Project 365, January 26 - February 2

It's official! I'm moving my blog to Wordpress! I'm a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. But I've recruited help. Joy at Five J's Design has already been super helpful, and she's thankfully in charge of moving all my years worth of posts over to the new spot.

But I'm doing all the design work and building of the new site myself. And I have to say that website builders/code developers are rockstars. I feel a little in over my head, but the design part is ready to go, and it's so pretty. 

I can't wait to share it with you! 

I've been blogging with Blogger since December 2006 - yikes! Those first posts are SO awful. Please don't read them. :) But I'm ready for a change. I'm ready for a site that looks nice on your iPhone and allows you to comment from it. I'm ready for a site that will help some of my posts get noticed with better SEO. I'm ready for a site with a back-end editorial calendar so I can (maybe?) be a little more organized. I'm ready for a site that it'll make it easier for you to find specific bento lunch themes.

I'm just ready! But we have to wait a little longer. I'll keep you posted, but it's looking like the week of February 17th will be go-time. Yay!

On with the photos:

(I've committed to taking a photo (with my Canon dSLR!) everyday in 2014. Join me!)

"Oops" 26 // 365

"Grumpy Monday" 27 // 365

"Gender Roles for Breakfast" 28 // 365

"Toddler Toes" 29 // 365

"Grumpy Thursday" 30 // 365

"Sampras in Training" 31 // 365

"We Saw Frozen!!!!" 32 // 365

"My Guys Can Cook" 33 // 365

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Making Time

Y'all, I've lost my blogging mojo.

I don't know what happened.

I think of all these topics I want to blog on and post about and then, I'm just not making time for it...

I started working out with a trainer back in March. She's awesome, and I feel great. So that gets a little of my time, but not much because it's such a super efficient workout.

I'm going to sleep earlier. That's helping me feel better too - more awake and aware. Don't get me wrong - I still need at least two cups of coffee a day, but I'm not yawning all afternoon anymore, so that's an improvement.

I'm spending what seems like hours sitting in the bathroom with Caroline while she tinkles just a squirt on her potty and then talks about tinkling and then sings about tinkling and then I finally chase her down and put a diaper on her and she says, "I tinkled. Change diaper?"

I'm not sure exactly what Andrew's doing during these long minutes I'm hanging out in the bathroom. Mostly building with his Legos or watching Scooby I think.

It makes me proud that he's capable of keeping himself occupied for long stretches of time without needing too much from me. I love the independence. It's one of the traits I most want to foster in my children. Which makes me worry I'm just neglecting them and not giving them every opportunity to grow.

Like maybe they need to be playing soccer and singing in the choir and going back to swimming lessons, which are all things we decided not to do this fall. Instead we're taking them to the pumpkin patch and the SMU Boulevard to tailgate before football games, and teaching them (well, Andrew) about fantasy football and why we love the Cowboys, and going for long walks in our new neighborhood, hanging out with our cousins and making new friends at tennis lessons on Friday mornings.

I'm also spending way too much time reading fashion blogs and thinking about my fall wardrobe which is just silly, but also super important to me because just because we're moms, in and out of preschool pickup and Target all day, doesn't mean we have to wear yoga pants if we're not going to yoga. I need some style.

I'm making a conscious effort to go through my closet and find things that I feel good in and wear them again, mix them up in new ways.

How are you spending your days this fall?

*All photos taken with my awesome, yet neglected 50mm and Canon 7D in our playroom in the natural afternoon light while my heart swelled with love for these two cuties who can occasionally play in the same room without screaming at each other.

My Favorite Interior Design Blogs

One of my favorite parts of this moving/new house process has been finding so many awesome design sites and blogs.

I certainly don't want my space here to turn into all design all the time, but I wanted to share a few of my finds with y'all because there is a lot of awesomeness out there.

The mother of all design sites might just be Houzz.com.

Months ago my mom and my sister told me how amazing this site was, but it wasn't until we started finishing out the new house that I realized what an incredible resource it is. Its search function is amazing.

Want to see a white kitchen with a blue island? Here you go. How about a parsons desk? You'll find so many inspiration photos. I just love it! And their app is almost as addicting as Pinterest. I'll just warn you. :)

And then I made my way into the world of design bloggers.

