End of the Road?

Happy Sunday!  It's the end of Week Two of National Blog Posting Month.  This week felt incredibly long.  Things are starting to look like I've reached the end of the road in this year's NaBloPoMo challenge.

For starters those cold germs I mentioned last week that were floating around the YUMMommy household have decided to wage an all out, full force attack on me and JJ's immune system.  Moo's immune system seems to have finally gotten a little stronger thanks to her being sick pretty much all last year.  Unfortunately, my immune system has been weak since birth and has chosen to stay that way. Therefore, JJ and I are both laid up in bed with runny noses, chest congestion, bad couches, voices almost gone, fever and minor body aches.

I've never been more jealous of my kids than I am now.  Moo shook her bug in less than 24 hours and JJ has still managed to have a decent amount of energy as well as his usual appetite.  Me? Not so much.  I feel like I've been in a bad car wreck and food is the least appealing.  And I forgot to mention that my throat is swollen.

Also, today the kids almost took out the Christmas tree wrestling!  This is what happens when you are the mother of a boy and a princess who's also in touch with her tom boy side.  Thankfully, no kids were hurt, I was able to straighten the tree back out and it's still standing.  You all might recall, Moo took out our tree two years ago on Christmas Day and we had to trash it because one of the trunk poles broke.

Lastly, the fan on my computer died.  And because my laptop doesn't want me to overheat the circuits and kill it for good, it will only stay on for 15 seconds at a time.  It chooses to use those 15 seconds to let know that my fan has crashed and that it will be shutting down automatically to avoid damage.

So, I am currently blogging from my phone.  Listen when I tell y'all this blogging and motherhood stuff ain't easy!  The struggle is too real right about now.  If you don't see me around these parts tomorrow or the rest of the week, know that my NaBloPoMo journey is done because I'm doped up on meds and I'm a light weight when it comes to any medicine or my computer is still down because I'm waiting on a replacement fan.

Love you guys!

What I Still Love About Blogging

Photo: CreateHER Stock

YUMMommy has been my baby for almost six years.  No worries, it will continue to be my baby for many more years to come.  I first created this blog to have a place to reach out to other moms (and dads).  At the time, I was single mom who felt alone in her journey of trying to parent a child in modern times.  As with anything in life, I've had my ups and downs with this blog.  Here's why I'm still in it for long haul to keep sharing my journey, tips and more.

What I Still Love About Blogging

The lovely ladies of Blog Charlotte enjoying Mom's Night Out at Chick-fil-A

Building Community & Friendships

Before starting this blog I was a severe introvert.  Now, I'm still very much an introvert, but I'm a functioning introvert with people skills.  I love that I've built a community on here and through my social media channels.  What I love even more are the friendships that I've cultivated through this world of blogging that have transcended beyond the computer.  

It's refreshing to have others who can relate to struggles, frustrations and successes that come with owning and maintaining a blog.  Writing and blogging can be lonely at times because we spend a lot of time in front of our computer screens, but our supporters and fellow blogger friends make it all worthwhile.  I love you guys enjoy sharing your stories with me either in the comments here on the blog, through an email or via social media.

We're here to support each other.  Kids or no kids, everyone needs to have village, community and friends they can go to.  We all need that place we can go to and be surrounded by people who get us and understand what it is we're going through.  And for me, YUMMommy has become and continues to be that place.

Creating A Legacy

Most of us want or desire to create some sort of legacy to pass down to our children.  This blog is my legacy that I will pass down to Moo and JJ.  I first realized that I was creating a legacy with YUMMommy when I was working on a post one day and Moo came to sit on the couch with me.  She's been fascinated by the fact that I'm blogger pretty much since was old enough to comprehend what a blog is.

That day she asked if she could have/take over my blog when she became a mom.  My first thought was "you want to be a mom?"  Isn't that what all little girls want to be at some point?  I didn't.  The thought of being a mom when I was her age terrified me and it took me a long while to decide that I wanted to have kids.

However, Moo's always known that she's wanted to be a mom like me.  And now she wants to be the future YUMMommy.  I told her that yes, I would pass the blog down to her and that she'd have to find a way incorporate her brother and other future siblings.  Since then, she's been just as involved in this blog as I have.  She tags along to blog events, she's always giving me ideas of things that I "should" talk about and she asks a million and one questions on how blogging works.

It's heartwarming and delightful to see her learning and trying to learn the lay of this land in preparation for her future takeover.  I have no doubt that if you're still reading YUMMommy once your children have children, y'all are going to love her and her stories as much as you love mine.

Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone

On stage at the Charlotte Southern Women's Show for the Food Lion Frugal Cookoff

One of the things I love most about blogging is that it's giving me several opportunities to step outside of my comfort zone and conquer my fears.  For example, I've wanted to be onstage in front of a live audience.  However, the thought of actually going through with it terrified me and I never sought out opportunities to do it.

This year the opportunity actually came to me when I was asked to participate in Food Lion's Frugal Cookoff.  The event was being held our annual Southern Women's Show here in Charlotte.  There are thousands of people who come out to this event.  I was going to be onstage, cooking a meal that I had no clue what the ingredients would be beforehand and was going to be judged by professional chefs, Food Lion reps and even a professional food critic.  Did I mention that I was also going up against a group of my blogging friends?

At first, I was going to say no because I was just too afraid that I was going to have a panic or anxiety attack in front of the audience.  But then I decided to overcome my fear by stepping outside of my comfort zone.  The event was a success, I tackled my fear and my team won!  I went on from there to appear on a live taping of the Charlotte Today Show and it was amazing as well!

Blogging has been such a blessing for me (and my family) in so many ways.  I'm forever grateful that I gathered up the courage to start YUMMommy and look forward whatever the future holds.  Thank you guys for coming along for this ride!

Do you have a blog?  What do you love about it?

 

5 Things I Want To Photograph Better

Who doesn't love beautiful photos?  I do.  However, capturing the "money shot" has always been something I've struggled with.  I feel like no matter how many photos I shoot, getting a gorgeous shot is always more of a hit and miss situation for me.  As a blogger and a someone who genuinely wants to be good at photography this is beyond frustrating.  In 2016, here are five things that I want to get better at photographing.

My Family

When I was little, my mom was very rarely without one of her cameras in tow.  And on the rare occasions that she had forgotten her cameras at home, she didn't hesitate to stop by Walmart to pick up a three pack of disposable ones.  (Man disposable cameras were dirt cheap during the '90s.)  Like me, my mom is a creative.  However, unlike me, she always seemed to be able to snap the perfect pictures of us.

Even today, she will make us pose and repose a million times to capture the perfect photo on her iPhone.  She's also the master of taking beautiful candids as well.  Being a mom and wife, I want to fill picture books with gorgeous photos for Moo, JJ and their future siblings to look back on when they're older.  So capturing better photos of us as a family is definitely at the very top of my list for next year.

Food

If you haven't noticed, I've been doing a lot of food blogging lately.  It's so awesome to share my recipes and more of my passion for cooking with on this space.  But I'm going to be honest and say that my food photography skills suck big time.  My dishes always come too dark.  Then there's whole styling aspect before you even pick up the camera.

Once I feel like I have that nailed down as best I can, I struggle with what angle to best shoot from.  I'm determined though to get the hang of photographing my dishes because I don't want to stop sharing this side of me with y'all.  Part of what I love about being a Southerner is our love for food and how we share that our loved ones.  Food down here is used to show so many things- compassion, sympathy, appreciation, etc.

Nature

Being from the country, I learned to appreciate being surrounded by nature.  When I first came to live in the Queen City, I had to get used to being surrounded by more concrete than trees and open fields.  I grew up used to seeing deers, rabbits and even a few bobcats run through our yard.  My childhood home was surrounded by trees in the back and in the Spring, wild flowers would pop up in the front. 

It wasn't unusual to go to someone's house and see a mini farm in the back.  Several of my great cousins and one of my uncles had their own farms.  There this one time we went to my great uncle's house and we chased his chickens until they finally got fed up and started chasing us back.  It's one of my fondest memories and a reminder of how carefree nature has always made me feel.  I want to be capture the beauty that nature is and hang those photos throughout my home.

Selfies

I've said on here a few times that I'm camera shy, which is crazy considering how photos I've posed for as kid and that once dabbled in modeling.  I think I started to become camera shy and avoiding being in front of the camera because I never mastered the art of taking great selfies/self portraits. But I don't want to look back down line at all the photos of everyone else and regret not being in more of them or having more pictures of just me.  If I'm going to work hard to get better at capturing the beauty around me, shouldn't I work on capturing the beauty within in me as well?

Products

Product reviews are another thing that I do quite a bit of on this blog.  As the holidays draw nearer, more and more companies start to send out pitches.  And for the most part, I enjoy doing them.  What's not to like?  I get free products for myself and sometimes my family.  We try them out and I get to share my experiences and recommendations here for other families.  The part I'm not so nuts about is, you guessed it, photographing the products.

Again, I often struggle with finding the right angles or staging.  Other times, it's trying to find decent lighting.  Needless to say, I want to make sure I'm putting my absolute best foot forward and making the best possible impression when I'm working with brands.  So, bringing it when it comes to my product reviews photos is a must for me.

