Vacationing with family is the best. Not only are you making great family memories like these:
You also are privy to how the other half of the family lives. You get new obsessions (thanks Aunt Karen for the non-stop Settlers of Catan marathons!), but you also get great new recipes.
Everyone knows that summer is the perfect time for burgers. We are girls who love a good burger, but we also like to fit into the bathing suits we bought at the beginning of the season by the end of it. Special thanks to Erin’s brother-in-law Dan for cooking up a special turkey burger recipe that is the perfect combination of delicious and good-for-our-“bottom”-lines. It’s easy and inexpensive too.
Ingredients:
One pound lean ground turkey
4-6 white/cremini mushrooms (you can be creative here and use your favorite but you will need about 3 ounces) *diced very very fine
1/2 small white, yellow or red onion *diced very, very fine
2 Tablespoons Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
Steps:
1. Dice the mushrooms very, very fine.
2. Dice the onions very, very fine. You can go so far as to mince the onion but don’t try to mince mushrooms. They get weird and pasty if you do that.
If you haven’t guessed, the dicing is the key to this recipe. You really want to infuse the flavor of the onion and the mushroom without making them take center stage. Their job here is mainly to help moisten the turkey burger AND give it full fat flavor and texture without the full fat of regular beef.
If you are confused about the difference between mincing and dicing, mincing makes less uniform, smaller, more irregularly shaped pieces while dicing produces more uniform little cubes between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. Need a visual? Check out the great picture on this site.
3. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl with your hands.
4. Pat into 4 patties. Unlike beef, you don’t need to worry about over-handling because of all of the good stuff you added to the mix. Mix, pat, and you are good to go.
5. Cook over medium high heat, 4-5 minutes per side, until thoroughly cooked through. These are really great fried up in a cast-iron skillet, so if you have one of those, give that cooking method a try.
These are so delicious they are worth every second dicing and mincing. Enjoy!
Have you gotten to that point in the summer where, if your kids are anything like ours, you can actually see the knowledge oozing out of their ears like a Popsicle melting on a parking lot seven inches away from the concession stand?
Was this the summer you weren’t going to let that happen?
Did you have every intention of making multiplication flash cards, but haven’t mustered the enthusiasm to buy the index cards or to install the app or to use the calculator on your phone?
Did you purchase the ingredients for that Thunderstorm in a Cup experiment you saw on Pinterest, but they are still clanking around in your trunk with the jumper cables?
Did you check out the entire Charles Dickens collection with every intention of constructing a kicky homage diorama with your kids, but the books are way past due and the librarians are starting to don brass knuckles when you enter the building?
Yeah, summer enrichment seems like a great idea in April when the air is warming and life feels fresh and new. But then the End of School Year Gomorrah sucks the life out of you with the endless sports banquets AND field trips AND plays AND concerts AND awards assemblies so that even packing school lunches makes you want to strangle a bluebird.
Then summer hits with its breezy schedule and you think, “We all deserve a little break before buckling down,” and before you know it, the only exam your kids can pass is the swim test and you have the motivation of a sloth at a sleep convention to do anything about it.
But we have the solution! TAKE ‘EM TO THE CARNIVAL!
What? Don’t roll your eyes at us. Allow us to construct the excusejustification reasoning, so that by the end you’ll be calling your accountant to write off the whole adventure as an education expense.
Six Ways the Carnival is Just Like a Day at School
1. Health Class
Why just learn about how the colon works when you can see it in action? Experiment with how quickly a $3.00 chili dog with three pumps of pseudo-cheese and extra relish can initiate a colon cleanse in a 40 year old woman. Which leads us to . . .
2. Gym Class
The Race to the Porta Potty Dash where we ALL win if she makes it in time. Watch her hurdle small children and hold in sharts with absolutely no grace whatsoever.
3. History Class
It’s tons better than any textbook. It’s living history really. Where else can you hear a theatrical re-telling of “Tales of Severed Fingers and the Ferris Wheels That Caused Them” by a safety inspector who was alive during the Civil War?
