For all the days of my life, I carry you in my heart

I carry your heart with me and  I give you mine in return~ In the few and far between quiet moments of motherhood, I often contemplate what the great lessons are that I want to impart upon my daughters. What wisdom that I can share to make them better people, to make their lives easier and more full before they are grown and I am in the letting go stage.

My hearts,

Live your life with integrity: Do not compromise your beliefs, your faith, and your morals. Fight to win but fight clean. Always stand up for what you believe in, even if it is the unpopular opinion.

Be Yourself: You are the best you that there will ever be. No one can do you like you. You are a one of a kind. You may not always feel that you fit the mold, but that is because you are special. Everyone is special in his or her own way. Know that always.

Live your life honestly: Always be honest with your self and honest with others. There is no room for lies. It fosters distrust and a disingenuous perception of the kind of person that you are in your life. Wear your honesty with pride.

Family first: Always put family above all else. You may not always like them but always love them. Friends, careers, money will all come and go in your life but when you need unconditional love, and support your family will always be there.

Your sister is your best friend; no matter if you pull one another’s hair today. She will be the one who will hold your hand when you welcome your first baby into the world. She will know your sorrow when your father and I are no longer hear. She will keep your secrets and love you always.

Live your life with respect: Have a deep and abiding respect for who you are and others will treat you with respect. Always respect others;beliefs, their choices, and how they carry themselves in the world. You do not have to agree but you cannot condemn a man because his beliefs or ways are not your own. There is room enough for all of us.

Love: Love big and love hard. When/if it doesn’t work out, mourn for the loss and move on. You will have many loves in your life, enjoy and experience them all for their purpose. They are making you ready for your great love.

Faith; My child, have the same faith and love for yourself that you do in your friends, your family, and your God. You are amazing!

Be fearless; do not let anyone tell you that you can’t do anything because if you set your mind to something, where there is a will, there is always a way. Always. Perseverance, hard work and dedication to your dreams are the recipe for exhausting potential and pursuing passions. Do this always.

Breathe. Slow down and enjoy the people and experiences in your life. Life is short but it is amazing and the adventures you will have along the journey and the people you will meet can never be replaced. Walk gingerly on your journey of life and do not run the race.

Be happy. If it makes your heart smile and enriches your life do it. Don’t care about what other people think. There are little moments of bliss that we may never know because we are too busy worrying about what others think is relevant. Follow your heart.

With All the Love a Mothers Heart can hold (to the moon and back again)

I love you and will always be here for you, no matter what you do, who you become or mistakes you may make. A mother’s love is here to pick you up when you stumble, when you fall. Know this always. Even when I am gone you will always be with me in my heart.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it

e.e. cummings

What lesson or wisdom would you impart upon your child? What would you want for your child to carry with him or her in their heart?Pin It

Seattle school shooting

Seattle School Shooting ~ You read that right. In case you weren’t already terrified enough of letting your kids out of your sight after Anders Behring Breivik or Levi Aron, nothing like a Seattle school shooting to remind you. According to Bremerton police, Wednesday, 2/22/12, a gun was brought to a Armin Jahr Elementary, in a 9 year old’s backpack. The gun accidentally discharged, critically wounding his 8-year-old classmate, Amina Bowman. Just like that we have a Seattle School shooting in the news. Amina was shot in the abdomen and had to be rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she is now listed in critical condition.

Amina Bowman’s parents woke up yesterday morning and got their 8 year old daughter ready for school, not unlike I did my 6 year old. After some idle chit chat and excitement, they had breakfast, followed by drop off where they assumed she would safely spend her day. They kissed their little girl good bye, expecting her return that evening. Never could they have fathomed that this could be the last time they saw their little girl.

Throat Punches all around.

The Asshats who fight for stupid people to have the right to bear arms. If you are going to fight so diligently for the right to bear arms, at the very least be equally as vigilant in your pursuit to have stupid assholes sterilized and/or given an IQ test before being handed a gun and the right to buy bullets.

