Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Case Study: NYC Digital Print Shop

Psssst.

Have you noticed there are so many digital print shops in NYC, you can't spit without hitting one?

Seriously.

Especially in Chelsea.

You can find digital print shops on almost every block.

Hell, some blocks have 3 shops.

Competition is stiff for small to mid size shops.

Especially with the industry behemoth Duggal on 23rd street.

Yikes! Those guys do it all.

I should know. Not only did I once work for their competition for years, I worked at Duggal for a spell

Read more ...

Monday, October 01, 2012

Overnight Facebook Fame

According to a May 2012 article on the CNBC website, Target, Subway and the NBA are 3 of the world's 17 most "Liked" brands.

Facebook fame has made many a start up flourish too.

But being Liked is not enough.

And being liked by thousands overnight?

Is a waste of money.
What you need to avoid in the search for Facebook Fame
Tell me if you've heard this one before...
Dear Sir,

I'm a big fan of your brand and have reviewed you business website for free because I feel your brand

Read more ...

Monday, September 10, 2012

Exercise One and Two

For those who didn't get a chance to watch exercise one and two today before godaddy blew up and took my afterbedtimeblog.com with it, i've added the video here for you and i do apologize for the inconvenience

[youtube width="700"

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Intro Welcome video

So lucky for me I have another blog, on a different host, as godaddy is down at the moment.

Here is the intro / welcome videos ladies, for those who haven't had a chance to view it yet!

[youtube width="700"

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Sunday, September 09, 2012

Leaving Feedburner - How I did It

So the toddlers...they're asleep.

And the teens...are back at their first day of school.

And...
The Feedburner Saga Ends
I left Feedburner! Yay!

I gotta tell you, whenever I'm in my feedburner account or in a client's feedburner account because I'm moving her blog, I'm always nervous around that Delete Feed link.

I've never used it and the idea of using it kinda freaked me out.

So I'm always sure to stay far far away.

But it was TIME to use it.

And I did my research and

Read more ...

Feeds on the Brain

So the Feedburner saga continues...

Well, not just feedburner.
I've got feeds on the brain from Feedburner to my Google Reader Feed list.
If i showed you how many blogs I'm subscribed to, you'd be appalled.

 

And then you'd probably laugh your ass off.

 
Bloody GFC.
Sure, I'll join this site...then I'm auto subscribed. but what's the point when GFC goes away for WP and I don't bloody use the Blogger backend?

 

I decided this morning to sit in Google Reader

Read more ...

Is FeedBurner's End Near?

Harold Camping, a religious radio host, predicted that judgement day would be May 21, 2011 and the world would end October 21,2011.

Though Camping did admit to being wrong...

Maybe he meant October 12 not 21

Maybe he was off by a year.

And even more important than the world ending...

Maybe he meant the world as bloggers know it would end.

All around the web, the talk is, Feedburner ends October 12, 2012.

Many people keep asking if it's true.

I've got to ask, does it

Read more ...

Mom Bloggers Who Are Learning To Kick Ass

So the two weeks is almost up and I've got to tell you, it's been way too much fun for me.

Hard work, but super crazy fun. Building great relationships.

And?

I've been making youtube videos like crazy.

They're unlisted, only class members see them.

But I figured, what the hell, why not share today's class with everybody?

Or at least the video...

So if you've been wanting a sneak peak into the Google Luv Course...here's a trimmed version of Exercise 11.


Read more ...

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Why Marketing To Less Customers Is Better

Sounds crazy right?

Isn't having more customers better?

Don't we want to cast our net into the biggest ocean so we can catch as much fish as possible?

Sure.

If you're a fisherman.

Let me clarify before we move forward...

marketing to less clients does not mean having less customers. <-click to tweet

Look at it this way, you're a major league baseball player.

Your knee has been causing you grief lately.

You've been faltering on the field.

But you're busy as hell

Read more ...

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

How to Easily Start Blogging For Your Business

Business Blogging 101
As many a marketing guru will tell you, in today's world of online marketing, your website needs to be a hub of interaction.

Basically, you need a blog.

