The Life of a Working Mom in the O.C.
Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!
If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) that you took in the past week and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed.
P.S. A donut may have been harmed during the photo shoot.
When I grew up we played board games all the time. Angry Kid is really into all kinds of games right now. He loves classic board games and video games. I actually think that he prefers board games more. I don’t mind playing board games with him because I can actually understand what is going on. I can barely figure out how to turn on video games these days, and I’m pretty savvy with my computer.
I was recently introduced to a video game that I can actually play with my son. I was given a copy of Hasbro’s Family Game Night 3 for review. I love that games like the Game of Life, Clue, Twister, Mouse Trap and Yahtzee in classic and remixed versions were featured. These are the type of games that I like, classics with simple instructions. Angry Kid had to help me a little to set it up. At least my kid will be smarter than I am.
I believe playing games like this, even when they are on the TV, is a great way to get the family together. It is always hard to find things that will get the whole family together these days. We all have our different interests and tend to go our own ways. I love the we can play games, even video games together!
The game is rated “E” for Everyone. It is available on the Wii, XBox, and PS3 gaming systems. It has a retail price of $39.99.
Disclosure: I was provided a copy of Family Game Night 3 for the Nintendo Wii for review. My family genuinely had a great time playing this game.
I post about Disneyland a ton, only because we have Season Passes and go there rather frequently. We’ve learned how to streamline our little day trips by eating before we go, and getting there at the right time. For the next few months, I will have a few days off in common with Angry Husband. For childcare reasons, we’ve always alternated our schedules to be able to take care of Angry Kid. A few weeks ago, we took a little day trip to Disneyland, which is about fifteen minutes away from our house.
I’m using carrying a big bulky purse with snacks, odds and ends, plus my Digital SLR camera. I’m that crazy photo girl who lugs around her big SLR just in case the perfect shot comes along. I decided to ditch my SLR for the day, and only take my iPhone as a camera. I also took about my Season Pass and handed it to my husband. I was hands free with no purse, or baggage to carry.
We stopped at the entrance of the park for a photo opp with the Disney Photo Pass folks. Angry Husband HATES having his photo taken. But I somehow forced him into a photo. They took about five photos and this was the best one. It was worth the $14.95 for the download, because we RARELY take family photos. I may have edited it a little, to match the photos below. I gave it a vintage feel.
Upon entering the park, we walked down Main St. And the end of Main St. is Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Disneyland in California, it is Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. At Walt Disney World (Magic Kingdom) and Tokyo Disneyland, it is called Cinderella’s Castle. Just a little trivia for you Disney fanatics. And I’m not quite sure how everyone gets such great pictures of the castle, because there are always a million people there trying to get pictures. I usually end up cropping out the people in the photos, like I did here.
My son loves going on The Jungle Cruise so we headed for Adventureland for our first ride of the day. It is always entertaining to see what Tour Guide we are going to get on The Jungle Cruise. On this day, we had an older gentleman, and wow, he was full of one-liners. He was HILARIOUS. You would think that my son has never been here, because every time we go, he sees something new.
After leaving The Jungle Cruise, we headed over to Indiana Jones. My son is not quite tall enough for the ride, but he goes over there to check his height every time. He is about two inches too short. I told him that he will probably be tall enough when he’s around seven or eight, but he still checks every time. We wandered around and ended up on the Winnie the Poo ride which is soo silly but my son loves it.
We eventually headed over to Autopia, but I couldn’t help but take a picture of Matterhorn Mountain when I walked by. I love all of these amazing structures that they have built at Disneyland.
My son loves driving the cars around Autopia. He chose to ride with my husband AGAIN. Which was fine because I could take in the scenery and drive how I want to. It was a perfect day at Disneyland. And I loved just being able to take photos with my iPhone. I love my SLR but it can get quite heavy when you are lugging it around all day.
At the end of the day, which was only a few hours, my husband and I reflected upon this trip to Disneyland. It was our first time without the stroller as a family. My son usually gets very lazy, and wants to take our jogging stroller, which can hold up to a 100 lbs. I took the stroller out of my car a few months ago. We told Angry Kid that he is a big boy and that he has to walk around Disneyland now. If he gets tired, we will stop and rest, or get a drink. Wow, seriously amazing, how much faster we got around the park. I never realized how much it is a pain to get around things with a stroller. But I sometimes miss that stroller to toss things into. And because I took my iPhone, I didn’t have any photos to download or edit later. I was able to use my Instagram app on my iPhone to share the photos along the way on my Twitter account, Facebook, and Flickr.
A week in the life of Julie with a trip to Disneyland, awesome weather, bad food, and two weeks without caffeine. It may not always be exciting, but it’s my life!
Day 8/365: Waiting for The Disneyland Tram with Husband and Kid. It was pretty crowded and the people watching while waiting for the tram was entertaining. We have Season Passes.
Day 9/365: I think the Monster Trucks are preparing to race, so the ambulance is on standby. I got this rug at IKEA and my son loves it. It was only $12.99.
Day 10/365: Sunset in Orange County via my iPhone. Not bad for a sunset, if you ask me. Just another day of work for Julie.
Project 365 11/365: Love living in California. It is a flip flop kind of day. I heart my Rainbow flip flops and purple glitter polish on my toes.
Project 365 12/365: My dinner of faux Lucky Charms. Are they still magically delicious if they are faux? I wasn’t hungry during dinnertime, and needed to go grocery shopping.
Project 365 13/365: A night out shopping by myself, had to photograph the ferris wheel. My son took our son for a night out with the boys. I headed towards Anthropologie. This ferris wheel is right in front of Anthro.
Project 365 14/365: In a happy marriage of sugar. Guess which one is mine? The Sunkist of course. Two weeks without caffeine, but I still need some sugar.
