Favorite Finds for Week 21 of 2010 & Casual Bloggers Conference

Hey all...

I've decided to move my "Favorite Find" posts to Friday, you know, "Favorite Finds Fridays".  I will probably stop labeling them with the week number...I think you the idea now. And I started it with one goal in mind...to blog at least once a week. But that goal is gone and I'm hoping to blog a lot more. So if you're still interested in my crafty posts, then at least check back on Friday. Please read through the entire post...I didn't have much time to post a lot about crafty stuff I found since I've been blog-stalking so many other blogs and ready great posts that aren't really craft specific. The first two items are so you're not completely disappointed, but trust me, read on, it will be worth your time.

Beautiful Blue House

 Everyday on my way home I pass this beautiful blue house. You can't tell but the property is pretty big, with a gorgeous side and back yard. Well it's been for sale for the past couple of months and other then the fact it's on a busy road, I LOVE this home. But most of all I would love it because I could tell everyone, "we're the AllREDS that live in the BLUE HOUSE!" Yes, I giggle about that every time I say it out loud!! 

Craft Cork Board

This darling cork board was on Greenbean's Crafterole blog. However, you know me...I liked the darling paper flower thumb tacks the most. This blog post is great, she shows you step by step how she made both. 

Chalk Board Paint + Creative Idea = TuTu Cute Idea!

Found another great idea over at Greenbeans Crafts blog. She created this with a canvas and chalkboard paint. Love it!! 

Sony Bloggie Camera

I'm very excited about this new little Sony Bloggie camera. All the time I want to create short/sweet videos on how to do something or show something, but I don't have a video camera and I do not know how to convert video for YouTube, etc. But this little guy, not only takes web ready photos for blogging, but it records video in MP4 format. With it's little USB port, you simply plug it into your computer and you're ready to post to your blog. And yes, it comes the cutest colors around (white, aqua, purple and of course PINK). Did I mention you can rotate the lens 270 degrees and record yourself?? Well, I work for the coolest place that totally loves my blogging abilities that they're purchasing one for me to use. So as soon as I get it and start using it, I'll let you all know how I like it. Check out more information on Sony about this great Bloggie camera. 

Sweet Life in the Valley Blog 

Here I am with my friend Nicki (on my right) and April Atwater owner/author of Sweet Life in the Valley. I felt like such a dork after hanging with her for a while at the Casual Bloggers Conference's Girl's Night Out event.  She mentioned her very cute necklace with an "A" on it. She then mentioned she was speaking and I asked her why, she explained that her blog was Sweet Life in the Valley...eeek I often visit her blog. How cool was it to meet someone in real life that you follow their blog. She was so genuine and cute...loved visiting with her.

CJANE Run Blog
I have to be honest, I'd never heard of the lovely (and talented) Courtney Kendrick (aka CJRun) until the last day of the Casual Bloggers Conference. We debated on whether or not to stay for the closing speakers since they were scheduled from 6:00-8:00 the last night of the conference, but we decided that we'd rather stay then go home and do laundry. Well much to my surprise, Courtney ended up being amazing (even her singing). I learned through her speaking that she was sister to Nie Nie and spoke about how "blogging changed her life". I loved her wit, her spirit and especially her writing. She read a bunch of her favorite posts from her blog and I was captivated. One minute this girl had us laughing our butts off and the next we were crying our eyes out. She touched my soul and I will forever be a huge fan of hers. In fact, I leaned over to Nicki and said, "We have to get our pictures taken with her." I thought if any one picture would sum up what a great bloggers conference and experience this was, it would be that one picture.

I really wanted to share some of the posts she read during her presentation, I couldn't find them all but here are the ones that I could find. Please if you don't have time, at least read the very last one....it's amazing and worthy of your time!!

Ever Evolving

Naughty Trotty 

Customer Service

Manifesto Female: What I Have Learned (Courtney closed with reading this post...loved it!)

Casual Bloggers Conference Blogs

I have a huge list of blogs that I'm not following and enjoying a ton since the CBC10 so I decided I wanted to share the blogs of at least the teachers/speakers I listened to or met at the conference. I hope you find some that interest you too. 

Heather of The Extraodinary Ordinary 

Alisa of Crazyland: Tales from the Motherboard

April of Second Sister Suaviloquy 

Melanie of SugarDoodle

Kristina of Pulsipher Predilections

Blue Cricket Designs

Teresa Collins

Bipolar Beauty Queen

Vanessa of I Never Grew Up

Seagull Fountain

Better in Bulk

Mormon Mommy Blogs

Formerly Phread

Julie of Leelou Blogs

Maria of Two Peas in Their Pod

Sarah of Tech4Mommies

Ashlee of I'm Topsy Turvy

Thanks for reading...as always I'd love to know you stopped by, so please leave me a quick comment!! 

