Moving on. It’s Friday. Happy Happy Friday and the sun is shining and I can see patches of grass.

Yesterday morning my daughter requested that we go on a walk right away after waking up, so we got ready and went downtown for some clean sidewalks and sunshine. Tulips are peeking through soil. I had my camera and she took control of it while we sat in a coffee shop and warmed our hands after the walk, drinking coffee and eating yogurt.

Some times it’s the little things.

I’m doing more face to face interaction where this website is concerned and I love it. I love meeting other local bloggers and having conversations. However, one of the biggest conversation starters is always “What do you blog about?” and it’s what has me thinking today.

There are mostly buckets other folks would like you to fit in to when explaining your blog/brand/website. Whatever the case may be. For Real Food Bloggers, this is an easy answer. Sure their family life is part of it – but the main focus of their website is Real Food. Their passionate about it, it’s what draws them a crowd.

Advertisers, networks and sponsorships LOVE a crowd.

Other buckets to fill are the Frugal bloggers, Travel bloggers, Fashion, Coupon, DIY, Home Improvement, etc etc etc. It goes on. On the bottom of that list is the Mommy Blogger.

I. Am. Not. A. Mommy. Blogger.

The whole reason I still write here is because I need something OUTSIDE of the life I live as a mother to keep me sane. I write about my life, period. Where’s the bucket for that? Where’s the crowd so an advertiser or sponsor sees value in ME. Because, folks, that’s what this is. Me.

Pitching a website like this is like selling yourself, not unlike a salesperson in a profession. Real Estate, Home based businesses, Consulting of any kind. Your “customer” (in this case a “reader”) has to buy into Me. Like Me, eventually care about Me.

Let’s just take it to the basics.

Mega bloggers have catapulted, mostly by accident, into an audience that already cares about them. The “un-bucket” blogger has to navigate the thick and tricky waters in order to find a footing. And maybe we’ll grab our audience as we stumble through the wires.

There’s probably no room for validation for this kind of blogger, the un-bucket writer who wants to feel value in the form of acceptance from their audience, an advertiser … a sponsor. So how do we define our websites? Do we have to come up with a niche? Even if it’s broad? Do we have to create a community – even if it’s small – that will support the pull of a network?

Where’s the conversation going for a blogger like me? Do I have to decide that I’m doing this just because?

I live out loud. I take photos of it, spend my time writing about it and often times directing friends/readers/traffic to other sites because I can. Because I want to. Because it’s fun. I never did this to make money, but 10 years later … there’s money to be made.

Why the hell do I have to fight so damn hard for it?

If you want a niche – here it is:

I’m a Diabetic, gluten free foodie who makes food for my family according to their blood types. Then I write about it. I’m a How-To junkie. A hobby-photographer. A woman. I’m learning to love fashion and I’ve always loved to decorate. I’m a mother. I’m a wife to a Serial Entrepreneur and we’re business owners. Plural. I’m a gardener and wanna-be bee-keeper. I have a life list and I live out loud. Take it, or leave it. But please … take it.

**I have nothing against a self-proclaimed Mommy Blogger. I read their sites and love them, I just am not one and am super tired of being thrown into that mix. I am a mom, I do blog, but about WAY more than parenting and kids. That’s my disclaimer. I love you all.

More things to love from One Pretty Thing :

Printable Labels : The organizer in me (she’s in there, somewhere!) wants to hoard these.

Printable Invitations : I see many-a-bridal or baby showers printed on these. An Easter dinner? Valentines party? Some DIY Valentines note cards? Possibilities!

Printable Mini File Folders : These tickle my fancy as well. What would I use them for? Who cares? They’re miniature … they’re obviously useful.

Printable Lunch Box Notecards : Can’t wait to use these with Jessica and Oliver.

Vintage Metal Tray becomes Frame : It’s like adding an art piece to your wall that’s functional. WIN!

Suit Clutch : Some day when I’m an awesome sewer … I will make this.

Soda Pop Escort Cards : Originally for a wedding reception (idea) but what a great idea for a summer birthday, beach party or end of the year bon fire.

Pleated Ruffle, girls shirt : I would like all of Jessica’s necklines to be so feminine. Adorable.

DIY Paper Flowers : Going to try to make these with the kids today – Crafts!

Last but not least:
Wacky Tea Party : I am so doing this. Possibly for the newly engaged sister of mine. Or just because it’s awesome and we all have the right to kick some vintage ruffled ass once in a while.

I’ve been hoping I could find the inspiration to do a garden tea party. I thought I had something like this on my life list, but alas, I’ve just been dreaming about this in my head. But then I found this site and Holy Moly.