A place where you not only share that you're the bloody best in your industry, but where visitors can learn it for themselves, BS with you, share their insight and pick up a few tips from YOU too!
WAIT! We're talking about a blog for a business, right? Why would you want to build a spot on your company website to

Read more ...

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Who Pays For Google?

If you've been wondering why Google has been cracking down on affiliate marketers AND bloggers (who are just using all the tools available to them) then check out my take on it and why I agree with Google.

 
Google Doesn't Have A Sugar Daddy
Since the free Google services - from search to mail to apps - is something we all use online, many of us tend to forget that Google is a physical entity. It's an actual business, with employees and bills to pay, servers to buy and maintain...so it has expenses.

In it's most basic form and at it's most highest priority is Google being a search engine.

Search engines are free to use but are maintained financially by ad placement. If

Read more ...

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

3 Most Important Rules I've Learned About Parenting Teens

This Mother's Day was an eye-opener for me.

Both my older girls made me Mother's Day cards and though the artwork was impressive, the thing that made me cry were the words written within. Words of appreciation and love.

It made me realized that my teens and I have come a long way since I wrote the post on why my children hate me.

Yes, my girls who are now 14 and almost 16 years old have done a lot of growing up this past 18 months. Not all the growing up that needs doing but enough to where we're at a point that they know they can talk to me and I can easily trust them.

Getting to this point was no easy feat. We had four months of family therapy. Not only to shrink their heads,

Read more ...

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

How To Embrace the Google Penguin

The past few months I've been watching the Google updates create 3 types of reactions around the Web.

Happiness that the spammers and internet marketers are getting their asses handed to them.

Anger due to all the changes and the need to make changes to keep up.

Confusion of how to please the Panda/Penguin.

For those bloggers who have concerns about their blog's search engine ranking, this post is for you.
Google's #1 priority is being a search engine
Though some beg to differ. Some will say Google's priority is selling Ad space, but that's a story for another day.

Keeping in mind that Google is a search engine, their number one priority is serving up relevant, quality

Read more ...

Monday, May 14, 2012

Weight Loss Scholarship Winner

Happy Monday!

I'm truly sorry for the lateness of this post.

This weekend, I needed to unplug.

It wasn't planned, there was no notice.

Two reasons why this was a bad weekend to unplug.
1. I was suppose to write this post yesterday.
2. I missed out on telling my fellow moms happy mothers day.
Two reasons why I had to unplug immediately.
1. It was Mother's Day and I owed it to my kids to give them my full attention.
2. Every time I focused my eyes to read ANYTHING, I literally became dizzy or nauseous.
A quick call to my doc with my symptoms and she suggested I "unplug" and just relax my brain. She was honestly shocked when I told her how many hours I've been spending at my

Read more ...

Friday, May 11, 2012

Friday Blogger Follow: International Style

Friday Blogger Follow
As my tweeps know, on #FollowFriday I like recommending bloggers. Those bloggers who I find are just awesome. But 140 characters is not enough to sing the praise those bloggers deserve. I'm changing up the format a bit though. I'm sharing the blog's url and not the twitter url, cause frankly, i've got way too many outbound links in these posts. I'm also focusing on one blogger per post. Why? Because this post has been written and waiting two weeks for me to finish it.
International Style
For the longest I had one friend who blogs from the other side of the planet. That's the extraordinary Maureen in Jakarta of Tatter Scoops. I think my second friend is Jan from the

Read more ...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Protect Your Photos From Search Engines

If you've been wondering how to keep Google and the other SEs from indexing every bloody thing on your site, especially your images, this post is for you.

When one of my fav bloggers, Jessica, from MommyHoodNextRight, mentioned not wanting Google to index her images, I went to work searching for the perfect plugin.

It doesn't exist. Well, no free one as far as I can tell. i tried a few on one of my subdomains and they just slowed things down.
But there is still a semi-simple way to stop Google or any SE from indexing your images.
I use this tactic to keep search engines out of my plugins folders. Seriously. I hadn't originally realized SEs were indexing everything, I always thought

Read more ...

