Slow Economy, BETTER Business!

Passion Parties by Nacole
Interested in starting your own business?

Earn a part time or full time income by partying for a living.

***Cupid's Party-to-Go - $169 Risk-Free Investment!***

Become A Consultant 

Start 2010 on a high note by giving yourself the gift of opportunity and unlimited potential. Begin your new Passion Parties business with Cupid's Party-to-Go Passion Pac today. Limited-time Offer.

Call me, Nacole Grandberry @ 214-280-2866 to get started within minutes.

*If you call the Corporate office, fax or mail an application, PLEASE give them my ID - 60116 - to ensure you join my team, the Diva Passionaires!

What would an extra $1,000 a month do for you?

Our team is going strong in Texas (Dallas, Ft. Worth, College Station & Houston), New York (Jamaica, Brooklyn, Queens), Louisiana & even way up in Canada! I'm looking for strong, independent women like you on my team - won't you join the party?

See you at the Passion Parties® 16th Annual Convention February 28-March 3, 2010 in sunny Las Vegas!

Fun Yet Pointless Blog Contests

Everyone loves a good contest, right? They're exciting, the prizes are GREAT (more often than not), and you have a good chance of actually winning...right? Yeah, not so much. And yeah, this is my rant on blogging contests. Whether you're entering a contest from your favorite site like TwitterMoms or from your favorite blogger, you DON'T stand much of a chance at winning. Period.

This especially holds true when it comes to entering the contests of your favorite Mom Blogger. Unless you're one of HER favorite bloggers and increase HER site traffic, you can simply forget about it. The rules always require you to blog about the giveaway & link to her blog (thus encouraging your readers to now become her readers), follow her on twitter, RT her on twitter at least three times a day(thus turning your followers into her followers), and what do you get in return?

NOTHING. She will almost never follow you back on twitter because she has thousands of followers, and has no reason to become one of your readers - because SHE'S the blogger to read. They say the winners are randomly chosen, but YEAH RIGHT! She's probably checking to see how many followers & readers you have to see how its going to benefit her.

I have concluded that the blogging world - *ahem* "Blogosphere" - is now a popularity contest. Just. Like. High school. Yep.

Blogging is nothing like it was when I first started in 2001. We actually got to know one another, read each other's blogs, and blogged because we simply wanted to write. About whatever. A lot of it just seems so superficial now. Everyone is more interested in "How can I get more readers?" instead of just writing whatever's on your mind. Now that isn't to say that sponsored posts (which I'm guilty of) or being popular is a bad thing...I just wonder if that's the ONLY reason people are writing now. Of course it is! Mom Bloggers have been featured on every news program, talk show, magazine, and newspaper. Its a business that's making pretty decent money.

Wait...maybe I should try getting in on that. Let me think about that one...Oh hell, who am I to talk? I have my Passion Parties business advertised here along with a few affiliate links. Yeah, I really can't talk since I just plugged myself. LMAO Maybe I'll start hosting my own giveaways...I'm sure my dear cousin - Casse AKA Catholic Kittie - would enter and help me out...right, Cousin?

Anyway, the topic at hand is blog contests. Maybe if I actually WIN one, my mind will change. And maybe then I'll keep those contest entries posted on my blog. But until then, I'm just a little-ol' SAHM with 16 readers, writing about whatever comes to mind.

~Nacole

Time to get FIT! This is pathetic. And embarassing.

I went to my mom's house two days ago and reluctantly stepped on her scale...only to see that I had gained more weight than I thought. My last weigh-in was 160 even, but now...172. Twelve freakin' pounds. I just wanted to cry. Well into adulthood, I never weighed more than 135, which was GREAT! All of a sudden I ballooned to 150 right before my wedding two years ago, and it went downhill from there.

Damn, did I really just post my weight for the world to see?? YIKES! Now I have to do something about it because I can't claim its "baby weight" anymore...Marcus is a year old now.

I don't like having to buy bigger clothes every time I go shopping. Its humiliating and expensive. I can't AFFORD to gain weight. Starting today I will begin to make changes in my lifestyle. I'll be walking Katy Trail THREE times a week, eating breakfast, and finding an accountability buddy.

While I'm at it, I'm going to make a few t-shirts and backpacks with my Passion Parties business logo & info on them. Maybe that will get me talking about it just a little more.

Let's Celebrate LIFE! A message to my family.

A little background on this one: my grandfather (Pawpaw) died of cancer last year, just two days before Thanksgiving, and my son (Marcus) was born just three days after Thanksgiving. Its been a tough start to the Holiday season for us all this year.

Good morning, family!

I'm sending out a quick reminder for Marcus's 1st birthday party tomorrow @ 4pm. Though Pawpaw/Grandpa/Daddy/Buster is no longer with us, God did bring us Marcus. Let's take this time to celebrate life - both the one we lost and the one we were blessed with just one year ago this week. Pawpaw left us when he did so that he could spend those five precious days alone with Marcus.

I know we are all really upset right now (I'm crying as I write this message), but we can get through this together. Tomorrow is a celebration of LIFE!

I have been especially conflicted in the way I feel because I want to be happy and focus on nothing but my son's birthday, but it seems to be overshadowed by death. How can I be happy when I'm sad? How can I be sad when I have so much to be thankful for? My son's birthday is (and birth day last year was) so bittersweet.

The night before my Pawpaw's funeral last year, I cried on a nurse's shoulder when it really hit me that I wouldn't be able to make it to his services. Then I realized that he would never get to hold his great grandson, and that Marcus would never know his great grandfather. It was my nurse that night who helped me to realize that our family had an angel watching over our son.