What? I am not scary? Arrrrr….

I really am this pale.

Ok, seriously, we decided to Halloween-ify ourselves over at Blissfully Domestic. Come check out how Lotus made hers look down right disturbing!

The women of Blissfully Domestic use Picnik so much behind the scenes that we thought it would be fun to share with our community how to use the cool online tools and host a contest.*

Here is the contest info:

Go make some Halloween Edits on a photo of yourself and/or your kids and once you’ve got a masterpiece, you can submit it to me for a chance to have it featured here on Halloween Day.  Judges from BD’s Editorial Staff will help me choose 3 winners out of all photos submitted.

The winning photos will be featured here on the Photography Column of Blissfully Domestic throughout the day on October 31st.

• Email your finished photo to: blissfullydomesticphotos @ gmail.com
• Please include in your email a preferred name to include for attribution if you get featured, and if you like, a link to your webpage.
• Photos will be accepted Monday 10/26 through Friday 10/30

For another chance to be featured, Halloweenify your Wedding Photos with Picnik and submit them to Malia on the Relationships Column, too! Click here for that.

We hope this contest will encourage our community to take a few moments to find a picture of yourself or of your wedding and have some fun. Lot’s of people are even using the Halloween edits for their Twitter avatars. So fun!

*We at Blissfully Domestic are not paid or have any business relationship with Picnik*

This post is linked into our weekly “I Am Blissfully Domestic” linky. Everyone is encouraged to link a post that is in a topic that is included on Blissfully Domestic. Um, hello, Blissfully Domestic covers everything! We only ask that the post that links up, puts a link back and everyone go visit 3-5 other blogs that are linked in.

See you there.

Use Twitter to get rich! We hear it all the time. Making easy money using Twitter is a dream, we all know this, but we still see all the Tweets that say “Use Twitter to Make Money Online” or “Easy Money using Twitter” and we all know this is just sleazy.

So how can you really make money because of Twitter? Nope! Well, except you can make money on commission from sales of my Twitter guide when you sign up to become an affiliate for The Smart Girl’s Guide to Twitter. In the simplest of terms, it means you will talk about the book, or do a review, and have ads on your blog or online platforms. Everyone who clicks to the Twitter Book site and purchases the book will earn you $5.00 commission. You will have a special link that tracks it all and at the end of every month all commission is deposited directly to your Paypal account.

It is that easy. With every book sold, I donate 10% to Compassion International, and 25% to you. I have designed many different ad sizes and styles to complement personal blogs, and will be happy to help adjust colors to match a specific look of your site.

I wrote the book to help give women all the tools they need to use Twitter for everything from keeping up with friends to building their business. I hope with this affiliate program I will be able to help more women finally get Twitter and help provide some extra revenue to every one’s budget. I love a great win-win.

You can feel comfortable promoting the Twitter User Guide because I give a 100% guarantee on the Smart Girl’s Guide to Twitter. I have not had a single person say they were disappointed, much less want money back. It is just that helpful and easy to understand.

To apply for an affiliate account look ^up^ at the tabs for my pages. You will see Smart Girl’s Affiliate Program click on it and get the party started.

And just for fun- Here is a peek of some of the ads for the Smart Girl’s Guide to Twitter. Enjoy!

There are moments in my life I will never forget.  Wedding, births, loss of a child, joyful first steps, and a million moments in between.

All week I was consumed with an ache in my stomach and worry on my face.

We were preparing to go test our youngest for an genetic illness that would change his life forever. I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, with tears sliding down silently to the pillow, into the early hours of morning.

I mentally prepared to change direction, walk away from my work, and focus on his care. I felt assured my message of empowering women, building community and lifting each other up would be carried on beautifully by my Blissful Family. I built a company on doing the most good for the most people, and have surrounded myself with smart women; I would leave it all in excellent hands. I had peace.

Thursday was spent wringing my hands and waiting at Vanderbilt. I pretended I was OK. I laughed, I joked, I sent silly Tweets.  I desperately wanted a corner to hide in and cry.

The test result was in, I fearfully answered the call and I will never forget that moment. He is fine. As I type the words to share with you, my sweet friends, I cry.

My days are packed with so much.  The sweetness of  snuggling the littlest boys. The struggle of discipline with the older boys. The tug-of-war and reconciliation of marriage. The constant struggle to find enough time in the day to work. Combined with my devotion to shirking household duties and skipping showers, I live in a whirlwind. These moments cause the whirlwind to stop, and I refocused on the good.

Have you had a moment where everything stopped? Where you saw things clearly for the first time in who-knows-how-long?

I am blessed. I’ve been given more than I could ever deserve. I never want to lose sight of that again.

Don’t let the tyranny of the urgent keep you distracted.

How are you blessed?

I would love to hear.

xo, Alli

I was lucky enough to take my two oldest guys to California over the weekend. Because of our large family, time alone with Mom is always precious. Everything about this weekend was a joy!

