Beautiful Blogger Awards

A few shoutouts for my favorite bloggers right now:

• Char at Girls Sports Play for her patience, inspiration and teaching me everything I know about blogging.
• Vanessa at Chef Druck for her exclusive interview with The Help's author, Kathryn Sockett and Katie Couric
• Marie at Make and Takes. She blows my mind with her creativity.
• Janice Newell Bissex and Liz Weiss aka The Meal Makeover Moms. I can't stop eating their Grab and Go Granola Bars.
• Renee of Cutie Booty Cakes for inspiring me to stay on my diet.

Quick & Easy Low-Fat Granola Recipe

Over the holidays, my mom made the best granola ever—and it was low-fat.  My DS kept asking for "More peas!" Then I went to my friend Julia's house— and she had made the same yummy granola too. I'm really trying to get away from eating a lot of processed foods but who has the time to make their own granola?

Excuse: It tasted so good, its got to be difficult to make.  And I barely cook. 
Truth: It's super easy.

Excuse:  I don't have time to track down all the random ingredients a health food store.
Truth: All the ingredients can be found at your standard grocery store.

Excuse: I have no time to make granola. 
Truth: It takes only five minutes to put it together.
  
With no excuses, I gave it a try. And I'm so glad I did. Five minutes preparation time and so easy that my two year-old son makes it with me. It's become a staple in our house. 

Warning: When the granola bakes in your oven, it will make your whole house smell delicious. Once when my mom was baking them, her next door neighbor knocked on her door and said, "those cookies you're baking smell delicious."

Low-Fat Maple Granola From SparkPeople

Prep time: 5 Mins  •  Cook time: 35 Mins  • Level: Easy

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup whole almonds
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup flaked coconut (unprocessed)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup apple juice concentrate (find in the frozen section of your grocery store)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dried fruit

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300° F.
2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the dried fruit and toss well. 
3. Spread on large cookie sheet and bake 35-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. 
4. Stir in dried fruit.
5. Enjoy! 

Makes 6 servings (approx 5/8 cups each.)

Note: The recipe calls for a 1/4 cup apple juice concentrate I didn't have apple juice concentrate the first time I made it and the granola tasted great. So I don't use it.

Some people remove the maple syrup and just use the apple juice for sweetness. View full nutritional breakdown of Low-fat Maple Granola calories by ingredient.

Thanks to my mom and Julia for turning me on to this recipe.

Calling All Dads

Thanks to Char at sportsgirlsplay for sending this to me. I had to share it. It makes me laugh, mostly because I could totally see my DH getting a little bit rowdy R-O-W-D-Y!

Owen Wilson Across the Street From My House

I know, this iphone photo is tiny and could be anybody but here''s the deal: scenes for "Hall Pass," an upcomng Farrelly Brothers movie was shot in my neighborhood this week. Most of that time was spent across the street from my house in Drip, our little coffee shop.

I had a busy week at Usability Week 2010 and working on-site with client, so I didn't get a chance to have any one-on-one time with Owen Wilson. But I did get to watch him shoot a scene on Tuesday night. I had to see if he was handsome in person. And let me tell you, he is a hottie: tall, nice physique, great eyes, nose is totally sexy, his hair was in a nice cut,  and that boyish grin...he looked good. He was wearing Khakis and a gray Harvard T-shirt.

Sorry, I don't have better pictures. However, I was able to get some exclusive video with my iphone from the movie set. It's not of Owen but of another cutie: my DS learning to ride his mini kick scooter.

Sesame Street: Grey's Anatomy Parody

Thanks to Sesame Street for making their videos enjoyable for both me -- and my son. Check out this funny video.

Atlanta Review: Fabu Facial Spa

For Valentine's Day my DH set me up with an Eminence Fruit and Vegetable Facial at Fabu Face Spa in Decatur, GA. I love getting facials, they relax and recharge me. Fabu was recommended to me by a friend and I've been meaning to go for a long time but like most moms me time is pushed to the back burner. So after months of thinking, I should really get a facial, I finally got one.

My first impression of Fabu was warm and welcoming. When I first walked in the woman at the front desk welcomed me with a warm smile and asked "Jennifer?" when I told her I was there for a facial. She led me to the waiting area and offered me water or tea. The waiting area isn't very impressive. It's partitioned off from the storefront with a folding screen and a few chairs around a coffee table. However the storefront area isn't loud and it's filled with sweet smelling perfumes, makeup, clothing and all the accessories that make you enjoy being a girl. And to keep you busy while briefly waiting for your session to begin, they have every recent magazine you want to read but never have the time to read since having kids. It's pet peeve of mine when a waiting room has magazines from last season.

I was impressed by their brief questionnaire. It wasn't too long and asked if I was open to product recommendations at the end of my facial. I'm happy to hear recommendations for my skin but I don't want the hard sell to buy $300 worth of skin care products and said so.