There you have it.  I know that I have my work cut out for me when it comes to becoming a better photographer, but I'm more than up for the challenge.  I'm not one to shy away from learning a new skill or working on the areas that I have weakness in.  Stay tuned to my NaBloPoMo posts because I'll be talking more about my photography quest later on this month and sharing what steps I'll be taking to be improve my skills.

When it comes to photography, what is your favorite subject/thing to photograph?

Happy NaBloPoMo

November is officially here!  I can hardly believe it.  It feels like this year sped by.  With the New Year so close, I know that it's only to go by even faster now.  Besides Thanksgiving, one of the things that I really look forward to in November is National Blog Posting Month aka NaBloPoMo.

NaBloPoMo is where bloggers commit to blogging every day for the month of November.  This challenge is great for bloggers for many reasons.  It helps us to get into the hang of posting to our blogs on a regular basis, it improves our writing skills and allows to connect more with our readers.  Last year I took a little break from NaBloPoMo.  I'm back this year and I'm confident that I can make it through.

I'm really looking forward to getting my blogging groove back and connecting more with the community I have here on the blog.  So, if you're a new face here don't be shy.  Feel free to introduce yourself in the comments and stay for a while.  See y'all tomorrow!

If you're a blogger, are you participating in NaBloPoMo?

Meet My SITS Tribe

Hi y'all!  These last few days I have been on Cloud 9 in terms of blogging.  Why?  Well, a while back, I signed up for the SITS Girls Tribe Building Challenge.  It's challenge in which we would be paired with bloggers from our niche and over this week, we have different tasks to complete.  Each task is meant to help us unite as tribe (or sisterhood) as well as to help us grow our brands and blogs.  Wasn't this idea genius?!

Well, I am loving my tribe to the fullest.  I've seen some other bloggers talking (and complaining) about their tribes and I feel blessed that I have a group of such lovely ladies.  Everyone has been nothing short of super supportive, organized and helpful.  We've already reached out to each other with blogging and social media questions.  I am definitely in agreement with SITS motto that "The Secret To Success Is Support."

The whole SITS community in general is very supportive as I've blogged about in the past.  If you're a blogger and you have no clue what SITS is or who the SITS Girls are, then feel free to check them out here.

Anyways, I thought that I would introduce you all to my awesome tribe.

When it comes to Coffee Jitters, all I can say is wow.  Reading a little of Judy's back posts, I found out that she has been through so much since starting her blog ten years ago.  She's battled stage 3 cancer, infertility, gotten married and is now continuing to adjust to life after cancer.  She's already such a trooper and inspiration in my eyes.
You guys already know my personal connection with cancer and how it's affected my family with the death of my paternal grandmother and having witnesses several family members successfully beat it.  I admire Judy's strength to blog about that part of her life in such an honest and open way.  I've never had breast cancer myself, but those who have will always have a special place in my heart for simple fact that I am at a higher risk of getting it based on my family history.  Her Parenting Rite of Passage had me giggling a little bit and feeling a little better about some of the things Moo and JJ continue to get into.

Heather's blog Raising Memories says it all.  A lot of times as parents we find ourselves just coasting or going through the motions without taking the time to enjoy the moments that make up our lives and the lives of our family members.  I love that her blog is so colorful and cheery!  If tutorials, recipes and crafting are your thing then this is definitely the blog for you!

I was super excited when I saw that Allison was in my tribe. I have been following her blog Twingle Mommy for a little over two years now.  She's a Vegas girl turned Carolina blogger.  She's also had a battle with infertility and talks openly about having a child with special needs. With JJ's speech issues and sensory overload disorder, I find Heather's posts about her son's journey with Cerebral  Palsy and how they're combating it inspiring.

Rereading her post about having to explain why twins go to different schools has made it easier for me to deal with the questions and silent judgement that I've experienced.  I've been asked by strangers and family members things like "Why doesn't he talk" or "Do you know what caused 'it'," which is pretty much their way of asking if JJ's issues are my fault.  Twingle Mommy is also a great place to find recipes and read product reviews.

I'm not even sure why haven't come across Natalie's blog, Cosmos Mariners, by now.  We have so much in common.  For example, we're both Carolina natives, moms, wives, and we're both Team Coca Cola (she adores Diet Coke).  Also, we both have a great love and appreciation for books, work (or in my case worked) in the education field and we both love to travel and we both started blogging in 2010.

I'm looking to really get to know Natalie through her blog.  Cosmos Mariners is a wonderful collection of personal posts sprinkled with posts on DIYs, how-tos and more.

