Each Sunday, when I sit down to make my calendar, I look to weather.com and my schedule–especially in the summer. If it’s going to be gorgeous, I take advantage and cook on the grill. If it’s cloudy and rainy, it may be a good excuse to pull out the crockpot. And on days that I know I’ll be running a mom-taxi, I consider running to the pizza shop to keep my sanity. When you meal plan, you have to consider your daily life, atmosphere and environment–and we all know that as moms, that changes on a regular basis.

So, this week, to bring back the weekly plan, I’m definitely looking ahead to our schedule and weather plan (so sad to see Tropical Storm Alberto is going to break the East Coast’s beautiful weather pattern–mean Alberto, he’s coming before the tropical storm season actually begins.) So, sadly, with showers and storms in the forecast all week, there will be little grilling in the calendar this week (though I’m hopeful it will be gone by the holiday weekend!)

Monday: Spiced Chicken with Chickpea & Cucumber Salad
Tuesday: Herb-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
Wednesday: Beef/Corn Tacos
Thursday: Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas
Holiday Weekend: lots of grilling at weekend parties that we hope won’t be hit by the expected “isolated thunderstorms”

Have a great week everyone!

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

So my wrist went naked.

But a watch is such a necessary accessory. True, many people now list a watch as unnecessary because we all carry cellphones that have clocks. My kids even reach in my pocket or bag to see what time it is, rather than looking for a clock on a wall or on my wrist. Still. A watch wins for me. Wearing the time on my wrist I’ll never (okay… almost never) be late.

This year, watches are a hot accessory as they mix in the style of wraps and bangles. Here are a few favorites.

When I found the La Mer Collections Neon Odyssey watch at Nordstrom a few weeks ago, I knew I’d finally found my trendy watch of the season. Even better? Each store only stocked one of each color. So, aside from people ordering on line, it’s very likely I am wearing a watch that’s original to the Philadelphia region. Pretty cool.

Wearing my La Mer Collection Neon Odyssey wrap watch at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. Ironically, I'm wearing this exact outfit today.

Thanks to Dina of Baby Center for the picture. I’ll post a much cuter picture of both of us soon.

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Vlogmom: I'm not perfect

What about you? What makes you real? And check out what the other ladies of #VlogMom have to say.

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Julie, tell me why Just Precious became Julieverse at Just Precious?

So this is kind of a long story that I’m going to try to keep short. Long ago, I owned an online boutique, Precious Personalities. At that time, I also wrote product reviews for Mommies with Style and another site, where I had a column entitled “Precious Picks” that focused on products that worked together (like playroom necessities or kitchen necessities). I loved writing at both of the sites, but I wasn’t able to write about the products I sold. Knowing that just having an active blog was a huge deal for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and recognizing the need for product reviews of my great stock that actually pointed to  my website,  Just Precious was created as a place to write about the products that I sold. Well, that was the plan.

Just Precious quickly became more successful than the boutique as I wrote about things important to me, not just my boutique, and it took off.

In the past four years, I’ve become tired of introducing myself as “Just Precious” and people saying “oh! You ARE!” Plus, areas that I talk about aren’t really precious — I mean, marketing and social media and issues with teachers aren’t “just precious”, right? Often they’re anything but precious. In fact, I quickly learned that “precious” is a great name for a baby boutique — my husband was so smart when he named the boutique — because “precious” is usually associated with a baby or a baby animal. SO cute! But my life and interests? They’re not so cute. They’re important. They’re helpful to parents. But they’re not precious. I wanted to appear as more of a resource for all of my background and interests, everything within me and less of a cutesy blog. Julieverse encompasses all of that.

The transition from Just Precious to Julieverse is a long one. I have a background in marketing and I’ve sketched out a rebranding process that will take quite some time. I did this on purpose. I own just-precious.com, julieverse.com and juliemeyerspron.com.  All three point to the same site, located at Just-Precious.com.

