What’s On YOUR Life-List?

A few on mine:

Ride on a Segway

CHECK. We did this last summer during our 17th Anniversary getaway over nighter! Oh My Gosh. SO much more fun than I imagined. It’s like you move around by THINKING about it! Your brain says move forward, turn right and you just do! I can’t wait to go again. Is it okay to list the same thing on a life list twice??

We were in Jacksonville, Oregon for a weekend. Really great little town and perfect for a romantic getaway. *Amazing restaurants!

Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

Oh what I would give to attend a Balloon Festival and ride up in a Hot Air Balloon with my Sweetheart (or my kids: either way). I heard about one about 6 hours from here last fall and guess what inaugural Balloon was going up that day.. are you ready? Sit down first. DARTH VADER. I know. Can you imagine? That would like 5 ticks off a life list RIGHT THERE!

Travel to Russia with Love

I have to admit, this is one of those hold over dreams from when I was in Jr. High/High School before the words: “Mr Gorbachev, Tear Down That Wall!” were ever parodied. And going to Russia was VERY sexy and risque sounding. (Now I would add China to that list for similar reasons.)

Cities I WILL See Someday (I’m all about travel for this list!)

Toronto, Canada. I’m dying to see this city, I don’t even have a great reason! Plus I hear the summer festivals in Montreal are to die for. I mean a Fireworks festival? I’m IN!

Florence, Italy. One of my favorite books of all time is ‘Crossing to Safety’ by Wallace Stegnar. And at one point the writer and his wife in the book travel to Florence and live there for a year or two while he writes. I don’t want to just go ‘visit’ Florence. I want to LIVE there and really enjoy it. For months!

San Antonio, Texas. From all I’ve heard about it, the river walk, the art and the fun stuff for children, I’d like to go here with my family before the kids are too old!

Costa Rica (Any City, the whole country!). I’m dying to see the rain forests and explore (and enjoy beaches).

New Orleans, Louisiana. Confession time. I was in New Orleans last year for a conference and I loved it! But I’m dying to go back with my husband for the St. Patricks Day Parade. (Double whammy, I REALLY want to see all the flowers down there in bloom in March!) PS. the above ground cemetery tours REALLY are worth it!

Turning 8 in the Mormon world equals time for baptism.

It’s a big year for our little guy, baptism is followed by confirmation, which means bestowing the gift of the Holy Ghost by his father who holds the Priesthood. Gifts for an 8 year old little boy include his own new set of scriptures with his name engraved on them, a new suit(!) and a Cub Scout uniform! 8 is Great!

The two men in my life are VERY HANDSOME.

And more proud parent shots…

A little goofy to remember who we REALLY are.

Right before baptism. Father/Son in matching whites. Very precious.

I swore I’d never write a post like this one.

You know. The one where I apologize to ALL my readers (both of you). Where I explain my absence, promise to do better and take a solemn oath never to abandon the bloggy ship again.

Well… I’m not really apologizing anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, I DO have excuses.
Instead of listing them…

I’m thinking I’ll share a few of the places where I HAVE been loading content just not on my personal blog.
(It’s a funny thing when someone asks you to write for them… FOR fame… er for money.)

• WorkingMother.com (How fun is that!)
• I hosted a Turning Forty and Forgetful Party (NO, not for me.. my BFF turned 40)
• My weekly ‘GoodNCrazy’ column for SchoolFamily.com. Good stuff over there. Crazy too.
• I play on the Famigo blog, The VolunteerSpot Blog and a whole bunch of other fun sites as well!
• And I’m super excited to announce that I’ll be writing a monthly article for the Windows Experience Blog over the next 6 months! (Kind of peeing my pants over this one… !)

Also I’ve been having way too much fun with new clients and old friends as well:

Have you met @LaynGo? You haven’t? Well you SHOULD! It’s this terrific little patent pending activity mat… imagine LEGO mess no more! And shhhh I’ll tell you a secret, the COSMO bag has just been released, in time for Mother’s day… you might need to buy one for yourself and just tell your husband afterwards about it. I promise. It’s awesome.

Why do I tell you, because when I first saw the Lay-n-Go line of products I practically begged the mom-inventor: Amy Fazackerley (is that a great name or what?) to let me work with her! And she said yes… I’m in heaven!

GigCoin is moving forward in a big way and Julie Diaz Asper is excited to be working with her life passion and using the platform for Research Marketing. I’m just excited she lets me play along!

