Memphis mom, parenting & life blogger | a belle, a bean & a chicago dog

It’s Senior Hottie Time, Yo!

2012-05-15T20:03:12Z

The competition is ON in the race to be named #SeniorHottie 2012!

Grab your photos from your senior year of high school, grab a photo of yourself in the present day, and the #SeniorHottie button in my sidebar, and LINK UP, BABY!

I Was a Senior Hottie: Then & Now runs from today through midnight on May 20th. At that time, I will select finalists for all 5 contest categories, and our esteemed Hotness Judges – KLZ, Amanda and Hutch – will choose the winner of each category!

#SeniorHottie Contest Categories:

Hasn’t Changed Since High School
Should Have Been Prom Queen
Are you really the same person?
Most likely to date Jake Ryan
Senior Hottie Sweetheart (A catchall, “all around awesome” category)

Prizes include goods from Daisy & Elm, Mommy You Soap It, My Cookie Couture and Sara’s Colorful Creations!

Winners announced Monday, May 28th!

And just so you all don’t think I’m not going to willingly embarrass myself, here are a few doozies from high school. Circa 1995-1996.

Prom 1996. Not a boyfriend.

Homecoming 1995. With my boyfriend.

Did you have a Senior Lock-in? That's me in a velcro suit.

And here are a couple MUCH more updated photos of me. Circa Spring 2012.

Heading to my conference emcee gig.

At Bloggy BootCamp.

My Loves

2012-05-09T01:45:51Z

This week, I have 4 little creatures to be thankful for.

My twin…

My “Mommy & Daughter Preschool Time”

My first “baby”

My learning-to-love-to-cuddle pup

What do you have to be thankful for?

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This post is part of #iPPP (iPhone Photo Phun), where we link up photos taken from our smart phones. Any smart phone.

Because I was 27 when I became a mother

2012-05-06T23:25:22Z

If you had asked me about being a mom while I was growing up, I would have answered you with things like, “Of course I will!” and “I want 8 kids!“. But nowhere in my responses would you ever have heard an age attached to those plans.

I’ve never been one to have “deadlines” for life events, though I’m sure you all know at least 1 person (or perhaps, yourself?) who does. For me, it was College after High School, Marriage after College, and Babies after Marriage.

That was the extent of any and all expectations or life plans I had for myself.

I think most people would consider me as being “young” when I married. I was engaged the second semester of my senior year of college and married 1 year after my college graduation. Craig and I made our first relocation just less than 2 years after we were married, and Kate was born 2.5 years after our move.

Craig and I were married 3 years before any of our friends married. And I had given birth to both of my girls before any one of my cousins and most of our friends were even pregnant.

It’s interesting to watch how the cards of life play out for each of us. If I hadn’t met Craig in college, for example, all the life events that came after that would have occurred much differently – even though I still married the same man.

I remember feeling sort of lonely in this regard during my 20′s because most everyone we knew was “living it up” at an age you are supposed to do those things, while we were entrenched in diapers and bottles, and required toothpicks to keep our eyes open past 9 pm.

Now, its my cousins who are having the babies, and all at the same time. But I haven’t changed a diaper in nearly a year, and again find myself wishing I could share those times with them and take those journeys together.

But with every perceived “negative”, there always comes a positive. For example, Craig and I may have “missed out” on a lot of our 20′s, but I will be 48 years old when my youngest is an adult and off to college.

While I had no specific plans nor intentions for my life with regard to marriage and baby carriages, I’ve reached a point where I’m beginning to realize the (unintentionally-gained) benefits of the way the cards fell for me. Now at 34 I feel like I’ve crossed a pretty significant parenting hurdle and am busy moving on to the next phase of my life and career.

And all these “highlights” that I’m currently experiencing in my mid-30′s? I owe them all to marrying at 23 and becoming a mother at 27.

Did you have specific ages you imagined yourself either getting married or becoming a mother? Do you think about how old you’ll be when your kids become adults, or is that just us? Do you ever imagine life “Sliding Doors” style?

***DON’T MISS “I WAS A SENIOR HOTTIE: THEN & NOW!” Linky opens May 14th with 5 contests, 5 prizes and 3 judges!***

My {Handmade} Crush

2012-05-02T11:45:05Z

One of my most favorite pieces of social media, search and the web is how it can dramatically level the playing field among businesses. Now average consumers can much more easily find, interact with and shop from businesses both large AND small, opening the commerce door for the “mom & pop” shops out there.

