The Paris Hilton of WordPress

Posted on June 17, 2010 by NotoriousMLE

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day for me. I was featured on the WordPress homepage which brought in a huge amount of traffic. HUGE! I always tell myself that hits don’t matter, that writing and blogging is something that you because you love it…all of which is true but I just got to say it… I GOT OVER 1000 hits yesterday. On Wednesday I was INTERNET FAMOUS!

And I didn’t even have to make that sex tape I was planning.

Just kidding Mom!

So if you are new here since coming in yesterday I’d like to thank you for stopping by and give you a tour of my blog!

My name is Emily. I call myself Notorious MLE because I was in high school when the Notorious B.I.G. was at the height of his popularity. What’s that you say? I don’t get the MLE part. Sound it out…

It’s okay I can wait…

Got it? It’s okay, try one more time and say it fast…. there you go!

I know, the cleverness of my high school friends is astounding.

Don't we look clever? I am now preparing myself for an onslaught of e-mails from high school friends indignant that I posted this picture. Oops.

Okay so that’s my name and blogging’s my game. I blog about my family and especially my son who we recently adopted. I blog about food, and imaginary vacations and the pickles I get myself into. Sometimes I just post funny stuff my Dad’s says verbatim. Like how he really needs to get off the phone with me because he has to attend to a very busy” peanut eating schedule”.

He is an endless source of blog posts.

Me and my Dad before we were internet famous. See I am already skeptical of him.

Also you should know that I am a neat freak so I have an “editorial calendar” for my blog.

Monday - I blog about my weekend. A lot of times this is just pictures of my little boy and food. This sounds boring but I promise you, my son’s cuteness is legend. Please give in. Resistance is futile.

Mommy tell them how cute I am! Don't worry sweetie, I do, every Monday.

Tuesday -I muse about my deep thoughts and contemplate life… or about shenanigans… like when my bread maker attacked me… or how lunatic the dating world is for my single friends… or… okay on Tuesday I blog about whatever the frak I feel like blogging about on that day.

Wednesday – Okay, here’s where the “editorial” system definitely falls apart. On Wednesday I usually blog quite randomly. I talk about the stuff I want to do before I turn forty: meaningful endeavors like eating my way through San Francisco. Or sometimes I publish awesome quotes, most of which come from Mr. Rogers. Dead serious about that last one.

Thursday – We take imaginary vacations like yesterday’s trip to Peru. I know yesterday wasn’t Thursday. I mean I know that now but I guess I didn’t when I scheduled that post. Kismet, no? These posts were inspired by J. Hill’s “Places I’ve never been” poster series and the fact that my toddler seems to have eaten our vacation fund.

Friday – Is the start to the weekend so we have some freaking fun! Every Friday I post five things I like in pop culture. Movies, songs, blogs, whatever. It’s my small way to give props to all the amazing things you can find on the internet. It’s not just dancing cats people!

Sunday – A day of rest. No words, just one picture. I’m working on becoming a better photographer.

Blogging has helped me find my voice and given me a space to share the amazing process of falling in love with my son. I love blogging and feel grateful and privileged that you would take the time to visit me here. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll come again!

XOXO-Notorious MLE

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

Posted on May 18, 2010 by NotoriousMLE

I’ve gone on ad nauseum about how I love Elizabeth Gilbert and TED. So obviously I love them together. In this talk she describes creativity/inspiration in a way that many other writers that I admire have: as a gift given by God.

One of my favorite books is Walking on Water by Madeline L’engle. In the book she described writing as her vocation: her calling from God. She felt that it was her job to write everyday and do her best. In her opinion it was God’s job if he chose to speak through her. Elizabeth Gilbert describes writing the same way on her website, saying that her commitment to be a writer was as sacred as any wedding vow. She feels that she cannot guarantee that what she writes will touch people, she can only promise to write. Right now I’m also reading a book from Anne Lammott that describes writing in a very similar way.

All three women are writers who I highly admire. All three describe feeling that their calling was to write but that bursts of greatness were a blessing for which they were the conduits not the source.

Although I’m just learning to write I totally get it. I am not an accomplished writer by any stretch of the imagination but I try to post everyday in the hopes that occasionally something worthwhile will emerge. And like them I feel like I have little control. When I write a good post I know it is good even before people tell me. I know it that way you do when you nail a test, or hit the high note, pirouette with perfect balance or stick the landing off the pommel horse. It just feels right! Unfortunately for me (and you my dear readers!) I have little control over when that happens or not… sometimes I blog stuff knowing that it’s not good but I’m unable to make it better. This terribly wounds the perfectionist in me, so I have to tell myself over and over again: Just like all of life, the commitment is to try your best everyday, the rest is up to God.

Description from TED: TED Talks Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

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more about “Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creati…“, posted with vodpod

Storytelling Pt. 2

Posted on April 6, 2010 by NotoriousMLE

Does anybody else watch Ugly Betty? I’m so sad that it’s ending this year; especially since this season KICKED ASS. Before I get to the point shall I detail exactly why I love Betty?

Uh, DUH , the original series was from COLOMBIA. Holla!
The design. It is one of the best-designed shows on TV. Total eye candy for a design nerd like me.
Real Diversity – Usually ethnic characters on TV are stereotypes. The smart Asian, the sassy black girl, the sexy Latina. Ugh, no wonder people get confused when they meet me. They are trying to understand if I am a “math wiz asian” or a “dorky white girl” or if they didn’t hear me right and perhaps I’m really Mexican. On Ugly Betty, much like one of my other favorite shows LOST characters get to be more than stereotypes which rocks on so many levels.