I am on the TravelingMom.com Advisory board, which means I get to hang as much as I want with Kim Orlando the founder, and the happy family of contributors. I love me some travel talk!! (You might find me behind the @travelingmoms Twitter account and on the official TravelingMom Facebook page, come say hi!)

Social Media Conferences this year? Why yes. Thanks for asking.

1. TypeAConference in June (Thanks to my MIL, and the fact that my husband has a conference the same week in Atlanta, we get to fly out together, drive to Charlotte and back to Atlanta for a whole week together… working!)
2. EvoConference in July (I’ll be an official volunteer, so look for me if you are a newbie at EVO! Park City here I come!)
3. And I’m dreaming about BloggyCon in September in Cincinnati. It could happen… stay tuned.

No BlogHer this year. New York is too expensive, too far away and too dang hot in August. I’ll see ya’ll back on the West Coast in 2013 instead!

And last… but most excited-est…

I might have a big announcement soon about a super duper project with a charity I’m in love with. I’ll give you a hint.
It might have to do with micro-lending, and helping other women achieve their dreams. I MIGHT LOVE THAT.

So there you have it. I’m not dead. I’m just… GoodNCrazy busy!!

How Ba-AH-ah-AD Can I Be?
(I’m just doin’ what comes naturally)

I came out of the theater singing this song. I couldn’t remember a lot of the other songs but the Ed Helms (Once-ler) song got stuck in my head for DAYS!

How Bad Can I Be?
(I’m just sayin’…)

First. Please forgive me. This WILL get stuck in your head for hours. Possibly days. You might dream about it. I have.

You can catch a Listen to most of the song here—> How Bad Can I Be

The Once-ler as a young start-up. I mean how bad does HE look?
If he doesn’t do it he could end up as someone else’s lu-lu-lu-lu-LUNCH!

I just found out you can get a free copy of this song.

I mean, if you love it as much as I do?
Go to Amazon.com and first follow the instructions “HollerForADollar“. (Includes Tweeting out the Amazon Message.)

Immediately get a $1 credit towards an MP3 purchase and then get this song for free!
I hadn’t tried out the Amazon Cloud before. So far. I LIKE!

And if I understand correctly I can upload my personal music to the Cloud and then play it on my ANDROID phone? (via the Android Cloud Player App)That could be a little piece of heaven I’m holding in my hand!

I’ll let you know how it goes!!

Giveaway! 2 Winners! {CLOSED}

PaperBlanks.com makes these fabulous lined journals!

Girl-y, luscious, REAL lined paper books.
Look how cute the tiny clasp on this journal is!

I am in love with the book by Gretchen Rubin called ‘The Happiness Project’

I’m totally in love with the idea of creating a ‘happiness project’ of my own. Writing down my daily happy ponderings, making lists of the things that made me happy that day, especially on the NOT so happy Mondays when the chaos of motherhood gets out of hand.

Using my beautiful little journal at the end of each day to remember the small things.
I think the journal itself will be one of my  happy thoughts today!

My new favorite quote:

“The days are long, but the years are short.” -Gretchen Rubin from The Happiness Project

I bought The Happiness Project book for a friend recently and I spent literally hours searching for a really wonderful little journal to accompany the book. I wanted her to join me on my project. PaperBlanks to the rescue! Girly, elegant, old-school lined paper books to write in with a REAL pen! Who knew?

What a great gift idea for Mother’s Day eh!?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS!

WHAT:

TWO lucky winners will receive one Midi sized journal from PaperBlanks.

They may choose from four different PaperBlanks collections!

$15.95-22.5 VALUE

4 Collections to choose from:

• Silver Filigree, size Midi $22.95 (Mine is Blush Pink of this collection… but the smaller slim—about the size of a check book case, perfect for slipping into your purse to capture all those daily happy thoughts!)
• Rose Garden Collection – Midi is $15.95
• Brocade Paper Collection –  Midi is $16.95
• Romantic Sensibility Collection – Midi is $15.95 (pictured at right in green)

REQUIRED:

Answer in the Comments:

“What happy thought will you write in your new PaperBlanks journal?”

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES: (for a total of 3 entries)

• Tweet a promotional tweet, linking back to this giveaway. (Use the button above.)
• Follow @PaperBlanks on Twitter.

Please leave separate comments with Twitter time-stamp URLs, and your Twitter username.

THE FINE PRINT:

Contest is open to US residents only, void where prohibited, 18 Years Old +, Begins Monday February 27th, Ends Monday, March 6th at midnight EST. No purchase necessary to enter, TWO winners will be chosen via Random.org and notified via email. Winners have 24 hours to respond.