Monday, May 07, 2012

6 Website Marketing Tips For Photographers

I was part of the photographic imaging industry for almost 15 years. I'm associated with quite a few photographers and designers. From fashion photographers to wedding photographers, they all have websites. A portfolio of work, accessible through a web address, that their clients and potential clients can easily access to review their work.

It's a great idea.

The whole portfolio isn't always promoted. A sampling, just enough to pique a potential client's interest, to seduce them into agreeing

Read more ...

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Stop Marketers From Pissing On Your Blog

Pssst...I've got a secret for you.
You may not know this, but marketers...they need us bloggers.
Yes, they need US.
Some WILL respect us enough to own up to it and either pay us
or supply us with something that we could genuinely benefit from
in return for our time and a link from our blog.
Some will respect us bloggers.

And some, the SLEAZEBALLS, will try to use and abuse us for their own gain. They will send us silly emails, pretending they've read our blogs, pretending they'd like to "partner" with us and in return, they'll give us free articles to post on our blogs, to ya' know, help us maximize our time. A new twist is, they'll give us free plugins for our blogs too. Plugins

Stop Marketers From Pissing On Your Blog

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Weight Loss and Pudding - Retrofit One Year Membership Giveaway!

I really can't stand pudding. Too sweet. Too thick. But weight loss? Weight loss I like. :-D

And they say the proof is in the pudding right?

So I wanted to share with you my Retrofit Dashboard so you can see how I've been doing these past 3 months. For those who hadn't visited the other blog before I merged it with this one, I want to share with you what Retrofit is.

Retrofit is a Godsend.

and besides that, Retroift is
Healthy Lifestyle Training and Guidance
Yes, it is a weight loss program, but it's not a diet. It's a means to change your life. It's small steps that lead to huge changes.

You can visit their site to get the whole shabang of what they do and how they do it.

Read More Here...

Monday, April 30, 2012

No Time For Mom's Health? There is Hope

Please note: When I merged the blogs, this post went a bit bonkers. So I have to repost it as a new post. I apologize if you read this post on the other blog. If you haven't, you should. I want you to know, THERE IS HOPE.

If today were three months ago, I would have said "I'm so happy to find so many moms just like me."

Today...today I can't say that, because it saddens me. A week ago I wrote a post about the big blogger butt blues.

I won't lie, I'm happy that so many entered, but I've got to tell you, at the same time, reading through the comments, breaks my heart.

So many women, dwelling in the land I lived for 4 years. A land that where everyone but me came first.

Is this

Read more ...

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Say it with me now...This Weekend Sucked

Seriously. Starting since Thursday. THIS weekend sucked.

I will save you the personal drama from having my mother live with me - the only hing I'll say on the topic is, that indian tradition of taking care of your elders, can kiss my ass. I doubt the ones who came up with it, had a mother like mine. Also? I agree with the psycho babble that it begins with your mother. This is why I try my damnedest to be the person I am, to be a strong woman, an ambitious woman, a caring, human-loving-screw-discrimination and honest woman. I believe these will influence my children. What scares me about this line of thought though...some of us grow up to be just like our parents and some of us grow up to

Read more ...

Got the Big Blogger Butt Blues?

Is Your Butt Getting Bigger From Blogging?
Mine sure as hell has.

Bloody occupational hazard I tell you.

If you're like me and have kids to care for while working from home, you may be sitting on your butt a lot with the kids or at your desk.

Even before blogging, when I worked in the city, most of my day was spent sitting behind a desk.

I've got a pair of size 11 jeans that haven't fit in 4 years.

I couldn't even get them up my thighs because my legs had gained so much.

 
Do you keep old clothes in hopes that you'll lose weight and they will fit again one day? My mom does that. I guess that's why I do.
 

Two weeks ago, (before the flu, the relapse of the

Read more ...

Things This Mom Doesn't Find Time For

Do you ever feel like there's not enough time in the day?
Twenty-four hours. Most days I'm awake for 20 hours a day. That's right. Four hours of sleep! And still, still there's shit I don't get done.
Here's my list of things I don't find time for.
1. I'm so pissed, I haven't seen Vampire Diaries and Supernaturals since last season.

