Etsy Shop Grand Opening & New Blog Design

You may notice things are a bit different around here - that's because the wonderful Cindy of Cinsarah blog and Blessed Design Studio designed this beautiful new page for me.  
Cindy is such a pleasure to work with - I highly recommend her and her work.  If you're looking for a new blog design, she's your go to girl.  She also designed Cori's blog over at La Vie Petite.
With the new Blog design, came the opening of my Etsy Shop!.  FINALLY!
I am so happy to announce that my Etsy shop is up and running.  Theres only about 9 things listed for sale right now, but there will be much more to come in the next few days.
Heres a few things you'll see in there:

You can get to my Etsy shop HERE

As a special Thank you to all of my supporters, i'd like to offer a 15% discount to my shop!.  Use Code OPEN15!!!!

My Two Roads

You know when you meet someone new and you just "click"?

That's how I feel about Erica at My Two Roads.

We met up for dinner last night and talked for 2.5 hours and barely scratched the surface of what's to come.  We could have quite possibly sat there all night and talked.  There was even a few times we finished eachothers sentences!.

I have made a new friend.  Not just a bloggy friend, but a real life friend. 

Erica is leaving for Europe in a week or so and won't be back to Melbourne until (hopefully) next July.  So a year or so is going to pass before I see my friend again, but I know we will pick up exactly where we left off. 

Our dinner was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.!!!!!

We went to this little mexican restaurant where the food was superb.

I will definitely take hubs there for dinner.

We got half way through our dinner before we thought "oh, we should take a pic of our dinners"

Told ya she was gorgeous!

Thank you for such a great evening, Erica :).  See you soon xx

Tuesday Ten - 2

Thank you to everyone that participated last week in my first week of Tuesday Ten link ups.  We had a whopping 32 entries!.  I read every single one and loved them all.  I'm really excited to see what this week brings.

If you're new to this - Welcome :)

Tuesday Ten is a link party about your posts of ten of anything.  It can be ten things you love, ten places you want to go, ten things you want right now, ten people you love etc....ten of anything really.

I love this because it gives me a chance to get to know my readers better and meet other bloggers.  It also allows all of you linker uppers (yes, I just made that up) to see eachothers wonderful blogs and meet new bloggers as well :)

Rules of linking up are:

Please place my button on your page so others can link back and see other posts.  You will find my button at the bottom of this post.

Please "like" your favorite Tuesday Ten by clicking the "like" button underneath the thumbnail.  I will do a small feature on the post that got the most "likes" each Tuesday so be sure to vote for your fav.

Also, please click on others link ups and comment so we can all share some love.  We all love comments don't we??!!

Last week the post that got the most likes was:


Summer at Made By Munchies Mama with a whopping 23 likes!!


Check out her post here

Heres my Tuesday Ten post:

Ten recipes I want to try via Pinterest:

Source

Cheesy Bakes Artichoke Dip

Can you say delicious?!.  Seems perfect for a get together.

Source

Cinnamon & Sugar pull-apart bread

My kids would LOVE this!

Source

Pizza Bites.  Perfect lunchbox treat.

Source

Cheddar Bacon Ranch pulls.....just those words put together makes it delicious.

Source

Crispy Chicken with Creamy sauce on Bowtie Pasta.

Source

BLT Pasta Salad

Great for parties

Source

Cheesy Enchilada Casserole

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Source

Gooey Cinnamon breakfast biscuits

Source

Spinach & cheese Strata

Are you all as hungry as I am now?

If there was only more time in the day to cook and bake.  And, if there was only something that would prevent all the fat and sugar from these recipes from going straight to my thighs, i'd eat them all!

Now lets see all your Tuesday Ten!

Link it up!

<center><a href="http://miss-mommy.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Miss Mommy" src="http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee206/mrsparrott/missmommytuesday2.jpg"/></a></center>

Making a Difference

I love making a difference in people's lives.  It's one of the reasons I maintain this blog.  I get numerous e-mails from other bloggers asking me to simply post a link on my facebook about a giveaway they're having or asking me help them out and follow them and like them on Facebook.

I feel a bunch of emotions when I get requests like this.  One emotion is honor.  I think "why me?" & "What about me is special enough that they would ask me to do this?".  

I LOVE helping people out and giving credit where credit is due.  I really do read every comment you all leave me and try and follow you all back if I can.  I also like every facebook page and follow whoever is on Twitter.  I love sharing and spreading the love.  

So when I got an e-mail from the sweet sweet Rebecca at The Crafted Sparrow I felt the need to help her out.  

I was once in her shoes.  I once had only a few followers and actually contemplated quitting blogging all together.  But I trudged through and now I have a whopping 430 followers.  I know to some thats not a lot, but to me thats HUGE.  That's 430 people that read what I have to say.  That's 430 people who liked my blog enough to hit that follow button.   I am by no means calling myself a novice blogger or a popular blogger because I am still growing and trying my best to get myself out there.  I link up whenever and wherever I can, and always go back and comment on peoples posts.  

