Waying in on Mom bloggers

How did my New York Times obsessed husband miss this little gem about mommy blogging?


Go on and read the article and this one here too and then come back and read my thoughts on it.


I'll give you a few moments

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(Ha! I wasn't trying to be obscene, but that kinda looks like a boob huh?)

Like I said I have no idea how Shawn missed this one considering he is on the NY times website all.day.long. But nevertheless he did....Men always seem to miss the important things huh?

But here's my two cents.....I can't necessarily tell if the journalist is coming from the angle of "bad mommy bloggers" or "bad mommy bloggers that sacrifice writing for reviews and free things". I'm going to assume it's the later considering Ms. Jennifer Mendelsohn is a "mommy blogger" herself.

But I'm going to have to take the {probably) unpopular road and agree with her. 

What "Mom" blogger doesn't think sometimes that it would be great to turn her little rants & recipes into something huge like Dooce or Pioneer Woman? I think that. But I can't get behind the ones that seem to sacrifice good writing, humorous stories, and beautiful pictures for sponsored reviews, giveaways, coupons, and free cleaning products all for numbers.

It seems that when you Google "Get more blog exposure/readers" the results come back and its a bunch of SEO things I don't understand or tips designed to leave insincere comments on blogs in hopes people will bite and hop on over to your Wordpress or Blogger site.

Maybe I'm bitter that I had planned on attending this particular conference thus I could have been interviewed had my blog listed, driven ridiculous amounts of traffic to my blog and been able to make six-figures, get an HGTV show and written a book-had I not forgotten. 

But I digress.I'm not bitter....really I'm not (AHHHHHHH!!!!!! Like me! Like me! Like me!) ok seriously kidding.

But I think that if we could go back to the dark ages maybe "mom" bloggers wouldn't get such a bad rap? 

In a nut-shell, lets stop being so commercial for crying out loud! Not knocking blog conferences or networks. I belong to a few, but I will never sacrifice my content to get some free garb or have 28,000 views a day. 

But I can say I have been guilty (more than a time or two) of putting dinner on hold, changing a dirty diaper late (and you know its late because the poop is totally like concrete on their butt), or leaving the laundry for days to finish posting or reading blogs. 

But hey, just because I'm a mom doesn't mean I can't have a life too.

Now where's my kid again? 




Oh there he is....walking into traffic. Guess I better go.

Spring Sandal Picks

According to this month's issue of Real Simple (Yes I subscribe to that now) March is the best time to buy sandals on-line.


Sometimes shopping online can be over-whelming if I don't have a clear idea of what I'm looking for. It's much easier to shop for Phoenix online because they don't have that many choices, per store. But for women it's an overwhelming amount of categories! And without that ability to touch the product I sometimes end up just making a trip to the mall.


So I wanted to do the grunt for you and hit up endless.com for some of my favorite spring sandal picks.

Michael Antonio Women's Harriet Wedge

Steve Madden Women's Kasidy Wedge Sandal 

farylrobin Women's Elise Sandal

These I think at first glance you might pass them over as "old lady" shoes, but I think they are perfect for all of those great vintage dresses and skirts. 

Michael Antonio Women's Hagen Wedge


Would love these paired with the boyfriend look.

Kelsi Dagger Women's Monaco Wedge Sandal

Hopefully you love these picks and if not they inspire you to do some on-line sandal shopping this week.


P.S. If you buy any of these I get a nice little kickback to make my own purchase. And if you choose not to get any of these just click the banner below and I can still have some fun too :-D

Phoenix say's...."P!"

I hope you all missed me because I certainly missed posting. The whole time I'm moving boxes and organizing things in our new apartment (aka my sisters bedroom) I'm itching to get back on here and jot down some thoughts.

Luckily, I have my trusty new Blackberry to make notes of all the ideas that have been swimming in my head the last week.


We are here at my parents house settled and happy. Our plans have changed recently and they have Shawn leaving for LA on Monday for two weeks. After that he's back home. Where we go from there is still up in the air. I don't know how much detail I'm allowed to divulge, but my hopes are after these two weeks we can stay here in Maryland for another several months (meaning we look for a new place) or B. Our paycheck is substantial enough to allow us a place in Maryland and LA.


But with this industry you never know what can happen.

I had every intention today to start making more relevant post rather then some random "Sorry I'm lame post" but I started this post at like 11 am and for whatever reason I just couldn't be still long enough to make anything happen.


Sheesh...I hates when this happens.


If you're new to the blog, he-yo (Phoenix speak) and hi. Thank you so much for reading. If you want to know why I moved and all that you can get the details here.


I'll be back tomorrow with something better.


In the meantime listen to my 19 mth old say "P" which means "pimp". This is what happens when you have aunts & uncles under the age of 17. They have taught my little monkey how to do some kind of hand symbol while saying "P". It's hard to catch him on video, but this is the best I've got.


A few weeks ago he stood up in the booth at a restaurant and went "Yo yo yo, yo yo yo P!!!!" and did his hand symbol. The wait staff died!

Silent Sunday- "See G {Jesus in Phoenix speak}"

Sticker Craze

Three cheers for me! Yay! Yay! Yay Alex!

I finally completed my first craft project. Gosh...I've been wanting to do some type of craft project for ages, but I was intimidated by all the directions and paste and paper and scissors that I just day dreamed about being a crafter.

But Samster Mommy posted this great sticker book tutorial and I knew it would be a perfect addition to our car toy box.

I'm not going to jack her tutorial and post it here because that would like Blogarism (like plagarism?) so click here and you can get all the details on how to make the sticker book.

I made two, one for the house, one for the car. My first didn't turn out as "neat" as I would like it. But the second one looks a lot better.

Crafting requires patience. I think that's why the first turned out kind of "unfinished" looking. But I took my time with the second one.

(Put it all together while watching The Bachelor. Booo Vienna!)

Go to Samster Mommy for the full tutorial but here are some pictures from my books in various stages.

Silent Sunday- Gymster

Recipe Rave: Linguine with Shrimp & Red Peppers

I have been really slow on the posting this week and I'm sorry about that. We start moving Thursday and my house is a complete disaster. I'm not talking like stuff on the steps and a pile of dirty clothes here. But literally stuff is strewn across the whole house. It looks like someone came in and robbed us.


I was very tempted to take pictures and post them for you, but I am way to ashamed.


Right now I am debating over doing two things. 1. Putting an AD on Craigslist for an open house for people to just come take stuff or 2. Set a match to it and let it all go up in smoke.


Then to top it all off my internet connection slowed down to dial up days and I can't get it to work. 


But I did manage to make a really tasty dish this week that I think you'll love.


Super quick and easy.


Lemon linguine w/ shrimp & red peppers 


1 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp 
1 red pepper diced
Juice from 1-2 lemons
4 cloves of minced garlic 
1/4 white wine
Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons of butter
Evoo
Oregano
S & P
Linguine or angel hair pasta


Start your pot of bowling water first because cooking the shrimp doesn't take long. 


Pour some EVOO in a pan and sautee red pepper with a bit of salt and garlic. About 5 minutes. Add shrimp, juice from half of a lemon, more garlic, S&P and oregano. Cook shrimp until they start to turn pink. Add wine, juice from remaining lemon(s), butter and cook until it starts to boil. About 3-5 minutes. 

Add cooked noodles to shrimp pan and mix it all together sprinkle some parm cheese toss and serve.

I actually had intended on making something completely different but my recipe folder was packed away and I had to do everything from memory. But it turned out really good. This was enough for Shawn & I. So you'd need to increase your shrimp quantities for more. 


Hope you like it! Let me know if you try it out!