Welcome 2021: Time to Align (& a Giveaway)

{Mug via Mud LOVE}

Exhale.

That's exactly what this Monday feels like to me.

I was over on IG TV this morning with a Happy New Year message explaining a bit more.

Check it out...

Online to Offline at Altitude Summit 2019

At The Parker Palm Springs

Blogging conferences have changed. 

In fact I don't even feel comfortable calling Altitude Summit a blogging conference. It's more than that. 

Let me explain...

Join Me in Palm Springs: I'm Speaking at Alt Oasis!

As 2018 comes to a close I realize I've been invited more than any other year before to step from behind my screen and share my voice IRL, and I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be at Alt Oasis, Altitude Summit re-imagined. This will be my 3rd Alt experience (you can read my '14 recap here and my '18 experience is in my Instagram Highlights), and in 2019 I'll be continuing the conversation I started in 2018 with a new session, "Like to Action: Making an Impact with Your Influence."

Getting Uncomfortable at Mom 2.0 2018

{Thank you Best Buy for the photo.}

Yesterday was my first full day back in a somewhat routine state after returning Tuesday at 1a.m. from the West Coast where I attended the 10th annual Mom 2.0 with Mr. Lovebird. It was my second time attending (here's last year's recap), and this time around while I spoke again, there was also another looming theme for me: being uncomfortable.

My Portable 80s Palm Springs Dinner Party

As a proud 80s baby, any chance I can relive the awesomeness of that decade is welcome so when I knew my blog would be taking me to speak at Altitude Summit this week I was excited to shift my original at-home Destination Dinner party from my formal dining room to the brightly colored conference venue of the Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs. 

It was the perfect back-drop for my Wayfair 80s-inspired dinner party tablescape!

Today's the Day: I've Returned to Altitude Summit and I'm Speaking!

Image via Altitude Summit

It's been 4 years since my first Altitude Summit and so much has happened since then. If you had told me at the time that in a few short months after giving birth to my son that I would be relocating to Portsmouth, NH then returning to Boston 2 years later I absolutely wouldn't have believed you. 

Here's a quick rundown of what my first Alt Summit was like...

Quiana in Action

Shirt via Myrtle & Flossie

"What exactly do you do?"

It's a question I often get asked directly and sometimes it's implied so I thought it would be helpful to share the projects I'm currently working on especially if there are followers whose work might align with what I'm doing and which might lead to future partnerships. 

Here we go...

Planner Alert: 2017 Day Designer Unboxing Video

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

If you've been following me the past 2 years you know I have a bit of an obsession with my Day Designer planner. I first met the creator Whitney English at ALT Summit 2014 (and yes, I NEED to get back to Alt Summit!), and I appreciated her thoughtfulness as a mom and entrepreneur when creating the Day Designer in 2010. It's been one of *the* best annual investments I've made for myself and my business so much so that I've even got my sisters on board and we order annually altogether as part of our business. It's something to look forward to!

Tonight! Digital Portsmouth: The Art of Copywriting

As the East Coast gears up for the most epic snow storm since last winter, I'm in awe that we're getting spared, but I'm sending safe vibes everyone's way as the storm approaches. 

While I won't be battling snow, tonight I'm excited to present at Digital Portsmouth: The Art of Copywriting. This is also the 1st day of Alt Summit and while it's been 2 years since I've attended (my epic recap is here), I'm waiting with baited breath to hear where next year's locale will be as they've decided to leave Salt Lake City going forward. I'm crossing my fingers it'll come out East. 

So between the hashtag #DigitalPorts for tonight's talk and #AltWinter2016, there's a lot of great info about to be passed down. Be sure to follow along!

Are you prepping for snow where you live? Stay warm friends! 





P.S. Have kids in your life? Don't forget to enter my fun giveaway here - it's perfect for snow days!

From Toddler to Teen: Setting New Year's Resolutions with Your Kids

I've partnered up for another CoLab post with blogger Arnitris of Blessed be the Tie to present our tips on how to set New Year's Resolutions with your kids. We have kids ranging from toddlers to teens so we thought this would be a helpful post for you, especially as many of you move beyond resolutions and do actual goal-setting with your kids. 

I'm covering off on the todder/early elementary aged segment and Arnitris' tips for older kids are here.  

Here we go!

1. Assess – as the parent, reflect on how the past year has gone and what you want to accomplish in the new year: reading more books, increased family outings, regularly having dinner as a family etc.. While your child’s verbal skills may still be developing, it’s important to have conversations with them (as this demonstrates)! Try showing them pictures of themselves and talking about what’s happening.

2. Use resources – bringing in tools such as calendars and clocks to help explain time is a great tool especially for early elementary school-aged children. Melissa & Doug has several options to help your children understand the passing of time and in turn can help them set goals.

