In all my 7 years of blogging, I have never been invited to do a guest post before! However, thanks to this very resourceful mommy blogger, I now have my very first guest post floating around in the blogosphere.

Germaine from Kiddothings is a very resourceful blogger whose learning curve on blogging is amazing! In just a very short time, she has done incredible things for her blog. One of it was this idea to have 100 tipsy friends (as she calls it) guest posting on her blog with tips on just about anything in life that are close to their hearts.

I am proud to be her first tipsy friend. Naturally I wrote about blogging. Here is my post on her blog: Top 3 Blogging Skills You Need. I am currently looking at preparing my second guest post which I will feature on this blog as soon as I have written and submitted it to the linkedin contact who invited me.

I am also looking at the idea of opening my Mothering Times blog for contributions from breastfeeding mothers to share their inspiring, insightful and sometimes funny stories. Reading stories from other breastfeeding mothers was what kept me going when it was so very hard. So since guest post is on my mind, I have decided to do a little more research about it.

So What is Guest Posting and How Do You Guest Post?

I like this infographic from MyBlogGuest Updates. It is self explanatory. A picture tells a thousand words.

Basically a guest post is a win-win situation for blogger and guest poster. The blogger gets a free (or sometimes paid) article on their blog in their niche from an expert they have invited or who invited themselves whereas the guest poster gets free traffic, promotion and more exposure.

Read this article too How to Guest Post to Promote Your Blog. It has some excellent tips on guest posting.

This one is an interesting read too  Guest Blogging To Pay or Not To Pay since many people do wonder whether there is a need to pay guest bloggers or otherwise.

To me, when you do a guest post, it is akin to writing an article. You must focus on the article and not on promoting yourself. You should write better than when you write on your own blog. After all, you would not go to your guest’s house dressed in shorts and slippers. You would dress in your Sunday best and put your best foot forward. It is the same with guest posting.

What about Accepting Guest Posts on Your blog?

Here is a good guide about accepting guest posts on your blog: The Ultimate Guide to Accepting Guest Posts On Your Blog.

However, you must be wary and not be fooled. Sometimes the term ‘guest post’ is used very loosely by some. I have received numerous emails with requests to do a guest post on my blog. One look at it and I know that they are free loaders. These are not genuine guest posters who will post a valuable article for your readers that is relevant to your blog.

These are companies or individuals who are merely trying to get a free ride on your google page rank or traffic. They often look like sponsored posts promoting a product or service. You should either ignore those spam emails or request for payment. It is your blog after all and you should control your content.

Recently I have submitted my first article to ezinearticles.com. I hope that it will get approved and published soon. I have also written and published a couple of my articles on Bright Hub. Besides these, I am busy creating my Squidoo lenses. I am slowly expanding my wings beyond blogging but blogging shall always be my first love.

Shall we go shopping for Mooncakes? Shopping as in get to know what is available? I don’t do online shopping for mooncakes. I prefer to pick and taste and choose before buying. When doing online shopping for mooncakes, I don’t get to taste! However, when I go to a department store to choose, I am just overwhelmed by the number of stalls available from different mooncake sellers, hotels, restaurants, bakeries, eateries. In addition these number of stalls give an incredible amount of choices of mooncakes.

We are really spoilt for choices these days. Every year there are new types of contemporary mooncakes available. So you can imagine how long this post is going to be as I add on and update it. Feel free to share and recommendation and links.

Most of the time, I will just take a brochure or brochure home to study before hitting the stores again to buy. A little research helps. Now, let us do a little online research on mooncakes. Hmm… where shall we start? Lets start with

Tai Thong Mooncakes

Tai Thong Mooncake 2011

Here is the Tai Thong Mooncakes Price List for 2011. Tai Thongs bestseller mooncake is their Lotus Paste Double Yolks. For those who like new things, their new mooncakes for 2011 include Savoury White Lotus with Shrimp Sambal, Wholesome Wheatgrass with Single Yolk, Golden Honey Grapefruit with Pineapple (pictured above), Snowy White Lotus and Sesame with Custard and Snow Skin Chocolate Yogurt with Cranberry bits. Generally, the mooncakes cost about RM15-RM16 per piece and RM60-RM64 per box.

