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National Friendship Day: Connect Better!

National Friendship Day: Connect Better

nationalfriendshipdayconnectbetter

“Why is every day a national something day?” Evan asked this morning as I sniffed gorgeous lilies and roses. I had just told him and Arianna that it was National Friendship Day and that they needed to connect better with the people that have been put in their lives as friends. “Like yesterday was National Twin Day, when’s it ever National High Five Day, or something cool?”

Honestly, I think today is a pretty cool National-something day. August 7 is National Friendship Day, a day to celebrate friends and what they mean to us. That’s pretty cool if you ask me. So, what about this Connect Better thing?

National Friendship Day: Connect Better

This is a theme that FTD, the Florists who transport flowers around the globe through FTD.com, has decided would be a great initiative to celebrate National Friendship Day. They asked me to pick a Blogging Bestie, someone I’ve really connected with, to celebrate today…and the would surprised her with a bouquet of flowers.

Who would I pick?!?!?! I’ve got so many great friends, so many of them are great blogging buddies. The choice was hard, but this pick went to Ashley of ashleysuzanne.com. I met Ashley last year at Blogger Bash NYC and she stood out to me because she was so kind to the twins and I at Babypalooza. Icing on the cake? She’s a baby whisperer (the twins can attest), RN, a child of God, and a writer who brings all things baby to her space in the bloggysphere. Her southern drawl and charm are the cherry on top of her sweetness.

(Another great blogging buddy, Billie) + Ashley + Me @ BBNYC

When Ashley started posting things in the BBNYC Facebook Group, sharing how she was getting ready for the event, I remembered her awesomeness and kept thinking “Hey, that’s exactly what I did today (like charging and packing four extra power sources for our phones). We re-connected and then enjoyed plenty of fun on the Yacht together, learning about some of the best brands for babies and kids.

After the event, Ashley continues to be a light in my life. She’s bubbly, kind, and is even working on a local mom panel, focused on products and connections. Her blog theme is a great one to live by…

Do it with Passion! or not at all

I’ve truly felt Connect Better with Ashley, and am so glad I was able to surprise her with a beautiful bouquet of roses and lilies this weekend to celebrate National Friendship Day.

FTD Bouquet

While it might be a little late in the day to send pretty flowers to your bestie, take a few moments to make them feel special today. If you feel like getting them flowers to say “sorry I didn’t know about this day, you’re still so awesome to me”, head over to FTD and find some roses to share your love for them. (I picked Ashley’s from this list of roses.)

Follow along the fun on social media with #ConnectBetter to see how other bloggers are celebrating their Blogging Besties today. xoxo

Thanks, Ashley, for being so awesome, and FTD for the roses!

find your tribe

Favorite Things

A new tradition (started in October) for our Girl’s Week trips is to celebrate our Favorite Things. Our January trip’s event brought me to tears, it was so good. Everyone was thoughtful with what they brought, and everything seemed to work out just perfectly.

For instance, I got pink polka dot socks and Missy got star socks. I got pink Sharpies and a jewel that was shaped like a foot.

Celebrating favorite things with some of my favorite people (even some I just met!) is a true blessing. Everyone should have a “Favorite Things” party some time in your life.

Here’s what you need:

Friends and/or Family to share favorite items with

A spend limit (sure, we all love diamonds and fancy cars, but we’re not about to buy those things for everyone at the party)

Your Favorite Thing – bring one for everyone at the party and be prepared to talk about why it’s your favorite thing

That’s it. So easy and fun. Share, be prepared to laugh, be prepared to cry. I did, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

This time around, I gave everyone 100 calorie chocolate covered pretzels (because I love my healthy lifestyle but still NEED chocolate and salty in my life) and hand sanitizers that clip to a purse (Greg was just fighting pnumonia, so I love to fight germs AND I sell purses and totes that I LOVE). I got…

Bath/body goodies – homemade!, homemade chocolate chip cookies/a friendship recipe (tears galore), a Resting Place decal, Sharpies, socks, a prayer box (with an owl!), homemade note pad, spoon with an AMAZING chocolate fudge recipe, pendant. Thank you, ladies, for being such a precious part of my life.