4. Biology Class
Two words: Ball. Pit. So much surface area for so many germs. Each child can get a different disease: ebola, and chiggers, and warts, oh my! Experience is so much better than any book learnin’. Med school here we come!
5. Language Arts
There are OODLES of opportunities for grammar lessons . . . and that’s just in the line to get ride tickets. Explain how the eff bomb is a noun, verb, and an adjective. Oh, and the reading opportunities are so varied and fun! There are signs everywhere–goodies such as “No urinating on the electrical cords” and “May cause death or mutilation.”
That brings us to everyone’s favorite . . .
6. Math Class
Your child will be able to ace the SATs before they hit puberty with problems like these:
If an unlimited ride bracelet costs a bajillion dollars and 20 tickets costs a bajillion dollars divided by 2 (take into account every ride takes an odd number of tickets, but they are only sold in even sets), how big is the second mortgage you must take out on your home to prevent your child leaving the carnival in tears because they were denied one last chance to spew chunks of their neon blue snow cone on the Tilt-A-Whirl?
See? SEE!? You a believer now? You’re welcome. Now go call your accountant about that tax break and tell them the Sensible Moms sent you.
Nobody does gratefulness like Jimmy Fallon. His Thank-You Notes make US grateful we have a DVR, because Erin goes to bed too early to see him live.
1. Thank you, summer, for exquisite sunsets and blogging for making it impossible to just sit here and enjoy it.
2. Thank you chemistry for protecting our kids from summer’s dangers with a marinade of DEET, chlorine, and SPF. Brussel Sprouts should totally counteract this.
3.Thank children for taking turns being pains in the asses over an entire week. It would totally suck to have a full day of summer bliss.
4. Thank you fabulously fit people at the pool for proving once and for all that the government guidelines regarding fitness are utter crap. If you want to walk up stairs without a coronary, thirty minutes a day is just fine. If you want to rock a bikini, you are gonna need to move into the gym and swap your kids for protein shakes.
5. Thank you easy breezy schedules for letting us sleep in every day, letting us hang out every evening, and giving our kids the freedom to constantly bug us for sleepovers. Nothing says easy like a house full of other people’s kids.
6. Thank you lower gas prices for making it possible for us to hang out in real life. Communicating with each other through our joint Twitter account was getting old and making us a little creepy to our followers.
7. Thank you, crazy people, for being consistent and keeping it up over the summer. We wouldn’t know what to do if you surprised us and gave us the summer off from your reign of insane.
8. Thank you air conditioning for preventing fratricide and swamp butt. Our kids appreciate living to see the light of a new day and, well, crack sweat is not attractive on anybody.
9. Thank you X-treme Sports for making us think we should teach our kids to paddle-board this summer. And kayak. And rock climb. And mountain bike. Instead of, you know, just swim.
10. Thank you soccer ball for hours of baby-sitting and all around knock-in-the-head fun, thus allowing us time to sit here and write this list while lifting our heads every once in awhile to watch the sunset.
We’re summer girls, so we are super-excited to say this: Summer is here! Even if our kids are a little confused, we know exactly what this means: food, fun, and lots of free time!
We need good eats to power us through all this fun!
In addition to pulling out the flip-flops and trading in our jam-packed schedules for some lazy-hazy days, we are also psyched to get our summer eats on! These recipes are perfect for any day of the season. So whether we are chilling out after any of our adventures in surf and sand, catching up with old friends, or just enjoying a lovely evening at home, these 7 delicious summer recipes showcase the best of the season and are a surefire hit every time.
This is one of Erin’s favorite summer potluck dishes. She takes it to nearly every party and it gets gobbled up in no time flat. These are super-easy to assemble and deliver big on flavor, but they are best with fresh in-season tomatoes and basil. So pull up a chair, put on your favorite tunes, and get toothpicking.
Ellen dreamed up this lovely cocktail to complement all of the yummy eats she serves at her annual Labor Day party. It is so good you’ll want to make it for special occasions all year long, but this IS summer’s drink with all of the fresh fruit and its reputation as the most perfect chilled cocktail ever. So grab this recipe for your own summer shindig.