Why do BLOGGERS blog?

First, I have to post this great quote I just read over on Formerly Phread's blog, "Blogging is community. It is the beginning, continuation, and growth of friendships, of relationships, and it establishes a forum that combines our need to connect with the speed at which the digital is taking place in our lives."


Anyway, I am sure I am NOT the first to ask this question...Why do Bloggers blog? Nor will I be the last to try and figure this out. 


But it was plaguing my thoughts lately and so I just had to ask. 


So I did...

I asked on Twitter, Facebook, my BlogFrog Community and Google Groups..."Why do you blog?" I'll share some of those reasons at the end of my post.

After attending the Casual Bloggers Conference this past weekend I realized that many of these amazing women have pretty big followings on their blogs (unlike the 3 or 4 that read mine). And some were saying how they spent 45 minutes to 3 hours blogging a day. However, I knew that could NOT be the norm for a group like this. I imagined many of the women there were just what we called ourselves, Mommy Bloggers. They blog about their life, their family, the events of everyday, their trials and triumphs. I'm sure that most of the bloggers in attendance wish their mothers or husbands would actually read their blog, more then they hoped to gain tons of unknown followers.

I get those that blog for money...meaning they hope that by learning the art of social media that they can increase traffic enough to their site to actually charge for advertising. Money as a motivator always makes sense to me, but makes coming up with daily things to blog about a bit hard, don't you think?

But I learned this past weekend that many of the women there did not make money from their blog, nor did they have much of a desire to do so. That led me to a lot of pondering and a bit of soul searching to figure out this question out.

And this was my conclusion (correct me if I'm wrong):

#1 THERAPY
I've always been a journaler (if that's a word) and find great therapy in writing my thoughts down. I even have a "secret"...more like "private" blog that I keep as a journal. There are times when I ITCH to write...

I don't care where or when, but if I don't write something in my journal it's as if my heart will BURST or my mind will EXPLODE!! I have to put my thoughts...
which by the way fill my head as if I was already writing it down.

So does everyone think in "story form" or just me?

#2 SUPPORT

I believe a really nice side affect of blogging is getting comments and/or emails from reader (aka friends). I've testing this theory really only once when I was stressed about not being a mom and the support that I received after posting it (which was a bit scary was amazing). I was touched and amazed at the love and support and surprised first that someone read my posted, and second because they took the time to reply to me. It was therapeutic.

#3 SHARE

Since many of my good friends are involved in the scrapbook industry like me, we use our blogs to SHARE...to share our creations, the companies we work with, ideas and so much more. But even those that don't use their blogs as a sort of online portfolio do use their blogs to share with friends and family far away what's going on with their lives. In fact, I think sharing is probably the most popular reason a lot of people start blogging and I think that's GREAT!

So that MUST be the other reason all my blogging-sisters share so much on their blogs. They need the support to make it through job loss, grieving, trials, toddlers, diapers, family and so much more!! But then again don't we all need that??

Why do YOU blog?
I asked a few of my friends this question and here were some of their responses...

1. Annette said, "Because life is short, its easy to miss out on the really important stuff and I want to remember it all. Also, to help people that struggle with the same kind of challenges we do."


2. Shemaine said, "I blog to share my artwork with friends and family and to express my creativity."

3. Aphra B said, "I blog to connect with other scrapbookers and to document our lives."


4. Erin B said, "Originally (about 5 yrs ago!!!) I started blogging just to keep track of projects I worked on and so I could share them with friends/family that aren't in town. Now I do that + use it to promote my work and the companies I workwith and also to generate income."

5. Liz Q said, "My blog is like the very large purse I carry everything around in. LOL! I use my blog as a way to share what I'm up to in the scrapbook industry and as a resource and archive. Not all of my posts are about scrapbooking (see Live Healthy Fridays), but it has really become a digital portfolio. I like to follow other people's blogs more than the online galleries like two peas and scrapbook.com. It's just more personal and detailed."

6. Renata (Brazil) said, "I don´t talk about my personal life in my blog... Although I share pages with journalings and pics of my son and my family... My blog is like my "business card" ( is that right???) So I Just share my pages, show some scrapbook products and promote my work and the companies I work with..."


7. Tammy said, "I started blogging 2 years ago as a place to share my work because I liked to partake in challenges, message boards etc.  Now I blog more to attempt to get my work noticed.  Because I live in a small town with no huge scrapbook ties it certainly helps and I have met so many great people!"

