One of the nicest women on the internet (except for YOU of course!) is having her FIFTH baby boy next week, and we’re having a party!!!

Alli - Mrs Fussypants is having her little boy next week, and the contributors at Blissfully Domestic are throwing her a shower, and the best part is that YOU could get gifts as well! Check out Blissfully Domestic every day this week for great Baby advice, tributes to our favorite mama, maternity and baby fashions, and a few great giveaways!

Laura, one of my fellow MommyBloggers from the Sony event is giving away an adorable Autism Awareness Bracelet!  Just go over to here to enter:

Ugh! Why is it I can come up with brilliant posts when I am unable to get to the computer - but the closer I get to it, the brilliance fades to mediocre, which then fades into…nothing. I got nothing.

I have been filling my head with inspiration and brilliance at other blogs though. Funny, clever, creative…I remember those words - they may not have been describing me, but I remember them! So while you are waiting for my to pull my whatever out of my whosit, please visit these amazing ladies and check back on me in a day or so - I feel the vapors coming on…

A Feathered Nest

Bobbi & Mike

The Leftover Queen

Bakerella

Daily Relish

Fitarella

Enjoy!!

Thanks for all of your entries - I am going to post all of your suggestions later, but I wanted to post the winner first so we can get to foofing! I wish I had the time (and the full bank account) to give you all pretty sites, but I will offer 50% off to anyone who entered the giveaway and books me this week to do their site - which means a basic blogger package will be $37.50,  and the deluxe blogger package will be $47.50. (This is for blogger.com sites only )

Ok, onto the winner - the winner, drawn by random number generator, made the following comment:

giabella designs Said:

My favorite cupcake or dream cupcake would be pina colada. Anything with coconut makes me happy!

Congratulations! Please email me at domesticchicky(at) gmail.com and we will get started with your makeover!

Thanks again to all who entered - you all came up with some really great cupcake ideas! And for the record, my favorite is old fashioned yellow cake and out-of-the can chocolate frosting - I love making all the fancy ones, but I am pretty basic when it comes to eating them…lol

I took a bit of what I learned from Me Ra, and a bit of Pioneer Woman’s Photoshop actions, and I got this…

Hehe…mean mommy.

Welcome to Bloggy Giveaways at Domestic Chicky! This time around I am giving away a free blogger design (a $175 value!) to one lucky winner. This giveaway will include:

One Custom Header
Color co-ordination (background, fonts, etc…)
Co-ordinating sidebar buttons 
(Categories, Archives, Links, and 2 of your choice)
Matching 125×125 button
One add-on (post signature, 3 additional sidebar buttons, matching etsy package)

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post with your favorite cupcake flavor or dream cupcake flavor…in case you couldn’t tell from the header, I LOVE cupcakes, and I am always looking for new inspiration!

You can also check out some of my work over HERE (I am in the process of creating a new site for my design stuff-maybe next year??LOL)

You may enter this giveaway until Sunday April 27th at 6pm PST, and I will draw the winner at random Monday April 28th. Thanks and Good Luck!

Don’t for get to check out the other great giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaways page!

The 2 days in La Jolla went wayyy too fast - I wanted more time with the other bloggers, more time with our awesome hosts, more time with the amazing and inspirational Me Re Koh. But the best things always end too soon, don’t they?

The hotel was beyond exceptional - the La Valencia was built in 1926 - it was a big social spot back in its heyday, and it was a favorite of Hollywood actors back in the 30’s & 40’s. Every room I saw was different and had cool little quirks - I had a tiny little balcony, which was irresistible for listening to the ocean and letting the cool breezes in. The only drawback was my room opened to the street, so I was awakened to the morning deliveries-lol. Small price to pay for an amazing room (I will try to upload a video I took of it).

Sony was a most gracious host - they not only gave each of us the cameras we used throughout the weekend, they overlooked nothing to make our stays comfortable - they provided spa passes, meal vouchers for the restaurants in the hotel, and huge breakfast and lunch buffets overlooking the ocean. We had amazing views, and were treated so well.

The highlights for me were learning from Me Ra Koh (she’s a blogger too!), and spending time and sharing information with fellow bloggers - it’s going to be REALLY hard for me to resist going to blogher this year!

Me Ra made what is essentially a technical explanation (f-stop, ISO and aperture - oh my!), and made it so relatable and understandable. It’s been a long time since I used an SLR camera, but it clicked right away when she explained it. She is not only a renowned wedding photographer, but she has also made a passion of teaching women to capture the little moments in their families lives. She also provided us with a set of her amazing videos to reinforce what we learned with her.

I am so indebted to not only Sony for giving us these wonderful tools to capture and save our precious memories, and Me Ra (and Her Brian ) for making it all seem so understandable, AND the awesome women I got to experience this with,  but also my amazing husband who more-than-capably held down the fort while I was gone. I am deeply grateful for the inspiration ALL of you have given me.

PS-Prepare to see a lot more pictures here!

Will post about my AMAZING weekend tomorrow!!

This afternoon I will be on my way to La Jolla to meet some bloggy mamas and learn about photography from the people of Sony and a professional photographer - I am SO excited because I could really use some help, as you can see here. Not many pictures…and the ones I do take tend to be over-exposed, blurry or just plain blech…

I am almost finished with my current design project - you can get a sneak peek HERE - isn’t it pretty?? That is what has taken up so much of my free time lately. I have also been involved in a swap I want to post about, but I need to wait til my partner gets her package - let’s just say one of the items she sent me was so yummy it didn’t last one day here .

See you later from the lovely California Coast!