This salsa tastes like summer in a bowl which means that when you make it out of season, it tastes like . . . well, a refrigerated truck from Sausalito. Fresh watermelon is one of the keys to this nearly perfect recipe for salsa. So vow to make some this summer. It’s a promise you’ll be glad you kept.
Erin’s family keeps a batch in the freezer all summer long. It’s the perfect frozen drink and our friends request big batches for all summer parties. Now we are sharing her dad Ed’s recipe for all the world to see. Just make sure that you thank him next time you see him around. We actually DO make this drink year round, but it just tastes the best on a hot day in the summer. Go figure.
We’re both Maryland girls, so we grew up eating the blue crabs every summer, but Ellen is a legit Eastern Shore chick. This recipe might cause a minor uproar as she deviates from the traditional much-beloved recipe, but it’s such a delicious variation that we think you’ll agree that she is more than forgiven for taking her liberties.
But we like our crabs straight up too. Whether you flavor them with a little Old Bay or a little Kosher Salt and Cayenne Pepper, a crab feast is the epitome of a Maryland summer. . . just make sure they’re steamed. Boiling? ::shudder::
And if you are old enough to hold a crayon, you are going learn how to pick your own crabs. Even if your Mom and Dad moved you to Pittsburgh.
We are just gonna say it out loud: Tomatoes have got one season and this is it. When they have to travel from afar to get to your table, they get all petulant and put out and don’t taste anything like their wonderful, flavorful cousins who ripened on your vine this summer. If your garden is overflowing with these gems, then we can help you spin your gold into something really useful . . . like gazpacho.
Make sure you make some of these before it’s too late!
You’re welcome. We didn’t want you to go through withdrawal from that song, even for 3.6 milliseconds. But snowballs to blazes it was a long, hard, Frozen kind of winter. Heck, we had snow in April. SNOW IN APRIL! We feel like toadstools growing in the dank, only to be crushed by more dank.
So it’s about as surprising as a seagull pooping on your head after the toddler one blanket over tosses it some bread that our kids need a little help adjusting to summer this year. They’ve forgotten how to function with sunshine on their faces and sand between their toes because they are so broken from piling on the layers and chipping away at the ice. Their spunk has punked.
But goshdarnit, the sun is actually shining, the birds are chirping and the weeds are overtaking every crack and crevice. We declare the seasons have officially flipped.
And dangnabbit, we are good mothers so we’ll do whatever it takes to get our kids over their funks of confusion and adjusted to summer. Besides, we need to get those weeds pulled.
So welcome to our
Summer Readjustment Bureau
It’s in easy to digest flashcard form because let’s face it, if your kids are this deeply entrenched in hibernation mode, you need to keep it simple.
A) Goggles are great for protecting your eyes in the pool . . . unless they’re ski goggles. And that whole get-up? Adding minutes to her freestyle time for sure.
B) Who needs to move that much sand? Playing in the sand with a snow shovel is more of a cardio workout than a fun day at the beach. By the way, where was she when the driveway needed shoveling!?!
C) So the sleds are waterproof, but not exactly buoyant. We were afraid to tell them there were kayaks right behind them for fear they would use the paddles like ski poles.
D)Do you know how hard it is to get teens to wear hats and gloves? But this winter was soooo bad, they finally caved. It pains us to say this but, “Guys! It’s time to ditch the mittens and penguin!”
E) It’s true. Snowshoes let you walk on water . . . FROZEN water. Sink-Straight-To-The-Bottom party of one, your table is ready.
F)We appreciate you trying to block the sun; really we do. But you might just be asking for an epic case of prickly heat with this get-up. And P.S., it would be super swell if you didn’t hook your cousin and brother.
Feel free to use these flashcards on your own confused little polar bears. With the help of the glorious weather, they should be back to full rebel yell mode in no time; tracking dripping popsicles through your house all the while. Now excuse us while we enjoy these 15 seconds of spring bliss before the thermometer hits 98 degrees and the 111.7% humidity smothers us.
Yep, we did it again. We took our annual “Big Love” camping trip. Did your eyebrows just raise at Big Love? Like the naming of race horses and 7th children, the label developed organically by accident, but we’ve explained that all before. What we really like bragging waxing poetic about is 5 moms handling 13 kids (plus or minus 5 depending on teen work schedules and cousins joining in the fun).