3. Engage – especially if you have an older sibling, bringing them onboard to get their input will help them feel empowered and have increased responsibility for their younger sibling(s). Ask them what they’d like to see their younger sibling do in the new year and turn it into an art project to make it hands on.

4. Be accountable – have a time to regularly check in and talk about your resolutions and accomplishments; set up a bi-weekly family meeting to talk about your project and look at your progress. Making an ongoing online photo album is a great way to commemorate your resolutions!

5. Show it & celebrate – set up a designated space in your home to showcase your goals; it can be on your refrigerator, or on the back of your children’s bedroom door. Hand-drawn images and affordable drug store prints are easy ways to visualize young children’s progress.



Happy New Year! Do you set New Year's resolutions with your kids or do goal setting? What works for your family?

In Our Garden: How We're #CreatingCommunity

Happy Monday friends! Today I'm coming to you with fellow blogger Teri of Cottage In The Court on a special CoLAB project via ALT Summit and Blogalicious. Over the past few weeks we've come to know each other and while we reside in distinctly different communities and are of different generations, we're in our agreement in our belief in the importance of community and the effort it can require to create it.

We've created a photo essay of sorts to share our experiences and hope you enjoy it! At the end is an invitation for you to participate as well.

My #CreatingCommunity Story

In one month my family and I will celebrate the one year anniversary of our move from NYC-metro to Portsmouth, NH. I've shared before about how this has impacted us especially from a diversity perspective and now with a bit more time behind us, I find that I still stand by my belief that open conversations are still the best route to progress. I don't shy away from difficult topics and I'm proud letting my children see me be assertive in our relationships as we navigate our still-new community. I believe it helps build their confidence as well. Do I think we'll stay here in New Hampshire the rest of our lives? I'm not sure, but for now I'm making sure this period of our lives is one we learn a few valuable lessons from. Here are a few featuring Nia and Grayson at Prescott Park, our own local garden, which is the pride of the community. We find ourselves here a lot especially this summer where the kids had swimming lessons adjacent to the garden as well as enjoyed time at the nearby playground and most recently caught a performance of Peter Pan. It really is a central community location and we find ourselves at peace there.

Teri's Story

Here are a few photos from Teri's community garden. I'll update with a link to her story as well!

As the summer winds down we invite you to share how you're #CreatingCommunity on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. We look forward to seeing your images!

   

My Blogger Christmas Wish List

I'm pretty relaxed when it comes to snagging up deals for holiday gift giving and while I've taken advantage of a few sales (including this one) I wanted to quickly pop in and share a few of my favorite items for bloggers this Christmas season. 

Take a look:

1// Whitney English Day Designer - designed by mompreneur Whitney who I met at Alt Summit in January, I appreciate the form and function of this goal-oriented planner which addresses both work and family responsibilities. The style pictured is the one I ordered and is currently sold out but a few other designs were just made available today.

2// Jackery Giant+ - this is my new best friend! I now have no excuse to be without power ever which is so important as a blogger. I have to stay connected and this is super powerful, portable and affordable. There are smaller versions available but this is the one I have.

3// Holstee Manifesto - this comes in poster size as well as cards and is a powerful reminder to live your dreams.

4// Seagate Backup Plus Slim - I've lost a hard drive 2x and while the 2nd time I had it backed up the drive was super bulky so I upgraded to this and never looked back.

5// Bossy Ceramic Mug - a fun reminder, no?

6// Ponder by Kelly Moore - this new style comes in several colors and is a workhorse. I need a bag for my Mac Book Air, DSLR and my diaper clutch. This fits the bill!

What's the #1 item on your Christmas wish list this year? Any of the items on my wish list look familiar to you?

Just in Time for Summer Break: A Make Amazing $5K Contest & Interview with Lifestyle Expert Brit Morin!

I can be a crafty girl when I put my mind to it and attending Alt Summit in January really put me back in the crafty spirit. Meeting lifestyle expert Brit Morin while there was a highlight especially as she gave such incredible insight to the business side of her brand. 

When I learned she was partnering with Scotch for another outstanding crafting contest as well as sharing ideas for summer crafting with kids I was excited for the opportunity to interview her. 

You can check it out here:

Having won a Scotch contest in the past and attended one of their big events I can attest to what a fun brand they are and how easy it is to get kids of all ages involved in crafting especially with their washi tape (Nia and I are obsessed!).

To inspire your crafting sessions this summer Brit Morin's teamed up with Scotch for the Make Amazing contest offering 3 winners cash prizes of $5,000! Amazing, right?! You can submit your inspired creations featuring Scotch Blue via Instagram using the hashtag #makeamazing. Contest ends 8/3/2014 and full rules are here.

Are your kids crafting this summer? What are some of their favorite items to craft with? (Nia's in a crayon/paper doll phase lately!)

