Ladies!

I have really been surprised at how many Mom-prenuers (women with at-home businesses) do not have a Facebook Fan Page AND a Networked Blog page for their business, do not have a blog, or a twitter account.

This thing called “social media” is not a fad and will not go away just because you don’t understand it. If you want to make money online from your home – please sign up for these accounts and play around with it for a while. If you need help, I know a thing or two and would be happy to help you out. If I can’t answer your question – I know someone who can.

Please catch up!

If you aren’t trying to make money online – ignore me all together. {{cheesy grin}}

I got the opportunity a couple weekends ago to speak at a blogging conference, SITScation in Las Vegas. I was stoked when Tiffany first asked me and felt honored to be included with the other experienced speakers.

Since I was unfamiliar with other speakers I Googled them and found some controversial stuff about 2 of them and had read some of their more colorful Twitter messages. I e-mailed Tiffany back to make sure that I would be a good fit at the conference. As you know, I am a conservative and a optimistic person. Ok let’s face it – I’m an ultra positive person. You won’t find f-bombs and twitter fighting from the Tip Junkie. My message is to lift people up – not drag them through the mud.

At any rate – Tiffany assured me that I would be a great fit at the conference and those women would tone it down and most certainly speak to this more conservative audience. And they did! It was a weekend full of girl power, positive messages, and powerful networking.

I was most surprised at how connected I felt to these women I had never met before. Since the conference was hosted by the SITSgirls – it was their readership that attended. However, I was familiar with most of the women and we all bonded immediately!

We walked the red carpet, danced at the cocktail party, took tons of pictures, and enjoyed meeting each other. This was my first blogging conference to attend and I most certainly exceeded my expectations. I can’t wait for the next one in Nashville, Blissdom ’10 here I come! {{giggle}}

Some of you have stroked my ego a little and have asked if could post my presentation. The full version is really long – over 40 minutes. So, here’s a short blurb of my speech for SITScation. Basically, I spoke about 6 tips and incorporated stories and analogies, then I spotlighted someone in the audience who I felt has incorporated that tip into their blog, Tip Junkie style. It turned out really cool.

Yes, I made Leah cry as she was stunned with the recognition. She’s absolutely adorable and is an inspiration in her own right.

Here’s my Whrrl story of the weekend with twitter links so you can follow some of the people if you’d like.

Overall it was an amazing experience. I’ve even talked on the phone since I’ve been home with several of the women I met and feel like I made friends for life.

When I got home Monday morning I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with an ear & lung infection. I started feeling bad on Thursday but of course ignored it because I had a job to do. Physically I was feeling terrible all weekend and my throat was killing me – but emotinally I was on cloud 9 and felt so blessed to be apart it all.

Holla to all my new peeps. I can’t wait to party with you again in February!

Last week I had the craziest weekend. Kristy (not pictured), Tricia, Lisa, Wendy, and I treated ourselves to a long awaited girls weekend. We ate at the yummiest Cuban restaurant then took our desserts to go and spent the night at a Hotel in Dallas.

We stayed up late giggling, chatting, and just enjoying the time together. (With out our little shadows.) The next morning the girls headed over to Canton to shop and I slept in. (Since I absentmindedly triple-booked my weekend.)

Back Story: The restaurant we went to had the most amazing cupcakes and cakes in the window as you walk in. So I was stoked about the dessert and couldn’t wait to have a cupcake. Well… when it came time to order – it turns out they don’t sell cupcakes. Can you say deceptive advertising.

Anywho, Kristy being the most thoughtful person on the planet, felt like I deserved my cupcake and brought me one Monday morning! I’m not kidding. Can you believe that!?! It seriously made my day!

Saturday afternoon I volunteered at M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death) meeting to help out during their ‘walk to remember’ ceremony. I went to help out my darling friend Calli who lost a baby and is heavily involved in the charity.

The families wore t-shirts in memory of their baby’s, the had tables set up with memorabilia, and after the walk to remember, each family let a balloon launch and watched it float up to heaven. I was honored to help out.

It turns out Calli ended up adopting a 6 year old daughter the day before the event! Their family has been actively looking to adopt for a while now and I am so over-the-top excited for their joyous news.

That night my sister and I headed over to Flowermound to party with the Dallas Bloggers. TexasHolly and I hosted the event in conjunction with Office Max to promote “A Day Made Better” campaign which gives money and supplies to teachers.

You can read all about it from Amy’s post. Needless to say – we had a GREAT time.

Texas Holly house is amazing! Words can not describe the creativity and genius that went into designing her home. She designed it herself, complete with a huge tub which is filled by water coming out the ceiling! There’s not a splash – not kidding.

Holly even has a working telephone booth with a secret door at the back to a guest bathroom. Brilliant. It has the polish and sophistication of Pottery Barn with a Willy Wonka twist of surprises and secret places around every turn. It’s completely fabulous.

Huge thanks to Holly for giving us a tour of her home and letting us ooh and awe in complete amazement. I’m quite sure I drooled at one point my jaw was dropped open for too long. She’s such a gracious host and hands down so cool!

Texas Holly, me, Alyssa, and Amy. It was a highlight to be able to meet these lovely and talented ladies in real life. Each a power house in her own right.

Turns out Alyssa and I live so close to each other our kids go to the same school. Isn’t it so funny that you have to travel to meet your neighbors. I can’t wait to get to know her better she’s absolutely fantastic.

Huge thanks to all these lovely ladies for making the night so enjoyable! I was truly a delight to meet you!

More bloggers from the party:

• Who Put Me in Charge of These People
• I’m Probably Lying (my sis)
  
• Very Busy Mom With 4
• Moda Home Mom
• Becoming Bianca
• Save The Phillips Family

See more silly photos from Amy on Flickr.