Lauren is another blogger after my own heart.  Two Washingtons started out as a way for her to keep family updated on the happenings with her and her husband after they traded Washington, D.C for Washington state.  See what she did there with the title?  Cute right?!  Anyways, Lauren also has a love for books like me and she's a mommy of two as well as a wife.

But more importantly she's a Patriots fan!!  Woohoo!  I know I might be a Carolina girl, but I wasn't in raised in a Carolina household.  My parents were obsessed with the Dallas Cowboys and still are. However, once I started getting into professional football in high school, I quickly took on the New England Patriots as my team and I've been rocking with them ever since.  Speaking of which, Tom and I need to have a little chit chat.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to having someone to cheer with and help me trash talk our Pat haters next season via Twitter and FB.

Jellibean Journals is like a destination blog.  No, seriously, Jelli and her family live in the beautiful Costa Rica!  I used to dream about going there when I was in grade school.  And reading Jelli's blog these last few days and reawaken that desire to visit.  Being the foodie and cooking mama that I am, I've already scoped out some her recipe posts.
Also, I love that she's into being eco-friendly!  Y'all know that I'm all for being Green!  And Jelli talks opening about her faith, something that I finally took the plunge to do last year with my Bible 365 Challenge.

Reading Jenn's blog Coolest Family on the Block has me going back to check out my arts & crafts bucket list.  There is some serious craft envy going on over here.  What I love about her blog is that it's fun and resourceful.  She's blogging about crafting, family life as well as giving us tutorials like how to add FB pages to an interest list on your account.
I'm looking forward to trying out a few the fun activities that she has documented on her blog with Moo and JJ.

Omg, Mel lives in my dream state, New York!  Y'all have no idea how many bloggers from NY that follow just so that I can live through them a little bit.  Her blog name pretty much sums up the same way I feel about my life on most days.  As a mom and a wife and brand owner, there is always something going on, something going wrong, etc.

Anyways, I'm really glad that Mel is a part of our tribe.  Her blog has already proven to be very helpful.  Like me, she's really focused on achieving her goals.  My favorite post so far is her Y3W: My Monthly Goals.  She's linked to a few couple goal setting templates that I really like and will be using to keep me on track.  And did I mention, that she and her husband are expecting another bundle of joy soon?  Can't wait to see what other resources Mel will share and to learn more about her and her family.

Rounding out my SITS Tribe is Emma from Outmumbered.  She got clever with her blog title too.  Did you catch it?  Listen, I've read my share of About Me/Us pages and Emma hands down has the cutest one!  Check it out here.  If you love photos, then this is the blog for you.  I love how her passion for being behind camera and capturing the special moments she shares with her family really shines through.  
I'm so jealous of her photography skills (and that she's Irish!).  Like really, I need to get behind a camera more and capture more family moments.  And I am totally smitten with their dog Marcie!  Y'all know I'm a dog person and until we get the ok from JJ's allergy specialist, we can't have one.  So, once again I like to follow bloggers who have dogs as pets so that I can live through them.  Oh, if you ever want some ideas for your Elf on a Shelf check this elf mischief.

So, there you have it folks!  That is my Tribe in a nutshell.  I've only been interacting with these ladies a few days, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.  We plan continuing to support each as a tribe long after this week long SITS challenge is over and for that I am grateful.  I'm looking forward to building not just a blogging relationship with these ladies, but true friendships!  Thanks SITS Girls for pairing me with such a wonderful group of ladies!!


Are you part of a SITS Tribe?  Do you feel like you've bonded with your tribe members already?

Call Me Crazy: My Goal To Live A Life Of Abundance

Call me crazy but this year I'm on a mission to live an abundant and wealthy lifestyle. I know some of you are looking at your screens and thinking this chick has fallen off her rocker!  But let me be clear and say that I'm not just talking financially.  I want to be abundant and wealthy spiritually, emotionally, mentally, in my health, my family life, and professionally.

 I'm just fed up with my current situation.   As a matter of fact, I'm past fed up.  To see just how comfortable I had gotten with living a mediocre life of these last few years has me both disappointed and borderline ashamed.  I've been looking back at some stuff and I had big plans for my life but threw them out the window because of stumbling blocks.  Well, last year was my wake up call.

