Reclaiming Summer

July 25, 2011 By 6 Comments

From one of my most favorite comic books ever

I live for summertime.  It’s probably because I am a Leo and my sign is ruled the Sun. To me, summer means hot days spent by the pool or the beach, feeling grass in between my toes, freshly squeezed lemonade, popsicles and sundresses.  Most of all, it means that time slows down and everything takes on an easy, breezy pace.

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SUMMER?

Here it is, July 25th, and I am feeling like summer is passing me by.  I am ‘live in the moment’ type of gal and I like to soak in every delicious moment of every day.  Please know that if the September cool front moves in and I haven’t felt like I’ve totally relished in the summer months, I will be pissed.  I can think of a number of factors to blame for how I’m feeling (but none more than myself): (1) the departure of our nanny means that every spare moment is spent cleaning, folding, washing, chauffeuring; (2) we didn’t plan a beach vacation this year.  Last year we spent a week in Myrtle Beach and the year before a week in the Outer Banks.  Both were divine.  With our childcare option gone, we signed the kids up for back-to-back camps and so no time seemed like a smart time to miss a camp that we paid hundreds for in exchange for paying hundreds more for a vacation. The good news is that the kids are all definitely enjoying their summers (as it should be) – swimming, hiking, pond wading, friendship bracelet-making, bonfire singing and more at camp.

And let me say that we have done some awesome things this summer: our family bike ride in D.C. last weekend; our trip to Brookyln for July 4th Weekend; L’il Buddy’s 3rd Birthday Party; and my Summer Ladies’ Luncheon a few weeks ago.

But still, I want more! Starting today, Mama is reclaiming her summer. This weekend, Hubby and I are heading to Savannah for my birthday.  I fully expect to relax, lollygag and soak in the steaminess of the season.  When we return, I am going to make a concerted effort to spend more time at our neighborhood pool and on our patio.  Week after next, a trip to a waterpark is in order and after that, we plan to spend a day hiking and picnic-ing in a National Park.  Above all, I will try to unplug. When I did that last summer, it made all the difference.

Me. For the rest of the summer.

Filed Under: life Tagged With: , , , ,

Getting my #SparkandHustle On

July 20, 2011 By 4 Comments

I’m hitting the road again. Or the skies, rather. In the morning I’ll be headed to Atlanta for the Grande Finale of the Spark & Hustle National Tour. I first heard about the conference last year from The Broke Socialite who spoke at the event. She implored me not to miss it this year and I am heeding her advice. Not to mention, since signing up for Tory Johnson’s newsletters and speaking to people all over, like Monique and Tamara about the event, I’ve heard reason upon reason for me to attend in order to meet great people and take my brand to the next level. But there was this little matter of the price tag.

Yikes.

I had pretty much resigned myself to not going since I didn’t think it sensible to spend such a precious chunk of change on another conference – especially since I have already been to Mom 2.0 Summit and Type A Parent Conference this year.  Then, just last week I decided to suck it up and GO. I spoke to the Hubs about it and he was on board, which was a huge boost. I emailed Tory’s team and they gave me a travel discount code to use to register since I would be coming from out of town and bearing more costs than local attendees (a nice gesture).

Now that I have my plan all worked out (in my head at least – more on that in another post), I am definitely looking forward to a motivating and brand-building event.  Can’t wait to tell you all about Day 1 tomorrow!

Filed Under: success Tagged With: , , ,

Check me out at MomCrunch on Babble

July 18, 2011 By 2 Comments

I'm a mom who means business (in social media) Read more at momcrunch

It all started with a most exciting email in my inbox from none other than Catherine at Her Bad Mother.  Would I be interested in writing for a new site focused on the business of being a social media mom? Um, yesssss.  And today’s the day! Babble launched MomCrunch this morning, and my first post about balancing blog conference travel and home is up.

I’m so humbled to be in the company of 7 other major bloggers and looking forward to this new project.  Hope you’ll check me out over there from time to time!

