Gidget Goes Home » writing & blogging

From Organic to Homemade and more…

gidget — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:21:19 +0000

I’m so excited to announce that Simple Organic is now Simple Homemade! The new branding is such a good fit for me as editor and although we won’t be veering away from green/natural living at all, we’ll be adding more of the DIY/crafty/homemade stuff that I love.

I spoke about this a bit in the latest Simple Mom Podcast, which you can take a listen to if you want. I love podcasting with Tsh– it’s like chatting with a friend over a virtual cup of coffee, and it was especially fun to tackle some of our readers’ questions.

Those of you who’ve been around since the beginning… remember when Tsh was my blogging idol and I stared at an empty Google Reader just waiting for Simple Mom to have a new post? Sometimes it’s still hard to believe that now she’s my boss and my real-life friend. I’m still so honored to be the editor of one of her blogs.

In other news, I’m now thirty-one years old, I have tendinitis/a strained supraspinatus in my shoulder, and we’re inching forward in progress with Gigi’s attitude, thanks to this simple yet brilliant idea from my friend Julie at Joy’s Hope.

A few even more random thoughts…

I made homemade pizza dough tonight but realized I’m out of sauce and most of the toppings that I usually use. Sooooo, I’m going to have to get creative.

How do you respond when people ask how you’re doing? My answer is usually something along these lines, “Uhhh, life is crazy. Good, but totally crazy.”

Hallee is 9 1/2 months old and has slept through the night approximately 5 times. I’m a bit ready to be done with that mess.

I totally took 10 on 10 photos this month, but alas, they are still hanging out in iPhoto, so I may get them posted before the end of the month. We’ll see.

My husband is officially a blogger now. We used to have a family baseball blog, but he recently resurrected it as his own nerdy space. It’s awesome. Even though the statistics/analysis are a bit over my head, I love that he found something he’s passionate about to write about, because he’s a really good writer.

And yes, I realize the header says “fall 2011″ on it. That’s how I roll these days….

See ya around, peeps. Thanks for being here just in case I get a minute to type up a few words in this space.

In the meantime, come see me over at Simple Homemade.

From Organic to Homemade and more… is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

Around Town…

gidget — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:22:09 +0000

While I’ve been away from this space, I’ve been elsewhere a bit…

I recorded a podcast with Tsh from Simple Mom which was really fun. You can get the details and listen over on Home Fries. This was a bit surreal when I thought about how three years ago when I started blogging I never would have guessed that Tsh, who was one of the first bloggers I read, would be my friend and boss. I’m so blessed to be a part of SLM!

I’ve been posting away at Simple Organic, and this week I posted a fun video tutorial on making a fabric yo-yo, one of my favorite little things to make.

I finally posted the magazine clipping from when I was mentioned in Coastal Living Magazine on the Surf Mamas blog. That was another surreal little treat.

I wish I had more time for Pinterest! I seriously love it and when I find myself there for a few minutes at a time I always find inspring things. I’ve already tried a couple of recipes I found there and I have a project for our home to make this week hopefully.

Hallee and I went down to San Diego to meet up with Megan from SortaCrunchy for dinner (pictured above) while she was here for BlogHer. What a treat. Megan is someone I could chat with for hours. I loved getting to meet her in person!

My days are challenging at times but I’m so thankful for my three treasures.

Around Town… is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

I miss blogging…

gidget — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:53:38 +0000

…but man, life is crazy.

I have some thoughts and post ideas I’ve jotted down in my notebook and hope to get them into some drafts soon. In the meantime, I’m back to work at Simple Organic and very active on Instagram, so find me there if you’re an iPhone user.

I miss blogging… is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

what to write…

gidget — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:41:30 +0000

do you ever accidentally stop blogging for 2+ weeks and then not know how to jump back into it? what do I write? where do I begin? what photos do I post? maybe tomorrow I’ll figure it out… what to write… is a post from: Gidget Goes Home Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic. [...]

what to write… is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

Randomness.

gidget — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 22:57:54 +0000

My blog thoughts have been bouncing around in my brain lately, but I’ve been having a hard time finding a chance to actually sit down and write (other than what I’ve been working on for Simple Organic).

