I'm hosting a giveaway on my blog right now for a Fancy Nancy book. Such a great one to enter for mommies of little girls! Drop by and enter!

www.authenticallyashley.com

As I continue to catch up on posts that I'm running behind on...



Lorelai had her 4th birthday party a few weeks ago. She's been obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake for quite some time, so it was a no-brainer what theme she would pick. Here's a glimpse at some of the festivities...

Wow. We've had so much going on lately. Add a ton of business travel to the mix and the blog posts suffer! So I'm going to attempt to get caught up this week. Let's start with Halloween...



Last weekend we took the girls to the pumpkin patch to pick out their pumpkins. While we were there the girls hopped a ride on the tractor ride (pulling buckin' cows!). So cute!

To read the rest of this post... head on over to…

Today is my beautiful Lorelai's 4th birthday! Happy birthday, Baby! We spent the day yesterday celebrating with all our family - birth and adopted (I'll post pics later!). It was a fun and exhausting day! At the end of the night, Lorelai was winding down in the tub and I was straightening up the bathroom a bit. We were chatting away about the day's events and what we would be doing to celebrate today, when I said (as I usually do), "Do you know how happy I am to have you?" This…

This post is the sixth in a series of posts about the MAPP Gathering, a web-based interview series on Motherhood, Ambition, Passion and Purpose. 

It was finally time to allow myself some "mommy time" to catch up on those things that make me happy. And…

In my first post I referred you all to a blog post on another site which talked about the recent Today Show "expertise" about open vs. closed adoption. I've since cooled down and am ready to give you my take on it.



If you watch the clip, you'll see that each answer begins with "I wouldn't want..." or "I…

This Roundtable topic is: How do you feel after a visit?

I'm such a mixed mess of emotions after every visit. Usually it's a blend of happiness, sadness, anxiety, and gratitude.



I'm always happy to see my children's birth…

Wow am I behind on these... Well, not time to catch up like the present! In this Open Adoption Roundtable, we've been asked to respond to the following: Write about open adoption agreements. Is there one in your open adoption? What effect does it have on your relationships? If you could go back in time, would you approach the agreement differently?…

his post is the fifth in a series of posts about the MAPP Gathering, a web-based interview series on Motherhood, Ambition, Passion and Purpose. 





Today I finally had the time to tune into the fifth interview in the MAPP gathering interview series. This one with with Dr. Sara Gottfried, an integrative medical doctor who specializes in women's health. As Dr. Gottfried began sharing her journey to motherhood I…

This post is the third in a series of posts about the MAPP Gathering, a web-based interview series on Motherhood, Ambition, Passion and Purpose. 





Today I finally had a chance to dive into the 4th interview in the series. This interview was with Brene Brown, Ph.D. Dr. Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she does incredible research on shame and empathy. I think this may have been my favorite…

Check out my sneaky swap! http://modernmommymagic.blogspot.com/2012/04/tasty-treats-for-munchkins.html

Someone out there nominated me to be in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Blogs (about adoption). I don't know who you are, but THANK YOU!!! The blogs are voted on by folks out in cyberspace, so if you'd like to help get me up there in the top rankings - click below and vote!…

I am a fiend for sushi. In fact it's one of the only things that I miss since going vegetarian/vegan. Once in a while I can find places that make veggie sushi, but not too often. And then I stumbled upon a recipe for it online (get the recipe here!). I made mine with a combination of baked tofu (my new favorite thing), carrots, red peppers, cucumber, and avocado. Roll it up in some white rice (with rice vinegar) and…

This post is the third in a series of posts about the MAPP Gathering, a web-based interview series on Motherhood, Ambition, Passion and Purpose. 





Today I nestled in and listened to the third interview in the series with Pamela Slim. Pamela wears a number of hats (author, speaker, business coach, mom of 2) and is the author of…

This open adoption roundtable is one that made me laugh. Simply put it is: Write about grandparents in open adoption.

This post is the second in a series of posts about the MAPP Gathering, a web-based interview series on Motherhood, Ambition, Passion & Purpose. 





Today I listened to the second interview with Andrea Scher. Andrea owns Superhero Designs and blogs at …

As I mentioned in an earlier post there is a web-based interview series called the MAPP Gathering. MAPP stands for Motherhood, Ambition, Passion & Purpose. The series has 9 interviews in it by experts on a variety of topics related to this mission. And I really wanted to spend some time listening to these interviews. So this week I listened to the first one with…

Drop by... Take a read... Lend a hand. Thank you.

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