what is klout?  when you recommend, share and create content you impact others.  klout measures that influence on a scale from 1 to 100.  my [...]]]> from sharpie!  you can’t even imagine how excited i was that i qualified for this perk – i’ve been a fan of sharpie since i was in jr. high.

what is klout?  when you recommend, share and create content you impact others.  klout measures that influence on a scale from 1 to 100.  my klout score fluctuates between 58 – 60 and i still don’t (who does?) understand how klout works – i just know that klout says i’m influential about blogging, food, concerts, california, san diego, video, lady gaga, amy winehouse, dallas mavericks and rihanna.  i find it funny about lady gaga, amy winehouse, dallas mavericks and rihanna but the others make sense.  definitely stuff i talk about all the time.  it would be ideal to have a klout score in the 60s-70s range but i’ll take what i can get for now.  i have to continue to build my network and create content.  my advice is to interact and engage on twitter.  and if you have a private twitter – your score will remain between 1-10.

so for family, friends and coworkers that always ask – this is why i twitter!

when we did some back to school shopping, i eyed these 80s glam sets at walmart – was so happy to get them for free!

my next klout perk should be arriving anyday now – wonder what axe has in store!

disclosure: i was given a free product or sample because i’m a klout influencer. i was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. i get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

duke is wearing a paul frank hoodie ($12.99 from tj maxx), lego batman t-shirt ($7 from walmart), H & M denim shorts ($9.99 from H&M) & vans ($23.99 from WSS) – the only thing new are his vans.

that’s our [...]]]>

duke is wearing a paul frank hoodie ($12.99 from tj maxx), lego batman t-shirt ($7 from walmart), H & M denim shorts ($9.99 from H&M) & vans ($23.99 from WSS) – the only thing new are his vans.

that’s our boy!  this day was harder for C & i than it was for him.  i’m proud of us though, we didn’t cry when he waved bye to us.  in fact, it’s like he didn’t even want us there – i took out my camera to take pictures of him while waiting with his classmates and he gave me a look and kept waving me off.  it was funny.

duke was in a private preschool 2 whole days a week for a year so he is somewhat used to school life.  he’s a really picky eater so we packed him a lunch but when we picked him up he told us he ate the cafeteria lunch of nachos, a banana and milk – he was so proud and so were we!!!  this is a huge step!

we had a set of rules & reminders that we kept going over with him:

• don’t say “crap”
• listen to your teacher
• make sure you eat at lunch because there’s no snack time like in preschool
• if you take off your hoodie, put it in your backpack
• don’t forget your lunch bag – put it in your backpack
• talk to your classmates, don’t do all the talking yourself
• listen to your teacher!

one of my favorite artists 64 colors did the design for cherry bomb paper lantern by blueq – only $9.99 this is a must have!!!

in keeping with the japanese/kawaii theme of this post, i came across this tape that’s so adorable! i love sending snail mail to friends and [...]]]>

one of my favorite artists 64 colors did the design for cherry bomb paper lantern by blueq – only $9.99 this is a must have!!!

in keeping with the japanese/kawaii theme of this post, i came across this tape that’s so adorable! i love sending snail mail to friends and this would be adorable for packages! offered by cute tape
the under the apple tree canopy bed – my husband would never go for this bed but oh my is it ever the cutest thing!

disclosure: I have not received any compensation for writing this content and I have no material connection to the brands, topics and/or products that are mentioned herein.

true story.  a couple thousand of you were there.  it was amazing.  i asked a couple questions on twitter.  i made a new friend.  i think i cried.  now i’m sitting here, a month pregnant, inspired & ready to sign up to have my own home birth.  did i mention that it was amazing?

i started watching at around 11pm

by 1155pm, their daughter was woken up to witness the birth of her baby sibling

a few minutes later, she’s here!  IT’S A GIRL!

