Rachel is the definition of a southern belle – as beautiful as she is down-to-earth, she’s the person you want for your neighbor, your sister, your best friend. Funny, sassy, and the slightest bit naughty, she is the mom who bakes fabulous birthday cakes, coaches the kids kickball team, and finishes the day with an icy cold beer. She is goodness personified…

Casey is the epitome of wearing your heart on your sleeve. She has a power like no one else to make you laugh, cry, or all of the above, all with her words and images. She makes beautiful babies, has an incredible faith, and her smile lights up a room. She’s the mom you want to be more like, who can find the joy and humor in the most challenging situations…

Alli is strength, sass and charm – she sets her mind to something and it is done. She is the mom to 5 (FIVE!) boys, and is the person I look to for assurance that I’m on the right path with my own boys. She is the mom who is always prepared, always ready for a challenge, always there with an open ear…

And so to these women, I raise my glass and say thank you – for inspiring me, for enouraging me to be a better mother, and most of all for being my friends. I hope you have an amazing Mother’s Day.

This post was inspired by Concannon Vineyards - they sent me a couple bottles to try and asked me to tell them about my favorite moms. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and I was honored to share with you a few (among MANY) of the amazing moms I have been priviledged to meet in the last 7 years.

photo credits respective of the links included

Saw this on my friend Carrie’s site – it looked like fun!

A. Age: 45

B. Bed size: queen – way too small for a flipper and a snorer – dual masters in my dream house!

C. Chore that you hate: it would be easier to tell you which one I DON’T hate

D. Dogs: none

E. Essential start to your day: CAFFEINE

F. Favorite color: yellow

G. Gold or Silver: white gold

H. Height: 5’7″

I. Instruments you play: I played bass violin in elementary schoool

J. Job title: Professional Pain-in-the-ass

K. Kids: 2 nutty boys

L. Live: Southern California – but wish I was in VA, NC

M. Mother’s name: Mary Jeanne

N. Nicknames: Dork, uber goober, spaz, nerd

O. Overnight hospital stays: just for my babies

P. Pet peeves: intolerance

Q. Quote from a movie: The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we’re uncool (Lester Bangs, Almost Famous)

R. Right or left handed: left

S. Siblings: none

U. Underwear: usually

V. Vegetable you hate: bitter greens

W. What makes you run late: two things – my boys

X. X-Rays you’ve had: all of them?

Y. Yummy food that you make: cajun chicken pasta

Z. Zoo animal: otters – I could watch them all day

YOUR TURN!

It had been acting wonky for awhile – odd comments, weird dashboard things…I didn’t pay attention.

Then – KABOOM

I had to delete it just to keep it from infecting my own computer. The odd thing is nothing was wrong to the reader – just when you logged into the dashboard.

I’m kinda sad – Domestic Chicky was ME – the half-assed attempts at being Martha Stewart, the ideas that fizzled out.

But I am also very excited – because now I can introduce you to Chicky Loves…

One of my favorite things to do is to share – share posts with friends, share fun products with readers, share recipes…that’s what Chicky Loves will be all about. Sharing AWESOME. A whole lot of food, some books, photos, sites, goodies (especially makeup and other pretties), and anything else that strikes my fancy.

So stick around, get comfy…I am still uploading posts from the last 6 months, and I will be reorganizing my old posts, adding some new ones, and adding some fun goodies on my sidebar –>

Coming up

• Blissdom recap!
• Reviews of the new Pioneer Woman Cookbook and the Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook (and my experiences with my new cast iron skillet)
• Birchbox – worth it?
• It’s strawberry season! You know I love my strawberries! Recipes and pictures!

Recently jessica asked for some help for a friend of hers and I knew I had to help. Now I’m asking for yours…

This is Sharlie. Sharlie is a wife and mom. She loves to read. She loves to laugh. She has an infectious smile. And the best hugs on the planet. Sharlie is also awaiting a double lung AND heart transplant. She is an inspiration. A fighter. A miracle.
Jessica (one of Sharlie’s best friends) and Mique reached out to the creative community to come up with a way to raise funds for her impending medical bills. They created a Shop for Sharlie- full of tutorials, printables, and advertising opportunities. Every single dollar raised will go straight to Sharlie’s Angels. So shop ’til your heart is content. And in return it will help Sharlie get her new heart.

So I made a poster in 3 different color schemes – it’s 8×10, ready to frame and has some of the things our family value and love…And here’s a bonus for you – if you buy anything from the shop, come back here and leave a comment with what you bought – I will draw a name and that person will win a custom poster for their home. You can choose a poster for your kids, your own family values poster, whatever you like!

