Her Gone Life

The holiday season is a great time to travel out of state to sightsee and enjoy winter activities. I recently took such a trip with Samsung Electronics to Philadelphia for some pre-holiday fun and to learn how Samsung SmartThings can help you manage things at home while you're away.

Note: Samsung Electronics invited me on this all expense paid trip. However, any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.


We started the trip at the Christmas Village at City Hall for a little shopping and sightseeing. The whole area was dressed up for the holiday and so lovely.


There was many different types of vendors selling food, ornaments, arts & crafts and so much more. We stopped to enjoy a hot holiday beverage before continuing to walk.


I made a few stops to admire the sculptured columns, people watch at the ice skating rink.


And of course take a selfie with the holiday tree.

Then it was time to grab a quick meal at McCormick & Schmicks. Can you believe these were their appetizers!


As you can see, taking a little trip out of town is really nice. I bet seeing all that holiday fun makes you want to head out and enjoy some local holiday activities right?


Yet so many of us are overwhelmed with things we have to do at home. Even if we do get outside, we have to rush back because.....feel free to add in whatever excuse you can think of here.

But what if your home used the Samsung SmartThings kit? How can things be different?


For our next stop, we headed to meet some of the residents of Miracle on South 13th Street. For more than a dozen years, the residents of Miracle on South 13th Street have decorated their homes for the holidays.

“We know for many people, setting up their smart home can seem like a huge undertaking,” said Bill Lee, Vice President of Smart Home Product Marketing at Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

“The residents of Miracle on South 13th Street in Philadelphia show that you can start small by easily integrating smart technology into existing set-ups, and then grow as your needs evolve. As lights go up and guests arrive, the holidays are a great time to start small and implement a few smart solutions to more simply manage the home and get more control over your daily routine.”

But this year the South 13th Street residents used Samsung SmartThings to make holiday lights and décor easier to manage and more energy efficient. Using the Samsung SmartThings devices residents could manage daily routines and connect to hundreds of compatible smart products within their homes.


They showed us how easy it was to control things right from their smart phone! Down stairs. Outside their homes!


The Samsung SmartThings ecosystem includes a wide range of products to simply automate your daily routines. From multipurpose sensors that help manage home heating when temperatures drop, to smart outlets turning conventional electronics into connected devices, the Hub becomes the brain connecting products to control home more conveniently from any Android or iOS mobile device.


For example, install the Hub and:

• Connect the Samsung SmartThings Arrival Sensor with a “Works with SmartThings” partner GE Z-Wave Plug-In Outdoor Smart Switch to power on outdoor holiday lights as soon you pull into the driveway.
• Use the entire Samsung SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit and Water Sensor to keep tabs on your home while you’re traveling during the holiday so there are no leaky pipe surprises when you get back.
• Help your holiday guests navigate your home by placing a Samsung SmartThings Motion Sensor in the hallway, triggering smart lights to illuminate the way to the bathroom when they wake late at night.
• Remotely turn off devices you accidentally left on when you’re out holiday shopping.

Think setting-up Samsung SmartThings in your home might be a bit much for you?

Local Best Buy Geek Squad agents are available to help consumers, just like the South 13th Street residents, make their most of their smart homes. For ideas, tips and tricks, you can visit the local Best Buy where Geek Squad agents are at the ready.

Plus with no monthly fees or subscription, you have the flexibility to grow your connected home ecosystem as needed.


No more excuses why you need to be at home! You can go outside and enjoy ALL the activities and see ALL the holiday things. I was so excited about this idea, I started dancing under the lights at South 13th Street. Really I did!


All that dancing made me work up an appetite.


So we ended our fun mini trip with a stop at Geno’s Philly Cheesesteaks for one of their famous cheese steaks! So Yum.

Major thanks to Samsung for showing me how I can keep track of things at home, while enjoying some time traveling outside.

To learn more about Samsung Smart Home, please visit: www.samsung.com/smart-home