Allyson from Daisy & Elm is one such small business. She makes incredibly fashionable, incredibly affordable jewelry pieces, and has some of the most amazing customer service and attention to detail I’ve ever seen. The two pieces below I ordered for myself, and she asked me every question she could (and that never crossed my mind) about the length, bead type, number of beads, how I wanted my 3 chain necklace to come together as one – EVERYTHING.

This is the Sweet Leaf necklace.

This is the Vintage Hot Mess.

And then Kristin surprised me by covertly ordering this custom piece just for me, inspired by the infamous BOSS video.

A custom piece from Daisy and Elm is also one of the prizes in the 2012 I Was a Senior Hottie: Then & Now linkup!

This write-up is completely of my own doing because I just love everything about Allyson’s spirit, creativity and commitment to customer service.

Are you a fan of handmade?

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This post is part of #iPPP (iPhone Photo Phun), where we link up photos taken from our smart phones. Any smart phone.

I Was a Senior Hottie: Then & Now

2012-05-13T20:50:53Z

Details, dates, contest categories and prizes for the 2012 I Was a Senior Hottie: Then & Now competition!

What is #SeniorHottie?

It’s a link-up I started last year where we dig out and scan old photos of our FABULOUS selves from our senior year in high school. The photos could be from a dance, prom, graduation – you name it! Just be sure it display your hotness from that time.

How is it different this year?

This year we’re having 3 judges, 5 contest categories and super rad prizes!

Esteemed Judges: Kristin from Taming Insanity, Amanda from It’s Blogworthy and AwesomeHutch from Be Awesome Instead.

Contest Categories:

Hasn’t Changed Since High School
Should Have Been Prom Queen
Are you really the same person?
Most likely to date Jake Ryan
Senior Hottie Sweetheart (A catchall, “all around awesome” category)

Prizes:

There is a prize associated with each contest. I’m still working on firming up the details, but 1 prize will be a custom “Prom Queen-worthy” creation from Daisy & Elm, 1 prize will be a themed cookie pack from My Cookie Couture, 1 prize is a pack of homemade soaps from Mommy You Soap It, and another, a “I Love Jack Ryan” t-shirt from 80sTees.com.

Dates, Winners and How does this work?

You have from now until Monday, May 14th to get your photos ready. Because this year is “I Was a Senior Hottie: Then & Now“, what you’ll need to gather is a photo(s) from your senior year of high school as well as a recent photo(s) of yourself.

Hint: If you want to vie for a certain category, you might want to be strategic in your photo choices.

The link-up is open from Monday, May 14th through Sunday night, May 20th. At that time, I will select Finalists for each of the 5 contests, and send those finalist names and links to the 3 judges. The 3 judges will have until Monday, May 28th to determine the winners, who will be announced at that time.

We had so, so, SO much fun doing this last year! And over 100 bloggers joined in the link-up, willing to poke fun at their high school fashion.

So, how do you compare since high school? Should you have married Jake Ryan? Did you deserve to be prom queen? Only time will tell.

The Past 7 Days

2012-04-24T23:25:43Z

A good reason to try to look cute

Good times with a great friend

A yummy drink with a great friend

Apparently, I have great hair.

Reviewing Kate's homework makes me smile

How’s your week been?

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This post is part of #iPPP (iPhone Photo Phun), where we link up photos taken from our smart phones. Any smart phone.

Why you should “go local” – and offline – with your social media

2012-04-23T13:18:51Z

While I was listening to the questions and comments during the business break-out session of the blog conference I attended this past weekend, Kate (not mine) raised her hand. She told the crowd to never discount what you can get involved with offline. Kate is a great person to suggest this because along with her own blog, Kate runs a hyper local blog in her town as well as founded her local chapter of the Social Media Club.

In a space where it can seem like you are sometimes jockeying for positions or that – quite frankly – you feel bored/annoyed/tired/frustrated by from time to time, I think the advice to disconnect from the virtual world to connect with other social media users and bloggers in your same local area is spot on.

In the past 6 months, I’ve been getting very involved in the social media community in Memphis, TN. It’s been a fabulous networking opportunity, I’ve met some incredible people and have been fortunate to join in some exciting projects, too. In some ways, it has made me appreciate getting my blogging and social start in the blogosphere that you and I know. But in other ways, I love that I am now surrounded by users who learned the ropes “in the real world” vs the very small universe that is the mom blogger community.

If you do decide to give it a shot and poke around in your area, take a look at your local colleges and universities. I was blown away when I learned that the University of Memphis recently created a social media major as part of its business school. I even reached out to the professor in charge and was able to put together a presentation for his advanced social media strategies course.

