(This post includes Affiliate Links. This means if you choose to use the service I may receive a small comission at no additional cost to you)

There are some things in life that cannot be replaced. For me, the first one that comes to mind are photographs.   Pictures serve as my reminder of memories and snapshots of moments in life that I can never go back to. Those moments that I want to be able to share with my kids; and that they may be able to show their own children one day are captured in pictures.  These are the reasons I decided to ensure I don’t lose these memories and moments.

Special Moments and Memories

I have pictures of my wedding day, capturing the ceremony, reception, but also pictures of my maternal grandparents and paternal grandmother with me.  Everyone was dressed up, and it was a wedding so they couldn’t really decline to have a picture done even though normally they tried to avoid it.

One of the pictures that I hold dearest is my grandfather holding my daughter a few weeks after she was born.  He passed away a few months before she turned one.  When I look at the picture, I can remember our conversation and the emotion I felt.  He held her and talked to her.  Holding her little hand, he says “Your mommy should let me keep you.  If I had you, I’d have everything!”  He thought she was something and I only wish she could have gotten to know him more.

I have a picture of my daughter, in her Rapunzel dress looking into the bassinet at her brand new baby brother.  This moment captures exactly who she was at the time as well as her curiosity and love for this new person in her life.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

These moments, these memories, and the emotions that come to surface when I look at these pictures are something I hope to never lose.  When I’m having a difficult time in life or when I feel alone, I can go back to these and am reminded of where I come from and the fantastic moments in life that I’ve experienced.  In the digital age we live in, there are even more of these moments that we have photos of.  Little moments that turned into big ones later on, funny ones that make us smile, and ones that make us proud.

I save all of my photos on an external hard drive and have printed out quite a few of them as well.  There’s always the possibility though that one day I could plug in the hard drive and it could not work or the physical pictures I’ve printed could get damaged.  That’s why I decided to sign up with SmugMug.

SmugMug

SmugMug offers the ability to store your photos safely on the most secure cloud storage out there. You can view and download your photos at full resolution at any time.  Another great feature is that you can share your photos with everyone or grant a pass to only certain people to view albums.  They even offer integrations with Facebook, Twitter and more. You also have the ability to create photo gifts with your pictures such as photobooks, magnets, postcards and more!

SmugMug has plans starting as low as $3.99 a month for Unlimited Storage.  Not a bad deal especially considering they guarantee all of your pictures are secured and safe.  You can even get a 14 day No Credit Card Required trial!  This allows you to totally check out the service and see how great the features are for yourself.

The peace of mind I have knowing my photo memories are safe and that even if my backup hard drive fails or something happens to my house, means more than I can put into words.  When we were evacuating due to Hurricane Irma it was a big worry that I wouldn’t have all of my pictures or I would miss an important one.  Thankfully, everything was intact when we returned- but I know that I want to avoid those concerns in the future.

SmugMug is offering a 15% subscription discount
Do you have a photo (or photos) that hold special memories for you?

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Are you wondering if you should blog? Would it be worthwhile?  Here’s a list of reasons that you should start blogging!

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning that I may receive a small commission if you choose to try the services.  I will only suggest products  that I truly believe in and have tried myself.*

When you blog you are having to organize your thoughts in order to write them out.. Blogging causes you to look further into subjects that you are tackling. This continuous practice helps you train your mind to think better

Remember the saying “Practice makes perfect” or “Use it or lose it”?  Both of those come to mind when thinking about writing.  The more you do it the better you get.  Also, when you don’t practice something you start to forget the details of the process.  Writing on a regular basis will build these skills which can help you both professionally and personally when communicating.

As you start having people follow your blog, you’ll receive emails and comments from your audience.  These interactions with people will help you better articulate yourself and allow you to gain confidence in expressing yourself.

Blogging is a great way to help people by sharing your knowledge on a subject or process.  In turn, it makes you feel better for having made a positive difference on someone.

Whether through ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored post, or selling your own products you can make money blogging.

Find a sponsor for your web site. Get paid for your great content. shareasale.com.
Blogging empowers you to raise awareness about things you care about. Click To Tweet

Do you have a specific cause or a charity that you want to raise awareness about or support? Through your blog, you can help raise awareness and money for these causes.

To blog, you don’t need a special degree or classes.   There is some training that is nice and can make things easier but there is no specific degree required to be a blogger.

