Announcements! (And Squats. Because I Got Side-Tracked.)

I don't have a lot to say today. Well, I do, but I'm going to shorten it. My brain is still on overload. Last night I thought the best way to motivate myself to do work was to work my ass off until a predetermined time and then go gorge myself on a Butterfinger Blizzard. Thankfully, Andrew also thought this was a good idea. The motivation worked, my friends, and I got about five million things finished. I am pretty sure the 100 squats I did afterward as part of joining Ashley in the squat challenge didn't burn it all off either. Oh well.

In other news, I told one of my 8th grade classes that I was doing this squat challenge. I think it was because one of my students pulled a leg muscle. I was trying to make him feel better by telling him that my leg muscles hurt too. As a result another student is now doing the squat challenge, and he is incredibly determined to do 250 squats. It's a daily discussion. Like, a serious daily discussion. Serious, serious business here. Man, oh, man, are these kids pretty much hilariously awesome.

Ok, and onward to announcements after filling you in on my awkward conversations

1. I am working my ass off because I will be at the Johns Hopkins Spring Fair this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The hours are 10am-8pm on Friday and Saturday and 10am-6pm on Sunday. If you're in the Baltimore area, feel free to stop by and say hi! I'll have lots of cards for sale with a few special deals going on as well.

2. I have had one large sponsor spot open up and still have some small sponsor spots available. If you'd like to save 20% of sponsonship, you can use the code SPRING when you check out. I'd love to have you!

3. By now most of you definitely know that Google is getting rid of their Reader. In order to keep up with my blog, I suggest migrating over to Bloglovin'. You can also subscribe via email by entering your email address in the subscription box on my left sidebar. I'd love to have you continue reading!

4. I have a winner from last week's group giveaway! It's Kristin of Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte. Congrats Kristin! I'll soon be in touch!

That's it from me for now. And onward to bigger and better things! Time for you to meet someone I think you'll really love.

Ayla has quickly become one of my favorite fellow Esty artists and bloggers. I always feel as though I can connect with what she writes about and her energy seems contagious! In addition to blogging, she owns the shop Eyelah in which she makes the cutest clutches and pouches. I'm actually lucky enough to own one of her pouches that I received in a handmade swap. It's perfect for makeup, jewelry, and other odds and ends that I don't want floating around in my giant purse.

Pleated Paisley Pouch

Right now, I'm loving this pleated pouch, this small pouch perfect for tossing in a purse, and this beautiful clutch.

When Ayla isn't sewing, she's also blogging. She has written fantastic posts on customer service which are right down my alley as I'm dealing with customers on a daily basis. These posts on how to respond to customer requests and how to deal with negative feedback from customers are fabulous and on point. I really have enjoyed her customer service posts because they are reminders to me as well in terms of how I deal with my customers. Ayla doesn't just blog about business though. She also blogs about her life and beliefs, and most recently, one of my favorite posts, thinking back at what she wanted to grow up to be when she was a kid.

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Group Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday! I have a super fun post for you guys today as a mid-week refresher! I've been super lucky and have had some amazing sponsors this past month. They're teaming up today to give away some shop credit, a gift card, and some ad space to their fabulous blogs. Be sure to enter to win the prizes and say hi to each of these awesome ladies!

 $15 Shop Credit

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$10 Amazon Gift Card

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2 Months of Regular Ad Space

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 Large Ad Space

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Use coupon code ROWHOUSE for $5 of a $20 purchase.

And if you'd like to be a part of this coming month's group giveaway, head over to my sponsor page! Giveaways usually bring the most traffic in terms of promotions on my blog and I'd love to promote you! You can use the coupon code SPRING to save 20% on all ads this month.

For now, go enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter below and give these ladies lots of link love!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sponsor in March

It's hard to believe that February is already almost over! Each year it flies by so quickly! If you're looking to grow your blog or business, I'd love to have you sponsor this month! I've made a few changes to my ads that I think will help increase exposure. I'm offering a limited number of large feature ads that will have an opportunity for a giveaway and individual feature. In addition, I have a small ad option which includes a group giveaway option. Giveaways always seem to drive the most amount of traffic, so this is an affordable ad option with a chance for extra exposure. Both options come with lots of social media love as well. Feel free to head over to my sponsor page for more info! As always, all of the ad revenue goes right back into sponsoring other blogs which in turn brings more traffic back to you full circle. I'm looking forward to another awesome month on my blog and hope that you'll join me! :)

Sponsor in February

Now is the time of month when I get on my knees and beg for you to hang out on my sidebar and be featured on my blog. ;) Ok, so not really, but I would love to have you as a sponsor this month! I'm super excited about my blog this February as it has grown leaps and bounds in the past month with page views nearly tripling that of December. I have some fabulous posts planned coming up in February and would love to promote some of you as well. So, if you're interested in sponsoring, feel free to check out my sponsor page. Looking forward to another fabulous month! :)

Sponsor in January

I'm a bit late with this, but I won't apologize (see goal number one). Over the past year my blog has grown and I'd love to share some of the love. If you'd like to sponsor me for the month of January, I would love to have you! Ads come in two sizes and are super, ridiculously affordable because I know how expensive advertising can get when you're sponsoring multiple blogs. If you'd like to join me this month, head over to my sponsor page for all of the details and on my end I'll do my best to promote my butt off on your behalf! :)

Vacation!

