In March 2009, I started blogging for myself. I had been a writer most of my life. I had been blogging for years for others. Attending the Blissdom conference gave me that last little push I needed to get my blog going.

One of the first places I found when looking for community, was SITS. They used to call themselves The Secret is in the Sauce and I just found that so funny. And true!

I jumped right in. I loved that I would leave a link to my blog and tons of people would visit. In turn, I would do the same thing and I found some amazing blogs along the way. Many of them I still subscribe to today.

Today the name is The Secret to Success is Support and that is so true.

The sense of community was addicting. I loved that I felt like I was a part of something bigger. I was in the company of people who got the online world because let’s face it, a lot people don’t, do they?

Thanks so much for stopping. Thanks for checking out some of my favorite posts. And thanks for being a part of SITS.

Are you attending the sold out Blissdom Conference next month in Nashville, Tennessee at the fabulous Gaylord Opryland Hotel? Well I am and I hope to see you there.

This will be my fourth Blissdom and I am thrilled to share the news that I will be a Community Leader during the conference.

WHAT ARE COMMUNITY LEADERS?

Community Leaders come from specific niches – parenting, food, photography, design/creative, entrepreneurs,  frugal living and more.Community Leaders will be present in every session, and will use their experience and hands-on knowledge to help you translate the speakers’ ideas in to actions you can apply directly to your own situation. They will take their top level professional experience and filter it to help provide advice and guidance tailor-made for you.

I will be a Community Leader for the Review Bloggers niche. I am looking forward to sharing, learning and collaborating with the conference attendees.

Let me know if you are attending. Hope to see you there!

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I cannot believe that you are seven today. It seems like yesterday when we used to laugh about your ever present pouty face.

Who knew then that one of your best features would be your smile?

Who knew that you had enough personality to fill a room? Or even an entire building?

You are an amazing child. Curious. Smart. Wonderful to be around.

You are a kind and compassionate younger sister. You are a knowledgeable and fabulous older sister.

Our lives are infinitely better because you are in them. We are lucky to have you!

Happy Birthday, my amazing daughter!

Pssst…see that badge over there in my sidebar. Not that one. Nope not that one either. Yeah not that one. Kinda looks like Vegas right?

Ok I will give you a hint that Babble one.

I am really excited to share some news with you guys. I will now be writing for Kid Scoop at Babble.com.

WHAT IS KID SCOOP?

Kid Scoop is part of Babble.com’s kid blog which covers the trials and tribulations of raising a kid: the good, the bad and mostly, the honest.

OTHER KID SCOOP BLOGGERS:

Devan McGuinness – Accustomed Chaos

Nichole Beaudry – In These Small Moments

Lori Garcia – Mommyfriend

Katie Allison Granju – mamapundit

Meghan Gesswein – MeghanGWine

Amber Doty – The Daily Doty

Casey Mullins – MooshinIndy

Sharon Beesley – NYC Taught Me

Please check out my first post on Babble – Well Here I Am

Thanks for stopping by!

Today I guest posted over on the Jen and Barb mom life blog. My post is about being a cool mom and whether I think I am a cool mom or not.

I had a fun writing the post because right before I wrote it, I thought to myself, “Heck yes, I am a cool mom.”

Then I watched the video from Jen and Barb. And then I began writing my post.

All of the things that I thought made me cool, actually just make me a mom. Not cool.

Check out my guest post and let me know what you think.

My six year old daughter was faced with a tough decision today at Costco. She was in charge of getting the bottle of water that we were going to share.

She stood there for three or four minutes and I finally asked, “What’s going on? Why didn’t you get the water?”

Her reply: “I couldn’t decide which one I wanted.”

LOL!

She went with C7, by the way, because “It looks like the best one!”

For more inspiring photos, check out:

The Bonafide Life, Better in Bulk, Shanamama, From Dates to Diapers, Not Your Momblog,

High Impact Mom, Colorado Moms, Rajean Blomquist, BrainFoggles and Zensible Mama

and link your own photo stories

Other Wordless Wednesday places to link up:

Life is full of difficult, but important choices.

Need advice on whether to go to Mexico or the Maldives for your honeymoon?

