{UPDATED} - 'Bloggers to Brands: Best Practices for Working Together'

What: A live, all-text Talk on The Motherhood, called Bloggers to Brands: Best Practices for Working Together. Navigating the waters of the blogger-brand relationship can be tricky. Join us for thoughts and suggestions that might help, and share your best tips and advice for PR people, brands and companies when it comes to working with YOU. We'll create a crowd-sourced list of best practices for brands when it comes to approaching bloggers (and vice versa).

When: Thursday, September 13, at 1 p.m. ET. We will chat for 30 minutes!

Where: On The Motherhood, right here - http://bit.ly/P3WVKW

Who: The all-text chat will be hosted by Carol Cain of NY City Mama, http://nycitymama.com/. Co-hosting are these awesome people:

Corine, Complicated Mama, http://www.complicatedmama.com/
Jen, Next Kid Thing, http://nextkidthing.com/
Niri, Mommy Niri, http://www.mommyniri.com/
Roo, Nice Girl Notes, http://www.nicegirlnotes.com/
ME! Tracy, Ascending Butterfly, http://www.ascendingbutterfly.com/

Host Twitter IDs:

@CarolACain

@CooperMunroe

@eolson426

@theMotherhood

@EmilyMcKhann

Co-host Twitter IDs:

@ComplicatedMama

@jenrab

@mommyniri

@roociambriello

Me, @Tracy_Iglesias

The Talk will move fairly quickly – please don't worry about not following everything and everyone! Most importantly, ENJOY the conversation. A Blog Post will be created from the transcript of the text chat afterwards that will serve as a guide and a white paper of sorts that both bloggers and brands can use in learning new ways to collaborate with one another better!

So please be there and contribute to this very important online conversation!

UPDATE: I wanted to personally thank all the hosts and everyone who attended this fast-paced chat, I also wanted to update this post to share with you the Talk Summary. The article offers tips for both brands/PR firms and blogger to improve their working relationship!

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FTC Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post, however co-hosting the chat does come with additional incentives.

Beauty SOS! Sending out a Beauty Bat Signal to #windowstyle

I can finally announce that I am attending BlogHer 2012 this year! Because of my medical nightmare that started last year I was unable to attend BlogHer 2011 in San Diego, and this year I didn't have time to do any outreaches for conference sponsorship because I spent so much of this year in the hospital. Being in the hospital did have one benefit, I had a lot of time to read (well between exploratory surgeries and high doses of super intense medications, LOL), and during my nightly reading online one night, I found out that BlogHer needed Volunteers and a light bulb went off! With medical expenses I would not have been able to purchase a ticket to BlogHer this year. So I applied to volunteer. And thankfully, I was selected. I will be 'earning' my seat which I'm grateful for and very proud of! And I have also been asked to Live Blog during BlogHer Panels FOR BlogHer, not just as an attendee! WOWZERS + AWESOMESAUCE = YAY ME!

I am totally excited, but also incredibly nervous. I don't get to 'hide' this time behind my laptop, camera or portable device, I will be meeting panelists and attendees as a Microphone Wrangler, and I will actually have to come out of my shell. Not so easy! All eyes on me has never been something I was totally comfortable with. (Yes I do get the irony of that statement, but I didn't really begin blogging to 'live my life out loud', it just sort of happened throughout the years!)

Like many bloggers, as the day swiftly approaches, I have been raiding all my closets in hopes that I'd find something *perfect* to wear. As if some magical unicorn would place some perfect 'power outfit' in my closet for me that would fit to a tee!

My research on ideas on what to wear to BlogHer did turn up an amazing find! I found a post on the Windows Experience Blog that caught my eye - BlogHer Attendees: Win A $1500 Style Makeover from Windows #sweepstakes!

What it boils down to? I'm glad you asked, it's my job in this post to explain why I deserve a style makeover and what I’d like my new re-imagined look to be like, and so I thought I'd do it in pictures!

I started my new year here:

I was told I was on 'borrowed time' and would soon end up here:

Several exploratory surgeries later (with me actually waking up during one of them) we discovered I had been given a mis-diagnosis originally (you can read more about my medical nightmare here: http://www.ascendingbutterfly.com/2012/01/open-letter-to-new-presbyterian.html):

I have been unable to resume the workout routine that was really working for me in 2010 and early 2011 (I had lost over 26 pounds and 3 dress sizes it was hard work and I was SO happy). But this year with multiple surgeries I was told to take it easy, so this year I blew up like a:

I'm at a major crossroads (personally and professionally) and after starting my year thinking that it would be my last, I have a new lease on life and I want my outside to reflect my inside! Here is a vision board of what I imagine I could be, of what I want my makeover to look like:

So far this medical nightmare robbed me of both New Year's AND my birthday this year and I refuse to let it rob me of anything else! As far as I'm concerned, this BlogHer isn't just another conference, it's 'carpe blogem' for me, I plan to seize the day, the conference and my blog! I figure if I'm going to invest my time in making my blog better, shouldn't I invest the same amount of time in making myself better?

Emotionally I'm still trying to piece this year together, it's been much like Tornado, but slowly and surely I am getting the pieces together and my outside should look like as empowered as I feel on the inside. Ascending Butterfly's mission statement is a simple one: To seek and share the best sources of inspiration out there. This year I want to be inspired. The only way I can continue to inspire and empower others is by empowering myself, this makeover would be the first major step toward that goal.

If you'd like to see your favorite butterfly blogger go from Chrysalis to Butterfly, please send a quick tweet to @kristinalibby with the hashtag #windowstyle

Here is a sample tweet:

@kristinalibby Pls pick @Ascending1 to go from Chrysalis to #Butterfly during #BlogHer12 with a #windowstyle #Makeover http://ow.ly/ctAO9

If you voted, please be sure to come back and post the link to your tweet on this post!

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FTC Disclosure: In writing this post, I’m entering the Microsoft Windows Style Makeover Sweepstakes for a chance to win a head to toe makeover. No monetary compensation has been received for sharing this information. All opinions are 100% my own.

Wordless Wednesday - A Day At The Faucets!

Happy Wordless Wednesday Butterflies!

Here are my personal shots from last week's Delta Faucets aka #DeltaTouch event at The Setai Fifth Avenue New York's Penthouse. You can read my full event recap as well as Home Entertaining Tips I learned, here.

Above: Isn't that faucet pretty?

Pictured Above: New York City Bloggers smiling pretty for the camera after having fun sharing entertainment tips! (If you are trying to spot the butterfly, going from right to left, I'm the one in the black shirt and jeans with a butterfly pendant showing of course!)

I'm getting a little better at this Wordless thing........ =)

 

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