Category Archives: blog highlights

Top 5 in 2011 [Comments]

Last year, I was over at the Only Parent Chronicles, and love, love, loved her idea of a Top 5 posts as determined by comments left post she did! So I literally stole the idea (and the image), from her blog! So make sure you swing by her blog and give her some love as well!!

top5

*These were determined by the number of comments.  I removed all giveaway posts and blog hops from counting in this Top 5!*

#5: From Nursing to Blogging
[14 comments]

#4: Panic Attacks
[15 comments]

#3: Spring Cleaning
[17 comments]

#2: Flamed and MAD!
[27 comments]

#1: Senior Photo
[33 comments]

 

HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!!

CBM signature2

2011 Blog in Review

Every year I say this, but it’s so true – where did the year go?  It feels like it was just yesterday that I wrote my 2010 Blog in Review and about a month since I wrote my 2009 Blog in Review.  How is it possible that I’m sitting down to write my 2011 Blog in Review?  Just blows my mind!

 

JANUARY11
In January, Jack professed his love for me in a silly iPhone video!
          Originally posted on January 20, 2011.

FEBRUARY11

In February, Madison shocked myself and Jaime when she climbed the REI Rock!
          Originally posted on February 7, 2011.

MARCH11

In March, I got super sick and was in/out of the ER and doctor.  While it wasn’t a “favorite” time of the year it clearly was memorable!  If you want to read part 2 and part 3 of my awful March click HERE and HERE.
          Originally posted on March 4, 2011.

APRIL11

In April, I bought myself a Nikon D5000 DSLR camera!  I’ve had a great time learning how to use my new camera!  For Christmas my parents got me an online photography class!  Cannot wait to start!
          Originally posted on April 2, 2011.

may11

In May, I took the triplets to the park and had an impromptu photo shoot!  This was my first attempt at being a photographer!
          Originally posted on May 4, 2011.

june11

In June, my family took a trip to Cabo San Lucas for a week of fun in the sun!  Click HERE to see all my Cabo fun!
          Originally posted on June 20, 2011.

july11

In July, Julia & I participated in our first craft fair for our Etsy Store, Blue Eyed Blessings, where we sold and shared our beautiful hair bows and accessories!
          Originally posted on July 25, 2011.

august11

In August, we actually had a gorgeous warm day where we spent a wonderful day at the beach and playing in the sound!
          Originally posted on August 9, 2011.

sept11

In September, MacKenzie celebrated her 4th birthday!  Love this little girl!
          Originally posted on September 23, 2011.

october11

In October, I shared an extremely embarrassing story when my Big Mouth failed me!!
          Originally posted on October 17, 2011.

nov11

In November, I was diagnosed with PTSD after after months of panic attacks, which resulted from a scary experience of ‘losing’ a child during the summer.
         Originally posted on November 6 , 2011.

december11

In December, Alex left for BYU-Idaho in typical Benson Family flair …. with drama and anxiety!
          Originally posted on December 28, 2011.

 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!!

Mama’s Losin’ It1.) This year in blog posts…choose a favorite post from each month of 2011 and share.

1 Year Already? Time to Renew!

I can’t believe it has almost been a year since I switched from Blogger to my Self-Hosted WordPress!!  Yesterday, thanks to my mommy, as an early birthday present, I renewed my domain and host site.  Time sure flies!

Wordress is SOOOOO much better than Blogger!  Loving every moment of it and with the help of Ashley {AHEM!!} from My Front Porch Swing, I’m in the process of making some changes to it!!  I cannot wait to see (and reveal) my blog changes!!  Nothing like a slight change for a new year of school and blogging!

Happy Monday everyone!!

CBM signature2

Happy 3rd Blogiversary!!