Can’t decide whether you should live in the suburbs or the city?

Bounce Fanatics can help you make these important decisions— kind of like deciding between the Bounce Dryer Bar and Bounce dryer sheets!

Some of you may recall that I was part of the Bounce Brigade at a recent conference. I love Bounce and have used it for years, for a variety of things. I bet you didn’t know that there are tons of things you can use Bounce for, right?

My husband just recently changed jobs. He left a company that he had been with for over 20 years to go into business with his family. It was a big leap of faith that so far has paid off well.

We are now planning a really cool family vacation for next summer. We started saving and are first trying to figure out where to go. My sister works for an airline so we can get passes from her to go virtually anywhere in the world.

So now we are stuck with an interesting choice to make.

Should we take the kids on their first trip out of the country to Europe where we would tour three or four different countries?

OR

Should we travel with our children through the Western half of the United States in an RV?

Beginning today, Bounce is launching a fun and exciting application called “Bounce it Off Millions” on their Facebook page. You can submit your question for a chance to have it shared in a Facebook ad sponsored by Bounce!

To celebrate the four weeks of Bounce it Off Millions, four lucky users will be chosen to win a grand prize—the chance to turn their life’s great questions into a Facebook-wide advertisement, inviting Facebook’s 150+ million users to help you decide between your two options!

Also on the Bounce Facebook page during this time, fans can enter a special sweepstakes for the chance to win two Bounce Dryer Bars—one to keep, and one for a friend. 5,000 winners will be chosen.

I had so much fun posting all sorts of questions that I find interesting such as Paper or plastic? Over or under for the toilet paper? And of course my travel question.

So check it out today. Tell Bounce about the interesting choice you have had to make and millions of readers could offer you a “fresh” opinion on your next tough decision! Your question will be turned into a poll, and other Bounce fanatics will be able to vote on it so that you can make the right choice!

Contest ends September 17, 2011. Official Contest Rules

So Europe or the US in an RV? What would you choose?

I was engaged by Bounce  to help promote this contest.

There are so many firsts these days.

They are growing and changing. At the speed of light.

Many days I want it all to stop. My heart wants them to stay little forever.

My head knows that they will continue to grow. To change. To become the amazing human beings they are destined to become.

I have to make myself remember how important all of these firsts are for me and them. After all, I am the chief memory keeper of my household and I take that responsibility seriously.

Yesterday they started school. Third grade, first grade and pre-K. They ran in their classrooms without a hug or a kiss or even saying goodbye.

I only cried a little.

For more inspiring photos, check out:  

The Bonafide Life, Better in Bulk, Shanamama, From Dates to Diapers, Not Your Momblog,

High Impact Mom, Colorado Moms, Rajean Blomquist, BrainFoggles and Zensible Mama

and link your own photo stories

Other Wordless Wednesday places to link up:

I am heading to Blogher in the morning. I will be in San Diego, California for the next five days.

I am very excited and cannot wait to connect with old friends as well as meet new friends.

I will be traveling with my travel buddies Alicia and Desiree.

I am rooming and speaking with the fabulous Mommy Niri. I am also speaking with Amy from MomSpark.

If you are going to be there, please check out Perfecting Your Product Reviews on Friday from 2:45 – 4:00 pm.

A special thanks to my sponsor, the Windows Phone 7. They sent me a phone to check out and to take with me to the conference. For the first time, I will be traveling without my camera because this phone has an amazing camera!!!

The phone also has the most visually appealing apps that I have ever seen. I am addicted to the People function of the phone which combines all of my social media accounts in one tab. But there will be more on that later when I write my full review.

I will also be live tweeting my makeover in the Secret Style Suite and subsequent reveal at the party that night.

My Windows Phone 7 is also making managing my calendar a snap. All of my events are in one place complete with links to the online invites. I get reminders of where I need to be and when.

Make sure to follow me at Blogher. I am @StacieinAtlanta on Twitter. I will be tweeting with the #WindowsPhone hashtag and if you want to check out the phone, let me know. I will be happy to show it to you. In fact, I will be updating you guys throughout the entire conference so keep looking for my tweets.

Here are a few of the places that you can catch me at: