10 Years

I guess I should have posted this a month ago, but, Happy Blogaversary to me!



I'm finding it pretty difficult to grasp that I've been doing this for 10 years. With the exception of my marriage, children, and breathing, I don't think I've ever committed to something this long.

Back in October 2007 my life looked much different than it does now. I had a kindergartener, a second grader and a senior in the house! Now were down to 4 in the house with less than a year until we're down to three. We were living in the same house but even that looks quite different than it did back then. New floors, kitchen, patio, carpet, master bath-if you've been here since the beginning, then you've seen it all!

I started this blog to join the community of women that I found online that seemed to have it all-a family, some had jobs, but most importantly they had a solid group of friends that they could go to every day to connect. I was a pretty lonely mom back then and these friends that I've made in this space? I'm not sure that I could have done these last 10 years without you. (In no particular order, of course,) Stephanie, Carmen, Jennifer, Shannon, Michelle, Liz, Melisa, Elizabeth, Greis, Jennifer, Tracey, Mary, Debby, Anna, Heather, Issa, Zakary, Mir, Connie, Loralee, Sugar, Kim, Dawn, Devra, Matthew, Josette, Dana, Becki, Michelle, Samantha, Sarah, Trina, Diana, Sue, Robin, Jenny, Deanna, Caryn, Diane, Shannon, Cathy, Mary, Kim, Vickie, Audrey, Jenness, Ashley, Melanie, Mike, Sarah, Kim, Britt, Neil, Christina, Shannan, Amy, Kate, Christina, Aimee, Linda, Jodi, Aviva, Margaret, Glennia, Jill, Stacey, Leslie, Jen, Jennifer, Laurie, Jean, Darryle, Jennifer, Elan, Yvonne, Dre, Lexie, Janis, Jenny, Megan, and so many more, you've all made an impact on my life and I'm so thankful! Who says that internet friends aren't for real???

So, here's to the next ten years of blogging, and the places that it will take us!

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

I'm going to start answering your questions, in no particular order. The very funny and very supportive Melisa asked:

If money were no object, where would you go for vacation and why?

I've been to many places in the US and overseas already and loved most of them. I've always loved to travel-I grew up in an airline family and our vacations were more of the 'hop on a plane' variety vs. friends' families that hopped in the car and/or pitched a tent. I think my first trip out of the country on my own was at just-shy of my 20th birthday. I've been to a majority of the states.

But a vacation? Anywhere? The places that I have always wanted to go that I haven't been are:

• Paris
• Italy, including the Vatican
• Key West
• Costa Rica
• New Zealand
• Barcelona
• Prague

The why is pretty simple. Those places are beautiful and I'd like to see them for myself. The likelihood of me ever seeing most of those places is pretty slim now, though. My husband does not like to travel much, and especially not on long airplane trips. (Seriously, I thought I might have to divorce him on the way home from London in 1999. 11 hours in a plane does NOT work for that man.)

What places would be on your vacation list?

Nomads and Pizza

I know, I know. It's been a while. I really wish I was one of those bloggers that could just jump right in to posting again with wit and charm and grace. Instead you just get me, in all of my clumsy glory.

In spite of my house falling down around me it has been a good couple of weeks. Early last week we were host to the traveling Reints family. Britt, Jared, Devin, and Emma came to stay with us for a couple of days. It was so fun to catch up with their travels and introduce Headless Dad to another one of my non-freaky, completely normal internet friends. (That's a joke, y'all. He doesn't really get the whole internet thing too much. Of course Britt is normal, it's HD that is the abnormal one. Well, at least as far as social media is concerned.) The kids all got along great, and I hope that Britt and Jared were able to let their hair down a little and catch up on stuff after a busy week in Las Vegas/Lake Mead. If you haven't been following their journey, take some time to catch up, see where they're finding happiness this week, and see where their journey is taking them this spring. If you don't know already, they pulled into San Fransisco today so I'm sure there will be some fantastic things in store!

