A few days ago I challenged you to make a Pledge to Go Green in 2012.  My first challenge was to set a goal for yourself and to write it down.  I promised that I would come back and share my own goal with you, so here it goes…

My Green Pledge for January:  To share more eco-tips with each of you on a regular basis.  Don’t I already do this?  My blogging habits have not been the healthiest and I often feel like my blog is messy and unorganized.  Probably because that is my style and who I am.  But I’m setting my own goal for January to become a more organized blogger and that begins with creating an editorial calendar!  I have thought about this for over a year and I’m finally implementing it.  Guess what?  It doesn’t stop with writing it down either.  I researched editorial calendars and I’ve printed one off – it’s sitting right in front of me!  I even have January filled in with ideas and plans.  I have so many ideas and plans that February is almost full too.

I found a great article by Angela England about How to Use Editorial Calendars Effectively in Blogging.  It was complete with links to a downloadable Editorial Calendar for 2012 (by Blog Energizer).

Now to find the time to actually write everything I have on my calendar.

Did you make the Pledge to Go Green yet?  Did you finish step 1?  What is your goal and what are your plans to achieve your goal?

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Good luck and thanks for entering 2012 with The Eco Chic!

For even more fun and excitement be the first to take The Eco Chic Pledge to Go Green in 2012 – more on that soon but you can go ahead and submit your pledge by signing up for my monthly newsletter.

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Have you ever tried to sit down and explain to your kids what a blogger is?  Why you spend all day on Facebook?  Why you have parties on Twitter? Then you need a copy of “My Mommy is a Blogger” by Sommer Poquette (Green and Clean Mom).  I finally broke down and ordered my own personal copy and decided to keep it for my kids for Christmas so they haven’t read it yet.  While they haven’t read it I had to sneak a peek for myself.

OMG – I was laughing hysterically as I was reading it.  I was afraid that I was going to wake up the kids and they’d see me reading it and want to see what was so funny.  Sommers’ kids are about the same age as mine so I think I’ve had some of these same conversations with my kids (and my hubby).  I think next year for the Great American Teach In I’m going to convince my kids teacher to let me come in and read “My Mommy is a Blogger” and explain to them what I do for a living.

If you are a blogger and have elementary age kids I think your kids would really enjoy this story.  It’s well written and I love the cute illustrations.  If you order now there may still be time to get an autographed copy sent in time for the holidays.  If you order from her website, Sommer will package your book herself in recycled paper (I think mine was in a brown bag or shipping paper).

I can’t wait to read this with my kids and get their reactions!!

To find out more about Sommer and her book:

Green and Clean Mom blog

My Mommy is a Blogger

Sommer on Facebook

Disclosure:  I paid for my copy of the book and was in no way influenced to write this post.  I am an affiliate for the book so if you make a purchase using the links above I earn a small percentage of the sale to keep the lights on around this blog.  Thank you in advance if you choose to make a purchase using my link.  XOXO!

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Observations from the road trip:

1- My son can’t say ‘pecan’ or ‘cotton’ properly! Even being raised in the South he must not hear me say them much. At 8yrs old he says the ‘pekin’ and ‘coddin’ – I need to record him saying them.

2. Why are pecan trees always spaced out so evenly in rows?

3. When traveling with a dog your only options for food is fast food and I’m SICK of fast food!! I’m dying for a real meal!! The closest I got was a Wendy’s baked potato; however they forgot to put the butter in the bag so even that didn’t satisfy me.

4. Kids can fall asleep anywhere!

5. I don’t like driving my husbands car because the left arm rest is too high and is uncomfortable. Since he drove most of the trip I’m not complaining.

6. Foursquare thinks my husband’s my BFF because we spent the last 3 days checking in together. Awe!

7. Cars need to come with power strips these days! We had a total six items all fighting for the 2 plugs in the car.

8. My kids get along sooooo good! It wasn’t until the last 30 minutes that the were loud, cranky, and annoying. Why is it that every rhyme, song, and joke they tell one another has to include pee, poop, underwear, or eating brains?

8. My cat had a party, got drunk, and threw up around the house!

I’m glad to be home! What things do you learn when you travel with your family?