I'm determined to not make this year a repeat.  Here are 5 key practices that I'm adopting for moving forward in 2014:

5 Key Practices to Living Abundantly

1) Decide to Live Abundantly

I'm letting go of this "I can't" mentality.  Joel Osteen postesd on Facebook the other day "God is not limited by our circumstances, by how you were raised, by what you don't have.  Start believing big.  Have an abundance mentality."  With that said I'm setting target working towards earning $30k every 30 days.  It's ambitious yes, but if you aim low, you reap low.  It's as if you haven't totally changed your mindset. Having big dreams, adjusting our mindset to believing that we can achieve those dreams and then actually putting in the work to make those dreams come true is what separates those who achieve success and those who just stay content with getting by.  I don't want to be someone who aspires to obtain a higher level of success but is too afraid to admit out loud and even more afraid to work to achieve it.

2) Get Motivated

My desire to provide a better life overall (financially, emotionally, educationally, and spiritually) for my family, give back to the community and church like I want to, continuing to better my relationship with God and having a successful career and getting The YUMMommy Project off the ground are my main motivations right now.  My son is in speech therapy right and while it's going ok, he could be making a lot more progress if we could afford to try out some of the other alternative therapies we available here.

Moo's will start school for certain this August and I want her in a school that is safe, will expose her nontraditional learning techniques, doesn't have overcrowded classrooms, has great teachers who not only love what they do but who are held accountable and are monitored as well as lots of opportunities for parents to be involved.  Also, want my husband to be able to spend less time working and more time doing things with us.

3) Surround Yourself With Abundant/Wealthy/Successful People

Listen, I know when I mentioned earlier that I wanted to make $30k every 30 days, some of you probably rolled your eyes or thought "she's not being realistic."  And that's why I have to surround myself with people who have proven that it is realistic.  Let me tell you, Pat Flynn raked in $55k last month mostly off of blogging, affiliate marketing and eBook sales.  And this past July he raked in $116k! He went from unemployed and making $7k his first month of unemployment to making $200k during his first year of working for himself.

Imagine what would have happened if he had listened to the naysayers.  I'm on the hunt for my mentor.  That person (or people) who's willing to take me under their wing, push me when I feel like giving up and continue to help me keep my mind open to an abundant way of thinking.  

4) Work For It

"Mama need a house.  Baby need some shoes."  I have put on my Ace Hood hat and I'm hustling hard.  Just like faith without action is dead, having a dream to live abundantly and no work ethic or hustle is pointless too.  I'm getting my face and my brands out there.  In 2012, I was featured in a national magazine and I dropped the ball on the spinning that into some other major opportunities like I should have.  No more ball dropping this year.

Mary Mary sings it best in my theme song Go Get It, "You were made to live a good life and that's what I believe. So hit the floor say a prayer, start working; you got to do something. It's alright to crawl before you walk.  It's alright to walk before you run.  But if you wanna get what you never got,  gotta do something that you never done."

5)Invest Don't Spend

I'm finding ways to invest in myself and brands that will give me a return.  For example, I'm getting to start a business class the week after next on Coursera.  I've purchased books to help me brush up on my marketing skills.  Did I ever mentioned I passed my marketing class in college with a perfect score?! Yea, I'm brushing the dust off that knowledge.  I'm investing time get a Kickstarter page going.

I also, I'm looking to invest in others by sharing what I'm learning and what I know.  No need in hogging knowledge.  I'm all about each one, teach one.  I love giving back.  It's just part of who I am.  When I give to others it pays me back in happiness, joy and a feeling of self-pride because I did the right thing.

I'll also be investing in new business cards, stationary, etc.  If I want to businesses and other brands to take me seriously when I'm pitching them or sending them letters, a plain old letter template is ok, but something with my logo and printed on quality paper will stand out more.  

The gospel song says "Our God is an awesome God. He reigns..."  And that is true.  I refuse to be one of those "O ye of little faith" types.  John 10:10 says "...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."  

So go ahead, tell me I'm nuts and that my goals are too high, but at the end of day I feel more focused and driven than I've been in my life!  It might not happen overnight, but I feel like I've been through so many rainy seasons that the sunshine is just over the horizon.  And I'm beyond ready!

What is one of your biggest dream  or mission that scares you the most to admit aloud?  And what is holding you back from achieving that dream?  Is lack of faith, fear of being mocked or fear of failure?

Sharing Is Caring

Sharing is caring. This is something I've been thinking a lot.  Y'all know that I'm a firm believer in giving to others.  Couple that with my want to better the utilize my Facebook page in a way that not only benefits me but my followers as well, I came up with the following memes below over the weekend.

Motherhood Monday

This will the day that everyone can stop by and share a link to anything post on their blog related to motherhood (or fatherhood because we do have a few men who support YUMMommy).  It can be anything from sharing your breastfeeding experience to talking about successes in potty training.

Tasty Tuesday

Did you try a new recipe from Pinterest?  Well, the link up on Tuesdays will be all about sharing recipes from main dishes to cocktails.