HD has finally had some scheduling luck so some projects at work that have been going on for a long time are finally getting finished. That meant that he was out of town Friday and Saturday. On one hand that stinks for obvious reasons, on the other hand it gave the boys and I a chance to do something that we don't often get to do. Go to the pizza joint. I'm not even kidding. If you've been reading here for very long you may have observed that HD is kind of a food snob. He's mostly a meat and potatoes guy with a little exotic flavor thrown in. Dude is extremely picky about his pizza. There are only one or 2 local places that he'll eat pizza from and that's not often. So, the kids and I called some friends, whose husbands were also working, and we took the plunge. The boys raided our change jar for quarters for the video game machines, got to hang out with other kids, and I got to have some 'girlfriend time'. It was lovely.

The good thing about having house guests is that my house is clean. I mean really clean. Like, cleaner than it's been since before the Great Flood of 2010, or maybe ever. Now, it's not perfect-remember, we have a torn out bathroom!, but it looks really nice and I'm feeling the effects. Those kooky people that say that having a clean house leads to a peaceful mind-set just might be on to something. I'm actually motivated to be all Fly-Lady and clean a little each day so that it stays this way.

And that thump you just heard? That was both of my parents falling over from shock all the way in Colorado.

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60

Forget me, go wish my IRL friend and bloggy pal, Debby of Just Breathe a happy 60th birthday!



Deb and I have been friends for 13 years and on the same bowling team for 12. She is the most compassionate woman I know.

If 60 and beyond is anything like her 59th year, then life beginning at 60 is just the half of it! Debby, have a wonderful day, a great time at Wicked in December, and the most joyful year of all. I love you, friend!
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Love Links

Hi all!

Just dropping in with a quick note... Have you met Erica? She writes over at free fringes and has this really cool thing going on. You link a favorite post on Tues. or Wed., and then read everyone's posts. On Thursday voting begins and you get 3 votes to choose your favorites. The winner gets stars and glory. Oh, and the winner of the next month of posts? Gets ad space in The Bloggess' sidebar. Seriously!

Sweet, huh?

Anyway, you should go read the rules and link up on Love Links #23!

I'm off to watch Parenthood and I'm positively giddy about it!
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Five Fabulous Friends

Thanks to Trop50 for sponsoring my writing about fabulous bloggers. This year Trop50 is granting 50 Fabulous Wishes. Click here to enter for a chance to win $1,000 to celebrate a friend with a refreshing attitude about looking and feeling fabulous!


For years before I started blogging, I really felt alone. Not in the literal sense, but in the "I'm drowning in diapers" sense. Yes I had a few friends, but most of them were long distance, so getting together over coffee wasn't quite that easy! Once I found blogs, a whole world opened up to me that I only vaguely knew of. All of a sudden I was able to make connections all over the world, and commenting was a great way to stay connected, especially when I only had a few minutes to spare.

Me and Carmen, BlogHer '09

 The first blogger that ever responded to one of my comments was Carmen of Mom to the Screaming Masses. She was fabulous then, and continues to be fabulous. Through thick and thin our friendship has grown and she is one friend that I know I couldn't do without.

Busy Mom, JavaJenn, and Liz. Photo shamelessly stolen from Liz's Flickr. They may kill me for using this picture.

Amazingly, these three fabulous women have taken me in, (like I'm homeless or something?,) and I'm lucky to have them on my side, day in and day out.

Elizabeth writes at Busy Mom and we have bonded over our oldest children, (girls!,) and a wry sense of humor: she writes it and I laugh at her. She is my voice-of-reason sounding board; every girl needs that friend in the mix! We even went to the same university. Well, she was there a year after me, (long story,) but still! Same place!

Jenn is a tall glass of Texas Sweet Tea. We bonded over drinks at BlogHer '09 in San Fransisco in the wee hours of the morning on the front steps of the hotel. How many people can say that? She writes one of the oldest and most respected mommy blogs, Mommy Needs Coffee, and is always there to be supportive to me, and anyone close to her. I missed seeing her last summer and can't wait to see her this year.