Throat punch to the kid who brought the loaded gun to school in his backpack. Why did he have the gun in the first place? Was he planning on shooting up the entire school Columbine style? Is he a lunatic? Was it that easy for him to just grab a loaded gun on the way out the door to school? Don’t his parents check his backpack to see what homework he has or for correspondences from the teacher? It can’t be just me who does this?

Seattle School Shooting Terrifies Bremerton

Super sized Throat Punch to his idiot parents. Who keeps a loaded gun lying around the house with children? Who keeps the gun in a place that the child even knows about? Who taught this kid that it’s alright to handle firearms? Do these people NOT pay any attention to this child at all? I think the parents are at biggest fault overall. It was their responsibility to teach him better and if they are going to keep weapons of mass destruction lying around the house, lock them up or unload them. Put them in a locked gun chest. For the love of God, don’t teach your 9 year old that it’s okay to pick it up, put it in his backpack and go to school with it.

I’m pretty sure if I were Amina Bowman’s parents I would be asking that this little boy’s parents be punished to the full extent of the law, pay Amina’s medical bills, be publicly flogged and then maybe shot in the abdomen as well.

Hope you will link up your Throat Punch Thursday posts with me. I wanted to extend a personal invite to all of you to link up any posts in which you air a grievance, call out any asshatery,or just dole out a well deserved throat punch to one of societies shortcomings or political douche canoes. If not this week, I do it EVERY single Thursday and would love for any or all of you to join in! All you have to do is grab the Throat Punch Thursday button ( listed under the “about” tab at the top of the page), put it in your blog post and link up.Since GFC is abandoning  WordPress blogs in March please consider subscribing via RSS or email.

What are your thoughts? What would you do if you were Amina’s parents? What’s the world coming to when the your 8-year-olds day ends with a Seattle school shooting?

Seattle School Shooting should have Never Happened

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She just realized that she Tweeted her Home address to a Pedophile

Twitter and the Preschooler~ The French have once again outdone us in the parenting realm. They are so progressive. Apparently, first they go all Bringing Up Bébé on our asses and try to prove that they can get results as good as that of the Tiger Mom Amy Chua without all the beatings and chaining to the piano.  Now, they’ve gone and started the bébé’s out in social media before they are even out of diapers. Bravo! Awesome that their kids can tweet “ Ma mère suce”(My Mom sucks) while simultaneously screaming from the toilet for you to come wipe their ass.

Bébes on Twitter

The French are so evolved and cosmopolitan, it’s no wonder all of their women are thin and perfect. They’ve got it all figured out. While we are here obsessing over our love-handles and trying to diet and get healthy, they just eat and smoke whatever they desire and still look amazing in their designer clothing they bought at the neighborhood trunk show. Us poor Americans with our très stupide purse parties and Tupperware, no wonder our kids throw tantrums and talk back. We can’t even get a handle on our socialization skills. Fucking Americans buying our clothes at Target and attachment parenting.

We have no control over our children. We are so busy helicoptering and loving our children that we just don’t know how to Ferberize and mind meld them at the necessary levels to be allowed to use them as accessories. Wait? Why did we have these kids again? Oh yeah, the tax write off of course.

Twitter for the under 5 set

Sorry, I’m off on a tangent. The point is this; there is a French preschool near Bordeaux, France where the 29 preschool students are posting daily tweets. They only post one tweet a day and it is a group project so that all the kids can help decide what to post. Then two of the children are selected to type the actual group composed tweet. It’s supposed to be an exercise in learning the alphabet. What happened? Is our antiquated alphabet flashcards not doing the trick anymore?

The tweets are fairly innocuous tweets like “We gathered snow to see how it turns into water.” Cute right?

I don’t think so. I live on Twitter and I LOVE twitter. I want to have Twitter’s babies but I’m also a saucy foul-mouthed hooligan. Letting preschoolers on Twitter is like dropping a 7 year old off in a bar and then being surprised when they are cursing, smell like smoke, drunk and screaming ” woohoo, that’s my jam!”