To start a blog, you can do it for free by hosting through a platform such as WordPress.com or you can get a host and have your own domain (www.name.com). There is a cost to host through your own domain, however,  it’s well worth it.

To blog successfully you must come up with a schedule and be consistent so that your audience knows what to expect.  It can feel very difficult at first until you get into the groove of doing it.

What’s your reason for blogging?

 Related Post on Blogging

7 Things to Focus On as a New Blogger

Habits and Traits of Successful Bloggers

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The Rub Of What Is Probably Supposed To Be Helpful If you’re the mother of a young child, we’re so glad you’re here today! We know it can be hard to get to church, sometimes it’s hard just to leave the house with all you have in tow!   During service, if your baby gets a little fussy, maybe becomes … VIEW POST

Getting traffic to your site can sometimes feel overwhelming and difficult.  Here are some tips to help you drive traffic to your site.  The key to getting traffic to your website is great content and consistency! Click To Tweet

1. Forum Marketing– Share your expertise with people who are asking questions about your industry. The important word here being share.  People will see your knowledge and will come to respect you as an expert to consult on the subject.
2. Blog Comments– Leave thoughtful, relevant comments on other blogs.
3. Share your post on Twitter and re-tweet old post as well.
4. Content Aggregators– Alltop.com, Stumble Upon, Livinvia, ect…
5. Look for Guest Blogging Opportunities
6. Expert Round-Ups– You can do expert round-ups and get featured experts to share.
7. Include Social Share buttons. This seems obvious but there are A LOT of blogs out there that don’t have them.
8. Join a Facebook Group. Most have a blog share or promotion day.
9. Be a resource. 
10. Create great content.
11. Create helpful tutorials
12. Optimize your title tags– your title should be clear and concise. Feature your keyword, and not be overly short or long. Try to keep it under 70 characters maximum.
13. Encourage engagement. Ask your audience a question and reply and encourage their responses to open up discussions.
14. Be consistent in your posting.  Post on a consistent schedule.
15. Publish more articles. A study by HubSpot showed that when 16+ articles were post per month the blog received 3.5 times more traffic.

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There are a lot of misconceptions about confidence.  Many times when confidence is brought up people will reply with the fact that they are an “introvert” so they aren’t confident, or they just overall feel not good enough and in their mind think there’s nothing they are confident in.  Those are some of the misconceptions about confidence.  Let’s talk about what confidence is, the myths and truths.  Understanding confidence will help you boost your confidence in the New Year!

What is Confidence?

Confidence is defined as:

• the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.
• the state of feeling certain about the truth of something
• a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.

Often, we think of confidence as a personality trait of someone who is the first to jump into a situation or who likes to be the center of attention.  This really isn’t the case.  There are exceptions and people who seem to be confident in everything they do- however for the majority of people that idea is false.

Confidence MYTHS

• Confidence is a personality trait
• Confidence is fixed- once you have it you don’t lose it
• Confidence is omnipresent. When you are confident it is in all areas of your life

Confidence TRUTHS

• Confidence is a SKILL not a trait
• Confidence is active
• Confidence is situational

Confidence is not actually a personality trait. It’s a skill.  You can teach yourself to be confident in what you are doing.  It’s about your ability and you can sharpen those skills to gain confidence.

Confidence is not fixed.  It is active. When you are actively doing something you gain confidence in it. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll always have confidence in it.  Growing up I was confident in my ability to do cartwheels. Now, not so much…at the same time, that can change.

Confidence is not omnipresent. When you’re confident doesn’t mean you are in all areas of your life.  Confidence is situational.  Gordon Ramsey is a very confident cook.  If you were to put him in another situation such as an opera singer, I have a feeling he wouldn’t be so confident.

Confidence and Introvert vs Extrovert Personality Types

Being an introvert or an extrovert personality type does not have anything to do with your confidence.  This is a big misconception that a lot of people have.  Extrovert and Introvert are in reference to what drains you and what energizes you.

Bill Gates who is one of the most successful businessmen on the planet is by nature, an introvert. This by no means affects his self-confidence.   He is confident in his abilities and knowledge which is in part, how he has accomplished his goals.

By the same token, just because you’re comfortable talking in front of people and being the center of attention doesn’t mean that you are confident in all areas of your life.  There are people more confident with group conversations that 1-on-1.  Carrie Underwood appears on stage and puts on an excellent show, but backstage she’s quiet. It’s about knowing your abilities not your personality type.

