I had planned on publishing this post tonight before the Boston tragedy unfolded. As I have to fight my desire to be consumed by social media to get every detail, I think this post is even more applicable. Prayers are with Boston tonight.

Hearing Susan Cain speak at Blissdom this year was an unexpected highlight (note to self: you still haven’t bought her book, Quiet. get one that). Although the majority of her talk dealt with the power of introverts (which I am most certainly not), I really connected to her statements on being quiet.

As an extrovert who loves being around people, quiet is not often something I crave (although as a mom, I could definitely stand a little more). But quiet is something my soul needs.

The problem with social media is that it is always on. There is always someone with something to say. Always another opportunity to get more followers, more clicks on your blog, more retweets, more likes. It can make a person who hates to miss the party, a little bit crazy.

But the noise is deafening and constant, and frankly just that. Noise. Noise that is in my head, on my screen, on my phone. Noise that never, ever stops.

And I need the noise to stop. I need the quiet.

When my friend Amanda wrote this post, I thought, yes. THIS. My soul NEEDS this.

So on Sunday I unplugged. Well most of Sunday. I woke up and immediately reached for my tablet (I know, I KNOW). And checked all my notifications before I remembered. Oops.

The first few hours I felt twitchy. Sad but true. But then after that I felt liberated. Free of the notifications, free of the pressure, free of the noise.

Quiet.

I am a fifth year veteran to Blissdom. I have pretty much been there from the beginning (except for the first small gathering). If forced to chose favorites, I would have to say it is my favorite conference. And even though I am a veteran I still learn a lot every year. Not always in the sessions either. Here are five things I learned at Blissdom 2013.

1. After five years there are just some people who make Blissdom Blissdom. And many of them weren’t there this year. And it was super weird. So Robin, JoLynne, Jenny and Emily, Ari, Melanie, Emily, Rachel, Lisa and all the missing Sisterchicks (my band of bloggy BFFs- Amanda, Mandi, Staci, Becky Jessie and Christine) YOU WERE MISSED. I hate making lists like this because inevitably I left someone out. So whoever I forgot, you were missed too (I’m pretty sure that makes no sense).
2. That being said Blissdom was almost 50% newbies this year. Which allowed me to connect with some awesome people I had either never met before or just met on the internet. Highlights include meeting Allison (who ran a marathon early this morning while pregnant- WHAT??), Abby Leigh, Laura, Nicole, Connie and Dana. Again I am sure I left out people (why am I doing this to myself?), but I really loved meeting so many new people. And of course rooming with Mary and getting so much great time with Jen was the ultimate highlight. Friends who live in your computer can in fact become your closest friends on the planet.
3. Jon Acuff and Scott Stratten should speak at Blissdom every year in some form or fashion. Actually Jon Acuff pretty much said he would be hiding in the parking lot next year with a fake mustache. Which isn’t creepy at all……. I apparently was the only person on the planet who didn’t know who Susan Cain was, but she really gave me some incredible parenting nuggets and I seriously think I need to buy her book Quiet. So the keynotes killed it and I will be chewing on their nuggets for awhile.
4. I need to buy a lottery ticket. I won a $100 gift card to Famous Footwear (SHOES!!!), a $50 Donors.org gift card from Strong Moms Empower and a set of room darkening curtains for our bedroom from Sound Asleep. Our current curtains are cheapo from Target and are so sun faded it is borderline embarrassing so major score. I also was quite popular with the kiddos today when I brought home a lot of Go-Go Squeeze and with the hubby for bringing home lots of Seattle’s Best Coffee. Plus I got a killer set of fake eyelashes at the Bissell Booth (Grand Rapids companies FTW!!) and a pretty mint mani from the National Sleep Foundation. I was also thrilled that Shot at Life and Child Hunger Ends Here, both of whom I am currently so proud to be working with, had a strong presence letting attendees know about the important work they are doing. Such a great lineup of sponsors and we were treated gooooood.
5. I don’t travel much with this blog. There are times I wish I had more opportunities to if I am being completely honest. But then when I am gone for too long I remember why it is okay I don’t. These little people I leave behind are my world. And the fact that I have a husband who, from day one, has been this blog’s biggest cheerleader is the biggest blessing. I really want to commit as a family to being unplugged more. Hold me to it will you? (yes, even you mom and dad)

I am so very grateful to the Blissdom team for choosing me to be a community leader this year. To the conference sponsors for keeping costs down. And most importantly to my fabulous sponsor Land’s End. I can’t wait to show you all the outfits I wore!!

