I bet you can’t wait for more of these! (Check out my new YouTube Channel, if you really want more of my silly iPhone videos.)

Today I signed up for SocialSpark.

Don’t know what it is? Hope on over to Izea‘s site and see what this Orlando-based company is doing for bloggers, tweeters and advertisers!

Social Spark (and it’s creator, Izea) is a type of intermediary between bloggers and advertisers. It allows advertisers to put out requests for sponsored blog posts and it allows bloggers to advertise themselves as advertising mediums. Then SocialSpark does some matchmaking and before I know it, I’ll be funding my college career through blogging. Just kidding. I got a little carried away there. You and I both know that no one ever got rich fast by blogging! It was only a matter of time before a marketer like myself signed up and starting reaping the benefits. Not to mention (though, I am mentioning it so it doesn’t make any sense to say “not to mention”) that the company is located right here in downtown Orlando and I am a huge supporter of local businesses!

What took me so long? Social Spark wanted real bloggers with a history and followers. While I’ve been blogging for years, I’ve never been able to commit to a platform. I used blogger and then I used wordpress and then I used blogger again. Then I wrote a post or two on mindtransfer.net, a domain that the boyfriend and I purchased in hopes of building some kind of online empire. Fail.  But I finally committed. Since September of 2009, Chasing Education has been my blogging home and I intend to keep it that way.  Now, as Chasing Education’s one year anniversary is approaching, I am a real blogger. (At least that’s what SocialSpark lets me believe.)

With all of this said, you may see a sponsored post or two around here in the near future. No worries, I will always be honest and the sponsored posts will never drown out the stories of inferior service, apartment gardens and book reviews. I’m still blogging because I love to be sarcastic and document my adventures in education and exploration, that on it’s own will keep me honest!

Do you know any other companies that are faciliating relationships between bloggers and advertisers? Have you worked with them? Share your stories, if you have them.

Want to know more about Izea and Social Spark? Visit these links.
Code of Ethics
Sign up for SocialSpark

On Monday, I spent some time with some wonderful friends; most of them were under the age of 10.

How simple and lovely the lives of children!

Despite conning their brother into eating a lemon, and putting their ice-cold hands underneath his shirt, they just might be the world’s best (and cutest sisters!).

photo evidence of kids-night-out on my desk at work

“Mom, just tell me it’s ok,” he says after Mom tells him to apologize to the waitress for making a mess.

“I’m just spitting at the sky Mom. See? I’m spitting at you, sky,” he says after being reprimanded for spitting.

I may not want children of my own, but I sure do love a refreshing evening with other people’s children. If only life’s problems could still be resolved with my Mom telling me that it’s ok, what a different life I would lead.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/booleansplit/ / CC BY 2.0

I feel terrible. I have no photo documentary on my ravenous pig culinary experience. You may be able to excuse me when I say that the fresh-out-of-the-oven gruyere biscuits with sea salt butter and the cooked-to-perfection-burger with blue cheese and perfectly- caramelized-into-a-spread onions  taunted me. I was thinking with my taste buds and not with my camera. But this gives me an excuse to go back very soon!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nate/ / CC BY 2.0

In addition to my new found passion for the gastro-pub concept, I have uncovered my love for breakfast. I know. I know. Breakfast: the most important meal of the day. I’ve been skipping it since 1998. I thought filling myself up with coffee instead of breakfast would boost my metabolism and cut my calories. All of that changed this weekend when I prepared a bowl of steel cut oats with a light sprinkling of chia seeds and a fruit medley.  It was this weekend that I became super woman.  After my workout, I biked 13 miles in a single afternoon and I wasn’t hungry again until long after my usual lunch time. In conclusion, I want to give a warm welcome to breakfast into my daily routine.

Last (and maybe even least) on the list of things I loved this weekend is the Super Bowl. While I am not a big fan of football, I am a huge fan of the awesome company, loads of junk food and inevitable comic relief that comes with Super Bowl Sunday. This year on the comic relief menu: my promiscuous puppy.

the one on top is mine...hehe

I hope you had a lovely weekend and I promise that in the next month (or two!) I will return to the ravenous pig and give you a REAL review with photos of the truffled fries and everything!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anniemole/ / CC BY 2.0

Web content…what a wonderful world…web content ain’t no passing craze!

I’ve been so blog-happy lately. Not only with updating the blog (I am fairly certain this is the most consistent I have ever been with any of my many other blogging-attempts), but with reading other people’s blogs. If you haven’t looked lately, you check out my blog envy list. I even added new categories this week.

I’ve always been one to use the internet to communicate and research. I never thought I would be cyber-stalking complete strangers. I am cooking their recipes and admiring their cute babies. I am being inspired by their fitness goals, envious of their wardrobes and charmed by their…charm!

If I told you that I lurk around following the story of people’s lives, their talents, their successes and sometimes their failures, you would probably think I was a creeper. If I told you I read taza and husband’s blog…not as creepy.

Who are you stalking? Why are you stalking? Who do you think I should be stalking? Do you mind if I stalk you?

]]> http://chasingeducation.com/2010/01/cyber-stalking/feed/ 6 http://chasingeducation.com/2009/12/shameless-loves-and-molly-yeh/ http://chasingeducation.com/2009/12/shameless-loves-and-molly-yeh/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:18:42 +0000 elle http://chasingeducation.com/?p=443

I shamelessly stole Molly's logo...err hope she doesn't mind.

If you’ve checked out my blog envy list, you must have come across the blog my name is yeh under the category “just plain charming.”

And just plain charming it is!

This week Molly featured my list of shameless loves–such a cute idea! So head over to my name is yeh and show Molly Yeh some love!