Jessica Kane, welcomed me with bright flawless skin and perfect makeup--not too much, not too little. Once in the room I noticed two Best of Atlanta awards. One specifically for her giving the best facial in Atlanta from 2005. I was impressed that she's being at the same location and experienced.

Jessica lived up to her award, she gave a great facial. It included arm, shoulder and back massage which was great. Not to hard, not too soft,but just right. She worked on my skin for the entire seventy minutes. (I've had many facials where they apply a mask and then leave the room for 20 minutes while it sets.) My skin was glowing when she was finished. Something to note, when we started Jessica explained the process and then didn't talk until my facial was over. The silence was very appreciated. I get facials to relax and don't want to have to talk or fear of coming off rude.

A nice touch at the end, Jessica left a piece of chocolate for me next to her card. That's when I decided not only was she getting a nice tip but I was booking my next appointment upon check out. (I'm not sure if the chocolate was just for Valentine's Day or if it's customary.)

Jessica's makeup was so perfect and I had to ask her what she used and to set me up with some. It's a tinted cream with SPF. It goes on smooth and has no smell which is key for me.

Out of the other Atlanta spas that I've had facials: Spa Sydell, Jazmin Spa, and Natural Body, Fabu is the best. *Please note: Fabu and Jessica are unaware of this review and I've received no compensation for this review.*

Fun Activities for Toddlers

Snowed in this weekend? Check out the new easy and fun toddler activities we have on Snackpicks.com to keep your toddlers happy --and you sane.  Some highlights include:

Letter and number coloring pages for little ones.

 

Letter Hunt Game to keep your toddlers busy --and learning letters

by Marie of Make and Takes

Fun Snack: Ski Mouse from Kellie of Little Nummies to impress your little ones Valentine's Day.

Fake Leaves For Owen Wilson

According to my husband, our neighborhood "is the coolest neighborhood we will ever live in." In addition to our great neighbors and cool urbanism design concept, it's also a popular setting for movie and television shoots. It's been in a bunch of commercials, The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock and a Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva. And now they are filming a Farrelly Brothers movie starring Owen Wilson which the nerd in me finds pretty exciting.

It blows my mind each time a set and crew hits the neighborhood how much work and detail goes into making everything look just so. Case in point, in February there are no leaves on the trees. For the past three days men have been on cranes attaching fake leaves to all the tree branches within the camera's view. I'm so impressed how real it looks. At first I thought they had planted new trees.

Pacifier Poll

Please take the following anonymous poll. I'm researching when most little ones give up "the bink". Thanks!

Online Surveys & Market Research

Modern Family: Flaming Moment

Love these guys! Every once and a while I have to break out my cowboy voice too.

Expert Tips On How To Grow Your Blog

Tip Junkie has graciously posted the Handout from the Blissdom Session, Connecting With Your Community of Readers. The handout is chock full of great tactics on how to grow and maintain your blog's readership. You may notice I just added the link within app on Jeneric Stories a few days ago -- inspired by this panel, Thank you very much. I also have to admit, it was this panel that caused me to come the realization that I was using Twitter totally and completely wrong. Thanks to presenters Amy of Mom Advice , Stephanie of Adventures in Baby Wearing, Mindy of The Mommy Blog, and Laurie of Tip Junkie, I now have some Twitter Manners and a plan on how to get to the next level with my lil' blog.
Warning: Don't let me mislead you, this isn't just for newbies, it also includes many advanced tips for those of you who've been blogging for a while.

Blissdom Review

 

I just got back the Blissdom 2010 conference and my hat goes off to Allison Worthington, Barbara Jones and Paula Bruno. It was everything I hoped for and more.

Here My Eight Blissdom Highlights:

1. Opening Keynote Speaker Kevin Carroll was the best motivational speaker I've ever heard. He kept me riveted in my seat for an hour. I highly recommend you check out his blog and books.
2. Finally met some of the mom bloggers I work with on Snackpicks in person. They all are impressive, intelligent and just amazing women: Mercedes of Common Sense With Money, Renee of Cutie Booty Cakes and Marie of Makes and Takes
3. Great Swag including a cute Lands End Tote, Bliss Facial, CoverGirl makeup, and some serious coupons.
4. Harry Conick Jr. and his band put on a very fun and intimate performance, just for us ladies. 
5. Wendy Scherer, Final Keynote speaker and Partner at The Social Studies Group, let me pick her brain while we waited for Harry to perform. Thank you Wendy!
6. The opportunity to meet and spend time with Manic Mommie, Erin Kane. I've been a listener Manic Mommies since my son was born 2 years ago and it was super fun to dish about all the past episodes and get to know Erin on a personal level.
7. Learned a ton from informative panels about FTC guidelines, how to increase traffic to blogs, and how to create a community.
8. Met a bunch of intelligent, supportive and clever woman bloggers in person after reading their blogs and tweets for years.