Alice in Wonderland party via Hostess with the mostess

Gorgeous, no? So many beautiful ideas.

See also this Alice In Wonderland party:

Complete with downloadable party planner . Awesome.

Let’s just round this out with some great ideas for food and decoration for the outdoor tea party:

Edible Centerpiece from Hostess with the mostess again, she’s got it going on.

And then there’s this fabric banner you can make from V and Co .

Now without further ado the winner of the Etsy print giveaway goes to:

Congratulations Donielle! Look for an email from me shortly!

I want to say a huge thank you to Red Bird Ink for sponsoring this giveaway in conjunction with the cooking demo . I had a blast and am so thankful for the friends and opportunities this site has brought to my life. And Letterpress. Can’t forget to thank the Letterpress.

Don’t forget to enter to the giveaway for this awesome print over here!!!

It’s official. I’m ready for spring. I’m chomping at the bit to get started on some projects .

Which so wonderfully has everything to do with my Life List , number nine to be exact. Learn Carpentry.

I was all set to sign up for some shop-type classes when I discovered Knock Off Wood via Young House Love a few months ago and OH MY WORD. I can’t stop building things in my head and decorating our house. I’m very excited.

But first, we’ll be repainting Jessica’s bedroom and getting her a new bed so Oliver can have her current one. I’ll be bringing you along for the ride. And hopefully have some surprises for you along the way too. Oh this is fun!

(Also, if you don’t mind … would you be willing to give me some input on the next Cooking Demo topic? I’ve got a small multiple choice survey (4 options) if you want to weigh in on it for me! THANKS)

The Cooking Demo yesterday was a ton of fun!

I came home exhausted and completely full of good food but even better – full of good life. Good conversations, good friends, good experiences.

I was a little worried about doing something like this at first – once everyone was there they kind of just sat there looking at me waiting for me to start. Which is when I said – uh … please don’t stop talking. I have no idea what I’m doing!

But I think it went good. We kept the conversation going, I hope I said something that made sense during the whole time. It was so very nice that I knew most of ladies in attendance ahead of time. Made me WAY more at ease about acting like I have anything important to say.

I wasn’t sure if I should narrate everything I was doing ala Rachel Ray on TV or if I should just whip stuff out and answer questions as we went along. I didn’t know if I should focus on what I think about being in the kitchen (Keeping things simple, use substitutions, get creative!) or if I should focus on what the ladies knew and felt and go from there.

All in all, it was a fun time. I would totally do it again. In fact, I’m already planning the next one. I think instead of going through a whole meal I’ll pick something (like fish or desserts – but not together!!) and focus on that.

I felt like most of the attendee’s were really interested in the fish yesterday, what I did with it, how I did it and how I went about cooking it. Which didn’t even cross my mind when I was planning it – thinking that I should focus more on one thing than another.

I also didn’t man the camera very much and many thanks go to Rebekah for taking some photos along the way. I’ll have to be better about getting in there and taking some photos next time.

And like I said yesterday we had some pretty awesome sponsors to help it go that extra mile:

Kitchen Stories offered me a wonderful discount so I could send my attendee’s home with a little something-something . I just love her quote right off the bat – “I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.” - Mae West I mean, how can you not want to hang out with this wonderful lady?

I didn’t have the budget to gift an apron to each of my guests … but you have to see these. The Pretty Ditty etsy shop is to die for.

Those aprons would have come in handy while I was mixing up the guts to the cake …

Which we devoured.

Like I said, though, it was fantastic. I felt comfortable (once I got over myself) and I can’t wait for the next one. I think I’ll wear a wig though … then I can pretend I’m PW or something and maybe I’ll feel more comfortable being all “And then you add some salt, just a pinch.” Weird. Weird weird weird.

Let’s meet the attendee’s:

Donielle came along with one of her Peanuts. Isn’t she adorable? I got to hold her for about 45 seconds while Donielle strapped on her trusty carrier for her Peanut to rest in while she demonstrated Kefir to the group (and let us try it!) and my uterus started screaming at me.

You can see why, no?

Rebekah came after spending the morning antiqueing with Michelle (another attendee) in Saugatuck. SO FUN!

And here’s Michelle – Hi Michelle! Love your name

I was going to have all the recipes written out for each girl and wrapped all nice but then I had a sick husband, remembered that I have 2 kids and had a broken car in one week … so … you know. They had to transfer them over to a recipe card themselves, but I think they forgive me.