Why not wait until they are old enough to have the reasoning skills to handle Twitter. Can’t we just let our preschoolers be kids for a little while longer? What’s the rush?

Preschoolers can’t read or write. It’s sort of like knowing how to insert a tampon without actually having a vagina. Why?

The class Twitter account has 89 followers, most of them parents, the rest of them pedophiles ( probably). If the preschoolers insist on maintaining this account, at least read this post about how to responsibly use Twitter.

What do you think about preschoolers having a twitter account? Is this the natural progression of social media? Would you want your preschooler on Twitter? Would you allow it? Would you be comfortable with your 4 year old composing tweets and sharing thoughts on Twitter?

Twitter a Pedo’s Paradise

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Fat Tuesday 2012

Today is Fat Tuesday. Fat Tuesday is  more than just Mardi Gras and Carnival. It’s more than just ass shaking, parades and beads. It’s the day in which all of us good Catholics indulge in excess and opulence. Bring on the guilty pleasures with wild abandonment.

Tomorrow, we embark upon our 40-day journey of self-sacrifice and deprivation in the name of making us better-focused, devout followers and generally all around better people. (Wait! Did you hear that? Choirs of angels just sang backup to my post.)

As I am planning my rich meal and indulgent dessert for tonight’s last supper, as dictated by Catholic church tradition, I can not help letting my mind contemplate what my sacrifice will be for my 25^th Lent in ordinary time.

Fat Tuesday; Night of the Living id

My home? I already gave that up last August. My friends? Sadly, they were collateral damage sacrificed in the move. My privacy? That was given up the moment I was handed my first born and further denied thrice when we moved in with our in laws. Sex? With no access to the conjugalorium, the freaky sex lovemaking has been put on life support reserving our energy and military tactics for special occasions (refer to in laws).

Shopping sprees? I don’t think Children’s place, Gymboree and Target shopping for kid’s clothes counts. Free time? Ha! I’m a Mom. Free time. We don’t get no stinkin free time. Junk food? Hello, perpetually on a diet; severely restricted already. Try again.

Coffee? I did that last year and it wasn’t pretty. Children were crying, the luggage under my eyes was super sized and my attitude was akin to shark week on steroids. It really should be against the law to take caffeine away from insomniacs.

The Internet? Social media? Sure, it would be a great sacrifice to me but at what cost? I can’t sacrifice my sanity and my livelihood. We want everyone to remain safe, right? The Internet stays.

Fat Tuesday; Excess before Deficiency

I’m left with 2 vices, sad to say, one being my potty mouth (I know it’s classy. Believe me if I hear the  ’ how can such a pretty girl have such a dirty mouth’ one more time from my mom, I might just scream.) and red meat. Considering that I was a devout vegetarian for 10 years, I think in celebration of my original sacrifice, the red meat and sex has to go. Ok I was kidding about the red meat the sex. Give a man a fish and all that.

In celebration of Fat Tuesday, after consuming copious amounts of carbs, we will consummate our last eve of freedom. Throwing caution to the wind and having wild, unprotected fortification for 7 full minutes. That’s how we crazy Catholics roll and mama needs a tuition break. 2 more kids and the 4th one’s free. Woohoo!

*No unprotected marital relations actually took place in the making of this post.

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti Amen. Happy Fat Tuesday; may your bellies be full and your happiness be plentiful.

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Separation is more than the space between to people

I am blessed that my heart is now a stranger to separation. Life is not always what I might have wanted or even what I had expected, every minute of every day. Sometimes things are harder than I think they should be or than I ever imagined they could be. I have my days when I feel like things could be better. I question why things happen to me or why they don’t happen for me. I think many of us have these days. I think it is part of our humanity.

