Archive for September, 2007
September 25, 2007· Filed under Contests, Girl Stuff
Do you recognize my gal? Last fall I discovered a great site called Design-her Gals and used their interactive gal creator to design my online persona. Since then, she has been all over the Internet, visiting blogs around the world, showing up in MyBlogLog lists, appearing in comments, and gracing forums, too.
Design-her Gals lets you create your own likeness, dress her up and then have her printed on a variety of products from stationery to invitations, t-shirts or send her as part of a custom e-card. The proceeds from Design-her Gals sales go to the Gal to Gal Foundation to benefit women diagnosed with Stage IV Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer survivors.
My latest giveaway is being sponsored by Design-her Gals!! We are giving away a gift certificate for $45 towards any of the Design-her Gals printed products.
The lucky winner will get to design their own custom business card, invitations, holiday cards, notepads, or labels. These are so unique and everyone will want to know where you got them. I created my own holiday cards last year and sent them to all my clients. I got so many compliments, it was amazing!
There’s More! Join me on a virtual walk!
Design-her Gals is making history in October as they host a the Gal to Gal virtual walk from Boston to San Francisco. I plan on being a part of it all and so can you - there is no training required!!
From their press release:
Supporters will participate in The Gal to Gal Walk by creating their virtual likeness online and then watching themselves take a virtual walk across America. The walk will commence in the Virtual World of Harvard Square in Boston, MA, and concludes on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, visiting 29 cities along the way. The landscape walkers travel through will change on a daily basis, giving people a reason to return to see where they are walking that day. New walkers will be joining all the time – sharing their stories and building momentum as more people participate in this innovative fundraising effort.
This unique approach to philanthropy has attracted strategic partners such as Yoplait, Checks Unlimited, FTD.com, Lucy and Fodor’s who have pledged to mobilize their communities to join the walk. In addition, dozens of celebrity ambassadors such as Lynn Redgrave, Kristin Chenoweth, Molly Sims, Mena Suvari, Diane Farr, Leisha Hailey, Marg Helgenberger and Jorja Fox will lend their support and participate in the virtual walk.
You can begin registering for the Gal to Gal walk on Wednesday, September 26. There is a $3 donation required for registration, but all proceeds will go toward the Gal to Gal Foundation. What a fun and unique way to raise money for a great cause.
How Do I Enter To Win The Gift Certificate?
This is easy! Enter to win the $45 gift certificate to the Design-her Gal shop by leaving me a comment below. You have to enter a valid email address in order for me to send you the gift certificate if you win. I don’t publish, sell, or subscribe you to anything with that email address. You do not need have your own web site to enter either.
You can get a bonus entry if you join me on the virtual walk! Once you have registered for the walk, stop back by and leave me a comment. I am not sure how we will be identified yet, so I may need to modify this a bit once they open registration.
You may enter to win the gift certificate from now until midnight on Wednesday, October 3, 2007. I will draw a winner at random on October 4. Good Luck!!!
UPDATED — CONGRATS TO Laura at Laura Williams Musings - you were the lucky winner!!
September 24, 2007· Filed under Menu Plan Mondays, Monday Motivation
Say what? Who loves Mondays? Oh, that would be me. Mondays signal the beginning of a new week of opportunity and the return to routine.
Just a few notes as I kick off another great week!
- Did you know that today marks the official one year anniversary of this particular site? Time flies when you are having fun! Scroll back through my archives to check out some early posts that you may not have read before.
- I have moved my Menu Plan Monday posts. I’m still participating, but they are being posted at Raising a Healthy Family - a new site I started in August.
- In place of MPM, I will be participating in eMoms at Home’s Monday Motivation series. With bigger blocks of time to work now that the kids are back in school, it is time for me to hold myself more accountable for being productive.
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and in support of Pink for October, Casual Keystrokes will be getting a new pink look. Look for it to appear some time this week. WordPress master Brian Gardner and Charity of Design Adaptations are also going pink - how about you?
- I will be announcing my next giveaway tomorrow and it goes very well with the Pink for October theme. Be sure to stop back in for updates.
Monday Motivation
I am making an official declaration! These are the things I want to accomplish today in order to jump start my week:
- Put two new affiliate progams into place
- Visit 5 new blogs and leave comments
- Make updates to 3 client sites
- Spend time working on 2 client projects
- Work on Pink for October theme for this site
The way that Monday Motivation works is that once you declare your intentions, you have to either come up with reward or a punishment (whatever works for you) to hold yourself accountable to getting it done. I need to complete this to-do list by bedtime tonight or I face the ultimate torture - no coffee for the week (it works well for Wendy, too!)
Feel free to take this theme back to your own site and post your Monday to-do list there, or share your to-do list in the comments. Either way, set some goals and let’s get rockin’!
By the way, have you subscribed to the Casual Keystrokes yet (feedreader or in your email)? My goal is to double my RSS subscribers this month!
September 21, 2007· Filed under Casual Friday, Contests
Everyone loves a contest and the blogosphere is full of them. They are a great marketing tool for companies wanting to get the word out on a product/service, they are a creative way to generate blog traffic and backlinks, and they are a lot of fun to win!