It is officially here, friends! I am on vacation! School is out, the shop is closed up, and I'm enjoying a ginger molasses cookie for breakfast with my coffee. I cannot thank everyone enough for their outstanding support this year and this holiday season. I am pretty much lost for words as the last two months were record breaking months for my little shop. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

With little to be said this morning, I thought I'd share two super awesome ladies with you instead. Nees from Monaural Mumbling shares my love of DIY bathroom projects (this looks oh so familiar) and cats. While Kristin from Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte shares my love of beer and teaching. It is good to know that I'm not the only one around these parts that thinks beer and teaching should go hand in hand.

 Blog

My name is Nees and I am a librarian. I live in a pretty village in the middle of England with my husband, two tabby cats and one large akita dog called Neko. As well as all the excitement of the latest village table top sale where I recently accidentally bought some moose antlers thinking they were Christmas decorations I enjoy DIY, trying to take photographs and documenting my failed attempts at gardening and only marginally more successful attempts at cookery. I also am deaf in one ear which I wrote a post about here which inspired the title of my blog!

Blog // Twitter // Instagram

I'm a not-so-newlywed living in North Carolina. A former social worker, turned preschool teacher who spends my days dreaming of and trying to travel the world. I'm not that cool, but I pretend to know what I'm talking about when it comes to fitness, poor attempts at fashion, beer, and life in general. 

My favorite thing to talk about is beer, but good beer! I love calling myself a runner.  I'm most proud of the hard work I have put into becoming one. My most recent half! And sometimes I'm crafty!

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Please go visit these awesome ladies, you won't regret it! In fact I'm off to do just that to catch up on their latest blog posts while I have another cup of coffee. Happy vacation to you all (oh wait, you mean you all don't get eleven days off from work? Ooops, my bad for rubbing it in. I'm mean not my bad. I get eleven days off, suckers!) Ok, for reals yo. I'm off to these blogs with my coffee. Enjoy!

 

An Exciting Life

Summer break is in full swing. I have officially forgotten what day it is (Fourth of July? right?), what it feels like to be a teacher, and what it means to have a busy schedule. I know, a super rough life, right? So what have I been doing with all of my spare time?

Suntanning on the roof deck.

Enjoying a few cat naps with Finn.

Eating lots of food.

Drinking smoothies (and other fabulous beverages).

Not very exciting I can tell you, but pretty awesome nonetheless. My life over here on the East Coast may be a bit boring to you these days. So I thought you should meet someone that is less than boring to make up for my lack of excitement these days. Lena from Mom 2 Memphis and Ruby is pretty much awesome. She's a rockin' mom of two that has great fashion sense and also happens to be one of the sweetest people I've met in the blogger world. Plus, we both share a passion for photography so she's got that going for her too!

Blog // Facebook // Twitter // Lena B Photography

Tell us a little about you.

I am a fashion-loving, photo-taking thrifty & tattooed mom of 2! 

How did you start blogging?

 

I started blogging after my son was born journaling his milestones.  In April 2011, it became more of a hobby & I've expanded to blog about pretty much everything!

 

What are your favorite things about blogging?

 

Meeting new people, gaining inspiration.

What do you do when you're not blogging?

 

I'm a full-time working mom.  So when I'm not at the office, I'm home with the kids... but I do love photography as well, and I've been doing a lot of that lately too!!

 

What are three of your favorite blog posts and why?

Ruby, for a day: http://mom2memphisandruby.blogspot.ca/2012/03/ruby-for-day.html

This is one of my favorites. It was fun to get inside Ruby's head while I wrote this post. She's such a sassy & spunky little one that it's hard not to blog about her every.single.day.  It's a post I'll be happy to look back on with her when she's older! ♥

Meatloaf: http://mom2memphisandruby.blogspot.ca/2012/04/meatloaf.html

Because it's really one of the ONLY things I cook WELL!  haha

Fun{ky} Pants: http://mom2memphisandruby.blogspot.ca/2012/05/funky-pants.html

Because I think this shows off how adventurous I can be when it comes to fashion! We all need those fun pieces in our wardrobe that make us happy... and maybe make others think we're a little crazy! 

What other bloggers inspire you?