Published from my iPhone!

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This is a question I’m going to open up to my readers and fellow blog friends.  When you decide to take time off how do you keep your blog active?  I’m never good at scheduling posts ahead of time because honestly I do much better blogging on the fly.

But what about when you really want to blog but you don’t have more than just your phone?  We’re planning a trip to visit friends soon who don’t ever seem to know their WiFi key for their network.  So I’m normally sitting around their house in the mornings or evenings praying that I can figure out how to get on their network from the iPad.  It’s much easier to write from the iPad than from my phone.

Just curious how other people manage their time – offline?  Do you miss it?  Do you have the urge to go to McDonald’s or Starbucks just to get on WiFi?  Or do you just enjoy the time off and know that your blog will still be there when you return?

Yes, this is my lame attempt to keep consistent with NaBloPoMo while I’m ‘offline’ for a few days.  We’ll see how successful I am the rest of the weekend.

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5 Things that are on my Fridge Today

1. #1 Dad magnet that the boy got for hubs a few Christmases ago. At their annual Holiday Store at the school this is what he purchased for his dad.  This was the only gift he picked up for dad.  I on the other hand received 2-3 really ‘nice’ gifts from the same holiday shop.  It’s an ongoing joke in our house.  We all know he’s a mama’s boy!

2. 2010 Tampa Bay Bucs calendar. Yep – we’re a little behind!

3. 2011-12 School Calendar from the boys school. They print one for each parent with all the holidays listed.  I would be lost without this.

4.  Tee-ball team picture from the first year the boy played ball. My husband was one of the coaches and I don’t think either of us can bear taking it down – the co-coach passed away 2 years later.  He was in his mid-30′s and left behind a his wife and two young children.

5. Georgia Bulldawg magnet! Go Dawgs!

This post was inspired by Kim, Dirty Diaper Laundry blog, and a conversation a few of us had on Facebook this afternoon.  Many of us are participating in #NaBloPoMo in which we’re challenged to blog every day for the entire month and this was a blog prompt that Kim shared with us.  Since I’m completely embarrassed by the state of our fridge I thought it would be fun to see how many other families have messy fridges too.  It’s a good thing you can’t see the top of the fridge…that’s where we hide the candy and lots of junk.  Our fridge is a faux stainless so magnets will stick to it.  I’m not quite sure what I would do with all this junk if we couldn’t use magnets.

So what’s on your fridge?

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A few weeks ago I had lunch with a very nice woman who works with the American Lung Association who was looking for influential bloggers to help her spread the word about the Clean Air Act and our children’s health.  We had a nice conversation and I enjoyed listening to someone who was so passionate about her cause and her mission.

When I started this blog I didn’t have a clear mission other than to share my knowledge about the environment and going green with others.  As time progressed you can see that my primary mission these last few years has been cloth diapering and raising children in a safe and eco-friendly environment.  Like most of us in the cloth diapering community I am just as passionate about our diapering choices as Heather is about air quality.  She didn’t understand how women/mothers/parents/etc couldn’t be as passionate about our air quality as she was.

I’ve struggled with this question for years but I’ve come to the conclusion that we all have our own personal battles that are most important to us.  Let me give you a few examples of other passionate bloggers to demonstrate my point:

The Soft Landing Blog - Alicia is very passionate about providing BPA-free and chemical free baby products that are also sustainable.

My Plastic-Free Life – Beth is very passionate about living a life without using plastic (or with minimal plastic).  She is the queen of reusing items and finding alternatives for all of the plastic waste that we use each day.

PhD in Parenting – Annie blogs about parenting with an attachment parenting philosophy and has strong feelings about breastfeeding, feminism, and is very anti-Nestle (a longtime WHO violator).

The Feminist Breeder – I think the title says it all.  Gina is active in educating us all on what it means to be a feminist.  Gina believes in raising her children in a gender neutral environment, home birth, VBAC, breastfeeding, and so many other topics.

