WE. DID. IT. ~ Bustin’ It Out for #Blogust: Shot@Life’s Blog Relay for Good

August 29, 2012 By 130 Comments

In this, my wildest edition of Wildcard Wednesdays to date, I do, indeed, have something WILD to share.

Hopefully by now you’ve heard of and joined in the #Blogust campaign created by Shot@Life.  Throughout the month of August, the blogosphere has come together around Shot@Life, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation to provide life-saving vaccines to children where they are most needed.

Shot@Life’s Blogust: Blog Relay for Good has brought 31 bloggers, one each day in August, to write about people from our communities who have inspired us. Comments on the posts are being matched with a $20 donation (up to a maximum of $200,000).  $20 is what it costs to give one child four life-saving vaccines to help protect them against measles, pneumonia, diarrhea and polio. That’s 10,000 comments – and 10,000 children saved. Twenty bucks. That’s it.

And guess what?

10,000 Blogust comments ~ sometime this morning we’ll reach that number!!!!

Really, YOU did it.  You and everyone here and across the web who has posted, commented and tweeted about #Blogust this month did it!

Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment together.

At time of me writing this, only a hundred or so more comments are needed to reach this incredible goal.

In the spirit of Blogust and the impact the small action of commenting has had over the month, I would love for you to comment here. A few ideas you might think about for your comments: share what healthy kids mean to you; say what you’d like to give a child a shot at; write about what your commenter(s) have meant to you; or share your thoughts on Blogust!  And then take action to help by pledging your support, writing Congress, getting involved and share the campaign with your social networks.

Help us keep the power of Blogust going by visiting shotatlife.org today. Thank you for being here. Thank you for caring.

As for me? I’d like to give my children a shot at self-actualization.  And I don’t even mean that in a trite way.  There’s nothing I’d love to see more than them achieving their full potential, on their terms.  I think it’s fitting that this particular Shot@Life campaign is rooted in blogging because I genuinely believe that blogging is helping me to do just that.

And yesterday, at L’il Buddy’s 4-year-old checkup, we took another step towards making sure he has that shot.

Badges of honor from his 4-year-old-checkup vaccination series.

I’m humbled and overjoyed that I was able to play a role in giving a shot at life to mothers and their children in developing countries through this Blogust effort.  I’ve always said that one day I’d be an ambassador – Blogust is secretly helping me to achieve that potential in a special way and, for that, I am grateful.

But it ain’t over yet!  Let’s shower the relay with even more comments until the end! Please visit my friend Jyl Johnson Pattee tomorow and you won’t want to miss Jim Lin’s post on Friday as he brings it home for us. Go Team Blogust!

You can learn more about Shot@Life by joining their email list, following them on twitter or liking them on Facebook.

Filed Under: life, success, wildcard wednesdays, yo that's dope Tagged With: , , ,

Life IS the Party and…Life Is Good: Just ask Nas

August 22, 2012 By 4 Comments

In a fortunate series of events, this past weekend Hubby and I found ourselves sans kiddos – their cousin had a weekend-long sleepover to celebrate her birthday.  That meant that he and I had TWO WHOLE DAYS to ourselves.  A huge deal for a family that lives thousands of miles away from any grandparents.  We decided to take advantage of the time and head to Rehoboth Beach for a day trip.

After tapas and drinks on Friday night once we dropped off the kids, we hit the road Saturday with the sun shining, the wind in our hair and…

Nasty Nas on the MP3 player.

I was excited because I hadn’t yet heard his new album and he has always been one of my absolute favorite rappers of all time.  After all, I’m a child of 90′s Hip Hop – a golden era that’s been unmatched to date  - and so albums like Illmatic and Stillmatic are forever in etched in my mind.  I’ve ridden with Nas through his series of albums, the ups and the not-so-ups, and have been waiting for him to impress us again. And with his latest album, Life Is Good, he has.

Forgive my gushing, but listening to the album was like a breath of fresh air.  It’s a nod to what 90′s rap was and what rap today should be: seamless tracks, intense musicality, raw lyrics and evoking of emotion.

You know how on Project Runway, when the finalists get to show at NY Fashion Week, and the judges remark that a particular collection is cohesive and makes aesthetic and intellectual sense? I totally felt like his album was that collection.

In an interview with Vibe magazine, Nas said that: “[t]his record took on a feeling of an era that’s been gone for a while.”

Well. It’s back.

And life is good.

Filed Under: life, wildcard wednesdays Tagged With: ,

Do You Mastermind?

