Blogger Buddies

I am competitive. 

Majorly. 

I've calmed down over the years, thank goodness, mostly because of my great husband. But, I ain't gonna lie. (and, yes, I know ain't ain't a word...) When I first started blogging, I was only concerned about the success of my blog. Quickly, however, I learned that the best bloggers are the ones who are helping other bloggers while growing their blog. In fact, the more encouraging you are to others, the more successful your blog can be. It's like a network of support from people you've never even met! How great is that?

In this day in age, where everything seems cut-throat, it's nice to be a part of something that is bigger than just me. It's taught me to look for ways to encourage and spur others towards achieving their best. 

So, even though my blog isn't world famous, yet :), I wanted to introduce some special ladies to you that I just love! I believe they are all fantastic at sharing life and teaching us new things. I have even more lovely ladies to share with you, but first, head over to these blogs and show them some love! Let 'em know I sent ya!

Hi! I am Leslie from cuteandpeculiar.blogspot.com. 

I am a day dreaming, coffee drinking, stay at home 

mama of my two sweet boys Bear (2) and 

Wolf (11m). Originally a preschool art teacher, my passion for introducing art in simple everyday ways to my boys is at the top of my agenda. I started this blog when my husband and I were first married. Since then, we have moved around a bit and added a few more members to the family. The main goal of my blog is to document the "in between" moments. Those times that are so sweet and special, but in the hustle of life, you tend to forget. For now, those moments involve some messy art, some snack time meltdowns, and some story time cuddles. I want to try to capture and share them as much 
as I can. So if you are looking for some toddler 
art ideas or if you just want take a peek at what 
our humble little life is like, your are all invited. 

Hi!  I'm Jenny over at The Maddox Family I'm a 30-something mom to 3 & married to my best friend.  I love my family & friends, Alabama football, sewing & dreaming up DIY projects for my sweet husband.  We live a full, blessed, and at times, crazy life, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way!

We recently moved from the country to the city and, after homeschooling for 3 years, all three will begin 'real' school for the 1st time - YIKES! With extra free time I am looking forward to spending more time sewing, crafting, and sharing with you! Come check in with us as we start this new chapter in our lives!

Hi!  I'm Mandee McD from I Did That blog - a blog about everything!  I started this blog several years ago when Facebook wasn't available for old people yet.  I had a few friends at church who blogged, so I gave it a short-lived shot.  Several years and a couple of careers later, I went back to it.  And now I share my life. Brace yourself - I'm really exciting. I'm a Christian, wife to an engineer, step-mother to three beautiful young ladies, missionary about 4 weeks out of the year, teacher without a job, crafter (fleurdelovecrafts.blogspot.com), runner (that's new!), and a dessert loving health nut.  My blog is where I share what happens when I try to be/do all of these things.   You'll mostly find how things turned out when I try my favorite pins from Pinterest, but you'll also find recipes, exercises, and crafts.  Stop by to see my latest attempts at professional recipes, what exercises are working for me lately, and what I've created to make life at my house a little better.  I LOVE feedback, so please leave a comment if you visit! Thanks for having me Brianne!

Thanks for letting me feature you lovely ladies on my blog!  

Pity-Party Pooper

Today is day seven of crutches, which means day seven of mainly sitting on the couch, which means I have too much time to think, which means I start analyzing, which means I start doubting myself, which means my negative, pity-party alter-ego rears her ugly head...

"Your blog isn't good."

"You'll never be successful like so-and-so."

"Look at all of the amazing talent out there. You'll never be as good as them."

"You're not pretty anymore. Stretch-marks, age-spots, grey hairs, uneven skin tone...shall I continue?"

But, as I was bending down to shave my legs in the shower (which is quite awkward standing on one good leg), my lets-put-our-big-girl-panties-on alter-ego showed up and interrupted. I met her a few years ago when learning how to overcome my depression and anxiety.

"What would you do if your best friend was talking to herself like this?"

That's easy. I would interrupt her rant and say, "Are you kidding? You are so talented! You have so much to offer! Sure, there are other women who have amazing talents, but does that mean you have nothing to offer? Just start somewhere, be exactly who you are and trust God to do the rest!  Don't doubt yourself. I believe in you!"

So, ask yourself. How's your self-talk these days? Do you talk to yourself like a friend or are you entertaining that same pessimistic alter-ego that shows up when you are about to move forward?

Well, I for one, am not going to keep hanging out with her. She is such a drag.

Source: www.lava360.com

Don't Be Hatin' My Bucket List

My husband asked me one evening, “What’s on your bucket list?”