I received the lovely Blush Pink Silver Filigree journal to lavish my happy thoughts in.
My thoughts about the product are my own.

My Sister Makes These Adorable HATS!!!

$25 for homemade crocheted Zebra hats and a few colors to choose from!
Same for the football hat. RambunctiousKids.BigCartel.com

This was Christmas morning for my kids can you tell they like the hats a LOT!?

Dessert First, Cuz DUH!

Brownie/Cherry Cupcakes!

This is Brownie mix on the bottom, Cherry Cake mix on top of that (with a few drops of red food coloring in it) and cream cheese frosting on top. Juju hearts optional, but they are my absolute fave and can only find at Valentine’s!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Step one, google red velvet recipe.
(It really does call for a TABLESPOON of red dye.)
Step two, Google homemade cream cheese frosting.
Step three, talk teenager into making them.

DONE.

Pink Lemonade Bundt Cake

Recipe adapted from: Sugarbabyaprons.com

CAKE

• Lemon Cake Mix
• Lemon Instant Pudding Mix (small)
• 4 Eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup pink lemonade concentrate (thawed)
• 4 drops pink or red food color

Mix all together and pour into greased/floured bundt pan.
Cook 325-350 degrees 40-50 min. Toothpick test.

DO NOT REMOVE FROM pan. (I missed this part)…

Prick all over with a fork.

Pour glaze over cake still in pan, let sit til cool, or till you can’t stand it any longer.
(We forked ours after removed from pan and still poured the glaze over it. Oh well.)

GLAZE

• 1 Cup Pink Lemonade Concentrate (I warmed it up in microwave first)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar, took a while to mix this in but it did finally

Time For Dinner

After all the sweets, who has time to cook?
Tuesdays = crazy after school run-around for us, so we’ll be having Papa Murphy’s Heart Attack pizza.
ThankYouVeryMuch.

I’m thinking all these yummies could be for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day… Next Wednesday?? Let’s meet and make all of ‘em again real soon.

And if you need one more: Try these Easy Oreo Chocolate Truffles!

Rustic Photography Phun…

With Coffeshop Free Action: VINTAGE
I was in a friend’s backyard today, and was totally inspired to take a few photos.
I was certain they all wanted to look old with a smidgen of drama, a wash of black and white, and maybe a blush of color leaking through.

I love playing with this free action. I know my way around PSE, but don’t plan to figure out how to create actions etc. anytime soon. So I’m all about free actions. I’ve had this one for years but I keep forgetting how great it is. So in the rustic garden gate above, I removed the part that de-colorized the color of JUST the gate which was green in the first place.

I brushed out the overlay especially in the sky in this one. Allowing the blue to show through. And in all the photos I added the darker vignetting action around the edges with the built in layer for darkening. Coolio eh?

Also in all the images I first alter the levels (Control-L) and then increase both the brightness and the contrast. I like that step when I know I’m headed for a de-colorization like this vintage action.

…a little birdhouse in your soul… (go ahead and thank me for putting They Might Be Giants in your head).

I brushed the greenery back in on this one as well.
Plus I’m playing with watermarking. Mainly for photos that land on Pinterest.

What’s inspired you lately?

I’ve never been a fan of watermarks. So don’t hold me to it.

SISTERS

I took this photo on the oldest’s Birthday back in November.
(The day she got her hair cut in fact.)

I fell in love with the two sisters smiling like this.
And THEN later I saw a Pinterest Pin (I can’t find it now to show you) but it had a framed image of sisters above a cute desk in their bedroom.
I was all. VOILá. I am SO doing that with this photo.

I ordered a giant 20×24 poster of the image and now I need a frame!
(I’ll update when it’s on the girl’s Wall.)

Yin & Yang you ask?
Yeah they are so completely opposite in sooo many ways!

Taken with my Nikon D5000, probably on Auto??
But I used a pre-set ‘action’ in PSE8 from Marcel Walker Photographica Called “Honey Daze” —my favorite one, I use it a lot.

Did you know?
I had no idea?

You can deduct Volunteer Driving Mileage!

I looked up the rate.. I mean.. let’s get some moolah for all my driving to and from PTO, Cub Scouts, etc.

What’s the charitable mileage tax deduction rate you ask??

FOURTEEN CENTS
More than a dime, less than a quarter?

WHAT’s With the Tiny Rate?
Do they think we drive #TinyCars?

VolunteerSpot.com asks the same question. And asks you to ask your Congressperson to change it!