WIWW- Creative Estates

This weekend I had every intention of taking pictures of all of my outfits and having the best WIWW ever. Um I failed. I was so distracted by all I was doing and all of the fun I was having. So, I have 2 out of 5 outfits for you to see.

Friday Morning-Afternoon.
Shirt- Old Navy
Skirt- Forever 21
Shoes- Target
Necklace- Bought years ago and refashioned by me.
Clutch- Olive Blue

Friday Night. At the end of the night, hence the messy hair.
Shirt- Forever 21
Jeans- Target
Boots- Ross
Headband- Rock-A-Bow

Thanks to Sandy A La Mode and all of her pictures she took of us this weekend, I have a shot where you can see one more outfit. Now this picture was take at the end of the day Saturday after we were running through the rain loading up our stuff, so I am a mess. Now that you have my disclaimer...

Shirt- Anthropologie
Super Skinny Jeans- Target

Aren't my friends super cute? That is Nicole (Olive Blue) and Lindsay (AisletoAloha)

Just What I Needed {Creative Estates}

I am sitting here staring at the screen trying to think of what to say. Do you ever have those moments where you have so much to say that you don't know where to start? That is exactly where I am right now.

Creative Estates was amazing. It was just what I needed. For the past few months I have been struggling. Struggling with trying to compete, trying to compare and trying to balance it all. Wouldn't you know that those are the exact topics that were covered at Creative Estates.

There were panels of amazing women sharing on topics that I really needed to hear about. What I took home?

- Get a notebook and plan for both Short Term and Long Term goals. Keep those goals and ideas all in one place. When I write things down it will help to make those ideas more concrete in my mind.

-Keep one calendar. Use this calendar for family, business, personal, church. You name it, it goes on this one calendar. This will help to balance personal and business.

-Don't measure my success based on other people and their business. Set my own goals and strive to meet them in my own time.

-Decide what I want to be known for. I do not want to be a mom who's always facing the computer screen. I do not want to be a business owner who has kids but a mommy who happens to have a business.

-There will always be competition. If I don't want to deal with competition then the handmade world is not for me.

I also learned a ton about PR. I have a lot of goals written down in my little notebook. Lots of ideas and things to reach for. So excited to start on this new venture.

Photography...I sat in the seminar and well, I suck! Ha! The panel was amazing and so sweet. They helped me with my camera. Personally showed me how to change things and take a phenomenal picture. I did great, see:


Then I came home to show off my skills to my husband and well it was an epic fail. Just look at this.
What happened? It will be okay. I took good notes and I will practice. Eventually I will be posting photos for you that were not shot by my husband or on full auto.

I wish I could put into words all of the other great things that I learned. I am so stuck trying to put it all together. I left Arizona feeling excited, inspired and ready to take on the next level of my blog and my business. I left there feeling that I am enough and able balance my family and my business without letting either one down. Creative Estates was just what I needed. A breathe of fresh air.

I {Heart} Mondays-Creative Estates Style

 

As most of you know, this past weekend I attended a creative blogging conference, Creative Estates. It was an amazing event. I learned a ton, I bought and received some great products, I sold some products and got my name out and I met some amazing women who I’m sure will be lifelong friends.

With so much to talk about, I have decided not to try and cover it all in one post. Instead I will spread it out over this week. Starting with this I {Heart} Mondays post. Let me show you some of the stuff I got this weekend, (some I purchased, some I traded for and some I was just given), and tell you about the wonderful women behind the product. This isn’t even including the AWE-some swag that I was given!

First up is Olive Blue or Nicole Milkie. Olive Blue is a Ladies and Babies Boutique with some super cute stuff. Obviously my favorites are the items I got but she also has some super cute cowls and baby leg warmers that I am dying to get my hands on. The items that I did get though are a zippered pouch and a little nester hair clip. I wore the little nester on Saturday and got a ton of compliments. The pouch? I cannot say enough about it. I LOVE IT! The flower, which Nicole designed and created herself, is the perfect touch to an already fun product.

Next, Amy Cornwell. Amy has some adorable things. I got these super cute earrings. I love the contrast of the two bright and fun colors. I think they would really cutesy up a plain white or black outfit, don’t you? Amy also has stamped jewelry in her shop that is to die for. I am drooling over a few items right now. Passing the link onto my hubby for future shopping. In fact, I have a few items tagged on my desktop as we speak. I hope he spots them.

Then there is Jacqui at Craftee McGee’s. Oh, how I love my new necklace and headband. Love the knitted bow on the headband. I usually would not wear something so big. I am very timid about those things but this bow is ridiculously cute. I am so excited to step out of my comfort zone and sport something so trendy and fun. The rosette statement necklace…don’t even get me started! LOVE!

Oh yes, my new Whippy Cake. I wore my hair in a ponytail Friday night and let me tell you how much this dressed up my “I just walked through a storm” hair. I am so crushing on my hair clip. It took me like 20 minutes to decide which color combo I wanted and of course came back to my usual dark colors. How could I not? Look at this beauty!

Don’t you all just love my new goodies? There’s more cute stuff coming later this week that I received as swag. Maybe tomorrow… we will see.

What’s in my bag…

…and what I’m leaving behind.

Tomorrow morning at 5:30am I will be leaving for Creative Estates. I am super excited. I get to meet a ton of awesome bloggers, many of whom I have become friends with via twitter. I am going to learn and experience so much from/with this community of women.

So with all this being said, the pressure was on to pack all the right stuff and well, I think I over-packed. Here is what I’ve got in my bag.