Check for local Meetup groups and conferences. Here in Memphis, there are all sorts of WordPress, social and tech meetups, plus a bi-annual tech, social and online marketing conference. These are fantastic opportunities for learning and networking as well as presenting and sharing your knowledge. In fact, the next conference here in Memphis is coming up May 12th, and I was offered the incredible opportunity to emcee the event!

Also, if putting your social efforts to work for a local cause is something you are interested in, look to see if there are any current groups doing just that… or start something yourself! Beth Sanders is a very talented and caring woman who founded MemphisGives, which is a quarterly event that brings together Memphis’ tech community to give back. By using social media, we promote the charity we’re raising money for, come together 1 evening in a local restaurant to do the social fundraising, and collect donations which then are turned over to the chosen charity.

As crazy as it sounds, there really are so many social opportunities offline. Whether or not you feel that right now is the best time to venture away from your computer to grow and learn, I would say to always keep it an option. We are all connected to so many throughout the world, but quite often there are some pretty amazing opportunities right outside in our own backyard.

Are you socially involved in your local market?

Stupid Dog (or Human?) Tricks

2012-04-16T01:14:45Z

Ever since adopting Tessa Belle, Craig has been very serious about dog training. He’s done a fantastic job with the dogs, even refreshing Jack‘s bag of tricks he learned long ago.

The video below is of both dogs showcasing their new talent. Sweet 10 year old Jack has a somewhat modified version of the trick Tessa completes with great ease.

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This post is part of #iPPP (iPhone Photo Phun), where we link up photos or videos taken from our smart phones. Any smart phone.

I Was a Senior Hottie, Redux

2012-04-16T02:19:05Z

It’s that time of year again. The flowers are blooming, t-shirts have replaced sweaters in the dresser, and high school seniors all across the country are preparing for prom and graduation.

You know what that means…

I WAS A SENIOR HOTTIE IS BACK!

And this time, it’s even better!

For those who are new to this big-banged, hairspray-filled blogosphere link-up, “I Was a Senior Hottie” is all about posting old photos of ourselves when we were high school seniors. Last year, the #SeniorHottie link-up included over 100 participants and spurred at least half a dozen other similar link-ups through the summer.

Basically, it was one rad party.

Since there were so many who took part last year, I needed to change it up for this spring. So “I Was a Senior Hottie” has become “I Was a Senior Hottie: Then & Now“.

For this year’s link-up, we’re going to post 1 or more photos of ourselves in high school along with 1 or more photos of ourselves now.

Wait – there’s more!

I’m also going to have a few contests, employ a few judges and offer a few fun gifts to the winners.

The esteemed panel of judges for I Was a Senior Hottie: Then & Now are none other than…

Kristin Zaslavksy

Amanda Austin

Hutch

Details on dates and official contest categories are still to be determined, but think along the lines of “Hasn’t Changed Since High School“, “Should Have Been Prom Queen” and “Wow, Your Hair Looks Different!“.

Please share your ideas in the comments to help us assemble a list of contest category ideas. The funnier, the better!

When People, Pets and Things Break

2012-04-10T20:47:19Z

We’ve had a rough go recently around BBCD.

Jack has some severe disc problems in his back, initially leaving him unable to move and shuddering in tremendous pain.

Then, our pool grew a leak.

A MAJOR leak.

Like, a you-can’t-walk-in-half-of-our-yard-without-muddy-water-coming-over-the-top-of-your-feet leak.

We had to drain (what was left in) it, and have the liner replaced. I’m pretty tempted to run a contest to see who can come closest to guessing on how much our water bill is going to be next month. Starbucks card, anyone?

On Saturday, Maddie took a nasty fall while playing outside. She ripped up her right knee pretty badly, scraped up her right elbow and smashed her forehead on the driveway.

Then just yesterday, she fell down the stairs. As in, tripped while she was at the top because she was stubbornly not holding onto the handrail, and tumbled – head over feet – all the way down to the bottom!

It was pretty terrifying. Somehow, I managed to lunge towards the baby gate and force it closed – stopping her rapid descent – just before she face-planted on our kitchen tile.

I think I earned some more Mama Stripes yesterday.

Can the Rule of 3s apply here? Between Jack, Maddie and the pool liner, I think we’re due for a break.

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This post is part of #iPPP (iPhone Photo Phun), where we link up photos taken from our smart phones. Any smart phone.