July 10, 2012 By 1 Comment

I am a big believer that “2 heads are better than 1″ and that collaborating with the right folks can be a life changer.  Now that I am a full-time entrepreneur, now more than ever do I look towards innovators, experts and trailblazers in my industry – or complementary fields – for inspiration and constructive feedback.  The truth is, “it takes a village.”  Too many cliches already?

Listen to some of the most successful business owners out there and they will almost always tell you that they had an amazing mentor or peer group that impacted their career trajectory in a major way.  I’m only in the very early stages of my empire-building game and  I am extremely thankful for key people that have served as mentors to me thus far – receiving guidance or perspective from someone on the outside looking in is wonderfully helpful when trying to make a tough decision.

So when I recently was invited by a local entrepreneur to be part of the founding circle of a Mastermind Group, I was excited at the opportunity.  Being an entrepreneur can be tremendously isolating (think: late nights alone with a laptop!) and being that I’m a social person by nature, the idea of a group like this is so appealing.

So What IS a Mastermind Group?

At its core, it’s a peer group where individuals can come together to brainstorm, provide support, push one another towards established goals and hold each other accountable.

A Few Guidelines

When starting up a group of this sort, it’s so important that a few basic ground rules are adhered to for increased chances for success:

  • the members should share a similar interest, skill and success level
  • the members should have a similar level of ambition and drive (no dead weight here!)
  • the members should be serious about lending support and receiving it where needed
  • there should no more than 8 members
  • there should be a “leader”
  • there should be a purpose statements and operating guidelines…in writing

2 Great Resources I’ve Seen

  1. The Success Alliance.  Provides resources to help you start your own mastermind group and also allows you to find and connect with an existing one.
  2. Inc.com’s 10 Rules for Modern Mastermind Groups.  Gives a brief history of the origination of mastermind groups and shares 10 clear strategies to get started.

If you have experience with a mastermind group, I’d love to hear about it!

Filed Under: success, wildcard wednesdays

ISO: A Bedroom Sanctuary

June 19, 2012 By 4 Comments

Read any shelter mag or watch any design show and you’ll hear over and over that your bedroom should be your sanctuary.  A serene oasis where your mind and body can go to unwind and rejuvenate for the next day.  The images often look like this:

So why does my bedroom feel like this?

Hopefully I’m not alone in feeling like the master bedroom ends up being the dumping grounds for the house.  I have identified a few reasons for this:

  • I spend the majority of my house-cleaning time tidying up the “public” areas of the house: dining room, living room, kitchen, guest bathroom and so my bedroom ends up being the last space to tackle and I rarely get around to it.
  • THE KIDS LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND IN OUR ROOM.  Stray socks, shoes, toy trucks, lip gloss tubes, clean clothes, dirty clothes, prizes from Chuck E. Cheese – you name it.  At one point, I designated a basket specifically for Kid Stuff in hopes that gathering it into a container would help. Lately, I’ve taken to throwing it into the hallway in an effort to shame them into seeing just how much of their stuff clutters up our room.  Ask me how effective this is.

The sad truth of the matter is that our bedroom is not our sanctuary.  It’s crazy cluttered and it gets crazy hot thanks to our big TV and our white blinds let all of the crazy sunshine in as soon as the sun rises.  Our mattress is just “ok” – nothing to write home about.  I have dreams of fresh-cut flowers on my nightstand and a vanity with designated storage/displays for my beauty products and jewelry.  Instead, my dresser is a mashup of collected business cards, tangles of jewelry, Kindergarten artwork, blog conference swag, and the odd Girl Scout patch, waiting to be adhered to a uniform.

We’re in need of a complete bedroom makeover.

In theory, I could take this on as my summer project.  But I’m too busy cleaning the rest of the house.

How do you manage to keep your bedroom as your sanctuary?

Filed Under: life, wildcard wednesdays

I Wish I Had Duck Feet: Little Book, Big Memories

April 18, 2012 By 7 Comments

Every now and then something happens that completely floors you and brings you back to a special place in time…You just don’t necessarily expect it to happen when emptying your kid’s backpack!