I’ll admit that on more than one occasion, I’ve been serenaded by the world’s smallest violin and hosted the centuries biggest pity party but as I have gotten older, dare I say even a bit wiser, every situation that I have survived has made me stronger. Without the tribulations, the victory would not be so sweet. The Big Guy and I will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary in May but the past 3 years of our marriage has been full of hurdles; due to circumstances that have nothing to do with our relationship and everything to do with a down economy. We’ve had job separation, we’ve had geographic separation, we’ve had little money and we’ve had a plethora of stress and worry, probably more than our fair share. But we’ve always had each other to talk it all over with, to cry with, to scream and rage against the world; to hold. Through it all, we’ve had love. Separation from the Big Guy, separation from the family that we have built and grown, separation from that love would be like separation from myself.

Separation makes the Heart Grow Weary

I know couples that are going through tumultuous times in their marriage and permanent separation may be a very real possibility for them. My heart aches for them because nobody gets married with the intention of it being a temporary situation. We marry because we believe hope that we have won the relationship lotto. We are ecstatic to have found our happily ever after. We exhale with relief and comfortable happiness sets in. It may seem naive considering the percentage of couples that divorce these days. But it’s beautiful to be able to give of your heart, your life, and your soul in such an unconditional, unbounded way. There is freedom in knowing that someone else is in this world to take your hand when you stumble, to carry you when you fall and to love you when you are at your most unlovable.

It saddens me that others feel it their place, their right even, to flippantly comment on such a private issue. Separation and divorce are devastating and painful for all those involved, especially the children. No need for strangers to rub salt in the wounds. In the end, you are left with a man and woman trying to find their way in their new normal while mourning the loss of the relationship. Trying their best to survive losing the happily ever after. The pain must be almost unbearable.

It would be one of the scariest situations that you could be in as an adult. Learning to leap with no net, taking a chance and being brave enough to speak up and say that you both deserve happiness, even if you have to live apart. Willing to take the chance of losing it all and having to start from scratch. Nobody knows what really goes on in the hearts, minds and souls of a married couple, aside from the two involved. Please think before you make a joke or say someone deserves their separation because no one deserves to have their heart ripped out of their chest and stomped on.

  Separation of the Heart is Torturous

Today, I have been invited by the awesome @NatalieHoage to share my Mommy Moment on her site Mommy of a Monster and Twins. I hope that you will stop by her blog and see how I deal with the separation of my mind from my heart.

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How much to charge for a sponsored post? That is the question all bloggers struggle with, even lose sleep over. No one wants to be shortchanged or work for free. I know I don’t but how much to charge for a sponsored post is a hard question to answer.

I could ask you to first ask yourself, what do you think your talent is worth? How about your time? Time away from your family? Your social media influence? Your community?

Are you a wordsmith whose words cast a magical spell over your readers? Are you a humorist who can make people laugh at and enjoy reading about absolutely any topic? Do your words tug at heartstrings and illicit empathy and understanding, camaraderie? Are you a salesman who can weave a web of silk and turn any piece of shit into shinola with your turn of phrase? Or are you a press release regurgitator? It’s no matter; there is a place for all of us.

I read an article last week by Cecily Kellogg on MomCrunch that enlightened me and shed some light on the age old question, how much to charge for a sponsored post?
This is the simple formula that she came up with. I say simple because when I read it I thought to myself, wow that makes sense. But not simple in the fact that I would have ever figured it out had it not been for Cecily’s generosity in posting the piece.

Here it is.

How much to charge for a sponsored post:

Algorithm                                                                                                    Example
Number of total Monthly page views                                                    100,000
(Add to that) Your total Number of Twitter Followers                      10,000 = 110,000
(Divide that total by)Your Google Page Rank                                      3 = 37,778
(Multiply that total by .01)                                                                       37,778 * .01 = 378
Divide the entire total by 2                                                                       378/2

= How much to charge for a sponsored post                                                 $189.00

**If your Google page rank is higher than 5, this algorithm will not work out in your favor. I personally decided that when calculating my rate of how much to charge for a sponsored post, I would skip the multiply by .01 step. If this were the case in the example, the pay for the blogger would be about $380 per sponsored post rather than  the $189. I think if you have 100,000 page views per month and 10,000 Twitter followers, you would charge somewhere around of $200- $300 per post. The more influential the blogger, the more you can charge for a sponsored post.