2. I've been trying to re-read a book since April 2nd and just can't get to chapter 3.

3. I have no time for water. Around here, I have to hide and drink water. Otherwise I end up with a teeny tiny tot hand in my glass or a tantrum from a tot that wants my bottle. Or I put my bottle down for a minute and Sabrina disappears with it cause it's easier to

Read more ...

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Would you date a man who lived with his Mama?

When I came across this question on Skinny Scoop I couldn't help but laugh. Not once, but twice I married men who lived with their mama.

Both times it's been a completely different experience.

My Ex, oh what can I say about that man . . . He was a selfish, lazy party animal who never grew up and to this day does not understand the concept of responsibility. As a matter of fact, he's gone back to living with his mama. But I've got to thank him for two things.

#1 Our daughters, who made every day of my life worth living and gave me a reason to set goals and surpass them.

#2 I became such a pro at masturbation, I can do it hands free. Came in handy when I wanted to put on a show

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Winds of Change

I feel that when I came to these realizations, it brought me mental wellness, it made me see life, my life, in a whole new light.
Recent interactions that lead me to writing this post
My girlfriend Wendy recently said to me, "V, I've got to wonder, how much more does God expect you to take? Is God waiting to see how much it will take to break you or trying to make you stronger?"

A post by my friend Christal: Meaningless! Meaningless!

The below tweet by Tara of Tara Sophia Mohr | Wise Living, Retweeted by Big Girl Branding
@BigGirlBranding

RT @tarasophia It's true: when one door closes, another opens. But sometimes you've got to close the door so that life can open a new

Read more ...

Friday, April 27, 2012

Coach me, Track me, Get on my ass...I need it

The Accountability Begins
I'm kinda freaked.

My RetroFitMe package arrived.

It means I need to start. I need to get my butt in gear.

It means, I'm going to have help.

True, hubby has tried his damnedest. But the accountability part he'd fail at. Not because he wouldn't get in my face...I had issues whenever he did.

My husband has a no-bullshit policy and sometimes it makes his tone of voice really piss me off.

So I find I'm grateful for the support and reminders, but it's not good for us to have him on my ass.

So many jokes, so little time...

So later this morning is setup time. I'm thinking I'll take screenshots of the process and share.

See the wicked looking devices? The little

Read more ...

New Purpose

Yeah I know, it's looking kinda plain around here.

There's a reason for that.

I needed to get this post out now.

I need to share it with my blogging crew.

I need to get it out there and let you all know...

I'm from Mars.

Kidding.

I'm a failure.

Yep, that's it.
Evaluation of Life
For the past year, while I've been designing blogs, creating affiliate sites, planning and building the women only blogzine, tweeting, liking, 1+ing and writing posts to help my fellow blogging peeps, I've been neglecting something very important, myself.

And by extension, my family.

My health has gone to shit and i'm pretty sure I'm dragging my family with me.

Summer and Spring passed while we did

Read more ...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Why I Will Not Comment On "Big Blogs" Anymore

I read a really awesome post this morning over at Mama Wants This where Alison talks about the lack of commenting. Now I've got to tell you, I love Alison's writing voice and I've been reading her blog on and off for a bit, but I never would comment because she does have a good volume of comments on her posts. Seeing the number count deterred me in the past from commenting. I'll be truthful here, I never commented before because I didn't expect her to respond.

Yes, I know, when you assume shit you make an ass out of blah blah blah.

But recently I read a post that I had to comment on and when I looked at the comments section, I realized Alison does respond to comments. I know it sounds

Read more ...

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

How I learned my workout sucks

What this mama doesn't have is time to waste. Seriously. I also don't have money to burn but I'm working on that. ;). My point is I'm one wicked busy mom and though making the nutrition change is going pretty good and fairly easy, finding time for fitness is pretty damn hard.

 

Truth is, finding time for fitness has been hard for the past two years since my little girl was born. With two toddlers on my hands and a crazy need to work my butt off now so I can be a laptop mom later,

Read more ...