 

I know this looks like I just shot a picture of a heap of laundry but I promise this is all very organized. I will be in Arizona for 3, ehh 3.5 days and I packed 6 outfits and 4 pairs of shoes. I usually underpack and thought I should shoot a little higher this time around. I am not packing half as much as many of the bloggers I follow, so I don’t feel bad.

 

Then there are the beauty supplies. I limited myself, can you tell? I love me some eyeshadows and I only brought 1 full pallet and 2 travel ones. Ha! Don’t pay any mind to the fact that my eyeshadows and blush are MAC and the rest is whatever I can find on the cheap. That is how I justify spending on my eye make-up.

I know this may look like an advertisement for Sensaria skincare but it’s not. Although if you want amazing skincare products, my friend Tess sells this stuff and she as just as awesome as the product!

Unfortunately, the stuff I am bringing is not half as cute or valuable as the treasures I have to leave behind. My sweet babies. They are actually the reason I am posting about what is packed at 6:30…before I’m even done packing.

I have never left my kids before and this day has been so hard on me. I am going to miss them like crazy. I wanted to blog all about it but instead I am going to go spend the last hours I have at home with them. So off I go, if you see me at Creative Estates, please come say hi. I’d LOVE to meet you!

By His Mercy and Grace

I was not raised a Christian. I mean, my parents told us that we were Christian but we didn't go to church or pray or even speak the name of Jesus Christ. I went to a couple different churches as a teen and even got "saved" a few times. I knew that there was a God and would later see just how much He was actually with me at all times. Hindsight's 20/20, right?

I had a good life and I was a pretty good kid. I was an okay teen. I drank and got into a little bit of trouble. Typical teenage stuff (isn't it sad that these things are typical). I had a boyfriend who my parents forbid me to date. We dated off and on for 6 years. (I can feel my mom's eyes burning into me through the screen right now. I know she is reading this wanting to kick my butt.) Half of it was "love" and half of it was simple rebellion. My parents said not to date him, so of course I wanted to even more.

He was the bad boy at highschool that every girl wanted to date. He chose me though. Oh, what that did for this girl with such low self esteem. He drank, he smoked pot and he slept around. Yes, mom and dad were right, this boy was all kinds of trouble.

I know, I'm talkin' about the ex a lot right now. He is a huge part of my initial testimony though. You see, it was his betrayal...okay maybe his twenty something-th betrayal that pushed me over the edge. I laid in bed crying over my heartbreak one night thinking "There has got to be more to life than this". I heard a voice in my head saying, "there is more than this...there is so much more than this, just follow me". In that moment I chose to change the entire way I was living my life and to seek Him. I mean even if "He" wasn't real, what did I have to lose?

It was only weeks later that Steven messaged me on Myspace, you can read more about that here. He was such a Godsend. I started attending church and instantly handed my life over to the Lord.

One night, during an extremely emotional college group, I laid down on the altar with some of my new friends and wept. I had never been so consumed with anything as I was in the Holy Spirit in that moment. For the first time in my life I felt whole. I felt complete. I felt saved.

I am saved by His grace and His mercy. I now serve an amazingly awesome God.

I cannot wait to share more of my story with you. I cannot wait to show you His hand in my life.

I {Heart} Mondays #6

Alright people, today I am only going to show you one product. Why? Because I love it that much. In fact I would even say that I big pink puffy heart it. That's a whole lotta love goin' on.

You see it's not just a product, it's a cause. This item represents so much. It funds so much. It is so amazing to me because it backs up something I stand so strong for...life.

What on earth am I even talking about? Let me tell you. This Mama Bird Painting by Lindsay from Aisle to Aloha. Lindsay is a part of Handmade with a Purpose and has chosen to donate the funds raised directly to Bowie Crofton and Severna Park Pregnancy Clinic.

I suggest you go straight to the AisletoAloha blog and read all about it. If you feel led, purchase the painting. I know I will be ordering mine soon.

April Fools Prank

I am the meanest wife in the history of the planet. I thought I would show you the kind of shenanigans my husband has to put up with... Steven has a new photography business called eXChange Photo. This morning I created an email account (eXChangePhotography@gmail.com), did a little research and sent him this e-mail. He has not seen it yet. I will update you on Monday with his response.

Steven Murphy,
While browsing the web recently I discovered your blog and was furious to see that my company name was being used. The similarities in the format (eXC) are too obvious to be an accident. Since a lot of hard work went into the development of my company and it's name, I immediately contacted my lawyer. As I suspected you are in violation of copyright infringement. While discussing it with the lawyer he directed me to the Title17 United States Code Chapter 5 which states :
"(a) In General. — Except as otherwise provided by this title, an infringer of copyright is liable for either —

(1) the copyright owner's actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer, as provided by subsection (b); or

(2) statutory damages, as provided by subsection (c).

(b) Actual Damages and Profits. — The copyright owner is entitled to recover the actual damages suffered by him or her as a result of the infringement, and any profits of the infringer that are attributable to the infringement and are not taken into account in computing the actual damages. In establishing the infringer's profits, the copyright owner is required to present proof only of the infringer's gross revenue, and the infringer is required to prove his or her deductible expenses and the elements of profit attributable to factors other than the copyrighted work."

In other words, when my lawyers contact you, you will be responsible for any profits you have made while using this name, as well as damages to myself. I will only be asking for $150 to cover expenses in recovery of the name. Please take the time to discontinue use of this name immediately. Thank you.

Please contact me at

801-523-6987

eXChangePhotography

123 April Fools Lane
Your Wife, CA 92801