1217am they tell her to squat so the placenta can come out

1225am – mommy and baby are good so daddy starts taking pictures!  after this, @TalinaN gets checked to see if she needs stitches, she does.

talina’s site is currently down | harvestofdailylife.com – i’m sure it got hit with tons of traffic and her host suspended the account for going over bandwidth.

it is one helluva thing to have a baby but to share the live birth with the world?  you have my respect.  thank you for sharing and congratulations to your whole family!!!  i don’t think i have the strength to do it at home but  you made me super curious and i promise to research!  i’m on a contact birth high!

the 24 unit complex we live in is in the ‘hood but wasn’t bad.  until last year.  and then it just got worse.  i blame management choices.  the building was sold last year to an older couple and the new property manager they hired told C one afternoon she was [...]]]> A is for Apartment living

the 24 unit complex we live in is in the ‘hood but wasn’t bad.  until last year.  and then it just got worse.  i blame management choices.  the building was sold last year to an older couple and the new property manager they hired told C one afternoon she was drunk that “she wanted to make this place a little more livelier” – well, she got her wish last weekend.  we were on our way home from shopping (actually just hanging out at stores to stay cool from the heatwave, heh.) when we saw a police car zoom by us.  we joked with eachother and said it was the next street over because that’s where all the gang members hang out at.  and then we pulled up to our cul-de-sac and saw 4 police cars with their flashing lights.  i started to freak out and had C pull over.  what if there was a shoot out, what if, what if…

as we pull into our parking space, we notice one of the neighbors – sitting on the ground, surrounded by police officers.  we get into our courtyard and our next door neighbors have broken glass bottles everywhere and are yelling at us not to step in the blood.  blood, what?  i start freaking out and thinking, i can’t believe this is happening!  C rushes us in and goes back out to see what happened.  turns out the neighbors i was complaining about being loud on twitter the night before were in an argument and she broke bottles in front of their door, started stepping in the glass and trying to break open their window.

fast forward to this past friday night, the arguing continues and the crazy neighbor starts claiming that another neighbor’s husband tried to sleep with her.  it all makes sense now.  this is what would make neighbors fight.  the rumors all week were that the “crazy” neighbor is diagnosed, so my question is, if she is under a doctor’s care - why would the other neighbors keep pushing her buttons?  are they insane too?  we’re lowkey, we want to come home and just chill out.  these new neighbors & manager’s family love being rowdy, hanging out by the pool all day, smoking and drinking in the courtyard all night.  WHAT GIVES?

a lot of racial slurs were being thrown around by both sides and death threats were being made.  the police were called twice.  finally today, when it was quiet – the “crazy” neighbor was arrested.  i’m sure after she saw the note on her door:

we are itching to get out of here – we don’t want to be a part of this madness and we had an appointment this past saturday to look at a townhouse.  we loved it but the process is like being a candidate for a job interview.  there’s 5 other couples interested but only 1 townhouse.  we’re optimists but come to the honest realization that we probably aren’t going to get that ONE.

as for apartment living, it’s not all that bad, it has it’s (mostly) GOOD days – afterall, we still have the elotes man & the vieja.

you can vote for me at about.me/xeniag or check out about.me – [...]]]> i created my own personal splash page on about.me a couple months ago and received 50 FREE cards from moo.com – now about.me is having another promotion and i want to be the face of about.me!

you can vote for me at about.me/xeniag or check out about.me – it really is a spiffy service!

thank you!

the best thing that happened to me at BlogHer was when i opened my composition book and saw the cutest note from my husband reaffirming his support for me.

BEST BlogHer SURPRISE #2:

hallmark had a lovely suite at [...]]]> BEST BlogHer SURPRISE:

the best thing that happened to me at BlogHer was when i opened my composition book and saw the cutest note from my husband reaffirming his support for me.

