When you want to move on but...

some people just won't go away.

For months now I have been dealing with someone who copied the name of my blog, this blog. Not just anyone, a company the same as Grace Announcements.

A few months ago I posted a couple of frustrations on my blog. Within a few weeks I had found another company who stole my images and used them as her own on her website and a competitor who was using the same name as my "the mom behind the designs" blog for her blog name. When I wrote the post about it but I didn't include her name, her company name or a link to her site so there was no way to know exactly who I was talking about unless you knew her directly. Because at that time if you searched her blog name it didn't show up. Well she, who doesn't visit my websites or blogs {sorry I know you do and you did more than you said you did!} sends this childish email calling me unprofessional for my post and her sloppy seconds. Me unprofessional... her calling me her "sloppy seconds"... hmm I wonder who is unprofessional? She says how she didn't know she was using the same name as my blog; she says the only time she was on my blog was when I had my daughter back at the beginning of 2007. After my blog was named “the mom behind the designs”, yet she didn't notice it. She didn't notice the HUGE banner at the top that said The Mom Behind the Designs. I started using that name in 2006; she didn't until the end of 2008. So I look back through my traffic stats and there were regular visits from her little town on a regular basis. She goes on in her emails about my copying her and how much my work sucks, etc. She flat out says she will NOT stop using the name on her blog. I don't like her pushing herself as my “name”. It can become very easy for people to get confused when you have two mom's both of whom are designers, both of whom have the same business, both of whom blog about their life. She might as well change her name to Lindsay!! I posted the email she sent me, and I got a nasty email from either her in hiding or a friend of hers. They brought up again how much my work sucks and how people go to her instead of me. That it was horrible for me to do this to her and they felt so bad for her, yet I had still never posted who she was. How could all these people know her if I didn't say who it was? I decided to step back, at the time I was dealing with some personal issues and really didn’t feel like being brought down further by her childish behaviour. Well last week I got a comment on my blog (I didn't realize that I had allowed anonymous comments) about how my copied designs sucked and they were emailing my competition. I know again it was her; she visited my blogs and website 10 times that day.

I really wondered if others thought that posting that was wrong and unprofessional so moved past it. But then last week I get that blog comment. I know I can't make everyone happy and I don't ever expect to. You either like me and my work or you don't. If you don't move on, you will not succeed with trying to bring me down. I could care less about what you think! Call me your sloppy seconds or whatever else you can come up with, I don't care and you won't win this childish game with me.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Many many years ago today at 2:32pm I was born into the wonderful world. In the same hospital I gave birth to my two beautiful babies in. I have been in the hospital 3 times in my life and all of them were a birth!

So my wonderful hubby was going to get up with the kids this morning, but of course they slept in. Why do they always sleep in on the days when I get to sleep in??? Conspiracy I tell you! We all got up and went off to breakfast. It is nice to not cook breakfast for everyone. The place was okay, busy and slow but what do you expect for a Sunday morning. We are very limited by our breakfast choices around here. If I wanted to open a restaurant I would open an amazing breakfast place and I would be rich! Things were going well, until my husband pulls a big clump our hair out of his mouth. We both lost our appetites at that instant. The waitress was great, she gave us our meal for free and stamped a card full so we could get another free meal. I am not sure if I will ever want to use that free meal.

I dropped them off and headed to my gym where their {and my} holistic nutritionist was giving a tour of a local holistic market. I was excited to do that so I could learn more about the place, it is rather confusing even with their amazingly helpful staff. After spending an hour and a half with her I then shopped and bought some great things. I have learned so much lately about health and well being. My nutritionist gave a detox seminar at the gym a few weeks ago and I learned some really scary stuff about some of the things I ate. It was the last push to make some more changes. I plan to share much of it with you all over the next while. I think a big push for me was my constant illness and mental state.

I then hit the mall and went shopping in my favorite store, Lululemon. I bought some new black staples {I own a lot of black, 85% of my wardrobe is black!} and a hot pink skinny jacket that I absolutely love! When I got home I spent some time outside with my family enjoying the sunshine. Then my amazing girlfriend {she was my neighbour before I moved last summer} and her daughters stopped by for a visit and dinner. We ordered Chinese from the best restaurant in town and enjoyed some good food and even more chats.

I sat and enjoyed some cuddle time with my two kids and watched some Treehouse, until Miss E pooped. So up we went for a bum change {I am looking forward to being diaper free!} pj's, and books. We read a couple extra just because I wanted to spend a couple extra minutes with her! I asked if I could get a hug for my birthday and she sang "happy birthday" to me. The first couple of times it was to her, but hey she tried!

Back downstairs where I cuddled with my son. I am amazed every day how much he is growing up. He is going to be 5 this summer, FIVE! Where does the time go? We cuddled and watched some Max and Ruby. I showed him and my hubby the video of Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent, that woman is amazing! I have seen Les Miserables and she rocks that song. My two men then sang "Happy Birthday" and after many hugs and kisses off to bed they went. Well the big man came back. He is now doing the dishes while I type this and watch Desperate Housewives. After this I am going to be the lucky recipient of a wonderful back rub.

This has been one of the best birthdays in a long long time! I have an amazing family who loves me and wonderful friends. Thanks for all the calls and messages!

Martha Stewart's - Cookie of the Day

Remembering

I came across this photo tonight and I love it! Halloween 2008, just before going trick or treating (you can tell by the chocolate around his mouth and on his suit that he has already been snacking!) My son loves to play dress up, he has many costumes that he loves to pretend play in. This fire suit is one of those, he loved it so much that he had to use it for Halloween.

Had to throw in our attempt at getting a photo of our 2 together. Miss E never cooperates. This happens anytime we try.

Here he is a couple months earlier at our private fire hall tour thanks to "Fireman Steve", in the same suit! We bought the suit for him a few weeks before we moved and he wore it each and every day for weeks. If you notice what Miss E is wearing, it was the summer. Do you think he cared? Of course not, he would wear it over pants and be all red faced and we still had to fight to get it off.

I need to dig up one of his newest costumes, the NASA space suit we bought at the Kennedy Space Center on our trip to Florida. Yes he wore a space suit around Cocoa Beach in 80F weather. At least it was not the princess dress of his sisters that makes my husband cringe! Shhhh... don't tell him I told you that, or I won't be able to share a photo of him dressed up as Snow White! ;)

Life's Advice

I just read this advice this morning and I just had to share because I think it is so very true!

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

Friends and loved ones are like balloons; once you let them go, you might not get them back. Sometimes we get so busy with our own lives and problems that we may not even notice that we’ve let them fly away. Sometimes we are so caught up in who’s right and who’s wrong that we forget what’s right and wrong. Sometimes we just don’t realize what real friendship means until it is too late.

The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime! It is never too late to have or become what you might have been.

But if you lack the courage to start, you have already finished.

This is one of my biggest challenges for 2009. I am being selfish and putting myself first for once in a long long time. I am taking care of myself so I can take care of the others around me. I am surrounding myself with people who treat me right and forgetting about the others. At times this has been hard for me to do. I am constantly faced with the struggle of why some do what they do. But in this process I have connect with some amazing people who are showing me that everything happens for a reason.

I am in a constant struggle to make myself and life better. Some days I fail miserably, but I am working on it. Well off to get myself ready and feeling beautiful - the first step in a "great" day!