Happy February everybody! I can’t really speculate on how February will be for me, as I just had surgery yesterday and am doing good to put my fingers to the keyboard in an articulate manner – so speculation can go right out the window. And plenty of pain meds and yummy soup can come in the window.

On a more serious note, can you believe that it’s February? It seems like it was just a few days ago when I was griping that I would never see the type of weather that would make me think of massages in Huntington Beach, and here we are, with yet another winter half over. I can already see the difference in the evenings. I’m a mom, you know, and since mid-October I’ve been telling the kids to be in before dark – which is right around 4:55-5:00pm. Now it’s light a little longer, with “before dark” being around 5:15pm. Pretty soon the sun will still be shining at 5:15pm, and I won’t lie – I’m looking forward to those days.

And just like that, November is just about over, and December is just about to begin. I don’t know about you, but for me the Christmas season seems much more real and IN-YOUR-FACE upon the first day of December. As it stands, there are just 25 days until Christmas. Whoo hoo! Who’s excited?

Happy Black Friday, everyone! How was your Thanksgiving? Did you stuff yourself silly on turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie? I didn’t because I had gastric bypass surgery a little over two years ago, and thus my stomach is now about the size of a large egg, but I did have spoonfuls of all sorts of delicious things.

Are you doing any Black Friday shopping today? I originally planned on it, and even had plans on how I would stay awake for it all (sleep in late on Thanksgiving, grab a quick nap after an early Thanksgiving dinner, then take a caffeine pill and some Midol to keep me perky and headache-free for the next 8-10 hours). But then I was scheduled for surgery on 11/23, and since I needed the surgery, I went ahead with it. I made it through a low-key Thanksgiving dinner with family, but Black Friday shopping? Not happening.

So while I’m sitting at home loaded up on painkillers and browsing online ads, have fun and shop ’til you drop (or your wallet gives out, heh) without me!

I’m so jealous of people who live in Philadelphia, PA (my hometown); Pittsburgh, PA (where my husband and I lived for two years); and the west coast. Why?! Simple: there are lots of awesome places to shop at! There’s the Lovesac store, which sells what I dub “lego couches”, because you can take them apart and rebuild them in a variety of ways, as well as giant beanbags (and by “giant” I mean that there are ones that weigh upwards of two hundred pounds and could fill a small bedroom!). There’s the MAC store, which sells — you guessed it — awesome MAC cosmetics. There’s the Ultra store, another cosmetics store that I’ve always wanted to check out. Then there’s the Hello Kitty store, which the lovely Catherine Seven has taunted me about. And then there’s the Orange County jewelry store, which I’ve seen pictures of and would love to go to — but only with one of those limitless credit cards.

What stores would you love to shop at, if given the opportunity?

Many bloggers have this crazy idea that all they need to do to acquire free products is set up a blog and then bug advertisers and PR reps for free stuff in exchange for promotional posts. And while it’s true that advertisers and PR reps usually are looking for promotional content and will happily compensate bloggers who write content for them with free stuff, a little more goes into it. First of all, you need a decent blog that has a halfway decent Alexa ranking, a Google PR of at least 1 (or 2 or 3 or even 4!), and traffic. After all, what good is promotional content on a blog if no one is there to read it?

Just as importantly, you should seek out free products to review and/or give away that have relevance to you. If you live in an unsafe area and are concerned about home safety or vandalism, then a set of wireless security cameras might be a great choice. Likewise, if you live in the country, solar-powered porch lights would be a great choice. If you’re artistic, then drawing art supplies are definitely worth reviewing.

When requesting a product for review, be sure to present to the advertiser arguments for why you’re a good choice. Make sure you provide information on your site’s traffic and demographics, and be sure to provide a timeline for when you think you can have a post completed for them. Good luck!