Prior to the huge change that you see on this webpage (which is still a change in process, you’ll see little changes now and again, so come back and visit. It’ll be like Where’s Waldo?) I started calling the website Julieverse at Just Precious in March and all of my vlogs since then have reflected that. In April I changed my twitter handle from @justprecious to @JulieMPron (something I’m still getting used to typing). Sadly the twitter handle ‘julieverse’ was already taken.

On March 30, when Facebook officially changed fan pages to have cover pictures, I made my initial big change: installing a Julieverse at Just Precious header and changing all of my imaging. This helped me identify my new brand, based on the old one.

You see, I’ve changed my name and my look to reflect what the site has become. But who I am and what the webpage is here for: to be a resource to parents, especially moms, in many areas of their lives  and to help them to learn strategies to make their lives easier, as I’ve learned them… that’s still here, whether it’s at Julieverse or Just Precious.

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Take advantage of your YouTube keywords

YouTube is owned by Google, so a properly keyworded YouTube video is more likely to show up in a google search before the link to your site. Additionally, Joe-Google-Searcher is more likely to click on a YouTube link than a link to your post because it shows up first and seems user-friendly and recognizable, so you need to make sure that he clicks on your video and not another… by keywording. Yes, by uploading to YouTube you are providing competition against yourself–but it’s far better that your video and your post are both in the top ten than your competition.

Your YouTube statistics can (and should) be included in your Media Kits and About pages on your site. They’re a part of your promotional and influential power and a large part of your brand.

So, if posting on YouTube brings people to YouTube, how do I get more people to my website?

A little known fact: You Tube will only provide a hyperlink if the URL is in the beginning of the description. You should always, always, always start your description with a link to your own site. After your URL, remind your new viewers to visit your website:  ”http://julieverse.com/ <– see more of Julie Meyers Pron’s parenting tips and how to videos at Julieverse at Just Precious.” Then add a heavily keyworded sentence about your video.

How do I make money on YouTube?

There are two prime ways to make money on YouTube: GoogleAds and Affiliate Links.

• Google Ads/Adsense. After your video channel has achieved a certain amount of accredibility (determined by YouTube and Google’s mysterious algorithm), you’ll be invited to monetize your videos. After you accept the invitation, you’ll be prompted on each video to decide whether or not to monetize. Take care to only monetize videos that do not use copy-written elements (such as songs, TV, quotes from books, movies, etc), do not include paid product placements and do not have graphics that would confuse the eye when an ad is laid over. Google Ads take about one-third of the YouTube screen as an overlay. If you don’t like how the ad is performing or the way it looks, you can always take it off.
• Affiliate Links. Missy Ward of the Affiliate Summit shared this tip with me at SheCon11: Always include affiliate links to any product you discuss or use during your videos. Viewers are watching you to see what you can do, and when they fall in love with your demonstration, they’re going to want the product. So sell it to them! In this case, you’ll want to include the affiliate link at the beginning of the description, and not your site link. Because you want the money before the link juice.
• YouTube Ad Networks. Just as there are networks for blogs there are ad networks for vlogging as well. (Disclosure, I am a member of MomPulse a video-based ad network for Mom Bloggers.) Here’s a TechCrunch article with more information.

Get more followers

It’s very easy to subscribe to people’s YouTube channels: just find a video you like and click “subscribe” above the video. When you subscribe to a channel, their feeds will be sent to you and will appear on your Channel page. This makes it easier to view those you like and to share with those who like you. Not only are your videos shared with your subscribers, but also the videos you “like.” When you follow another vlogger, she’ll be prompted to reciprocate and follow you back. Not only will she then begin following you and receiving your feed on her channel, but others visiting her channel will see you featured on her list of following. If you’re looking for mom bloggers to follow on YouTube, check out our membership at #VlogMom.

And you should totally subscribe to my channel… I’ll follow you back, too. In fact, I find that the majority of people I subscribe to, subscribe back within the week. So get out there and subscribe to 20 vloggers today. Let’s see what happens.