So this weekend there was tearing of clothes and gnashing of teeth. And I am still choosing to live a bit in denial. But sooner or later I am going to have to face facts (after I drown my sorrows in a LOT of ice cream).

Google Reader is going away.

For some of you that might not matter at all. But for me it is super sad. Google Reader is a tab that is always open in my browser. I have an app on my phone and my tablet. It is how I read every single blog. Well not in the world. But of the ones I read (you probably got that).

{Here is where I would like to insert a rant about Google, but they kind of rule the internet and perhaps the overlords would get wind of my rant and never send a visitor my way again. So just kidding about that rant Google. Love ya, carry on!!}

I know there is a large chunk of my readers that read Just Jilly through Google Reader. What are you doing come July 1st??

I made the switch to feedly today. It was super easy and imported all my blogs from Reader. Apparently when Reader goes away feedly will pick up right where it left off. I would encourage you to give it a shot. I am going to see how I feel about it after a week and I will let you know if my opinion changes.

Of course you also have the option of receiving Just Jilly in your inbox.  And I am sure you are already following me over on Twitter and Facebook. Since the rebrand I have been trying my best to interact over on Facebook more so make sure to join in the fun.

Whatever you do, don’t miss a single second of the amazing, inspiring, hilarious content over here. You wouldn’t want to do that right?

How are you coping with the demise of Google Reader?

It’s live!! There are still some kinks to work out. Most noticeably we are having trouble getting the content from The Diaper Diaries to migrate over here. It is being stubborn. Much like a baby who is a week overdue and still refuses to come out the way it is supposed to.

But still. We are live. And I am THRILLED. (if you are reading in email or reader please pop over and have a look).

Five things will be a fun new series on the new site and I thought we could kick it off today with a quick list of things you should know.

1. I tried to get stuff done this weekend to get all the links and sidebar up to par, but there are still some hiccups. I feel like Oz behind the curtain furiously pushing buttons and spinning wheels telling you “pay no attention, nothing to see here”. It will happen, but my offline life takes a lot of attention these days so it will happen when it happens.
2. You shouldn’t have to do a thing if you are already a subscriber. You should continue to get content from the new blog to your email inbox or reader. If you aren’t a subscriber, what are you waiting for???? Subscribe today!!
3. One of the things I have always wanted to use my voice in the blogosphere for is social good. And while I have from time to time it certainly hasn’t been a focus. So I am focusing my efforts a bit. I have added an advocacy category and will be supporting causes based around children. Children’s hunger, children’s health and global initiatives benefiting children. Right now that means continuing to support World Vision, Shot at Life and Child Hunger Ends Here (more on that last one in a few days).
4. Switching over to a new blog is EXHAUSTING. But did I mention that Francesca from Small Bird Studios has put up with me amazingly well and I think she did a fantastic job. If you ever have any design needs you should use her. For Realz.
5. I’m going to Blissdom!!!!! This was supposed to be a year off from conferences, but Blissdom I can’t quit you! I am a community leader again and I have an amazing sponsor I can’t wait to tell you about as well. But for now, I just want to know if any of my readers will be there so we can hang out!! (apparently I am excited. hence the extreme overuse of exclamation points)

Welcome to the new digs. Can’t wait to see what Just Jilly has in store!

I’m not a big one for bloggy birthdays (my personal birthday however deserves a week of celebrations and is a mere 9 days away *cough, cough, hint, hint*). However as I was telling someone last week how long I have been blogging, it hit me.

My blog is five years old.

Five years ago on June 4th I published my very first post. Yes, I linked to it, but I can also recap it rather quickly for you.

Well it was only a matter of time before I started a blog. I am really excited to share my vast knowledge with you all I hope this blog will be a glimpse into my life as well as a way to share tips that help make being a mom easier. Here goes nothing…

Five years later

• I have added one more kid to the family
• I have started….and stopped a weekly carnival
• I have reviewed countless products
• I have gone to many blogging conferences
• Traveled on a few blogging related trips including the most powerful trip to the Dominican Republic to meet my sponsored child
• I have gotten to know quite well the mailman, UPS guy and Fed Ex driver
• I have joined Twitter, made a Facebook page, and pinned many a thing (all of those close to their inceptions)
• I have gotten a lot less weirded out about telling people I have a blog
• I even added a second blog
• I have written over 1500 posts

But the very bestest part is that I have found an amazing community of writers, social media lovers, faithful readers and commenters and wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, priceless friends.

