Guest Blog: Changes

Please welcome back Lindsey from Dishwater Dreams to The Scoop on Poop today. She is here with a fabulous guest post on what she would do different if she were to start her blog all over again. She closes out my BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY with style. Today is your LAST CHANCE to enter the giveaway which has a $15 Starbucks gift card, a $10 Amazon gift card, Ad space at the top of my sidebar for a month, and your choice of package at Genie Girl Graphics, all going to ONE LUCKY WINNER, just for following the rules and leaving lots of comment love over the past week. Giveaway ends at midnight, EST. What are you waiting for? Read the guest post, enter the giveaway, go check out guest poster's blog. It's easy peasy.

Take it away, Lindsey!!

If I could start my blog all over again, I would make two major changes.

1.       I would have a clear direction. When I first started blogging two years ago, I started because I wanted to write. While one of the best reasons to start a blog, it didn’t help much with the actual business of running a blog. Two years later, a new URL, and thousands of hours reading blogs, I can say I finally have a direction I am heading towards.
2.       I would have done a lot more research into blog design and taken the time to create a professional layout from the beginning. When I first started blogging, I began with a free template and no graphics to separate my blog from the pack. Over the last two years, I have tried to learn a lot about blog design. I have not hired anyone to create the blog design for me. I have done it all myself. It has been an experience that isn’t for the faint of heart, but rewarding. I can make changes when I want to and not on someone else’s time table.

The best advice I can give to bloggers out there is to read, read, read. While you are reading, don’t forget to look at the organization and layout of your favorite blogs. There is a reason the successful blogs are successful. Take the time and learn from them.

BSOW: Time Warp

The Party Continues on with The Best Scoop of the Week. She's got a passion for cheesecake. She has discovered just exactly how much strength she has. She is even lucky enough to have karate moments. She has grammar tips that make sense. She leaves beautiful, thought provoking quotes. She even writes poetry.

This week's Best Scoop of the Week honor goes to Lindsay of Dishwater Dreams.




I asked her: "A time warp opens up next to your dinner table. Where are you going and why?"

If a time warp opened up next to my dinner table, I would freeze the current moment.  I would stop time. I know most people would have so many places and people they would want to meet. I want to spend more time with my kids.

It seems in life that we spend so much time living up to our responsibilities that there is little time left over for fun.  I would take the frozen time and make as many memories as I can with my children. I want to know everything about them. I want to make tons of memories just as they are before they have a chance to grow up too much.

Once I have spent as much time with my kids as I possibly can stand, I’ll take some time for me. I will sit and write, and write, and write some more. I will  paint and draw until I am good at it. I will learn to take astounding pictures and relaxing bubble baths. I will read the entire bible – twice. I will catch up with all of the novels and poems that I have intended to read but haven’t gotten to.

I think if we all sat back and thought about it, we would realize we want more time to spend with our loved ones. We want more time to spend doing the things we enjoy instead of the things we have to. Time passes by so quickly. Blink and your newborn is walking. Blink again and he is going to school for the first time. Blink again and he is married with children of his own.

I wish for all of us that we could somehow find moments of time warps at every dinner table to really get to know our families. I wish we could find time warps to enjoy a fulfilling and joyous life.  I am going to start looking for my time warps every night at the dinner table. Where will you look for yours?

Indeed, where will you Time Warp to?

Don't forget to get your comments in to win a $15 Starbucks card, free design, a $10 Amazon card, and ad space at the top of my blog for a month!! Let the Blogoversary Celebration continue. Giveaway ends March 1, 2011 at 12:00 AM. 

 

The Very First Best Scoop of the Week EVER

It looks like everyone is having a great time during my blogoversary celebration. (either that or y'all REALLY want some Starbucks!). Pull up a chair and get comfy because today we have margaritas with 3 incredibly cute pugs, one incredibly cute baby, and a hella blogger.

I was SO honored to have Canewife from 3 Pugs & a Baby hold my hand through the whole blog making process. I hope she credits herself with my success (because she should. She rocks.). If it were not for her, I think I would have just kept plugging away at my cooking blog (which is dusty) and never started writing or designing again. I had other blogs, but I didn't keep at them. I didn't know how to get my blog out there, to garner readers outside of the social circle I was in. Thanks to Canewife, I discovered the blogosphere.

I joined SITS. I joined Bloggy Moms. I joined a host of other sites. I started doing Friday blog hops. Then I started my Friday "Best Scoop of the Week". She was my first guest feature, and honestly the whole credit to the name belongs to her because I gave her a couple of name options and asked her which was most catchy. Obviously you know what her choice was. I found a picture of some ice cream that Idecided worked, and voila...The Best Scoop of the Week was born.

And guess what? Today, I am reposting the deliciousness that is Canewife, from my very first ever Best Scoop of the Week (and she has grown so much over the past year herself, that you REALLY MUST stop in and check her blog out.):






Jenn will make you laugh til your sides hurt. She will make you drool with her delectable temptations. She's like the sunshine that bursts through the clouds after a downpour of rain. She's a mom, a wife, a writer. She is a Dolphins fan married to a die-hard Jets fan. She is 100% Drama Mama approved. Scoop seal of satisfaction and all. Lastly, she is a superwoman. I'll let her tell you more about her superpower...