So, first, a few bloggy things.

I started a little place to share some little bits of inspiration on Tumblr. If you use it too, you can follow me there, or just check in periodically for some fun. Last year I tried the 365 Project (a photo a day) and made it to October (until pregnancy hit). This is a more casual way to collect photos I take or just like, in addition to cool links, favorite verses or quotes and whatever else I fancy. I’ll hopefully add a button to the blog linking to it soon.

I also played around with a fun newish site called about.me where you can create your about-type landing page. Fun. Here’s mine. Here’s my cool brother’s.

I’m learning about more and more cool So Cal bloggers. I recently met up with Jessica from Life as Mom for a play date, and it was so fun to connect with her in real life. Well, this fall, I’ll get to meet even more sweet peeps when I head up to my old stomping grounds of Orange County to hit up Blog Sugar. I’m really excited.

I was just thinking about how fun the swap I participated in a while back was, and then caught wind of one that Heather of Blessed Little Nest is putting together for a Hoop Art Swap! I joined up right away, and I think there’s a bit of time left to sign up if you want to, too.

Let’s see… what else…

Oh yeah, a few really random thoughts:

I love trips that end on Saturday, where you still get a day at home to recover before starting the week (the one we just took to Arizona, was not such a trip unfortunately).
I love to walk, but am SO out of walking shape. I guess pregnancy will do that to you. Time to start stepping it up and getting myself back in shape a bit for labor (!!).
Speaking of pregnancy, I’m now 26 weeks. I’m heading in for a fancy 3D (or is it 4D? what’s the difference anyways?) ultrasound on Friday. I never thought I would do one of these, since I find them a bit creepy, but I was offered a chance to do it for free, as a “model” for ultrasound training with a friend, so I figured, why not!
I got a bit of spending money for my birthday and here’s what I spent it on: a sweet Pyrex food storage set, a book, some embroidery supplies, and lastly, I’ll be finally getting a copy of Simple Blogging and One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
.

And speaking of a thousand gifts, here are a few I’m thankful for this week (55-61)…

warm, sunny afternoons

family vacations

baseball!

almost a year with my sweet baby boy

our church family

being totally inspired toward a life of community (more on this soon)

the new place we found to rent (moving in less than a month!)

How’s that for a totally random post? I’m thinking my next post might be a little more coherent. Maybe.

Randomness. is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

Tying up Loose Ends

gidget — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 02:04:57 +0000

I feel like I was a bad blogger at the end of 2010. I know, I know, it’s basically all just for fun, but I don’t like promising things and then not following through. I still have things in drafts or emails that I wanted to post but never got around to– recipes, interviews, ideas, etc.

I’m trying to do a little catch-up today (hence, the three posts in one day).

So for next year, I’m really going to try to prepare ahead of time before I announce a big idea. I tend to get ahead of myself in the blogging world it seems.

I’m so thankful for each one of you that reads here, and I want you to be able to count on me for fun, inspiring, and often tasty content. Quality, not quantity. Due to family life and other commitments (like my little job {!!} with Simple Organic), it’s just not practical for me to post everyday here, even if I wanted to, but I want to stay relatively consistent in the coming year. I love the journal aspect of blogging and having something to look back on.

A few more things as I wrap up 2010…

As many of you know, I did chop my hair off. I still need to mail in my braids, so more on that later. I regret the bangs a little bit but otherwise love the haircut.

I’m hoping to put together some reviews and giveaways that I’ve been storing up. No details now, because like I said, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but as soon as I can get the posts ready, I will.

I’m going to Blissdom again at the end of January, and I’d love to meet you if you’ll be there. Let me know if you’re going!

And finally, if you haven’t heard the news yet, I do have a big excuse for not following through on my blogging much this fall. I spent a couple of months a bit on the tired and nauseaus side. Yup, I hardly believe it myself, but we’re expecting #3 in June of ’11!! We’re very thankful that the Lord would open my womb again and are praying that things continue on as they have been (I’m 16 weeks and things are going great).

I hope you all have a very happy New Year’s Eve tonight and the Lord greatly blesses you and your families in 2011.

Tying up Loose Ends is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

gratitude… thanksgiving and big news edition

gidget — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:00:34 +0000

I had good reason for neglecting this blog last week… our annual Thanksgiving camping trip! We spent the whole week with family and friends, at the beautiful San Elijo State Beach. It was a wonderful vacation, despite the California-version-of-cold (too cold for me!) and being only about 10 minutes from home.

We spent yesterday recovering from camping (ie starting the mountain of laundry) and Gigi and Daddy had a little date to Home Depot for a little Christmas tree.

If you already subscribe/read Simple Organic, you might have seen the news, but otherwise, you can click over to read the details as editor Katie passes her baton on to little ol’ me. I’m very honored and thankful to be taking on this role and have thoroughly enjoyed starting to get to know the other SLM editors (by the way, there’s an exciting week of giveaways going on on all the Simple Living Media blogs this week!).

I’ll leave you with a few more shots from last week…

And P.S. the hair is getting chopped today!

gratitude… thanksgiving and big news edition is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

Great Recipe over at Simple Organic

gidget — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:59:00 +0000

I’m feel like maybe I’m starting to get back into a blogging groove; we’ll see! {Altough I meant to publish this 2 days ago, and forgot, so maybe not…}

For now though, I’m over at Simple Organic this week, talking about one of the most challenging ingredients to modify/substitute in recipes: condensed (“cream of…”) soup!

Don’t fret though, I have a great (and surprisingly easy) recipe for a healthy substitution, along with lots of variations, and even a few other healthy substitution recommendations.

See you over there!

Great Recipe over at Simple Organic is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

Have you missed me?

gidget — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 21:48:11 +0000

Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I haven’t been hanging out here much lately.

I’ll be back more regularly soon (I still have more spiced ice cream and eco-crafting interview posts up my sleeve after all!), but until then, you can find me today over at Simple Organic waxing poetic (or something like that) about my beloved water with lemon. It’s not only a yummy twist on the most basic beverage, but it’s actually really good for you, too.

xoxo

Have you missed me? is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!

Gratitude and a Thousand Gifts

gidget — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:00:33 +0000

photo by stevendepolo

I’m really excited about a new weekly series I’m going to be publishing on Mondays. I think it will give you a unique insight into my little life, much like the way {this moment} does, while also bring glory to the One who really does give us thousands of gifts and blessings.

I’m going to start keeping a Gratitude Journal at home. I may leave it by my bedside, and every night before bed note down some of the gifts I received throughout the day, or maybe even carry it with me and jot them down throughout the day– I’m not quite sure yet. On Mondays, I’d like to share some of them with you. It will be a simple list, maybe with a photo or two, but I’m hoping the exercise will give us all a little glimpse of finding the divine in ordinary life.

This idea comes from Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience‘s One Thousand Gifts community.

I love these little examples that Ann shares:

“…cracking open a new book… pushing children on the swing…. old men looking at cards in the stationery aisle… the smell of the florist’s… the sound of kernels of corn streaming, tinkling…. leaves floating in puddles…”

Hopefully, starting my week by focusing on gratitude and turning my eyes to Jesus in thanksgiving for all the little things in life will give me a fresh perspective each week.

If this is something that interests you, you can check out Ann’s two articles I linked to above and blog along with me, or else, I’d love to read in the comments a couple of things you’re grateful for.

I guess I should start today, huh?

Well, I’m very thankful for the passion I have for writing… and for those of you who take the time to read my thoughts and take a peek into my life.

Gratitude and a Thousand Gifts is a post from: Gidget Goes Home
Please visit my other blog, Simple Organic.
Gidget Recommends {a few of my favorite eBooks}:

One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler
Healthy Snacks to Go: 20 Real Food Recipes
Simple Blogging: Grow your blog with less time on the computer.
Thanks for reading!