In my case, I now charge between $100-$300 per sponsored post. Add to that another $50-$100 for a widget in the sidebar, per month. My rates of how much to charge for a sponsored post have recently gone up. Of course, this all depends on my relationship with the brand. These are all things to consider when deciding whether or not to even take a sponsored post.

I can’t tell you what I would charge for text links because I simply refuse to do them. I feel it will litter my blog and make it a commercial. I hate commercials. That is my philosophy for my own blog.

I also don’t let companies post press releases on my blog for pay. I can’t be a billboard or I would probably lose my readers. I can’t take that gamble. I’ve been building my reputation and this blog for almost 3 years; I can’t just give away my relationship with my community. It’s priceless.

Never ever work with a brand that you don’t genuinely support. If you are a vegetarian, don’t take a sponsored post from the National Pork board. Your readers will figure out that you are selling them a product that you, yourself, would not use and you will lose any and all integrity that you had. You will lose your authenticity. You cannot get that back. Keep that in mind.

Something else, in my opinion, that all bloggers absolutely need to be equipped with is a media kit. If you ever want to justify your rates, solicit sponsorships, or just demonstrate to brands why they should work with you over any of a million other bloggers, you need a media kit. It lists your stats and a quick blog bio in a handy easy to access format. Your media kit is your online business card and resume.

Start by making sure that you have a Google Analytics account and, my personal recommendation, a statcounter.com account. This was a piece of invaluable piece of advice given to me by blogging diva, Jessica Gottlieb and she should know.I listened. I’m glad I did. I suggest that you do the same. Armed with your stats, you can make an awesome media kit to wow even the most selective brands. I have compiled a very comprehensive how to write a media kit for your blog post that I urge you to take advantage of now.

• Katie (Sluiter Nation): Not My Business, Baby (why you do NOT want to monetize your blog)
• Devan (Accustomed Chaos): Monetizing Your Blog: Why’s & How’s of Making Money (why you do monetize and how you do it)
• Kristin (What She Said): Getting Paid to Blog: So Many Questions, So Little Time. (newbie in the monetizing world)
• Tina (Life Without Pink): Tips For Building Successful Relationships With Brands and Scoring Paying Opportunities (pitching brands, sponsored events, ambassadorships)
• Gigi (Kludgy Mom): So You Want To Be A Freelancer? What You Need To Know. (freelance work)
• Natalie (Mommy of a Monster): So You Wanna Make Money Blogging? How To Get Sponsored Posts (sponsored posts)
• Alex (Late Enough) “ Writers Teach, Why Can’t Bloggers?“

Check these amazing posts out. This is a great group of generous bloggers, who have learned a lot along the way. We just want to help other bloggers learn to navigate the monetization of their blog and demystify some of the biggest secrets of blogging. Hope this post helps you know how much to charge for a sponsored post and how to write a media kit.

How much to charge for a sponsored post

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How do I love you?Let me count the ways~ There are two camps for Valentine’s Day; the die hard head-over-heels, love to be in love and shower the people they love with trinkets on Valentine’s Day and those who hate the very idea of Valentine’s Day. Hallmark holiday, waste of money, uncomfortable for new couples camp.

I celebrate Valentine’s Day with love letters to my husband but not because it is the one-day of the year that we show one another that we love each other. In our home, we show and tell one another that we love each other daily. Because we do; it’s free so why not say ‘I love you’.

Why do people feel the need to withhold special treatment hostage for certain days of the year. Wouldn’t we all be better off if we were all just honest with one another and gave our love freely and without restraint, every single day? That’s what Valentine’s Day is about to me, pausing to take the moment to say the words that express the feelings that you have every day. Sometimes it’s just nice to hear it said, or see it written down. Maybe it’s just because I am older, wiser and deeper than I once was.