“I don't have one,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. I was a busy wife and Mom with too much responsibility to sit and make a list of daydreams. And besides that, traveling to the seven wonders of the world sure wasn't possible on that budget, so why waste my time making a list of things I couldn't afford to do? A bucket list seemed pointless and unattainable. Besides, I had a fine life at the time in good ol' Alabama. The fact that my high school dreams hadn't come true just proved my point. That eventually, you have to grow up and forget about silly young dreams, right? We can't all be stars on Broadway or do documentaries on whales, penguins and dolphins. 

“You’ve got to have a bucket list!” he said. “There has to be things you want to do.”

Sure, there were things I wanted to do, but none of them seemed worthy of a bucket list. I mean, I always wanted to sky-dive, but getting thrills didn't seem to excite me anymore. I had always wanted to go to Italy, but it’s not like I had an ideal itinerary planned out. Come to think of it, I hadn’t really dreamed since I was a teenager.

So, I thought back to some of my earliest childhood dreams. Let's just say I was a big dreamer.

Dream Number One.

The tour bus of the New Kids on the Block would probably break down in my hometown. They would need to use my phone. (even though I lived miles from the interstate and on top of a mountain) I'd meet Joe McIntyre. We’d fall in love and get married.

But, alas, the tour bus never broke down and so dream numero uno was out. 

Dream Number Two.

I would sing on Star Search and win. I’d become rich and famous and marry Joe McIntyre. We'd live in a huge mansion with a ballroom in the backyard. I even designed the floor plans of our mansion on my mother's computer. (Yes, I really did.)

That didn't work out either. I took voice lessons.  I practiced singing in front of my mirror to Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All". I sang in talent shows and choir concerts. (FYI, I did place second at an Oxford Quintard Mall talent competition singing a mean rendition of "Eternal Flame" from the Bangles.) But, much to my dismay, I was never "discovered" and Hollywood never called. 

I was banking on one of those two things happening, but just in case the stars weren’t aligned correctly, I had a last and final plan.

I’d go on Oprah.

I'd tell her my life-long dream of meeting Joe McIntyre and she would invite me to be on her show to make that dream finally come true. 

But, Oprah never returned my email….okay, emails. (And now she's off the air, so that dream really is dashed)

So, it was safe to say, I needed new dreams. My own bucket list.

But, I was stuck. I couldn’t think of one dream. What was wrong with me?

The truth was I had quit dreaming. I had gotten married to a good man, popped out a couple of kids, and figured being a good wife and Mommy was living the dream. That seemed noble, right? 

But, I was disappointed. Not with my husband or my kids. It just seemed like I had lost my spark. I didn’t get excited anymore. Life was predictable and I was bored inside. I knew God had given me desires and dreams for a reason, but how could I get back in touch with those deep down inside of me? It had been a long time since I'd thought about stuff I wanted to do. It felt selfish and irresponsible. But, I grabbed a pen and started the list.

The first thing I wrote down? 

Meet Joe McIntyre.

My husband laughed. "What? Are you serious? That is your first thing on your bucket list?"

"Yes."

I had just gotten back from a New Kids on the Block concert with my friend, Nikki. We'd had a blast singing old songs, giggling like silly teenagers, screaming at the top of our lungs and reminiscing how Joe and Jordan made us dream as little girls.  It was my original dream and, by golly, it was still a dream!  

I was amazed at how excited I got. It felt wonderful to start imagining things I could do again. I set goals. I wrote down anything that popped in my head. Some were little. But, they were all important. I had begun to get back in touch with me again. I wanted to be all God had intended for me to be. The truth was, I was more than a wife and a mom. I was a woman with talents and abilities. The possibilities to where I could go and what I could do were limitless!

My list may seem ridiculous to you, but, that’s okay. It’s my list. It’s forever changing and growing and I love it. Your list will be unique to you. Even if you only write down one thing, if it's in your heart, then it's a great place to start! (Hey, that almost sounded inspirational!)

But, what if it doesn't happen? What if your "dreams" don't come true? 

It doesn’t matter. Chances are you’ll do more than you ever could have done just sitting back and letting life pass you by.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab a pen and paper.

Dust off some old dreams, think of some new ones and start your own bucket list.

Let me know some of them. Publish a comment about a dream you have. Maybe it will spark a dream in someone else!

Here’s my official “Bucket List”. Feel free to steal any dream you want! 

      1)  Meet Joe McIntyre (uh-huh!)

      2)  Run in a Touch Mudder Race

      3)  Write a successful blog

      4)  Finish my interior design degree

      5)  Become a successful designer

      6)  Camp in Africa with my boys

      7)  Build our dream home (a cross between a log cabin & an English cottage)

      8)  Go to Hawaii

      9)  Adopt a little girl from China

    10)  Hike a mountain with my husband, in a foreign country

    11)  Be a speaker at Women of Faith conferences
    12)????