These are all bloggers who share similar ideals but yet they all have their own passions that are close to their hearts in which they advocate for.  While they will all tell you they try to live an eco-friendly life I’m sure there are areas of their lives which they wish they had time to pay more attention to.  Maybe it’s eating more organically, learning more about BPA, or wishing they had chosen cloth diapers on their own children.

The point I was trying to make to Heather with the Lung Association is that while for a brief moment in time air quality might seem very important to me, and while I do see it interconnected in the overall scheme of going green and living a more natural life – - there just aren’t enough hours in the day for any of us to attack all of the evils in this world.  Would I be the most effective person to convince someone to have a VBAC when I’ve never a) had a C-section, or b) had a VBAC?  No.  Would I be the most effective person to talk about BPA and chemicals when I clearly struggled with Chemistry in college??  Probably not!

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t support those causes either.  If someone were to ask me about any of these topics I would know exactly where to send them to find out more information.  We have the ability as a community to work together as a team and together we CAN make a difference.

To learn more about the American Lung Association, the Clean Air Act, and how it all relates to our children and their health (and our own health) please visit their website and find out more how you can become involved.  You can also stay informed by following them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lungusa) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/lungassociation).

What is your passion?  Do you think you can make a difference?

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Are you on Pinterest yet?

I got an invitation to join Pinterest a few months back but never activated my account because I was too busy with other projects.  Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed more and more of my friends (mostly my bloggy friends) have been ‘pinning’ cool photos on their Facebook walls.  I downloaded the app on my iPad so I could play with it a little more.  Then I realized I needed another invitation to join in order to actually repin my favorites.  I finally broke down and begged Jill with Baby Rabies to send me an invite.

You will never see me again!  I think I may just spend all night on Pinterest instead of blogging!

Don’t worry – I exaggerate a LOT!  In all honesty though I can see how Pinterest could suck all of my free time right up though.  Hopefully my husband won’t get tired of me saying “Ohhh, honey look at this one!”  I have a boards for:

• DIY I Love
• Dream Room Ideas – Girls
• Dream Room Ideas – Boys

And I think I need to add an Upcycled Crafts board badly! I have a very creative spirit and miss my crafting.  I started out college as an art major many moons ago before I decided to major in Biology (that’s what my degree is in).  I love to paint but I don’t have the room to pull out all my supplies (which are probably all dried up by now) so crafting is the closest I can get to my creative expression.  My latest passion has been sewing projects and home decor – or a combination of the two.  However I spend more time dreaming about it than I spend actually creating!

I’ve been planning some home decor projects in my head for months and it’s time for me to actually DO them!  I’m ready!  I NEED to create! Pinterest is giving me a very serious itch to log off my computer and actually follow through with some of these ideas.  Today after I picked up the boy from school we made a trip to JoAnn’s  so I could get a few supplies for my first project.  Here is a sneak peak at a pin-spiration (inspiring pin).  You’ll just have to wait a few days for me to actually complete the project before I share my creativity with you all!

Do you pin?  What’s your favorite board about?  Crafting, Home Decor, Food, Kids, Cloth Diapers???

To find me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/theecochic/

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Breathe In – Breathe Out – Breathe In – Breathe Out! 

I’m finally catching up from my three day jaunt to Nashville, TN where I attended (along with 650 other bloggers) the annual Blissdom conference.  Having attended BlogHer last fall I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I had heard such amazing testimonials over Blissdom that I was super excited.  All I can say is that I totally found my BLISS and will be making Blissdom a regular event each year.  I honestly learned so much about the business of blogging and about myself.  I want to share with you just one of my many stories…

First a picture for you to enjoy:

What do you see when you look at this picture?  What thoughts immediately come into your mind?

It isn’t hard for a mom to find guilt and shame everyday in our lives is it?  Why are we so hard on ourselves?  It’s just a hamburger, right? 

The conversation came up several times at Blissdom about my niche and my readers.  My readers expect me to talk about how to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle, cloth diapers, breastfeeding, making baby food, phthalates, lead, waste, and how to be better at “Loving Mother Earth”…you don’t really want to know that I’m NOT perfect do you?  OF COURSE YOU DO!!!  Who am I kidding; unless you are an eco-saint most of us have our strengths and weaknesses in raising our children. 