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Why Darren's Blogging Method Doesn't Work For Me

Lessons Learned From THE ProBlogger
Almost 2 years ago when I joined the SITS Girls 31 days to a better blog challenge, I learned amazing strategies from Darren's book. Some of them I implemented, some of them I didn't. But that's how it is when you learn from others. You pick and choose what methods works for you. You take their guidance and build your foundation and then continue building as you develop your own methods.

They say a good way to be as successful as the guy with the 6 figure income is to copy exactly what he did. But I can't go that route. Not that I wouldn't like a 6 figure income cause I'd be a bloody fool to not, but because I, like many, have the need to do our own

Read more ...

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Secret Mommy-hood Confession Saturday

I miss sharing me here so I figured I join in on the fun:
Kim asks:

*What sacrifices have you made since becoming a parent?

Ha! That list is so bloody long...

And it's not even since becoming a parent, it's since becoming a parent of toddlers AGAIN.

When the teens were toddlers, I was in my early 20s and really had no life outside of them and work. Probably cause I had no money. ha!

As the girls got older and I became the smancy fancy color guru, things changed.

I had a wicked salary.

I had GNOs.

Hubby and I would head out to Josie's Pub on Waverly place to shoot pool and drink.

I got my nails done.

I got my eyebrows done.

I got my hair done twice a

Read more ...

Friday, April 20, 2012

Friday Blogger Follow: Moms Who Flash

As my tweeps know, on #FollowFriday I like recommending bloggers. Those bloggers who I find are just awesome. But 140 characters is not enough to sing the praise those bloggers deserve. So I grabbed a meme from John Paul Aquiar, who happens to be my favorite twitter go-to guy, and I’ve twisted it to fit my own weird needs.

So, of course us bloggers, especially the ones I read, have blogging skills. But some of them, ok many of them, not only express themselves through words, but through

Read more ...

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Basic Blog Post SEO Tips

Basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips For Your Blog Posts
SEO, SEO, SEO.
Once you become a blogger, you see this bloody acronym every where.

What's so important about it? Does it matter to me?

That depends. How important is website traffic to you? If you're looking to gain exposure for your blog posts, having your blog found in search engines is a big plus. People searching for specific terms that relate to your posts will be able to find you.

Blog posts are naturally search

Read more ...

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Tuesday's Tear Sheet: Use Your Blogger Voice To Be Inspiring

For those who aren’t familiar with Tear Sheets, in the photographic imaging industry, a tear sheet is a promotion piece used by creatives to prove to clients that they’ve been published. For photographers and other creatives, it’s a printed piece, usually a reproduction of the magazine ad that their work was published for.

It's my second Tuesday Tear Sheet and though I do have new work I wanted to share with you, I won't. I spent today being inspired by the words and voices and videos

Read more ...

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Going from Blog to Biz and Giving Out Freebies

Giving it Away, an Investment in Your Business
Believe it or not, the first thing you do when you launch a new service or product is, you give it away. For free. Yep.

Promotional giveaways are nothing new in business. Or in blogging.

In business you'll find software + apps that allow you to try their services for free for 30 days, supermarkets giving away samples of a new product, hair salons offering free eye brow waxing with your next purchase.

In blogging you'll find giveaways of

Read more ...

Friday Blogger Follow: Rockin' Writers

Friday Blogger Follow is Back!
As my tweeps know, on #FollowFriday I like recommending bloggers. Those bloggers who I find are just awesome. But 140 characters is not enough to sing the praise those bloggers deserve. So I grabbed a meme from John Paul Aquiar, who happens to be my favorite twitter go-to guy, and I'm twisted it to fit my own weird needs.

SideNote: John hosts a Follow Friday Top 10 List where he lists twitter using who he finds to use twitter the right way. There's always a

Friday Blogger Follow: Rockin' Writers

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Mompreneur Growing Pains

Growing A Home Business Requires...
Dedication

Skills

Focus

Bloody Focus.

Something I preach to clients about a lot.

Do I practice what I preach?

Did my lying, cheating 1st, now ex husband, lose his johnson?

I've got too many ideas in the noggin and enough skills to kick ass, so I have trouble focusing on ONE thing to build my business.

See, I can focus on YOUR business because there's no emotional attachment. I know what you need and I know how to get it done.

