Wifessionals

An Explanation

With the exception of responding to comments on instagram yesterday, I have remained silent. However, I wanted to take a few minutes and address openly what happened yesterday.
I signed on yesterday morning to find a ton of blogs I followed were hosting a giveaway. I looked at it briefly and then proceeded to make a comment on my instagram feed about my feelings towards the giveaway. At the time, I did not know that the giveaway was created by a specific blogger. While I thought the concept of the giveaway was creative and much better than a $20 gift card, I saw that some smaller bloggers MAY interpret some of the prizes in a way that was not the intention. I personally have offered video consultations or other services for a small fee on my own blog, so I had no problem with that. I am not a hypocrite, so saying that giving away such services as a prize would be wrong of me. The problem that I had was that some of the prizes stated "unlimited email responses" to the winner.
As a "bigger" blogger, I did not want anyone getting the impression that they were not free to email me whenever. Although sometimes it may take me a day or two to respond, I always reply to emails. Bloggers have talked to me before, saying they were so scared to email me, because they thought I wouldn't have time for them or that they have been ignored by other big bloggers in the past. This saddens me, as we are all just equals, all writing about and sharing things we are passionate about. I placed the hashtag #bloggersarenotcelebrities on my instagram, not implying that anyone involved in the giveaway thought they were a celebrity, but just stating that we should be able to take the time to respond to any reader who comments.
I believe the hashtag caused a lot of the issues with my post. For that I am sorry. It was not my intention to make any of those girls feel that I was being rude to them or that I was trying to imply they thought they were better than anyone else. I merely added the hastag lightheartedly, joking that even bigger bloggers are just regular ole' people.
The other fault I realized quite early on yesterday, was that the giveaway was created by one blogger in particular. I know that I have created ideas in the past that I thought were awesome, only to have someone else discourage me or tear me down. The instant I realized that this giveaway was not a collaboration, but rather a blogger's idea, I emailed that blogger personally. I explained to her everything I am writing here and told her that I was so sorry if she took my comment as being directed at her. I let her know that I thought the giveaway in and of itself was really creative, I was just trying to bring attention to how it MAY come off to some people. We emailed back and forth 4 times, all very respectfully. She explained that some of the bloggers who offered "email" as the prize were not comfortable doing phone calls or video chats. I can respect that. She admitted that her wording may have been poor regarding the "email" part of it and thanked me for coming to her directly to apologize and work it out. We ended the conversation and said we would both just move forward.
This is something that no one else in blogland witnessed, and that was ok with me. I didn't go to her to talk to her and apologize to put a bandaid on the issue and hope for no drama. I went to apologize because I could see how she would have thought my comment was tearing down her idea and how her feelings could have been hurt. In reality, I made a comment about my viewpoint on prizes that were being offered in a "group giveaway". At the time I made the post, I was only speaking my opinion on something that I didn't agree with and that I wanted to clarify with my readers or other bloggers. I am not sorry for that. Blogging gives all of us the platform to have an opinion. We all write posts every day with differing viewpoints and that is all my post was meant to be. I realize that my added hashtag, which was not intended to be taken seriously as me calling anyone a celebrity, made my post come off as offensive, catty or rude to the bloggers involved in the giveaway, and I apologize for that.
I went back and re-read all of my comments on the post. I was never attacking, I never called anyone any names and I never belittled anyone who felt the need to leave a comment. I respected all the commenters, because just like me, they have a right to express an opinion. I knew when I posted it that by putting my opinion out there, I would get negative feedback - not everyone agrees with everyone else...but what occurred for the rest of the day yesterday and throughout today really disappointed me. There are plenty of times I have not agreed with something someone has said, but I just speak my opinion respectfully and move on. That is not really what happened in this situation. A lot of hurtful and rude things were thrown around and said, and I just didn't understand why bloggers had to get so ugly.
So I wrote this just to explain what happened, to offer my apologies for anything that was misinterpreted, but also to say that everyone has their own viewpoint and thoughts on things and if they want to express them, that is their right. And as long as they aren't making fun of anyone, calling people names or being disrespectful, there is no reason for people to act so ugly.