When I was invited with my sons to meet Tony Hawk, I was thrilled. We are not a skateboarding family, we are football players and skiers, but I have always heard that Tony Hawk was a nice guy and knew the trip would be a blast.

(Full Disclosure..shhhh…lean closer…let me tell you a secret….) We are not gamers. We do have Madden09 on the Wii, but videogames? Meh. Until now! I love the new game Ride. I actually tried it and it is so cool. The board is full of sensors and awesomeness. I totally took off my boots and played. I’ll write more about the game on Blissfully Domestic soon.

Back to the story of what a class act Tony Hawk is-

There we were hanging out in Tony Hawk Inc. with the nicest group of people and Tony himself. My eleven year old was beside himself when a birthday cake arrived and Tony himself sang and helped him blow out the candles. Take a peek at the story…

A big huge gigantic thanks to the brilliant people at Ketchum PR, Activision and Tony Hawk Inc. for bringing us on this amazing adventure.The boys and I shared memories that will last a lifetime. I am so grateful.

You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around – and why his parents will always wave back.  ~William D. Tammeus

Motherhood is the greatest adventure- the greatest joys, hardest challenges and heartache that can shake you to your core.

Nothing I will ever do compares to what I do for them. Today I find myself pondering the things  that so many of us grapple with. The daily balance of work demands and needs of the children. That worry that it is never enough. The constant questioning…

I know some things for sure.

I will kiss them. Even the boys who say they no longer want my kisses. I will look in their eyes and tell them how proud I am of the boy I see. I will love them enough to take a stand and make sure they are on the right track.

From the baby to the young man, they have my heart. Eleven years ago this week, this young man came into the world, and our journey began.

Happy Birthday, Big Guy*. We love you.

(*And thanks for letting Mommy still talk about you in her blog)

Oh Happy Day,  The Smart Girl’s Guide is launched! After three months of research, unanswered emails, a neglected blog, and a total disregard of all household responsibilities, I am thrilled to share my book with you.

• The book has 140 full-color pages. I chose the digital book format to ensure the affordability for everyone. Publishing the book traditionally would cost a fortune with all the graphics.
• 10% of all sales will go to charity- Compassion International.
• The book has a money-back guarantee. It’s that good!
• The Smart Girl’s Guide is only $19.95.

Here is an example of the graphics in the book. This one explains the buttons on Tweetdeck.

The Smart Girl Guide Will Teach You

• How to set up a great profile, bio & background.
• Twitter terminology and culture.
• Twitter Etiquette. Do’s, Don’ts and Best practices.
• Great Twitter Apps and when to use them.
• How to follow everyone without getting overwhelmed.
• How to build your network in a smart, honest way.
• How to spot a Twitter spammer.
• How to easily set up other accounts and why you may want one.
• How to set up a private, secret account for your close family and friends, and why this is so handy.
• How to filter out Hashtags and Keywords to keep Twitter manageable.
• How to extend Twitter friendships into the “real world.”
• Free Twitter tools I use to do everything from saving money, staying organized to storing photos on the go.
• How to combine your Twitter account and your blog and integrate Facebook easily.
• How to set up Twitter tools so you can use Twitter to save time, not waste time.

I am super excited to announce I have built an instant community for the Smart Girl’s who purchase the book. Sixteen of the most brilliant, fabulous women on Twitter are the Smart Girl’s Guide to Twitter Welcome Wagon.

When you join the Smart Girl Community by buying the book, you will have am instant community to welcome you!

Rave Reviews of the Smart Girl’s Guide

Hello Friends of Fussypants! Good news- we are finally recovered from the plague. Well, the flu and ear infections and on and on… We have survived unscathed, except for Nana Fussypants who came to help me and is staying here to help with the kids while I travel.  Nana caught the flu and is recovering now. (Sorry Mom)

I am leaving early in the morning to drive to Asheville, NC to speak at Kelby Carr’s Type A Mom Conference. I am absolutely thrilled!

Many of my favorite people will be there. I am giddy!

I will be posting Whrrl stories here to share the fun with you. I recently fell in love with Whrrl and can’t wait to start using it here.If you haven’t started using Whrrl be sure to check it out. It’s fab.

Thursday night, in Asheville,  I am throwing a baby shower for my sweet friend, Megan (VelveteenMind).

If you will be at TypeAMom, please join us. If you will not be at TypeAMom I will host a virtual Baby Shower for Megan here on Monday!

I will have a Linky up and you can write a post on your site about welcoming a new baby, or wishing Megan well, or your best advice on daughters.

Join in with any message you want to share with Megan. It’s laid-back that way. On Monday morning  just visit this site and link your post to the list I will have posted. Easy Peasy!

Love, Alli

(image)

Ok, so it’s really H1N1. Or Swine Flu, or whatever. It is awful.

The doctor said all flu right now is  H1N1 because it is so rampant and too early in the year for regular flu. The doctors aren’t even testing anymore, it’s all assumed to be H1N1.