I knew none of these things was even possible when I typed that first post. I didn’t even know anyone would read those words but my mom and husband. I certainly didn’t know five years later I would still be writing, and by some crazy miracle, people would still be reading.

So happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to US. You, my dear readers, are the best present of all.

Don’t you think I deserve a comment on my birthday? Unlurk, UNLURK!!!

So if you recall I was in Atlanta last week. And if you followed me on Facebook or on Twitter (where I was really tweeting my head off), you might have caught onto the fact that I was at a conference put on by Coca Cola. It was called Conversations with Coca-Cola but it was so much more than learning about soda.

We were part of a select group of bloggers invited to learn more about their Live Positively program. And oh was I impressed.

photo courtesy of Mama Dweeb

Listen I don’t know how you feel about soda. We personally don’t drink a ton. My hubby would be largest consumer (he is a diet coke man) and I admit I enjoy a root beer from time to time. Mostly when I am out to eat and get a burger or a pizza. Both of those thing demand a soda. My kids however have never had a soda in their life. So that being said, I am sorry to anyone to disagrees, but there are no substitute for Coke products.

That being said, what I was most impressed about wasn’t their drinks (although I kind of fell in love Smart Water- who knew water could taste so good?). What impressed me is what they are committed to as a company. Let me give you a quick run down of some of the awesome things I learned.

• Coke has the largest hybrid fleet in North America
• Coke uses 30% plant-based materials nationwide in Dasani bottles with up to 100% plant-based materials in Odwalla (another brand they own which I found to be super yummy)
• Coke is trying to offset the water use in their packaging process with community water programs all over the world, over 300 worldwide
• Coke is committed to human rights, no forced or child labor and a safe workplace in all their 206 countries they are found in around the world
• Coke employees are strongly encouraged to mentor and tutor in their communities.
• Coke is a big supporter of education through scholarships, training future teachers, and drop out prevention programs
• Coke works with the Boys and Girls Club of America to promote active lifestyles through Triple Play
• Coke is committed to not marketing their caloried products to kids. They have taken those products out of the school vending machines.

And my personal favorite commitment: Coca Cola Co has a goal of empowering 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020.

photo courtesy of babymaking machine

We heard from some of their top women leaders and holy crap, were these impressive women. The fact that Coke is championing them and allowing them to have a balance between their work and their families just made me…… well join hands and teach the world to sing.

Ok so maybe not. But I think Coke is setting the bar high for corporate cultures. And we had some great sessions to grow our own personal blogs and brands. Although I initially was rolling my eyes a bit at the idea of making a vision board (sorry, it is the truth), I ended up loving mine!! It came today and I want to put it somewhere where I can remember to keep finding the joy in my blog and my life.

I am so honored to be asked to join Coke this year. I met some amazing bloggers. Got some seriously awesome food and drinks. Stayed in a gorgeous hotel WITH NO KIDS WAKING ME UP!! And learned a ton. Thanks to Coke for everything.

Disclosure: Coke hosted me for this conference providing travel, accommodations and meals. However as always all opinions are mine.

And now comes the impossible task of trying to sum up my amazing trip to Portland to learn about Nike. I think it can be summed up by two a few quotes from the day:

Nike’s Mission: To Bring Inspiration and Innovation to every athlete* in the world

*if you have a body you are an athlete

I left the Nike campus (and campus it is. The huge sprawling grounds look like a college campus) totally inspired as a mom, woman and athlete*

“Uh mom, I think we are getting a little spoiled here.”- Lily

Every single detail of this trip was so well thought out and impressive. From the kids room at Nike set up with ping-pong tables, Wii’s, computers and camp counselors, to the fact that throughout the day while we were separated from our kids we got frequent texts with pictures of what they were doing. To the little touches like a framed picture of our group waiting for us in our hotel at the end of our day. They spoiled the us from our heads down to our new Nike shoes and I gotta say. I could get used to it.

“I am telling you babe, I completely bought into the Nike mission. I can honestly say I will not buy another brand of athletic shoes again.” – Me to my hubby

I must admit I don’t think much about my kid’s athletic shoes. We buy cheap because I figure they outgrow them fast and I have no brand loyalty whatsoever. Even my own athletic shoes which I tend to invest a lot more money in are whatever the sales person at the shoe store tells me are good shoes and on sale.

