This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TrulyShare ShopOnPage for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
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I am so excited about what just happened! Disney invited me to attend the Red Carpet premier for Oz the Great and Powerful ! that will be held at the El Capitan Theater! Ever since I heard this movie was coming out, I have wanted to see it. I mean — I am an 80′s baby so I grew up on the original Wizard of Oz and Oz with Michael Jackson, so it was only fitting that I be excited about the opening of this movie.
I’ll be visiting L.A. with 24 other bloggers. It will be an amazing time of walking the red carpet, celebrity interviews with the cast — including James Franco (be still my Harry Osborn loving heart), as well as the others from the film.
While in LA we will be staying at the gorgeous Langham Huntington Hotel. I’ll definitely share all the ins and outs of this magnificent hotel with y’all when I get back. I am hoping there is a massage in there somewhere 
I am beyond excited!!
I will also be attending a press day at Walt Disney Animation Studios for the In-Home release of WRECK-IT RALPH!!!
I will be tweeting and instagraming my way the entire trip so make sure to follow me here:
If you already follow me, then just punch in the hashtag #DisneyOzEvent to follow along with me and my amazing blogging friends.
I can’t wait to share my adventures with you!
Disclosure: I am being provided an all expense paid press trip and was provided this information by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. All opinions still remain my own.
One thing that bothers me the most is the numbers game. You know the one I’m talking about. It is basically played in every area of life:
~Church Numbers
~Blog Numbers
~Potential Clients
~Facebook Fan Pages
~Twitter Followers
The thing that I have come to realize that blogging is NOT about numbers. Life is NOT about numbers, church is NOT about numbers.
It’s about the people
The change you make in their life
The wisdom you share with them
For me, I don’t hang around a blog that does not have some nugget of wisdom for me, whether it be spiritual for for my home, or for our homeschool. I love when I find blogs that are real and share their heart in every area of their lives.
That is how I want to be here — with you.
What about you? If you blog, do you worry about numbers all the time? How do you get past that?
It’s back!! Five Minute Friday!! I’m so glad. I’ve missed these! Come link up with us over at Lisa-Jo’s place, where we write on a single word for five minutes flat. No editing, no rethinking, just writing.
Opportunity
So many times I look at my life and I realize that everything is out of balance. My work, my blogging, my relationships — everything. I feel like I am being stretched between so many things. Many of those things are really not that important, but they have become an appendage of my life, so if I cut if off, I feel I won’t survive.
But God has recently been speaking to me about getting those things back to where they belong. Over the weekend, he basically began pruning those things from my life and giving me the “want to” to do the same. He has given me the opportunity to open up and let Him once again Balance everything out.
Why is balancing out our life so hard?
I think mainly it is because we become addicted to those things we really and truly think make our life worth living — money, things, social media, appearances, what others think of us.
My blogging for example.
I no longer blog because I just “love” blogging — which is how I used to blog. Now I blog because I think I “have” to put something up. When readers leave that bugs me. I try to keep up appearances, and in the end, all it does is make me weary and sick.
Every area of my life has to be balanced. It starts with God — and ends with God. He is my balance. He is what keeps me balanced. When I focus on Him, then I want what He wants, I crave what He craves.
Simplicity
Love
Open Opportunities to listen to Him
Balance
I am honestly and truly trying to decide what needs to happen next for me. Do I continue on with everything like it has been or do I dive in head first and balance everything back out. I feel lost when I even think of doing that, but yet excited because I know that is what my life needs.
What about you?
It seems like a new social networking site is popping up every day, but that does not mean that all of the social networking sites are the same. I work full-time, and I am a busy mom and wife, so I do not have hours every day to devote to social networking.
I enjoy keeping up with my friends, family members and business colleagues on these sites, but my time is limited. I was intrigued when a friend told me about MyLife.com.
The first thing my friend told me was that MyLife.com would allow me to check and update all of my social networking sites from one place. This was really appealing to me. I was a member of five different sites, but I was finding it hard to check them on a daily basis.
When I was investigating MyLife.com, I initially signed up for a free membership. That process was quick and easy, and I loved how convenient the site was to use. After I tried out MyLife.com for a few weeks, I upgraded to a premium membership.
I can’t say enough good things about the usability the MyLife.com dashboard. I can see what’s new on all of my social networking sites in just minutes. When I have an important update to make, I can make one post instead of posting my news on five different sites.
I think that the membership fee is really reasonable for all of the wonderful features and benefits that MyLife.com provides to me every day.
It has taken me some time to come to terms with what I have been calling myself lately — a sellout. I have been really upset with how I have allowed my blog to change, knowing all full well why I created it to begin with.
It’s not a place to find out about products.
It’s not a place to share with you about giveaways.
My blog is here because God gave me a vision a long time ago of using this very tool, to help women be better moms, wives, daughters, and homemakers. Sure, the money has been good, but that is not what I wanted for this space. This is my online personal space. I don’t want to sell out and quit doing what I love in order to make money.
I want to be able to write passionately and share all of that with you!
So, I finally made up my mind about the advertising and sharing about products, etc. I have contacted most companies to remove me from their lists. The book reviews I will continue, because books are a great learning tool for any woman and I have some really good onescoming up soon. I will continue to share my travels with you, but products? I will leave those to the big bloggers.
But for me, in my little online space, I will share with you my heart — my heart as a mom, my heart as a daughter to God, and my heart as a wife and homemaker. That is what I want from this blog!