If you had a Favorite Things Party, what would you bring?

No Distance

When you make friends, make them for life. You don’t need a lot of friends, but you do need quality ones.

Greg and I are pretty blessed when it comes to our friends. The fine folks above (Elizabeth, Kendall, Ash – photo credit) are some of the best.

Time, distance…None of it matters. They have been there for us and always (among others) make an appearance during our trips back to Myrtle.

These are the kind of friends I longed for my whole life (as I moved every three or four years). The kind where it doesn’t matter how long it has been, they always remember the ‘lil things.

Our friends (near and far) are a blessing in our lives and we pray the kids have this, too.

Proverbs 18:24: A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Our Weekend in Photos

This has been a stellar weekend, starting on Thursday and forgetting the fact that I went to work on Friday (and accomplished a lot in a quiet office). Here is our weekend, in photos. Hope you all enjoyed this beautiful holiday weekend.

Celebrating 6 and 3 with Kayla and Rachel

Riding in the Wagon

Loving America

Fireworks courtesy of Ryan

Extra Snuggles with Grammie

Late Night at the Drive In

Feeding Goats

Sitting in a big chair

Dipping in the Creek

Watching a spectacular lightning show by a food-filled camp fire

No wonder we slept in until almost 1:00 this afternoon!

Surprise!

The past few weeks, Greg has been cooking up an amazing surprise for my 30th and my Mom’s 60th birthdays. Let me just tell you, he did amazing. A group of my family and friends was able to join us at Paint Monkey to paint a premiere summery/beach painting inspired by Greg’s ideas and things I love. My heart was full. My belly was full of delicious cake from Megan of Dozen Bakeshop (Red Velvet–and even black fondant–she is AWESOME). It was a great time (and you can see more of the photos here or on Paint Monkey’s Facebook!).

(How AWESOME is Jack’s custom work?)

(PS, Happy Birthday, Mom!!!)

Lifelong Friends

There is nothing better than having a lifelong friend. A friend who will stick with you through thick and thin, regardless of what life throws you. This mama is lucky enough to have one of those friends.

We met at my dad’s first church back in the 80’s when I was three. We were NOT friends at that time, I saw this slightly younger than me girl as a brat. Luckily, we moved back to the same town when I was in 10th grade, and we got a fresh start. For the last thirteen years, we’ve had ups and downs, but we’ve always had each other.

I got to spend the weekend with this friend, taking church directory photos and sharing old times. I am so thankful for my lifelong friend!

Bloggy Love!

Guess what? One of my (yet to meet IRL) friends, Amy over at Paradise of Chaos awarded me with my first bloggy mama award, the Liebster Blog Award!

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

Thank you, Amy, for making my day! One of the things I love best about blogging is getting to meet and interact with others who share my interests. It’s always a joy to know that you’ve also been able to put a smile on someone’s face through your memories. What an honor to be chosen as one of her top five!

So now, I want to keep the love going. It’s time to pass it along to other new deserving blogs, the recipient must now recognize five other bloggers with less than 200 followers that have really stood out in the crowd.

The rules for the Liebster Award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

So please, go and spend a few minutes getting to know my friends and their blogs. I give the Liebster Blog Award to:

* Dana is a Geek: Dana recently started up her personal blog post PodCamp Pittsburgh 6, but she’s been a social media maven for years. I attended her session at PCPGH5 and learned all about ways to manage my Twitter and Facebook…and her blog throws up good life tips and fun stories about her family. That, and she is one of my few ‘burghers who actually lives on the same side of the city as me, so she deserves your love.

* Confessions of a Human Vacuum: Lindsay and I also first met at PCPGH5 while volunteering. Her blog’s been around for awhile, but I really enjoy her daily posts with recipes, funny work stories, and (whether she realizes it or not) motivation to just get through each day. Give Lindsay some love–she’s a strong lady who does crazy time management and still has a smile on her face.