I think Nike thought at times they were boring us with all their research and statistics and studies they have done on the human body and mostly the foot. But my background in kinesiology and physiology and my years working in pediatrics as a physical therapy made this stuff fascinating to me. I was nodding along and eating up everything they told us.

They have a state of the art research facility (which people really don’t get to see because it is so top secret, but we were treated to an amazing tour) and an Innovation Kitchen (more top secret stuff) where they dream big about shoes. It is there that we were introduced to the concept of the Nike Free shoe.

It is the most researched shoe at Nike compared to all the other shoes combined. There is a ton of science and studies that have gone into this shoe in an attempt to mimic barefoot conditions as closely as possible. The coolest part is when they went to design the kid’s counterpart to the adult shoe, they didn’t just miniaturize it. The did extensive studies on children’s walking and running patterns, how they wear and tear their shoes and how they play and developed shoes specific to toddlers, preschoolers and elementary kids.

Lily and I were both treated to a pair of Nike Free shoes and before I knew a thing about the science behind the shoes I put them on and noted that they felt like I was wearing slippers. I could hardly believe they were a tennis shoe. And my “I only want to wear fancy shoes” daughter refuses to take hers off. Could be because they are hot pink.

I seriously believe in the science behind these shoes. They allow the shoe to better feel the ground beneath it, which strengthens the foot itself instead of using a shoe to provide all the stability. Their studies have shown that in athletes the Nike Free shoe leads to a 10-20% increase in strength, a 5-10% increase in flexibility and a 20-22% increase in balance. Most importantly it leads to less injuries.

As a mom I realized that although my kids aren’t super athletes, they are playing in shoes all day be it at recess, in my backyard or in a soccer game. Putting them in cheap, unflexible shoes suddenly seemed quite foolish. (thankfully we ended the day at the Nike employee store with discounted prices so I remedied our shoe problem)

I have much more to tell you next week but right now I have to make the long trek across time zones and back to hug my other two babies. Plus Nike was kind enough to take a whole boatload of pictures throughout the day allowing me to leave my camera in its usual spot, unused in my bag. So I will have a lot to share with you on Monday or Tuesday. Stay tuned.

Kids Nike FREE Run: If your feet flex, shouldn’t your shoes flex too? Must-have flexibility for young feet.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Nike via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Nike

Well I am just going to assume since there were no comments in yesterday’s post we are all in agreement. Deal?

So I had a heartfelt parenting post in mind for tonight. But then the other computer that Ryan had planned on using tonight to get some work stuff done became possessed. Actually Silas spilled milk on a keyboard that was already wonky (the z, ? and arrow keys don’t work- so every time I need to use those I go searching the internet for them to cut and paste- good times).

But if I thought that was bad, I hadn’t seen anything yet. Now it randomly adds a’s and q’s whenever it feels like. Sometimes I will come over to the computer that hasn’t been touched in an hour and I see this:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Do you think it is trying to tell me something? Like keep your darn kids away from my keyboard!!

So it seems as though the “marriage expert” wife thing to do is to give the computer over to my hubby. Aren’t you impressed with my selflessness?

So I won’t leave you completely empty handed, can I use this moment to beg for your vote? I know. Horribly tacky. But it is for a trip to NYC!!! I love NYC!!!! Bird’s Eye was one of the sponsors at Blissdom and asked us how we get our kids to eat veggies. So not only is it a shameless ask for votes, but is also informative. So it is a win for everyone. Seriously, thanks if you take the time to vote (simply click over and hit the “like” button under the video).

I am sure you all have been sitting around DYING to know about the results of the survey you took last week . Ok so maybe not, but I just wanted to address a few things and then we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

First of all, 81 of you took the survey. I am blown away by how many of you took the time to help me out. I can’t say enough how much I love my readers, but this has confirmed it. You guys rock.

Second, a majority of you are subscribers but a big chunk of you aren’t. So I would be a bad blogger if I didn’t remind you that you can get The Diaper Diaries delivered to your inbox or reader every day by signing up here. (Subtle, aren’t I?)

One of my goals I made after Blissdom is to be more interactive on my Facebook page. I really want it to be an extension of the blog, but also a place for the DD community to interact.  Half of you already follow me over there, but the rest of you might want to check it out. Or if you want to follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, that would be awesome too.

