Am I A Hoarder?!

Yep..So I need some insight. I think I might have a problem. I think I may be a "baby" hoarder. I say "baby" hoarder as opposed to a regular full grown hoarder because I am not like pooping in  the only open corner of my bedroom nor do I have cat carcasses hidden among a mess. I just have a lot of stuff and I have a hard time getting rid of old stuff to make room for the new. And no I don't collect garbage or have trouble throwing trash out. I am clean but just cluttered with lots of nice and useful items.

One of the biggest issues is clothing. I legit have clothes that is ten years old. What's even crazier than that is the fact that some still have the tags on them. The other clothing issue is that my weight flucuates and I am pretty sure I own about 6 different sizes. I am still hopeful that I will be super skinny again and don't want to get rid of the awesome clothes that have never been worn so when I do lose that weight I will have awesome stuff without spending a dime. Silly I know because everyone tells me if I lose that much weight I will want to go out and buy a completely new wardrobe. I just have trouble parting with fabulous stuff.

The next issue is the fact that I am an avid crafter. I actually make a pretty good living selling my creations and I feel like I might need everything eventually for some sort of project. What project? I don't know but every item could be used for "some" possible project. I threw out tons of stuff once and then sure enough a week later I could have used some of the things I threw out. This really bothered me.

Finally and this is going to sound super strange I have an obsession with things in bulk. As far as clothing goes it I find a perfect top I need it in every color or if it's only available in one color it takes every ounce of strength not to buy a second. But this obsession goes with other things as well such as let's say pens. If I needed pens I wouldn't just go out and buy a normal pack of BIC I would go to Office Max and get the box of pens that was enough for a whole office. And forget like Sam's Club or Price Club, going in there is my dream. Everything in bulk!! Sigh...What the "f" is wrong with me?!

So are there any other borderline hoarders out there in blogging land? Please tell me I am not the only one with this weird issue. If I am, don't worry your pretty little heads because I assure you my place does not look like this:

Now that you can breathe a little easier, have a happy Monday!! xoxo

The Look Of Pure Joy

We took Liv to see the Disney Junior Live Pirate & Princess show last night at Nassau Coliseum. It was a complete surprise. We didn't tell her until we were leaving and she was overjoyed and could barely contain her excitement.

She was a little overwhelmed by the crowds walking around but once we found our seats she was fine and was loving the Jake & Sofia music playing in the background. Once the show started she was completely immersed in the world of Disney Junior. You can see her love and joy for what she was seeing in the collage below.

She looks so happy, right?!

Obviously that's a joke!! She was having a blast but you'd never be able to tell from the photos. She seriously has me cracking up with these photos. You would never believe that she was watching this:

I swear she did have fun!! Evidence below!! This kid just doesn't like taking photos. Hmph! xoxo

Fab Mail, Jewelry & New Designs - My Week So Far

Hi love bugs! Happy hump day!! Hope you are all having a fabulous week. My week, has been good, pretty uneventful. Just working and enjoying my girl. I can say it has been an awesome mail week so far. I received the Erin Condren life planner I ordered. A little late for the year, I know but I am in love with it!! I know with technology we shouldn't need a physical planner but I really do. I have so many little random things going on that I need a good planner to keep track of it all.

I also received my IWYP by Whitney Ellen unicorn shirt. The packaging alone was enough to make me smile, let alone the awesome softness and quality of the shirt itself. It is definitely going to be a new staple in my wardrobe.

I got to do a mini photo session to show off one of my fave jewelry designs for the season. This long seed bead necklace with bold cross pendant. What do you think?! This design and many other spring/summer designs can be found here.

I am also forced to think ahead owning several Etsy shops. I am starting to work on some Mother's Day frames for Oh So Foo Foo. Here's one of the designs I came up with, many more to come in the upcoming week.

Well, that about sums up the most exciting parts of my week so far. I have an exciting next two days coming up. Tomorrow evening we are taking Olivia to see The Disney Pirate/Princess Show at Nassau Coliseum and I know she will be thrilled!! And then Friday I am finally having my hair done. Woohoo!!! Touch base with you guys then! xoxo

Contemplating Disney & A Totally Awesome Disney Giveaway

It's about that time. Olivia is 2 which means it's time to start thinking about possibly planning a trip to Disney. Without a doubt this is going to be an expensive trip especially since we will want to do it "right" and feel like we have no restrictions. We will need at least a year, possibly more to save and plan so Liv would be around 3, possibly a little older. For those of you who have brought your children to Disney is that a good age or should we wait until she is even older? I would love to hear your thoughts.

But before you let me know your thoughts on the best age for Disney, are you ready for the happiest giveaway ever???!!! My blogger friends and I have teamed up to bring you a fabulous Disney Giveaway this month. Two lucky winners will receive Disney gift cards that can be used on an upcoming Disney vacation, Disney Store purchase and more!

GIVEAWAY

Prizes: $500 Disney Gift Card & $100 Disney Gift Card (can be used at Disney Theme Parks and Resort Hotels, on Disney Cruise Line, at Disney Store, DisneyStore.com, at DisneyMusicStore.com and beyond)

Organized by: Oh My Gosh Beck!

