People often ask why I blog. Is it for the money? Fame? Some personal feeling of gratification from having DOZENS of people pay attention to me? No. If I wanted all that, I could’ve fast-tracked it by becoming a porn star or something. I could be the first naked video-blogger! Damn my mom and her relentless moral brainwashing, limiting my career prospects. The reason I got into blogging was to give myself a creative outlet. A diary of sorts, but one with a bit more accountability and purpose. One where I can’t get annoyed at my personal ramblings about some toolbag of an ex-boyfriend and end up hosting an impromptu diary bonfire at the beach. (I’m pretty sure I can’t burn down the internet). Ultimately, I started a blog because I’m a writer. And writers write. It’s what we do, regardless of whether or not anyone is reading.

What I found after starting this site is that blogging is really a community. A club of sorts. It has big personalities, activities, and – yes – the occasional clique. There are tech bloggers, mom bloggers, fashionistas, political debaters and travelers. People want to segway every blog into a comfortable little niche.  The technology driving these blogs is yet another arena where debate can divide and categorize bloggers. “Do you use Blogger or Typepad? Posterous or WordPress? Self-hosted or not?” Once you overcome the confusing technology hurdles, there’s a whole host of promotional strategies: guest posts, sponsored posts,  optimization, lists, widgets and social media.

Twitter, of course, is the heavyweight in blog promotion. Twitter is like the hall where the blogger club meets. It’s essentially Facebook feed on steroids, where people can post what they’re thinking at any point and others can respond. It starts an ongoing dialogue with people around the world who have similar interests. Like a chat room on a global scale. And yet it does, occasionally, come back to the community. Local venues and companies host events called “Tweet-ups” where they reach out to local people on Twitter (“Tweeps” … tweeple? … twitterers?) to meet up in real life. This is where I’ve turned my online blogger aquaintances (most of whom I initially met on Twitter) into real-life bonafide human friends. It sounds creepy, but it’s always in a public place with lots of people and usually the sponsoring company gives us free stuff. Bonus!

Does your brain hurt yet? Imagine when I ramble to Nate about having to wrap up a guest post and optimize something on my site before I head on over to meet at a sponsored venue with my tweeps. The mind boggles. And yes, I know I’m a huge nerd. My “non-Twitter” friends make fun of me ALL the time. Anyway, I thought I had a handle on all this stuff until the other day a fellow blogger “tagged” me in a meme. What the hell is a MEME?!? Perhaps some sort of disease? It certainly didn’t sound like something I wanted. Google to the rescue: “For bloggers, memes have become synonymous with internet quizzes, surveys, and novelties that people link to and pass around on their blogs, forums and via email” (thanks for clearing that up, Chris Garrett).

So I was tagged in a meme called “10 Thing That Make me Happy” by my friend Christina over at Mommy Loves Coffee (from the title of her blog, you can see we have at least one thing in common!). Okay, now that I have your attention…I give you my very first meme:

 10 Things That Make Me Happy 

1. Pedicures: Happy feet, happy Chelsea
2. When Harry Met Sally: When I’m feeling sad, this is my cheer-up movie. During a rough patch in high school, I watched it every single day for a month straight. Parents thought I’d lost it.
3. Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice: We have orange trees and Nate sometimes makes it for me in the morning. It’s nice to know he’s thinking of me and went to all that effort to make my day a little sweeter.
4. Money: It’s not so much the money itself that makes me happy, but not stressing over how to pay bills makes life way easier! Plus, with money comes shoes, clothes, and handbags…and a lot more crafts.
5. Photo Albums: Looking at the great times I’ve had in the past reminds me what it’s all about.
6. Ajax and Ulysses: My cats are so very different and both have funny little quirks that make me laugh. Ajax is scared to death of her own shadow, but she’ll occasionally come lay next to me when I’m reading and pur like everything in the world is right. Ulysses destroys just about anything he comes into contact with, but he’s so loving and playful it’s easy to forgive him.
7. A Good Book: Time to myself to sit and read is cherished. I love getting lost in a great story.
8. A Clean House: It’s just so much easier to think clearly when everything is dusted off and put away.
9. Plants: We have a garden (admittedly, most of the work is NOT done by me), but I love seeing the life that’s grown from just a little seed.
10. Farmer’s Markets: I’ve mentioned on occasion that I feel passionately about small businesses. Seeing the quality that can come from people working on something they really care about is incredible.