Recently, Liz and I found out that we have one of those eerie, "what a small world" connections. Liz lives in New Jersey and I live in California, but apparently an entire country couldn't stop her niece and my daughter from going to the same high school and being on the cheerleading squad together. We only make fun of her "Joisey" accent because she lets us. Kinda. You can find Liz blogging at This Full House.

Stacey and Babynater at BlogHer '10. Photo by me.

The other fabulous thing that blogging has done for me is opened my eyes to things that I never would have seen, much less understood. Stacey of Is There Any Mommy Out There? is one of those writers that should be getting paid the BIG bucks. (Shouldn't we all?) She is informative, poigniant, and pee-your-pants funny. I've learned so much from her...mostly that no, I don't want a dog like Hampton Noodle.

Blogging has made my life infinitely more fabulous by introducing me to these amazing women. Who is on your Fabulous list?

Don't forget to enter the 50 Fabulous Wishes contest for a chance to win $1,000 to celebrate a friend with a refreshing attitude about looking and feeling fabulous. I was selected for this Tropicana Trop50 sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do. I received compensation to use and facilitate my post.

Versatility

Not necessarily a word that I would have come up with if asked to describe myself, but according to Holy Mama, I'm a Versatile Blogger! Thanks Kelsey!

Now, according to the rules, the first thing I'm supposed to do is tell you 7 random things about me.

1. I recently got my nails done...for the first time in over 2 years. The budget opened up just a little for me to be able to do this again and I'm so happy! The stress of the flood/floor had gotten to me and I was biting my nails again so they totally needed it. Let's hope I can bowl tomorrow!
2. I prefer to do my own pedicures, but won't turn them down, either. And, yes, when I got my nails done I treated myself to a pedicure too!
3. Speaking of bowling, I've been doing really well lately. Last week I had a 163, 157, and a 153, and our team won 4 games!
4. My house is closer than ever to how I have envisioned it from day 1. I will continue to post pictures as rooms get cleaned and done. Our tile is going in this week! Yay!
5. I have a love/hate relationship with Fac*book. Love to keep in touch with people, hate the way I get sucked in every.darn.day.
6. I have a mad love of Twitter, though, and actually, I'm trying to spend MORE time there.
7. I cannot, for the life of me, stop breaking my red wine glasses. I still have 1 from the 12 that we got for our wedding, but have gone through 2 or 3 boxes of cheapos in the last couple of years. The latest count is 1 really nice glass, and 3 cheapos. Any bets on how long it will take before I'm headed to the store for more?

Part 2: I'm supposed to pass this award along to 15 other bloggers. Which I will do, but I'm not writing commentary on each of them. It's late, and I'm tired, and this is already super long. So there. If you're on this list, rest assured that I heart you long time. You should read them and learn to love them too! (And it goes without saying that this is in no particular order.)(Right?)

• Mommy Needs Coffee
• Better 2 Me
• This Full House
• Laurie Writes
• BusyMom
• Rocks in the Wash!
• Blogtations
• Especially Heather
• Jodifur
• Woulda Coulda Shoulda
• Scribbit
• Issa's Crazy World
• Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step Child
• Just Margaret
• Mom to the Screaming Masses

So, pass this along as you all see fit. Or not. I just didn't want this to pass without thanking Holy Mama for including me!

Just A Note

...or 2.

First, I wrote about Guilty Pleasures on Monday and the photo that I found for the post is really beautiful. I mean, the post is good, but the picture is really great. Not mine. I'm still thinking about it 3 days later. Check it out. Oh, and go ahead and leave a a comment there and tell me your favorite guilty pleasure!

Second, our new 'baby' is coming home this week. No, not a baby-baby. My good friend Carrie, who is an amazing artist, journalist, and blogger, had an art show this month and we bought an original painting. I can't wait to get it home and find it a home somewhere. Her blog is My Studio 13, and she recently started a Zazzle store where you can buy custom iPad and iPhone cases. If I had an iPhone I'd totally get one. Drool over this:

 

My crappy photography doesn't do it justice.