Yeah,

Mompreneur Growing Pains

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

7 Easy Ways To Screw Yourself Out Of Google Traffic

Happy Wednesday People!

If you're a new visitor, then you may not know this, but I've got some kick ass seo skills.

Yes, yes I do.

Today, I'm going to share with you common mistakes each and every blogger has made at some point with their blog. If you don't care about getting visits from search engines, then you can sit this one out.

Ninety Nine percent of the income from this blog comes from visitors showing up via search engine.

Interested in similar results? Wondering if

7 Ways To Screw Yourself Out Of Search Engine Traffic

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Tuesday's Tear Sheet

It is Tuesday, right?

Well since it's Tuesday and I wanted to start a new series of posts, I figured a spin on tear sheets would be a great way to share what I've been working on design-wise and introduce y'all to new bloggers I've come across. I'd like to really keep up this new series and when I don't have anything of my own to share, I hope to share the work of others. Speaking of series, Friday Blogger Follow is returning, so please drop by this Friday to learn of some of the new

New WordPress Design

Monday, April 09, 2012

No Time For Mom's Health? There is Hope

If today were three months ago, I would have said "I'm so happy to find so many moms just like me."

Today...today I can't say that, because it saddens me. A week ago I wrote a post about the big blogger butt blues.

I won't lie, I'm happy that so many entered, but I've got to tell you, at the same time, reading through the comments, breaks my heart.

So many women, dwelling in the land I lived for 4 years. A land that where everyone but me came first.

Is this the life you're

No Time For Mom's Health? There is Hope

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Why These People Are Not My Bloggy Friends

For most of my life I lived in Brooklyn. More specifically on the border of Brooklyn and Queens, in a neighborhood named Ridgewood. Five years ago, I left Brooklyn to live in the Bronx. Present hubby lived and worked here since he moved to NYC. I was working in Manhattan. I could commute from anywhere. His commute from Brooklyn to the Bronx was almost 2 hours per trip and so he stayed at his old place while I procrastinated about moving. The Bronx actually has some pretty good schools, the

Why These People Are Not My Bloggy Friends

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Husbands just make me crazy

Ok, not all husbands, just my husband. I love the man, but God, he is stubborn.

Will he leave the room when I request it?

First he'll say why and then he'll say I'm crazy and THEN he will sit his butt right there and not move.

And yes I know I tend to be a bit irrational about my requests, I mean we are married, why the heck should I ask him to leave the room when I change? I had no problem being naked and showing off my wares before. Hello, we have two kids.

And yes I know he

Read more ...

Is there a Fashion Expert on Plus Sizes in the House? (Featured Members Post on Mom Bloggers Club)

This is a post I originally wrote on my other Blog during May 2011. I wanted to share it here since I want you to know how I was feeling almost one year ago. Because I know at least one of you can relate. I tried doing it on my own and it didn't work at all. Here's where I was last year. Here is where my mind was last year. Tell me, have you ever been in this place?
Fashionable Plus Sizes
Conversation with hubby.

"That's cute" he says while pointing in the window of New York & Company.

Read more ...

Monday, April 02, 2012

I don't wanna get on the damn scale

Pardon me while I whine. It's really truly the fear talking.

Two days ago, I stepped on the wifi scale and found that in the 6 weeks I've been on the Retrofit program, I've lost 9 lbs.

I've never lost that much without starving myself or having to battle not to eat certain foods.

I'm freakin amazed I tell 'ya.

Huh, I remember when I was on atkins and the 2lbs was a huge victory. Nine? I'm still stunned.

And now I'm scared. I'm scared to get back on the damn scale and learn it was

Read more ...

Ever screwed up your diet?

You can't make me work out today!
Try as hard as you can.


[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Photo Credit: Steve-h via Compfight"][/caption]

Remind me of

How I've lost 14 pounds in 8 weeks.
How I've been feeling energized.
How I kicked ass yesterday and ran up and down stairs to catch trains without losing my breath.(According to my trusty Fitbit I climbed 13 staircases by 9am)
How proud my Retrofit exercise coach will be when she checks my Retrofit

Read more ...