My favorite might be Jenny Komenda at Little Green Notebook. She has such confidence in her design and makes bold decisions that all seem to work really, really well. She's in the middle of a move from New York to Arizona and I'm so looking forward to watching her transform their new home.

She posts about her own home, her client projects and LGN reader projects as well. I was really inspired by her series of posts sharing her friend Emily's self-designed home in North Carolina.

Emily Clark's blog is so inspiring and real. She's a busy mom and that shows in her design point of view and in her home. Lots of her ideas work for families with little kids - hello awesome book nook! I like that she talks about shopping your own house and making your existing stuff work. I need a boost in that area in a bad way! And check out her dining room turned office. It's so pretty!

Emily Henderson is an HGTV star and is so quirky and weird. Her style is so totally not mine, but her rooms are pretty and colorful and full of stuff that I want to look at. And she's pretty good at finding cool art to share.

I know I'm a better accountant than I am a designer, but there are so many amazing resources out there and so many generous people willing to share their expertise and their sources that I think I'm going to be able to make this new house work.

Even if it takes me years and years to get it all pulled together. :)

Do you have a favorite design blog? And do you have a gallery wall in your house? That's one of the first things on my list after we get moved in!

Blissdom 2013 Recap

So I'm back! Blissdom'13, my first ever blog conference, was at The Gaylord Texan here in the Dallas area last week.

I decided to go to Blissdom back in the fall when it was first announced that it was moving from Nashville to Dallas. I had thought about attending even when it was in Tennessee, but when they moved it here I certainly couldn't pass it up.

My overall experience was very positive. I loved getting to meet so many of my favorite blogging friends and lots of new friends too.

The people, the community, were the highlight for me.

THURSDAY
I started the conference with a photo walk around the Gaylord Thursday afternoon. I'm so happy I did this because I think it set a great tone for the weekend. It was fun and relaxed and friendly.

I didn't take many photos though because I was too busy talking - ha!

Things officially kicked off that evening with a newcomers meetup. Again, I met tons of friendly and talkative women and felt very welcomed by everyone.

We had time to walk around and meet the great Blissdom sponsors later that night before they brought in the entertainment - soap stars! All My Children will be back later this summer on Hulu.com and they were there to promote their comeback. I haven't watched AMC since college, but they were still fun to see.

FRIDAY
Friday's opening keynote was given by Scott Stratten of Unmarketing fame.  He was hilarious, and I loved everything he had to say about the business of being social on social media.

Friday was devoted to breakout sessions. I chose one writing, one photography and one life workshop - clearly I wanted to spread out my inspiration!

My favorite of all my sessions was the writing session with Shelly Kramer on writing for the web. She talked a lot about SEO and the best way to share content. Her tips were very constructive and actionable, which I thought were missing from the other sessions.

Friday night we headed to the Glass Cactus for Girls Night Out with Chris Mann and Amber Riley from Glee. While they were both great, The Spazmatics, a new-wave 80's cover band, who came on after the Bliss folks were done were AMAZING!

Pretty sure Blissdom should book them next year. :)

SATURDAY
We slept in and ordered room service Saturday morning so we missed the talk with Susan Cain. I was pretty bummed when I realized she was the author of the book Quiet about introverts. I should have paid more attention, but the sleep was fabulous and I may buy her book anyway.

Somehow I didn't get much out of the day Saturday. I only made it to one breakout session because we were on our own for lunch and the hotel was packed. A few girls jumped in my friend Arena's car and we had a great off-site lunch. Seriously - it was so fun getting to know these girls a little better.

By the time we got back it was almost time for the closing keynote by Jon Acuff, author of the new book Start. Loved him! I don't even know what to say accept that I wanted to be his friend. And read his book. And have him teach me all his witty and inspiring ways.

And that was it for us. My friend Sarah and I headed home early so I could get her to the close-to-my-house airport first thing Sunday. Also? We were kind of happy to have our own beds. :)

A few thoughts to wrap up this insanely long post:

- The Blissdom people were friendly and fun. I felt welcome and included in the community and was perfectly happy to sit down at a table with strangers and say hello. But I'm kind of like that anywhere so  I'm sure that helped my experience.

