Archive for the 'Useful Links' Category

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.

One Sunday morning as I was out buying breakfast, I was walking behind a couple with their toddler. The toddler was being carried by the father. I thought she looked rather adorable.

All of a sudden, “pop” a little shoe fell right before me. The couple had not realised it. They kept on walking ahead. I picked up the shoe, ran after them and passed it to the embarrassed but amused couple. They thanked me and laughed. I can see that they adored their little girl. Such a happy moment in their lives…. being young parents to a sweet little girl.

It brings me back to a nostalgic moment in the not too distant past. My little girl is 8 now and my little boy is 6, long past toddlerhood but oh how I remember those “shoe dropping” moments. We certainly had our fair share of those! We even lost some lovely looking baby shoes that way because we only realised it when we got home.

Those shoes were nice to look at but poorly fitted. We would have benefited from watching the following video on how to fit girl’s shoes. I am sure other parents would too.

What about you? Have you had any unforgetable “shoe dropping” moments?

Which would you read? An e-book or a real book? Lately there has been a lot of e-book readers being sold at bookshops. I find them rather expensive. I do hope that in time when technology improves, the price would come down too. Otherwise, I think I will stick to my real book because although there are many books that are downloadable with your e-book reader, it would take many many downloads before it becomes cost effective. Besides, there is nothing like the smell and feel of a book especially when it is new. Wonderful!

However, recently I discovered a free e-book reader for my pc and I must say that I AM LOVING IT! So far, I have read magazines, comics, crafting books, cookbooks, fairytales, etc. It is a fantastic e-book reader. So easy to use and the colours are vibrant and look better than my real book. Flipping and navigating is a breeze too. I can flip, zoom, slide, view thumbnails etc. all of which I can’t do on my real book. Now, I wish I have a laptop so I can bring it around with me. I only have a desktop.

If  you love to read, especially magazines, you should check this out. Here is the list of free women’s magazines I found on the Martview site.

The other day my boy told me he wanted me to go back to work so that I could earn more money to buy him toys! However, when he heard that it will mean that I am not at home when he gets home from school, he changed his mind. Then his daddy told him “but we will have a bigger house and perhaps a dog for a pet…….” and he quickly replied “Mummy, go to work.” Hmm mmm perhaps I shall.

The boy has been wanting a pet dog for a long time. Since the day he heard that his daddy used to have 3-4 dogs when he was a boy. Unfortunately, for now, all we can afford is two pet fish. Those that were hardy enough to live in our small miserable tank. Perhaps one day we can get him a pet dog. However, the thing about pets and kids is the fact that ultimately the primary caregiver always seem to end up being….. mummy! So I must think about this pet thingy carefully. Do I have the time?

Don’t get me wrong. I love pets. I used to have a pet dog when I was a little girl. She was the cutest little dog with the most soulful eyes. She was with us for 7 years. I cried buckets when she died. Even now, after so many years, I still remember her cute little face and the emotions on her face. Oh gosh, I am going to choke up now.

Speaking about cute pets, I learned about this website for all pet lovers. The Cuteness Pet Community is rather like a Facebook for pets. You can upload your pet’s best photo and create a profile for your beloved pet. There you can meet with and chat with other pets. Oops! I meant other pet owners.

If that is not enough, you can challenge each other to a cute pet duel at Pet Challenges to see whose pet is cuter. lol. I like that. Or you can enter the 24 hour Battlezone to see if your pet is the cutest of them all. You even stand the chance to win prizes at the yearly Thunderdome where 64 top rated pets get to battle it out head to head.

Best of all, you get to mingle with other like minded pet lovers at the Cuteness Dog Park to just talk about your pets or discuss anything and everything about your pet. Contrary to it’s name, the Cuteness Dog Park is not just opened to dogs alone but to ANY pet including birds, cats and even reptiles! I guess my two pet fish qualifies too. Of course you can also recommend products and shop for the best stuff for your pets especially those that have been given 5-paw ratings and reviewed by other pet lovers in the community. If you love pets, you will love this community for sure. Here is how your Pet Profile will look like at the community.

This post was brought to you by Cuteness.com