I started blogging roughly three-and-a-half years ago.  I didn’t plan on having it take me anywhere.  I didn’t know that I would end up loving it so much that it would become my passion, or that blogging would lead me to conferences and Twitter, which would lead to my new job.

My whole life has come full circle, right here for the world to see.

Okay, so maybe the world doesn’t read my blog, but I’m pretty sure my Aunt Shirley does.  Sometimes.  In fact, the 30 or so hits I used to get each week have grown into thousands.  I don’t know where you people came from, but I’m glad you did.

I love it here.  It is my home.  And, much to my husband’s chagrin, I like to redecorate. 

Out of all of the celebrities I have met through blogging, like her…

Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi.  Couldn’t the pretty have been shared a little?  Not fair.

…and this fella…

The center of our solar system, also known as the Jimmy Dean sun.

…there are none whom I consider to be more inspiring than this lady here.

a)  Don’t look at my hair  b)  I told you not to look!  c)  Nice glow in the dark necklace, Momo

That woman next to me is Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman.  Also, I am in no way comparing Ree to the Jimmy Dean sun.  Though she can make a room brighter just by walking in.  Just sayin’.

Ree is one of the most popular, female bloggers in the world.  She is an amazing photographer, mother and author (of a cookbook, a romance story and a children’s book…how well rounded can someone be?).  To top it off, she’s about as down to earth as a person can get.  I want to be Ree when I grow up.

Now, I don’t take a lot of advice about what to do with my blog.  I follow the advertising guidelines of my publishing network (Hi, BlogHerads!), but that’s about it.  This is my hangout for crying out loud.  Stay off my lawn!

But, when the intelligent and successful Ree Drummond tells you that you should “change things up”, you should listen.  She wasn’t talking to me, specifically, but rather to her audience in her “Ten Important Things I’ve Learned About Blogging” section.

A couple of years ago I did change things up when I requested a custom blog design from Courtney of Judith Shakes Design.  She took a mish-mash of my ideas and made this page exactly the way I wanted.  It was a dramatic and brilliant alteration for which I am not responsible.  Dang it.

Now the time has come, once again, to “change things up”.  I’m eventually leaving this platform and going where there is more to offer.  I’m getting a new custom theme, custom icons, a new twitter background, new page templates, miscellaneous graphics, all of my posts transferred and SO much more.

Courtney at Judith Shakes Design is doing ALL of it.

Courtney is about eighty shades of smart and I am not.  I want professional results, so I’m letting a professional handle it.  I’m taking Ree’s advice and running with it, but I’m letting someone else do all of the exercise.  Wait…I am smart!

I didn’t plan on this blog taking me anywhere, but it did, and I don’t want the same scenery for my entire journey.  I’ll create the experience, but Courtney will be my travel guide so I don’t get lost along the way.

And, if YOU book space on the Judith Shakes Design calendar for a design project of at least $300, Courtney will give you $50 off with the code – MOMO4EVER.

You.  Are.  Welcome.

If you’re a blogger, come and join me.  Let’s go places we never thought possible.  Life is too short to just stand still.

Follow

Email

I am not a small woman.

I know this.  I own this.  I have never been petite.  I will never be petite.

It isn’t easy to be big.  It, especially, isn’t easy to be big when you need to put on a bathing suit and actually allow people to see your thunderous thighs.

I mean, really.  It’s one thing that everyone can see my gigantic, looks-like-I-play-in-the-NBA, hands, but allowing it to all hang out is something else entirely.

Last week, my family and I rented a vacation house for a night to celebrate my daughter’s 12th birthday and the birthday of one of our friends.  While looking for the rental unit, one of the requirements was that the house have a hot tub.  Unfortunately we found one.

So, there I was.  Not only was it snowy and freezing outside, but the 104 degree hot tub overlooked beautiful scenery and I had been suffering from a stiff neck for days.  It seemed…appealing.  While the adults were all scattered among different parts of the house, I decided to bite the bullet, put on my bathing suit and climb into the hot tub with my daughter and our friends’ two kids.

If anyone won’t pass judgment on you it’s two 12 year old girls, because they are so concerned about themselves they don’t even see your thighs.  Plus, there was a nine year old to distract them…or irritate them…same difference.

I walked outside, removed the towel from my waist, climbed the steps and, under the gaze of three children, I dipped myself into the hot tub.

There.  That wasn’t so bad, now was it?  Sure, I’m big…but, it’s not like the water went pouring over the edge.  I leaned my head back and let the jets pound against my stiff neck.  I can’t believe I was so worried about what everyone thinks of me.

Which is when my daughter looked across the water and said, “Um…Mom?  I think you need a tissue.”

Follow

Email

You know how you enter a new year all starry-eyed and sure that things are going to be, at least, 20 times better than the year before, then right after the ball drops, your husband spills his glass of punch on your living room area rug, then your son spills sparkling grape juice all over himself, and then nine hours after that you take your husband’s car to the shop and it needs $500 in repairs, and then the shop calls back and says, “Whoops, we mean $700!”, and five hours after that you find out that your sister-in-law, who is also your dental hygienist, isn’t at the family get-together because she’s home with a vomiting virus, and she just happened to clean the teeth and floss the gums of every member of your family two days prior, and then you play in a poker tournament with 15 people where the top three players get paid, and you go out fourth, then you spend the first night of the new year not sleeping at all and on the second day of the new year your dog throws up all day?

Yeah, me too.

Follow

Email

Well, another year has come and gone.  I am envisioning great things in 2011, though that might just be my husband’s homemade wine talking.

I suppose I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, so instead I’m going to take a look back.  Here are some of my favorite moments from 2010.

January – I was photographed for Ladies Home Journal magazine and my son’s poor hearing led to, yet another, shameless statement.

February – I asked my first Question of the Day.

March – I wrote the post that would later be honored at the BlogHer Voices of the Year Gala and Art Auction curated by Kirtsy.

April – I poured my heart out while talking about my son’s struggles and I sneaked into my neighbor’s garden to steal some…pictures.

May – Ah…spring!  May brought about one of my favorite blog posts ever, which was Question of the Day II.  This.  Is.  My.  Life.

June –  I wrote a letter to my Grandma and celebrated my birthday.  If you call this celebrating.

July – This is when the heat started getting to me.  And to people’s crotches.

August – Sigh.  August.  You were so beautiful.  Which is probably why I focused on inspiration and on gifts you don’t get in boxes. 

September – Things stopped getting so serious when I shared my post-surgery, Dilaudid tweets.

October – I posted Question of the Day V.  I suffer, so you don’t have to.

November – I wrote about my old dog, Blue.  I don’t think she’s long for this world.

December – I got the job of my dreams.

May you all have a safe and happy New Year!  Thank you for stopping by.  I appreciate each and every one of you!

Follow

Email