7 Reasons Why A Brand Logo Kicks Blog Header Butt

Yes, I know. Mom bloggers have beautifully designed, detailed headers.

Huge masterpieces that say "this is me".

Anything wrong with that?

No.

Unless, you know, you're going pro with your blog.

I'm not saying you can't keep your header. I'm saying you need a logo too and if it's a choice between one or the other, and you're running your blog as a business, you better get you a damn logo.

And by the way, don't get your blasted panties in a bunch if you're writing to "just

Branding your blog

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Got the Big Blogger Butt Blues?

Is Your Butt Getting Bigger From Blogging?
Mine sure as hell has.

Bloody occupational hazard I tell you.

If you're like me and have kids to care for while working from home, you may be sitting on your butt a lot with the kids or at your desk.

Even before blogging, when I worked in the city, most of my day was spent sitting behind a desk.

I've got a pair of size 11 jeans that haven't fit in 4 years.

I couldn't even get them up my thighs because my legs had gained so

Read more about my weight-loss journey ...

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Is there a Fashion Expert on Plus Sizes in the House? (Featured Members Post on Mom Bloggers Club)

Fashionable Plus Sizes
Conversation with hubby from 2 weeks ago.

"That's cute" he says while pointing in the window of New York & Company. This coming from hubs who hates shopping and couldn't by himself a shirt if he only had two to choose from.

"Sure it's cute, just like babies, kittens and miniature whatevers."

"What does that stuff have to do with clothes?"

"Everything small, is cute. Notice the size of those Mannequins? They make Natasha look fat and she's barely 25

Read more ...

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Blasted Blogger Comment Captchas

Is it just me or are these Blogger Commenting Captchas getting harder to read? I really wanted to leave a comment on a blog this morning, had to reload the Captcha 4 times before i got something I can read.

Dear peeps on Blogger, I love your blog, I want to comment, but your captcha and the fact that disqus can be buggy, throws me off.

If you're planning on staying on Blogger forever, then check out:

http://comluv.com/download/commentluv-blogger/

It's free.

It will encourage more

Blasted Blogger Comment Captchas

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Mother's Day Mania Birth Story

Still on Mama M's Mother's Day Mania Blog Hop and today's topic is . . .Birth Stories. Yep, those horror stories that make single women look for alternative ways to have kids without actually "having" them. Actually I have a doozy of a horror story that I told about my last delivery, but I'm not going to tell that one. Mainly because I think I scared my best friend Mirei into not wanting to go through childbirth. SO instead I'll give you the highlights from my 3rd pregnancy.

It had been 10

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Reassessing Why and How I Blog

You'll learn not a damn thing in this post today.

Instead you may find something you can relate to.

And I can truly use and would appreciate your feedback on the major change I'm planning to make.
Blogging and Life
I've been stretching myself thin.

Many of my favorite fellow bloggers ask how do you do it all?

I'm not and yet, I've stretched myself so thin lately, I seriously needed a time out.

But it's so hard to do. When you're pushing for that dream, it's hard to let up,

Blogging and Life

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Mind Your Social Media Manners Please

So some knew this rant was coming.

But I won't rant.

Instead I'll be positive. (Let's see how many bloody paragraphs I can get through without bitching)
I'll share the social media manners I socialize by on Twitter
So YOU, not all of you, but YOU know who YOU are, can get a bloody clue.
Twitter Manners
Twitter makes it easy to search other like minded peeps by adding keywords in the search field.

If you're using a twitter client such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or MarketMeSuite, these

Mind Your Social Media Manners Please

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Bloody Facebook Timelines

I get that change is good. Really, I do.

I have no issues when twitter makes changes or when there's ANOTHER WordPress update.

But Facebook changes always get on my bloody nerves.

And no, Facebook isn't really free. We use it in exchange for sharing our info which Facebook uses to sell advertising space, so don't you bloody dare tell me it's free and I should put up with it.

I swear I'd shut the friggin account down again if it weren't for the fact that I like new boots.
Facebook
Read more About Facebook Timelines...

Friday, March 16, 2012

Ever feel like you've forgotten how to blog?