-The sessions were just meh. I'm so glad I took Shelly Kramer's workshop, but other than that I didn't take home much actionable info, and I was disappointed in that. But I do have three books to read.

-My roommates, Sarah, Mandy and Mindy were awesome! They made the weekend so much fun.

-The local Dallas bloggers that I've gotten to know are a great group of hard working, smart ladies. I think we're pretty lucky to have such a dynamic local support team.

-I really like bloggers. They're just cool. I know we talk about ourselves a lot and you'd think maybe we'd all be really into me, me, me, and while I'm sure there's a lot of that out there, I didn't run in to it one bit. Just a good supportive group of ladies. And for that I'm very thankful.

Dress for the Day - Hit the Road

When I was a sophomore in high school I went to the Alamo Bowl with my friend Natalie and her parents. We drove from Tulsa to San Antonio, had a great trip, enjoyed the game and woke up and left San Antonio at some crazy hour early in the morning to head back to Tulsa.

Natalie and I, being in high school and all, thought we were really cool so we slept until the very last minute and then got in the car in our pajamas.

Which would have been fine except that Natalie's dad wanted to stop at Northpark mall in Dallas. I've never quite gotten over the fact that I walked through Northpark in my pj's. I've been there approximately 432 times in the years that I've lived in Dallas and I still very often think of the pajama trip when I walk in to Dillard's. It's kind of sad, really.

This Thanksgiving week we'll be in the car like so many other Americans off to visit family. And you know what I won't be wearing? My pajamas. :)

I will be wearing comfy clothes though.

Here is a fave stretchy dress from Target - it's kind of like wearing pajamas - paired with my often worn cardigan and flats from Banana. That's it.

Oh, and Spanx. I love them, and I think they're comfortable too. Maybe because I wear them so often? But they don't bother me one bit.

And I have to share Caroline's traveling outfit with you just because she's so dang cute.

Only a toddler can wear horizontal stripes on her hiney and look that adorable. And her shoes? Swoon. She likes them too.

And that's how I chose to #dressfortheday this week - ready to hit the road!

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This week of Thanksgiving I want to take a minute to thank all of you - my wonderful readers who come by this space so often and take the time to leave me a comment or send an email. It means the world to me that you are here.

I'm so very thankful for you.

xoxo

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Linking up:

Friday Shares

A few things I've come across on the web this week and just had to share with you...

• Did you see this post about creating your own handwriting fonts via A Beautiful Mess? Love, love, love. I've already made a few I want to share with you soon. The possibilities are endless!

• Do you watch Once Upon a Time? No? You should! And if you do, you should read Megan's recaps on Tuesdays. They're almost as much fun as watching the show. :)

• I want these ombre tights! And the model's legs, too.

• Surely you're thinking about your Christmas cards already, right? Well, I Heart Faces and The Album Cafe are offering free Photoshop templates for holiday cards. I love the blackboard look!

• This little boy sweater has elbow patches. Yes please.

Y'all have a fantastic weekend! It was 88(!) degrees here today, but I think it'll cool off enough for me to wear my new booties. Maybe. I hope.

Cheers!

Ice Cream for Breakfast!

We've reached my absolute least favorite time of year in Dallas.

The end of July/early August are absolutely miserable. But October through June are pretty awesome. It's a trade-off I guess.

Also, Andrew has croup!

I didn't know, but it's contagious. So we've missed our last days of summer Mother's Day Out this week and we've been stuck at home.

But of all weeks to be stuck at home, this isn't a bad one.

So ice cream for breakfast it is!

{Caroline photo bomb - ha!}

He thought it was pretty tasty. :)

I have a guest post up today at my sweet friend Elaine's place. I'm talking about our ultimate family size...head on over to see what we're thinking!

And while you're there you should have a look around. Elaine is one my favorite bloggers; she's excellent at telling her story, and I think you'll want to go back for more!

A Little Video

Oh y'all. I vlogged. :)

Ashley over at 5ohWifey is doing a monthly series called The Girl Behind the Blog and I thought I'd give it a shot.

Please laugh with me and not at me as you watch this. :)



Andrew got very shy when I turned the camera on. He's kind of silly like that.