I celebrate Valentine’s Day every year because it’s the anniversary of the date that the Big Guy was supposed to propose to me. I say supposed to because he had planned to ask me to marry him on our first Valentine’s Day together, just shy of our 5-month anniversary. Yes, I did just say 5-month anniversary. We got engaged after only dating for 4 months.

I love you MORE each day

He actually proposed on January 28^th, because he got nervous and blurted it out. I got nervous and responded, “I Love you!” and walked away. That was 14 years ago. We will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary in May.

Every Valentine’s Day since, my heart beats a little faster because I know that it was the day the Big Guy had planned to propose and for some reason that makes it extra special to me.

I love that all these years later the Big Guy still gives me butterflies and the thought of him not being around still takes my breath away.

I celebrate that we can have comfortable pauses, passionate fights, hot make-up sex or just say nothing at all and still know exactly what the other one is thinking and more importantly respect the other one’s thoughts and feelings.

I love that he is my exact opposite but still gets me more than anyone else in the entire world. On Valentine’s Day, I celebrate that our love is unconditional 99.7% of the time but there’s that .3% where we know we can lose it all and that keeps us on our toes.

I love You Every day (Even when You piss me Off)

I love that when the whole world is pissing me off, I still love him. I love that I can be myself, with all of my crazy, bad temper, hot mess, loud, all consuming love and never feel vulnerable when I am with him. He is my partner, my best friend and truly my better half on most days.

Yesterday, he hand selected chocolates for me from the chocolatier. One for passion, one for spice, another for love, etc. A different reason for each. I was on shark week and I over reacted because there was no card. I’ve always said, for the 15 years he has known me, that all I need is a card. I want to see the feelings written down, to have the memento. I had a tearful breakdown and he realized what was wrong and how to remedy it.

This card is why we are perfect for another!

I Love you baby, every single day of my life and since you sent me the perfect card, I am sharing it with everyone! XOXO

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How to write Media Kit for your Blog ~ We all want to know where to begin when writing our media kit but it’s one of those secrets of the trade that no one wants to share. On the rare occasion that someone actually gives you feedback, it’s cryptic and vague. I am here to decode it for you.I figured since I already spilled the beans on how to write a Mommy blog and how to navigate Twitter, the next logical step is how to write a media kit for your blog. Above is a screenshot of my current media kit. There are two pages in total. This is page one.I came up with my media kit by doing lots of research on the internet, consulting other ( more experienced) bloggers to look it over and having those people who actually receive sponsorship proposals to give me their honest feedback. I hope this post is helpful to you. If it is, don’t be stingy pass it on to your fellow bloggers and leave me a comment with any questions or suggestions that you might have.

•  Contact information. For the love of God, make it easy for companies to contact you via your media kit, your blog, etc. If you don’t, do not be surprised when no one contacts you. You can’t pitch companies to work with you or to sponsor you to conferences if you are not even professional enough to make yourself easily accessible on your blog and media kit. They want to know that if they need to reach you, they can. Make it easy. Be accessible.

• Your blog the Brand. Your blog is a representation of you. Your media kit should reflect your blog’s brand. What message are you trying to send? I would advise using the same color scheme and graphics that emphasize your brand. If someone is familiar with your blog, there should be no mistaking that your media kit is for your blog. I even include a screen shot of my blog within my media kit. Same color scheme, same theme across the board…blog, media kit, business cards, Facebook landing page, Twitter background.

•  The Right Pitch. An elevator pitch is a short, concise explanation of what you do. What is your blog about? The TRUTH about Motherhood is  a brutally honest, laugh out loud funny, raw account of navigating this new lifestyle that we Mommies find ourselves drowning in after having children. It’s what happens after the “They all live happily ever after” takes place.

