Hangin' With The Goddess

Last night my friend Melanie, aka The Coupon Goddess, had a little get-together at her house. As a blogger and a couponer, she gets lots of merchandise for free, or close to it. After donating a lot of it, she decided to share some with friends. She invited some of us over for a night of snacks, sangria and goodies.

Melanie filled several bags with candles, cleaning products and other goodies. We each picked a bag, yankee swap style, opened it, and if we didn't like the bag we chose, we swapped with one of the other girls.

It was a great night with friends, old and new.

Some of my favorite people were there...

Melanie, of course

I think she was covering her face at something I said (or did)

Kelly, Kelly & Cindy

I was thrilled with my goody bag filled with (among other things) candles.

I was so excited with all of the great stuff that I got that I decided to roll around in tissue paper.

I'm not sure I'll ever be invited back to Melanie's house.

Where am I Going With This?

I'm suffering from a bad case of "bloggers block." I can't think of a single thing to write about. The more I try to think of something, the more blocked I become. It's so frustrating.

After attending Bloggy Boot Camp a couple of weeks ago, I can't help but question myself: "where am I going with this?" I met so many wonderful bloggers at the conference. I think most of them fall into one of the following categories: Mommy Blogger, Food Blogger or Deal Blogger. I'm not a mom. I had Wheat Chex for dinner and I only seek out deals in the clothing stores. Where do I fit in? Are people even interested in what I have to say? Is it relevant?

So, I've decided to open it up to you, my reader(s): what would you like to hear about? What topics would you like me to cover?

Thanks for continuing to read my little blog. I really appreciate it.

5 Things We Learned at Bloggy Boot Camp.

Kelly & I had the opportunity to attend the SITS Girls Bloggy Boot Camp at the Seaport Hotel in Boston this past Saturday. Tiffany and Francesca put together a great one day conference. It's now Monday and I'm still trying to sift through my notes and figure out what the first step we should take to get our blog to the next level.

Here are 5 things that we learned on Saturday:

1) You can never have too many business cards. Kelly thought she had plenty, but she quickly ran out.

2) Be prepared with a notebook. You'll be taking a lot of notes. The speakers are going to give you a lot of information. You'll want to take down as much as you can so you can refer back to it later.

3) Get a Social Media Kit together. If you want to work with brands you'll need to have something to give to the brand to let them know a little bit about you.

4) Remember the Mom Test. The internet is forever. Whatever you put on your blog be comfortable with the content if your Mom decides to read it.

5) Tiffany Romero is very pretty.

If you're a blogger and you have the opportunity to attend a Bloggy Boot Camp, I highly recommend it. You'll be so happy you did.

Home Parties

There is a new trend in in-home parties. Gone are the days of the Tupperware party. The latest trend is hosting parties for brands. Companies like House Party and Mommy Parties are looking for moms (or non-moms) to invite people into their homes to talk about and sample brands that we use everyday.

Forget about inviting people over to buy things and getting excuses like:

"Sorry, I have to give my dog a bikini wax that night."

or

"I can't make it. I'm waiting for George Clooney to call me back and he only has my home phone number."

or

"No can do. I have plans to color my hair with a Sharpie that night."

Now people will be thrilled to come over and not spend a dime. Oh and they get to leave with a goodie bag containing items about the product showcased. How cool is that?

Recently, Kelly and I were invited to a party by the fabulous Melanie (aka The Coupon Goddess). She hosted a Nutella party in her home. She made crepes with Nutella, bananas and even strawberries.

They were so delicious!

We also got to meet some really cool women.

Tracey (Family in Construction), Darby, Melanie (The Coupon Goddess), Kelly and Me

Here's how these home parties work:

It's free to sign up. You give them your info and they email you when they have a party available for hosting. You fill out a short questionnaire and they contact you (via email) if you've been selected as a host. In a few short weeks you get a package in the mail containing everything you need to host your party. Easy and fun!

Give it a try!

*This was not a sponsored post. I just love spreading the word about these companies.

