the ups were dominated by Aussie Twilight Mums and Twilight in general. I have made so many wonderful new friends and am so grateful for the friendship and support that my ATM’s have offered. I am looking forward to 2010 and very excited about my plans for ATMs. All will be revealed in the coming months 
Before I go any further I would like to say a huge, huge thank you to all you wonderful woman for my Christmas Gift, I was blown away by your generosity and have put my Gift Card towards an iPod touch, which I am totally in love with
While we are on the topic of Christmas, I’d like to thank Lisa (Misty) and Tab (TaBBZZZ) for organising our Secret Santa for us! It was a huge success and I look forward to doing it all again next year Also thanks for organising the Christmas Card exchange, it was wonderful to get fun mail rather than bills at Christmas time! Thanks girls, you did a great job
Some of us Sydney Twilight Mums got together for a Christmas party just before Christmas. It was wonderful to get some Twi Mums and kids together, to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones.
I’d like to welcome all our new members to the forum! At last count we had 277 members, it still blows me away that so many woman have found us
Please come in and introduce yourself if you haven’t done so already. If you are unsure how to go about using the forum check for your welcome message in the menu bar just under the forum header. It will give you some hints and tips on how to get started.
I have gone through our member list and deleted all members that had not activated their accounts or haven’t been active within the last 60 days. I will be doing this every couple of months so please be sure to post every now and then to keep your membership active
Our 1st Birthday is getting closer and we need more input from the people interested in attending our Sydney function. You can join in the conversation on the party thread here, register your interest in attending here, and vote on what time of the day the party should be held!
For anyone that can’t make it to Sydney for our birthday, I’ll be having an online party in March. More details about that will be coming next month
Hub Productions have announced another Twilight Convention on Saturday the 24th April in Sydney and Sunday the 25th April in Melbourne.
Ashley Greene, Daniel Cudmore (and now) Gil Birmingham and others will be appearing on Saturday 24th April in Sydney from 9:00am to 6:00pm and Sunday the 25th April in Melbourne from 9.00am to 6.00pm.
For more information go to The Hubs website!
I will be at the Sydney Convention and would love to see you all there
The Aussie Twilight Mums Book Club is back, bigger and better than ever. We are going to run things a little differently this year though. Instead of getting everyone to vote on a book to read, which is time consuming and limits people time wise, I will take suggestions all month long and choose one book which will become our Book of the Month.
February’s Book of the Month has been picked, it is The Kingdom by Jennifer McBay Barry (you can read more about it on the forum) but if you have any suggestions for March’s Book of the Month please email me at aussietwilightmums@gmail.com
January’s Book of the Month is:
Fallen by Lauren Kate
What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours? 17-year-old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous, intelligent boy, Daniel, at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross …only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel, and that they have spent lifetimes finding and losing one another as good & evil forces plot to keep them apart. Some angels are destined to fall…
Get your copy from The Book Depository or Fishpond now and start reading!
I have started a new section within the forum especially for the Book Club. The threads are all there ready for you to leave your comments about the book. All I ask is that you keep your comments to the specific chapter threads otherwise you might spoil the book for others that haven’t read as much as you.
You’ll also notice a thread especially for your questions to the author. Each month I’ll send off everyone’s questions to the author and hopefully we’ll get a reply back
If you have any questions about the Book Club please email me at aussietwilightmums@gmail.com or PM me in the forums.
Have you checked out the New Moon Merchandise at Gifts for the Geek yet?
If not you should! Not only have they put some excellent New Moon Merchandise up on their site but they are giving us Twilight Mums a 10% discount. Simply enter the code atmrocks during the check out process to get your discount.
On the forum:
You’ll notice that there are a few changes taking place on the forum, I have added several new threads and there will be more popping up over the next month. Some of the new threads include:
The True Blood forum
The Vampire Diaries forum
The Other Authors forum
The New Fan Fic forum – unfortunetly when I moved the old forum it disappeared :(
I Need Your Help!
As I am getting busier with different aspects of ATMs I am going to need help keeping the ATM website up to date with the latest Twilight news.
If you think you have what it takes to be a Twiblogger email me at aussietwilightmums@gmail.com with your interest and experience.
Experience with WordPress and basic html is preferred.
The Aussie Twilight Mums Podcast is coming this January! We are currently working on our first episode, which we hope will be ready for you to download in the next few weeks.
Gen, Lisa, Tania and I will be hosting a monthly podcast and we would like your involvement.
Each month we will be inviting a ‘Guest’ Mum to join us. To be eligible to become a Guest Mum you need to have access to Skype and a microphone. Go to the Podcast Thread and register your interest and at the end of the month I will pick one lucky Mum using an online random number generator.
You can also send me audio messages and I will play them on the podcast. Simply record your message or ask us a question and email the audio file to me at aussietwilightmums@gmail.com and I’ll play it on the next podcast.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for the podcast you can comment on the Podcast forum thread, PM me or email me.
There are a couple of ways you can listen to the Podcast. You can listen directly from the ATM website. You’ll find the Podcast player widget in the sidebar and also on our Podpage!
