Sponsor To Make Love Stay in October!

So I've decided to take the plunge and start a paid sponsorship program in celebration of my 200th GFC follower this October.

I would still consider myself a relatively small-time blog, but I've been growing, growing, growing over the last few months. Current stats:

-I receive around 300-400 views a day, 7500-8500 monthly views and growing.
-The majority of my readers are the same as most blogs in the niche, females between the ages of 16-30.
-I sponsor several high-traffic blogs and advertise all blog posts to 187 Twitter and 50 Facebook followers.
-As of September 2011, I currently have 201 GFC followers, 217 RSS followers, and 36 Bloglovin' followers.

I'm choosing to do a very simple, introductory sponsorship program to see how the process works for my blog.  As a result, my sponsor spots are one-size, one-price: $5 for a 150x150 ad.

With this ad, you will get:

1. Top ad space on the right-hand side of my blog (the columns will be adjusted from how they appear currently).  Ads will rotate to ensure that each ad gets the same amount of time at the top of the column.

2. A group post featuring your picture, a description of your blog, and links to your blog, Etsy, Twitter, Facebook, grandmother's website, what have you.

3. The ability to host a giveaway should you so desire.

All money will go directly back into the blog, covering sponsorships and allowing for awesome new giveaways and such.

Interested? Send me an email at tomakelovestay{at}gmail{dot}com.

Vlog: It's the Little Things, v.2

I'm linking up once again with Lindsay of From the Aisle to Aloha this week for her "It's the Little Things" series.  If you missed it last week, this lovely little series invites bloggers to chronicle little things in the week that make us feel happy or grateful. 

Just like last week, I'm doing a vlog, and I'm sure you all are so excited about it.  In this vlog I talk about matryoshkas, gross dogs, hiking, and brownie sundaes.  Behold:

I would like to thank YouTube for picking the most awkward still in the entire video.

And now, the photographic evidence:

Sundae instead of birthday cake! There's a yummy GF brownie underneath all that.



Birthday girl!



Yayyy TOMS!

Awesome his and her shower drawings! See our other shower crayon post here.

Lots of fun matryoshka things! Thanks hipsters!

Find the glasses here.

Find the lunchbag here.

Find the actual doll here.

Make sure to go check out Lindsay's blog and the rest of the link-ups here!

Have a great weekend, all!  Rob and I are off to Maine's biggest island for some camping.  We're hoping to leave the fly off of the tent and snuggle under the stars. :)

Things I Love Thursday

A great Tumblr to check out: Lyrics to Live By.

This photo prank, and corresponding comments, made me laugh out loud.

This awesome urn will turn you into a tree after you die.  What a neat idea, either for myself or for Cypress when she passes away.

A lot of bloggers I know are big bully fans...so, enjoy this adorable picture.

Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies?!?!?! I have no other words for you.

I am a huge nerd and thought that this article on kamikaze ants was just about the most interesting thing I've read in a long time.

Having a rough week? I guarantee you that this "Bridesmaids" blooper reel will brighten up your day (I speak from personal experience).

Slightly more serious: this video of photographers recalling 9/11 was moving and chilling.

The time got away from me and that's why this post is somewhat insufficient.  I highly recommend you check out my good blog-friend Nova's TILT post, because they are always nothing short of epic.

What I'm [Honestly] Wearing & Other Bits and Pieces

Have a seat, blog friends, I want to be straight with you.

Usually, when planning an outfit post, I pick a particularly cute outfit, put on make-up and make sure my hair is perfectly in place.  This facade that I have created isn't totally honest.

So I thought I would do an actually honest outfit post.  This is the outfit I threw on from clothes on my bedroom floor this morning--skinny jeans from AE that are too big and a shirt that is falling apart.  I put on no make-up minus some eyebrow pencil-ness because of my right eyebrow's propensity for partially disappearing in pictures.  But now that fall is coming, I have fewer and fewer cute outfits I can comfortably wear and I'm quickly transitioning to "jeans and shirt and Sambas" time. If I'm totally honest with myself, most days I look a lot worse than this (think purple-striped pajama pants and an oversized blue sweatshirt that says "Colbert/Stewart 2008"), but this is all I'm comfortable releasing at this time.

Without further ado, here I am, what I look like most days, pose included:

Pull that shirt down, hippie! And find a better-lit corner for self-portraits!

Other bits & pieces from this week:

1. My sister, mother, Rob and I were planning on taking a trip to NYC to see the new 9/11 Memorial and also take a ton of pictures in front of 30 Rock.  Alas, after we bought the train tickets we found out that you need a pass to go to the memorial, and none are available until mid-October.  Makes sense, but we were still pretty bummed. Luckily we got a full refund so no harm, no foul.  Also, we're thinking of going to NYC anyway in November or December for some Rockefeller ice skating!

2. I got such a positive response on my vlog last week that I'm already planning another one for this Friday.  I'll be linking up with Lindsay again so stay tuned for my next list of Little Things!

3. Thanks again for all your opinions on my Shameless Promotion post.  I think I'm going to start up some type of sponsorship program in October, but we'll see.  Stay tuned for this as well!

4. I bragged to Rob that I was going to make a hot fudge brownie sundae while he was in class, but caved when he begged me to wait for him.  He's too damn cute.