Whatever Wednesday

Think of it as Freestyle Friday, but in the middle of the week.  Any post/vlog goes.  Just no spam.  Whatever post you need some love shown to, just drop by the Facebook page and link it up in the comments.

Thankful Thursday

I've been finding that a lot of bloggers actually do Thankful Thursday posts.  Why not share them all in one place?

Fashionable Friday

I've been feeling the itch to get back into fashion again.  I never stopped loving it and now I'm ready to share more fashion related posts on the blog again.  And I'm also interested in checking out other fashion posts.  You never know where you might find inspiration for that next great outfit.

Social Saturday

We all know the fastest way to network is via social media.  Hence, Social Saturday will be all about sharing the two social media accounts that you want to build/grow the most.  Be it Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Bloglovin or Instagram, you choose whatever two you want to link up and we'll stop by and show you some love.

Shareable Sunday

This all about sharing tips.  When I started blogging, I had no clue what I was doing.  I searched for easy to follow tutorials and tips posted by blogging geniuses.  After all the saying does say "each one, teach one."

I hope that you guys will join me on Facebook next week when I start these up.  Bloggers who support together, grow together is my motto.

Which link share will be your favorite?

Thankful Thursday

Y'all it's been a long week and we still have today, tomorrow and Saturday left.  It just seems like one thing after the other has been going on.  And I don't do well with road blocks.  Anyways, it's Thankful Thursday and despite all that's transpired, I still have much to be grateful for.

Not sure if I mentioned that we had the tires on our car vandalized.  It's just down right sad the stupid and inconsiderate stuff people do to others for no reason.  They didn't care if we had jobs to get, might have had an emergency run to hospital to make or whether or not we'd have the money to get new tires.  Thankfully, we were blessed to score new tires and get them put on for a steal!!  God is good because tires are expensive and money is a little snug around these parts right now.

I'm also thankful that the Mr is feeling 100% since his surgery.  He was out of work for a month and started back this week.  Of course, a part of me is a little anxious to see how his body will respond and how well he'll get back in the swing of things.  Can't lie, we're going to miss having him to ourselves.

I'm thankful that I've been making good progress on my first vlog!  It'll be up soon.  It's been something I've been wanting to do for a while, but a million and one excuses always kept popping up in my head and making me chicken out.  Well, I decided to just bite the bullet and go for it.  So, I can't wait until it's finished.

We've still been having rain here almost everyday, but thankfully it's been during the evening hours.  We were able to get out of the house yesterday and enjoy some sights.  I'm very thankful that I've been finding some great blogging/entrepreneurship resources and have been connecting with a lot of awesome bloggers online.  So often it can be hard to find other bloggers and business owners who will mentor you and just share their tips and tricks of the trade willingly and freely.  

Trust me, I've tried and I can't tell you how many people I reached out to either just didn't respond back or whatever.  I definitely see myself going further and being able to better myself and establish a brand that I can twice as proud of than I am currently.  So, don't give up.  Keep reaching out and keep researching.  You'll find the right door one day!

What's on your gratitude list this week?

Kicking It Old School

Today, I'm kicking it old school.  I remember back in the day we use to buy the friendship books and we had to list our top 5 favorite things for different topics-food, movies, bands, etc.  As a matter of fact, I recently found one of my friendship books from junior high.  It was funny seeing all the things I liked back then and still like today-Boyz II Men, gummy bears, Dawson's Creek, Bruce Lee.  Thanks to Mrs AOK for tagging me!  It's a pleasant distraction from all the stuff that has been happening in the news these past few days.

Five Things I Have A Passion For

My Faith: I'm not one those holier than thou type.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm not perfect.  I fall down, but as Steve Harvey said, "Don't trip, He ain't through with me yet!"  I'm committed to growing and getting stronger in my faith.

My Family:  I will catch a case for my family!  Yes, I don't play around when it comes to the ones I love.  And when it comes to my kids, I'm a ride or die mama.

Writing:  I love to write.  Blogging, short stories, novels, poetry, etc.  I just love to write.  My mom use to joke that I was born with a pen in my hand. LOL

Charity:  Giving back is just part of who I am.  If I have it to give then I do.  If I don't then I'm pointing the person in need to someone who I know does.  I miss the days when if a person in our neighborhood was going through a tough time, the whole community pitched in to help.  We don't do that anymore.  If our neighbor loses his/her job, some of us could care less how they feed their family or pay their bills.

Food:  Whether it's cooking it or eating it, I thoroughly enjoy food.

Five Things I Would Like To Do Before I Die

Live Abroad:  I enjoy being an American, but I would love the opportunity to experience living in a different country and culture for at least two years.  It has to be somewhere with beautiful sights, family friendly and great food!

