This post is sponsored by Snuggle Bugz. Starting today, Snuggle Bugz is celebrating Canada Day by offering 5 days of Daily Deals. These deals won't last -- each day there will be one amazing deal – but just for that day! Our family is heading out on a road trip to spend Canada Day up at a cottage. We’ve got our share of travelling under our belts, but I always find I can use a few extra things to keep things rolling smoothly. So I took … [Read more...]
How to Pull Off a Pirate Party
June 24, 2012 by 17 Comments
Today we held our son Max's 4th birthday party. Usually, we do a small family get-together for these kinds of occasions, but as the kids get older, it has expanded to two separate parties -- one party with the friends, and one party with the family. I'm not sure how it evolved into two parties for each child (do you do this too?), but it's far too much work in my opinion! So, usually I choose to "outsource" the children's party by hiring a … [Read more...]
It’s Monday. Let’s do a giveaway shall we? Today: A Dorset Cereals Extravaganza!
June 18, 2012 by 29 Comments
So, you might recall that I have a habit of buying expensive, lovely-packaged cereals when I hit the grocery store. Well, a gorgeous box of Dorset Cereals is definitely something I've been known to come home with, while managing to forget to buy other staples. I can't be blamed really ... how does one resist such an attractively designed package? I just love a yummy muesli! Why? I don't know ... there is just something so comforting about … [Read more...]
I look different
June 15, 2012 by 9 Comments
I've been to two events recently and many people commented that they didn't recognize me. So I should explain that I look different. (And I'd also like to warmly welcome anyone who's new here from the Blog World Expo event in New York City as well as to my awesome local blogger community here in Ottawa from last night's Blog Out Loud Ottawa event!) The photo in my blog's "About" box in the right-hand column of the homepage was taken when I … [Read more...]
Are High School Graduates Special?
June 13, 2012 by 12 Comments
An English teacher by the name of David McCullough Jr. stood up and told a high school graduating class that they're not special. It was a commencement speech. And he told them nine times, "you're not special." Naturally, like most things these days, it was recorded and then uploaded to the internet. Yes, you guessed it -- it's gone completely viral. Everyone from traditional media to new media is weighing in. One the one hand, you have the … [Read more...]
Blog Housekeeping: New Comments System Installed (Livefyre)
There's a lot of work that goes into blogging beyond just typing and pressing publish. I learn on the fly (hello Google!), attend events like BlogWorld, and hire the very fine brains of a local developer that I've worked with since day one to try and keep up. There are also some hard costs like hosting fees and owning domains -- these are the "keep the lights on" costs of being a blogger. But when it comes to a lot of the tinkering and … [Read more...]