* A Joy Shared: S is a recent real life friend of mine that (when she’s not working on projects in a warehouse) I get to see daily and have found a lot in common. Our life paths have crossed in many ways as she grew up near one of my Myrtle apartments and also was a CM Consultant. She’s a #bfing and babywearing mommy of one cute ‘lil boy and her blog is full of great stories about his adventures. Do go and enjoy the joy in her life!

* Oh Yeah Roger That: I might be sort of cheating here when I give Mrs. ‘Ski this award because we’ve been friends somewhere around 10 years. Her stories about being a new mom and wife to a Marine are sure to please. If you haven’t already found her blog through mine, now is your time!

* Red Pen Mama: Another friend met in real life through a #PghTweetUp Date Night event this past summer and PCPGH. Red Pen Mama is not new to this blogging thing, but she is truly worth every read (meh, so I am cheating again, but she’s newish to me!). Her children and husband present excellent blog fodder, please enjoy!

Keep spreading the love!

Moms of Daughters, a guest post by Mrs ‘Ski

Today’s guest post is from my dear Chatham friend and mama-to-be, Mrs. ‘Ski of Oh Yeah? Roger That!. Enjoy!

After we announced we were expecting, the very first person to predict a baby girl was Little Miss A. You may not know this, but A has a successful track record of predictions, but the majority of our circle was leaning towards a son. B, better known as the author of this blog, made sure to remind me of Little Miss A’s prediction just before our third attempt at a sonogram. After the tech’s announcement and the excitement settled a bit, I thought of that prediction and how B and I would soon be in the same boat, the mother of a daughter.
Of course when we announced it was a girl, comments poured in about how cute girls’ clothes are, how easy they are to shop for, etc. While all very true, there is so much more to the relationship of a daughter and her mom, sticky, complex things that scare the bejeezus outta me, things you don’t think about right away unless you were expecting a boy. : ) I think I’ll feel better if I get it all out there. Here we go.

The how do I style a 3 y/o’s hair breakdown.
The I want my Daddy meltdown.
The I had a bad dream snuggle.
The you have to stop spoiling her talk.
The first bra shopping trip.
The your attitude is out of control and you are 11 talk.
The OMG you’re too young to have your period talk.
The how can you send 35,000 texts in one month talk.
The black nail polish really? talk.
The you can’t wear that in public talk.
The why is that your profile photo??
The we can’t afford that talk.
The sex talk.
The self respect talk.
The birth control talk.
The after-prom activities lecture.
The your boyfriend doesn’t deserve you talk.
The its called a breakup because its broken talk.
The her boyfriend isn’t much different than you, Dear talk.
The women’s colleges are great options talk.
The 80/20 wedding obligation talk.
The honeymoon is over first marital fight talk.
The life will never be stable and easy talk.
The she’s just like me realization.

And B and I may phone a friend for help on any or all of these, but its all for the love of daughters.

Mr. Ski and the ‘Lil Burghers…Mrs. Ski just told us she was expecting when we took this photo, so we have spared her the photo. 😉

Guest Blog Post–Eliz

Today is a guest post from my friend Eliz (of SC and Yup, we’re having twins). Enjoy!

Since Bex and Greg are off on a mini Vegas vacay, i thought i’d share my thoughts on the Willis(north) 4.
I’ve known becky through 5 years and we’ve both changed immensely. We’ve had our share of ups and downs, but we’ve both made it through, and are better people for it. I’ve seen Becky change the most since Greg entered her life. They are truly a perfect pair. Arianna and Evan have just made their circle of love bigger, better, and stronger. Here’s what I’ve learned from them:

1. No matter the situation, there is ALWAYS some sort of resolution.

2. Where there is family, there is <3.

3. You choose your own family.

4. Becky and I CAN keep each other sane, through the trials and error of mommyhood, even from 10+ hours away.

5. We both love a good deal and will search it out. (though Bex is definitely the couponing queen!)

6. Children make great couples even better!

7. You don't need lots of $$ to have fun!

8. Moms cannot survive without our smart phones! hehe

9. Our husbands are the GREATEST!

10. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE. <3

Hope Becky and Greg are enjoying their vacay and the kids are having a blast with the grandparents!

Me and Eliz before we were mommies and when I was a southern gal she was still a newlywed. Wow how time flies!