I didn’t capture a great photo of Candace, but you can see her here:

Candace and I go way back. I’ll just leave it at that. She’s a texture girl, just like me, as far as food goes. She wasn’t too hip on the Salmon but that’s ok – she tried it! They all did, which was the best part for me.

Sitting down with everyone after making all the food and just getting to know each other. That’s what this is all about for me. You. All of you.

While we were all standing in the kitchen Donielle demonstrated Kefir to us …

It was so interesting and I took some home to try out on my kids … they both LOVED it. It’s like fizzy juice, or pop … which is exactly what Jessica called it once she tried it. I was starting to look at doing this so now I’m glad I know what it’s supposed to look/taste like and I think I’ll go ahead and give it a try.

What a day! But it’s not over.

Red Bird Ink etsy shop wants to give you a chance to win a letterpress print from their shop in the name of cooking. Amen.

They’re offering up one of their Cow Parts No3 Prints to one of my lucky readers!!

To Enter:

Click through to their shop and leave a comment back on this post telling me your favorite print, stationary or coaster they have listed.

That’s it! Please give them some love, I have an addiction to letterpress and I LOVE their shop.

***Contest ends Tuesday evening 10 pm EST March 2, 2010, winner to be announced Wednesday March 3, 2010***

The Cooking Demo is happening today!! I’m pretty excited to see some blog friend faces and hang out. We might do some cooking while we’re at it.

Here’s the difference between me and Martha: Ms. Stewart would be hot-gluing butterflies and stars all over her handmade gift bags and then handwriting, caligraphy style, each attendee’s initials. Inside that gift bag would be more handmade goodness. Probably a small parcel filled with sweets, all handmade of course, and wrapped in cheese cloth. I’m fantasizing that she’d have her apron on, her make up done and an outfit pressed and ready to impress. She’d probably wear a fancy flat or heel.

Me?

I’ll be wearing slippers. I didn’t fire up the glue-gun but we do have gift bags and if I get around to handwriting the attendee’s names … it’ll be just that. Their name.

All with love though.

I’ve been picking my mom’s brain as I’m planning this Cooking Demo, trying to get her advice on when to start which dish … maybe I should talk about this, or that … just bouncing ideas off of her and I doubt it will come as a surprise that if my mom were planning this and throwing the Demo it would be a very different afternoon. Not in a bad way!! It’d be lovely. But it’d be to impress, to dazzle and sparkle … to inspire.

My mom is Betty Crocker and she taught Martha everything she knows. My mom is amazing.

I’m just messy.

I don’t mean to bring my mom into so many of my posts lately, but she’s FUNNY! She’s so starkly different from me and she’s my only reference point for how I got to be me. I mean, I am her clone … I will be her in 30 years physically but that’s about where the similarity stops.

A recipe for my mom is a guaranteed A, another four-point-oh mark on her transcript. A recipe for me is a suggestion. You can see how our demonstrations would be like night and day, no?

SO! Not to scare you, my lovelies, we’ll be having a recipe-following afternoon full of conversation, desserts, fun and laughter.

And we’ve got some pretty awesome sponsors to help it go that extra mile:

Kitchen Stories offered me a wonderful discount so I could send my attendee’s home with a little something-something. I just love her quote right off the bat – “I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.” - Mae West I mean, how can you not want to hang out with this wonderful lady?

I didn’t have the budget to gift an apron to each of my guests … but you have to see these. The Pretty Ditty etsy shop is to die for.

I have a couple more surprises up my sleeve, but I want to wait to announce those to my attendee’s.

Can’t wait!

As a side note – this entire Cooking Demo is sponsored by me. No one is paying me to say I love their product or to use certain ingredients in the recipes I’ll be making today and posting about later.

I tried to make a video today but I ended up crying on camera. Ummm, yeeeaah.

I’ve had a very weepy past 24 hours and I just don’t know where it’s coming from. Well, I do, but I don’t understand it. I was walking around today with Oliver fresh from his nap and I looked in the mirror, just moments past from breaking down on film, and I felt like I had just been told my (step)dad died all over again.

I felt punched. Broken. Hopeless.

Change is incredibly difficult for me which is odd because my entire life has been one huge change after another – but I think I’ve logged enough in my book of life now. I want a break.

But really? I need to just start dealing with the changes instead of stuffing them in a closet and then throwing away the key while I rearrange my life to somehow function in the After because Before is never coming back.

The calendar usually dictates when this happens to me through out the year, certain months will almost guarantee my husband finding me completely clothed and sobbing in the bottom of the tub with a hot shower washing my tears away. It’s like the clock inside of me, my soul, just remembers. I want to move on and be sustainable past the pain but how can I when my mind revolts.