I'm excited to hear other others talk. It's so fun to put a voice to a blogger.

Have you ever vlogged? Leave me a link in the comments. I'd love to check it out. Or link up with Ashley - it was great to have questions to answer!

Summer Sponsor Swap

I've decided to try a sponsor swap. I have no idea how it will work or if I'll keep it up or if any of you fabulous readers will be interested, but I'd like to give it a shot. For the summer.

It'll be like a summer love. If it works out that's awesome and totally cool, and if not, I'll know it was just a fling. :)

So, send me an email (meaganmusing@ymail.com) if you'd like to swap buttons! I'm looking forward to it!

(The fine print: I'd like to share the love with other blogs that have similar points of view or voice if you will: other moms who love photography, their children and all things pretty. And if you're not a mom, that's okay, too.)

Eleven Things

I've been tagged for the 11 Things Meme that's going around the blogging world!

I was so excited to be tagged! I never get tagged for anything. So thank you April, Sarah and Branson!

I know y'all want to know tons of stuff about me so here we go. Whee!

First, here are the rules:

1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in the post of the person who tagged you.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

So here are eleven things you always wanted to know about me:

1. I really don't like fruit. I'd pick vegetables over fruit any day. My exceptions are tomatoes and cantaloupe and I eat both of those with salt and pepper.

2. I have a horrible, awful memory. I can't remember details to save my life. High school...it all seems like a big blur. My family likes to give me a very hard time about this. Ha!

3. I've always liked the band Guster, but in college my friend Ally and I took a 48 hour road trip from Dallas to Colorado to see them do one show. Clearly we were crazy.

5. We also road-tripped to Kansas City to see Dave Mathews. It was a 24-hour trip. We turned around and drove home that night after the show. I'm falling asleep just thinking about it.

6. When I was sixteen I drove my mom's brand new car into the side of the garage, knocking her fancy side mirror off. It cost $800 to replace! My parents made me literally "iron" it out, buy ironing our family's laundry until I paid it off at $1 a shirt and $.50 for shorts. It took me years! I still have excellent ironing skills, but I really hate to use them now. Brian's clothes go to the cleaners.

7. I used to be so tidy and clean and organized. And then we got a dog and had kids and now I let them all eat off the floor if they've dropped something important. But I still have to leave my kitchen clean every night when I go to bed. I cannot sleep with dirty dishes in the sink!

8. I'm not an adventurous eater at all even though I love to watch cooking shows and eat at fancy restaurants. Cooking new things at home makes me nervous because it's quite possible they won't turn out, see: sourdough fail, and then I will have just wasted all that time and we'll have turkey sandwiches anyway.

9. I have not worked out a single time since Caroline was born. She's seven months old. This makes me so sad. But I think I'd have to do it in the middle of the night and I just have't made it a priority. I have lost all the baby weight though - thank you breastfeeding and life with two kids.

10. I love to watch TV. I used to start almost all my mornings checking the "Watercooler" on the TVGuide website. Hahaha! Now I'm lucky if I sit down to watch one or two shows a week.

11. I'm a huge professional sports fan! Mavericks basketball makes my heart race and Sundays in the winter are for football. I like to watch all four days of the Masters. But I can take or leave college sports.

Now...I'm going to answer the eleven questions from April because she tagged me first.

1. What are you most passionate about? Being a mother. I think it's my greatest calling and in this season it's pretty all-consuming. I want to grow and be better at it daily.

2. What was your first concert? I saw New Kids on the Block in 5th grade. My friend Kristen's mom waited in line to get our wristbands to be able to buy tickets for us.

3. What is your biggest fear? That something terrible would happen to someone in my family. But, I'm not a worrier and I really try not to even think about the possibility.

4. Paper or Plastic? Plastic. I reuse them for lots of stuff. I usually try to remember my own bags though. I love that they hold so much stuff - fewer trips to unload the car!

5. If you could be any one character from a movie or TV, who would you be? I think I'd like to be Brenda Lee Johnson from The Closer. I know she's got a tough job, but she's so smart and quick and all those men work for her! Ha!