Here's Nikki and I at the NKOTB concert in Atlanta, Georgia. *Note all of my old gear that I pulled from my parent's attic. I was sportin' old pins, an old T-shirt, an NKOTB watch, and the bandanna from their first concert I attended when I was 9 years old! Mark my word, I WILL check #1 off of my list. :) 

Here's to Crazy Dreams!

'Til Next Time,

               BRI

My First Blog

I, Brianne, do solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, the ugly truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

You wanna know something? I don't enjoy reading blogs.

Well, occasionally, I'll click a link on Facebook when something sounds interesting, but that's about it.

For starters, I don't have time to read blogs. I am a wife, a stay-at-home mother of two (one being a toddler who just so happens to be sleeping which is the only reason I am able to even be typing this), a volunteer, a control-freak, a Southern belle who was just transplanted to another planet (called New Jersey) a little over a year ago.

Secondly, I have viewed most "Mommy bloggers" as women who have it all together. I have viewed them as organized, crafty, picture-perfect, successful, fashionable, training-for-a-marathon, ain't-my-life grand, I-deserve-Mommy-of-the-year-cuz-my-kids-don't-eat-high-fructose-corn-syrup kind of women.

No thank you. I think I'd rather just sit and Pinterest for a while and see a thousand other ways I can't seem to compete with the plethora of supermoms these days. At least that way I can tell myself that those ideas came from lots of different people and not just one person.

I mean, really. Why can't I get it together like these women? I try and try to implement things, but I never seem to stick with them. My exercise routines are anything but consistent and the last time I even had time to make a craft, I hot-glued some buttons onto a onesie for Austin's first birthday. I used hot-glue because I couldn't use a sewing machine if my life depended on it. Sometimes I even imagine what life would be like living in a home where my kid's playroom toys are color-coordinated. A place where my kids could sit at perfectly organized craft tables painting houses surrounded by rainbows, butterflies and daisies. A place that could inspire my kids to grow up and become nuclear physicists or better yet, save the ozone layer. And later in life, when asked what the reason behind their success was, they would say, "That's easy. The three P's. The Perfect, Pottery-barn Playroom."

Now, don't miss what I am saying. I love Pottery Barn. I love decorating. Heck, it's what I went to school for, but, it seems that "supermom syndrome" has taken on a life of it's own, and those of us who don't measure up feel we must be lazy, unorganized or completely failing as a mother.

But, I am realizing the truth of the situation. These women don't have it all together. And their goal isn't to make me feel inferior or worthless. They are just figuring it out as they go, too. They have worked hard to find time to rediscover themselves and share their talents. They are in different situations. They have different abilities. They have chosen to share things they have discovered, things that might make someone else's life a little easier. Okay, maybe 'Ways to Cook a Great Leg of Lamb' isn't easier, but for some moms, that cranks their tractor. Hey, don't we all want to feel like we have more to offer than just doing dishes, wiping noses and folding laundry? (which alone are amazing accomplishments) 

Right now may not be the time for me to be making tissue-paper flowers, but one day if I decide to do it, it's good to know a mom out there has taken out all of the guess work for me! We all want to grow and be better at things. We should look at others and become inspired to be more than what we are, but not at the expense of our own self-worth.

So, there it is. My first blog. And by the way, if your kid's playroom toys are color-coordinated or you run marathons or your kids don't eat high-fructose corn syrup, then don't let me scare you off. Chances are, I could stand to learn a few things from you. That being said, I could stand to learn a few things from each one of you who even carved out the time to read this. In fact, I want you to share ideas or things that would be funny to hear about. I am open to suggestions.

I can't promise you amazing do-it-yourself crafts, for now. But, I can tell you how I pulled a rabbit out of my hat when I remembered that Jayden needed a craft for school ten minutes before the bus came. I can't promise you '10 Different Ways to Braise Pork', but, I can tell you that I keep a huge bag of dino-nuggets in my freezer for nights where I Just. Can't. Go. Any. More.

I want this blog to make you laugh. At me. At yourself. At life itself. I want to be real so no one thinks they are alone in their struggles. And if all else fails, you can read my antics and think, "Well, at least I ain't that crazy!"

I share because I feel the need to be real. An open book. Like a friend who always makes you feel loveable, warts and all. So stay tuned. I will be sharing lots of my crazy ways, my "Bri-antics", if you will. And I promise to tell the truth. The whole truth. The ugly truth. And nothing but the truth.

Believe me, I couldn't make this stuff up.