I will be attending my second Blissdom Conference at the end of this month. This will be my eighth blogging conference. I even created my own verb to represent last year, “conferencing”. I love connecting with all of the bloggers that I’ve met through various social networks.
Photo by Jill @ScaryMommy. Jill, Me, Cara, and Cyn representing at BlogHer10′ in NYC.
In addition to attending Blissdom11′, I will be one of the Official Conference Photographers, and the Newcomer or Newbie Tribe Leader. As an Official Photographer, I will be sure to get your best smiles, and maybe even some bloopers. I have photographed three conferences and a party in the past year, so I’ve found the best way to get photos in candidly. You never know when you will want or need that photo of you and your blog hero for the future post, or even recap post. So if you are attending Blissdom, be sure to find me and my camera. If you know anything about cameras, or if you are a camera snob, you should know, I shoot Nikon, and yes, that is my real camera strap.
Amongst my wandering, chatting, and photo snapping, I will be mentoring and guiding the Newcomers, or Conference Newbies, or Blissdom Newbies. My first rule is “don’t take yourself too serious”. We are all bloggers, and we may be more successful than some, or even just beginning. We all have our own history, and our own background. Just because you are talking to “another mommy blogger”, you may not realize that this woman is an attorney, or maybe holds an MBA. My friend, Tamara of The {Un}Experienced Mom and Blog Conference Newbie was supposed to be the Newbie Tribe Leader, before she found out that she was moving right around the conference. Tamara and I met at Blissdom last year, after a session and instantly bonded over some of my “Julie-isms” and thoughts over things. We also like to rock a headband. And Tamara is a smart cookie, in her day job. I hope that I can fill Tamara’s shoes with all my wisdom and humor.
I thought I would share my Blissdom Recap Posts from last year, so you can get a little taste of what I saw at Blissdom10′.
A View of the Opryland Hotel in Nashville
Hanging with Harry Connick Jr.
Wordless Wednesday: Blissdom Bloggers
So as the Newcomer Coordinator, I thought I would provide some useful links. Some of these suggestions and tips may be mine, and the rest, well, they are from my rad followers and friends on The Twitter.
Attending A Blog Conference: Tips & Advice {Blogging Basics 101}
Blog Conference “Essentials Not to Forget” Checklist. {Blog Conference Newbie}
Blog Conference Travel and Packing Tips {AngryJulie on Blog Conference Newbie}
Business Cards for Blog Conferences. {Blog Conference Newbie}
Dadvatar: The Blissdom Chronicles {Busy Dad}
Do You Have an “Elevator Introduction” Ready? {Blog Conference Newbie}
Fashion Friday: What to Wear to Blissdom, Revisted {Musings of a Housewife}
How To Prepare For and What To Expect at BlogHer {MomSpark}
Know What To Wear To Blog Conferences {LA Stylist Mom on Blog Conference Newbie}
Laptops at a Conference: Yes or No. {Blog Conference Newbie}
Post-Conference Blues {MomSpark}
Profile Photo. {Angry Julie}
Things About Blissdom {Mom Tried It}
Why is Twitter Helpful for Preparing for Blog Conferences {Blog Conference Newbie}
So now as the Newbie Tribe Coordinator, I thought I would set up a little space for everyone to find each other and see who’s coming/going to Blissdom. If you are newbie, you can put {newbie} behind your name, or experienced, you can put {Blissdom09′, Blissdom10′}, and if you are also following a certain Niche Tribe, you can put your niche {Photography}.
Come on now, don’t be shy, link up with your blog or site name!
Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!
If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) that you took in the past week and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed.
Taken with my iPhone4 and edited/posted with the Instagram app.
Some people think that it is much easier to have short hair. You just wash and go, right? I actually spend more time on my short hair than I did with my long hair. I used to live with an eternal ponytail. I got tired of doing nothing with my hair and decided to cut it short.
My hair is extremely thick and curly naturally. You probably can’t tell, because I maintain it frequently. I have to have my hair cut and razored every few weeks to thin it out. If I don’t, I start looking like a Q-Tip. Let’s just say that my hair is looking rather fluffy right now. To bring out the texture in my hair, I use several hair products. I start by combing out my hair and add in some texturizer, water wax, or gel. I prefer the thick creamy products. I have to be careful to not use too much product because my hair tends to look greasy. I may use some silicone gel after that for shine, and finish it off with hair spray. So much for easy hair styling.
I ran out of her goop the entire day, and I panicked. I knew that I would not be able to do my hair without some kind of texturizing product. My usual Transforming Paste from Aquage is pretty hard to find. I have substituted it with Bed Head’s Manipulator for the past two months. The Manipulator, pictured above it thick and gooey.
I took the photo on Monday morning, when I was trying to do my hair in a hurry. I may have gotten the texturizer all over everything because it is very sticky.
I’m posting this over at Sweet Shot Tuesday on My3Boybarians. Have you taken a sweet shot? Whether it be from your camera or your cellphone, why not do a post and link up!
Delurker Day 2011
My husband calls me a lurker, ALL THE TIME. He doesn’t realize how hard it is commenting on blogs, etc. on an iPhone. I usually “star *” posts in my blog reader to comment later, or I e-mail blog posts from Twitter to myself to read later. Most of the time, I do follow through and actually comment. I’m trying to be a better commentor, and replier. I did really great this week following up with my Wordless Wednesday commentors. Now if I had at least 36 hours in a day, imagine how much I would get done. I might actually have clean underwear.
So if you are a regular reader, or umm “stalker” of my site, comment, and let me know you are there. I appreciate the comments and I will know that someone is actually out there listening to my non-sense. If there are more things you would like to see on my blog, or me write about, let me know. I’m going to work on getting some guest posts this year, and some other fun things.