As for more pictures of Tai Thong Mooncakes 2011 and its packaging, you can go to Tai Thong Mooncake 2011 on Facebook.

The Baker’s Cottage Mooncake 2011

Baker's Cottage Mooncake

Health Conscious individuals may like The Baker’s Cottage All Time Favourite Mooncake the Green Tea Butter Pastry Skin Mooncake or the Grand Ruby (pictured above) which has a Red yeast butter pastry skin, no sugar added lily bulbs white lotus and no sugar added red yeast olive lotus made from 100% olive oil with chunky dried olive.

The Baker’s Cottage All New Mooncake Flavours for 2011 include Cheesy-Choc-Oreo, Espresso Walnut Latte, Fruity Mixed Nuts Royale, Golden Bliss, and Mint Hazelnut Truffle. Prices are around RM62.40 or RM63.20 per box.

Go here for more details on The Baker’s Cottage Mooncake 2011. You will be amazed at the variety.

Häagen-Dazs ® Malaysia Ice Cream Mooncake

Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream Mooncake

Häagen-Dazs ® Malaysia has a facebook fanpage for its many fans. You can go there for the latest pictures and news about their ice-cream mooncakes. Just looking at the Moongazing moments photos of mooncake makes me drool. Four new flavours are available including Chocolate & Vanilla, Cookies & Cream, Strawberry and Coffee & Macadamia Nut. The mooncake is about RM35 per piece. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get some tissue….

Hotel Equatorial Mooncake theme 2011

Contemporary Mooncake

This year 2011, Hotel  Equatorial has a peranakan design for its Mooncake packaging along with butterflies and peonies that symbolize happiness, good fortune and nobility. They have an entire website called Minimooncake.com to showcase all Hotel Equatorial Mooncakes.

Their Contemporary Mooncake list include Glutinous Rice Yam, Azuki Milk, Chrysanthynum Pu Er (pictured above), Charcoal Baked Yam, German Black Forest, Red Yeast Sweet Potato and Bamboo Charcoal with Hazelnut.

You can download the Mooncake Ebrochure to get a detailed order form or price list. Generally, it is about RM15.90 to RM19.90 per piece.

Toh Yuen Mooncake 2011

Toh Yuen Mooncake 2011

Toh Yuen, the Chinese Restaurant at PJ Hilton has 6 premium baked mooncakes and 8 types of mini snowskin creations by Chef Lee. The Golden Baked mooncakes are priced at RM22++ while the mini mooncakes are priced at RM12++.

The mini snowskin mooncakes include flavours like apple, almond, purple sweet potato, coconut milk, green tea with pine nut, white coffee etc hence its wonderful pastel colours. Go to Zestpj.com (Zest is the blog for the restaurants & bar at the Hilton Petaling Jaya) or if you prefer, you can download the Toh Yuen Mooncake flyer here.

I learned quite a few lessons on life from …. an umbrella. Yes, an umbrella, an inanimated object.

The other day, I queued behind an umbrella. Yes, an umbrella, this inanimated object. I was queuing to take my child to see the doctor. Since that was our third visit and I didn’t want to spend the whole morning at the clinic again, I went to the clinic very early in the morning to queue…. behind an umbrella.

There I was bright and early, standing in queue behind an umbrella. How strange.

Lesson On Life #1: People aren’t always what they seem to be. 

The normal couple who was enjoying their breakfast nearby had thought it fit to put an umbrella as a stand-in for them in the queue. How very strange. Normal couple also made sure they managed to register first when the clinic doors were opened.

On that same day, it was raining heavily after school. We were dismayed to discover that we had left behind two big and lovely umbrellas at the school. We searched everywhere and asked around but of course, it could no longer be found – two such lovely and big umbrellas.

Lesson On Life #2: If you don’t take care of your own things, somebody else might just take it!