I have Rebecca here today to tell us about herself and offer you all a hand stamped necklace that was hand stamped by her!.  This girl has serious talent and I feel privileged to have her here today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nicole has been so incredibly kind to me and is giving me an opportunity to introduce myself to all of you.  She has been wonderful helping be getting a little more aquainted with the blogging world.  I love reading her blog, it's real and that is what I really love about it.  Thanks Nicole!  

My name is Rebecca and I'm super blessed and get to stay home and take care of  my 2 crazy boys.  Corbyn age 7, and Kaison age 8.  My hubs works like a crazy person, he's a kitchen manager for Pei Wei Asian Diner (you may have heard of it, if you haven't you live under a rock!  Ha Ha!)  We've been married almost 9 years.  This was one of last years family photo of me and my little men!  
 

 I just started blogging about two months ago, so I'm still new to the blogging world...but loving it!  Check out the blog - The Crafted Sparrow.  I wanted to create something that I could share all my craftiness, my products, and all the things I love and adore.  I also love party planning, home design, and I'm a Pinterest addict!  Where has that Pinterest craziness been all my life!?!  I seriously dabble in a little of everything crafty, except knitting (it scares me)....although I will say the one area of art I haven't been so graciously given talent is photography.  That's my new goal is to just learn how to take a nice picture, I'll get there eventually. 

Besides the blog, I make numerous products that will soon be available to purchase through my shop (it's getting there).  I make anything from Hair accessories, Boutique style baby products, to Hand stamped jewelry.  I love how everything turns out, and I love seeing how happy people get when they receive my products.  

Thanks for letting me introduce myself.  I hope to see some of you around my blog.  And again a huge Thank You to Nicole at Miss Mommy.  She seriously rocks! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See that beautiful necklace in the middle in the very top row?.  Yes - that one.  That beautiful hand stamped, sterling Silver necklace....that's what your going to enter to win!.  Of course it will be stamped with your family's name on it or whatever you like!.  

Please head over to Rebecca's blog to enter to win that beauty!.  I'm heading there right now to enter!

I went on a date...

...with Hubs.
Can I tell you how nice it is to just go out for dinner....ALONE?!

We try and do this once a month but it doesn't happen.  With Hubs' work schedule, we pretty much only get to plan something at the last minute.  Planning in advance is a thing of the past for us.

Hubs worked 6 straight night shifts this week and had Saturday night off so he said "let's go for tea".  We had heard about a nice place and tried to book in but they were full.  So I googled (like I do for everything" and found a list of restaurants and just picked one off the list and that's where we went.

It was called Match Bar & Grill

You know how when you walk in somewhere you get a pretty good feel for what the experience is going to be like?.  Well, the second we walked in, we were greeted by the owner, who asked us what drink we were having on them!.  We were seated at a very nice table and given the drinks list.

This was the backdrop to our table:

Once we received our drinks, we ordered an appetizer and it was delicious.

Of course I had to snap a few shots of us before the food came

Once the food came the camera suddenly got forgotten about.  The food was so good, we were too busy stuffing our faces to even think about taking a picture of the food.

Over all, the restaurant was impeccable, the food was delicious, the service was amazing and we rated it a definite A++++.  We will definitely head back there in future.  I was crossing my fingers all night that it would be good because if it wasn't Hubs would never let me hear the end of it for choosing a place to eat!

Of course I couldn't let the evening go by without doing a few outfit shots:

I know you guys have seen this cardigan before - sorry.  I don't have a huge wardrobe selection and felt really comfortable in this.

Cardi, Belt & Necklace: Dotti
White shirt: Temt
Skinny Jeans: Cotton ON
Wedges: Big W
Bag: Coach

Living in Yellow - Blogging Tips 101

We all have our "GO TO" blogs each day don't we?!.

One of mine is Living In Yellow.  Erin cracks me up every time I read a post of hers.  When I feel sad and need a good laugh and some support - I head over to Erin's place.  I love her so much, I asked her to Guest post, so today she's going to crack us all up AND give us some blogging tips :)

Well hello there all you Miss Mommy fans.

I am SO excited to be here today.

My name is Erin and I come from Living In Yellow.

I was so flattered when Nicole asked me to post for her.

Not only is she the sweetest blogger in the whole blogger universe-

her posts inspire me-

Her comments continually make me smile-and she is oh relatable.

Not only that-but the girl lives in Australia.

Pretty sure that ranks on the highest level of awesome that there is.

I am praying one of these days my lucky little self will get to travel over seas to meet her.

Anyhow, I thought it would be fun if I shared with you my top 10 11

Blogging Lessons Learned.

Hopefully you will learn something new-or will relate to a couple of them.

If not-I'm sorry, this is the most pointless post you could've spent your time reading ;)

Blogging Lesson Learned #1:
Title your posts with eye catching "Oh no she didn't just write about that..." type stuff.
I tried this out a few months back and this post produced more page views than almost anything else I've ever written about.
I am not sure if I should applaud you or condemn my readers for this ;)

Blogging Lesson Learned #2:
Have your comment settings set to Open In A New Window.
To do this, click on the following:

Once there, complete the following:

Comment Form Placement	Full page Pop-up window Embedded below post The embedded comment form can not be used if you have Post Pages disabled.