6. Which reality show best describes you? This is hard - maybe the home makeover shows. I'd really like to spend more time redecorating and organizing my space.

7. Why did you start blogging? I really like sharing my thoughts and pictures with y'all! I've ended up making some sweet online friends and blogging has certainly helped feed my photography love.

8. If you could do whatever you wanted for a whole 24 hours, what would you do? Brian and I would be on the beach at a fancy hotel. We'd wake up at 7AM totally refreshed and rested (ha!) and go for a quick jog at the gym. I'd then spend the day relaxing on the beach with a good book. I'd have a crisp white wine with a yummy lunch. Shower in the evening and get ready for a fancy dinner out. And I'm pretty sure we'd have zero responsibilities or decisions to make the entire day.

9. Where did you take your best or worst vacation? Best vacation - a boat trip on the Amalfi coast.

10. What is your favorite piece of technology? My iPhone, hands down.

11. What is one thing on your bucket list? Learn how to take those dreamy, beautiful newborn photos.

And my questions for y'all:

1. What was your favorite class in high school?
2. What college teams do you cheer for? Football, basketball or both?
3. Would you rather be too hot or too cold?
4. Do you follow the no white before Easter rule?
5. Do you watch TV shows live or recorded?
6. Do you open your mail right away or let it pile up?
7. Would you rather do laundry or go grocery shopping?
8. Do you prefer to watch movies at home or in the theater?
9. Do you like summer or winter?
10. What's your favorite holiday?
11. What inspires you?

Tag! You're it, friends!

Elaine, Courtney, Megan, Kara-Kae, Wendy, Stephanie, Colleen, Ana, Jamie, Ginny, Nancy

Updating the Blog

I've been working on a few small tweaks to the blog the last few days. I didn't make any major changes, but I'd been using a very old template, and I couldn't get a few of the features that Blogger is finally offering (like the ability to reply to comments) to work.

So I decided to update my template, but then I had to customize it.

I love designing things in Photoshop, but honestly it's all trial and error for me. I'm completely self taught so I feel like I often do things the loooong way.

But I also like designing my site on my own because then it's just what I want it to be. And if I want to change something I can do it very quickly and easily.

I've used a lot of the tutorials at Pugly Pixel and The Coffee Shop Blog.

But then I actually have to make the changes to the CSS and the HTML in the template and then it's really trial and error.

I know next to nothing about it and so I end up making a change - preview - nope, didn't work - try it someplace else.

See? I'm slooooow.

I recently looked into a few books on CSS, but didn't ever decide on anything. Any recommendations? Do you have any favorite web design blogs to share with me? :)

Memories Dreams and Reflections

Did y'all see Ashley's Memories Dreams and Reflections list for 2011?

I'm totally going to participate. I just love the idea of having all these photos together to look back on in years to come.

Here's the list of photos to find in your archives from 2011:

1. Me! - picture of yourself (you don't have to show your face). What are you most proud of accomplishing in 2011?
2. I Love You - picture of your husband, boyfriend, children, pets, etc.
3. Still Laughing... - a moment you're still laughing about now...tell us a story.
4. Winter Wonderland - a picture that reflects Winter.
5. Birthday - share a birthday picture (your own or someone you love).
6. Friends - a picture with friends (this could be your friends or your children with their friends).
7. I Was Inspired... - could be a picture of your inspiration (person or thing), or inspired by...
8. Spring Fever - a picture that reflects Spring.
9. Travel or Vacation - a picture taken on vacation or on a recent travel experience...even if it was only a few miles away.
10. Summer Days - a picture that reflects Summer.
11. A Day In My Life - a picture of a typical day in your life.
12. All Smiles - a picture that makes you smile or of smiling faces.
13. Autumn Harvest - a picture that reflects Autumn/Fall.
14. Family or Home - a picture of your family or a picture that represents family/home for you.
15. Celebrate! - a picture that reflects a celebration.
16. Let's Do It Again... - a picture of something you'd like to do again soon.
17. I Miss You - a picture of someone or something you really miss.
18. Beautiful - a picture of someone or something you find beautiful.
19. Dress Up - this might be a picture from Halloween or not...but someone who is all dressed up!
20. Macro - share your favorite macro or close-up image.
21. Holidays - a picture from the Holiday of your choice.
22. My Favorite - share your favorite picture or memory from 2011.
23. Don't Ever Change - something you love about yourself, someone, or something that you never want to change.
24. Just Because...So There! - share any picture(s) that you really want to share, but doesn't fit in any other category.
25. Hopes and Dreams - share what you hope to come or dream for 2012. Feel free to share an image of your choice.