BEST BlogHer SURPRISE #2:

hallmark had a lovely suite at BlogHer – you could send FREE cards to a friend at the conference or ANYWHERE!  hallmark not only provided the cards but also free postage!  i received a tweet from hallmark saying i had to stop by their suite, not knowing what was going on, i headed up there and let the girl manning the suite know i received a tweet, she asked for my twitter name, gave me a # and pointed at the cubby holes.  inside was a card from ruby of growingupblaxican.com – i thought it was so sweet & thoughtful, awww!

BEST POST-BlogHer ADVENTURE:

i love saving money – i don’t call myself cheap but rather, getting the most out of my money.  armed with a bunch of coupons i received at BlogHer and telling C about this experiment – we headed to walmart on a saturday afternoon for our own little adventure in extreme couponing.  i let C pay first for the stuff we didn’t have coupons for, his total was about $40 which was good for a normal walmart shopping trip for us.  my total came up to $30.54 and after i handed the clerk the stack of coupons – i just had to pay $2.77!  the clerk was laughing and so was the family behind me. i felt like i was WINNING.

BEST REUSABLE TOTE:

i came home with THIRTEEN reusable totes.  certain cities in california have started banning plastic shopping bags so these come in handy.  my favorite one is the dove insulated bag.  it’s gorgeous and i don’t know if it’s just me but smells sorta like chocolate!  the bongo / searsstyle.com bag i got at the cheap sally party reminds me of the guess and esprit tote bags when i was in jr. high.  if those ever make a comeback, i think i’d buy one.  i secretly hope to find ‘em when i go out thrifting…shhh!

CUTEST PROMO ITEM:

most of the branded promo items at BlogHer made sense.  not a lot of ‘em were cute.  this reusable tote from shari’s berries was adorable.  i actually became a swag whore for a minute and grabbed 2 ;x  i couldn’t help myself!  i’m planning on sending it to my mom cause she loves cute stuff like this.

SMARTEST MARKETING AT BlogHer:

i was SHOCKED at how busy the edenfantasys booth was during BlogHer.  the swag bag was the topic of many conversations shared over breakfast and at parties.  i know most women won’t be blogging about the goodies received but i have to put it out there, thanks for thinking out of the box and going there edenfantasys!

i also received a very adorable swag envelope from babeland at a swag party!

BEST SWAG:

it took me a couple weeks to work on putting all the stuff i got from BlogHer away.  i still have a ton of flyers and business cards to go through.  although i would like to somewhat “monetize” my blog, i won’t be turning into one of those product review/giveaways blogs.  not that there isn’t anything wrong with those type of blogs but that’s not my intent here.  i have a few things that are my favorite pieces of swag from BlogHer and i’ll be reviewing those individually very soon.  in the meantime, SDMomfia & legoland are awesome!  can’t wait to surprise the kid with a trip down there.  we’re HUGE carlsbad fans!!!  P.S. if you are curious about the swag i received, i made a google doc you can check out here.

THE WORST:

• wasn’t a fan of the hotwheels suite.  other bloggers agree.
• not enough TIME.  the expo hall should have extended hours – maybe open earlier? like at 7am?  because i was trying to attend sessions and make new blogger friends, i didn’t network with brands like i wanted to.
• multiple parties, luncheons, events and sessions happening at the same time.
• one free gift code i received doesn’t work.  i would put the company on blast but they are working on fixing it right now.
• getting an invite to try a new site and the site isn’t ready yet.  again, i would put the company on blast but they are working on fixing it right now.
• i didn’t think the unicorns at the sparklecorn party were racist but drama after BlogHer confirms there’s still some sort of racial divide (and let’s be honest, there will ALWAYS be).  let’s just practice being better with eachother while being proud of our respective ethnicities.
• the sparklecorn party had damn good music but it didn’t seem as inviting as cheeseburgHer.  not that i’m trying to compare BUT i don’t know what it was…maybe the fact that security and some hired BlogHer goon harrassed me and ricca?
• oh yeah, did i mention – STAY AT THE HOST HOTEL!