Last week I was doing my usual backpack check – you know, homework papers, scrunched up fliers, assorted junk that is sworn to be something fabulous ["But that's Jennifer's VERY SPECIAL bottle cap, Mom! She lent it to me for the week." Excellent.]  When I got to Giggles’ backpack, I saw that she had gone to the library that day and flipped the book around so I could see what she picked [we're working on her NOT always picking books based on TV shows, i.e. SpongeBob or Dora] and I was totally amazed by the book she had chosen:

This may not seem particularly interesting to you at first glance, but “I Wish I Had Duck Feet” means a whole lot to me…

When my sister was 4 years old, she contracted bacterial meningitis.  It was a scary, heart-wrenching time for the entire family and we were supremely blessed that a potentially fatal infection resulted in my little sister being A-OK; the only lasting effect being profound hearing loss.  We spent so much time in the hospital as she battled the meningitis and then worked on recovering and I, 7 years old at the time, spent an enormous amount of time in the waiting room.

As you can imagine, a hospital waiting room is less than exciting for a little kid and I busied myself reading the meager book selection.  My absolute favorite was “I Wish I Had Duck Feet.” I read it over and over and over and over and over and over for the entire 2-week span that she was hospitalized.  During that uncertain and worrisome time, that book became my familiar friend.

I explained the significance of the book to my daughters last night and actually teared up a little at the thought of what could have happened.  They probably thought I had a screw loose to be rambling on about this silly Dr. Seuss book but it brought back so many memories for me and was a reminder at how lucky we are to have Lisa Pizzeria with us 28 years later.

Giggles, My Sis & Chatterbox

In fact, I think I might just buy a copy for myself.

Filed Under: life, wildcard wednesdays

The Definition of Insanity: My Morning Routine

March 28, 2012 By 5 Comments

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

~ Albert Einstein

And this, my friends, is the definition of my morning routine.  Every single night before bed, I tell myself that I’m going to wake up early so that our mornings aren’t so hectic.  I might even set my alarm for good measure – but come time to wake up, I cannot do it.  And so, every single morning we are scrambling to make it out the door in time for the school bus.

The busdriver is so over me, by the way. Sure she smiles and waves as she slows down for my kids who are always high-tailing it to the open bus doors, but I know she’s rolling her eyes at me on the inside.

I can’t even blame her. I’m over myself too.

A couple of years ago I attended a blogger event hosted by Bounce and Jennifer James with special guest Hannah Keeley. Keeley is a “mom coach” and has seven kids of her own.  Lest you think she’s an illusion, I saw in her person and can say she seemed genuinely well-adjusted, at peace, physically fit AND her teenage daughter was a a delight.  She talked to us about strategies to improve our mom lives and I will never forget that she emphasized the need to: “Get a Jump on the Day, Before the Day Gets a Jump On You.” That totally resonated with me.  I absolutely feel like the day gets a jump on me and that sets the tone for the rest of the day.

The more I talk to other women who seem to have it together, the more I find out that they are waking up at ungodly hours of the morning: 4:45am (that’s basically nighttime to me); 5:30am; 5:45am. Unbelievable. And yet apparently necessary.

My question is – how on Earth can I convince my body that I only need 5 or 6 hours of sleep? Of course the natural answer is to go to bed earlier, but there’s so much to be done! And I’m useless if I’m exhausted.

I’m going to have to change my way of thinking though – otherwise, I will continue feeling insane each morning.  More importantly, I don’t want my kids starting off their days feeling insane.  But most of all? I want to show that bus driver what I’m made of.

Filed Under: family, life, wildcard wednesdays

Wildcard Wednesdays: Apparently “Rainbow Cupcakes” = SEO Magic

March 21, 2012 By 2 Comments

Do you have a blog post that people consistently comment on, even if it’s ancient and random?

I do, and it never ceases to amaze me.  Back in May of last year, I threw up a picture of rainbow cupcakes on my food blog (which I’ve since merged into this blog).  They weren’t even mine! A friend had shared the pic with me because she knew they were right up my alley.  Apparently I’m not the only one.

Since that day, that rainbow cupcake post has been, hands down, my most inquired about post. I swear I get an email about them about once every two weeks. As it turns out, rainbow parties are all the rage; in fact, Chatterbox’s birthday party last year was rainbow-themed.

The best emails are the ones from parents who are under pressure to make a rainbow cupcake under a tight deadline (can we say first-world problems?) and who email me in a panic: MY ICING ISN’T WORKING! WHAT ARE THE CLOUDS MADE OF? or WHERE DO I FIND THE RAINBOWS???

Breathe moms. Breathe. I’m guessing the “clouds” are made of Marshmallow Fluff and the “rainbows” are made of sour belts.

So, in addition to “[anything] Kardashian” and “iPhone apps” make sure to add “Rainbow Cupcake” to your list of lucrative SEO terms. How’s that for a wildcard?

Happy Baking.

Filed Under: food, wildcard wednesdays