Why are you still sitting here? Practice!

Video blogging is fun, but it’s also nerve-wracking, intimidating and it feels a bit self-centered. Most vloggers wonder what they can do to increase their skills. The easy answer: practice! But practicing is awkward… who wants to just jump on screen and start talking about random things, right? A few other bloggers had the same thought, and decided it would be much  more fun to practice their skills together. At #VlogMom, bloggers ask a question of the week and answer it each Thursday, linking up on each other’s sites, watching each other’s YouTube videos and sharing vlogging tips in the comments.

Julieverse at Just Precious readers have seen #VlogMom since it’s first week and I’m so proud to share with you our new webpage which acts as a hub for all things #VlogMom. There you’ll find next week’s topic as well as video blogs featuring our bloggers.

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Cookbook for a bridal shower

The Organized Kitchen: Give the future bride this book that teachers her all about her kitchen. She’ll quickly learn exactly what she needs in her pantry and cabinets as well as how to prepare meals, freeze foods, how to set up a kitchen, how to clean supplies and so much more. The is a mix of how to have a functioning home kitchen with simple recipes like Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese. Everything I absolutely needed when I was figuring out how to keep a kitchen. (Pair this with a few cooking supplies and present it in a soup or sauce pot for a great, personalized gift.)

Cookbook for a mom

The Muffin Tin Cookbook: This is a great gift for a new mom or a mom of preschoolers. I love the idea of this cookbook, in that you prepare all your normal favorites in a muffin tin allowing for portion control and easier serving… as well as a lot more excitement for your kiddos. It includes 200 meals from meatloaf (which we love) through casseroles, snacks and more. Gift this with a muffin tin (Jumbo or mini would be great because many homes don’t have those sizes, or silicone muffin tin liners which are called for often in the book.

For a health-nut or gluten-free family

Quinoa Cuisine: 150 Creative Recipes for Super Nutritious, Amazingly Delicious Dishes A year ago, I struggled over the pronunciation of quinoa, having friends laugh as I asked them “where to buy qwi-no-A?” Since then, I’ve learned of the many types of quinoa, their health benefits, and how you can cook with it in so many different ways for so many different flavors. Even better? The kids actually like this protien-pasta-rice-ish side. This cookbook shares background information on how to buy and how to prepare, health benefits of the food and 150 recipes that we’ve been trying out.

I’ll be bringing back the weekly menu plan next week, my friends! Thanks for voting!

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration castle, aka stage. Sharing this picture because a. I love the castle and b. I love the dress

It’s not every day that you sit down with 175ish of your closest and dearest friends, after a night of partying, to intensely study yourself. In fact, I started the morning with no idea that I’d be so focused on me. Comedienne Mary Ellen Hooper began our morning with parenting laughter that would fill and balance our day.

Mary Ellen Hooper and the Fairy Godmother at our very own castle!

I’m sure it wasn’t the intent of Disney to enlist my thoughts in calm, structured wanderings. I know they planned to enlighten the social media mom that I am. (They did.) When Amy Jo Martin took the stage, I was excited to hear about her experience with sports teams and stars. Never did I realize that learning her journey would enlighten mine.

I nodded through a lot of Amy’s slides, taking more pictures, apparently, than I realized because I just agreed with so many of them. In fact, at one point, I joked that perhaps she was quoting me.

While I didn’t say it quite so beautifully, before kids, I was a sorority advisor at Villanova University, and tried, again and again, to try to express this thought to my students who were terrified of breaking rules. For them, there was little gray–just black and white. In life, I’d tell them, you have to find ways to bend the rules. You can find loop holes in policies that won’t actually be doing something wrong, just pushing the limits. It was the girls who could capture this essence that achieved most. (And, note: I did not give those girls permission to drink at the age of almost 21 or break any rules. I only attempted to show them that you had to take some well-thought risks to get ahead.)