Ten a Day

While bemoaning the lack of community around the blogosphere lately, Adam and Karen decided to make a THING this week. Call it an experiment if you want. I call it 'Old School'.  Blogging as it used to be. We read. We commented. We followed links when someone said something that resonated, be it funny, or touching, or asshatery; we trailed around the internet reading REAL stories, from REAL people, about REAL LIVES. Before we were all "Brands," we were people.

Let's get back to that, shall we?

And if you follow my friend Busy Mom on Twitter, you know that she and a bunch of others were talking about this on Saturday night, so I know that it's not just a few of us that are missing the old blogging. It's a lot of people, across a lot of genres. Even Gwen Bell is talking about how blogging has changed.

So, will you take the challenge?

Adam made the badge.

I'm going to do this. If I only get to read ten posts a day but comment on all of them I will do it. Can you only read and comment on 3? OK then, do it. No judgement. The point is to really read and interact like we all did before Twitter and Facebook diluted our conversations over so many platforms that we just couldn't hear, or BE HEARD over all of the noise anymore.

I'm in. Are you?

UPDATED: I'll also try to respond to the comments in the comments, at least for today, since this seems to be a conversation. LOVE IT!!!

The CWA's

Back in November, I sent you over to vote in the Canadian Weblog Awards. Remember? The winners were announced on January 1st. There is a fantastic group of blogs to go through....you may just find a new favorite! (Well, second only to me, right? ;-)  )


I love Schmutzie, and this project was link worthy all on it's own, but I'm pleased to announce that I was one of the anonymous jurors! It was about a 2 month process between the 2 rounds of judging, preliminary and finals, and it was really fun. While I can't tell you which blogs I judged, I can tell you that I found some truly amazing blogs that I will go back to. The list of jurors can be found here.

So go check out the list of winners. Read the ones that sound interesting, and then read a few more. I guarantee you will find some great blogs. Go on!

What a REAL Blogger Looks Like

OK, well, maybe not actual looks....

Here's the thing. I read a stupendous post by Jim of the Busy Dad Blog, titled My Middle Name. (There are about a dozen things that I could say about the post, and some day I might. I put it in the folder that I put articles that I want to write a response to.) I shared it on Facebook. I left a comment. At current count there are 81 comments on that post.

Go read that post. You will be blown away, 18 ways from Sunday. Go.

Back?

81? Really? I think it takes me a full 2 or 3 months to get to 81 comments total.

Jim is a stand up guy. I met him once, at BlogHer Chicago '09, I think. I'm certain that he doesn't remember me.

Oh. Back to that comment that I left? He emailed me a response. I've never left him a comment before. I don't read him regularly. We're not friends that email back and forth. I'm not Dooce, for crying out loud.

He responded to me. That's what a REAL blogger looks like.

At the risk of sounding like a nut-job, yes, I'm gushing. Busy Dad guy emailed me.

Note to other big-name bloggers that don't have "time" to respond to people? You can suck it. Jim just made my reader and you're getting dropped.

Thanks, Jim. You just made my day, and considering the day I've had? That's somethin'.

The Canadian Weblog Awards

Do you know Schmutzie? She's a hell of a writer, designer, photographer, and all-around spectacular human being. Have you heard about her latest project? The Canadian Weblog Awards are in the jury phase and guess what? You (and you and you and you,) get to be a juror! Voting opened on Tuesday, so go on over and cast your vote.

It's a privilege, baby.

NaBloWha?

Eden, creator and head honcho of this NaBloPoMo really hit it with this one. Read there since it's the week that no one reads anyway. (I really heart Eden's blog Fussy. She is funny and real and I really admire her. Seriously, go check her out.)

One sentence does TOO count.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my good friend Debby of Just Breathe. She has been a loyal friend for over a decade. She is a blessing to me in my real life as well an my online life.

Headless Mom and Just Breathe

Deb, I hope you have a spectacular day!

Love you lots,

HM

PS- Where are we going to lunch on Tuesday?

PPS- If you're reading this and you're not Debby, go on over and wish her a great day!

