One of our featured sponsors for the month of August is Erin from My Thirty Spot! As a gal in my 30s, I REALLY appreciate so many of her fabulous posts! And hey, even if you’re not in your 30s, her blog is packed full of greatness! Be sure to stop by and say hello, and tell her A Night Owl sent you!

:::::::::::::::::

My name is Erin Kennedy and I’m the writer and woman behind the blog; My Thirty Spot. I had never written a blog before and I have to say that I jumped in with both feet even though I had no clue what I was doing.

So how did this all start? I was laid off from my job the week before I was getting married. That was a huge blow not just financially, but emotionally. It is a rough thing being laid off and it was right before the biggest day of my life. It was a crazy time.

The biggest thing that I had to cut was a lot of my beauty stuff. Like getting my hair highlighted every five weeks, getting mani’s and pedi’s, and all the newest makeup. I decided to turn to the internet to find some beauty tips that were for a 30-something and DIY. I was surprised that I could not find very much info for the 30-something. I found plenty of sites dedicated to the 20-something or college aged gal, and even more sites dedicated to women in their 40s. What about us 30s? We need tips too! It’s a big transition from age 20s to 30s, but there wasn’t much information to help us through it. We still look like 20s, and I wanted to know how to stay that way as long as possible.

So that was it. I thought if I started a blog I could use it to appeal to companies hiring, it would give me something to do during the day and I could also learn a ton!

Here are some FAQ that I thought I would share. I have yet to put this on my blog, so you are the first to read them.

How old are you? I’m 33. I was born in 1979. I’m a Capricorn. So far, my 30s are my favorite age of all. Obviously!

How old were you when you started this blog? 31

When did you start this blog? I started this blog at the end of 2010.

Where are you from? I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah and in 2007, I moved to Phoenix to experience another city.

Are you married? Yep, to an amazing man I met four months after I moved to Phoenix.

Do you have children? Not yet. But soon, and I’m sure you will get sick of reading my posts about it.

What is your #1 beauty tip for a woman in her 30s? Sunscreen! Always and every day! Wear it on your face, neck, the back of your hands and even your décolleté. I would recommend nothing less than 40 SPF. Don’t forget to re-apply if you are outdoors after two hours.

What advice would you give someone just starting out in the blogging world? Find your voice and write that way. Write like your chatting with your girlfriends and keep writing. Life can get in the way, so if you’re serious you need to make sure you just keep writing on a regular basis.

What is the best way to get traffic? Network, network, network. I mean everywhere; social media (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram) linky parties, commenting on other blogs and even attending events that are going on in your city. You might be amazed who you might meet and that can turn into something that will work for both of you. I would also recommend joining a forum and guest posting on bigger blogs.

What is your favorite post? I don’t have a favorite post, but I do have a series that is my favorite. It is called the Love for 30 Project. It allows women to guest post and write about their 30s. Women from all over the world have contributed and it is so refreshing and inspiring to read about other women’s stories about what they have learned, are learning and experiences in their 30s. I am always looking for contributors, so if you would like to join the project, email me! 

One of our featured sponsors for the month of August is Mar from Raising Bean! She is currently one of the hosts of the #PhotoadayRecap Link Party we have going on now, so if  you have #Photoaday Recap posts and you haven’t linked up yet, be sure you do!

:::::::::::::::::

Hi all! I’m Mar, I blog over at Raising Bean.

Over there you’ll get to know me, and my family, by reading about the fun times we share, the adventures we go on, and all the adorable pictures. My 14 month old baby girl, my little bean, is always exploring, giggling, and getting into some sort of trouble! She also enjoys rearranging my kitchen on a daily basis.

Occasionally, things between raising human babies, and pets, are similar. Some days, there are more coincidences than others.

Before having my daughter, I acquired my furry kids. I have a 12 year old husky mix, a 5 year old dachshund, 3 year old pit bull, and a 4 year old cat. I have raised them all, saved them all, and learned from them all. I also rescued my pit bulls mom 2 weeks before she gave birth to a little of 8 puppies, we made sure all 9 of them were spayed and neutered before leaving for their new homes. So I’ve had my share of furry babies. My daughter is my only human baby, and the first newborn I ever truly dealt with. I literally ran into motherhood blind. Thank goodness for the classes my husband and I attended at the hospital!

The other day, I was getting treats out for my three canine kids, so that Bean and I could eat out lunch without three sets of begging eyes upon us. Our dogs always sit before they can eat, and get their treats. So I naturally stared at my pit bull and said “sit down”, Bean happened to be standing right next to him when I said it. They both sat in unison, and stared at me with the same Okay, I did it. Now what do I get? expression.