Your Media Kit is Your Online Introduction

•  What’s Your niche? What’s a Niche? Where do you fit into the grand scheme of your niche? Ask not what the company can do for you but what your blog can do for the company. After you’ve stated your elevator pitch, you can now give an explanation of your blog’s niche (Mommy Blog) , why you are an important part of that niche ( I’ve spent the past three years blogging, building my brand and growing my community), and why you are a good fit with a potential vendor or PR representative ( because I am well respected and known. I am trusted and people know me via my blog. I’m more than a nameless face behind a computer. I have laughed and cried with my community. We’ve consoled one another,cheered one another on and helped one another through difficult wins and losses. We are friends). This is the place to sell your brand. What makes you a better fit than the next blogger? What can you do that is unique?
• Statistics. When discussing traffic statistics, include the following; total monthly page views, uniques, feed subscribers, new visitors, pages per visit and time on site. I also include my social media reach. This includes my Twitter followers, Klout score ( though after they reconfigured the algorithm, Klout has killed everyone’s score), Facebook Friends/ Fans, Google Page rank and Alexa Traffic. Definitely include your social media reach because even if you only have 300 blog followers but you have 10,000 Twitter followers or 3000 Facebook fans, your reach is far wider than you might think. If you have it, provide a link to your portfolio so potential partners can see that you are diverse and that you reach is even greater. Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Be loud and proud but not obnoxious.
• Just how influential are you, really? If you don’t feel like your statistics are as high as you would like them to be, focus on your influence and how you reach a specific audience. Include your demographics, especially if your key demographic reflects that of the company you are trying to work with. Your influence isn’t just online. Do you have a large circle of people who you influence in real life? Are you active at your child’s school? Church? The Junior League? Any social groups? Also include awards you’ve received that are relevant to your influence. This exemplifies your reach. Mention it.
• Advertising Guidelines and Pricing. I don’t put cost information in my media kit but rather have them contact me directly for more information. If you are going to provide specifics, I recommend; What sizes of advertising will you offer (e.g., 125×125, 120×600)? How much does each size ad cost for a week? A month? A year? Will you give discounts for clients who book advertising over several months time? I also provide a laundry list of different ways that we can work together; i.e.

If this was helpful, please share it and since GFC is abandoning us WordPress blogs in March please consider subscribing via RSS or email.Give the company no excuse to not work with you. Make yourself available and irresistible. If you only have one chance to make a first impression and everyone judges a book by it’s cover, let your media kit be the right cover on the book of your blog.

Let Your Media Kit Make a Statement

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Behold the Nutella Sundae

How to Make a Nutella Sundae~ I don’t do a lot of recipes on the TRUTH about Motherhood but sometimes a recipe comes along that demands to be shared. This is one of those recipes. I know many of you share the same unrequited love affair as I do with Nutella. Oh, how I love Nutella and all of her sweet, creamy hazelnut goodness but she does not love me back. In all honesty, Nutella doesn’t really love anyone back.She’s a fickle lady. She forsakes and mocks me, with her 200 hundred calories per 2 teaspoons (seriously, who eats just 2 teaspoons?). Never the less, I still love that bitch Nutella and I know you do to.

It would be irresponsible for me to suggest that anyone eat a Nutella Sundae every day or even once a week. But once in awhile, on a special occasion (your birthday, Fat Tuesday, a mega monster shark week or at the very least once in your life) you absolutely must try this recipe.

The Nutella Sundae Recipe

• Get yourself a sundae cup because if you’re going to have a Nutella sundae you must do it the proper way.
• Place 2 generous scoops of Aldeans ( Or any brand of your choice) Organic vanilla bean ice cream in the sundae cup.
• Quarter a ripe banana. Then place the four pieces equal distance apart, pointing up, surrounding the ice cream scoops.
• In a small microwavable dish, place about 4 heaping teaspoons of Nutella and heat up for 15- 20 seconds.
• Drizzle half of the heated Nutella over the vanilla ice cream scoops.
• Top the Nutella sundae with pieces of chopped pecans or peanuts, whichever you prefer.
• Drizzle the remainder of the heated Nutella over the sundae.
• Then top your Nutella sundae with ReddiWhip creamy whipped cream.
• Place a maraschino cherry on top.
• Take the first bite of the rest of your life your Nutella Sundae.
• Repeat.
• Take your time and enjoy your Nutella Sundae slowly!