My Girls: How I Became a Mom Before I Had My Daughter

#Alt Summit believes every mother counts

My mom and me

Eight, ten and twelve years. That's what separates me from my 3 younger siblings. Growing up I used to joke with my mom: ”I've done everything except actually give birth and breastfeed!" 

My siblings and me

Upon graduating from college, while my sisters were ages 12 and 14, I had the opportunity to become a resident tutor for my college town's local chapter of A Better Chance (ABC). I was fascinated by the program as I'd be working and living with girls close in age to my sisters: high school students from communities that had low rates of academic success and college matriculation.  

My girls and me

During 2 years as a resident tutor “the students” transformed into my girls. In them I saw my own sisters and considered what they were going through leading nearly parallel lives. We are still family and to witness their successes and achievements, including all of them going on to college, made me proud even in a maternal way long before I had my daughter almost 4 years ago. 

Virginia and Me {Photo Credit: Julie McGee Photography}

I believe in my girls, and I believe in organizations that support girls and women including Every Mother Counts. This Mother's Day please take 2 minutes and take 2 actions to help me support mothers around the world. Start by clicking the button below:

 

And We're Off! A Family-moon in Vermont

It's been years since I've been to Vermont having visited twice while living in Boston for 9 years, and when I met the co-owners of Snapdragon Inn at Alt SLC earlier this year I was excited to be invited to their property with my family. 

While I considered a romantic getaway for just me and Mr. Lovebird I had to reconsider as I have vivid memories of me and my parents at Lil Lovebird's age so I thought her coming along would make a special memory for her pre-baby Bobo (as she still calls him!).

Here's a sneak peak of what awaits us at Snapdragon Inn located in Windsor, VT:

{Images credit: Snapdragon Inn}

It's a bit chillier up there than here (spring is really slow to start it seems) and spring skiing is still going strong. We were also invited to Killington so we're making a day trip out of it especially because Mr. Lovebird who spends a lot of time in Vermont for work has heard it's a must-visit. 

On Sunday I've seen a few sunrise Easter services that look grueling intriguing to attend, but I think between me and my bump and Nia's super-feisty nature lately, I don't think we'll be able to get up so early. I found a 10a.m. service though that I think we'll be able to manage. 

Follow along on Instagram throughout the weekend for a few snippets of our family-moon and I'll have a full report when I return!

Are you taking any special trips this holiday weekend?  Wishing you and your family a happy Easter!
 
 

Alt Summit 2014: Day 3, Getting Down to Business!

Getting back on track with my Alt Summit recaps . . . here's Day 1 and Day 2 if you missed them! Note: Pictures without my watermark are taken by the official Alt photographers Justin Hackworth and Brooke Dennis.

Friday

I slept like a baby after the Green Party but was determined to be up early for Food Photography with Joy Uyeno of Frock Files and Lindsey Johnson of Cafe Johnsonia - I heard the previous day's photography session had a long line an hour beforehand and with only 30 students allowed I was chillin' in line very early. 

It was definitely worth it!

Here are my top 5 actionable items I learned to polish your food photography:

1. Start with Pinterest - create a food styling inspiration board to capture what looks appealing
2. Keep it simple - no busy china patterns to compete with the food! Companies like IKEA, Fishs Eddy and Pearl River are great resources for dishware 
3. Know the ideal manual settings - f/1.8+50/55mm lens+light scoop= SUCCESS! I had never considered a light scoop but Joy said it made all the difference for her and recommended this one. Also, while f/1.8 is ideal don't get stuck using it exclusively - 3.5-5.6 is a good sweet spot to play with!
4. Go vertical! - especially for Pinterest, vertical images get a better response and you can always crop your horizontal images vertical before posting
5. Use matte surfaces - check IKEA for clearance services to shoot on; look for scrap pieces from building salvage and hardware stores, fun fabrics from sewing stores and materials at thrift stores

Next up I went to the Growing Your Community session with Jen Hansard of Simple Green Smoothies, Susan Petersen of Freshly Picked, Jessie Artigue of Style & Pepper and Salem Stanley of Vacation Races.

A funny take on overdoing "community"

I have to admit when I saw the word "community" I really wanted to replace it with "readership" but I realized why word choice was so important. I wasn't familiar with Simple Green Smoothies until I saw them mentioned on the schedule pre-conference and as I followed them and learned their story I was intrigued - people are extremely passionate about them and I wanted to find out why. I met Jen and her co-founder Jadah in the line at lunch the day before and Jadah was in my photography class that morning and they struck me as warm and personable - my kind of businesswomen!
 

Salem, Jen and Susan

During Jen's talk I learned the importance of creating a newsletter (with a "juicy" opt-in!) for growing community as well as being a responsive blogger - something I strive to achieve as well. There's nothing more annoying than an un-engaged blogger or business which you try to contact but doesn't respond. It's not good for business! By being engaging and responsive the 2 SAHMs created a 6 figure business in 8 months. What an inspiration!