Blogs, Podcast and Pins...oh my!
I definitely feel like I have.

I mean, over at http://vanitacyril.com I do share the inside scoop on how life is going, but I haven't been doing that here on my baby.

How did this come to pass?

check out my very first podcast!
listen to ‘the Unprofessional mom blogger’ on Audioboo

Are you done making fun of me?

Great!

I gotta tell you, it was super easy to make and a great break from being as graphics obsessed as I've been lately between

Ever feel like you've forgotten how to blog?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

How @KevinRose is Kicking My Butt

It's Thursday and I've become a bit graphic obsessed lately. It's all this wordpress blog theme designing with no client in mind. It's pretty damn hard, but the shop is finally up (with a huge bonus of a free download of WordPress 101 Video Tutorials for my WordPress Newbies)!

Now it's time to get back to blogging and I've been wanting to write a post for days, but my brain is still stuck on graphics so I was considering an infographic instead. Then I came across http://visual.ly/twitter

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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

My first weeks of being a WAHM

The Working Mom
I've been a working mom for 14 years. True, I've worked longer than that, but my oldest is almost 15.

During those 14 years I've missed quite a lot.

Vanessa's first recitation of the alphabet.
The first time Sabrina sat up.
Sabrina's first time crawling.
Vanessa's first ice cream cone.
Chaperoning school trips.
Daily convos on the way home from school.
Several award ceremonies.
Damian's "Firsts" until the age of 2.
The first time Natasha crawled.
And,

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Sunday, March 11, 2012

YaY! You Moved to WordPress Self Hosting! What now?

Congrats on making the move to complete independence!

As a companion to my last post The Ultimate Why and HOW-TO leave your free blog behind! Here's a list of must have free WordPress plugins and what they're for! There's a link for the first plugin, but the rest can be found by using the search function at Plugins > Add New from your WordPress dashboard.

ReplyMe - Sends an email to your commenter that a response was made to their comment. Super easy to set up. Not available from the

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Wednesday, March 07, 2012

The Ultimate WHY and HOW-TO Leave That Free Blog Behind!

If you're still on the fence about moving your blog...
...I'm about to share with you

Blogs That Disappear
Moving Fears and Doubts - Google Friend Connect and Facebook Like Button
Financial Investment -Domain, Hosting, Design
How to move to from Blogger to WordPress Self Hosted
How to move from WordPress.com to WordPress Self Hosted
How To Move Your RSS Feed, Networked Blogs and a few other gadgets
Wrapping Up the Move
How To Configure Your WordPress Menu

Blogs That

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Thursday, February 23, 2012

You Can Just Shove Your Guest Post

Well, not You, you. Them you. No, I'm not drunk, however my mango juice may be going bad and i'm wondering if, like rotting fruit, it now has some alcohol in it.

Anyway...
The Guest Post Offer You Need To Say No To
I keep saying I'm going to tell y'all about this and then the avalanche of "shit to-do" hits me and it doesn't happen.

Life is busy.

Sometimes we get overwhelmed. Like me trying to design 7 WordPress themes in 7 days...who the hell was I kidding? It's day 5 and I've only

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Friday, February 17, 2012

Can you go from blog to business?

Are you capable of running your blog as a business?
In my post "Why not turn your blog into a business?" I chatted about our natural marketing power as bloggers and asked these questions:

Are you posting on a schedule?
Are you promoting your posts?
Are you building strong relationships with other bloggers?
Are you sharing your expertise, your experience, your tips?

And as I mentioned, if you're already doing these things, you're well on your way.
How I run my blog as a

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Secrets, Sisterhood and Blogging Selfishly Again

My Dirty Little Secret
Would you believe it if I told you I have 9 websites.

Yes, nine. It was 11, then I added a new one 2 days ago and took down 3 today. Those were three of my eight niche marketing sites. No personal branding at all. There are 5 left. As the income slows down from them, since I'm not paying much attention to them, I'll take them down. I should put up more, as this is what other niche marketers do, but I don't want to be a niche marketer, I just wanted to experience how

Secrets, Sisterhood and Blogging Selfishly Again

Business 2 Blogger