I continue to use this same mindset in parenting and my workload. We need to stretch our limits to live a limitless life.

A marketing powerhouse, Amy Jo spoke a good deal about personal branding… something I also speak and write about (I still plan to write a book on Branding and Rebranding for women). Again, I nodded and agreed with the importance of recognizing yourself as your own brand.

But it was when we started talking about life-balance that I, apparently, stopped taking pictures, so enthralled was I in what she shared. Sadly, I’m missing the image that inspired me most. It was, ironically, an image that not only she, but fellow speaker Peter Shankman also posted. A picture of a computer and phone on a mountaintop looking out into the distance.

Close your eyes. Imagine it. You’re working atop a mountain. You have the whole world before you. You can do this because you have balance in your life. You can take your work to where you can clear your thoughts. You can do something for you in your busy moments of every day.

At least three of the speakers shared the importance of me-time. Amy Jo takes 8 minute breaks to do something for her. She schedules them into her calendar. Lisa Druxman of Stroller Strides spoke of the importance of time alone and Peter Shankman shared how he needs time to gather his thoughts.

So do I. So does everyone.

So, the last two weeks I’ve spent sometime doing nothing but thinking. Being enlightened by my surroundings and the thoughts that continually go through my mind. Why am I doing this? Where am I going? What am I giving to others that will help them?

What is my why?

Here’s Amy Jo’s response. She found her why. I’m still working on mine. But I’m also working on balancing my life better to help myself to find my why. I’m finding time to ponder. I’m making notes.

I’m not so sure I’ll have an answer. I’m a big believer that life brings you twists and turns. You hit a bump in the road and your life turns you left instead of right. So, rather than focus on my why for life, I’m focusing on my why for today. And my why for my business. And my why for tomorrow.

What about you? Have you found your why? Have you balanced your time? Can you spend time on top of that mountain–or in your special place–for inspiration in what you do?

Thanks to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration for hosting the conference. It was an honor and an inspiration.  More on my trip to Disney World (with pictures and video and behind the scenes peeks) to come.

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

What about you? What show would you guest on? And what would you do with your new fame? Share by making a video and linking up or comment below. And don’t forget to see what shows the other ladies of #VlogMom want to guest on.

VlogMom: TV guest

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

But to Mom and me, it’s so much more.

I went to the same overnight camp that my mom attended about 25 years before. We sang the same songs, sat at the same campfires, played the same games… While we were there at different times, we lived the same experience. We were raised on this experience and it helped to form both of us.

At our camp, it was a tradition to sign the walls. The director hated it, the campers loved it. Loved it–we made our mark on history. And we knew that in 20 years when we’d come back to visit, our mark would still be there. I recall one year I wrote a letter to my future daughter on the wall by my bed. Sadly, most of those notes and marks have been sanded down and painted over. But one bunk, the Senior bunk that belongs to the 15-year-olds, still has all of the autographs and signatures. It still has the history.

In 2008, 19 summers after my “Senior summer,” a friend went back to camp to visit. She spent a good deal of time in the Senior bunk, taking pictures of all of the walls, making sure she had pictures of the names that meant the most to her. That night, this picture appeared on my Facebook wall.

A picture of an amazing history that mom and I share.

This weekend, we’ll celebrate Mother’s Day, miles and miles from each other. But because we share our history and traditions, it’s memories like these that highlight Mother’s Day. And, to celebrate, I’m always looking for unique Mother’s Day gifts, like a gift card to YesVideo, which Mom and can use to transfer old pictures of our shared history.

Thanks to YesVideo for sponsoring this post and reminding me of some fabulous memories with Mom. Follow @YesVideo on twitter and Facebook. I love interacting with them as they pull at your heartstrings with stories of memories through images.

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Yes. We tried, very hard, to get the lady in front to sit down. There’s always someone, right?

© 2012, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.