Check out one of the sweetest ladies I know, Mallory:

Day 23: Bixby Basil {Review & Giveaway}

disclosure: i received this product in exchange for highlighting this business. all opinions are my own.
Today I am bring you the shop Bixby Basil. I first stumbled across it while looking for pillows for the nursery. I was blown away by the number of fabrics and pillow covers that Erika offers in her shop! They are not even all "nursery" fabrics, but ones that I would LOVE to use in any room in my home.
She sent me 2 beautiful covers in the fabric above. They are perfect for the colors we have in the nursery.
Some of my most favorite items in her shop:

{navy seahorse pillow cover}

{charcoal print pillow cover}

{boppy covers}

{washi tape}

She honestly has hundreds of fabrics that could go with any decor. Erika also loves working on custom orders and would be happy to chat with you about any project you have in mind (:

Erika would love to give you all the chance to receive 10% off any order from her shop! Just use the code: 10OFF
It will expire on July 19th, 2013.

She is also giving away a $25 shop credit to one of my readers! The contest will run for one week and is open to US Residents. Just use the Rafflecopter below to gain entries!

Thank you again Erika for sharing your shop with us!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*i was given this item in exchange for highlighting this business. no other compensation was provided. all opinions are my own and are not influenced by anything other than my love for small businesses.

Check out one of the sweetest ladies I know, Mallory:

Unexpected Moments & Growing As A Couple {Link Up}

Today is the third week in the marriage link up series "From One Year To Beyond". We would love to have you link up your posts on the weekly topic (:

Today's Topic: What Have You Learned From The Unexpected & How Have You Grown As A Couple?

I think no matter how many people you ask for advice and regardless of how much you plan out what marriage will be like, you can't picture how things will actually go until you live them.

There have been plenty unexpected moments and events in our marriage over the past year. This is especially true because we are in the Army. Ryan actually tried to get out of the Army right before we got married, but at the last minute, we decided to stay in. That choice caused us to pack up our entire life a week after tying the knot, and driving from Nashville to Arizona. It was crazy and not organized, but it ended up being so much fun. Living in the middle of nowhere gave us the chance to spend so much time with each other. Even though we would just make up date nights at home or go out on long hikes, I will always be so grateful that we had that time to just get to know each other as newlyweds. Then about 4 months later, we found out we would be moving to Colorado. Again, we found this out and had about a month to move. I am always a huge planner, so being married to Ryan has really taught me to rely on God to take care of us. I know we will always end up where we are meant to be.

Moving twice in less than six months was a challenge, but I think it really helped Ryan and I to grow closer as a couple. We made it through a lot of stressful situations together and used those times to laugh and love on each other, rather than argue and be stressed out. We tried to view all of these "obstacles" as adventures and I think that really helped.

Last week, I did touch on the fact that Ryan and I lost our first pregnancy back in the Fall. After that, it took several months to get pregnant. I always had the misconception that I would get pregnant the second I started trying. This was another hard thing we went through that we were not expecting. It taught us that God's timing really is best and that we didn't need to worry so much. As soon as we let go of trying to control that situation and just enjoy being married...we got pregnant! I know that sounds cliche, but it's truly what happened.

Through all these things Ryan and I have had our faith and each other. After a year together we realize that as long as we have each other and keep God at the center of our marriage, we really can make it through anything and He will provide. Does that mean that things will never be hard or heartbreaking for us? No. And we aren't naive and believe that the harder things we experienced this year are "as bad as it will get". I am sure we will have some serious low points in our marriage, but I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, strong, Christian man by my side through it all. Life throws you unexpected curveballs - what is important is how you choose to deal with those crazy times and that you use it as an excuse to cling to your partner and work through them together. Don't let these things drive a wedge between you and push you apart. Your spouse is your best friend and I promise it will be much easier to make it through something together than on your own (:

So come join all of us and link up your posts below! Share your hardest moments from your first year of marriage.