Mel Robbins has a fantastic class available on Creative Live, “How to Break the Habit of Self-Doubt and Build Real Confidence.”  It is one of the best classes I’ve taken and I highly recommend it.  Also, if you download the app you can get a free lesson per day.

In the class, Mel explains the confidence loop and how it works-

When you try, you will either succeed or survive.  Whether you succeed or you survive it, you learn something.  When you learn something you are able to then build a skill on it.

Is there something you want to gain confidence in?

Competency Loop

As you learn something and build that skill you gain competency.  Then, as you become more competent in you skill, you gain confidence in your ability to do it.

This is a continual loop of confidence and how you build it.  It’s a process and the great thing is, it’s not a secret process.  It’s about building your skills and gaining competency in what you do.  Sometimes, it will take more than once.  You may survive the first couple times, but you don’t give up- you figure out what you learned in the process and what skill you need to improve upon.

How do you keep your confidence up? Share it with us in the comments!

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*This post includes Affiliate Links, this means that if you choose to purchase something from one of them then I may receive  a small commission at no additional cost to you.*

When you decide to start using affiliate marketing as an income stream for your blog you’ll find there are MANY to choose from.  As you get into affiliate marketing you want to keep a couple things in mind.

1. Don’t overwhelm yourself.  Start slow. You can add in more affiliates as you go.
2. It can take time to find the right fit.

Remember when you are determining what program you want to use, that this does involve marketing.  I know, I know…it seems obvious but a lot of times it’s not.

What is marketing?

Business Dictionary defines it as:

“The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. It includes the coordination of four elements called the 4 P’s of marketing:
(1) identification, selection and development of a product,

(2) determination of its price,

(3) selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer’s place, and

(4) development and implementation of a promotional strategy.”

Understanding Marketing will help you make affiliate marketing work at it’s full potential for you. Click To Tweet

Your affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be tied into directly into content (example-a blog post). For it to be effective though, it must be related to your niche.  If you are blogging about knitting,  having banner ads for  fishing poles  won’t make the most sense for your audience.

Creating a Strategy

You have to think about marketing and strategy. Entrepreneur.com has a great article on sales funnels to help you understand marketing strategy. Another great resource is Creative Live’s Online Marketing & Sales Classes.  I really liked this class- Create A Marketing Plan And Grow An Outstanding Business from Tara Gentile.  There’s a TON of great information in it.

Affiliate Marketing Programs

When it comes to finding affiliate marketing programs, there are a lot…a lot of different affiliate programs out there.  My favorite program has been Share A Sale.  Using Share A Sale you are able to find sponsors for your site, and they have a large variety to choose from.

Share-A-Sale Categories:

Other Popular Affiliate Programs-

Commission Junction is another well known affiliate marketing program that has similar offerings to Share A Sale and a wide variety of advertisers.

Link Share is another very popular program with a lot of different offerings as well.

Amazon Affiliates is another well known program with a lot of different product offerings for you to choose from.

Do you currently use any of these affiliate networks? Which is your favorite and why?

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Review of the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno Located on Disney’s Boardwalk, right outside the Boardwalk Inn is the Trattoria al Forno restaurant.   Since April 2017 it has become a character breakfast spot hosting the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast.  In my family, it’s … VIEW POST

How Organization and Routines Help Your Day

Before kids, I pretty much went with the flow of things.  I can admit, this caused me to miss some events, due dates, minor things I just wish I had remembered to do.  After having kids, I’ve found organization and routines to be absolutely essential.  Knowing what the day will bring, where the kids will be, having a basic schedule- helps us all.  Yes, there are changes and fluctuations but it’s a basic guide. It is amazing how being organized and creating a routine can help you day and save you time.

The kids are 4 & 7 now, and when things get thrown out of routine it makes a difference in their behaviors and the domino effect begins.  I’ll be honest, I worried a little that maybe it was something I had done but in speaking to a teacher they were mentioning how their class overall was really good.  “However, when something comes up and throws off our schedule… if I don’t bring it back in chaos starts” the teacher said with a laugh.  I was silently thankful that it wasn’t just my kids that handled life better with a routine.   This guide from Vanderbilt gives a great explanation and examples on kids and classroom routines

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. — John C. Maxwell #routines #benefits Click To Tweet

When you think about it, even without kids- we tend to work better when we know what to expect and what is expected of us.   We accomplish more task and goals when we know what those items are.  Don’t belive me? Check out this article from Bustle. It’s not about being “tied down” to something it is more so about getting thing things you want done and creating free time for yourself.   One of my favorite tools to use to keep track of my schedule and important dates is the Cozi app.  There is a free version which works great.