My precious little bean loves to explore her surroundings, new and old. Recently she’s gotten into the habit of opening the drawers we keep our bluray DVDs in, and bringing them across the room to me, or giving them to the dogs by leaving them in one of their beds. So after the Sit incident, and lunch, she started unloading DVDs onto my lap. Since she had left the drawer/DVD home open I decided to see if I could toss them back into it. Thus being a lazy-toddler-mess-cleaner-upper. So with a flick of my wrist, I threw them like a frisbee towards in the direction of the open drawer. **Note: I have never been good at getting frisbees to go where I want them to. The DVDs landed scattered in the general area of the console table, at least it’ll make clean up faster I thought. Want to guess what happened next? A nice game of fetch with my “helpful” baby girl. She started bringing all the DVDs right back to my lap, and I kept tossing them back towards the drawers. Lather, rinse, repeat! Wore her out, and her daily nap soon followed. Winning!

While I was cooking dinner that evening, I handed Bean a wooden spoon to entertain herself with, and she toddled over to the pet’s water dish to splash in it with the spoon. Playing in the water bowl is another daily occurrence, you can read another story about it here. After a few minutes of hearing giggling and splashing while dinner is sizzling and cooking, the kitchen becomes silent. Every mom knows that when your baby’s quiet that’s a bad sign, unless they’re napping. So I turn around and the crazy girl is about to put her face in the water bowl to take a drink. I couldn’t help but laugh as I exclaimed her name. It was quite a sight to see! I grabbed her her still mostly full sippy cup from earlier in the day and she seemed satisfied. I guess she was too lazy to find her sippy cup on her own, and knew she couldn’t nurse at that moment because I was fixin’ our meal.

So you see, sometimes pets and babies really aren’t all that different. You try to raise them both to be happy, obedient, loyal, smart, well behaved, and loving. I reinforce positive behavior with praise and snuggles for all my pets, and my daughter. Thank goodness my girl is walking though, if she was still crawling while doing all these similar things to the dogs… I may have had to start worrying!

If you’d like to see more adorable pictures, and read fun stories (and sometimes not-so-fun stories) then come on over to my blog, Raising Bean, for a visit! I’d love for you to say “Hey y’all!” whenever you stop by too

Hello friends and readers of A Night Owl Blog! I’m Megan from AbsoluteMommy. I’m super excited to meet all of Kimberly’s friends. I can’t remember how I found Kimberly and her blog, but I just adore her.  Girlfriend knows how to have fun. She has a super fierce love for Instagram, much like me, so it was an instant attraction! Plus her “Pinning” link ups are amazing and I always find something new. And seriously what’s not to love about a link up about links on Pinterest? Exactly!

I’m sure you are wondering who AbsoluteMommy really is. Let’s cut to the chase. I started blogging a little over a year ago.  I write about whatever my hearts desire, but mostly about fumbling and stumbling through motherhood.  My motto is “I wasn’t built for motherhood.  It built me.  It’s a work in progress”. You will find that I blog about my marriage to this guy:

We’ve been married 7 years! I’m lucky he puts up with my attitude!

I also blog about these cuties, and take an insane amount of photos of them to post to Instagram. So if you’d like to follow me on Instagram, this is your warning!

This is Miss Mackenzie

This is Caitlin Elizabeth.

I have been known to post crafty stuff, but my tutorials always look like the photography from an 80s “b” movie. Plus if I’m crafty it has to be easier than making a peanut butter sandwich. I sometimes post a recipe or two and those are equally as easy, because if it’s more than 5 steps, mama don’t bother. To give you an idea of what happens at Absolute Mommy, here is a excerpt of one of my favorite posts:

Hello! I am Melissa and I blog over at The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife. I am so happy to be guest posting for Kimberly today!! I’ve been a fan of her blog for a little while now and she has been soooo nice to me! oh and ps you should totally sponsor her blog (so worth it).

Hey Night Owl readers! My name is Emily and I’m a graphic design student with only one year left. I started my blog as a way to express myself and to be able to start doing more Graphic Design for others. I’m the type of person that has always been very quiet in big groups. 

One thing I’ve always loved doing is making things and coming up with DIYs. Before I decided to start blogging, I had a YouTube channel and I thought I would share some of the DIYs I did that I haven’t posted on my blog before. 

Here is a magazine or makeup palette holder that I made using cardboard, duct tape, hot glue & fabric. You can also so the same thing using a cereal box.

I decided to switch to blogging at the beginning of the year because I felt too weird talking to a camera. My blog is also full of stories from my life, beauty tutorials, and anything else that comes to mind. 

Now that you know a little about me and what I like to do I would love to get to know all of you! Head on over to Designs By Emily F and introduce yourself!

Hi friends! I just want to take a moment to thank all of you who have followed A Night Owl, a fun, creative outlet that I started up in January. Everyday I’m amazed by the fantastic people that I’ve connected with and continue to meet!

In response to meeting so many amazing people, I have also started to sponsor some fabulous blogs. And as I’m sure you’re aware, that comes at a price. So in turn I’m calling for some lovely sponsors to also sponsor A Night Owl! 100% of the proceeds that come from sponsoring this blog go into sponsoring other lovely ladies! So be certain that it is a solid investment!

I am also absolutely committed to supporting you and your blog and/or shop! I love promoting my friends on  Facebook and Twitter, and would love to get to know you and promote YOU!