Guest Star: Bruna of Bees With Honey

 

When I first started tweeting again (I lapsed, that was pre-blog days), one of the first tweeps who continuously engaged with me and #FF’ed me every single week (encouraging others to follow you on Fridays, for non-Twitter people, was Bruna of Bees With Honey. Her blog posts are always warm and sweet like this one about friends, she generously shares her space with fellow bloggers in her weekly series, Let’s Bee Friends and she gives great tips on educational activities you can do with your children in her Mama Teach Us series.

She truly is one of the sweetest people I’ve had the privilege of knowing online. And I love her posts about her 3 beautiful girls! Say hi to Bruna.

I am beyond honoured to be one of Alison’s Guest Stars today. Thank you, Alison, for allowing me to hang out with you in your corner of the world. Your Guest Star series is one of my favourites.

1. When and why did you start blogging?
I started blogging the summer of 2010. Back then, my blog name was Harmless Girl Talk. I started out on Blogger and when making the switch over to WordPress, I changed my blog name to Bees with Honey. Initially, I started blogging simply to document the life of my growing girls. My blog was mainly read by far away extended family. It was a great way to share photos and keep Grandma and Papa up-to-date on the goings-on in the life of their granddaughters.

Eventually, after finding and reading so many other blogs written by like-minded mothers, I realized that I could write about stuff other than what’s happening in the lives of my children. I wanted to write about myself but felt silly. Reading other blogs helped me to see that writing about me wasn’t so silly after all. So many mothers out there were doing just that. So, I jumped right in and since then, have not turned back or regretted sharing my thoughts and feelings with the rest of the blogosphere.

2. What do you love most about blogging?
There are so many things I love about blogging but if I had to pick just one, it would have to be the friendships I have made and strengthened over the last year. I never imagined I would establish genuine relationships with other bloggers simply by reading and commenting on each other’s’ blogs and via the Twitter. For this, I am grateful.

3. Who is your favorite blogger ever?
How cool would it be to pinpoint one blogger I love and adore above all others? I couldn’t even if I tried. I have found and grown to love reading so many Mommy writers that to even name a few would leave out so many that hold special places in my heart. I recently met a group of fabulous Mommy bloggers locally where I live for a Tweetup. It was my first TweetUp ever and it was an evening I will always remember and cherish. The girls I spent so much time tweeting and reading ended up being just as cool in person as they are on-line. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I will say; however, that the great Mama Kat and Truthful Mommy are two veteran bloggers I have looked up to since I began blogging myself. Mama Kat inspires all her followers and friends with her weekly Writer’s Workshop and Truthful Mommy took me under her wings on the Twitter and taught me the ropes as well as introduced me to so many of her cool friends. For that, I am grateful. There are many fabulous Mom bloggers out there who do great things and help newbies to feel welcome in the on-line world.

4. Is there a post you regret publishing?
I don’t regret anything I write about except that sometime I think I divulge too much detail about my feelings and life. I know I’m not alone in this because so many other Mom bloggers out there do the same. I have to be a little extra careful with my topics being a Catholic School Teacher. I don’t want to do or say something that could jeopardize my job or my reputation as a teacher. You will not find any swearing, bashing or name calling on my blog. This isn’t difficult for me as I don’t normally do those things in real life. The character of ME on the blog is pretty much the ME you get in real life too. No surprises.

5. What do you love most about being a Mom?
I had to think long and hard about answering this question because, truly, there are so many things I love about being a Mother. I love the simple things the most. Hugs, kisses, cuddles, cute faces, sweet giggles, hand holding and those words, “I love you Mom” are at the top of my list. Nothing beats having little people around who love; rely on and look up to you.

6. What’s your favorite time of the day?
My favourite time of the day is kiddie bedtime. What? Seriously, it’s the only time of the day I can finally sit down and take a break. Okay, besides that time, I’d have to say mornings are my favourite because I love waking up my girls with kisses on their noses and have them open their eyes and smile up at me. I especially love morning time snuggles. It’s the best way to start off any day.

8. What could you eat every single day?
This is a tough question. I have lots of every day favourites but if I had to pick just one thing, it would have to be Nutella Hazelnut Spread on toast with a side of vanilla latte. I can eat it for breakfast or as a snack at any time of the day. Yum!

9. Favorite season and why.
Summer, hands down, is my favourite season of the year. I am and always will be a girl of the sun and if I had to re-live my life from the beginning, Hawaii would be my homeland and I would grow up to be a total surfer chick and hang out at the beach every day. I would meet cute surfer boys and ride the ways. Maybe even become a professional boarder. Who knows? A girl can dream.

10. One word to describe you.
Loveable.

11. You’ve recently committed to getting healthy. Tell us how you stay motivated.
As far back as I can remember, I have never had to worry about what I ate. I was always slim and could pack away food like there was no tomorrow without the slightest worry of putting on a pound. Once I hit 40, my whole world crashed with the discovery of high cholesterol levels in my system. Levels so high, my doctor became concerned about my future. Since that moment, I vowed to take better care of my mind and my body. I committed myself to getting healthy and have tried to stay motivated along the way. How do I stay motivated? Besides the fear of dying young from heart disease, I would have to say my fitness savvy sisters really help to keep me eating better and working out. I look to them for encouragement and support and am grateful for the kicks to the butt I get when I get lazy and stray from my plan. They’re like my own personal trainers. Always checking up on me!

12. You started a wonderful monthly link up, Bee Beautiful You – tell us more!
I came up with the idea of BEE Beautiful You one day when I realized that we Moms spend more time complaining about ourselves than we do anything else. We very rarely celebrate how wonderful we are and how much we do for the people in our lives that we love so much.

I read a lot of blogs and often find that as Moms we are so hard on ourselves. As Moms, we set ourselves up for failure with such unreasonable expectations. It can sometime become depressing.

Bee Beautiful You was born to change how we see ourselves as Mothers. Bee Beautiful You makes every Mom blogger/writer wear their positive glasses and celebrate who they are as wonderful and loving caregivers.

Once a month, I write a post about something positive in my own life or about a person in my life I feel warrants celebrating. I invite fellow bloggers to join in by doing the same and linking up their post on my site for sharing. The linky stays open from Tuesday to Sunday – a week – and I encourage linkers to hop around and read other posts, leaving words of praise and encouragement.

Bee Beautiful You is encouraging and supportive – a venue for positive self-assessment and celebration. Everyone is welcome.

Thank you, Alison, for having me as a guest on your blog today. You are a friend and fellow blogger I admire and adore. Your friendship has meant the world to me over the past year. I feel blessed to have crossed paths with you in the blogosphere.

Thank you Bruna, for being one of the best bloggy friends I’ve met since I started MWT last year.  Do visit Bruna on her blog Bees With Honey, follow here on Twitter, Pinterest and like her on Facebook!