I was also very familiar with Freshly Picked the wildly popular baby moccasins recently featured on Shark Tank, and I appreciated Susan's honesty about what motivated her to grow her community: she wanted to make money. Ain't nothin' wrong with that! (and if you're business-minded like I am check out Susan's AMAZING candid interview about her business including how she got 10K Instagram followers, check out her interview here on Smart Creative Women, which is a must-follow btw)

Now it was time for another favorite of mine: LUNCH! I tell ya, baby gets me very hungry lately, and I was so excited when I stepped into the ballroom and saw the beautiful table settings:

The lunch keynote was with Every Mother Counts featuring board members Christy Turlington Burns, Mariam Naficy, Heather Armstrong and Christiane Lemieux. I first learned of EMC at BlogHer in 2012 and was thrilled to see the work they continue to do but as tears filled many of the eyes of the audience I was more interested in action when the Q&A opened I immediately popped my hand up to ask how I could help the next time I travel with my family to Nigeria. They responded that connecting with them to guest blog would help raise awareness, but I'm thinking more along the lines of on the ground help or taking something tangible when I go. Since then I have an idea of how I want to help coupling with resources here in NYC so I hope to have an update later this year on my progress . . .

Brit and Erin

After lunch I headed to Investing in Your Blog with Brit Morin of Brit & Co. and Erin Hiemstra of Apartment 34. Brit reminded me of Eria of P.S. I Made This in her approachable, yet savvy manner. She is super educated and well-versed in all things tech/Silicon Valley and gave us the inside scoop on her business growth as well as future trends she sees (hint: 3D printing ya'll!). This on the-ground-report was eye-opening and while I don't think I need an MBA, it definitely makes sense to stay on top of business trends even as a blogger. 

I also won a cute Brit Kit to make a bracelet which I look forward to making soon:

I was starting to get drained by the time of the closing keynote, but knowing it was with Ben Silbermann, founder of Pinterest helped me perk up. I parked myself next to another lady I didn't realize was also pregnant until she started dozing off, and we empathized on our condition! (It was also during this session that I took a baby-induced bathroom break and ended up with the most gorgeous pillows from Wayfair - more on that later...)

Ben interviewed by Alt Summit co-founder Gabrielle Blair

This piece of advice really struck me: "Focus on what's working; you don't have to fix what's not." Not only for blogging but for life, I think this is a great tip. Ben admitted to certain things being worked out at Pinterest such as spam, questionable images and dead links and that they're definitely working on them and he kinda skirted around the issue of monetization which made me sweat a little about the thought of paying for Pinterest or seeing it laden with ads. I get that bills have to be paid, but I love Pinterest as it currently is. I just pray it doesn't turn into Facebook.

Ben's mantra of "Progress, Not Perfection" in conjunction with his thoughts on making his company family friendly, especially dad-friendly so men don't have to feel like they're blazing trails wanting to have family-friendly hours was fantastic. Rather than wait for change or legislation he said it's up to dads to just do it: make the demand that it's OK for them to leave at normal hours instead of making moms taking the brunt of the responsibility. I wanted to stand up and applaud! So many of my dual-working outside the home friends have the mom giving up so much more in her career to be with the family whether for leave or for handling appointments or activities and I truly believe if more men started standing up for change there would be change. 

When the keynote was over, although I wanted to sleep I went up to my room to get dolled up for the 12 mini-parties. They started at 6:30p.m., but I didn't make it down until 8p.m. and missed quite a few tasty goodies and experiences. While I was a little bummed I know I'll definitely be at Alt again and will make up for it (sans baby bump!).

Here are some colorful mini-party moments:

Loved Bethany's looks the entire conference especially the one on the left!

It would've been very easy to get carried away at MailChimp's tattoo parlor! I opted to take a few Tattly tatoos home with me instead

I wasn't fast enough to snap a pic but I did catch a bite of the mashed potato bar cart before it was wheeled out (thank you to the staff for having mercy on my pregnant, salt-craving belly!) and there was an amazing cheesecake bar I heard about too. I couldn't let the night end there so I went up to my room to join my roommates for a girls foot soak and a bit of indulgence (does that tart look familiar???):

It was the perfect way to end my first Alt Summit.

Still a few more Alt Summit posts to come: business card round-up, fashion and a few giveaway wins! Also my post-Alt experience at Sundance thanks to my cousin Aminah.
 


P.S. Want to experience Alt Summit this year? There are now two main events in SLC with Alt NYC of the past now being a design camp (date and location TBD) and other cities available. Tickets for Alt SLC Summer this June are now on sale here and be sure to subscribe to their newsletter and follow on social media for your chance to win a ticket!