You can set up everyone’s schedule so it shows up in one place.  Dance practice on Tuesdays, soccer on Saturdays, doctor’s appointments, money due for a field trip- anything.  You can break it up under each kid.  If you need a reminder or need to remind Dad to pick up the kids he can access Cozi on his device as well and get notifications and updates.

You can also set up things like to do list, shopping list, store recipes, and create a family journal.

Life gets busy.  It’s easy to forget the little things and Cozi helps keep track of that so that you aren’t missing something.  You can color code individuals too, making it easy and fun to keep up with who is where and what is going on.  It can make it difficult when everyone has different calendars and Cozi condenses it into one to keep up with that can send you reminders to your phone or email.

What Are The Benefits Of Being Organized?

You know exactly what task you need to complete without having to try to remember or think about what to do next.

It provides structure and sequence to your life.  It is a framework in how your daily activities are conducted so you are confident in the flow of each day.  This doesn’t mean things won’t change, or unexpected events won’t pop up- it just gives you a road map for your day.

1. Saves You Time and Reduces The Need To Plan

When you have a routine it frees up time that you would spend on planning, decision making, and preparing.  Instead of spending 45 minutes at the start of your day trying to figure out what the day holds you have an idea already so you start “doing” right away.

As you stick to your routine and start to see the accomplishments and balancing out your day it will make you feel more confident in your abilitiesconfident in your abilities.

It’s difficult to stop and think about all the things you did right.  It’s much easier to focus on what you forgot.  When you have a routine schedule you can easily look and see what you did right, how much you got done, and feel better for it.

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Areyou looking for fun ways to celebrate Easter with your kids?  Here are some easy, fun ideas to help you!

1. Easter Egg Puzzle

Easter Egg Puzzle from Good Housekeeping

I love this idea!! Double the fun!  In each plastic Easter Egg, you hide a puzzle piece.  Once the kids have found all of the eggs, they then have to work together to complete the puzzle.  As an added bonus, you’ll definitely know if there are any eggs that weren’t found..lol!

2. Confetti Eggs

from mynameissnickerdoodle.com

This is a homemade tutorial from mynameissnickerdoodle.com.  If you’re short on time or not into doing this DIY, I found them at Walmart for $2.07 a pack (dozen).   They look like real eggs so if you pretend to break one on someone’s head they’ll have a  brief moment of freaking out before realizing it’s confetti.

3.Felt Bunny Ears

from MarthaStewart.com

How adorable are these bunny ears?!?! The best part is they aren’t super complicated and will make a great addition to Easter outfits and pictures!

4. Ufufy Easter Eggs

from family.disney.com

Disney Family has some super cute egg decoration ideas!! Add a little construction paper and magic!  Wondering what Ufufy is?  It’s explained in this “Everything You Need To Know.”

5. 3D Paper Plate Easter Basket

From craftymorning.com

This paper plate craft is easy and fun to do with kids of all ages.  It’s also a great gift for Grandma or Grandpa on Easter too!

From Kidspot.au

Here’s a fun idea using toilet paper rolls and some construction paper!

7. Easter Bunny Banner

from ladyandtheblog.com

This easy, adorable and cheap banner will make a great additonal to your Easter decorations! Just some paper, a little cutting, and some string and you’re ready to celebrate!

8. The Easter Bunny Moves In

from davelowe.blogspot.com

This is an adorable idea!  A door for the Easter Bunny to have access to your yard.

9. Jello Eggs

from www.justapinch.com

These Jello Eggs are the perfect substituion for those who aren’t into deviled eggs..an adorable one at that!

10. Follow the Bunny Tracks

From thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com

The kids will get a kick out of this bunny trail showing where the Easter Bunny has been!

Bonus!

Download an Easter Matching Worksheet for some more Easter Fun courtesy of Education.com.!  It’s a great way to not only help kids learn some new words and hand-eye coordination skills!   For more great reading and educational resources check out Education.com!

What’s your favorite Easter Activites?

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