A Fabulously Flawed Life

Laurie is a creative soul who has a passion for embellishing life. She launched Executive Homemaker in 2006 which has over 600 printables for busy moms. Laurie loves to promote creative women through their fabulous ideas and products with Tip Junkie that features the best tips and tricks from everyday women. To meet the need of affordable advertising for Mom-prenuers she co-founded Chic Chick Media and Buy Mom Made.org . Laurie lives in Dallas, is a mom to 3 boys, cruise director for her family, and all around girly-girl. Her focus is to create moments that matter for herself, her man, and her children. Contact Laurie via E-mail Laurie's Blogs & Sites: Tip Junkie - Creating moments that matter TJ Blog Events & Giveaway Directory - Free Stuff TJ Mom-preneur Shops - Promoting women in business TJ Community - Uniting creative women Twitter: @TipJunkie Follow on Facebook Buy Mom Made.org - “I pledge to buy products that are created and sold by moms and encourage othe...

We were invited to a special celebration at the park for dear friends who have adopted a darling 6 year old little girl. I could not be happier or prouder of Calli who has worked so hard to make the transition of her new daughter the best one possible. I see such strength and determination when I look at Calli. She has overcome incredible challenges this past year and has really fought to unite her family. She's such an inspiration. The boys absolutely loved the park as it had everything; a pavilion to eat at, playground to play on, and a spray park to get wet even if you're fully clothed. Dylan said that it was the best day he's ever had! I tried not to take offense. {{wink}}

Dylan's class had an Invention Convention where they each showcased something that they invented. Dylan decided to invent a contraption that would stop him from leaning back in his chair. This has become a huge problem both a school and at home. Jason was out of town {{of course}} so his engineering skills were seriously missed as Dylan and I created a prototype. We used large plastic coin collectors, bolted on an "L" brace, then made it look legit with some black spray paint. We made it work. He was proud of it which is really all that matters. Several of his classmates cracked us up with their invetions which mostly had to do with food! {{giggle}} This little sweetie made a monster who's eyes folded down into cup holders and the top of it's head was a food tray. It was on wheels for easy transportation. Girlfriend takes her meals seriously. Another invention that had us laughing was the "snack hat". It is fully loaded with carbs and sugar snack...

Room Before My sister Lisa is currently getting her message, RTT, and cranial therapy licenses. She has a passion for healing and hope to specialize in pediatrics and help children with special needs and other physical problems. She's planning on working out of her home and is converting her work out room into a message room where you'll find the relaxation of a mini spa. Thanks to Toni with Design Dazzle , we picked the perfect spa shade and started painting. We always have a blast when we're together. Drake loved the transformation but was very confused why we were painting his room? Yes, the boy thinks that this is his room at Lisa's house as we store a bunch of extra toys in the closet. Here is the after! {{soothing}}

For the last day of preschool, all the classes gathered together for a picnic at the park. It was a fun day for the kiddos and they enjoyed saying good bye to their teachers and classmates. However, these guys are friends for life and we expect to see a lot of them this summer. You know how I hate to see a party end! So I invited these sweeties over to keep the entertainment happening all afternoon long. Emily will start Kindergarten next year. {{teary}} I cannot even explain to you how much my heart aches because I will miss her so much. She has the best giggle that just lights up a room. Drakie and I will miss her every Monday as that was our play date day. {{snif snif}}

Scott and I took the boys out for a walk and when he discovered the small creek in the green belt - he lit up! You see, we had a bayou in the back of our house and Scott spent his youth in there catching turtles, crawdads, and all kinds of smelly creatures. The fact that my boys did not play in our green belt was such a travesty to him that he decided to take matters into his own hands and teach my boys how to catch smelly creatures. He accepted the challenge and we decided to make it a family affair. The boys had a blast trying to jimmy-rig nets and attempt to outsmart the fish.