So now to the meat of the survey. What you love, what you don’t love so much. You love personal stories, hearing about my life as a mom, and tips. You love the “real” me (you like me, you really like me!!). A few of you want to hear more about my food journey to clean eating. Someone said they love my rambling. Whoever that is I just want to give a big old hug. Cause I can ALWAYS give you rambling.

I am not at all surprised by what you want less of. Sponsored posts. Although when I asked if you thought the balance was ok the majority said yes. I am glad you recognize I am trying to find balance there. So here is the net out of all your feedback (which I completely took to heart).

If you haven’t noticed already I am doing way fewer product reviews. I have always chosen my product reviews based on products I already use or knew I would enjoy using, but I still know people don’t enjoy reading them much. If I do them in the future it will be a product I truly think you can’t live without. They will be few and far between.

The sponsored posts that will continue are the ones where I am free to write about things I want to talk about that just happen to be sponsored by a company. I know everyone doesn’t love those either but know the content of those posts is still 100% genuine and I just use the topic as kind of a writing prompt.

For instance when I wrote about becoming a foster parent, that was something I had been waiting to tell you but then found a way to work it into a sponsored post opportunity. I know some of you found that to be disingenuous but to me that is the best of blogging. Getting to write something I care about and getting sponsored to do so.

That being said, I am trying to limit sponsored content to just the best opportunities. So I will do my best to keep a balance while still making a little money for my family. Hopefully you will continue to feel I seek a good balance. And if you don’t, feel free to call me out on it (in a nice way).

A few last things. A few of you hoped I would interact more in the comments. It is something I am working on, but it is hard to stay on top of as life gets busier. I am also hoping we can do more interacting over on Facebook. Also I hope that the many of you that said you loved my marriage posts continue to support For Better And Worse. While I will always love The Diaper Diaries, marriage is definitely a passion of mine and I love sharing that passion over there.

I loved reading your comments and truly felt so loved and appreciated. Even in your constructive criticism which was given with such grace. Hopefully 2012 will be the best year yet for our little piece of the blogosphere! Thanks again for all your help.

How is it possible that I have been blogging 4 1/2 years and never done a “State of the Blog” address? It kinda seems like it should be a yearly thing. Also 4 1/2 years! How is that even possible?

Back when I started blogging I had no idea about traffic and SEO and PageRank (come to think of it, I still don’t). There was no Twitter, Facebook business pages or Pinterest. Back in ye olden days, you just wrote stuff and then your mom commented.

Then other people started commenting. And coming back. Low and behold I had readers. Then subscribers. Then Twitter followers and Facebook fans. I had community.

That is the best and biggest surprise about blogging. Finding all of you. My friends who live in the computer.

I write for me. I write because after 4 1/2 years of writing I have found I have to write. But I also write for you. And so it only seems right that when I want to make some changes I make sure my community buys in.

Way back when I started blogging, I loved blogging every day. And I loved blogging in a scheduled fashion. I have tried some different carnivals and a few have stood the test of time. I even started my own carnival after a few years of writing a Things I Love Thursday post, I invited you all to join me.

But here is the thing. I am starting to hate the schedule. I am starting to write things that I don’t want to write just to keep up my routine. And I am starting to “force” content just to get a post up. I feel like I disappoint you when I don’t post every day. And while I realize that is most likely all in my head, the problem is I am often disappointing me.

So I may be blogging a little less. And while I might still participate in some carnivals….. I might not too. And, as hard as it is for me to admit, I’m not going to do Things I Love Thursday anymore. I am so conflicted about letting “my baby” go, but I think at the end of the day I will just love this space more without it. And it will free me up to experiment with some other things. Maybe fashion, maybe food, maybe videos. Who knows?! As a woman I retain the right to not remotely make up my mind.

Net out? I want to focus on quality over quantity. I have tried, after a stretch of being really unbalanced, to keep a good balance between sponsored posts and organic content. No one wants to read an infomercial so I will continue to try and make a little “bill paying money” for my family without selling my soul.

While many go to Blissdom to learn how to monetize, learn how to build a better brand and network with companies, I found myself drawn to the writing sessions. I just want to fall in love with writing again. And in doing that, I sincerely hope you all will fall in love with this blog even more.

Somehow in all the years I have been blogging I have never done a survey of my readers. Major blogging fail! So if you would be so kind to tell me a little about you, I would be so very grateful.

I truly appreciate everyone who comes here every day. Your comments on my blog, “likes” on my Facebook page and links on my carnival bring all sorts of joy to my days. So thank you. Truly.

Don’t forget to take the survey. I will post the results next week.