Ready for Fall

Call me crazy but I am ready for the summer (and heat to be done)!

We got our first taste of a fall activity this past weekend when we went with our friends B & K, as well as their adorable baby C to a local corn maze!

 The weather was a bit warm (hence the shorts) but the sun was shining! The farm was adorable...every year they have a company cut the maze into a different animal shape. The past years have included a moose, skunk, and wolf. This year was a bunny!

It was honestly a great chance to get outside and to spend some time with our friends :)

And the cutest little girl got her first pumpkin of 2012!

I'm so excited for some of the plans we have for this fall - a trip up the Cog Railroad with Marc's dad (and a chance to spread my grandfather's ashes on top of Mount Washington), apple picking, a pumpkin patch, possibly a hayride, and, of course, Halloween!

I have a few posts to share with you about our Christmas plans (shopping has already begun) and her Halloween costume plans :)

{Sponsored} AboutOne

While at BlogHer12, I had the opportunity to chat with the ladies from AboutOne. This appealed to me on so many levels that as soon as I got home, I was online signing up for their service!

What is AboutOne?

It's an online organization site with bank-level security. Being a renter, our important documents are scattered between our home in boxes, parents' homes, and some have been thrown out over the years (by accident). With AboutOne, we can scan important documents (birth certificates, wedding certificates, lease documents, taxes, etc). If we need to show them, we can just print them out!

And this scanning feature works for us in another way. With Paige in daycare, she's constantly bringing home  art. With limited space, we can scan her works of art into AboutOne and share it with our family and friends.

Another great feature of AboutOne is the Health entry. We can make note of upcoming doctor's appointments, any allergies/medication/health documents we may need to remember. What's even better? You can create profiles for every member of your family and organize all of the health information into individual profiles.

AboutOne also has a smartphone app which means that you can scan/document health insurance information and not worry about carrying that information with you while you're on vacation!

If you're interested in reading about founder Joanne Lang's story (and other awesome information about AboutOne), click here.

I was compensated by AboutOne to review their online organizer. All opinions and text are my own

{Sponsored} Operation Smiles

A couple of years ago, in the few months after Paige was born, I worked as dental assistant with my friend, Dr. H. She gave me a crash course in dentistry and off I went!

I started off by asking questions from the chart and recording answers while Dr. H did her exam. As I learned more and became confident, I assisted in simple procedures - cavities, x-rays, custom mouth guards, etc. I learned which tools were needed at what point, how to switch out instruments without disrupting the dentist, and I got to work with a friend :)

While it was a fun experience, it's not my career path but I definitely have a great respect for everything dental.

Image: Operation Smile

Meet Maria. She is one of the over 200,000 children who are born with cleft lip or cleft palate defects every year. This defect can be so severe that some kids are unable to eat, speak, socialize, or even smile. This is where Operation Smile comes in! They provide free, life-changing surgery to kids in need through the hard work of 5,000 medical volunteers and donations from you, me, and companies like Campus Book Rentals. Campus Book Rentals provides a donation to Operation Smile every time you rent textbooks from them (and if you're a college student, that's a lot of books!)

If you're interested in donating or becoming a volunteer, every little bit counts! Check out Operation Smile's website here for information on how you can contribute and give another child a change to smile :)

And thank you to Campus Book Rentals for bringing a great charity like Operation Smile to my attention! 

FTC disclosure: I was compensated by Campus Book Rentals for this post. All thoughts expressed within are my own.

A girl and her doll

Meet Emma.

The creepiest doll you'll ever meet.
PS. I hate all dolls with fluttering lids.




Emma & Paige are BFFs. Emma goes EVERYWHERE we go.

On walks.

To smell flowers.

She even gets her diaper changed at Meme and Bumpa's. As creepy as Emma is, I'm glad that Paige has a toy that she adores and doesn't get tired of.

Miss Sassy Pants

Sorry for the unexpected vacation...I was overwhelmed by everything blogging thanks to BlogHer12.

I still have a recap coming, as well as a few sponsor posts to share...and GIVEAWAYS! I promise I'm back to posting regularly :)

And now I leave you with a picture of Miss Sassy Pants herself...

Post-BlogHer12: Sweet Stella's

Wow.
BlogHer12 was a whirlwind. From the moment I stepped on the train to NYC (at 9:30 Thursday night) to the moment I got home from picking up my kiddo. It felt like it didn't slow done but I remember every second.

And there are definitely some people to thank for making this happen.

Shannon from Sweet Stella's. Lady, I do not know how to thank you. You persuaded me to go to NYC (specifically BlogHer). You offered to let me room with you. You provided me with a beautiful journal (which is filled with notes from BlogHer and slowly becoming a Prayer Journal (more on that later)). You provided amazing support while I was losing my mind and emailing other business owners to support me. You were my cheerleader.

Thank you.

Want to see how amazing Shannon was in creating stuff for me?

You might remember these beauties? A hair clip and journal.

WAIT! You gotta meet the amazing Shan! We're in the elevator heading to breakfast :)

Not the best picture, but you can see the side of the hair clip that I wore to Sparklecorn...and yes, I'm hugging Edward Cullen.

Listening to Mandy from Harper's Happenings talk about professional blogging (and covering so many pages with notes)!

Shannon, once again...THANK YOU! 

Blog

Etsy

Twitter

Facebook

BlogHer12: Hungover.

I wish I even knew where to start with everything BlogHer.

It was such an amazing yet overwhelming experience that I'm wondering where to start or how to even process everything. I made a schedule but barely followed it. I have a few complaints about the conference, and that's more on BlogHer's end, and I have to give credit to Hilton for accommodating 4,500+ bloggers PLUS their normal tourist/guests.

I got to see the city and do *some* tourist-y things. I met my amazing roommates Shannon and Mel (and got to see Shannon again). I got scared crap-less by Kelly in a freaking Unicorn mask at Sparklecorn. I walked 30+ blocks, one way, in an attempt to find an Old Navy for one.more.outfit. I had sore feet, a throbbing headache, and some amazing memories to end my first conference/trip to NYC.

I'll definitely post a break down and do a photo dump in a few days when I finish my post-BlogHer hangover, plus the rush of jumping right back into a work schedule on Monday.