About MomCrunch:

MomCrunch will be the digital mom’s go-to site for news, resources, information and insight into the world of technology and social media. A kind of Mashable or TechCrunch for parents who work or play in social media, MomCrunch will bring together some of the leading ‘mom blog’ authorities to create a rich base of resources and dynamic conversation on the ins and outs of working, playing and building community online. The MomCrunch team will provide daily updates on what’s new in the world of mom blogs and regular features on such topics as how to navigate social media as a parent, how to build and maintain a successful blog, what technologies the digital parent needs to manage and maximize the success of their work or craft in the digital space, and how to balance a busy virtual life with the demands of home and family.

Filed Under: success

Just Say No: What’s My Filter Question?

July 15, 2011 By 5 Comments

I just recently found out about online entrepreneur extraordinaire, Marie Forleo from my blog friend Linda.  She raved about Marie and so I visited her site and signed up for her email newsletters a couple of months ago.  {I would totally be going to her Rich, Happy and Hot LIVE event in NYC, out of curiosity alone,  if it weren’t the exact same weekend as Blogalicious!} Anyway, the topic of this week’s Q&A is how to stay focused and not be distracted by the myriad opportunities that might be coming your way.

In fact, I actually spoke about this during the High Tea & High Strategy session that I presented with Susan Getgood at Mom 2.0 Summit earlier this year.  I talked about how, with Blogalicious, we got so caught up in saying “yes” to the ideas and projects that were being thrown our way that we ballooned out of control and had to reign it in.  We hired Aparna, a fantastic business strategist who cuts to the chase, and she had us identify our top 3 goals:

  • grow our community
  • provide valuable networking opportunities to our bloggers
  • increase our revenue stream to enable us to work it full-time

She impressed upon us to decline anything that we were approached with that didn’t help us achieve one or all of these goals.  Ah.  It was like a breath of fresh air amidst a cramped and foggy time of us pursuing dozens of projects that distracted us from our ultimate goals. It made perfect sense.  So when Marie’s Tuesday Q&A arrived in my inbox, I knew she was dead on.  We were able to apply it to Blogalicious, but had I been applying it to my personal brand? I’ve had the blessing of being asked to work on a variety of blog campaigns and to write for several different websites.  Are these opportunities helping me to further my goals for Justice Fergie Lifestyle Media? And, um, while we’re on the topic – just what are my goals? I’ve got some thinking to do. Hear Marie’s advice here, and let me know what your goals and filter questions are:

Filed Under: success Tagged With:

Murphy’s Law: Family Photo-Style

July 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s been 2 years since we last had family photos taken.  I still adore them and send them around to friends and family who ask, but really the kids don’t even look the same anymore (you know how fast kids change).

So a few months ago, I asked my blogging friend Amanda if she would take family photos for us.  We scheduled a date and time and I patted myself on the back for the big accomplishment.  Before I knew it, summer was here and I had a vague memory of scheduling a photo session, but of course no recollection of the date. So I asked her to remind me. And had to reschedule. And then she asked to move the date and then we finally agreed on a mutual time and day that worked for both of our crazy schedules. Great!

Fast forward to Saturday – the day of the photo session. No wait, make that Friday.  Chatterbox lost her front tooth at camp and was stressed out because she was self-conscious of her smile and dreading having to get her picture taken (more than usual).  Then I had to take the girls braids out after I picked them up from camp at 4pm in time for their hair appointment at 7pm.  It generally takes me two hours. If all went according to plan, I would be home with them by 4:30pm and have their hair out by 6:30pm which would leave us 30 minutes to get to the salon.  But by now you have figured out that nothing went according to plan.  There was inexplicable traffic between their camp location and our house, and so what usually is a 15 minute trip, ended up taking 40 minutes.  To make a long story short, we made it to the appointment about 15 minutes behind schedule. Still, not bad.