PPPS- I wrote this before I saw what she wrote on her blog about her day with her family. I swear.

Lunch Dates

I had to laugh yesterday when I read Jennifer's post on the subliminal messages that many of us SAHM's give to our husbands. "Gosh! I have so much time now that both kids are in school! And it's right at lunch time! How about that?!!"

I totally remember that. I had one boy in Kindergarten, the other in preschool 3 mornings a week and All.The.Time.In.The.World!!! (Yeah, pre-blog days...that's important, folks.) I dropped hints like babies drop toys for the 'I drop it, you pick it up' game. Like, endless.

Headless Dad eats out at lunch, oh, about 99 out of 100 workdays. Not that I really want to eat out that much, but since I don't like sandwiches, and I hate cooking anything for just me, I would like to eat lunch out more than I do. Oh, and there is that little thing of budget. If one is eating out, I must.save.the.money, and end up eating leftovers or some other crap that I don't want just so I have nourishment. Call the WAHmbulance now...

Back to yesterday...I laughed as I read her post because I remember those days of desperately wanting to go out and have some adult time! Adult conversation! No Cheerios added! And during those days I didn't have any friends. Literally, I had no one to call for an occasional lunch out. (Actually, not too different from now. Most of my friends work, homeschool, or live too far away. Yes, thank you I'd love some cheese with my whine!)

On Thursdays I volunteer in #2's classroom from 9-10 helping with their writing assignments. (Heh. I know! It's like I have a degree or something...) So when I got home I sat down to write a post for IEF. I wrote. I linked. I resized pictures. I edited. I published.

Er, no I didn't.

Crap. Where did it go? NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!11!!!!!

Yes, it was lost. After over an hour of work it was gone. And like clockwork, or the biggest irony of the week? Headless Dad called to ask me to go to lunch with him.

AHahahahahhahahahaha... Yeah, like I have time for that today!??!! I have to get this post up, and finish the smelly load of laundry and figure out something for dinner and iron (that I should have done 3 days ago) and And AND!!!11!!!!!!!

So, that's the tale of How I Got What I Wished For, A Few Years Later. Good luck with that, Jen.

For your weekend reading pleasure...

By me: 

Have you answered this week's Just Curious question? There's still time!

Kodak Bus Tour: Easy Share is Easy!

Brett’s Back: Favre Retirement Watch, Part Too Many

NCAA Football Starts Tonight

Budgeting

8 Tips for Back to School Success

Minor League Baseball is coming to a close ...

Not by me, but still awesome:

Big Babies

Sexting: One more thing for parents to worry about

How to make your blog addictive like World of Warcraft

Oh my goodness, this recipe is SO GOOD! Tomato Zucchini Pie (This link wasn't working well. I'll check it again in a while....)

Non-Toxic way to Polish Silver Jewelery

The most amazing post, by Jodi. Obsession. If you haven't read it yet, you must. And send it to every teen girl and woman you know. It's been a VERY LONG time since a post has resonated this much with me. Srsly. I keep going back. Maybe it will soak in one of these days.

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

People of BlogHer '10

I did this last year and it was really well received so I thought I'd do it again. These are the NEW people that I met at BlogHer in New York City. Some I've seen around the web before, others I haven't, but go check them out. I enjoyed meeting each and every one of them...it's the #1 reason to go to the BlogHer Conference each year. (Please note: if I met you last year, your link is included in my BlogHer People 09 list. No haters please! See also: if I didn't get your card then you're most likely not here. Leave a comment so your link will be here as well!)

Liz from Everydaygoddess.net

Kristin from OurOrdinaryLife.com

Lynn from walkingwithscissorsblog.com

Caitlin from Mabelslabels.com

Angie from Awholelotofnothing.net

Sugar from SugarJones.tv

Linda from LindaSellers.com

Kizz from TellKizz.com

Molly from No Baby, No Blog

Silver from SilverThinks

Melissa from Stirrup Queens

Cindy from Elephant Soap

Missy and her mom (sorry, I don't remember her name!) from Bitten and Bound

Liz from CoolMomPicks.com

Emily from DesignHERmomma.com

Suzanne from TwentyFourAtHeart.com

Darryle from I Never Signed Up For This

Margaret from Just Margaret

Velma from A Smeddling Kiss (OMG! She has a headless boy of her own! Check it out!