This was last week right before the invasion of the Hiney flu. We take a picture everyday on the way home from school on my Blackberry.

I love these boys. I hate to see them so sick.

Me? So far I’m OK,  just a high fever.

Five boys and two parents, sometimes it all comes at once at my Husband and I.  When I am forced to tell one sick child to wait while I tend to a younger sicker child, my heart breaks.

Amazing how life just goes on-hold during these times. We make our plans and fill our calenders, but it can all be dropped in a moment.

There are ice baths to give,

foreheads to kiss,

whispered prayers said over  feverish children,

there is no urgency except the present.

If you need me I’ll be here holding the boys and watching every episode of Spongebob ever made.

And everything else? I’ll get it all finished one day.

Just. not. today.

Hard to believe that Blissfully Domestic made the big  jump from blog to magazine last Labor Day weekend. This month we are celebrating our anniversary with a beautiful makeover and relaunch.

I know, I know….”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but it was time to pull up our big girl panties and step out in a big way.

Here is a peek at some of the changes and additions you will see at BD-

1. Bigger focus on quick, helpful tip posts that are perfect for our busy lives. We want to be the go-to resource for good things and helpful information. Our goal is to have the majority of our articles be easy reads that are packed with helpful information.
2. Fight the Frump Fridays will be moving to Blissfully Domestic starting a week from Friday. We will have a Linky up to connect your posts about how you Fight the Frump. Maybe it is how you are taking care of yourself and gettinghealthy? Maybe it is about learning to say No and have boundaries. Maybe it is about a new lipstick you love. Fighting the Frump is about fighting those things that weigh us down just as much as it is about make up and clothes. I hope you will join in every week.
3. BD  365 starts October 1st. BD 365 is a flickr group and everyone uploads a picture every day for a year, that’s 365 days in your life. This project is about what YOU WANT IT TO BE – your photos are what YOU want them to be. I will using blurry blackberry pictures most days. I am a woman on the go. If you are a talented photographer, a novice, or if you, like me, can’t take a decent picture- please join in. This will be so fun!
4. A large entertainment section that highlights many of Nashville’s local talent. Here in Nashville, we have some of the best singer/songwriters in the world. Blissfully Domestic wants to support and promote good music and the people who work so hard behind the scenes.
5. Name that Inappropriate Photo contest will be changed a bit and moving to Blissfully Domestic in the Blissful LOL section. I never could decide what to do with it here and I was too swamped to make jewelry and mail out every week. The guilt of slacking on that part was killing me.
6. Expanded opportunities for syndication of our contributor’s original content. When original articles are published at Blissfully Domestic, we will actively work to get the articles syndicated in national news outlets and magazines.
7. A new way to republish your best work. A great D.I.Y, how to, or tutorial from your archives can be shortened, and given a new title. Why dig out old buried posts on your blog? To give it new life! Blissfully Domestic can take that old post, shine it up and show it off. All articles at Blissfully Domestic will show the author’s photo/blog logo, a short bio, and give two direct PR 5 links back to your blog. This is the best link back opportunity in the industry.
8. We hope to also help women build their blogs, their blog audience and knowledge by hosting a private Skype room for all Blissfully Domestic family (writers, editors and executive staff) to use as a homebase. This room would be available to all BD family to use as a place to share knowledge, networking opportunities and have a great time. Think of it as a private Twitter that is very well screened.We are also working on building a custom built community for our Blissfully Domestic Family. We love our Blissfully Domestic Living ning site, but we have big plans for an even more intimate, encouraging and fun.
9. The women in the Blissfully Domestic Family get special perks from me. Pre-registration opportunities before the public floodgates are open for BlissDom. I also go to them first when choosing speakers for BlissDom, blogs for the upcoming Digital Mom Guide, and when suggesting women for marketing and public relations opportunities.  The women who work together on the Blissfully Domestic labor of love are obviously my go-to team.
10. New Focus on Business. We will soon have a focus on resources for women for blogging, social media, and career. I will be heading up the new Social media section of Blissfully Domestic.

To celebrate our relaunch we will be hosting fabulous giveaways all month as a gift to the BD community of readers. We have amazing items to giveaway that were generously donated by some wonderful companies.

To join the Blissfully Domestic Family fill out an application here.

This post is linked in to our weekly “I am Blissfully Domestic” linky post. The rules are easy peasy.

• Link a post that you have written in the last 7 days.
• The post needs to cover a subject that we cover on #BD. (Everything in the world)
• You must link back to the “I Am BD” linky homebase.
• You can post one of our many “I Am BD” badges or not. Up to you.
• You can link in with your “Wordless Wednesday” post because of the photography!
• Visit and comment on 5 sites that are also linked in to the post. We want to support eachother, right?

Be sure to go read the beautiful #BD post written by our beloved Managing Editor, Katie Howard, this week on I am BD.

Much love to you all.

xo, Alli