Ellen: In fact, we were just regaling your sister with our stories. Your sister, who I finally got to meet. I swear you were deliberately keeping her from me.
Erin:I knew that if you met her, you’d be over me. Like, “Why bother with Erin when I can hang out with THIS wonderful woman.”
Ellen: She is pretty fabulous, but I’m not over you yet, Buttercup. I always comfort myself with the fact that you have to put up with me and my utterly joyful ways, too.
No, it’s more like I would like to be adopted as the third sister. Besides, she does live over 5 hours away. You’re worth it for your geographical convenience alone.
Erin:And you’re worth it for keepin’ it real . . .
Ellen: Which brings us back to sharing our Big Love stories with your sister.
Erin:Ah, yes, when we were talking about the park service taking away one of our refrigerators . . .
Ellen: And she put her hands up like a crossing guard protecting the lives of sweet babies from the fast and furious Humvee motorists of America and proclaimed:
“Wait a minute! I feel like I’ve been deceived. You have been misrepresenting.”
And I believe your reply was a classic doe-eyed Erin:
“What?”
Erin:Yeah, that fueled her fire a bit. Her voice may have risen in pitch as she continued:
“I see pictures of Keens and canoeing and campfires, but you have a kitchen!?!”
Ellen: Well, I didn’t help matters when I added:
“And bathrooms. But only three and they’re like all mismatched and have avocado green toilets.”
Erin: And THAT is when her head exploded.
Ellen: But because I AM a big believer in keeping it real, I reviewed our pictures. We were mostly posting things like this.
Keens: Serious footwear for serious camping.
And this.
Mary: Spokesmodel for Serious Camping
Erin:Yeah, that doesn’t look like the face of a woman who got to use indoor plumbing, even if it was avocado green.
Ellen: And there is a tent and camper in the background. I guess they could be misconstrued as ours.
Erin:OK, since I love my sister . . .
Ellen: We love your sister . . .
Erin:Since WE love my sister and care what she thinks, we’re swinging the camera around to show you behind the scenes.
Ellen: Really we’re just posting other pictures, but what Erin said had so much more flair.
The Other Side of Big Love
The first thing to clarify is where we stay. It’s a “conference center” which when translated from state park-ese means “really strangely configured two story house.” In our defense, we never claimed to be backpacking in and pitching tents. We even posted a video where you can see the house in the background, but whatever. Let’s take a tour now. Shall we?
The building apparently has a name that is so iconic, someone carved it into the tables. Is it “Downton Abbey” or “Fancy Pants Camping Hotel?” NO! It’s called The Shanty. Still accusing us of “glamping” now?
Glamorous + Camping = “Glamping,” NOT “The Shanty.”
And here is the exterior.
OK. So it kinda looks like a big comfortable house.
But there are only 4 bedrooms for 20 some people because of a HUGE open room upstairs.
Yeah, it echoes. Awesome feature at 5 AM.
Just look at that room filled up with kids! Are you going to accuse us of indulging in relaxing luxury now??
Which takes more courage to face? A bear in the woods or these beasts?
And look how the kids were crammed in the bunk rooms.
That is a whole lot of girl shoe-horned in one room
Ellen even had to sleep in a closet.
Ellen had to run an extension cord to power her purple fan. Sheesh. And to top it all, she had to use her pink suitcase to keep her pillow from falling off of the bed.
And there was NOT a cappuccino machine. For froth, we had to heat the milk in the microwave and beat it with a whisk. A microwave, we said! Oh the civility!
That is the chocolate for the s’mores that we’re grating on top of our lattes. It’s hard to get more rustic than that.
But we weren’t kidding or exaggerating about the bugs.
You know it’s serious when you’re willing to wear something that looks like THIS to keep the bugs away.
Or the fact that we’re communing with nature in the most outdoorsy of ways.
This is why we do it, folks!
Erin:So, in the end, we weren’t really misrepresenting so much as cherishing the best and most important aspects of the trip. We were sharing the essence of our experience.