XOXO

• Jam Hands – Ali has a FABULOUS recipe blog, including one of MY recipes! She has also made blogger do things I never imagined it could do.
• Martha Stewart for the ipad – THIS is how all magazines will be in a few years. Videos for cooking and crafts, audio tutorials, pictures that change with just a touch, portability? My love for my ipad continues…
• The Help – great book, can’t wait to see the movie. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I was so sad when it was over!
• This post – Rebecca is one of my oldest (but youngest) blogging friends and the first blogger I met in person. Love her, her kids and babes yet-to-be.
• Composition books – about 15 and counting. I use them for everything, from general notetaking, to journaling, Christmas gift lists, recipes, organizing and projects. This is my favorite time of year – I can get them for a quarter!
• House of Smiths – Shelley is one of the newest rock stars in the blogging world – talented, creative, and handy with tools AND a glue gun, she’s also sweet, funny, and adorable.
• What they give us – My friend Jules is an amazing writer. My favorite word for this post is “visceral”.  Tell me you can’t smell the onion…

What I love about digital books -

• They don’t take up NEARLY as much space (duh)
• They are infinitely portable (again, duh)
• There are TONS of free ones available through Amazon, Lendle.com, and even the public library!
• You can share books with your friends and NEVER worry about not getting them back!
• No one can take your bookmark out to look at the cupcake on it and tell you how yummy it looks

What I am NOT so crazy about -

• Footnotes – the kindle does NOT effectively deal with footnotes
• It’s hard to read books like cookbooks or craft books
• You can’t doodle in the margins
• Or smell the pages
• or tuck in random notes

Ultimately, I will never stop buying books – but I save the kindle for “junk food” reading – silly, mostly chick – lit and silly mystery type books that I don’t mind disappearing after I read them. I will still buy cookbooks, friend’s books, craft books and reference books and books I know I will read over and over.

Now it’s your turn! Do YOU have a kindle, ipod, nook or other reading device? Do you have a preference? Any must-reads I need to pick up?

I recently discovered the joy that is the kindle – trust me, I LOVE book pages as much as the next book nut, but I am all over it when it comes to “casual reading” – you know, the equivalent of literary junk food. Amazon has so many books that are .99 or a little more that I have my kindle loaded up with lots of brain candy.

Most of these are on my “get em on paper” list. But if it’s cheaper on the kindle list…hmm, I may have to rethink my logic.

• Summer in the City and The Carrie Diaries – Carrie Bradshaw’s early years – Hello lovah!
• Beauty Queens – I read a review describing it as “lord of the flies” meets Lost meets Miss America – twisted much?
• Theater Geek – Story of the author’s experience of theater camp in the Catskills
• Home Ec 101 - my friend Heather wrote a FABULOUS book about all things domestic. Let’s just say despite the name up there, I need all the help I can get – Heather also writes a fabulous blog by the same name.
• If You Were Here – Jen Lancaster is a fabulous writer, but after reading this John Hughes-centric first novel, I may just be a TINY bit in love…a MUST-READ for anyone who was a teen in the 80′s (yeah, I already read this one – in a weekend actually – but I HAD to include it)
• Sue Ellen’s Girl Ain’t Fat, She Just Weighs Heavy – Funny funny book about the charms of southern belle. I am about halfway through this book of essays and after reading about “bubba whispering”, I am having a hard time putting it down!
• The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, et al – I know, silly girl books, but I loved them as a kid, and it’s fun rereading these for myself and with my boys. There’s a win-win if I ever heard one

What’s on YOUR reading list? Anything I should add to mine?

*note – a few of the above links have amazon associate codes so that if you end up buying one, a few pennies goes into my amazon account. It all goes into my summer sanity (reading) fund – thank you! Also, the Sue Ellen book was sent to me, but I was not compensated and the opinions are strictly mine

If you have known me for any length of time, you know I love cupcakes…not even so much eating them as the idea of them – cute, small, yummy. Who DOESN”T love a cupcake? (please don’t tell me if you don’t – I don’t think I could bear it!)

So, my question to you – what is your favorite cupcake? Are you a plain vanilla kind of person, or chocolate all the way? How about a french toast with maple buttercream and bacon cupcake? (that is SOOOO on my to-do list!) My favorite is yellow cake from a box with canned chocolate frosting and sprinkles…I know, right? But I have had some gourmet cupcakes that are to die for as well.

YOUR TURN!

This is the BEST trail mix I have ever had – cranberries, pecans, almonds, and white chocolate chips – it’s got that great crunchy/chewy/sweet and salty thing and it is SOOOO good on oatmeal!  I think I am going to try it next in cookies – YUM! You could probably make your own a lot cheaper, but you do get a lot for the price – I will have to break it down to see…

Speaking of oatmeal – have you tried Mc Donalds new oatmeal? It’s SOO yummy! I found that I can get the same flavor at home by adding fresh cut apples and cranberry/riasin mix to regular maple & brown sugar oatmeal – you can eat 1 packet with fruit for 4 points!

Linking this to WFMW over at We are that Family – check out the other great posts there!

Because I need MORE eyecandy to occupy time I could be spending on blogging, cleaning, baking…

Pinterest is here – but don’t say I didn’t warn you! Let me know if you need an invite!