A Girl Named PJ

The legend of the vomit mobile

September 11, 2012

When I was two years old, I puked in the backseat of my dad’s 1979 Dodge Omni 024 sport coupe. According to family legend, my parents were unable to remove the smell of my barf from its red vinyl interior and were forced to sell the car and buy a new one.

What goes around comes around.

En route to a picnic lunch at Zorinsky Lake on Sunday, I heard the distinct sound of upchucking coming from the back of our sedan. “Oh my god, did Levi just throw up?” I worriedly asked JB. In response to my idiotic question, Levi promptly puked again.

JB quickly directed the car into a church parking lot, and I jumped out of the passenger side to investigate. What I saw will forever be burned into my memory. I’ll spare you the details…but you know the slang term “to blow chunks?” Well, that’s exactly what it looked like.

Thankfully, Levi did not render the car unusable like I did to my parents’ sport coupe, but he did manage to get vomit into every crevice and crack of his Chicco Keyfit 30 infant car seat. Lunch was postponed indefinitely, and we returned home for baby and car seat clean up. I dropped Levi in the bathtub as poor JB started taking apart the seat (while trying not to puke, himself).

I’m not exactly sure why but cleaning Levi’s barf from his infant carrier was the motivation we needed to finally make a decision on a convertible car seat. While the freshly-washed seat cushion and buckles dried in our laundry room, JB and I logged onto Consumer Reports and reread your comments from this post. And what convertible car seat did we decide on?

The Britax Boulevard 70-G3 convertible car seat in zebra print!

Back to basics, back in business

September 10, 2012

I lied. I told you I was taking a week-long break from blogging, but I decided to take a two week blogcation instead. I’ve had a lot on my mind and needed the extra time to sort through all of the activity in my head.

Feeling disconnected

Bunny & Dolly began as a sort of online diary, a place where I could chronicle the highs and lows of pregnancy. When Levi was born, the topic naturally evolved to motherhood and blog posts ranged from anecdotes about parenting to Levi’s favorite things. Since I was already writing about clothing, books and toys for babies, I began to seek out ways to monetize, including sidebar ads and affiliate links, in an attempt to earn some pocket cash. As a VPTWAHM, I’m not the breadwinner in the family, so any little bit I can contribute to our checking account makes me feel good about myself.

I realized that Bunny & Dolly was losing its authenticity. Cluttering my sidebar with ads and posting solely about products felt phoney. You don’t come to Bunny & Dolly for fashion, beauty or decor advice (at least, I don’t think that’s your primary reason). You come for stories, snippets of my everyday life as a mom to a toddler son and wife to a military husband. Maybe you enjoy reading about my daily parenting adventures because they remind you of your life and, like me, you find it comforting that somebody else is experiencing the same challenges. Or maybe your life is nothing like mine and you find our differences interesting. Perhaps you just think Levi is the cutest kid in the entire world and keeping coming back to see more photos of him. (I wouldn’t blame you!)

Moving forward

I’m going to take Bunny & Dolly to the next level by going back to basics. More posts about me and my family. More conversations. More questions. I may still include affiliate links and take on sponsored posts, but only if they’re a natural fit. You’ll notice, however, that I’ve removed my sidebar ads. They were clutter, that’s all.

On my to-do list are plans to clean up my categories and update my About page. I’m also going to be adding a Blogroll page with links to other fantastic blogs. I may bring back Friday favorites; I’m still undecided. Did you like those? Oh, and I promised you a super cool giveaway in September that’ll happen later this week. Probably.

Psst…

And one other thing: I just learned that Bunny & Dolly was included in Weatherables 2012 Top 20 Family Blogs list alongside such A-list blogs like A Cup of Jo, Marvelous Kiddo and Design Mom. To be grouped together with these big-name bloggers sort of blows my mind.

So that’s it. Bunny & Dolly is back in business. And now I’ve gotta find some time to catch up on two weeks worth of blog updates in my Google Reader!

Happy Monday, friends!

;

A break from routine

August 27, 2012

Sometimes a break from your routine is the very thing you need.

