Tag: blogging

Drinking Wine and Blogging in My Activewear

cheersMy wardrobe has taken a dramatic turn since my child became mobile. It’s the heart-stopping, turn your head and he’s gone kind of mobile. Once we entered this activity- enhanced phase and I found myself running down the street, chasing through store aisles, crawling around playgrounds, navigating the grocery store with a child/monkey climbing me…these are not activities for cute dresses and strappy shoes. Nope. I needed to invest in some Activewear.

I started with a cheap sports bra on Amazon that ended up being the most comfortable thing in the world. I ended up buying a 6 pack in different colors! Bye-bye Victoria’s Secret $50 bra! Hello $6 Amazon special. Everything pokes, scratches or just bugs me so I looooove these things. I’m serious. My last order of VS undies I have to wear inside out because the damn seams are so sharp. I warned my husband what was up so he wouldn’t think I was losing it.

Then I invested in some really comfy sneakers and started collecting running capris. Not as long as yoga pants (I’m in Florida!) but not as short as shorts. And then added cute tank tops to pair over the sports bras. This is now my daily wardrobe. While I do actually go to the gym a few times a week, I dress like this regardless of my gym attendance. It’s just so functional! And I think it looks a lot better than the big T-shirts and jean shorts combo I was rocking post-maternity wear.

So I get the yoga pants mom thing now. I may actually look into those when it gets chilly! I am guilty of doing everything in my activewear, because I am up and moving most of the day. I didn’t even go to the gym today or workout and still hit 19,000 steps on my Fitbit just running around trying to balance housework and “toddler things.” So cheers to all you mom’s out there in your fancy activewear. We all know you earned it.

The Mommy Blog Identity

Top Mommy BlogsIt used to bug the crap out of me when I’d see “mom” in someone’s bio. True story. I was like, I see you’re a mom, I feel that’s one of those things you don’t really have to tell me. The entire “Mommy Blog” trend annoyed me. I thought separating them into their own category was just silly. This was of course because I had no idea what I was talking about.

So now, here I am, with “mom” usually first in my short bio. It took me so long to become a mom, that people are just lucky I don’t walk around wearing a badge that loudly proclaims my mom status. Oh wait. I’m usually dragging a toddler while wearing clothing with various food smears and have Cheerios in my hair. I think that speaks for itself.

Today I got the message that my blog was finally accepted into the Top Mommy Blogs website. For some reason, it made me feel a little more official. Maybe because I got a cute cartoon badge. (Go ahead! Click it! It’s a vote for my blog) But also because I decided to embrace the fact that yes, I am a Mommy Blogger. That’s what I enjoy writing about the best – being a mom and raising my son and all the crazy things that come with it. ❤

 

 

Bloggy Stuff

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I have been signing up for blog sites as I find them. Trying out Bloglovin, which requires you to do a random post with the html code in the top. I thought it would be weird to just have that post floating there with no explanation (like, why can’t I stick it in a side widget or something?) so I decided to turn it into and actual post.

I would love to hear what sites fellow bloggers are a part of and what is working or not working for you.

I’m currently waiting to hear back from Top Mommy Blogs. Anyone recall how long it took to get a response?

dog blogging

Why do you blog?

I was reading an article called something like “8 Reasons Your Blog is Failing,” not because I think my blog is failing, but because I was intrigued by what exactly they considered failing.

One of the reasons mentioned was not having a focus or knowing why you blog, then they listed the possible reasons to blog and they mostly centered around making money. If I ever make any money off my blog I will post a happy dance on YouTube to celebrate. But I didn’t start this with the intention of making money. I blog because I love writing. I started writing in journals around age 6 and kept it up all through college. I imagine I would have had the oldest blog around if the Internet existed when I was little.

And then I did something I didn’t realize would have such an effect on me – I went to school for writing. My major was Magazine Journalism, and I spent my last two years of college having the desire to write beaten out of me by a big red pen. Writing was my thing! And here I was doing what I thought I did best and getting articles back scribbled and marked through with ugly red slashes declaring “Exposition!” which I later learned was the big no-no in reporting. Don’t tell a colorful story! Don’t include details and humor! Just stick to the facts. So I graduated with a degree in journalism and didn’t want to write anymore. They had sucked all the fun out of it. Every time I tried to write it felt like work. I needed to find my voice again.

Then I started the process of going through IVF. It’s not something I wanted to share on Facebook. I didn’t even tell very many people. I was just tired of trying and failing and having to tell friends it didn’t work again and again after years of failed fertility treatments. (clomid, timing, IUI, etc.) But I still wanted to be able to talk about it with somebody. Preferably somebody who really got what I was going through.

So I started an anonymous blog to help keep me sane. Something I could pour my heart into, all my frustrations and not care who was reading because nobody knew who I was. I discovered the joy of writing again while telling my story. It helped me tremendously through a grueling ordeal with a wonderful outcome. I left my blog up because when I was going through IVF I loved coming across blogs with happy endings. If you have any interest in IVF, you can read my story here, in all its uncensored glory: https://stoptellingmetorelax.wordpress.com/

After that, I knew I wanted to keep writing. So that’s how this blog was born. I’m not here to make money or sell you anything. Oh I may do product reviews because I do love free stuff! But that’s not my main objective. I just want to share my stories and interact with the people that read them. So any time someone comments or lets me know they actually read what I wrote? That’s what I consider a success. So thank you to everyone who takes the time to read what I have written 🙂

 

 

 

Diary of SAHM – Day 120

Ok, to be honest, I don’t exactly know what day it is. I started in November so I just averaged the months together. If you are doing this too, you understand I’m short on time!

Time is this amazing valuable commodity I can’t seem to get enough of. In fact, that’s the only present I requested for the next year. I told my husband “I only want guilt-free gifts of time for myself.” Guilt-free means they are given without making a fuss about how it is taking away from his precious time to get all his very important things done. And also a good chunk of time because a couple hours is NOT enough and it just sucks to have a little time for yourself but rush everything because you feel like you have to get back home asap.

This is my first blog since the holidays. I missed all those golden blogging opportunities the holidays present, the optimistic or often nostalgic “where did this year go” New Year’s blog…and now we are heading straight into Valentine’s Day and all I asked for was a day to go get my hair done at a salon. Something I used to take for granted. I could spend alllll day getting my hair colored and cut if a wanted. But now I have to plan way in advance, coordinate schedules, etc. I really want to get low lights and be a little less of a blinding blond color. But that takes time. About 4 hours last time I tried it. Where on Earth does a SAHM get time for that? Well they probably don’t and they manage to whip some box color up during a nap time to get by. That’s probably where I’m headed. And if all else fails, at least I look good in hats.

You know what the weird thing is? I’m still super happy I made this decision and I still love it. Every day. Even the tough days, of which there are many. But I had tough days when I ran my boutique. No matter what you choose in life, there will be tough days. As my Green Beret husband would say, “Embrace the suck.” So I do have some seriously sucky days, but somehow they still make me happy when I go to bed at night.

pooh

But seriously, he needs to embrace the suck a bit more and let me have a spa day or something because this momma could use a pedicure, a massage and new ‘do!