 Image found on Google Images and edited from Patrice’s Blog & Jen Gets Fancy

Wow, has it really been three years since I made my very first blog post?  Time sure has flown!  Last year on my 2nd blogiversary, I shared some statistics along with my goals for the upcoming year.  I thought it would be fun [cuz I'm a total dork and love this sort of thing!] to look back at how far my blog has come over the past year, in comparison to the last two!

*3rd Blogiversary – July 5, 2011:  Over the past year I blogged 304 times or 83% of the year!

*2nd Blogiversary – July 5, 2010: I blogged 276 times (76% of the year)!  [read about it HERE]

2010 Benchmarking vs 2011 Benchmarking

  • Average Visits/day: 37 vs. 23 visits/day
  • Pages visted/visit  (once they view my blog,how many separate parts of my blog do they visit on that visit): 1.77 vs. 1.76 Pages visited/visits
  • Bounce Rate (bounce rate shows how many people clicked around to different spots on my blog…the lower the % means people are touring my blog and reading different spots.  Goal for blogs is 75% or less.) 73.47% vs. 66.85% 
  • Average Time Spent on My Blog: 2:57 vs. 2:13
  • New Visitors: 59% vs. 60%
    The Next Year: I have big plans for the next year,well actually couple of months! I feel that I have mastered blogger and want to try something new. I’m gonna set-up my blog on WordPress,and go for a more “professional” look! I’ve learned a lot about it,and am excited! 

2010 Goal: Move from Blogger to WordpressDone!  My official move was September 10, 2010!   You can read my Going Live in 3, 2, 1 …. post here!

*1st Blogiversary- July 5, 2009:  I blogged 233 times (or 64% of the year)!   [read about it HERE]

Last year I had big goals for 2010 to move to WordPress, but this year I’m not feeling overly ambitious!  I want to practice and improve my HTML and CSS technical skills that are needed behind the scenes of my blog – but other than that nothing major!  My biggest goal is to finish school in three quarters!  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can …

Here’s to another year!!

Statistics Courtesy of Google Analytics.

 

My 1,500th COMMENT!

Yesterday my blog got it’s 1,500th comment courtesy of Lolo from Crazy About My Baybah!

Thanks to everyone who has left a comment on my blog over the last couple of years!!

Top 5 in 2010 [comments]

I was over at the Only Parent Chronicles, one of my favorite blogs, and love, love, loved her idea of a Top 5 posts as determined by comments left!  So I literally stole the idea (and the image), from her blog!  So make sure you swing by her blog and give her some love as well!!

top5

*These were determined by the number of comments, I removed all giveaway posts, from counting in this Top 5!*

 

#5: What Does Summer Mean to My Family?

#4: Most Vivid Childhood Memory

#3: 25 Years Ago

#2: Circus Bash!!

#1: Can I get a Woot Woot?!

2010 Blog in Review

Last year I did a 2009 Blog in Review and thought it would be fun to do again this year!  As I sit here and write this post, it amazes me that another year has flown by.  I can’t believe it’s less then 24 hours until 2011.  That just blows my mind!  Feels like we just rang in 2010, and yet here we are again, prepping for 2011!

I personally had a great 2011, when on a once in a life time cruise through the Panama Canal, went and visited some great friends in Texas and of course went back to school after nearly 6 months off.  It’s been a great one.  Let me tell you it was hard to narrow down my favorite post for each month…there are so many great memories I have shared, and cherish.  For me, it’s fun to look back on what I did, adventures I went on and new journey’s I began!! 

*Click on the green link to be taken to the original post!

January 2010:

     Late Bloomer?  I went out to dinner with the Munro’s for Julia’s birthday and Julia was asked if she was a late bloomer for having such a wide range of kids ages (from me at 24 to her girls at 2!).  Okay, I thought it was funny…Julia…not so much!

               Originally posted on January 5, 2010

February 2010:

     Here We Go!  After a 14 month wait for our Panama Canal Cruise, the day finally came for us to leave!!  I blogged daily, so if you’re interested in seeing our whole journey click HERE!)