Ellen: Nice spin, but now that we are coming clean and offering full disclosure, we should also add that in addition to the above-mentioned, we also have air-conditioning, an industrial-sized fridge, and a crockpot.
We had to walk out to the end of the dock to get reception to call for that pizza delivery!
Erin:But we are still herding cats, I mean kids, through various sundry outdoor adventures and that is not a feat for the faint-hearted.
Them there’s a lot o’ kids!
Erin:But it’s all worth it for the stories alone.
Ellen: That’s what you keep telling me.
Erin:And on that note. . .
Our Sisterhood is what it’s all about.
–Ellen and Erin
What do you think? Does this count as camping or not?
If you haven’t heard, Ellen has her M.D.. She pretty much uses it for everything . . . except making money.
Erin:And if you haven’t heard, you’re pretty darn unobservant because people are constantly asking her questions. Con-stant-ly.
Ellen: And these questions usually require expert decision making skills. Like should I continue making watermelon salsa WHILE examining the grubby foot thrust into my face because the owner of said foot is convinced the toe is broken?
Erin:I am praying the answer is “No” because I’m pretty sure I gorged myself on that dip and it was the best I ever had.
Ellen: Yes, due to my extensive training in Shock Trauma, I was able to triage.
Chop the cilantro
Toss the watermelon with the lime
Examine the foot about 25 miles away from the kitchen counter
Bleach my hands
Erin:You definitely don’t want to confuse the toes with the cilantro, but let’s give your funny bone a rest for a minute. You have some mad skills.
Ellen: I do maintain that I quit. I wasn’t fired.
Erin: But seriously, you saved the day when my niece clunked her head on the vicious edge of that metal step on our annual Big Love camping trip.
One minute you were looking all sexy getting ready to canoe.
The next minute, you were in full on doctor mode.
Ellen: It was really nothing. The key is to patiently hold pressure for about the time it takes to read through the New York City phone book.
Erin:Where did you find that metaphor? In a card catalog? Who the heck has a phone book anymore?
Ellen: Okay, I’ll give you that one. Then how about holding pressure forever and a day without peeking? Or for about fifteen minutes. Whichever comes first.
Erin:The no peeking is the hardest part, but it’s more than that. It is just so comforting to have someone KNOW when to go to the ER.
Ellen: Well, I’m just glad your niece checked out okay. But you know what? I’m going to use this opportunity to reveal the mystery of when to get sutures. You know, so your husband can stop calling me.
Erin:That day was surreal. When Steve sliced his finger, did he call me? Call our doctor? Go to the medical aid unit? Nooooo. He called Ellen.
Ellen: And the best part? He had a block on his phone from his employer so he couldn’t send me a picture of it. All medical decisions were based on Steve’s description. So listen up Interwebz! Here’s when to take that gash to a medical professional.
Drumroll please:
Get thineself or the one you love to get some stitches if . . .
The wound will not stop bleeding
It is deeper than ¼ inch
The edges are ragged
The wound is gaping
Additionally, seek medical attention if . . .
The wound is a puncture deeper than ¼ inch
The injury resulted from a rusty or very dirty object
All of the debris can’t be removed
The wound is on the face or neck
There was a blow to the head or any loss of consciousness
The wound is an animal or human bite
Date of last tetanus shot is unknown
You have a history of MRSA
Signs of infection develop such as redness and pus
So you’ve lucked out and sutures aren’t needed. Here is how to properly get your wound care on . . .
To stop bleeding, apply gentle pressure with a clean cloth or bandage for at least 15 minutes. (Maxi pads are excellent for this, by the way.) This will seem like FOREVER, but don’t lift the compress! You’ll really need to time yourself to hold pressure long enough. Trust me. If possible, raise the body part above the level of the heart to slow bleeding. Never apply a tourniquet unless advised by a medical professional..
Rinse wound thoroughly with clean water or saline solution to remove dirt and debris. Don’t use hydrogen peroxide or alcohol because they are damaging to cells and may increase scarring.
Clean area around the wound area with soap and water on a washcloth. Avoid getting soap in wound. Pat dry with a clean cloth.