I was trying to explain to the Freschetta PR reps why I didn’t think their product would be a good fit for my blog.  I was talking with other green bloggers over lunch about how some topics just aren’t a good fit for my blog.  And over and over again the reality of life came through.  Even the best green bloggers out there aren’t perfect.  Do you expect us to be?  Do you expect me to be?  Or would you rather that I help make our lives more manageable by telling you what my own weaknesses are – which areas of my life I wish were greener but just don’t have time or energy to change. 

I posted this question to my Facebook Fan Page yesterday morning; “I feel guilty when I…” and asked you to leave me your comments.  Here are just a few of my favorite ones:

Kim S wrote:  ”I felt guilty last night putting a paper diaper on the baby because it was the middle of the night and it was the closest to me. Of course he woke up with a rash….”

Tracy S wrote:  ”‎…let my husband go to the “baby” (ok, toddler) at night instead of getting up and nursing her. She gets sad, but Mommy needs a little sleep!”

Jenny B wrote:  ”Leaving my son with my husband so much on weekends when I’m cooking & grocery shopping…and not being able to keep up with them when we are together (36 wks preg).”

and others felt guilty about yelling, lack of patience, spend money, eat crap, don’t do enough, surf the web, watch too much tv, don’t have a clean enough house….the list keeps going.  You can read all of them or add your own on my wall.  I actually enjoyed reading what others felt guilty about because it made me realize that we ALL have the same guilt.  MOMMY GUILT! 

The Keynote Speaker at Blissdom this year was Brene Brown; author of The Gifts of Imperfection, Letting Go of Who We Think We Should Be and Embracing Who We Are.  While I took many things from her speech the one that I am going to be using as my mantra this year…

I AM ENOUGH!

Won’t you join me and say this at least once a day; especially on those really hard days when you don’t believe you really are ENOUGH!  My promise to you is to be as real and as vulnerable as I can be with you.  I will (continue) to share with you my strengths but I will also share with you my weaknesses. 

Confession: I really wanted to post this yesterday and call it Sunday Confessionals (cute huh?) but I decided to go to bed early instead.  It’s now after midnight and I’m just now getting ready to push the publish button and I can feel my eyes sagging.  I probably won’t spell check tonight and will catch several spelling errors in the morning after you’ve all read it.  I will log off my laptop only to go to the bedroom and watch my iPhone hoping for at least one comment before I go to sleep.  And I will check my iPhone first thing in the morning (hopefully before my family is awake) to see who else is up this late (or early) and inspired to leave a comment.  Why?  So that I don’t feel like I’m vulnerable alone. 

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Can anyone guess where I’m heading this week?  #Blissdom11!!

Now most of my followers are probably staring at their computer screens going “huh?” or “Bliss-what?”  or maybe “Oh, isn’t that like BlogHer?”  Yes, it’s a blogging conference where bloggers meet up, share ideas, create new ideas, and form real life relationships. 

I had the pleasure and joy of attending one of the largest conferences held each year last August (BlogHer) in NYC and I have to admit it’s still overwhelming to think about all the things that happened that week.  Did I really have lunch with the Jenn THE inventor and creator of the bumGenius cloth diaper?  Did I really form an amazing bond with Kelly from Kelly’s Closet?  Did I really meet and partner with great companies like ecoStore USA, Plum Organics, and so, so, so many more?  Did I really meet other eco-minded bloggers like Green and Clean Mom, Beth Terry, Melissa Moog, phD In Parenting, Consientious Confusion, Condo Blues, and so, so, so many more?  Or was this all a dream? 

Well it wasn’t a dream because I still talk to some of these ladies today when my mind starts wandering and dreaming up big schemes.  I’ve even worked with several of them with different project throughout the year – many of which are behind the scenes and you don’t even notice.  BlogHer opened up so many doors for me that I’m getting a little giddy over Blissdom.

It was a hard decision to make whether I should go to another blog conference or not.  Is this the road I want to get on in my psuedo-professional blogging career?  Do I want to be THAT blogger that is on the road hitting up all the conferences around the states?  What is the REAL benefit of one conference over another?  Will my family think I’m officially lost my mind?  Do I have TIME to take away from my day job and my family to do this?  These are the decisions that I have faced for the last 1-2 months. 

