Blog Tour!

Today I am participating in a blog tour!  I was very happy when Shanice from City of Creative Dreams emailed about being part of this blog tour.  I had to say yes because I love reading blog tour posts from all bloggers.  It is a fantastic way to get to know them.  Of course I want you to get to know me better so I jumped on the idea!  I will also introduce you to a couple of my favorite blogs right now.  I have a lot, but picked a couple.   First, let me answer the same questions that all the other bloggers have answered and then you get to see the bloggers that I am absolutely loving right now. You can see Shanice's answers to these questions on her site here.  She has an amazing linky party every week on Friday.  Go check it out to get a lot of inspiration from some very talented bloggers.  

My Questions:

Question #1- What am I working on right now?

Literally, right this second I am juggling work (accounting job), church activity responsibilities, blog posts, and being a mommy and wife.  My life is quite crazy and I am hoping it will slow down a bit in the next week or two.  As for work I said that I have an accountant.  I do accounting for health clubs.  I love my job, but I must say it can be stressful at times.  It is a smaller company and so because of that I do a lot of different things.  Some days I do a little of everything.  However, my main responsibility is payroll and to report monthly financials.  I also am over church activities every other month.  I am right in the middle of preparing for one coming up on September 11th.  So that will be nice to have it completed.  (I kind of worry about everything until it is over, because I want it to go perfectly.)  Since I am quite new to the blogging world I am working on getting blog ideas put together and I also have some great ideas brewing in my mind.  I cannot disclose anything right this second, because, well...I am not sure exactly which way I want to go.  However, I am excited to be on this blogging journey and getting to know my readers.  Lastly, but the most important is my sweet family.  I have an amazing husband that I love to spend time with.  We squeeze in any time we can get to go on a date or just have some alone time.  Then I am also working on the alphabet with my daughter.  She loves doing all the activities every day that I have planned.  It has been fun for the two of us.  

Question #2- Why do I write/create what I do?

I am the type of person that loves a lot of things.  With that can come chaos though.  So I like to share my thoughts and ideas on how to achieve and make time for your passions, but also simplifying life along the way.  I love to wear a lot of different hats, but at the same time realize that I cannot be perfect at everything.  Since I am learning as I go I like to share the things that make me happy and the tips that I learn along the way.  

Question #3- How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I feel mine is different because I do not focus on one thing.  Like I said above I have A LOT of passions.  I think a lot of women do and we feel torn at which way to go.  So every month I touch on a variety of things including, cleaning, organizing, motherhood/kid ideas, crafting, book reviews, ways to make meal time easier, hair, makeup, fashion, and many more.  I try and recommend products that make me happy while simplifying my life.  I hope to help my readers live the happiest life, but still simple.  Like I always say, "You don't have to live an elaborate life to be happy!"

Question #4- How does your writing/creating process work?

I think it is the accountant in me, but I like to plan things out.  I have an editorial calendar that I have set up for 3 months a time.  This might change when certain things come up (like this tour for instance), but for the most part I have an idea of what I will be posting in a month.  I used to be a month ahead, but then my work got crazy and I had to slow down on the blogging front for a little while.  The best feeling for me is to be ahead and know what I am doing AHEAD of time.  

I have a blogging calendar that I absolutely LOVE and it keeps me organized on everything I need to do each day, week, and month.  Again, I love that because it keeps me on track and I like being organized.  

Now for the blogs I love:

#1

Melissa with Mama Miss

I fell in love with Melissa's work before I started blogging.  She makes the most beautiful planners!  I knew that if I started blogging I wanted to buy her blogger planner.  I was tempted to buy the planner even though I started blogging mid year, but then she came out with a mid-year blogger planner and it was fate!  No really I was so excited and I purchased it right away!  She has a blogger planner, teacher planner, homeschool planner, calendar planner, menu planner, and a baby book.  She is so talented.  There is something for everyone and you are missing out if you do not go check her shop out!  

She also posts some of the best recipes.  Her pictures capture the beauty in the food as well.  I LOVE salads and I LOVE cucumbers.  So this Cucumber Salad recipe spoke to me.  

She also makes the prettiest free printables.  They are always gorgeous!  Like I said she is one talented lady!  This fruit match up games printable is one my my favorite recent printables she posted.  As I have said before my sweet Hannelore loves colors.  So these are a favorite! 

#2

Victoria with Giveaways 4 Mom

Victoria provides a lot of advice on her blog!  She provides legit giveaways, product reviews, general mom talk, money making opportunities, and blogger resources.

In August she posted a review on Power Bank.  This was a review that I loved because I cannot even count how many times I have been on the run with my daughter and my phone dies.  This product would save me.  I really need one of these.  I love reading reviews before I buy anything to see listen to what others have thought of it.

How many of you are overwhelmed with the school papers and artwork that your kids bring home?  I do not even have a child in school and I am overwhelmed with the artwork papers Hannelore has.  She loves to color and she loves me to keep them all.  Victoria gave some great tips on dealing with all the papers in this post.  I have to throw Hannelore's away when she is not watching.  However, I keep some of them.  Please don't think I am heartless.

My little miss would love me to win Learning Resources Buggy Beads Giveaway.  She loves "cute bugs".  You know the cartoon ones.  She hates the real things.  I don't blame her.  Anyway this is only one of many giveaways that are mentioned on Giveaways 4 Mom.  Go check out all the other ones that are on there.  There might be something for you! 

I hope you enjoyed this blog tour and getting to know me better.  Please check out these amazing bloggers that I love on September 15th and get to know them better as well.  

Happy Monday!  I hope you have a fantastic week!