Triangle Mamas

Did You Miss Me?

by Marty

It's easy to disappear in blogland. Just as quickly as you set up shop and start blogging, you can simply quit and evaporate into the ethernetsphere.

Here's where I started to say, "Recently, I had a baby," but that's not entirely true. I had a baby in January. Almost five months ago. Really, there's nothing recent about that. It was, however, when I stopped blogging.

Thankfully, Abby took up the gauntlet here at Triangle Mamas, keeping the posts up and running for me. I can't express enough gratitude to her for that.

What my accidental hiatus has taught me is significant. I think I've come back around to confidence in who I am as a blogger, and that's a good feeling.

So, partially inspired by Melissa's recent list of 100 things she's learned about blogging, I give you some of my recent enlightening brought on by my disappearing act.

• The internet goes on with or without you. It has to be your choice to join in or not.
• There is plenty of bandwidth for any and everyone.
• I like life a lot better when I'm never ever doing giveaways.
• I love Triangle Mamas because even when I need a break from writing, I still feel a part of a community.
• Blogging really is something I want to fit into my life. It's not a full-time priority for me, and I'm becoming okay with that. I've wanted the benefits without wanting to do the work. That came across much more lazy than I intended it to be.

I would like to sincerely thank all of the ladies here at Triangle Mamas for keeping up and forgiving me the time off that I needed to have. I am so happy to be connected with you here online and in real life. I'm a lucky woman.

Me, Melissa from Adventuroo, and Heather from Follow Linus (hey, want to join us over here?) at the More than a Picnic Picnic by Hebrew International and hosted by Ilina from Dirt and Noise and Molly from My Go Mom! It was a fabulous day in Moore Square with lots of local mom bloggers.

Marty can also be found blogging at Don't Take the Repeats. She has all but completely deserted Twitter, but occasionally pops on as canape. Here's hoping she'll meet you at the Type A Mom Conference in Asheville this September!

An Open Letter to Harris Teeter at North Hills East

By Cyndi

Dear Harris Teeter --

You had me at $20 off.

Every time I would start to wander, begin to think that your new North Hills East store was too crowded, imagine that I could save more at Kroger, get annoyed about not being able to find things as you shuffled the shelves around -- somehow you always knew. And every time, those magical $20-off-a-$50-purchase coupons would appear in my mailbox. They worked like a charm.

So given that you seem to have such a keen understanding of your shoppers' minds, how is it possible that you built a two-story store and put the cereal and juice upstairs? And then seemed surprised when people complained? And then spent goodness-knows-how-much money and time remodeling your brand new store to get those items downstairs again? Didn't you know that every mom forced to cram two (or more) children into one of those oversized-yet-still-too-small rocketship carts would have to buy cereal and juice on nearly every trip? And didn't you know that said moms would really hate having to wait in line for the elevator because it's impossible to fit more than three carts at a time?

Or maybe you didn't know there were thousands of local moms you could ask who would have told you that valuable bit of information BEFORE you built the store instead of AFTER?

Well then, allow me to make an introduction. Harris Teeter, meet the blogging moms. We're on Facebook and Twitter and lots and lots of blogs -- and we love to give advice (just ask our children). You don't even have to send us free samples or coupons (although I'm sure we wouldn't say no) -- but you do have to ask. We could have saved you a lot of pain and suffering, but (much like our kids) you had to learn the hard way. We hope you (and our children) will consider consulting us in the future.

Best of luck,

Convertible Girl

P.S. I've only got one $20 coupon left, so please send more. You know, just in case I start to wander again.

---

Since taking over the grocery shopping at her house and giving up the online ordering service, Cyndi has developed strong opinions about grocery stores. When she's not shopping or cooking or complaining about both, she can be found at My Convertible Life, where she writes about her two children, one husband and a million other things.

Downtown Raleigh: Music on The Porch

By Andrea

Tucked away in the back of the shopping center parking lot of Seaboard Station, there is a little piece of heaven that shines on Downtown Raleigh every Friday night from 6-9pm. It's called Music on the Porch and it is one of Raleigh's best kept secrets. There you will find families of all ages parked in their lawn chairs, eating Chinese food or drinking wine or one of 2 beers on draft, and listening to some of Raleigh's finest musicians play as the sun sets. There is an area marked off for older kids to ride scooters and center stage is reserved for big and little kids alike to dance their hearts out! Regulars enjoy seeing each other week after week and catching their breath after working hard. Kids play, parents laugh and music fills the air. What could be better? 

We weren't able to attend much last year since Oscar was so young. But now that he is a toddler and can handle staying up a bit later, we are SO on it. He absolutely loves dancing to the music and we love catching up with friends. It really is a great way to ring in the weekend!

Check out their site and the official Facebook Page for more info. I hope to see you there!

Andrea is a Raleigh mom of 1 human and 1 border collie, and wife to one exceptionally tall bass player. When they aren't partying to live music, you can find her at her blog Lil-Kid-Things , on Facebook, or Twitter.