We Attended A Blogging Conference In Chicago!

   As many of you know, my family and I attended a large blogging conference last week in Chicago.  This is the second time that I attend a conference and I wanted to have my family with me because I just couldn't bear to be away from them for even one minute.  Before the trip, I set personal and professional goals for myself that would keep me focused throughout my stay.     My husband and I drove for almost 14 hours to get there and I cannot even begin to describe the excitement that I felt when we finally arrived in the city of Chicago.  I felt right at home since I live in a big city myself and I found that there were a lot of parallels between New York City and Chicago right away.     I was very fortunate to have had my ticket to the conference sponsored in part by Noodle.org.  Our collaboration was a match made in heaven because of my experience being a NYC public school teacher for the past 13 years and the fact that they are the first education search engine. … [Read more...]

Are We Addicted To Social Media?

    Today at work, a colleague of mine stated that she had suspended one of her social media accounts because she got into a random argument with a stranger on some political page and it really shook her up.  Additionally, she feels that she has become a slave to checking her profile on her smartphone excessively.  Ironically, as she shared this with me, she was busy checking out another one of her social media accounts on her phone.     After our conversation, I began to reflect on my own love-hate relationship with social media.  It's no secret that I am a staunch supporter of interacting on multiple platforms and of using social media as a tool for engaging others in your brand.  However, at what point do we become consumed by our daily musings and exchanges there?  Although there are many benefits to being active on social media, it does have its downfalls too.  The question then becomes, are we addicted to social media?     In order to answer this question, we have to be honest … [Read more...]

Win A Donation To A Local Food Bank In Your Own Community! #HormelFamily

    Every year, my husband and I give a turkey away for Thanksgiving and for Christmas.  Since he works at a produce market, his employers give him two large turkeys for both holidays and we figure it's the least we could do by paying it forward to some deserving families during the season.  There is nothing like the feeling one gets when doing something for someone in need.  It really is one of the most rewarding feelings in the world.     Years ago, when we were still dating, my husband and I went out with members of his mother's church to feed homeless people during the holidays.  It was scary for me at first because I did not know what to expect when crawling under some of the bridges and underpasses where homeless people seek refuge.  Believe it or not, these people are just like you and I except that they fell upon some hard times.  The people we fed were so thankful to have a hot meal and even enjoyed having some conversation and companionship.     The holidays are the perfect … [Read more...]

Will You Sponsor Me?

    I'm sure most of you who are serious Bloggers like I am have already found out that a certain blogging conference is going to take place in New York City next August.  Obviously, I don't have to tell you how exciting that bit of news is to me because I live in NYC so it has become entirely possible for me to attend next year.  Attending such a prestigious event with my fellow Bloggers would definitely be the culmination of all my hard work on this blog for the past two years.     Recently, I wrote a post about how there is some secrecy in the blogging world with regards to monetizing and PR.  You can read all about it here.  In any case, I am finding out that this is especially true when it comes to what's involved in having a company sponsor you to attend a blogging event.  I'm not sure if everyone is afraid that all of the sponsorships will run out if they share the information with other bloggers or if a lot of them really don't know how to go about obtaining a … [Read more...]