8. Akiko (Japan) said, "I started the blog from five years before. It was the purpose to record my hobby and a family things. I think that a blog is a very good advertisement medium. My daughter has autism. In order to let people know the autism, it is good to use my blog. It does not become pain that I blog. There are many some friends who were able to become  acquainted through the blog. I will continue a blog from now on. "

I should probably disclose why I blog...or at least started to blog. I had lost my job a few years back and was told by several people that I should have a blog to feature my scrapbook creations and marketing background...possibly even market my freelance skills for small companies. It eventually just ended up being a place I treated like a "scrapbook" of sorts...especially since I never got personal. I hope it will become more like a journal as I get a little more personal and also do what I originally set out to do with it. Thanks for reading and please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by! 

Do Girls Nights Out Vary by Age?

So bet you're looking at this picture wondering why the heck does Lori have a stick shoved up her nose? Not something you tend to ask yourself very often since I try to avoid putting things up my nose...like sticks, fingers, pencils...pretty much anything.

Anyway, I attended a kick off event last week for the Casual Bloggers Conference they called "Girls Night Out." They had all sorts of fun girls stuff, some of which included make and take projects with the talented Teresa Collins, manicures, lipgloss making, head/hand massages, chair massages and waxing. The cute girls doing the waxings suggested to me and my friend that we try the popular new "nose waxing".

So Nic and I being the fun and crazy girls we are...we were the first to give it a try. You might be saying OUCH...but no worries, it didn't hurt at all. Although I hadn't really considered the "embarrassment" factor of having a stick with wax on it shoved up my nose while we waited for the wax to harden. And then later wondering if it was wise to remove all the hair from our noses...but that's another story and one I probably won't share.

But this little experience made me think...do "Girl's Night Out" celebrations change with age...from dancing and partying to getting your nose hairs waxed. Makes you go hummmmmm!

 

i AM a Mommy Blogger

I'm trying to embrace the fact that I "am" a Mommy Blogger! I've avoided admitting it for some time because I never felt I was truly part of that community. I work outside the home full-time, I have two teenage children and don't write about stinky butts and breast feeding. In fact, I very seldom write about anything personal...which I am hoping to change. However, I'm still first, and foremost a MOM and I BLOG, so I must be a Mommy Blogger! Please bare with me as I try to "find my voice" here on my blog. I've avoided getting personal for so long, focusing on crafty things I do and like around the web. But I quickly learned that wasn't fulfilling and certainly not fun to do. I actually started thinking this was something I had to do to maintain my job...it went from something person to a "job" of sorts. So I'm ready to GET REAL and put myself, my thoughts, my heart out there for my friends around the world to see. So watch out people.

Why did I even start a blog was a question I asked myself several times over the past few days. You see I attended the Casual Bloggers Conference in Sandy, Utah this past few days and it was AMAZING!! But the overwhelming message we continued to hear from many of our speakers was "be true to yourself". People won't enjoy reading your blog if they don't know "who" you are...find your voice, share it! One girl, that spoke in a Niche Blogging panel, April Meeker had me in stitches every time she spoke....in fact, she should have taught a class on her own. Seriously after hearing her talk, I wanted to know "her" and so I hunted down her blog and we became the best of friends (not really, but one day)...but I feel like I know her better because of her blog. She said one of my favorite things the entire conference. She explained that you should be "writing to your ideal reader" and for her that meant her ideal reader was "her". So I thought about that a lot since yesterday and really I guess my ideal reader would be...

• A Mom
• Married to a man that only does exactly what you ask him (when he feels like it of course)
• Works Outside of the Home (or really...we all work whether we leave the home or not)
• Has already lived through the baby phase, but it's been so long they don't remember it and don't talk about it a ton
• Loves her family, but also loves the occasional break from them too!
• Has Teenagers (or is curious what to expect when their cute little ones become one)
• Smart, but doesn't feel like it very often. 
• Driven to try and do anything, at the sacrifice of sanity and sleep.
• Wishes they had more money (to shop of course)
• Loves to be creative in every realm of her life
• Doesn't appear to be organized, but can find whatever she needs under all the piles
• Her friends both online and off matter a ton to her
• Belief in God is threaded through everything she does (by default)
• Loves to be inspired by good movies, good stories and good people. 
• Wishes they had more time
• Cries about anything that touches her heart and spirit
• Enjoys technology, but only in the sense it makes her life easier and connects her to her friends!
• Cannot wait for the next adventure, phase or whatever you call it in her life

So I suppose I'm with April, my ideal reader would be ME too! And I'm okay calling myself a Mommy Blogger, so I hope you enjoy the change and I'd love to hear what you think by leaving me a comment.