Co-hosts: This Mama Loves ♥ Food Folks and Fun ♥ Momma T and Family  ♥ alex à la mode ♥ Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys ♥ Parenting In Northern Kentucky ♥ Barbara's Beat ♥ Peanut Butter and Whine ♥ Jenns Blah Blah Blog ♥ StushiGal Style ♥ The Missing Niche ♥ Faithful Acres Books ♥ SmartySaver ♥ OC Deal Mama ♥ Stacy's Savings ♥ A Purpose Driven Wife ♥ Mom In Love Forever

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter form to enter daily. Besides the mandatory blog comment entry, all other entries are optional. Giveaway ends 4/30 and is open worldwide.

Are you a blogger who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your blog? Click here to find out how you can join an awesome group of bloggers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Netflix..I Got A Bone To Pick With You

My new releases now consist of all kids movies with a random adult movie or two thrown in.

Netflix, I do love you but as a parent I have a major bone to pick with you. I think it's fabulous that there's a "regular" Netlix and a "kids" netflix. The kids section is perfect for my girl but when it is night time and time for the adults to watch a movie why oh why when I am in the "regular" Netflix section are all the movie options kids movies?!!

I have lists that go like this: because you watched Turbo, because you watched The Hungry Caterpillar, because you watched Jake and The Neverland Pirates. There are no horribly fabulous B-grade horror flicks on those lists. And I didn't watch those, my girl did!! Those should be the lists in "kids" section not my adult section!! Ahhh!! Such frustration!!

To make matters worse, the new releases and recently added are 75% kids flicks. So we ultimately have like 20 choices compared to the 100 or so we used to have. Of course we can search for movie titles but we usually don't know what we are looking for, we depended on the lists of movies that were listed pre-child.

Doesn't anyone else share this frustration with me?! I always loved the vast array of strange titles that one can find on Netflix, I just want my weird movie lists back!!

Movin' On Up...

My brain is overflowing with ideas and I can barely contain myself. I am working on a lot of new projects that I cannot wait to share. A lot of them semi-revolve me having a successful blog.

Not too long ago, I was expressing my frustration with getting a bigger following but I have been working my booty off and have been noticing a difference.  I am getting more daily views and more comments. I am super excited but I work really hard each day for these little accomplishments.

What am I doing differently? I am making an honest effort to read and thoughtfully comment on as many blogs as possible. Not everyone returns the love but many do and it's worth it. I am now forming blogging relationships and getting some "regulars."

I am also constantly on the lookout for good blogs to sponsor. This has been tricky but advantageous when I find the right one. It's a tough decision between sponsoring a "big" blogger or a smaller blogger. The big blogs are often expensive to sponsor and they don't usually give as much love as some smaller blogs. I think some take on more sponsors than they can handle a month.  Granted they get more traffic but I have felt like I paid a ton of money and never got an email or learn they don't even follow me on my social media platforms. Smaller bloggers may not get the fabulous traffic but I am constantly feeling loved on social media and it drives more people to me. If you guys know some great blogs to sponsor (large or small), let me know!!

I am also participating in group giveaways again. This is another tricky one because there is a fine balance between having a lot of good giveaways for your fans and giveaways becoming most of your content. My tip for this is to constantly change who you do giveaways with and choose carefully. Say you want to build your twitter following and do a giveaway with the same blog every month. By month three a lot of the people entering that giveaway probably follow you already from the prior giveaways so either change up your giveaway option or jump in to a different giveaway with totally different bloggers.  Just my thoughts.

Lastly, it comes down to good content regularly. I am trying to write 5 days a week and about things I would want to read about. I find myself scrolling down my Bloglovin' feed and skip 80% of the posts. I then ask myself what makes me stop and read the other 20%? I then try to incorporate those factors in my posts. This will be different for everyone but that's what helps you find your niche.

Is my blog where I want it to be yet? No, not at all but I am getting steady growth and am on my way. I just have to stick with what I mentioned above and I have a feeling I will be there before I know it! I am also open to your advice, what helped your blog grow?! xoxo

Awkward Blogger Problem #2: The Need To Document Everything

A couple weeks ago I wrote about Awkward Blogger Problem #1: Needing An Abundance of Self Portraits. You can go back and check out that post: here. Well, I came up with another: the need to document and photograph everything. This isn't a big deal if you are in the privacy of your own home and documenting say doing a craft or trying a recipe. It becomes super weird when you are out in public, well at least for me.

For example, I took a glass fusing class for friend's birthday last week. I mentioned it in one of my posts but ideally I would have loved to write a post solely on that. Problem is I felt too awkward snapping a bunch of pics as we worked, let alone take notes. I managed to sneak a selfie of my sis and I in our safety glasses and got a photo of my work of art but that was it. The location we were at was so awesome, I wanted to walk around and take loads of photos but feared the judging eyes of all non-bloggers. Instead, I played "normal" and took photos of only what everyone else did. Reality is nobody probably would have thought much of it but I was just too self-conscious.

My husband on the other hand loves to call me out when taking photos. If we got something cool and unique to eat and I try to sneak a pic, he is like "why do you need a picture of that?" Or when we were at the aquarium last weekend and I was trying to take tons of photos both for the blog and just for memories with our daughter he was impatient and saying "why do you need so many photos?' Don't get me wrong, he really is the nicest guy but non-bloggers don't get it, we need to document and photograph everything even if it isn't being shared. It's just the way we are made.

So please say I am not the only one who feels awkward constantly taking a million photos and taking notes? I am a photographer so I can get away with it to a degree. People just figure I love taking tons of photos because it's my passion and it is but they just don't understand that sometimes I just NEED them.  What about you? Do you feel weird about it or do you just not give a f*&k about what others think? xoxo