Today for Casual Friday, let’s talk contests. Have you ever run one on your blog? Was it successful? Was it fun? Have you ever entered a blogger’s contest and won? Do you know of any good contests going on right now? (I know some of you make weekly roundup posts - please share)
Basically the floor is open to any and all comments (as long as they are PG-13 and nice) on the topic of contests and anything else you want to talk about.
As for me, I have run a few contests and they have been so much fun! I have another one coming up next week that is for a great cause, too, so you will have to check it out. This week I was lucky enough to be handing out a prize to a winner here, but also lucky enough to win a rockin’ prize from Pinks and Blues! I can’t wait for my goodies to arrive and when they do I will be sharing the pictures.
We had some great captions for Jake the cat last week - if you missed it they are pretty funny! Thanks to Laura, Eliza, Yvonne, Denise, Amanda, Randa, Jean, Lucy, Angela, Laura, Charity, Rachel, Kathylynn, Mike, Laura, BrownBaron, InspirationBit, Gayla, AgentSully, and MomKnowsEverything.
September 19, 2007· Filed under Organizing, Working from Home
Do you ever feel like you are running in circles, never really getting anything accomplished, and feeling stressed out? As part of Inspiration Bit’s group writing project on time management, here are my top time management strategies as a work at home Mom with three kids.
1. Sunday Night Strategy Session
Sometime each Sunday afternoon/evening I take about 30 minutes to check in with my MomAgenda and get my week in order. I put all the kids appointments/sports practices in on the calendar. Next I add in my appointments, conference calls and exercise. From there I take a few minutes to plan our dinner menu for the week based on what we have going on each evening. With those two big areas of my life organized, I can face the rest of the week with a lot less stress.
2. Get Up Before Anyone Else
Each morning I start my day about 45 minutes before the rest of the family. It allows me to get my thoughts together over a good cup of coffee and I start my day off prepared rather than crazy.
3. Daily Goals List
Split a piece of paper into two columns - label one side work and one side personal. On the work side I list out the highest paying, most urgent client tasks first followed by other tasks by priority. About half of my work is for clients and half is for blogging, I also keep a running list of blog topic ideas for each of my sites in a notebook. On the personal side of the paper I list phone calls I need to make, chores I need to get done, and any errands that have to be run. IMPORTANT - I always have more on my list than I could ever get done, but that’s okay. It helps me stay on top of things that way.
4. Block Your Time
Once I know what needs to be done, I usually block out time and estimate blocks of time per task. This allows me to have a realistic idea as to what I can get done in the day and to make sure I am maximizing my earnings for the day. Since I know that I work best in the morning, I schedule my highest priority and highest dollar tasks for the first 2-3 hours of my day. I save a lot of my blog reading, commenting, web maintenance tasks for later in the day when my mind needs a break, the kids are around, and my day becomes fragmented.
5. Use A Timer
This kind of goes with #4 and blocking your time. Start your task and set the timer for your allotted time. You will be less distracted and the timer will let you know when it is time for a break. If it is a longer task, break it up into smaller time chunks. Reward yourself with a quick walk, a snack break, a phone call break or something once your timer goes off.
6. Create Work Hours
This is REALLY important if you work from home! Establish hours that work for you, your clients, and your family and stick with them. They don’t have to be the same everyday, but set them. If you have set your work hours for today to be from 9-12, then you don’t do housework during that time. Avoid the temptation to watch Oprah during this time - unless you schedule it into your day. (Of course, there is nothing wrong with running the dishwasher or dryer while you work - that is the ultimate benefit of working from home)
7. Outsource Where Possible
Make a list of the 10 biggest time wasters or energy drainers in your day and find a way to eliminate them! This topic could actually be a post of its own - and maybe it will be soon.
Create a carpool with a friend so that you aren’t doing all of the running back and forth with the kids to sports practices. Hire a cleaning service. Barter for administrative help. And the list goes on. With a little creativity, you can save yourself A LOT of time and stress.
8. Group Errands for Efficiency
Rather than popping out for this today and that tomorrow, schedule your errands for maximum efficiency. One way to do it is to tack on an errand to another scheduled event - like stopping in for groceries after soccer practice because they are in the same end of town. Another way to do it is to schedule one morning or afternoon a week just for errands and some time away.
There is no doubt that there will be some unexpected daily drama and the occasional day where you just can’t be bothered, but put these strategies into action and I guarantee your day will run smoother!
Now I’ve shared my tips with you, what are some of the time management strategies that work for you?
Related Posts:
September 19, 2007· Filed under Contests
Obviously Emily Rose Doll Clothes has a lot of fans because we had 76 entries in the gift certificate giveaway. And the winner is:
Debbie - a very crafty mom of 5 who homeschools her kids and just happens to have 3 American Girl dolls who need new clothes 
Congrats!
Next week I will kick off my final giveaway for the month. The giveaway will be one that helps to serve a greater cause - patients with Stage IV Breast Cancer. Be sure to tune in next week for more information.
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