               Originally posted on February 19, 2010

March 2010:

     Fort Worth Stock Yards  As if, just being gone for nearly three weeks wasn’t crazy enough, I got home and about a week later jumped on an airplane with the Munro’s for a trip down to Texas for a week!  We went and visited Julia’s brother Jason, his wife Kim and their kids (at the time), Paige (4) and Quinten (3 months) – since then, on Thanksgiving, they’ve added little Reese Julia to the family.  Anyway, this day we went down to the Fort Worth Stock Yards, for a fun outing!

               Originally posted on March 20, 2010

April 2010:

     You Guys Made Me Smile  Right after I found out I wasn’t accepted into Nursing School, I went into a bit of a slump.  One day, however, while working, Jack and Gabrielle were being so goofy and smiley that they totally brightened my gloomy day by making me laugh and smile!  These pictures are some of my favorite ones, I’ve ever taken…you can just totally see the joy in their faces!

               Originally posted on April 2, 2010

May 2010:

     Julia and I are FAMOUS!  While on our semi-annual trip to Spokane, Julia and I were interviewed for the world famous (ha-ha), Spokane newspaper the Spokesman Review!  Not only were we interviewed, but we got our pictures in the paper!  It was a silly question, “If you were in the circus what would you be and why?”.  Curious to see what we said?  You’ll have to click over the original post and see!

               Originally posted on May 6, 2010

June 2010:

     Sue and Aaron’s Wedding: 26 Years in the Making  After being together with her longtime boyfriend, my Aunt Sue finally got married!  It only took 26 years for them to walk down the aisle, but who’s counting?  Not only was it their wedding, but I got to be the photographer, and am pretty darn proud of the photographs I took!!

               Originally posted on June 27, 2010

July 2010:

     Our Mommyhood Guest Post  I was so excited, and honored to have my first ever guest post published!  I wrote a blog post for a mommy blog about finding the right childcare for your family! 

               Originally posted on July 21, 2010

August 2010:

     iPhone Luv!  It was finally, finally, finally my turn to get an iPhone!  While I loved my Blackberry, it was the iPhone that I really wanted and it was finally mine, mine, mine!

               Originally posted on August 19, 2010

September 2010:

     Going Live in 3…2…1  After months of debate, speculation and anxiety, I officially made the move over to self-hosted WordPress!  It wasn’t that easy to do on my own with very little (okay like NONE), knowledge or skill about HTML and/or CSS.  It was quite a learning experience for me!  Now, however, I am so happy with my blog, have so much more freedom and can do so much more with it!  So happy I did it!

               Originally posted on September 10, 2010

October 2010:

     Let Me Introduce You to Dr. Quackas  We all know that one doctor at the clinic we go to that is well…a bit like Dr. Quackas…not quite all there.  Check out the interesting conversation I had with him…Oh and he makes a second appearance HERE as well!

               Originally posted on October 4, 2010

November 2010:

    Fall Fun! Once crisp fall day while working, Amy and Jaime came over with their gaggle of kids to join the triplets in I, in a day of playing in the leaves!  Once again I put on my wannabee photographer hat and went to work snapping some fun fall leaf pictures!

               Originally posted on November 7, 2010

December 2010:

    2010 Flooding  Seattle may be known for rain and water, but it’s rare to have extreme flooding like we did during this particular week!!  It had been a very long time, since we’d seen the Snoqualmie River turn into looking like the Snoqualmie Lake or Ocean!!  It was insane!

               Originally posted on December 15, 2010

So there you have, my 2010 Cori’s Big Mouth Blog in Review!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

That’s A Wrap!!

Wow, the amazing Back 2 School, Back 2 Blogging Event is officially over!!  I learned so much, and I cannot thank Gigi [Kludgy Mom] enough for all knowledge she past on to me!!  I feel like my blog will be in debted to her for awhile!!  Let’s take a walk back through my Back 2 School, Back 2 Blogging experience!