I’ve decided to step away from the blog this week to recharge my blogging batteries. August has been a particularly stressful month for me, from dealing with Levi to dealing with self-doubt. In an attempt to not overthink myself into a stress spiral, I’m giving myself permission to not think at all for the next several days. Hopefully, I’ll greet September feeling renewed and excited to blog again.

(PS: I have another really exciting giveaway in the works for the beginning of September, so set yourself a reminder to come back!)

In the meantime, you may be interested in my latest post for Lifetime Moms on the pros and cons of the Mirena IUD. And since I can’t completely cut myself off from social media, you’ll still find me tweeting, posting photos on Instagram and updating Bunny & Dolly’s Facebook page. Are you following me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook? You should, especially because I have a cute Levi video that I’ll be uploading later today!

I hope you enjoy the unofficial end of summer. Why not take a break from your routine, too?

{quote: source unknown / original image: girly me}

Style: denim shirt and patterned skirt

August 26, 2012

As somebody who has a hard time defining her style (but who still loves fashion), my eyes widen when I see a head-to-toe look I would want to wear. I recently came across the above photo and was so inspired by the denim shirt and floral skirt combination that I started tracking down similar pieces to see if I could recreate the outfit.

Now, I know I don’t normally do fashion posts on Bunny & Dolly, but I hope you’ll let me indulge my inner sartorialist just this once! (Or maybe more often. You’ll have to let me know what you think!)

J.Crew Western denim shirt / Topshop full skirt / Kate Spade ‘Leslie’ pump / Danielle Nicole ‘Madison’ clutch

{original image via the New York Times}

Why I’m not attending Alt Summit NYC (Part 2)

August 24, 2012

As I mentioned yesterday, the primary reason I wasn’t able to attend Alt Summit NYC was logistics. However, I might have fought a little bit hard to make it work if there hadn’t been a second, more complicated, reason…

Reason #2: Who am I to be there? (No, really, who am I?)

My post on the business of blogging initiated a sort of blog identity crisis. As I try to identify my future goals, both professional and personal, I can’t stop questioning the purpose of this blog. Since I haven’t been able to come up with any definitive answers, I’ve just been plugging along as I did before I wrote that confessional, all the while feeling a bit unsettled.

I worried that if I were to attend Alt Summit NYC, I wouldn’t know how to promote this blog–or how to market myself. Bunny & Dolly began as a pregnancy blog, and after Levi was born, the topic naturally evolved from pregnancy to motherhood. So does that make me a “mommy blogger?”

I ask because I don’t think I want to be labeled as such. See, I’m more than just Levi’s mommy. I’m a 32-year-old woman with interests outside of parenthood. At least, I want there to be more to me than just Levi’s mom.

Like many women my age, I’m still trying to figure out who I am and what I want to be when I grow up. I’d love to write about my likes, dislikes and hobbies on the blog as I discover more about myself, but I don’t know if this is the forum for those types of posts. That would make Bunny & Dolly a mommy-slash-lifestyle blog, but I’ve been getting the feeling lately that you are all more interested in reading about Levi than about me. Which is totally OK. After all, he is a lot more interesting–and a lot more adorable!

But does that mean I should start yet another blog to avoid blurring the line between niches?

I know what you’re going to say. “PJ, you should only put in the time to blog if it makes you happy, and you should write about whatever you want.” (Am I close?) And my response is that blogging does make me happy. Writing is not only my creative outlet; it’s also a form of therapy for me. As you might have noticed, I have the tendency to over-think just about everything. I struggle with perfectionism. It boils down to this: Blogging is fun for me, but it can also be stressful because as much as I want it to feel easy breezy, I also want it to be perfect.

In short, the second reason I didn’t go to Alt Summit NYC was because I didn’t know how I would fit in among the fashion, foodie and lifestyle bloggers in attendance. But I’m not giving up on myself or on this blog just yet. You see, I bought a ticket to attend Alt Summit’s flagship event in Salt Lake City in January. Yes, I’m scared shitless to go, but I know I have a few months to get my act together and sort through this identity crisis.

I value each and every one of you and thank you again for all of your thoughtful, constructive feedback.

{bottom image via Alt Design Summit}