Tag: Pinterest

Five Ways to Get Away from Your Little Kid and Get Some Me Time aka Waste Time on Pinterest 

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You are looking at one of my happy places.

You are looking at one of my happy places.

Oftentimes you need a little non-kid time even when you have kids. This does not always come at a convenient hour (after the kid has gone to sleep), so here are a few ways to grab a couple of minutes in your happy place. Mine happens to be the wonderful world of Pinterest. Yours may be Candy Crush, knitting, binge watching something on Netflix. Whatever it is, these tricks are guaranteed to get you a few minutes in your magical zone where no one is asking you to wipe their butt.

1. Let them play in the dirt. Dirt is awesome because it hold surprises like grass, leaves, bugs, rocks. Add toy, cars, shovels, buckets and other “good in the dirt” toys. Add some water to the equation and those suckers are making mud pies and stomping in puddles. Estimated Pinning Time: 20-30 minutes

2. Feed them. A nice plate full of several different new food choices (baby bento box). Persimmons, mangoes, yogurt covered raisins, purple carrots, whole grain crackers. An array of new visually appealing things on the plate will grab their attention. Tell them they will get a donut or ice cream if they eat it all and you have added at least three more minutes onto your Pinning time.MOTHER OF THE YEAR! Pinning time: 15 minutes

3.  Take them to the playground. Those other parents who are on their phones know what they are doing!  Seriously, I float somewhere between helicopter mom and DFACS being called. It is a happy medium I think. Make sure he doesn’t try to jump off of the TOP of the swing -Pin a pair of boots. Remind him not to eat woodchips – Pin some Ikea bedding. Tell him not to climb UP the slide – Pin fall decorating ideas. We all win at the playground! Pinning time: 15-30 minutes but this may vary if there are no other kids there, you need to push them on the swing, or those moments when they say, “Ma! Look at me!”

4. Put them in the tub- I don’t know about your kid but mine would stay in the tub playing all day if he could. He does a lot of imagination play, talking to his toy dinosaurs and drawing and writing with tub crayons while I hangout and relax. (This only works for those kids who are past tub-drowning age and you do need to be just outside the door and look in on them periodically) Pinning time: 20-25 minutes

5. Sit them on the toilet with:

  • An Oriental Trading Company/Toys R Us catalog
  • A Look and Find book
  • An iPAD/smart phone. I’m sure I will hear people gripe, “Screen time, blah blah blah.” I respect your choice and your child rearing regime. But I get a little bit of Maria time, am able to talk uninterrupted to my husband, wash the dishes or take a crap myself with this trick.
    Just think about how much time you have wasted doing a tinker-stinker or looking at that JCrew catalog on the can. Put a small stool under their feet so their legs don’t fall asleep (like mine do) and enjoy your Pinterest time. Pinning time: 15-20 minutes

Happy pinning! Or pedicuring! Or Dove chocolate eating……

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My Whirlwind Romance with Alt for Everyone

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The organization bug has struck as I try to organize my Alt for Everyone notes, a new color coded system, and my content calendar. Let’s do this!

 

If you are a member of the web/blogging community, chances are you know about the Altitude Summit or Alt Summit. What you may not know is that in addition to their twice yearly conferences in sunny Salt Lake City Utah; they also hold an online conference by the name of Alt for Everyone. This was my first time participating and all I can saw is WOW!

For the past three days I have had sessions with leading designers, social influencers, and bloggers on what to do and what not to do when it comes to your website. Rachel Faucett of Handmade Charlotte, Chris Gardner from Man Made DIY and Hilary Rushford of Dean Street Society were just a few of the great talents who taught us Alt-ers all the tricks of the trade. Any question you could have asked was answered. Any doubt you had in your abilities in building a successful online presence were quickly dashed. No matter how large or small your experience was you were treated as a part of the team and were uplifted by the other attendees.

I have pages of notes that I need to transcribe and an even bigger list of action items.  So many of the those items can be applied to my day work as well as my own blog.

Here are a few of my most valued tips from Alt for Everyone Fall 2014:

  • Keep It On Schedule – Make sure you post to social media and your website on the same days/times so that your audience knows when to expect new things from you.
  • PLAN PLAN PLAN – Communications plans are for all business no matter how large or small.
  • You Don’t Have To Do It All – If you aren’t into Instagram don’t try to be. Do the platforms you do and do them well. Don’t feel pressured to have your brand on every social media channel unless will make a large impact in the long run.
  • Style Like Simon Doonan – Your Pinterest pages should shine like his windows at Barney’s. Build and edit them well, never forgetting that they are a visual interpretation of your brand values.
  • Rich Pinning – This term was new to me and I am still learning. Read more about it by going here.
  • Be Authentic – You know what I mean.

If you attended this year’s event I hope you had as good a time as I did. I also hope your brain gets a much needed rest before it begins applying all of that new found knowledge.