Nutella Sundae for Everyone

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Vintage Shopping

Vintage Shopping with the most Crushworthy moms ~Today, I am honored to have the very awesome and super fabulous Fashionistas, Alison  and Karina (She turned this into a job by working at Second Time Around and starring in Bravo’s “Fashion Hunters”) of CrushworthyMoms.com guest posting on Fashion Friday.  You are in for a treat if you aren’t already familiar with these ladies. Alison and Karina are super fashionable, totally crushworthy and just happen to be vintage shopping queens. This is something that I have been wanting to learn how to do, as I am obsessed with Zooey Deschanel’s wardrobe on the New Girl but ‘m not a time traveler, nor do I have the budget of Zooey Deschanel’s costume designer. I do, however, have a few pieces of vintage royalty of my mom’s that I have rescued ( on more than one occasion) from ending up at the Goodwill and I want more. Lot’s more. Luckily for me, I have a gal ( or two) who is an expert, Alison and Karina. This is a new way to shop. It’s green, it’s affordable and it’s a good way to have a unique look and a one of a kind style. I’ll let Alison  and Karina explain, they’re the experts. Go check them out at Crushworthymoms.com and for great conversation you can find Alison and Karina, tweeting @Crushworthymoms.

Crushworthy Moms take us Vintage Shopping

Let us introduce ourselves, we are Alison and Karina of Crushworthymoms and we have a confession.  We are addicted to shopping at consignment stores.  So addicted in fact that we both work at STA (Second Time Around) in Manhattan to support our habit and get first dibs at the merchandise.  Karina even starred in Bravo’s Fashion Hunters, a show that is about consignment shopping and the art of the hunt.  We get a rush combing the racks in the hopes of finding that perfect piece that our wardrobe is missing.

So when @Truthfulmommy asked us to do a fashion post (Oh all right, we asked to do a fashion post!) we wanted to make sure we had her style just right.  So when she showed her appreciation for the style of Jess (Zooey Deschanel) from Fox’s New Girl, we knew we could incorporate our love of consignment shopping to find the perfect Jess-inspired outfits for our post.

When you shop consignment you have to go into the store with an open mind and have the time to go through each piece of clothing.  It is all about patience and enjoying the hunt.  You might find a one of a kind piece that you might never have thought you would have liked.  Your clothes should make you stand out not blend in and look like everyone else.  Your clothes should be a reflection of your personality and that is why people are so enamored with Jess’s style beause she wears what she loves.  I guarantee you will find your favorite pieces in a consignment store because they will be conversation starters and not just clothes you bought in a department store.

Now on to the clothes (Disclaimer-We shopped at STA’s annual 50% off sale-Prices were extra LOW):

How can you dress like Jess or Zooey?

Just add a bow to your outfit!

Shoes by Marc Jacob $35

Shirt by Misty $25

Jess’s Day to Evening Look

 Striped dress by Alice and Olivia $85

Marc Jacobs jacket $35

Trina Turk star dress $35

 Green Manolo Blahnik $100

Yellow Dolce and Gabbana $45

Jess’s Evening Look

Jacket by DVF $125

Sparkly dress by Robert Rodriguez $100

Green bow dress by Zac Posen $375

Gold boots by United Nude $60

Silver heels by Sergio Rossi $110

Vintage Shopping at consignment shops is an art form, as shown by the finds Alison and Karina shared here. Thanks so much for guest posting and sharing your skills, ladies.  Lesson #1, you can’t be afraid to get a little dirty and invest a little time into your vintage shopping excursions. I can’t wait to hit my local vintage shop and see what gems in the rough I find from a time gone by. Seems like with a little effort, you can find a treasure trove of vintage shopping gold!

 Vintage Shopping at it’s Best

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