Okay, I could get carried away so I had to limit myself to three but if you don’t watch Betty, Netflix it, it’s such a fun, cool show.

Alrighty back to the point, a few weeks ago on Betty she ended up dating this guy who she later found out was hiding her. After she finds out she tearfully tells her older sister Hilda “I knew it was too good to be true. That someone like him would be with someone like me” and her sister says “Betty you have this story about who you are and how things are going to be. I think you’ll be happier when you let go of those ideas.”

I loved that line and I’ve been thinking about it lately. The story of who you think you are. The dork. The Straight-A kid. The F&^%-up. The winner. The loser. The Park Avenue princess. The class clown. The destined for poverty and dysfunction. The stories we have for ourselves and that other create for us go on and on.

I’ve always thought of myself as kind of a happy above average. Pretty good at most things. Pretty good as a person but the more I think about it the more I want to let myself (and other people for that matter) be more than that. Not to get all Breakfast Clubby but I think we should all give ourselves the freedom to widen our story. To know that sometimes we’ll be the superstar and sometimes we’ll be the Fu*#-up. Sometimes we’ll be average and sometimes we’ll be at the head of the class. My normal story for myself doesn’t allow me to be a writer or start my own business. Above average me works in a cubicle as a civil servant. My normal story doesn’t include my epic fails as a parent. Above average me must be above average at everything I do including first time parenting.

It’s restricting right?

Thanks for the advice Hilda Suarez I needed it.

Storytelling Pt. 1

Posted on March 30, 2010 by NotoriousMLE

Last week I went to SoCal for a business trip and I took the opportunity to read a book, “Rockabye” by Rebecca Woolf. The story follows her through her unplanned pregnancy and the first few years of her son’s life. In the book she is so honest about the struggles of becoming a parent: the pressures of other people’s opinions, the exhausting guilt, the fear that you are no longer allowed to be yourself, the constant anxiety that you will make the wrong decision and fail your child, the simultaneous urge to run away balanced with a love so intense you think it will break you in two.

I read her book and I felt every single word.

Her book said so many things that were lying heavy on my heart. Things I was afraid to say aloud for fear that someone would agree, “You know you might not be the best Mom for him, we’re going to take him back and give him to a better Mom.”

Nobody can do that of course but it’s there always in the back of my mind, a fear that whispers at me constantly. When you spend so much time having to convince people that you’re a worthy parent with home studies, fingerprints and international background checks at some point you start to believe you deserved the abuse. That maybe you aren’t good parent material and that’s why you had to spend a year defending yourself. And when the going gets rough and you’re tearing your hair out that voice gets louder and louder. Last week the voice was overtaking me when I found her book. I couldn’t believe how brave she was to say the things she did. It was so comforting. Apparently I am not totally crazy. Or at least not alone in my crazy.

So then I wrote her an e-mail to tell her how much I appreciated her brutal honesty. It was the first time I’d ever written an author but I was just so grateful I couldn’t NOT write and say thank you… but here’s the thing. SHE WROTE ME BACK.

How awesome is that?

Not a bounce back form e-mail. A sincere, thanks for your note and I promise you will make it e-mail.

And that’s why I decided to be a little more honest and courageous on this blog, to share a little more about my real life. Her story reached me at a moment when I was feeling lost and needed her words. And I think that’s the beauty of writing, the opportunity to use your voice to give something beautiful to somebody else. Maybe it’s the birthday card with a personal note or the magical realism that gives everyone in a world a taste of your home country. Maybe it’s the information someone needs to balance their budget or the Jane Austen novel that gives you hope you’ll find your Mr. Darcy. And maybe sometimes, it’s just your story, honestly written, that reaches someone as they’re struggling and gives them the consolation of knowing they are not alone.

Bummer?

Posted on March 11, 2010 by NotoriousMLE

Remember how I applied to be a guest blogger for ING? Well I didn’t get picked. It’s what I expected seeing as an open call like they had probably solicited hundreds if not thousands of applicants. Even though it’s a tiny bit disappointing it was great to take a step out there and actually try for something. When I was fresh out of college and didn’t know what I didn’t know I was braver. I was more wiling to try things and take risks and I would like to find a little bit of that in my life again. Since I don’t really know anything about being a writer I suppose I have that advantage of not knowing anything!

“Take more risks” is on my Forty by Forty list so even though I didn’t get the job I feel like it’s still an accomplishment. A little step to waking up the dreamer I have somewhere sleeping inside me.

Confessions

Posted on February 16, 2010 by NotoriousMLE

Time for some blog confessions? Of course! There’s always something to confess right? Even as a non-Catholic I’ve got that part straight. :)

Okay. My confession is that I am a chicken. For a long time I’ve kind-of, sort-of been wishing I could be a writer. Let’s face it, nobody puts as much work as I do into a blog without some kind of ulterior motive and I never wanted to admit that mine is because I really like writing. But now I’m ‘fessing up: I like writing, or rather story-telling and communicating and I think I’m ready to start really trying to be a writer. What kind of writer, I don’t know… but in the spirit of trying not to wuss out I actually submitted an application to be a paid guest blogger for ING Direct. And I took it seriously, thinking through my app carefully and EDITING the final document. This my friends is progress. And I blame all of you who read this blog. I blame you for all your sweet, kind comments and for all of you audacious enough to suggest that I should be writing a book about our little trip to meet Colombia. I blame you all for giving me the encouragement I needed to get serious.

Maybe I’ll get the job and maybe I won’t but trying is the first step. Thank you to each of you whose encouragement gave the courage to try. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

The Love Shop(Etsy) via La Dolce Vita