You can also find our Podcast at Talkshoe and we will be listed in iTunes shortly
This year we are going to start having a Fan Fiction of the Month! Each month we will choose one FF to read and discuss it! All FF’s will be complete stories! From now on I will take recommendations and then we will vote on it but for this month I have chosen Let Your Light Shine by Lolahoes (thanks for the rec Tan
The honeymoon beginning at the fade-to-black and continuing through Edward and Bella’s exploration of intimacy, communication, and how to achieve forever together. ExB, AU Breaking Dawn.
It’s rated M and has some mature content *giggles*
Join us in the forum for the discussion!
This year ATMs are going to be helping out charities! Each month $2 from all tshirt sales, $1 from all other ATM merchandise sales and all profits from one special item will go to charity.
I will be organising a charity committee, who will take charge of nominating and voting on the months charity. If you would like to be part of the charity committee please email me at aussietwilightmums@gmail.com
This month I have chosen the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation as our Charity of the Month.
As many of you know my 11 year old daughter was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabletes in late October so I thought it fitting that we start JDRF as our charity.
“The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is the world’s largest charitable supporter of type 1 diabetes research, investing more than $150 million per year into the search to find a cure for type 1 diabetes.
JDRF was founded in 1970 in the US and 1982 in Australia by a group of determined volunteers.
Internationally, JDRF has been involved in every major type 1 diabetes breakthrough of the last three decades including:
- Islet transplantation
- Beta cell regeneration
- Preventative vaccine development
- Reduction of complications
JDRF-funded researchers have driven the advancement of day-to-day disease management tools and accelerated the pace of research through a focus on five clearly defined cure therapeutic pathways that offer the best hope for a cure.
JDRF supports Australian diabetes research via the strategic provision of funding, investing over $12 million into 44 research projects across Australia in the 2007/08 financial year.
In addition to supporting research, JDRF Australia plays a key role in advising and influencing health policy direction across all levels of government and building community awareness of type 1 diabetes.
Throughout all local and international activities JDRF’s mission remains constant – to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications through the support of research.”
Taken from JDRF’s website.
You can help support this charity by purchasing any of our ATM merchandise in January, purchasing an ATM mug or clicking on the Donate button in the sidebar on the ATM website.
January’s Charity Product
This month all profits from the sale of these Aussie Twilight Mums mugs will be going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.
code #char01
$27.99 AUD each (incudes free postage)
If you would like to place an order email me at aussietwilightmums@gmail.com, with your name, address and whether you would like to pay with paypal or bank deposit and I’ll send you an invoice. (If using Paypal also include the email that you use in Paypal)
Please allow up to 21 days after payment for delivery, or asking me about prices for faster delivery.
This month I have 2 sets of New Moon Dog Tags to give away. For more details and to enter the draw go to the Competition Page on the ATM website. Make sure you tell me whether you are Team Edward or Team Jacob because I have 1 set of Edward Tags and 1 set of Jacob Tags to give away.
As I mentioned earlier The Kingdom is our Book of the Month for February and I have 1 copy to give away to a lucky winner. Go to the competition page on the ATM website for entry details.
Friday nights are our ATM Chat Nights. All Chats are held in the Chatbox at the bottom of the forum homepage. They officially begin at 9pm Sydney time but there is usually an eager Mum or two in there a little earlier.
You may have noticed in the Calender that I have planned some themed chat nights for this month and next month. If they are popular I’ll look at making the themed nights permanent.
The new chat night themes are:
Newbie Chat – This chat night is for any new members who have just joined ATMs or for any existing members who have not participated in a chat night before.
General Chat – This chat night is as it sounds, a chat night to discuss anything and everything
Book Club Chat – This chat is scheduled for the end of the month so that we can discuss the current Book of the Month.
Fan Fiction Chat – This is for all the girls that read Fan Fiction to come in and discuss their favourite FF’s!
Here’s a list of the themed chat night dates:
January
15 – Newbie Chat
22 – General Chat
29 – Book Club Chat
February
5 – Fan Fiction Chat
12 – Newbie Chat
19 – General Chat
26 – Book Club Chat
If you haven’t joined us for a chat yet, you should join us for the next one!
January
15th – Newbie Chat Night
22nd – General Chat Night
29th – Book Club Chat Night – Fallen
The Podcast is coming!
February
5th – Fan Fiction Chat Night
11th – Taylor Lautner’s Birthday
12th – Newbie Chat Night
19th – General Chat Night
26th – Book Club Chat Night – The Kingdom
March
ATMs 1st Birthday Party (more details coming soon!)
I’d like to thank our sponsors, without them and without you wonderful mums purchasing your twi merchandise from them, we wouldn’t have our wonderful sites
and our newest sponsor, The Book Depository!
Hottopic.com is offering 25% off orders $50 or more! Use code HTA25OFF50 at checkout. Expires on 31st January 2010
The best way to stay connected and get all the news and updates is to:
Follow ATMs on Twitter!
Join the ATMs Facebook Group!
Be a regular on the forum!
Visit the ATMs website often!
and read the monthly newsletters. (Past Newsletters can be found here!)
If you have any ideas for things to add in the next Newsletters, any events you would like added to the calender, or any feedback about the Newsletter, website or forums, please email me at aussietwilightmums@gmail.com before the end of the month.
Rachel xxx