Now if I remember how this whole “tag” thing is the same as when I played it back in elementary school, I’m supposed to pick some other bloggers to participate in this meme. You’re it (now go write about 10 things that make YOU happy):

26 Promo- Shay is a great friend who runs an awesome business, If you need business cards, flyers, or any sort of promotional project…this is the place to go.

Just a California Girl- Kesleigh lays it all out there. In person, she can be quiet (at first!) but her blog is where her thoughts, feelings, and heart come out. I adore her.

Thrifty Little Blog – While Kasey and I haven’t met in real life (I think she’s in Texas or something…??), she is definitely an inspiration. I love everything in her house!

I know, I know, it’s Friday – which normally means Friday Flashback and normally means I reveal some hilarious or stupid or touching thing that’s happened to me in the past. And I know, last week I put you all through a ridiculously depressing discussion about child abuse. But bear with me, as I’m about to veer off my normal path again…because this is REALLY important.

11 months ago, this adorable little girl named Penelope was born:

A few weeks ago, Penny bumped her head. Not a huge deal, kids tend to bump their head now and then. But then Penelope’s eyes turned black.

Concerned, her parents took her to the hospital and hours later, scans revealed that she has Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. What had been a normal, happy day changed this family’s path, thrusting them into a world of heartbreak paved with unfamiliar and expensive medical terms: chemotherapy, anesthesia, CT scans (at $4,000 each), biopsies, transfusions. Penny’s father was recently laid off, and the insurance policy they have for Penny covers only 60% of the costs - not to mention endless rounds of medication that aren’t covered at all (like $1,500 10-week treatment cycles of GCS-F shots).

In today’s world, we hear horror stories every day. We see sadness and sickness and we’re numb to it. I know; I’ve done my absolute best to shut it out many times because I’m too busy, too stressed, too frustrated to think about it because I feel helpless. But this story made me stop and think because it came to me from a friend, pleaing for help. Penny is the relative of a fellow blogger in my community, a community that has come together over Twitter, Facebook, and even local meetups. We have a powerful group of connected people who truly care about one another, and I believe that we can make a difference.

So here’s what I’m asking: please do your best to get the word out. Penny’s family is having an auction to fundraise for Penny and has created Pennies4Penny to leverage our social media and word of mouth circles to do some good. If you tweet, follow @pennies4penny and let your followers know. If you blog, post and link up to www.pennies4penny.org. If you Facebook, do your thing over there. If you’re just one of those people who talks a lot to your neighbors/friends/family, bring it up. And if you own a business or know anyone who works with a company that can donate products for their fundraiser, that would be a huge help. Thank you.

Yep, I was on Fox 5 San Diego! Which means I’m like, practically Britney Spears now, right? I’ll be expecting my private dressing room any minute.

Some fellow bloggers and I recently filmed a segment with Fox 5 local news about mommy bloggers. Apparently if you’re a mom who blogs you’re automatically a “mommy blogger.” And in my case, even if you aren’t a mom and you’re just a woman who blogs…mommy blogger. Anyway, here’s the segment that aired yesterday:

I sent a quick email to my family and the family of my soon-to-be husband, Nate, to inform them of my insta-fame and let them know that I would be obtaining a purse-sized dog and bleaching my hair to fit in next to Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan. His uncle responded with this:

Wonderful.  I think this also means you need a personal assistant.  Somebody to be at your beck and call twenty four hours a day. Someone to braid your hair on occasion and fetch you a snack at night.  Someone to do ALL those little tasks that can be such a bother to a media darling such as yourself.

I think Nate will fill that role splendidly.  Smashing idea don’t you think?

And this, folks, is why I’m joining their family!

This is an apology of sorts. Not one of those “sorry I haven’t blogged as much as usual lately” apology posts that I see on so many blogs…because, hey, it’s my blog, and I’ll blog when I feel like it! No, this is more of a “sorry I won’t shut up” post. You see, I have a rather life-altering nuptial event coming up in a few months and according to my bridesmaids (who STILL don’t know what dress they’re wearing when this marriage thing finally happens), it’s crunch time. Lots to do. Lately I feel like I eat, sleep, and breathe wedding.  I’ve tried my best to keep it to a minimum, but sometimes I just can’t help talking about it. Any of you who follow me on Twitter are probably feeling this pain more than most as I have a tendency to rant over there.

So here is something NOT related to weddings for any of you who are sick of hearing about it. (Actually, I happened to stumble upon it while searching how to make pocketfold invites for – you guessed it – my wedding. This girl over at a blog called Road to the Aisle has the most fantastic step-by-step how-to post for DIY pocketfold invites. And her colors are the same as mine!!) Wait, where was I? Oh, yeah, NOT weddings. Right. So it turns out that the girl who started the Road to the Aisle blog has also started another blog called Heather Drive.

I LOVE this blog. I love this Heather girl (if she happens upon this, I’m sure she’ll be more than a little creeped out since we’ve never met each other and I haven’t even attempted to make her aware of my existence). Or perhaps it would be worse if I made her aware of my existence? How do stalkers usually do this…covertly, I’d assume? Anywho, I feel a definite kinship with this stranger and fellow marketing-by-day/DIY-by-night blogger.  She reads MY favorite books, she throws weird ingredients together, and she writes “sorry my blog sucks lately” posts TOO! As if that all weren’t enough, she’s taken the Wilton cake decorating classes that have been on my “someday I’ll find time for hobbies” list forever. I have serious blog envy.

So if you like my blog (and if you don’t…well…see that little red “X” in the corner up there? there you go!) you’ll probably like hers as well. Go check it out and read about everything from crafts to football to babies. And while we’re on the subject, if my wedding plans freak you out, just wait until I start procreating…

I’ve had several people ask me my feelings on “sponsored posts,” which are blog posts that have been paid for by an advertiser. The short answer is yes, I accept sponsored posts. However, I turn down the majority of offers I receive because I’d rather not bore my readers to pieces. I don’t think anyone coming to Someday I’ll Learn really cares about ”sexy nighttime costumes” or “the next big thing in MLM,” so I won’t write about it (although I suppose it’s possible that I’m mis-judging my readers!).

What I will write about is anything I find interesting. And on the rare occasion that I do accept payment, I ALWAYS disclose it to my readers (like in my last sponsored post for Food Connect). Sometimes I’ll even point out if something ISN’T a sponsored post (like when I recently wrote about Wall Pops), just for the sake of being clear about it all. The majority of sponsored post requests I see are advertisers wanting bloggers to recommend a product to their readers in order to drive sales. Recently, however, I’ve noticed an odd trend in sponsored posts, with advertisers requesting that bloggers post press releases on their blogs verbatim.

A specifically rampant example of this press release thing is PBM products, who have been paying bloggers left and right to publish this article about how PBM has recently won a lawsuit against Mead Johnson, maker of Enfamil. Here’s the back story: Enfamil released an ad campaign claiming that Enfamil brand infant formula provides better nutrition than store brands. PBM, who manufactures store brand formulas, sued and won $13.5 million. And now they’re touting this win on any blog that’s willing to publish it.

I remember a similar advertising phenomenon developing when I briefly worked in the magazine industry. Companies would take out large ad spaces and publish promotional stories that soon became known as “advertorials” (advertising + editorial). There was a huge conflict over disclosure and reader deception and integrity. Having also worked in the advertising industry, I understand the reasoning behind it. PBM sees that their store brand has suffered and they want to take action. I can hardly blame them. But now as a blogger, the whole thing makes me feel kind of…unsettled.

Sponsored posts, if not handled properly, can be really irritating to the reader. Many of us bloggers are choosy about sponsored posts so we don’t alienate and annoy people. Even bloggers who aren’t choosy about their sponsorships usually at least insist on writing a thoughtful post in their own words. If we all just start publishing mindless corporate crap all the time, why would anyone keep reading blogs? I’m sure PBM would say they’re just trying to inform the public about this newsworthy event. But if people really want news, current events, or business updates, they’ll read a newspaper (and yes, I know that newspapers may “sell” stories as well…don’t even get me started on that). I’m not saying that any of it is implicitly right or wrong, or that one model fits every publishing media. I’m just asserting my hope that with our sponsored posts, our ad sidebars and our pay-per-tweet, we don’t all devolve into a “he said, she-said, this company paid me that much” promo fest and smear campaign. I’m confident that most of us have more backbone than that.

One of my kitchen debacles has been featured over at Daily Screw-Ups!

I’m sure you all remember my cayenne curry tuna sandwich mishap (I know Nate won’t be forgetting it anytime soon!). This time around I’m somehow managing to screw up spaghetti. Maybe mac & cheese or chicken noodle soup will be next! Go check out the full post over at Daily Screw-Ups.

While you’re there, browse through some of the other humorous looks at everyday life that are featured on the site. Daily Screw-Ups offers a light-hearted approach to everything from exercise to electronics. So next time you stick your foot in your mouth or forget to pick your kid up at school, this site will help you rest assured that it isn’t just you…everyone screws up once in a while.

Kim from Shopping Bookmarks just posted a guest post I wrote about Swaptree.com. Swaptree is a bookworm’s heaven, allowing you to trade used books with fellow readers, so you save money AND the environment by recycling books. Visit the Shopping Bookmarks blog to read the full post.

While you’re there, check out Kim’s other money-saving tips. She highlights the best deals, savvy spending habits and good shopping websites. Along with helping me snag great prices, her blog has also helped me get the best deal with credit cards and de-mystify things like rebates and rewards programs.

Kim from Shopping Bookmarks just posted a guest post I wrote about Grocery Shopping Strategies – go check it out! It highlights savvy grocery shopping habits such as developing a storage system and buying online at sites like Alice.com. Visit the Shopping Bookmarks blog to read the full post.

While you’re there, check out Kim’s other money-saving tips. She scours the internet for the best prices, sales and coupon codes, then posts them to her site so you can find all the best deals in one place. I’ve found her blog particularly helpful during the holidays – her Black Friday previews definitely helped me strategize my plan of attack!

Hello blogosphere!

I spent a while contemplating how I should write my first post. I don’t want to bore you to pieces rambling about myself, but it feels weird to dive right in without SOME sort of introduction. It’s kind of like a first date, I suppose. You want to tell the person enough about you that they’re impressed, but also leave them intrigued about what happens next.  Although frankly, the first date analogy doesn’t help me at all since I haven’t been on a first date in years and probably wouldn’t have the first clue what to do…

Anyway, here’s a little about me and what you’ll find on this blog. I’m Chelsea. I grew up on a tiny island across from Seattle, and moved to Los Angeles towards the end of my high school years. I studied Political Science at UCLA (not because I particularly like politics, but because I enjoyed the chance to research and write). Hmm, I think I’m making myself sound like a nerd. First date faux-pa? Moving on…I met my fiance, Nate, while I was in college and after graduation we moved to San Diego, where I currently work as a marketing coordinator for a home interior company and he’s in the San Diego police academy.

I started this blog as a creative outlet and a place to share my own experiences settling down/starting life in the “real world” after college. It’s an awkward transition phase for a lot of people, involving getting settling in a place that’s finally your own (no more communal futons or fold-out beer pong tables!), financial management (IRA, anyone?) and finally learning how to cook (because really, Top Ramen after college is just sad). Life now involves some occasional frustration and a steady stream of mistakes, but the changes are refreshing and the successes are more than worthwhile.