See My Kids Grow Up:  There's so much going on in this world.  I pray daily that I get the chance to see my kids grow up.  I want to see them finish school, start careers, get married and have a child or two.

Make A Bestseller List:  I think at some point and time almost every writer wants to see one of their works on a bestseller's list.

Take A Family Vacation:  The Mr and I have never been on a vacation together in the almost 9 years we've been together.  And now that we have the kids, I don't want them to look back and see only family vacations as being something that just consisted of vacationing with my mom.  I want us to have a real family vacation that includes the Mr.

Meet Oprah: No explanation needed.

Five Things I Say A Lot

"Be nice!":  The kiddies can get rough sometimes.

"You know what?"

"Yeah"

"Y'all": You'll find most people use this word a lot, especially in the South.

"I need a snack."

Five Books Or Magazines I've Read Lately

Bible

Always the Wedding Planner Never the Bride by Sandra D. Bricker

20 Easy Crochet Patterns #1 by Lisa Hamblin

Beautiful, Magical, Amazing Ballet by Mary Lee

Bared To You by Sylvia Day

Five Favorite Movies

Dirty Dancing

The Last Dragon

Rush Hour

Fifth Element

Twilight

Five Places I Want To Travel

Paris:  It's the city of love. Plus, I hear the food is delicious!

Greece: There's just something gorgeous about those pictures of the houses built in the hills right on the water front.

Italy

Jamaica

Africa

Five People I'd Like To See Link-Up To This Old School Blog

I'm pretty sure all of my blogging friends have done this tag already.  So, here are a few celebs I'd like to see try this on their blogs.

Oprah

Barack Obama

Ellen

Solange

Mary Mary

Hope y'all have learned something new about me.  I'll be linking my post up on The Miss Elaine-ous Life and Writing,Wishing.  Also you can check out more posts on Twitter.  Just search hashtag #OSBlog. 

Almost Wordless Wednesday

After some trial and error, I'm hoping that in a few hours yummommy.blogspot.com will be yummommy.com.  Yes, I finally took the big step and purchased my own domain for the blog!!  It's a beyond exciting feeling to officially have a piece of Internet real estate.

I told you all earlier this year that I really wanted to take YUMMommy to higher heights this year.  This just one of the many steps to do so.  Thank you to everyone who continues to show support, post comments and  share my posts with their followers.  It's all greatly appreciated!

Taking The Challenge

It's National Blog Post Month and I am officially taking the challenge to blog everyday this month. This is quite an undertaking for me. After all I do have my hands full chasing after a one year old and keeping my three year old entertained. Then you add on all the other hats I wear during the course of the week and it seems like an almost crazy task.

But I am committed to becoming a better blogger and writer. That is why I made the commit and linked up on BlogHer. You'll be seeing a lot more intimate and personal posts on here. I'm playing around with a few photo editing apps to up my photography skills.

All in all, I can't wait to see if I make it. Life happens but I am confident that I will come out on top!

Are you taking the National Blog Post Month challenge?

7 Tips To Help You Blog Write Now

No, that's not a typo in my post title.  Last night I attended the What Blogging Can Do For You webnar hosted by the lovely and ever helpful Tara from The Young Mommy Life.  If you weren't one of the 13 lucky attendees, check out the replay here.  Getting back to the title, we used the hashtag #BlogWriteNow as we tweeted about all the great stuff Tara was sharing with us.  But just in case you're not following me on Twitter and you didn't make the webnar, I'm sharing 7 of the tips that I thought were most the most helpful and important below.

1-Exposure is King: Don't be shy or too timid when it comes to self promoting or plugging your blog.  Getting yourself out there is the key to successfully building your brand and attracting readers.  Also, if you're  looking to work with other brands, they want to be sure that you are capable of giving their product or service the proper exposure to their target market and attract new customers.

2-Find Direction: Before you start your blog take the time to think about the direction you want it to go.  What do you want to offer your readers?  Then put out content that follows that specific path.

And if you've already started your blog, ask yourself why and how your blog is different or how you want it to be different from the sea of other blogs out there?  Create content and an overall feel that reflects that answer. Remember, when it comes to blogging being unique and different is a great thing!

3-Own Your Space:  Would you buy food, clothes or even a house from a store or bank that had no name or employees?  No!  Well, readers and brands feel the same way.  The fact of the matter is that if you're trying to turn your blog into a business or brand you need to put your name or identity on it.

Putting your identity on your blog helps readers and brands not only better relate to you but it helps to establish a certain level of trust because they know that you're real.  Nobody wants to buy a product from you if you're afraid to put your name on your own goods. Now, I'm not saying you have to put your full government name and social out there but a nickname or first initial and last name will get you farther.