There is a large handful of us bloggers who can not leave comments on your blog if this is not the case.
There is nothing more discouraging than reading a post, wanting to gush to the owner about how much you loved it, and then not being able to...which leads me to my next point.

Blogging Lesson Learned #3:
Always have your email address easily accessible on your blog.
Sometimes I need to get in contact with your booty.
And my booty needs to know your booties email address.
So please, have it somewhere.
It makes life much, much easier.
 

Blogging Lesson Learned #4:
Include pictures in all of your posts.
If you don't, I get bored.
Just sayin'.
Even if the only picture you post is something as ridiculous as this, post it:

Blogging Lesson Learned #5:
Read other blogs for inspiration.
You think I get all my genius ideas by myself?
Good joke-I get a lot of my ideas on what to write about from other blogs..
Ain't no shame in it.

Blogging Lesson Learned #6:
Leave comments on other blogs.
If you like what the person had to say, tell them.
Those comments make people's days shine a little bit brighter.

I speak from experience on that one.

Oh-and never leave a mean comment.

That is rude.

And dumb.

And you don't want to be rude & dumb now do we?

Blogging Lesson Learned #7

Having a case of writer's block?

Go experience life.

Don't sit around in front of your computer wasting precious time that could be spent on much more satisfying, quality, life enhancing things.

Your blog will thank you for it.

Chances are good while you are out enjoying your life, an idea just might pop into your head.

 For other ways to get over writer's block, read this.

Blogging Lesson Learned #8
When you accidently delete the design of your blog and have no idea on how to fix it-
Don't freak out.
Remember it is the content that keep people coming back.
Not how pretty your sidebar looks.
Unfortunately, I'm still trying to convince myself of this lesson.

Blogging Lesson Learned #9

Want to know how to make a button for your blog? Click Here.
What about a header? Click Here.
Want to learn how to be awesome? Click Here.
Ha. Got ya.

Blogging Lesson Learned #10

Last but not least, BE YOURSELF.

Nobody wants to read the words of somebody who is trying to be somebody else.

And face it-you're pretty amazing..why hide that from the world?

You are the best thing your blog has.
So there you have it friends..
10 little but important lessons I have learned over the past 6 months.
What words of wisdom am I missing?
I would love to hear it.
As in, take the advice off of lesson learned #6 and leave me a comment with it.

Oh yeah, Lesson Learned #11:

Have the coolest cats in the world read your blog.

Lesson Accomplished ;)

....Want to be one of the coolest cats in the world?

Click here.

I'd love to have ya :)

To My Real Life Bestie

Some of you may have an adverse opinion to this, but I believe Soul Mates don't necessarily have to be your significant other.  I believe a soulmate is someone that can finish your sentences, know what you're thinking before you say it & loves you unconditionally. 

My soulmate is this girl - my real life Best Friend Elishia.  Unfortunately I don't get to see her because she lives in Canada. 

We can finish eachothers sentences, and sit together in silence all while having a full blown conversation.

I know what shes thinking before she thinks it. 

She knows me better than anyone & she's always there to encourage me and support me no matter what.

I know that no matter how much time passes that when we do see eachother it will be as if not a minute has gone by.

We have known eachother for close to 12 years. 

She knows my family.

She knows my children.

She also knows all my secrets.

She knows what I look like in the morning & knows what I like and don't like to eat.

This girl is my best friend and knows everything there is to know about me.

The last time I saw my best friend was June 2009 on that warm day in a parking lot as we hugged goodbye not knowing when we would see eachother again.  Ofcourse we were both crying, but we knew then that it wouldn't be forever and that we are friends for life. 

This is the last picture I have of the 2 of us before I left to move to Australia.  I was 4 months pregnant with Lilah here.  

Throughout the 2 years that i've been living in Melbourne, Elishia continues to amaze me by sending me cards, packages, e-mails and writes on my Facebook wall to keep in touch with me and the girls.  She sends the girls packages and cards telling them how much Auntie Elishia loves them.  That means more to me than anyone will ever know.  It amazes me how self-less she is and despite me being so far away she always manages to make me feel loved and put a smile on my face.

About 4 years ago, Elishia met a boy.  A perfect boy. 

.

I knew he was the one.  I knew it from the start.  He loves her and she loves him so much.

After I moved to Melbourne, they bought their first house and got engaged.  I was so sad that I wasn't there for those monumental events in her life.  She knew I was cheerleading her from afar - I made sure of that.

Once the engagement happened, she started planning her wedding.  I had hopes of being there for it, but finances and circumstances have led to me having to stay here.  Elishia knows that I would literally cut of one of my limbs to be there standing right beside her on her wedding day.  I want to be the one who tells her how beautiful she is on her wedding day, and make sure everything goes according to plan.  I want to be the one who makes sure she's wearing something borrowed, something blue and something new.  But I can't be. 

Today, the 2nd of September, 2011, my best friend is marrying her perfect boy.

Elishia, I wish you every single bit of happiness in the world today and in your future with Gord.  You both mean the world to me, and I know there's a bright future ahead for you guys.  Even though I am not there physically with you today, I am with you in your heart. 

I WILL see you soon.  I love you.