Week 111 Point Inspection: I followed the step-by-step directions, to make sure my blog was running as smoothly as it could!  I checked all my links, added/removed pages, followed myself to make sure that worked, plus a lot more!  I couldn’t have done this week without Jami of Keeper of the Penguins, for being my blog partner for this challenge!  She also went through the 11 point inspection on my blog!!!

         Homework: Find A Cool Plug-in and share itWordPress Plug-In: Make Your Cell Phone Blog Friendly! 

Week 2Keeping Your Blog Writing Alive: This week, Gigi, introduced us to the Idea Bank!  The first part of this challenge was to come up with 10 writing prompts of our own.  I was scared/anxious/nervous for some reason for this part.  But with the help from my new found B2S,B2B friends, I came up and submitted my 10 questions!! 

          Writing/Reading Assignment: Writer’s Block
          Homework:
Pick a Idea Bank prompt and write about it: Most Vivid Childhood Memory…

Week 3Networking: Learned I was in the “second” grouping of bloggers – Another words, I have between 100-300 followers on my blog.  [As of right now I have 331, via Google Friend Connect].  I also gained a fairy blog mother, Kristen from Ladybug Blessings!  Thanks Kristen for being willing to help me and my blog grow!!  Did I mention we also learned about Stumble Upon?  Yeah, I’m totally digging it!

         Writing/Reading Assignment: Pick, Practice & Plan
         Homework:
I Love Cori?!
         Extra Credit:
My Fairy Blog Mother

Week 4How to Build A Loyal Readership: We were introduced to the “fab 5″ of making contact with your readers!  I gained lots of ideas to interact more with my readers, including through email, twitter, facebook, etc!

         Writing/Reading Assignment: Shoutout to My Favorite Commenters

Week 5Statistics: I’ve always been totally into looking at my statistics, to see who, when, and where my visitors are coming from!  However, it wasn’t until this week that I learned how to usethat information!  I made a StatsBook, that I will update monthly, so I can really track my statistics and use the information from it to my advantage!  This was soooooo helpful, I cannot wait to add my November stats to my Statbook!!

Week 6Bloggy Buffet:  The final week of B2S,B2B, featured a different topic each day!  Gigi, helped clarify how to use Feedburner (RSS feeds), received some photography tips, learned how to find/do product reviews and my personal favorite….time management tips!  It was a plethora of topics, but all were so very much helpful and needed!!

Thank you again, Gigi, for hosting and running this fabulous challenge!  I had a great time, learned a lot and cannot wait to put all my new knowledge to work!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

I hope to have Halloween pictures to post on Monday!!!

 

#OMGChristmas

I have a new twitter friend @piccoladonna, we became twitter friend’s over one retweet of hers I posted….
 

We got to talking about how crazy it was that Christmas was (then) two months away!!  I then made the comment….

To my amazement (and excitement) @piccoladonna responded with ….

Just one little problem……


Luckily @piccoladonna had an idea, or at least had an idea, unlike me!

So there you go….. come join myself (@cori_shelley) and @piccoladonna on Twitter and see if we can get #OMGChristmas trending!!!!

How Do You Do That AND Why??  Tweet about Christmas related things, a Christmas Countdown, or just cuz you wanna add #OMGChristmas to the end of your tweet.  The more people who add #OMGChristmas to their tweets, the more popular #OMGChristmas will get and the more likely other people will also add #OMGChristmas to their tweets!!  It’s an endless circle of #OMGChristmas love!!

 

Shoutout to My Favorite Commenters

I’ve been blogging for over two years now and until this past April I was blogging just for me.  I hadn’t discovered the trick to getting commenters (visiting and commenting on other blogs and of course BlogFrog!) and gaining followers.  Once I ventured into BlogFrog and started checking out other blogs, I started to gain “friends” in the blogging world!  There were three commenters (outside of my family and friends) that started regularly stopping by my blog and leaving comments.  I wanted to take a moment to publically thank them and make sure my newer followers and friends are checking out these blogs too!!