4-Be Consistent:  Post on a regular and consistent basis instead of taking the "whenever I feel like it" stance.  Sure you have a job, kids and household to run.  However, that's why Blogger and Wordpress have  a function that allows you type out posts and then set a date you want them to post.  So, you can write on your day after you've put the kids to bed and set them to post the same time everyday or every other.  Either way, you're making sure your readers aren't going weeks or months without hearing from you because when you go ghost, your readership will too!

5-Open Your Mouth:  Those of you not familiar Matthews 7:7 it says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  Want sponsors?  Need products to review or giveaway?  Secretly desiring to write for a big name magazine or website?  

Well, if you don't open your mouth and initiate contact you won't get anything of those things.  I got one of my first sponsors by sending them an email first to let them know that I wanted to really work with them.  I told them how long I had been using their product and send link to posts I had written about it on Facebook.  Sure you might get rejected but the key is opening that line of communication and being persistent in your search.

6-Have More Than One Hat:  At the end of the day, any successful blogger that you look up to can tell you that to get to their level of success they've done more than just blog to make money.  Try dabbling in selling ad space.  Lend yourself out (for fee) as a freelance writer.  Turn some of your blog posts and learned lessons into an ebook.  You can even go beyond the ebook and take your show on the road as a public speaker.

You already heard what Drake said: "There's money to made..."  So, make sure you're getting your fair share.  After all you have to survive in this economy.  Now days it really pays to diversify and not put all your eggs in one basket!

7-Enhance Not Subtract:  At the end of the day, whatever you're adding to your blog should always add to your greatness not take away from it.  With that said make sure you know your audience. Don't throw curve balls like awkward ads or sponsored posts out there because it could scare away readers.  I'm not saying don't take risks.  You're dealing with a lady who's blogged about sex and vibrators on here before.

What I'm saying is warn readers if you want to take a different direction or introduce something that is totally left field.  However, don't go too left just because the money looks good.  Not all lefts can be turned back into a right!

I hope that I've been able to shed some light on this challenging world of blogging with the tips I've learned.  Also, be sure to stay on the lookout for more webnars from Tara.  Below are some tentative dates and titles for webnars to be hosted by her in August.

August 3rd-Building Your Blog Purposefully

August 10th- Creating "Shareable" Content Easily and Quickly

August 17th- Money, Money, Money

August 24th- TBD

I'll Be Back

Still laptopless and it sucks because I have been oozing with creativity.  Needless to say there are a ton of posts that I am dying to write and share with you all.  However, working from my smart phone isn't exactly the ideal situation. Thankfully, my new laptop is on the way.

The hubby ordered it for me.  Just love him to pieces.  Can't wait for it to get here and I can get back to my regular posts. And thank you to everyone who is still hanging in here and coming by the blog.  I appreciate it!   

By the way, JJ is 3 weeks! Hard to believe that he's almost a month old. Time is soaring by like the speed of light.  I am trying to learn to enjoy each moment since I can't slow down time.

Oh and my sister's graduation was a blast!

My Blog Button!!!

Let me first start off by saying that I'm super excited about many things this week. I got my first fellow Blogger follower from my What I'm Making Monday post!!  And it seems my page view counter has confirmed my suspicions that I have more than a few SBS (Silent Blog Stalkers).  That's great because it means that somebody out there actually gives a hoot about what I have to say and is coming to visit my page.  And now to top it off, I created my own blog button!!

I thought it was going to be super hard to do, but thanks to this really easy to follow tutorial from April Showers Blog Design, I was able to create it in under ten minutes.  I already had a custom created avatar that looks very much like me saved. So all I had to do was upload to Microsoft Paint, add the purple background with pink polkadots, a text box and save it to Photobucket.  From there I just followed the tutorial.  I couldn't believe how cute it turned out.

I mean it doesn't have that complete cartoonish look like some of the other buttons, but it's me.  And I'm sure that as I experiment more and more with Microsoft Paint that I will create a better button.  I even felt inspired to create a button for Etsy shop!!  I am in no way a pro and ready to start creating buttons for others but I might one day.  I feel like  I can finally tackle creating a logo for my Young Urban Modern Mommies brand.

You'd really be surprised at how much quitter people reply to you when you have a logo or face for your brand.  This has just totally made my day.  I can only hope that the rest of this week goes just as well.  I will be trying my hand at making a favicon and eventually a completely customized background for my blog. Wish me luck.  And now the words I have been waiting to say, Grab my buttons from the right and add them to your page.