We asked the sweet foreign worker at the canteen. She said she had not seen our big and beautiful umbrellas but later on she managed to get us a battered and torn one to use. If she hadn’t we would have been stranded in the rain for longer.

Lesson On Life #3: Help comes in all sorts of disguises

Lesson On Life #4: If you ask for help, sometimes you will get it

Lesson On Life #5: Even though something is old and battered, it still has its uses

Now, let us travel back further. One day, it was raining cats and dogs and a lady who was desperate to get to her waiting child, asked me whether I had a spare umbrella. “How can I return this to you? I don’t know you.” she said. So I gave her my daughter’s name and class but she never returned it and I never saw her again. I presumed that she must have forgotten the information that I gave her.

“Mummy, why did you give away our umbrella? It is so wasteful. We bought it with money.” my children asked.

I told them that it is just a small thing and that we should try to help others in need whenever we could. It feels nice to help others. Besides she did say she would return it.

The funny thing is that even though she never returned it, very soon after, we got back 3 umbrellas in return.

I had won a prize at a contest and during the prize giving  ceremony, we were given door gifts which included an umbrella. Somehow, I got the venue mixed up and arrived rather late for the prize presentation. As a result, there was a mix up and they forgot to call me on stage to receive my prize.

The organizers felt very bad and were very apologetic. They gave me my prize plus a few more door gifts including two more umbrellas!

I reminded my kids about….

Lesson On Life #6: If you give without expecting anything in return, sometimes you get back more than what you ask for. Give and you shall receive.

Well, that is the end of my long winded story. A result of 4 days missing from my blog. I am still feeling a bit drugged. I am currently taking the antibiotic Augmentin for my flu and it makes me feel floaty, nausea, and gastric.

When is mooncake festival 2011? This year mooncake festival or mid autumn festival falls on 12 September 2011. The stores are busy cashing in on this with many displaying and selling mooncakes and lanterns for children from as early as the beginning of this month. These days the mooncakes come in all sorts of flavours and packaging. Sometimes I wonder whether they are selling the boxes or the mooncakes!

Then there are the flavours. There are chocolate mooncakes, ice-cream mooncakes, green tea mooncakes and …. and….. did someone say angry bird mooncakes? Yes. Now you can eat Angry Birds Mooncakes too! Rovio has released Angry Bird Mooncakes just in time for this year’s Mooncake Festival on 12 September, 2011.

Angry Birds Mid Autumn Festival

Picture Source: M.I.C Gadget

Angry Birds Mooncake

Picture Source: M.I.C Gadget

And while you are busy munching on your mooncake, you could sit back and watch your little ones play with that Angry Bird Lantern under the moonlit night.

Angry Bird Lantern

Picture Source: SueM11

Help! The Angry Birds have taken over earth! And now they’re headed for the moon!

Happy Mooncake Festival Everyone!

The market is on a roller coaster ride again. During this time, if you don’t choose your seat carefully, you will be thrown off the roller coaster ride! They say you have to buy low and sell high but how low is low and when or what is high? It is not easy to tell at all. In fact, timing the stock market is not an easy thing to do. Not everyone can be a No. 1 Trader.

The right thing to do is to choose  your stocks carefully. There are many good valued big cap stocks around. If you are good, you can go for penny stock picks too. These are more volatile though but if you research your stocks carefully, you may find some good ones. Whatever it is, don’t be sentimental about the stocks you hold. When it is time to get out, move on. You must be decisive when making buy and sell decisions. If you aren’t the prices will move on ahead of you, up or down depending on which way the market is going.

At the moment it looks like it is heading down as the market gets jittery over the possibility of a banking crisis in Europe and a series of US economic reports that were less than good. But then who knows? It is a crazy time. How do you predict a stock market crash? The Dow is moving down 400 one day and up 500 the next day. I am glad that I am no longer at the stock market with the incessant ringing of the phones. I had 3 phones at the time, 2 fixed lines and 1 cell phone. I seriously prefer to hear my babies crying then the phones ringing but that is just me. Some others may prefer the challenge of the market and may even enjoy this volatile market for its buying and selling opportunities.