Use keyword "Minnesota" for quick access to our growing list of local tips.

1. A new support group for Twin Cities thinkers/tryers was launched with local therapist Krista Post. Read more about it here, including a resource guide to local service providers for anyone having a baby. She also works with this group to help any local women suffering with post-partum depression.

2. Great childcare and kids entertainment provided for 20 kids (most under the age of 6!) with instructor Betsy Sundell of Blooma; Mother's Day-related crafts and storytelling provided by the wonderfully fun and diverse Artrageous Adventures studio. Amanda Vallone, of Artageous Adventures, offered Choice Moms $10 off coupons to use for any summer classes or camps.

3. Our sponsors -- Ameriprise Financial Planning, local sperm bank Cryogenic Laboratories and gourmet delivery service Solo by Bonicelli -- helped us make this event happen so economically for participants. You can find tips and insight from them using keyword "Minnesota".

4. Great tips on organizing your home and your life were offered by:

• Kathy Franzen, of Project Partner Organizing. See my blog about what she's taught me.
• House maintenance and personal concierge service tips with Nook & Cranny. Stay tuned here for my before/after pictures of my transformed house, thanks to Rhoda.

5. Attorney Chuck Roulet talked with women about what you need to protect your child, before AND after motherhood. Check keyword "legal" on this website for more tips, including something that one pregnant mom didn't realize.

6. A great group of women discussed transracial adoption with Children's Home Society and Family Services, including two Choice Moms who were adopted into transracial families and local woman who raised a child adopted from a refugee camp. Use keyword "transracial" for more, including a pending podcast from that discussion. Note that CHSFS offers parenting workshops on topics ranging from bullying to self-esteem to creative discipline.

Choice Mom Sara offered this tip for creating your own storybook about your child's origins, whether through adoption or insemination.

7. Local Choice Moms offered their expertise: Marla, sex educator at the University of Minnesota, on handling talks about sex with your child; Michelle, midwife, about the conceiving and delivery process; Shelly, a bra consultant, on how to look younger and thinner by getting your "girls" where they belong.

8. Women talked about childbirth, doulas and enhancing fertility with a team from Childbirth Collective and a team from Natural Health and Fertility Center. Here's one of those tips, about 10 quick ways to improve your health.

9. A large group of moms talked with local parent educator Denise Konen about taming tantrums, and being the single parent we want to be. Stay tuned here for a podcast related to those discussions.

10. Several pregnant and pondering single women were able to attend free of charge, thanks to Gretchen Flynn of Northwestern Mutual.

11. Free chair massage was given to 22 early registrants, courtesy of Alexis Clarkson and Margery Wiegand, as sponsored by Choice Moms.

12. We collected a tremendous number of donations for 20 Mother's Day gift baskets we delivered to single moms at the Simpson's Shelter. You can read more here.

13. Twelve lucky women won great prizes in a drawing: $500 worth of product/information from Cryogenic Laboratories, $240 in free personal consultation with Krista Post, $200 of legal services with Chuck Roulet Law, four hours of spring cleaning with Nook & Cranny, two-hour organizing needs assessment and management system ($200 value) with Project Partner Organizing, free parenting workshop package with Children's Home Society and Family Services, two acupuncture treatments with Natural Health and Fertility Center, one-hour massage certificate with Alexis Clarksean, $50 Target gift certificate from Ameriprise, $50 florist gift certificate from Northwestern Mutual.