Anne-Marie from This Mama Cooks

Debbie from I Obsess

Gwen from Not Really

Ellen from Love That Max

Vanessa from ChefDruck Musings

Alicia Peiffer from Making Time for Mommy

Suebob from Red Stapler

Kelli from Cafe Kel

MFA Mama

Tricia from Once a Month Mom

Lisa from Mommedy

Robin from Bellaventa

Faiqa from Native Born

Mariana from Ms. Fabulous

Anna from An Inch of Gray (omgomgomg! She's my sorority sister! Squeeeee!)

Jill from The Perlman Update  (omgomgomg, so is she!)

Liz from SayYestoHoboken.com

Julie from Angry Julie Monday

Kelly from Mrs. CPA

Sue from Happy Meals and Happy Hour

Kate from A Big Piece of Cake

And last but not least, I had the honor and pleasure of meeting 2-time WNBA champion Kelly Mazzante. Get information on the Kelly Mazzante Foundation on Facebook!

*Sigh* That was exhausting. It took me 3 days to complete this in between all of the other stuff that I've had going on. Please visit all of these wonderful women-they're all worth the click!

Ramblings of a mind on vacation Part 2

I had a lovely lunch today with Issa. We were able to talk blogging as well as the unbloggable stuff. I love her.

We're bad bloggers though. No pictures of our yummy CPK pizzas or wacky self pics. Use your imagination.

We did decide that 4 weeks is much too long to wait for BlogHer, though. Anyone else agree?

Thanks, Busy Mom!

Last week the Motherhood did a campaign recognizing great moms on the internet. If you missed it, you can meet all of the great moms here on the roundup page. (I can't wait to head on over, myself, since I was up to my eyeballs in paint last week.)

I am honored to be one of the moms chosen by Busy Mom. She said the nicest things about me on a day that I was really feeling blue. You know the days when your kids are out of town and you realize that you have no local friends to go out to lunch or shopping with? Yeah, it was one of those days. I'm so glad that I am able to call Busy Mom my friend, regardless of how far apart we live. She actually made me cry, in a good way, yo. If you've never read her you have to head on over. You won't be disappointed. I can't wait to see her in NYC!


Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 29, the Motherhood is hosting a live chat on their website at 1pm Eastern.  They'll be talking about mom bloggers and how much they-WE- mean to each other. Head on over and join in the chat-since I'm on vacation I'm not sure if I'll be there or not, but all it takes is an email address to join and be able to comment on the thread. Their chats are lots of fun...I participated a couple of weeks ago on one that had me excited for Headless Dad to come home from work, if you know what I mean. ;-)

Thanks again, E. You're the best.

On Marriage: What Others Have to Say

I find it fascinating when a topic swirls in my head for a while and right as it is about to bubble up and out of my finger tips- BAM! There it is on everyone else's blogs. These are some of the best articles on marriage that I have seen in the last week or so:

 

• Craig usually writes about money but on the occasion of his 10th anniversary he wrote 10 Marriage Lessons that he has learned. Straightforward; it's a great check list to gauge where you're marriage is.
• Robin is one of my favorite bloggers, and she is right on the money with her post For Married Women Only. And yes, she talks about sex.
• Mary linked to this last week and it has had a lasting and profound effect on me. You won't be the same after reading it. And hopefully, neither will your marriage.
  
  

  "Jennie put coffee and bacon on the stove, and then, catching up a pail from the porch, went after John. A golden red disk broke the misty blue of the morning above the cow pasture. A sweet, fragrant breath blew from the orchard. But Jennie neither saw nor felt the beauty about her." from When Queens Ride By written by Agnes Slight Turnbull on ThePrudentHomemaker.com 

  Last, but not least, something funny from Karen!
  
  

Enjoy your weekend reading!
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