And I'll have my post with my 2011 pictures up in the New Year. I think I better get started now!

I'm pretty sure this will be my I Love You picture:



Happy Saturday, y'all!

Email Replies on Blogger

I have been blogging at this Blogger blog since 2006(!) and until recently I hadn't known how to reply directly to a comment on my blog. This was so frustrating because I often had something to say to a commenter or just wanted to follow up with them.

So I did a little research, and I've learned that it is possible (and very easy) to email a response to a comment on Blogger!

I hope this helps some people out.

First, on your profile page you want to make sure that show my email address is checked. This will ensure that when you comment on someone's blog they will be able to see your email address on your profile and they will have a way to email you if they want to follow up with you.

It's also just nice to have a way for people to get in touch with you online.

Next, go into your Setting tab and click on Comments. You'll see lots of options for comment moderation, word verification and where you want your comment form to go.

Scroll toward the bottom and find Comment Notification Email.

Add the email address that you want to use for your blog correspondence. (It doesn't have to be the same email you use to log in to your blog.) Make sure you hit Save Settings.

Now when someone leaves a comment on your blog you will receive an email. And if they have checked Show my email address on their profile page, you'll be able to reply directly to them by replying to the comment notification email you receive.

Awesome!

I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, and maybe I'm the last one to know, but I'm glad I know now. I can finally answer questions and follow up with commenters!

New Blog Design

Did you see my new blog design? If you're in a reader you should click on over and check it out.

I'm so proud of it because I did it myself! I've learned a lot of new Photoshop skills over the last few months and they're really coming in handy.

I designed Andrew's birthday party invite last month:



And these cute little stickers that I used for decorations at the party:



I made these birth announcements for my friend after I did her newborn shoot in January:





I was super happy with these, and I'm planning to do announcements for our new baby this summer, too.

If you're at all interested in design I'd be happy to point you to some good tutorials. I used online tutorials and trial and error to create these. But my first piece of advice would be to download the templates from your printer so that you know the exact printing dimensions. Then you can work within that frame.

And I used the tutorials at The CoffeeShop Blog to help me with the HTML code for the new blog design. Rita's site is so helpful and full of great tutorials on photography, blogging and photo post processing.

Thanks for letting me show off my work! I'll have some cute photos of Andrew to post soon!

31 Days to a Better Photo

For all my friends out there with great, entry-level dSLRs I'd like to point you to a blog series from the awesome blogger/photographer Darcy at Life with My 3 Boybarians.

She's doing a 31-day series during the month of October on capturing a better photo.



I really wish I'd had something like this to learn from when I was just starting out. She's done a good job of breaking down the photography basics so far. And I'm looking forward to some of her tutorials and links later on in the month, too. I certainly still have LOTS to learn!

If you've bought a camera to take pretty pictures of your cute kiddo, but feel like they're still lacking, I cannot recommend this enough. A little bit of time and effort goes a long way.

Check it out!

meaganmusing.com

I finally decided to buy my own domain name. Did you know you can own a domain for only $10 a year?

So now you can find me at www.meaganmusing.com. You can also still get here from www.meagansmusings.blogspot.com if you forget.

(I decided it was easier to drop the two s's going forward. I've always been a little confused about it myself.)

If you follow me in a reader like Google Reader you'll need to update your feed*. You can click on the button over on the right hand side of the blog under Subscribe To to choose your reader and make it super easy.

(*ETA: Apparently the feed is the same. No need to update your reader. Sorry for the confusion! But, please, still subscribe!)

(And if you don't use Google Reader you totally should. It makes reading blogs so, so easy. You can see all your blogs' updates right there in one window. Give it a try!)

I'm excited about my new name!

Let me know if you have any questions.