I had my event ticket since the end of December (while they were discounted) and in January started to seek out last minute sponsorships – no bites I should add!  **Note to self – start planning earlier next time!  Then I was looking to see who was going, who was speaking, who are the sponsors, and all that jazz.  Is this a conference where I’ll ‘fit in’ or not?  I slowly saw the leaders in the green tribe start to announce their plans to attend – some even speaking (Sommer – Green and Clean Mom).  I started to ask my BlogHer buddies (most of which are knocked up and pregnant – or at home with newborns) until I convinced a friend from BlogHer to go to Blissdom with me.  It does help the nerves to find a friend to brave the crowds with.  But something kept holding me back from making a full committment….

When I booked my hotel room the hotel was full on the last night and I’d have to change hotels.  UGH!  Then after booking the hotel anyways my hubby realized he had prior committments that may jeopardize my ability to go.  Oh the internal discussions in my head were enough to lead to an ulcer.  I can’t tell you how many times I almost cancelled this trip and tried to sell my ticket.  But I didn’t…my heart was still in it…I yearned to go! 

I chose to cancel my last night at the hotel because of scheduling conflicts and still hadn’t booked my flight.  I had found a confirmed flight (direct no less) for about $200 but didn’t book it…I kept waiting for the right time.  Then I realized one morning that the cheap air fare was GONE!  Was this a sign that I shouldn’t go??  I called my husband at work almost in tears because I missed my opportunity to fly cheap (without flying on our standby passes) and was going to throw in the towel of defeat!  Then it happened…

…he supported me!  He helped me find what I was looking for and in 30 minutes I had a confirmed flight for less than my originial budget!  (Ok – so now I have one stop on the way – who cares!)  The point is that he supported me in my desire to jaunt off and leave the family for three days leaving him in charge of the chaos. 

Then a few days later I got sad news…my friend had to back out unexpectedly.  NO -NO – NO!!!  Now I’m at it alone again and I don’t get to see her!  I can’t even begin to tell you how sad I was when I read her email to me with some of the details as to why – I felt like we were living parrallel lives at that point.  But there was no going back now!  I had my ticket, my airfare, and my hotel – I am going to Blissdom! 

Can I tell you that I haven’t even started to pack yet?  I leave in less than 24 hrs and I haven’t even finished laundry.  I don’t have anything in order yet.  While my heart is totally in this trip my excitement level is lower than the much anticipated BlogHer.  Why?  Maybe it’s just because I have no idea what to expect and no idea who I’ll be ‘hanging’ out with.  I’m not afraid of it because I do make friends rather easily and I’m sure once I see my green tribe I’ll feel right at home.  Oh and the sweet smiles and hugs will help ease the nerves too. 

Last night I had dinner with a friend of mine so we could catch up (and she could lend me her coat – did you know forecasters are calling for snow in the morning) and I started talking to her and the excitement started to come back.  Then I came home and started tweeting with my favorite #clothdiapers friends on Monday night chat (we haven’t done that in a while…just chatting to help each other out).  Before I realized it midnight was upon me and I had to get a few hours of sleep for today. 

But I had a problem – like I’ve done a few other times in the past – I had so many fresh new ideas floating around in my head I COULDN’T sleep!  I even found time to write a new post about cloth wipes which people were asking about during the chat.  This morning when I woke up I decided to email my friend (the one who had to cancel) with one of these ideas.  It was 6 AM and I was still realing with excitement from the night before.  And guess what…

…SHE’s COMING!!!  I got a text message from her saying her plans were still on and she was still coming to Blissdom!  And NOW my excitement has multiplied and I’m ready to FIND MY BLISS!  

Why do I go to blog conferences?  To put my head in the game and accept the fact that this is where I belong.  This is what excites me!  This is what keeps me up at night.  This is where my heart wanders to during the day.  I’M A BLOGGER and it’s the greatest BLISS I know!  *Well at least right behind the Lord, my husband, my family and my friends!

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