I’m really thrilled to be hosting a guest post tomorrow by Julie Henning of Road Trips for Families! But let me back up a little in order to introduce her … While I was at BlogHer, there were “Birds of a Feather” lunches that we could join. I dropped into a seat at the “travel” table and met some really cool [...]
Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
August 14th, 2010
The mandatory BlogHer recap post that never happened. And won’t.
So. BlogHer. I know, I know. I’m supposed to do a recap of my experience — what was great, what was not so great, which blogger idols I met and what swag I lugged back. But I’m not going to. I just didn’t have time this week and now I don’t feel like it. Plus, it’s totally unnecessary, since some [...]
August 9th, 2010
BlogHer Swag: baby & toddler giveaway packages
Edited to Add: The New Mother & Baby package had a total of 5 entries and the winner via Random.org was Tracy! The winner of the Toddler package had a total of 14 entries and the winner via Random.org was Judy! Congrats to you both and thanks to you all for participating in the fun! I got back from the [...]
August 5th, 2010
I don’t see sleep anywhere on this BlogHer agenda
I started up this blog just over a year ago as an outlet for personal writing — the kind of writing that doesn’t take place during my work day in corporate communications. I envisioned it as my own little creative and social sandbox for my free time. But what I didn’t realize then was just how much I would enjoy playing in [...]
July 13th, 2010
Random recommendation from my book shelf: The Turning, by Tim Winton
When I love a book, then I am compelling to force encourage others to read it. And so it went with Tim Winton’s The Turning. I convinced my husband to read this collection of short stories, and then my father, and then my brother … and so on, and so forth. If you’ve never lived in Australia, you can be [...]
July 8th, 2010
BOLO: faces behind blogs
Not long back, I wrote a post which shared my excitement in being able to hear the voices behind blogs. In it, I noted that many of the blogs I read include a photo of the author, so the voices were going to be the big draw for me. Well, I was wrong … my dear Ottawa bloggers and their [...]
June 25th, 2010
BOLO: voices behind blogs
Some people hate it when their favourite books are made into movies. The movie just never measures up. That’s generally a given. But personally, I love it. I love comparing how I imagined a character to look — and move and speak — to the movie’s version. Sometimes it’s very close, but sometimes it is so vastly different that it [...]
June 23rd, 2010
Who wears short-shorts?
Do you dare wear short-shorts? If you’re my age and can pull off short-shorts, all the power to you. If you’re a young woman with long tanned legs you want to show off, all the power to you. But please — let’s not dress our young girls in short-shorts. {click here to see why I’m such a prude about [...]
June 21st, 2010
Commercials are bad for my mental health
Lately, I have found myself watching commercials more consciously. And it seems that pretty much everything about me is simply not good enough — not my skin, my body shape, the way my house smells, or even my own role in my family. This constant barrage of criticism can’t be good for my mental health, can it? Even though I [...]
June 4th, 2010
What makes a novelist, a novelist?
Here I am with Joanne Harris, author of one of my favourite books Five Quarters of the Orange but most famously known for her novel Chocolat, which was made into the Oscar-nominated film with Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche. I recently had the chance to hear her read from her latest offering blueeyedboy when she came to Ottawa as a guest for Writers [...]
June 3rd, 2010
One year of blogging
This month marks my first-year bloggy-versary. When I first started blogging one year ago, I didn’t — and couldn’t — have known what to expect. But BOLO left me feeling very optimistic about it all. It seems that blogging is one of those things that, like becoming a parent, you just have to do it order to really understand it. And although [...]
May 24th, 2010
The Joy of Reading: The Lion, the Witch and the Bathrobe
For as long as I can remember, it’s been common for people to observe that Stella is “Daddy’s little girl.” They don’t mean that he spoils her, but rather that she just loves to do whatever he is doing. And as a result, they have now cultivated a mutual passion for the outdoors that is really beautiful. But something else [...]
May 13th, 2010
I try to be polite. I really do.
One of my coffee break favourites is Amber Strocel’s blog. Visiting her site is like being welcomed into a friend’s home for a chat. She’s got this great writing style that is so calm and inviting — even when she’s speaking about something annoying like the less-than-respectful manner in which some marketers approach bloggers, as she did recently in her post: “Moms, Blogging, [...]
May 10th, 2010
8 Tips for Camping with Kids
Good Monday morning! My daughter Stella has shared her top tips for successfully camping with kids in a post that is now live on the Kids in the Capital blog. If you are ever in the care of children in Ottawa, this is the blog to hit for ideas! It covers activities, playgroups, books, crafts, cooking — you name it! [...]
May 1st, 2010
This makes me happy …
… so I thought I’d share it with you! What can I say, a group of university, baseball-wearing guys singing Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance really makes my day! Check it out. On the Rocks is the University of Oregon’s all male a cappella ensemble.