Now fast forward to Saturday. Justice Ny and I had a lengthy meeting about Blogalicious and on my way home I decided to pop into Marshall’s to pick up some photo-worthy and somewhat matching outfits for the kids.  I got the girls matching white eyelet halter sundresses and a shirt and shorts combo for L’il Buddy. Yay! I am so on top of things.  I got home in plenty of time for everyone to change and leave for the photo session.

Yeah right.

I immediately realized that all three kids had fevers.  Sh*t.  So they weren’t in the best of spirits but I wasn’t about to reschedule again.  Plus I knew that Amanda was driving an hour to meet us and was probably already on her way.  We gave them fever reducer medicine and hoped for the best.  About 20 minutes before we had to leave I said: “Ok guys! Let’s get you changed into your new outfits so we can walk out the door.” Chatterbox put on her dress first and while it fit…for some reason the triangles on the halter part of dress puffed out like they were padded and WELL, I didn’t need any busty-looking 5- and 7-year olds running around.  Grr. So they changed into another set of dresses that I just happened to buy because they were cute and on sale.  The only problem was that they were TIE-DYED and a multitude of colors.  So much for my vision of a muted color scheme of greens and whites.

Onto the boy.  His was going to be easy right? Just throw on the short and the top. Not so fast.  Hubby pulled out L’il buddy’s outfit from the Marshall’s bag and all I heard was “OH NOOO!” You wouldn’t believe me if I told you so here:

Why yes. Yes that IS THE SECURITY TAG STILL ON THE OUTFIT! At that point I threw up my hands and gave into Murphy. We found a semi-decent shirt that was admittedly a bit on the small side (he is growing like a weed) and a clean pair of shorts and were on our way only 10 minutes behind schedule.  The moment we got on the expressway, I thought someone was playing a joke on me because there was bumper to bumper traffic as far as the eye could see.  We made it. Thirty minutes late.  And Amanda, bless her heart, was a doll about it.  L’il Buddy, of course, had fallen asleep in the car and was NOT happy to be woken up to smile at a stranger in a humid park. With gnats.  All in all, the kids did ok for being under the weather and hot and annoyed by bugs and not wanting to show any gaps in their teeth.

THE END.

Filed Under: family Tagged With: ,

I Really Want that Licorice

July 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

So I’m on Day 3 of the 17 Day Diet.  I was inspired by Sunday’s fantastic progress on the diet as well as by my aching hips.  Although I trained for and ran a 5k in May and did the 30-Day Shred in June, the weight just wasn’t coming off. I need something drastic and effective and, well, losing 9 lbs in one week sounds right up my alley.  The basis for the diet isn’t rocket science.  It’s broken into 3 Cycles.  Cycle 1 limits carbs and sugars and is designed to accelerate weight loss so that you are motivated to keep going.  I have to say that this strategy is brilliant.  I began the diet Monday at lunchtime and by Tuesday evening, I had lost 2.6 lbs!  For realz.  Of course, that progress has been key in deterring me from eating the Chicken Tikka Masala that the rest of my family ate for dinner last night or from popping a mini-biscuit into my mouth during breakfast this morning.  I even declined when my co-worker asked if I wanted to hit the DC Lobster Truck for lunch yesterday.  But each time I walk down the hall at work, I see the big bucket of Twizzlers on my co-worker’s desk. So red. So shiny. Just the right amount of sweet.

I really want that licorice.

But I also can’t wait to see the good news that the scale has for me this evening.

Filed Under: food, success Tagged With:

Girls Night In!

July 7, 2011 By 5 Comments

I’m a social person. I always have been. When my energy is low or if I’m feeling frazzled, I like to reconnect with friends and family to recharge.  I realize that this isn’t the case for everyone and that many people like to turn inwards to ground themselves, but for some reason, my personality thrives on fellowshipping.  So when I sent out a quick email to 3 of my closest friends to meet in my basement living room for a Girls Night In, it was just as much for my own selfish reasons as it was to give everyone a chance to break away from their everyday stressors and unwind.