T.J. Maxx/Marshall's Spring Fashion Preview

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the T.J. Maxx/Marshall's Spring Preview event. It was held at the Ames Hotel in Boston.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to shop. They also know that I rarely pay full price for things. T.J.'s and Marshall's are the perfect stores for me. They always have the cutest styles and big name brands. And their prices can't be beat.

They had handbags:

And hats:

and shoes. Oh my!

One of the things that I loved most about yesterday was seeing all the COLORS! I'm so tired of wearing black and gray. I crave color.

There were so many things that I picked up that my sister would call "Loopy clothes." Those are things that just look like me.

Like this purple dress:

This top is such a Loopy top:

And this bathing suit cover-up:

I also fell in love with this pillow.

It's pink. And ruffles. And oh, so girly.

Now, check out the price:

I thought for sure the price would be $39.99. It was only $12.99. It's reverse sticker shock!

Here's something that I will NOT be wearing this summer.

I'm sure this teeny-weeny-yellow bikini will look great on someone, just not me.

Here's the lovely Robin with a flower in her hair. Check out that beautiful smile.

We saw so many great brand names there like this Under Armour shirt for just $12.99. I've seen these in the stores for considerably more.

I also had fun chatting and catching up with some of my new blogging friends.

Photo credit: Masshole Mommy

Kim from Mommycosm, Moi, Charlene from Charlene Chronicles, Niri from Mommy Niri, Robin from Masshole Mommy

If your wardrobe needs a little spring makeover, check out T.J. Maxx and Marshall's. You won't be sorry!

*Disclaimer: TJX provided us with lunch and gift bags at this event. I received no compensation

for this post. All opinions are my own.

The Melting Pot

*The following post was written by Kelly, Loopy's sister. She is a (somewhat) regular contributor to the blog*

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend an event at the Melting Pot in Framingham. There were about 20 people there from the Boston Parent Bloggers. We were able to sample different kinds of fondue. They had four different cheese fondues. My favorite was the Spinach and Artichoke Cheese Fondue. They offered us bread, veggies and apple chunks to dip in the different fondue.

After everyone had a chance to sample the cheese, they brought out the chocolate! I couldn’t wait to try them all. Again they had 4 different dessert fondues. All were delicious, but my favorite was the pure chocolate. With the dessert fondue they had bananas, strawberries, pound cake, cheesecake, marshmallows and brownie bites to dip with. It was heaven!

Mmmmm Chocolate - my favorite!

The Melting Pot has three locations in Massachusetts and one in Rhode Island. I’m hoping they open one closer to me on the South Shore. For now, it’s worth the ride to the other locations.

A special thanks to the Melting Pot for hosting us and giving us each a $25 gift certificate.

Loopy & Me

I can't wait to dip again!

Mojo

As I've mentioned before, I feel as though I've lost a little bit of my blogging mojo. I've read that other bloggers slow down around December because of the holidays, which was also the case for me. Unfortunately, my "bloggers block" has continued into the new year. I can't seem to think of anything to write about. I mean, does anyone really care that I can't seem to fall asleep until after midnight lately? Or that I turn into a total Nana when it comes to driving in the snow? Or that I talk to my cat like she's human? Who cares that I stay in bed until noon on snow days? Or that I still like to go dancing with my friends?

If anyone cares about these things, please let me know. I'd be happy to write more about them. Well, actually, I'm not sure I can elaborate on staying in bed until noon. That pretty much says it all.

It seems like it's easier to write in the summer. There's so much more going on. You're at the beach, you're visiting friends with a pool, dining al fresco. It's just so much nicer to write about.

I'm going to really try hard to blog more. I promise (I should tell you that my fingers are crossed as I type this).

It's My Blogiversary!

It was one year ago today I started this little blog.

There have been times where I've posted like crazy. There have also been times that I've lost my blogging mojo. All I usually need to get it back is one good post.

Along the way, I've met some really wonderful people. These women are my inspiration and I'm thankful that I met them through blogging.

I'm still trying to find my blogging niche but I'll get there someday.

According to my stats these are my most popular posts:

Burning Questions

Finding Inner Peace

My Parents Called Me Fat Today

I'm looking forward to seeing where this journey is taking me. For right now, I'll take it one post at a time.

Thanks to all of my readers!!