 

I love Joanna Haughton of ModaMama, I think she's so real & sassy... and cool & talented!  Definitely a fashionable mama you should check out if you haven't already!

Another fave I've recently discovered is Julie of  The Funny Of It Is.  She's hilarious, original, gorgeous, smart and totes awesome! Definitely a current blog crush!

 

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Thanks so much, Lena for being on my blog today! :)

 

 

Sad and Happy Babies

I hardly intended to get some people bent out of shape yesterday when I took an impromptu poll about whether or not this new card I had designed was mean or funny.

You see, sometimes when I need some inspiration, I turn to Andrew to help me brainstorm. It may be quite possible that Andrew plus me equals completely, horrible, off the cuff, un-PC humor. May I remind you of the fart card and how that came about? Ok. See? No further explanation needed.

Well, apparently most of you thought that it was super funny. However, a few of you seemed to think it was a tad offensive. My defense was that the card was actually pretty true. And while I am not a mom, I think that in most cases, I tend to see humor in the reality of our world. What is the point of sugar-coating things? I do not perceive this outlook as negative, but rather realistic. After all, I tend to be a realist rather than a romantic. It is my way of preparing myself for what is to come.

However, I like to please you all, so in order to look on the bright side a bit, I came up with this design.

So everyone was happy then, right? Nope. This new design cause all of those sad baby card lovers to say, "Booooo. Sad baby was better. Why is everyone so offended?"

Boy oh boy. Who knew that a simple card design would be so controversial? I tend to get people's heads to turn. I like to start a good debate, but I was just quite surprised by the feedback that I go from both ends. 

But enough of that. You know what is less controversial than a sad baby vs. happy baby card debate? Some of these wonderful ladies that you should meet! They would love to introduce themselves. And for a little bit of fun, I asked them what their favorite thing is (or was) about summer break.

 Blog // Twitter // Facebook

Hey everyone! My name is Bree, and I blog over at The Thing About Joy! I'd love to get to know you, so be sure and stop by and introduce yourself! xoxo

My favorite thing about summer break... we'll, I am still in school. I got a 2 1/2 week break before summer session started. *sad day* But, its only two classes right now, and the homework load isn't as bad as during a regular semester!! I love being able to sleep in, go to the pool, and do all kinds of crafty things during my summer spare time! I've just gotten started with some mixed media designs and I am having so much fun! Some of my designs will show up soon on my blog, so check it out! Plus, this summer I have become obsessed with Art Journaling! Check out my post on SMASH books! That's only the beginning of my obsession. :)) 

 Blog // Twitter // Facebook

I'm Beth and I blog at Dot in the City. Dot in the City started as an outlet for me to write about the things I do and often about making our 90 year old house into a home.  When I'm not tweeting, blogging or dreaming up how to make our 90 year old house into a home with my husband,  you can find me walking our dog, Milton, reading other blogs or soaking up New England for all its worth.

When I was growing up, my favorite thing about summer break was lunch with my mom. I have the best memories of packing picnics and going to fun places when I was in elementary school. We lived in Colorado for part of that time and I remember going to an overlook to watch air planes/parachutes, panning for "gold" in a river (fool's gold that is) and going on nature hikes. I'm thankful my mom made even boring things like lunch an adventure. 

Blog // Twitter // Facebook

Hey yall! I'm Cassie and my blog is my little slice of internet heaven! I'm a daughter of God, wife, momma, shop owner & aspiring author! I share our journey through this beautiful crazy life!

As a kid my favorite thing about summer break was sleeping in and no school! :)

Blog // Twitter // Facebook

Laura, from Our Reflection, is a passionate lifestyle photographer. She is, regrettably, a bit addicted to social media. She has a constant connection with Facebook and Twitter. She loves Starbucks, the colors pink and yellow, mountain biking, foot massages, the piano, her two amazing daughters and admirable husband.

My favorite thing about summer breaks was family vacation-- going camping and to the lake. Great memories. 

Blog // Twitter // Facebook

I'm Danielle! I first began my blog in April of last year as a way to document the end of my high school years. Now it has evolved to be about all things fashion and beauty related. I love to bake too and am hoping to include some more recipes on the blog soon along with some DIY projects. I am also obsessed with chevron and mint green, which you'll see by my blog design! 

I love having the summer off of school. I love to stay up late every night blogging and then sleep in every morning. I also enjoy doing lunch dates at Panera with my mom and spending the afternoon shopping. The summer keeps me very busy with two part-time jobs and swim lessons, but I LOVE it!

Thanks ladies! It's been real having you! And if you're interested in having one of these fun little posts on my blog in July, you can head over to my sponsor page for all of the details. I still have plenty of medium and small ads available, and I promise that the rates are SUPER affordable. I'd love to have you awesome people! ;)