Just this week, I posted to my Facebook status that I like to cook when I am stressed because it’s a release for me.  So when one of my friends couldn’t fathom why I would go to the trouble to prepare a mini-spread for the gals, I explained that I enjoyed doing it – cooking for others really does bring me joy.  Not to mention, what I threw together really wasn’t all that labor intensive.

I had originally planned to do comfort foods because each of us was experiencing life challenges and I wanted to provide as much comfort as possible.  But, given the insane temps in our area and the definite effort labor involved in preparing items like fried chicken, mac and cheese and banana pudding, I opted to the obvious backup plan: call Mommy.  My mom, as usual, came through with ideas.  She had just made a Jerk chicken dish for her bookclub and gave me the quick recipe.  Then she remembered a guacamole and crab appetizer that she had at a restaurant.  Both sounded perfect, and I was on my way.

The Jerk Chicken Pasta was so easy.  I marinated the chicken tenderloin in fresh lemon juice, then seasoned it with Jerk seasoning, stuck it under the broiler and that was that.  I sliced up red and yellow bell peppers along with a sweet onion, sauteed them in a generous amount of olive oil infused with fresh garlic and parsley from Chatterbox’s herb garden.  I made angel hair pasta (love making this since it takes exactly 3 minutes), and then added the drained pasta to the veggies and tossed it all together, adding salt and pepper to taste.  I sliced the chicken and topped the pasta with it. No problem, mon!

For the Guaca-tinis, I made my signature avocado salad, and topped it with lump crabmeat from the seafood cooler at the grocery store.  Stuck a Lime Tostito chip in each glass and I was done.  It was off.the.charts. Definitely a keeper.

The Summer Salad was a random mix of what I had laying around: romaine hearts, sliced strawberries, cornbread croutons and red onion. And I threw some frozen garlic ciabatta bread into the oven (which I forgot so they ended up a bit more ‘golden’ than planned).

I completely forgot to snap a shot of the desserts.  I picked up a Red Velvet Cheesecake along with gelato and made some Chocolate-Covered Strawberries.  Add some Middle Sister Sweet & Sassy Moscato that I got as a gift from the Wine Sisterhood at Type A Parent Conference to the mix and we were in business.

Everyone ooo’d and ahh’d over the food and I was happy that they felt special…because they are.  That was the whole point of the evening.  We talked and laughed and some cried, and we watched episodes of Braxton Family Values On Demand.  And I went to sleep that night feeling like myself again.

Filed Under: food, life Tagged With:

Your Grocery Shopping Questions Answered! My Video Chats with Phil Lempert, Supermarket Guru

July 7, 2011 By 2 Comments

For my final post as a 2011 ConAgra Foods blogger ambassador, I had the pleasure of speaking with the Supermarket Guru himself, Phil Lempert about advice for moms on grocery shopping.  It seems like such a mundane task at first glance, but we all know just how much time, energy, effort and money shopping for our family’s food takes!  To get the process down pat is an art; Phil was kind enough to answer my questions so that we moms can master the art of grocery shopping:

Must-Know Tips for Coupon Savings

Strategies for Shopping Healthy

Advice for Shopping Ahead

What to Do if You’re an Amateur Couponer

Ideas for Light and Easy Summer Dishes

And there you have it.  Straight from the expert’s mouth! Now if only we could add “Skilled Grocery Shopper” to our resumes…And, for everyday mealtime inspiration, make sure to check out Ready Set Eat!

Giveaway!
Enter to win a goody bag filled with treats courtesy of ConAgra Foods (including one of Phil’s books!). Just leave me a comment telling me which one of Phil’s tips helped you the most. Giveaway ends Wednesday, July 13 at midnight.

I was compensated for this post as part of my role as a blogger ambassador for ConAgra Foods.  While the content is brand-inspired, the opinions expressed are my own.

Filed Under: ConAgra Foods, food, Ready Set Eat, sponsored post, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,