But this random weepy season inside of winter has me baffled. I don’t know if it’s mounting memories that I need to deal with or mounting unknowns of the future that have me scared shitless. Either way, it’s affecting me. duh.

I guess I just need to get that off my chest. It’s not always rainbows and homemade sweets over here. I’m still me.

So have I photo’d you out yet? How about I tell you a story.

Jessica, our oldest, just turned five. There is an entire category on this website dedicated to her and I might be partial, but she is amazing.

Right after Oliver was born we loaded up our little family in our in-laws mini-van and took off on our first family vacation to see very good friends of ours get married on the 4th of July in Grand Marais, MN. We were in the throws of learning how to navigate two small children, only Jessica wasn’t very small. She was 3 1/2 and completely full of life and objection and personality.

She was also full of hope, love and affection for her baby brother … although she didn’t always appreciate the amount of time he took away from her. And I couldn’t blame her.

Jessica is larger than life in real life. She really is. And not everyone can handle this, or her. Not everyone has the patience to listen to her tales or has the heart to watch her grow second by second as she magically transforms from child to lady.

But I do. And I have a fierceness about me when it comes to Jessica. I want to protect her and show her and make her strong. I want her to have all the information I didn’t have and I want her to know the things that no one dared tell me about what it meant to be a lady, what it meant to be a woman – the power we hold and how to harness it. How to be in this world without being of this world.

I don’t even know if this is a normal “parent thing” – I would assume it is … but Jessica is different. She really is. And few people catch on to that without my saying something first.

It was about this time (first family vacation/4th of July) that I started to get anxious about Jessica. About her personality and about how to still enjoy being with our friends while still being sensitive to Jessica’s growing curiosity … and understanding of relationships.

She was to the age where she understood that someone just didn’t want to deal with her when they tried to politely tell her “I’ll play with you … for 3 more minutes but then I’m going to sit down and talk to someone else.” It crushed me, literally broke me, to see her understand that what they were really saying was “You’ve taken enough of my time, and it’s valuable … and I’d like to spend it elsewhere now.”

She started getting brushed off. She started getting older. And it was more pronounced with a new baby around. She lost her cutesy baby image – and started getting smart – which isn’t actually what a group of people want in a small person. They want a ham or comedian. They want to be entertained. But Jessica wasn’t willing to play by their rules. Sure, she knew how to ham it up and LOVED to entertain but she gets it – she can read the emotional temperature of a room and she knows if you’re engaging her or just idly standing by … waiting for it to be over.

So I have all of this going on inside of me … wanting to make her way in the world easier, less bumpy and less rejection filled. I wanted to go ahead of her and take all the sticks and stones off the trail. I wanted to make sure there was nothing lurking behind the trees and that the sun was shinning through the canopy above … when someone threw me a life vest in parenting and recognized Jessica for who she was.

We were at the reception of our friends wedding when someone came up to me and asked if I was Jessica’s mom. That little girl? Running and playing with the other kids?

Yes, I said. Timid. Worried.

She’s fantastic! I mean it! She’s incredible! You have a wonderful little girl, I can’t believe it. You must be so in love.

I … I … I am. Thank you! Wow, thank you so much.

I can still count on one hand the number of people who have approached me like this. Sought me out just to praise her. And she’s so worth it. All of it. All the praise in the world. She deserves it all.

But at that wedding reception in a small, beautiful town someone gave me permission to believe in it loudly. To name it. To protect it. To cultivate and grow it. To nurture her … her very being.

Not only did I have this on my list of things to do this weekend … I also had this .

Nom nom nom.

Kind of like perfection … which is totally heaven in your mouth.

My mom had printed out the directions and brought them up with her, but I’m a picture girl (surprise huh?) so I stuck with my trusty Kitchen Companion and went for it.

I like to measure my success as I go against the photos Pioneer Woman provides along the way.

Some times I completely freak out – but keep going and trust that the end result will at least resemble 10% of what I’m really supposed to be doing. In this case, we did just fine.

Rinse and repeat about 32 times. Give or take.

I had a blast.

Which is kind of what this Life List is all about, any way. Living the adventure of life as if it’s a front row seat on the roller coaster you’re strapped in to. And oh-my-ever-loving-goodness … when someone tries something I’ve made, baked, cooked – whatever the case may be – and their eyes shine with delight … there’s is nothing higher on the list for me in the form of a compliment. But it’s not even that – it’s knowing my hands are capable of love in forms I haven’t even recognized yet.

It may be called a “Life List” but it’s really just a recipe for a full life, a sweet, full life.

Here are photos of the entire process: