blog stuff

If you walk into Scott’s grandmother’s back door, it will land you in her kitchen.  On your right will be two fridges and the second will have an entire row of our photo Christmas cards from the past, oh, six years.  Anyone on our “Christmas card list” can trust that the Bennett’s will be sending out holiday cards.  Even if it gets there on December 27th.  Which I’m pretty sure has happened more than once.

On a side note, I don’t think I ever mentioned last year when my friend Dani and I were talking and she said, “Oh, by the way, did you send out your Christmas card?”  I said yes, expecting some comment on the photo or layout and she said, “Yeah, I thought that was you because I got an envelope addressed to us with no return address and the envelope was empty.  I figured it was you.”   Yeah, that’s me.

So this year I’ve actually scheduled a photo session with PJ, who I went to Catalyst with.  I might actually have a picture before December 24th to use on the card.  And then it’s time to pick the almighty photo card layout.

I usually go for the modern slash boderline-cutsey card.  I usually do one family picture in front of the Christmas tree.  Because, you know, when I take it, it’s up already and too cold outside to do anything else.  And most of the time it’s the longer, skinny envelope size—whatever that is called.  However, I’m pretty psyched about some of the layouts that Shutterfly has this year.

I love this idea of the photo taking most of the real estate with only a hint of Christmas, especially knowing some family members display it year-round.

Our wedding invitations were square so I absolutely love these new 5×5 sizes.  Isn’t the floral pattern SO CUTE?

But I LOVE that this one combines the 5×5 with the full real-estate photo:

I think one like that could be our winner this year!  I can’t wait until our photos are in and I can put it all together…hopefully sometime before New Year’s this year!

I posted this as part of Shutterfly’s blogger program and will receive 50 free holiday cards. You can find out more information here.

The Bennett household is not new to Disney On Ice. The girls love many Disney movies and think seeing them in person and on skates is just, well, magical.  We have not had a chance to go to Toy Story 3 the movie yet but I have heard nothing but good things about it.  I’m a big fan of the Toy Story series and I’m so looking forward to seeing it on ice.  They are showing it in Charlotte October 6-10.  The very best part is I HAVE DISCOUNTS FOR YOU!  You all know how much I love a good discount and paired with a cultural event, well, it just makes my heart happy.

Toy Story 3, the record-breaking #1 movie in the world, is so hot it’s cool as everyone’s favorite toys take to the ice in Disney On Ice presents Disney•Pixar’s Toy Story 3! An award-winning creative team and a cast of world-class skaters are bringing Woody, the pull-string cowboy; space ranger Buzz Lightyear; Jessie, the yodeling cowgirl; and the rest of the gang to fans and families around the country in this brand-new live ice spectacular produced by Feld Entertainment. This fast-paced and witty tale of friendship will make a stop in Charlotte at the Time Warner Cable Arena, Oct. 6 – 10.

Check out more information over at the Time Warner site and let me know if you end up going October 6 – we’ll be there and I’d love to say hi!

I received this opportunity including 4 pack of tickets to the opening show because of my participation in the NC Blog Buzz network. I have pledged to give my honest opinion of the product/event.  All opinions are my own.

Let me point you over to OneTreeHillBlog.com this morning where I’ve made a big announcement for the site.  There is a lot of training and planning going on behind the scenes and that’s what I’ve been absolutely swamped with lately.  It’s amazing how much I’ve been doing on autopilot for almost 3 years.   Putting what I do into words and instructions has been fun (I love CamStudio!) but quite eye-opening.   I’m really excited for this step and loosening my grip is already quite freeing.

While we’re on the topic I’ll say that Kaitlin and I have closed NBCParenthood.com for the foreseeable future.  I think we’ve decided that the audience just doesn’t have a fan site presence at this point.

Yesterday I had an exciting meeting with Danny Gokey’s manager and looking forward to the future of that site.

And I guess I can’t leave out our FNL site.  The fifth and final season will be starting next month and then we’ll have to say goodbye to that show.  I’m going to enjoy the last leg of that ride.  Texas Forever!

Through all this I’m looking forward to putting more time and attention into THIS site.  So if you’re reading this THANK YOU.

I knew there was one more thing for my list today.  This deserves it’s own post anyway!

I have been saying for years that my friend Dani needs to start a blog but we could never quite settle down and get to it.   I finally wrangled her to my office and thus, MotherofFashion.com was born.  We’ve been working several late, Starbucks-laden nights (why yes, I do work for coffee) working on the design and I’m super happy at how everything has turned out.   Dani is a fashionista at heart and always looks her best but just under those cute clothes is one of the biggest hearts I know.  Through the site, she wants to share her fashion secrets to help us all look and most importantly feel our best.  The best thing I can liken this to is a Mommy version of What Not to Wear.

She’s just getting started but has caught the blogging bug and has lots of plans oozing out of her creative mind!  I simply can not wait to see where this goes!  So hop over there and first tell her welcome and second, give her a big Happy Birthday message for today!

Love ya, Dani!

If you’re from the BlogHop, I am SO EXCITED you’re here!  I know you have a lot of hopping to do so let’s get to it.

First and foremost, my faith is most important.  I’ve been a Christian since I was 7 and love God with all my heart!  I’ve been married for 12 years this week to my high school sweetheart and we have two girls that are 5 and 7.  By day, I’m a programmer for a large bank and am thankfully able to work from home.  It gets a little crazy around here because after work, I run OneTreeHillBlog.com, IHeartDannyGokey.com, FridayNightLightsFan.com and NBCParenthood.com.  Yes, TV is my guilty pleasure and I love to blog about it!  And this blog you’re on is my personal one that I’ve been running for over 8 years where everything and the kitchen sink goes.  If you stick around you’re gonna find posts on….

my faith

my children

techie stuff

fashion

celebrity

books, movies and TV

coupons

design

cooking (I cooked through Pioneer Woman‘s entire cookbook!)

Hopefully a few of those stood out to you.  I’d love to connect with you on Twitter or Facebook and would be thrilled if you subscribed and tried Permission to Peruse out for awhile.  Leave a comment to say hi and I’ll hop over to your blog!

So for whatever reason you can’t get to your blog (or Twitter or Facebook).  Yourworkhasprobablyblockedit#ahem.  But don’t worry!  You CAN still post to it…even on your cell phone! 

Posterous.com to the rescue!  My posterous.com site is pictured below.  As you can see, it looks like a very simple blog.  And if you’re really paying attention, you’ve seen that post on here already.  So why do you need another blog to post to your real blog?  Well, Posterous.com is an online blog BUT with a lot of bells and whistles so yes, your content may be duplicated in some cases, but that’s ok!  No one even needs to know you’re posting from posterous!  Let’s see how this works!

Click in to see!

[Read more…] about Posting to Your Blog When You Can’t Get To Your Blog

I’m back from Austin and have tons to talk about but first thing, I’m participating in Trading Spaces: Bloggy Style through Heather at Desperately Seeking Sanity.  We “trade blogs” with a group of people.  Suni is my chosen partner so here we go!

Suni Heflin is a God chaser, loving wife, compassionate sister, daughter, and sometimes hard-to-reach-on-the-phone friend. She works by day executing, planning and organization in her corporate non-profit Marketing position. Suni has been married to Cameron, a Firefighter/EMT, for almost 6 years. They have a lovely black lab/mix, Tigger, who is one of the loves of their lives! What is Love? What do I love? How is love expressed and evident in my life? We’ll start with the everyday things of life and work our way up, shall we? Please visit her blog at http://lifeloveandahappyhome.blogspot.com/

I love, love, love coffee. Every morning I wake up to this insatiable desire for a cup of the most amazing beverage on the planet: Coffee. It wakes me up, makes me smile, keeps me from getting a migraine (yes, I’m an addict), and just plain makes me happy.

Shopping! This is the most precious picture to me some days . . . .the entrance to an Ann Taylor or LOFT. I get crazy satisfaction from shopping . . . Hubby doesn’t get that same warm fuzzy feeling from the bill. Which leads me to my next love . . . .

My Husband I never dreamed or imagined I would find someone so wonderful. Girls, it came after kissing A LOT of frogs, believe me. Cameron is the most grounded, rock solid in his faith, loving, compassionate and considerate person I have ever met. I am so lucky to be called "Mrs. Cameron Heflin".

My Saviour I believe the highest, and purest, form of love comes from our Heavenly Father and my Saviour, Jesus Christ. Because He loves us so much, we can live. Because He sacrificed everything out of love for you and I, we can live. Because has prepared a place for us called Heaven, we can live. Eternally. Eternally . . . . Love is wonderful thing.