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Liz, of A Belle, A Bean, A Chicago Dog, was the one who helped me figure out the whole commenting and blog world.  The first week I was on BlogFrog, I quickly befriended her and constantly was bugging her for help!!  She was so sweet and when I would tell her “I hate to bug you again, but…”  She would respond by saying, “Don’t worry, I was you just last year, trying to figure out blogging!”  She has consistantly stopped by and commented on my blog, and I always know I can go find her whether on her blogtwitter, facebook or her Blog Frog Community!  Liz also is the host of the world-renowned (or at least blog world-renowned) Word Up, Yo meme!  She also just started a second meme on her blog, Dear You Guys…. which is quickly becoming a fan favorite too!

If you haven’t “met” Liz, yet, make sure you swing by her place and say hello!  You’ll definitely keep going back, I know I do!!

Old Tweener

Sherri, of Old Tweener, became my first, nearly every day commenter.  Like clock-work I knew I could always look forward to a comment from her when I woke up in the morning!  Her blog is THE FUNNIEST blog I have ever read!  This lady leaves me cracking up eachtime I leave her blog!  (In my opinion) She is the QUEEN of Word Up, Yo!  Her entries are always spot-on and of course….hilarious!! 

Sherri’s blog is great because she blogs about every day things like going grocery shopping or teaching a child to drive.  Both tasks, you’d think wouldn’t make very exciting blog posts.  But Oh.My.Gosh. Sherri makes them so exciting and will leave you in stitches!   If you want a great blog to read, then Old Tweener is for you!!

In addition to her blog, you can find her on twitter and facebook!

Funny Story….I was sitting down to finish the post and my little sister goes, “Oh My Gosh, you have to check out this blog, it’s HILARIOUS”.  Alex isn’t one who is into my blogging that much.  She reads it when I make her, but that’s about it.  As much as I love Sherri, I’ve never talked about her to my family (sorry Sherri!).  I ask her what’s the name and she says “something Tweener”.  Turns out Sherri’s blog (and specifically her grocery shopping smackdown post) is making it’s away amongst my sister’s Facebook Friends!  I was excited to get to brag….I know her, Sherri and I actually email and tweet eachother daily!  Not to mention, I had already written this part of the my shoutout post!  Funny!

Not long after Sherri found my blog, so did this fabulous lady, Nain of View From Down Here!  Nain and I clicked right away, and started helping eachother increase eachothers amount of comments (not on perpose, just happened!).  I have spent the last 6 months, feeling like I was right there with Nain as she planned her dream wedding!  The wedding took place last month, and through blogging I felt like I was apart of it all!!  Not only did I get to “go” to her wedding, but she was sweet enough to take me (and all of you)  along with her on her honeymoon to Dublin!  She’ s still playing catch-up from her wedding and honeymoon, so make sure you stop over there and read all about it! 

Not only can you find Nain at her blog, but also on twitter and facebook!  Stop by, say “hi” and enjoy some great reads!

Honorable Mention:

Oh and you are all probably wondering who my Fairy BlogMother I picked was, that I talked about in last week’s B2S/B2B homework assignment!!  Well, those of you who have been following my blog the last couple of months probably have an idea, this was a no-brainer for me!  I chose Kristen of Ladybug Blessings and she was willing (and excited) to help me!  Kristen has helped me 100% of the way through my move from blogger to wordpress and without her, I’d currently not have a blog and living in blogland limbo!!  If you haven’t already, make sure stop by her blog, especially on Tuesdays for her Handmade Pact/Handmade Tuesday’s, where you can check out and link up some great homemade goodies!!

Kristen’s on Twitter too…so make sure you follow her!!

Kludgy Mom 
My homework for Week 4 of the Back To School, Back To Blogging Class over at Kludgy Mom!

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