Expose Yourself: Day 4

Today's clue: Something I collect...

Eiffel Towers. Pretty self-explanatory. No, I've never been to Paris. Yes, I've wanted to go everyday of my life. Someday, I'll take the plunge.

"Paris is always a good idea."

I tell you what...Roy and I are having fun with these photo challenges! :) Probably because we'll use any excuse to take pictures.

Someone had a lot of free time...

...even more than me. Of course, Edward has a powerful affect on people.

http://services.google.com/latitudevideo/view.html#n0DCVZQC5m0H-GDZQS5z0DCVZQC5s0MdvLnnmLnuhd-nqf

Expose Yourself: Day 3

Today's clue: Something I can't live without....

This is the Tiffany necklace that Roy bought me for my very first Mother's Day. I had it engraved with his, mine and Anna's first initials. It is my absolute favorite piece of jewelry, aside from my wedding and engagement rings. While I adore the necklace, the things that I truly can't live without are Roy and Anna. Since they are at work and school, you'll have to settle for a picture of their initials.

Obviously, I can physically live without material possessions, but I sure do love stuff. The living room has been my "office" for the past month because our home office is in a state of chaos right now. However, that should change this weekend as we finally got our new storage system, yay! The ottoman pictured above holds my Mac and iPhone, two things that I never would have asked for myself, but Roy purchased for me and now I can't imagine life without them. I always have the house phone and TV remote handy, in case I get a call for an interview (in case, ie: hasn't happened yet) or I have the sudden, unexplainable urge to watch "The View" (which also hasn't happened yet.) Then, we have my magazine stack full of sticky-tabbed pages and my legal pad full of sticky notes.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have a notebook full of sticky notes. You can write on a notebook, so why write on sticky notes and them attach them to a notebook? Because I am a freak. I love sticky notes almost as much as I love chocolate. I think of random things at random moments, so I grab a sticky note. Writing things down makes my brain sigh in relief because I was hanging on to that one thought until I could find a pen and paper, but now I can forget about it. And forget about it, I will, because that thing will never get done. No, the sticky note will fall off and get lost long before I remember to remember the thing that was so important that it had to be written down right that moment.

What is YOUR online reputation?

I hadn't given a single thought to reputation management until I was reading one of my favorite blogs recently. Mindy, the author, sells advertising on her blog, which is the source of her family's income. She frequently participates in Momversations, which are video discussions between successful mommy bloggers on selected topics.

In one particular session, the ladies were discussing "Post Baby Body." In the clip, which is edited together with the other women's responses by the Momversation website, Mindy made a comment about how the changes to a mom's body are like changing from a girl to a woman (I'm paraphrasing a bit.) One viewer took this comment out of the context in which it was meant and was actually offended by it. This viewer had her own highly trafficked website, No Pasa Nada, so she wrote a post harshly criticizing (and unfairly, I might add) Mindy and ended up with over 100 readers posting their displeasure over the comment, as well.

The scathing comments continued on the website until Mindy wrote a follow-up apology on her own blog. She attempted to comment on NPN's blog post, but the author had closed the comments. After Mindy's apology, NPN opened comments back up and Mindy was able to confront her critics. She commented that these hurtful comments were putting her integrity and livelihood in jeopardy by tarnishing her online reputation. NPN finally closed the discussion and comments and appears to have moved on. But, what if she hadn't moved on? If this woman had decided to continue her tirade, she could have launched an all out campaign against Mindy and her blog, effectively cutting off her revenue source and putting her family's financial security at risk. (Thank God she didn't. I applaud NPN for not going any further, BTW.)

The Internet is such an enormous part of our lives now that we look to the web to be our reference guide on all things. With the incredible number of personal blogs and watchdog websites, there are a lot of opinions floating around on the Internet. You can find entire sites dedicated to consumer complaints against companies. Some of these vitriolic tirades are well-deserved, but some are isolated incidents and some are even competition-inspired fabrications.

So, what to do when your name is smeared? Call the experts, of course. Oh, yes, there are experts in online reputation management. Check out the site if you don't believe me. You can actually pay public relations consultants and web experts to monitor and correct negative online attacks on your reputation. As it turns out, all publicity isn't good publicity.

See all the fun things you can discover when you have nothing better to do with your day?! I'd LOVE to know what you think! ;)

Expose Yourself: Day 2

Yesterday, I was at Bed, Bath & Beyond with my mom and we were looking for a bed pocket for Anna's bed. They didn't have one, but they did have lots of new wall art, which I have a real weakness for. I can't tell you how much wall art we have sitting in our garage that is not being used.

Anyway, I saw this...

...which inspired me to try something similiar. So, when today's clue was "something borrowed", I decided to "borrow" BB&B's idea and make my name out of objects around the house. Voila!

Once I decided what I was going to do, this exercise was so much fun! At first it was hard to find things that look like letters, but by the end I was seeing letters, letters everywhere!

Expose Yourself: Day 1

That sounds dirty, doesn't it? :) So, I've decided to do a photo challenge, mostly for myself, but if you'd like to play along, I'd love to see your images. NO nudity!! That title is just for fun!

I made some vague clues that give me a starting point and I'll pick one every weekday and take a picture based on the clue. If you want to play, just use the logo above (and link it back to Cookies For Breakfast) and post your photo on your blog. Then, leave a comment on my website that includes the link to your blog. If we get several responses, I'll feature one person's photo the next day.

Here is my clue jar...

And here is today's clue....

Something I wish I'd never bought

And here is that something....

....toys that make silly sounds. I have to admit that we still use the baby monitor for our three-year old. I don't know if that is normal, but I still cling to the comfort of knowing what is going on in her room. She gets up and comes into our room when she wakes up, but for the most part, she will just call if she needs something.

Back to the toys that make silly sounds....Sure, they sound cute and fun in the daylight, but when your child insists on sleeping with every stuffed animal she owns, you end up hearing very strange noises coming from her bed in the middle of the night. For instance, at 3 am, you might hear a pained child's voice whining, "I don't feeeel so well," and you panic because you know that will soon be followed by the messy, "I need to frow up." But, after you get your bearings, you realize that your child has simply rolled over onto Doctor Me Care Bear and you will not be cleaning up carrot chunks after all.

Or when Elmo suddenly issues a, "He, he. That tickles!" and you picture a purvey clown that has snuck into your child's room. All of these sound extra creepy in the dark--like those kid's voices that they use on horror movies to freak you out.

Note to new parents: DO NOT buy these toys if you want sanity in the wee hours. (That is, after your child has learned to sleep. We all know about the insanity of the newborn, of course.)

Spend Green to Be Green

The April issue of InStyle has some fashionable ways to stay green....

Products featured: Elezar clutch, Banana Republic Heritage denim, Further soap, Tarte bamboo set, TOMS canvas flats, Yellingbo olive oil, Ferragamo leather hobo, Eco-ganik blouse

5 Ways to live green:

1. Green Depot

2. Seventh Generation

3. Ecco Hollywood

4. Rubie Green

5. Element hotels