Together with Domestically Challenged and I’m Living Proof that God Has a Sense of Humor, the Three Bay B Chicks will be hosting a week long Art Appreciation Week called “We Heart Art.”The purpose? To promote art and being creative with both your kids and as individuals.

These three blogs are sponsoring an event called “We Heart Art” this week only, which gives you the chance to not only showcase your artwork or creative projects, but also your kid’s handiwork.

So get your posts ready! For all the details on how to link up your post via Mister Linky check out Three Bay B Chicks. Naturally, as with any carnival, there will be tons of fabulous prizes!

I was also interviewed for the series. You already know WAY too much about me, but if you’re interested you can check it out on Three Bay B Chicks blog.

I’m way over due for a ROAD TRIP!! Yep, that’s right, I’m one of those crazy people that love to be on the open road with great music and adventure looming in the immediate future.

Thursday I headed on over to Tulsa, Oklahoma and participated in the National Mom’s Night Out with some of my favorite bloggers, OK style.

Melanie, Shannon, and several others hosted the event. I’ve been wanting to meet Melanie from Blogging Basics 101 for quite a while now. We’ve become great blog friends and we will also be doing a new project together headed up by Alli Worthington this year.

For those and many other reasons, I jumped at the chance to spend 24 hours “me” time and go meet Melanie, Shannon, and the gang.

I also got a chance to meet Shannon from Rocks in my Dryer. {{squeal in delight}} Melanie & Shannon were amazing hosts and handled all the attention and eager fans so graciously. They made me feel right at ease and welcome.

I was delighted to see Christine (who I know in real life) and enjoyed eating dinner with her, Courtney, and Aubree. Dinner was good even though we had to wait for-ev-er for the “pizza of the gods” which was a fav and completely worth the wait.

Leanna and I were instant friends and obviously share the same taste in frilly shirts. She was the life of the party and really livened up the night.

Leanna & Dawn together are crazy fun! (You can see more pictures over at Dawn’s blog.)

I met Joy for the first time that evening and also became instant friends. She’s a doll!

Friday morning before I left, Melanie & Shannon met me at Starbucks and we chatted about life, blogging, and WordPress. I certainly didn’t expect the one-on-one time especially considering that Melanie was leaving for Disney the next morning. However, it really made my trip worth while. I feel such a camaraderie with these women and it was amazing to be able to spend some quality time with them on a more personal level.

I realized on the way home that this was the first time I slept in a hotel and navigated my way in and out of Texas all by myself. (Well, Candy the navigation system really helped.)

It was just what I needed as I jammed out to my own music, ate junk food, and enjoyed the green rolling hills along the way.

The best part of the drive was that Jason hooked up my iPhone to the car speakers, so I could rock out LOUD!

Ahhh, good times.

Last night I participated in a virtual girls night out on Twitter! Basically, you head over to Mom It Forward and leave your Twitter Address so people can follow you. Next, head on over to Tweet Grind and participate in the fun.

I haven’t participated in a chat room, but I’ve heard it explained that it’s very similar. The person in charge will ask questions to get the converstations going and then you simply compliment, reply, and send links to tutorials to other women. {{fabulous}}

This is what Tweet Grind looks like. As new tweets come in, it adds in little boxes of converstations. I’ll be honest, it took me a little bit to get used to. I’m not acustomed to so much information hitting me all at once, but it was a BLAST and I quickly felt like one of the gang.

The topic last night was crafting so as you can imagine, I was all over it! It made me realize that I need to plan one afternoon a week to finishing up my current favorite project. Anyone want to come over and craft with me!?!

Anyway, I hope you’ll check out #GNO every Tuesday night at 8pm central on Twitter. Need a tutorial on How to Twitter? No problem, I’ve totally got your back.

I’ve been asked to host #GNO in a couple weeks, so I’ll be sure to Tweet ya and let you know the date. {{wink}}

You Are Pigtails

You are fun loving, sweet, and cute. You radiate happiness and pure joy. Your idea of style is wearing the things you love most. And you love colorful, happy things. At your best, you are optimistic and open hearted. You find the good in everything. At your worst, you refuse to grow up. You are very prone to daydreaming and fantasizing.

Imagine my shock and surprise when I was asked to be a contributor to the Creative Bliss channel for Blissfully Domestic online magazine.

I would consider my creative writing to be below standard and my grammar and spelling to be atrocious! Shhh… It looks like we’ll have to keep that our little secret. {{wink}}

Now that life is normal and I’m healthy again, I have been able to resume my contributor status over at Creative Bliss. Here are a couple of my latest articles:

Handmade Mother’s Day Gifts

Beautiful Wall Collages

Organize & Containerize

Unforgettable Birthday Parties

The Best Baby Shower Themes

Yep, I’m doing what I love to do which is collect fabulous ideas and promote the creative women behind them. I have several articles in the queue awaiting their debut. I hope you’ll join me over at Creative Bliss and be apart of such an amazingly talented group of women.

I also interviewed the beauty & brains behind Blissfully Domestic, Alli Worthington. She e-mailed it to me at 1am. Girlfriend is dedicated! No wonder she was listed as one of the 50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media. {{fabulous}}

She has 5 young boys and has many of the same passions that I do. So it was great getting to pick her brain and get to know her a bit more.

You Would Win Best Director

You are a mastermind with a great plan. You can visualize what you want in life. You are good at leading people and helping them do what you want. You are an excellent coach and teacher. You are a hard worker, and you’re willing to see a project to completion – no matter how difficult it gets. You have the both capacity and drive to be an amazing director. Most importantly, you have the vision that’s needed.

You Should Make 2 Resolutions

Take a Trip Spend More Time With Family and Friends

So friends, what trip are we taking this year!?!