I’m working on a schedule of sorts and redesigning things a bit around here. If you are reading this through email or RSS, click through and check out all the changes that I’ve made. While you’re at it, leave me a comment letting me know what topics you would love to see covered here. I’m always open for suggestions
I love you guys a bunch! Thanks for hanging in there with me as I figure out what I was supposed to be doing all along.
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LifeLock Facebook for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have never had my identity stolen, but I was with a friend once who had his bank card stolen. It was so frustrating for him and his family as he watched his bank account dwindle daily. The cops were on the lookout for the person who stole his card, and finally did capture her, but in the meantime, there was not a lot he could do. His hands were completely tied.
Getting your identity stolen is a lot like that. I joke all the time saying if someone every stole mine, they would return it because — well — my credit is horrible. I'm working on repairing that, but right now it blows! I decided that even before I get my credit all the way repaired, I am going to take steps to get it protected so that nothing happens and mine gets stolen.
There are steps you can take to protect your identity — both in life and online.
One of those steps is LifeLock.
It’s hard to imagine the possibility of having your identity stolen. Aside from the hassle of getting your identity back into security- imagine the potential breach of so much personal and sensitive information! The world has gone online- from connecting with friends to banking- so much of “you” is online; you have to be certain you’re secure.
Introducing LifeLock, today’s leader in the world of identity theft protection and information. LifeLock provides its customers with top of the line identity theft protection through a suite of services backed by state-of-the-art technology. In addition, LifeLock provides information on all aspects of identity theft and threats.
So –let me ask you this question: How hack friendly is your password? One thing I have learned while working at 5 Minutes for Mom is the importance of having a secure password — one that is not so easy to figure out.
Some alarming stats that might interest you:
- Households earning $100k + per year have the highest identity fraud rate at 7.4%
- The average cost per person of having identities stolen is $1,513
- 11.6 million adults were victims of identity fraud in 2011 and a total of $18 billion was lost.
Alarming stats for social media/ smartphone users that have experience identity fraud:
- 6.6% of victims are smartphone owners
- 6.8% of victims are social media users who click on the applications
- 8.2% of victims are social media users who have “checked in” using their smartphone GPS
- 10.1% of victims are LinkedIn users
LifeLock is there to help make sure your identity stays safe. Want to connect with them further? Check out LifeLock on Facebook.
Ever since I went to New York a few weeks back, I have been pondering this question. I watched and listened in awe as many women who are all bloggers shared their different takes on what they did on their sites and how they got where they are today.
So I started asking myself, What is it that you want for your own blog?
I thought I wanted to do reviews.
I thought I wanted to just do giveaways and draw in readers.
However, the more I write on my blog and I read what others post, I have decided on the answer for what I want for my blog.
I want to be authentic.
I don’t want to be like anyone else when it comes to blogging.
Good grammar does not make you a great blogger.
Posting about the latest and greatest hot trending topic does not make you a great blogger.
Having tons of followers does not make you a great blogger.
What makes you a great blogger is just being yourself and being REAL.
Do you have problems comparing yourself to other bloggers? How do you handle your own competitiveness to be like the rest?
Yesterday I was catching up on reading some of my favorite blogs, and I came across Amy Bayliss’s latest post — I Debated Over and Over About Writing This. As I read about their near future move, I became excited for her and her family. Moving to a new home is thrilling and overwhelming at the same time.
However, it was further down in the post where she grabbed my attention and I could feel myself saying, yes! I know exactly what you mean. That is how I feel too!
Amy says –
I have been posting a lot of giveaways and sponsored posts but that won’t be a regular thing here. I just figured now was a good time to offer them to you. Once I get back to regular posting they will be few and far between. I blog because I love it and I enjoy getting to know y’all. I don’t do it to make you a number on a list that gets me additional funds for advertising.
I’ll be changing my blog up a bit when I return regularly. I am taking a very different direction with my online presence. I want it to be about the people and the relationships. I want it to be about you; us. We work well together don’t you think?
You won’t find any “follow me for a chance to win” or any of that stuff. I want you to be here because you find value in what I offer or because you have something you genuinely want to share with me and others about the topics I write about. I’m so over the gimmicks.
She has tons more to say about this, but I just wanted to let you know that I have been contemplating shutting down the reviews and giveaways here. I have said that before over and over again, because frankly — I miss the personal relationship. Like Amy, I want you here because you like what I have to say, not because I asked you to sign up as a number.
Over the course of the next couple of months, I will be finishing up my review and giveaway posts, but I will be going back to my original plan of blogging.
While many people enjoy taking their blogs and turning them into businesses, I would just rather not go that route.
So–I hope you will stick around for a while. I really like being friends with you all and I hope you like the changes I will be making in the near future
Thanks Amy for giving me the push and the courage I needed to do what I have been wanting to do for a while.
How to Plan a Family Reunion in 6 Easy Steps http://t.co/UzJRNySE4E - jennifer_sikora- Book Review: Deadly Devotion by Sandra Orchard http://t.co/tVLDRgeKub - jennifer_sikora
@jennifer_sikora Can't wait to have you in class Jennifer! Lauren - Gymagogo
@jennifer_sikora desire to reduce 24 lbs in less than 27 days!? head to fitforsummer(.)info - Kayceeurnd
@jennifer_sikora visit fitforsummer dot info and figure out the way to drop 23 lbs in 28 days - Myrtieggon
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My Thoughts on Bikinis and Modesty - Jen's Journey
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Watermelon Granita - Jen's Journey
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Food, Family, and Bejeweled Frenzy? It’s Family Game Night Around Here
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