5. Today I was reading an article on how lame and "sad" tattoos are (these always rile me up, not sure why I read them) and I have to say that it really annoys me when people call tattoos a "fad."  Slap bracelets were a fad.  Acid-washed jeans were a fad (that hipsters seem to want to bring back, granted).  Leisure suits were a fad. Tattoos have been around for thousands of years, before organized religion or modern civilization, and have been more or less mainstream in the U.S. since the 1940s.  Fads by definition do not last, and tattoos have more than stood the test of time.  Don't like tattoos? Fine. I really couldn't care less.  Just don't minimize the experience of those of us who do or pull the self-righteous moral superiority card and expect tattooed people to care or listen.  As I saw once in a tattoo shop, "The only difference between a tattooed person and a person who isn't tattooed is that a tattooed person doesn't care if you're tattooed or not." End rant.

6. One upside to the above post was that I found a comment that I rather liked.  It's kind of corny but I like the sentiment: "Don't think of tattoos as being something put on skin, but as something that had to come to the surface."

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of the week, full of sunshine, warmth, and good vibes.

The A-Z of Me

I believe I've done this before, but saw it once again on the lovely Liz's blog and thought I'd participate since I have some new readers.  Without further ado, the A-Z of yours truly.

A. Age: 25
B. Bed size: Double. I would kill someone for a king.
C. Chore that you hate: Doing the dishes.  We have a sink full right now and it's giving me panic attacks.
D. Dogs: Can't live without them. We have the best little beastie this side of the Mississippi.
E. Essential start to your day: Breakfast, but I forget to eat it a lot of times.
F. Favorite color: Green, all shades.
G. Gold or Silver: Silver.
H. Height: 5’3"
I. Instruments you play: Flute and violin. I've also played the bass machine and the tenor sax.
J. Job title: Higher Education Consultant
K. Kids: We're still deciding...
L. Live: Western Maine.
M. Mother’s name: Jennifer.
N. Nicknames: My family calls me Keek or Keek Bob (my niece calls me Auntie Keek), my husband calls me Lady, Mewf, or Mewfus.
O. Overnight hospital stays: When I was four I had cancer in my left kidney.  After it was removed I spent a week or two in the hospital.
P. Pet peeves: Slow drivers, people who take themselves too seriously.
Q. Quote from a movie: Any line from "Wet Hot American Summer." Haven't seen it? Netflix it NOW.  You will not be disappointed.
R. Right or left handed: Righty.
S. Siblings: One older sister, one younger sister.
U. Underwear: I am all about comfort. The underwear absolutely cannot ride up my buttcrack.
V. Vegetable you hate: Lima beans.
W. What makes you run late: Hanging around on the computer too long.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Chest, back.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Breaded chicken breast stuffed with feta, spinach and garlic, with asparagus or local sweet corn on the side.  Rob does most of the work though.
Z. Zoo animal: Big cats, monkeys, and apes.

If you decide to do this too post the link in a comment!

Another Day of Hiking, and More Thoughts on Blogging

This weekend was, in a word, lovely. 

On Saturday I co-shot a same-sex wedding in Portland, and can I just say that the gay weddings I have been to have been some of the best?  The ceremonies are all so heartfelt, so emotional, so genuine.  I think that anyone who is against gay marriage should attend a gay wedding. I think it would be impossible to not be moved.

I got home late on Saturday so Rob and I slept in pretty late the next day.  One of his coworkers from the summer had to fetch some data from a pond on Tumbledown Mountain so Rob and I decided to go up with her, her boyfriend, and both of our lovely beasties.  The hike is short, about 1.2 miles, but it involves a lot of climbing on rocks and all in all is pretty rigorous. This is why I don't have many ascending pictures below, since I was too busy huffing and puffing the whole time.  Once we got to the top I remembered why I love my home state, at least from May-October.

After we went hiking I was thinking about this post where I talked about the benefits of social networking.  I've heard a lot of bloggers say that they have to disconnect from their blogs/Twitter accounts in order to appreciate the moment, but in a weird way I have found the opposite to be true.  When I'm in the moment, or planning some type of adventure, I find that photographing it and coming up with just the right words to explain its significance amplifies my appreciation of that moment. In other words, I think that blogging has, in a way, actually helped me to become more aware of what is going on around me and allow myself to be truly present in that moment.  Does anyone else find this to be true?

I don't believe I'm explaining this very coherently, and for that, I apologize.  I'm writing this on Sunday night after about 5 hours of hiking and it is long past my bedtime.  Perhaps I'll write a more in-depth post on this topic at some future date.

I hope you all had a great weekend and thank you for all of your comments on my last few posts!

Shameless Promotion

Hi all!  Thanks for your comments on my vlog yesterday...I'm glad it wasn't as ridiculous as I thought it might be.

I have two questions for you lovely people:

1. Would you mind checking out my brand-spanking-new Facebook page, and if you are so inclined, clicking the "Like" button? I understand that this is shameless self-promotion which I usually hate on blogs, so don't feel obligated to "like" me, or even like me. 

2. I'm considering setting up a sponsorship program since I have had some interest.  Don't worry, I don't ever plan on selling out my blog or posting crap I don't believe in or what have you.  The interest I have seen is somewhat minimal, so I'm asking you the honest question...would there be any significant interest in a To Make Love Stay sponsorship program, paid or otherwise?  Please be honest; I love honest opinions and I don't want to do something if it will just end up being in vain.

Have an amazing weekend, all!

Also, because you're all so awesome, I wanted to share my new favorite song with you. Seriously, listen. You won't regret it.