My youngest brother Scott came to visit us for a few days. He just finished up his semester at college and was leaving for Louisiana the following week and wanted to check in. I woke up to a massive Nerf war going on upstairs. I don't think Scott knew what he was in for when he started shooting Davis. This one is not playin' around with his sniper semi-automatic. It was such a fun morning and the boys totally bonded with my brother. It was a nice change of pace and it was great to reconnect with him. We now have several more inside jokes to entertain us. {{bwaaahaa!}}

I was invited to a blogger event to learn about the new UNCLE BEN’S ® Whole Grain White Rice with Missy Lapine, The Sneaky Chef . Since I don't cook I was completely clueless as to what all the hub bub was about. I met Missy before we went into the kitchen and asked her if she worked for Uncle Bens. {{do'h!}} But the oh-so fabulous Amy was totally in the know {{as usual}} and even brought her copy of Missy's cook book for her to sign. They are introducing their new product, "New UNCLE BEN’S® Whole Grain White Rice is the first and only whole grain rice that looks and tastes like white rice. The new product provides moms with a secret weapon to incorporate whole grains at dinner." {{Taken from Amy's Blog - because I didn't pay attention}} We cooked 4 of Missy's meals and they all turned out great. I took my time in the kitchen very seriously. Well, OK maybe not. {{wink}} I learned a bit but had a blast! Huge thanks to Mom Central , Uncle Bens...

Pack meeting in Scouts is a very serious thing. It's a time where the boys are recognized for their hard work and rewarded with shiny things to attach to their shirts. It's a big deal. But only if you're over 4. Drake grabbed my camera and spent his time in pack meeting taking silly pictures of all the kids sitting next to us. Like I said, pack meeting is serious... unless you're a Turk. {{evil laugh}}

One of the things I did when Davis & Dylan were young was hunt for rollie pollies. It's actually a fond memory as the boys were so excited every single time we found one. I do have my limits and will only catch them with a spoon. HA! Sweetie Emily was over and they were also excited to catch some rollie pollies. We had quite the collection for a while there. Thankfully, they were just as happy to let them go.

Thanks to all of the blogging events I've been attending, I have quite the collection of boas. Emily found them in my closet and they had a blast with them. I was happy to see that they were having so much fun with them. Although, I don't think Toby was. {{wink}}

School was out early today so we decided to head on over to the movie theatre and see "How to Train a Dragon". The boys loved it! Although they've gotten into this habit of posing next to all of the promotional movie signs. It think it's hysterical!

Now that the weather is gorgeous the boys have been playing outside a lot. One of their favorite things to do is play in the rock box under the trampoline. It's cool, shady, and dirty. {{perfect for boys}}

Drake's preschool had their spring performance and I'll be honest, I was worried. He behaved pretty good at the last one and I felt like our luck was up. This time they put TyTy in front of him so he was able to copy everything that TyTy was doing. (The last time he was looking behind him the entire time. HA!) I've got to give the boy some props as he did a great job. All of the boys enjoyed the little concert and were very proud of Drake for paying attention and doing such a great job. Such cute boys!

Once upon a time, five girls who had a passion for blogging united and formed the crazy named company, Chic Chick Media . After two years of working together, Skyping, E-mailing, Twittering, Blogging, creating a text ad widget , and becoming Social Media Mavens they were finally able to meet in real life at Bloggy Boot Camp in Phoenix . Me, Kim , Cindy , Heather and Tiffany - the Chic Chick Media girls I was stoked to finally meet Kim from Today's Creative Blog and Cindy from Skip to my Lou with whom I have a fondness and just adore working with. The conference ( Bloggy Boot Camp ) was hosted by the SITSgirls who gave me my first speaking gig at SITScation last October. Before that, it never would have occurred to me to attend a blogging conference, let alone speak at one. After some serious soul searching, I realized my place among the blogging community and my responsibility to help teach other women what I have learned. After all, it goes hand in hand with my passion fo...