Apply a thin layer of antibiotic ointment and cover with a clean dressing. Keep the wound covered while healing. Contrary to popular belief, letting a cut “air out” does not promote healing and may increase scarring.
Erin:Remember to always carry a first aid kit in your car or bag. I have been the hero on more than one occasion by whipping out my super duper kit o’health.
Ellen: Except for the time when your suitcase of a kit was without one. single. band-aid.
Erin:Whatever. You can teach by showing others what not to do also.
Ellen: Well that is a positive way to look at a negative. Impressive.
Be Safe Out There Friends!
-Ellen and Erin
*No portion of this article is intended to replace the advice of your medical professional. It is always a good idea to check with your doctor.
We’re summer girls, so it is with heavy heart that we have to say this: Summer is . . . GASP. . . almost over. Cue the melodrama. But in truth, since we both have high schoolers, we are already back in the land of paperwork and schedules and carpools. <sigh> There are so many things we will miss once the air turns crisp . . .
This is the tip of our fun iceberg. Do you see why we might be experiencing some withdrawal pangs?
But in addition to the long, unscheduled days, our daily adventures in surf and sand, and the easiest wardrobe ever (we should probably write an ode to our beloved flipflops, but our long unstructured days are coming to an end), here are. . .
This is one of Erin’s favorite summer potluck dishes. She takes it to nearly every party and it gets gobbled up in no time flat. These are super-easy to assemble and deliver big on flavor, but they are best with fresh in-season tomatoes and basil. So pull up a chair, put on your favorite tunes, and get toothpicking.
Ellen dreamed up this lovely cocktail to complement all of the yummy eats she serves at her annual Labor Day party. It is so good you’ll want to make it for special occasions all year long, but this IS summer’s drink with all of the fresh fruit and its reputation as the most perfect chilled cocktail ever. It just won’t be the same once you’ve packed away those white pants and switched out your flip-flops for Uggs. So grab this recipe for your own end-of-summer shindig.
This salsa tastes like summer in a bowl which means that when you make it out of season, it tastes like . . . well, a refrigerated truck from Sausalito. Fresh watermelon is one of the keys to this nearly perfect recipe for salsa. So make some quick before it’s too late.
Erin’s family keeps a batch in the freezer all summer long. It’s the perfect frozen drink and our friends request big batches for all summer parties. Now we are sharing her dad Ed’s recipe for all the world to see. Just make sure that you thank him next time you see him around. We actually DO make this drink year round, but it just tastes the best on a hot day in the summer. Go figure.
We’re both Maryland girls, so we grew up eating the blue crabs every summer, but Ellen is a legit Eastern Shore chick. This recipe might cause a minor uproar as she deviates from the traditional much-beloved recipe, but it’s such a delicious variation that we think you’ll agree that she is more than forgiven for taking her liberties.
6. Crabs
But we like our crabs straight up too. Whether you flavor them with a little Old Bay or a little Kosher Salt and Cayenne Pepper, a crab feast by any of our various shores is the epitome of a Maryland summer.
And if you are old enough to hold a crayon, you are gonna learn how to peel your own crabs. Even if your Mom and Dad moved you to Pittsburgh.
7. Tomatoes
We are just gonna say it out loud: Tomatoes have got one season and this is it. When they have to travel to get to your table, they get all petulant and put out and don’t taste anything like their wonderful, flavorful cousins who ripened on your vine this summer. If your garden is lousy with these gems, then we can help you spin your gold into something really useful . . . like bruschetta.
Click on this button to get a whole slideshow of delicious tomato recipes!
So, even though summer is now in our rearview mirror as we head on into autumn, at least you now have a lovely parting gift—our favorite summer recipes.
We have been blogging for about a year and a half, but this week right here is when a slew of our family and “In-Real-Life” friends have suddenly been, “Soooo explain to me EXACTLY what you do on your website thingy because I thought you were just diddling on Facebook and ignoring your kids.”
This explanation can take a loooooooong time when you have to start at how to turn on the computer, but it’s worth it to get to the part where Al Gore created the internet for all to enjoy.
