Happy 54th Birthday, Morrissey

Today is Stephen Patrick Morrissey's birthday.

If you were a child of the 80's and 90's or you just have a love of moody, hipster music...than you should know who Stephen Patrick Morrissey is.

Morrissey.

Once the lead singer for The Smiths, Morrissey went on to have a solo career and I think that's when I really fell in love with his music. I listened to Bona Drag on constant repeat my first year of college. It was just me, my babydoll dresses, my black Doc Martens, my burgundy hair (that looked very much like Raggedy Anne) and my Morrissey CD's.

Gawd, I loved that music.

It was everything I needed during that rough child-to-adulthood, I'm in college and I have no friends and no boyfriend, #foreveralone transition I was experiencing. I would turn up Yes, I'm Blind, November Spawned a Monster, The Last Famous International Playboys and the always classic Suedehead.

I still love Morrissey's music and I've tried to get my boys into it but they're uncultured swine and if it isn't Dub Step, Reggae or Metal, they aren't having it.

Sad face.

I still have hope for my daughters. Hopefully I can pass on my love for Morrissey to them. I can see them now, sketching in their drawing books, black combat boots, hair hanging over one eye, listening to Morrissey and it sounding as fresh and relevant as it did when their mama was a lovelorn college student.

Artwork by Rio Yañez..

Happy 54th birthday, Morrissey!

Inspira Jewelry: Inspired to be one of a kind

The second I saw this necklace I thought, this is something Frida Kahlo would've worn. I want!

Frida was known for wearing beautiful, bold Pre-Columbian jewelry, handmade stones and pendants. Contrary to popular belief, she wore them as a political statement. In no way were they trendy or fashionable during Frida's time.

As always, Frida was an individual.




I once read that many of her necklaces were gifts from her husband Diego Rivera, as a peace offering during his many infidelities.

Ew.

I love Frida Kahlo and I love Diego Rivera (enough to name my son after him!), but part of me hates him for all of the pain he caused her.

But of course, I bought it.

I can't help but feel a little exotic in it. I love the sound the stones make when they click against each other while I'm putting it on or taking it off. I love the weight of the stones against my neck. I also like that I can open the locket and put a photo inside. And it sits right in between the décolletage.

Like my new glasses? Read about them on BabyCenter.

You know, the cleavage--assuming I had some, of course.

I purchased this necklace from Inspira, which is handmade jewelry by my dear friend Lizzy. Connect with her on Facebook and follow @LaChillona on Instagram for more pics of the stuff she makes.

You can't have this one. It's mine!

Tales of a Font Hoe: 19 favorite fonts

5th Grade Cursive

Cinnamon Cake

A Year Without Rain

Clair de Lune

Raja Drama

Frenchy

Vermilion

Jicama

Seriously

Cocobella

Sue Ellen Francisco

KG Call Me Maybe

Fascinate

Learning Curve

KG Ways to Say Goodbye

Stefanie Dots

Zebra
Suecos Locos

Elsie Tall-N-Skinny

It's time for another installment from Tales of a Font Hoe, where I confess my undying love of fonts. Or, as my husband so astutely pointed out to after my last post, type.

Whatever, man.

I just know I dig fonts. It recently occurred to me that I have a definite attraction to tall and skinny fonts. I don't mean to be discriminatory--chubby fonts need love too--I just like what I like. I also like way out, kooky fonts like Zebra. I just know there will be an occasion where life will demand I use Zebra.

If not, I will definitely make one up. Can I get a witness?

Does anyone recognize Sue Ellen Francisco from PicMonkey? What is it with that site? I paid good money that totes could've bought me a sushi lunch for the Royale version and....those fonts?

Weaksauce.

I love PicMonkey just as much as everyone else. But the fonts leave something to be desired. Way too Halloweenie. No one uses dripping blood fonts. Ahem. Dracula, Exquisite Corpse, Drawing Blood and Nightbird.

Just saying.

Enjoy!

Sweeten up your business card presentation

If you are a blogger, than chances are you want to attend a blogging conference, you already attended one this year or you are definitely planning on attending one.

One of the most common practices at a conference is exchanging business cards. One thing I know for sure, you will smile and shake hands with many, many people. You will introduce yourself to a countless number of people and I promise you one thing.

You won't remember their name. Or what they do. Or what is the name of their blog.

You won't, so stop telling yourself you will.

This is where business cards come in handy. Those little cards put together a name, a brand, a company, a face, a PR agency--all of those very important factors that are needed when considering a working relationship. I was so sad to look through a stack of business cards I received from the last conference I attended with so little information on them, leaving me no recollection of the person or what they do.  

Sssshhhh...don't tell anyone but I threw all the boring ones in the trash.

Not to be mean, but seriously, I had no idea what else to do with them. Trust me, I did not want my business cards to suffer the same fate. I loved the way my business cards turned out but I also knew I wanted to elevate their presentation just a little more. Inspired by the many posts I read about Alt Summit back in January (Alt Summit will be in San Francisco in July!! Squeee!), I knew if I just added some sort of personal touch to my cards when I handed them out to people, that would increase the chances of them remembering me.

Together with my bro Jeshua from Boifromipanema, we doodled on each of the brown paper sleeves with a black Sharpie marker. We actually did these in our hotel room at the Eden Roc the first night we arrived in Miami for Hispanicize '13.

Then, I slid my business card inside with (this is my favorite part)...a few Juicy Pear Jelly Bellies.

Totally cute, right?

I mean, who doesn't like Juicy Pear? Coincidentally, it happens to be my favorite Jelly Belly flavor.

I can't tell you how many people were surprised to find the Jelly Bellies inside the paper sleeve. And the cool thing is, they usually ate them right in front of me, telling me what a sweet, creative idea it was! And then we chatted it up. When I saw them in various sessions and luncheons, they knew my name and that I was the blogger from Pearmama dot com.

Mission accomplished.

The Craft of Blogging this Saturday 5/18

I'm excited to announce The Craft of Blogging Workshop. It's happening this Saturday!

Anytime people find out I'm a blogger, I field a ton of questions.

How did you become a blogger?
Did you go to school for that?
Do you make money?
Do you get stuff for free?
How did you start writing for BabyCenter?
How do you work with brands?
How do I make a blog?

There is so much information I've gathered over the years that sometimes I feel like I overwhelm people with my response to their questions. In fact, we'll answer those questions and more.

In two days, I'll get to pour out all of the goodies, along with fellow bloggers Xenia from Raised by Culture and Ruby from Growing Up Blackxican. They are two really interesting people with great families and I love their blogs--I'm so excited to be working alongside them. We are all blogging from different niches, and we each have something worthwhile to share.

We've been sharing about this workshop through all of our social media channels over the past several weeks and I'm happy to say that we're going to have a full house on Saturday....but wait!

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I just got the news they've released one more ticket for tomorrow's event! I'm going to give one lucky Pearmama reader a free spot at tomorrow's Craft of Blogging Workshop. 

If you're in the Southern California area and you want to learn the basics of blogging, then enter to win! 

Just make sure you follow @pearmama and @thecraftofblogging on Twitter and send me a tweet saying you want to join us and I'll pick a winner by midnight tonight.

Good luck!!