Aiming Low Blogger Non Conference

Later this week I’ll be traveling to Georgia for the Aiming Low Non Conference organized by the well-known blogger Anissa Mayhew. One of the greatest perks of my job is getting to go to all of these blogger conferences. … Read More

DIY: Find real friends on the Internet

UPDATE: 

Congrats to Anita, who won her own copy of Blacklisted from the PTA!

In honor of the 1 year birthday of my friend Lela Davidson’s book “Blacklisted from the PTA” I’m writing this special post about the very real friendships that can be born online. Read More

Arkansas Blogger: Kerri Case “Damn You, Little Rock”

There are some fantastic bloggers in our little “natural” state that I get to call my friends and that I think you should know about. Kerri Case, author of “Damn You, Little Rock” and I originally met on Twitter three years ago. She’s seen me through life in a town I didn’t love and I watched in horror as she live-tweeted a tornado hitting her house. She’s snarky, witty and generally a great friend. Without further adieu… Read More

How to: Be a work-at-home mom (WAHM)

Guest post by Shannon Magsam. 

When I went on maternity leave from the newspaper where I was a reporter, I wasn’t sure if I would go back to work or stay home with my new daughter.

I left the door open. Then, after she was born, it closed tight. As a writer, I figured I could cobble together a decent annual salary with freelance work.

After my three-month leave, my first stop for work-at-home job options was the newspaper I had just resigned from. It felt a little weird, but they were gracious and said they were glad to have me. I happily continued writing a weekly lifestyle piece where I interviewed local married couples about how they met. I also picked up other work for the paper, including a food feature and profiling our region’s version of the rich and famous.

Later, I added work for a local PR firm (which my newspaper friends joked was “the dark side”) and started writing press releases for a large retailer.

Some months, the different Read More

You can meet normal people online

Returning to work has been very exciting for me. I’m proud of what I do, which is a great feeling and I love the people I work with.

Surprisingly, it hasn’t been as hard as I expected to get back into a routine of putting on clothes that don’t stretch and fixing a lunch in advance.

What’s been harder than I expected is the separation from my mama friends. We have a close-knit playgroup that started on meetup.com. The moms I call my best friends probably never would’ve crossed paths if not for that group. They are all Read More

Actual food? Nope. Not here.

Four months ago I made a rash decision on the way to dinner at Noodle’s Italian restaurant. My friends were there already; I was late, which is a little out of character for me and I was on the phone with Angela Belford.

We had partnered on a social media management proposal for a national product and she was asking how I thought the pitch went. As I was getting off of the freeway we were in the middle of talking about future collaborations when I heard myself say out loud, Read More

This is the good stuff: Baking cookies with toddlers

One of my most distinct memories from childhood is standing on a metal step stool at my great-grandmother’s house making sugar cookies. I remember the sweet vanilla smell;  what the cutter felt like going into the rolled out and flour-coated dough; and the sound of the sprinkles in the shaker. I also remember the aprons Nanny wore. They were so 1955. So Read More

Value who you know

Have you ever heard the saying: Stick with the winners

Thought it sounded snobby or elitist? It isn’t. Read More