"It's kind of funny that The Drama Mama asked me to share my thoughts on the superpower I would want and what I would do with it.

Just the other night, MacGyver and I were watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and I made the comment that if I was Wolverine's love interest (I never did catch her name), I would be pretty darn pissed. After all, everyone else had super cool power - like wolverine talons sprouting from knuckles, or the ability to keep a lightbulb powered without electricity.

And all she had was, essentially, the power of persuasion.

It falls a little flat, in comparison.

But then, as I pondered The Drama Mama's challenge, I changed my mind. I mean, it would be super cool to fly or shoot fire from my eyes, but that could get old really fast. And can you imagine all the "friends" who would come crawling out of the Facebook woodwork?

"Hey, my boss pissed me off. Can you shoot fire from your eyes at him?"

"Listen, my husband is really annoying me. I bet if you shot fire from your eyes, he would step up."

"I know we didn't really get along in high school, but I heard you can shoot fire from your eyes. Can you show me?"

And that would just be all kind of awkward.

But the power of persuasion... The ability to convince someone to do something with just a touch of your hand or a long glance.

Can you imagine?

So that's what I would want. If for no other reason than to be able to put my hand on MacGyver's shoulder and say "Greg Camarillo is your bromance. Rex Ryan makes you physically ill. The color gan-green makes you nauseous. And you love singing the Miami Dolphins #1 song at every given opportunity." And have him believe me.

Also, it would be really handy for tantrums and political debates.

And now you know.

The Drama Mama also asked me to direct you all to a few of my favorite posts from three pugs & a baby.

Here they are, in no particular order:

how i finally justified a pair of christian louboutins

the 30 day shred: day 1

the amazing appliance fairies

So there you have it!

Happy Friday!"

Now, don't forget to enter my BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY. There's Starbucks, Amazon, Ad space, and free design up for grabs to ONE lucky winner. If you are just joining me for the first time, it's not too late. The giveaway goes on through the end of the month, so there is plenty of time to win. Just check out the rules and have fun!! What are you waiting for?

{Not Quite} Wordless Wednesday: Year In Review

The Scoop on Poop took on many looks over the past year as I tried to settle in my niche, and sing my voice out loud and clear...

Don't forget to enter for your chance to win a huge 4 prize giveaway package!!

The Biggest Blogoversary Prize Package in the History of Blogging Ever! *for the official rules*

For more Wordless/Wordful Wednesday fun:

PINT: Party Time

Official copy of the rules, click here.

Don't forget to place your entries for a chance to win the big PRIZE PACKAGE. It's only Tuesday. You can still go back and leave a comment every day. What are you waiting for?

The Best Blogoversary Prize Package Giveaway Ever

Happy Blogoversary to ME: A Week Long Celebration

Tomorrow is a special day. Exactly one year ago, tomorrow, I began The Scoop on Poop with this post. Here I am, 317 posts and 423 followers later, still plugging away. I look back in amazement over the growth of the past year. I have started writing again. I have started designing again. I have more self confidence today than I did one year ago. My back bone is stronger. I have found a network of people just like me, that give me solace when the clouds get dark and the poop starts getting thicker. It is all of these things that keep me going, and most of it couldn't be possible without you, my dear readers.

Because of your loyal dedication and friendship, I am going to be offering a giveaway this week. One lucky reader will be the recipient of these fabulous prizes:

• $15 Starbucks gift card
• package of their choice at Genie Girl Graphics
• ad space under "Best Scoop of the Week" here on The Scoop on Poop for one month
• $10 Amazon gift card

The giveaway will run from today through the end of the month, ending at 12:00 AM EST on Tuesday,  March 1, 2011. Random. org will decide the winner (and hopefully not have an aficionado with a certain number again!) in the event of a tie on who has the most comments between now and March 1st.

Are you excited yet?

Here's how you enter:

• "Like" The Scoop on Poop on Facebook. Leave a comment to confirm.
• Follow The Scoop on Poop with Google Friend Connect
• Follow Genie Girl Graphics with Google Friend Connect
• "Like" Genie Girl Graphics BRAND NEW Facebook page.
• Leave comments. Whoever has the most comments over this timeframe AND likes me/Genie Girl Graphics on Facebook AND is a follower WINS ALL THESE PRIZES!!!

How easy is that?

Need more prompting? For extra entries (and leave a comment for each one you do, every day you do it!) you can:

• Talk about poop in your comment. Because it's fun.
• Tweet about my giveaway. "RT Starbucks, design, promo, and Amazon? Say what?! @poopscoopinmama rocks the BEST giveaways http://bit.ly/gauzP4 #blogparty". Make sure you come back and leave me a comment with your twitter handle, each time you tweet (but only one tweet a day!). Leave the comment on the post of that day you tweet, too. (It will help your comment every day factor as well!).

So, what's keeping you?!?