Maybe their interests were peaked by this photo. Famous people do make folks get all flustery and, well, interested.
Forever grateful to the random blogger Erin threw her DSLR to as we stormed the stage. Grateful she was a great photographer and that she didn’t immediately think, “Score! New camera for me.” We hope you see this post, our photography angel, so we can really thank you. From left to right is US!, Lisa from Grandma’s Briefs, Sandra from Apart From My Art, Lois from Midlife at the Oasis, Janie Emaus, Julie from Julie DeNeen 2.0, and a little smidgen of Katia from I Am The Milk.
Apparently fighting our way to the front for school plays and gymnastic recitals served us well because look at us!
Nah, we’re just kidding. We were one of the last on stage because we had to scale the side like spider monkeys in heels. It was so crowded, we had no choice but to be in the front. Once again, Ellen’s propensity for procrastination was rewarded.
Queen Latifah did say she would call us up to be on her new talk show when she did her segment on “soccer moms who are unusually spry and not afraid to show their Spanx to strangers to get what they want.” Well, she didn’t say it in words, but she has really expressive eyes.
But this is really the middle of the story. What got us here to be honored as a BlogHer 2013 Humor Voices of the Year was our writing.
We had learned our lesson and ditched the heels.
We still can’t believe our writing was blown up to Shaquille O’Neal proportions. And that sucker would have totally gone home with us if we could have sneaked it out, but Erin totally made a spectacle of herself going past security because she couldn’t find her badge. She pretends to be all sweet, but then she is all like, “Fight the power, I don’t need no stinkin’ badge,” and we’re left looking longingly at the all meat buffet over a really big guy’s shoulder.
A Sausage Fest without the star power of Channing Tatum. This was ALL of the food. Oh wait, we exaggerate, there was white bread, too.
We did get in and the security guy became our best buddy, but all hopes of smuggling an 8 foot tall display board were dashed.
But the poster board is the middle of the story too. The beginning of the story is our writing. When we started, we weren’t even able to fully imagine where the blog would lead us, but it’s the writing that has gotten us there – from the opportunities we have gotten to the friendships we have made.
BlogHer 2013 reiterated for us:
Never lose sight of your writing craft because that is what drives your blog machine forward.
Your blog is your business, so treat it with the respect it deserves.
It is okay to do business with kindness and compassion and to help others along the way.
To understand what a special lift-each-other-up kind of business blogging really is, behold our Anti-Square-to-Spare moment with Norine from the Science of Parenthood. Remember on Seinfeld when Elaine was trapped in the public restroom with no toilet paper and the biotch in the next stall told her she did not even have a square to spare? Well we had a blank white template to spare and we shared it with Norine because she needed it to really get her Pinterest game going.
She was profoundly thankful and we really couldn’t understand the depth of her gratitude until we talked with her about her blogging experiences versus her time in the magazine world. We can see why she finds it refreshing.
And here is the kicker, we were sharing the template that Kim from Let Me Start By Saying shared with us. We were just paying the kindness forward.
And speaking of showing the love, we have been helped and embraced by so many, but we have never created a blogroll. It just felt too overwhelming, but when we looked at our pictures from BlogHer, we realized they just about formed our “Blogs We Read/Share/Love/Honor” for us. So if a picture is worth a thousand words, our thousand pictures should be worth a library.
You’re kind of in luck because this picture right here is a large chunk of our adoration. We do like to be efficient.
Okay, the efficiency might end here. There is going to be overlap . . . and you’re gonna love it.
Left: Michelle from Old Dog New Tits and Mel from According to Mags. Right: That is Michelle and Mel again promoting their bimonthly link-up “Ketchup With Us” with Kelley from Kelley’s Break Room squeeeeeeezed in the middle.
This is a fabulous photo of Kelley’s Break Room and Let Me Start By Saying, but we really just had to honor the photo bombing skills of Frugalista Blog.
Here is House TalkN with our newest blog crush via Mommy Shorts: Harlow, the most interesting baby in the world.
FOR THE RECORD: Editing all of these photos was much more time consuming than making a traditional blog roll! What were we thinking? AND we met other great ladies of whom we have no great pictures.