New Look

Thanks to Jamie at Designs by Jamie for my awesome new blog design! I love, love love my new header! How cute is Andrew up there?

Jamie was so easy to work with and she was fast! So thank you, Jamie!

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We've had a fun week around here. The weather has been so nice the last few days and Andrew and I have loved getting out to enjoy it. We went for a long walk with my friend Lauren and her little girl Sophie today.

Andrew took his shoes and socks off while he was in his stroller. Then he pulled his pants up to his knees and held on to them. It was like he was trying to get as much sun on his skin as possible.

I understand the need for sun.

Compassion Links

Last week Compassion International sent a group of bloggers to Uganda to see and then blog about all that the charity does for struggling children and the communities where they live.

One of my favorite bloggers, BooMama, was asked to go along, and she had some amazing stories to share with her readers. You should check out her posts from last week, especially this one, if you have some time to be truly touched by what you read.

You can also visit Shannon's blog if you want to read more about the bloggers' trip. Shannon was able to meet the boy her family has been sponsoring. What an amazing opportunity for her and her little boy!

I have never felt a calling to do missionary work in Africa or any other far away country in any way. (I know Mom's sighing in relief right now!) But I greatly admire those who feel called and then are able to act on that calling. Being able to read these women's stories and see the joy on the faces of those little children was a wonderful experience for me. And I wanted to share it with you.

Why Blogging?

It was about this time a year ago that my longtime friend, Emily, had her baby, Caleb. She started a blog to share Caleb's arrival and all his firsts with her friends and family. My mom passed the link on to me to check out. I might be an almost Gen Y'er, but I had no idea that anyone and everyone could just open up a free blog for all the world to see. It seemed like a really cool thing to do if you had something to say that people might be interested in.

I kept checking in on Emily and her new family and eventually followed some of the links to her friends' blogs on her blogroll. And from there, I was hooked. I can't tell you how in the world I ended up at some of the blogs I now visit on a regular basis. I visit blogs about weight loss, a new mom to quads blog, blogs to help me be a better entertainer, blogs about TV shows, and Beth Moore's blog. (I had never even heard of Beth Moore until I read about her in a blog - I know I'm a bad Bible studier). I even read a few blog entries from a woman who photographed her outfit everyday and told her reader the details of everything she had on from her mascara to her shoes. That one got old pretty fast.

I read a lot of different kind of blogs, but they're all well-written, engaging, and told by good people. I don't want to read about crazy things bad people do. If I'm going to spend time in blogland I want it to teach me something I didn't know or build me up.

I started this, my own blog, about a year ago, but I wasn't very good at it. I didn't have anything overly witty to say and my life was (is) not that interesting to perfect strangers. (Which Brian would say is a very good thing). I'd randomly post now and then, but I didn't even tell anyone about the blog for a while, and then I only told Brian, my mom and my sister. I took a few months off from my blog during the summer, but I kept reading everyone else's blogs. I realized I liked the sense of community these regular bloggers had, but I felt like I was kind of spying on friendships.

I jumped back in to my blog in September and have been telling more and more people about it. I've started commenting on other people's blogs even though they don't know me from Adam. It made me nervous at first - like the girl in 6th grade who moves to a new school and tries to make friends. But it's been fun, and I was silly to be nervous. I don't think one can completely fail at blogging. I never wanted to be a writer or anything, but I always thought I was decent so it's been fun for me to tell stories on here and let y'all see a glimpse of my daily life and who I am.

I don't have any other close real-life friends who blog, at least that I know about, but I've been trying to talk them in to it. I'd love to see Ally's blog. She could write about wonderful books and drives through New England. Mom could write about houses and all those architecture words I don't know. Bill could post his columns. (And he's a real writer so I'm sure it'd be wonderful)! Kels could tell us about her crazy teachers at design school. I'd love to know about life in DC from Jess and Julie. So come on in! It's fun, I promise! But I'm not at all responsible for the hours you'll spend reading everyone else's blogs!

Commitment

I seem to have a commitment problem with my blog's look and layout. But the last one was hard to read and a little too blue for my liking. And the first one, long ago, was just too boring. So, I'm trying something new, and I think I'm going to stick with it love it for now! Any thoughts? Leave me a comment!