Moved…

By now most of you should know about my move to WordPress.org. I will be deleting my WordPress.com eventually. I just wanted to let those of you who use a reader know that my RSS feed has changed during the move. Please delete the old Free and Flawed link and add the new one:

http://freeandflawed.com/?feed=rss2

Just so you know

I’m off to Florida!

I’ll be gone until Monday. I’m going to try hard to stay away from the Internet this weekend, though that might prove impossible.

But just in case I don’t post for the next 3-4 days, I wanted to let you know that I didn’t die

Have a great weekend. In the mean time, why don’t you check out my blogroll!

A little advice from me to..well, me.

Dear Jenn,

It is important that you read this and commit it to memory. Under absolutely no circumstances should you be allowed to do the following:

- Purchase anything with a credit card while talking to two people online, watching a DVD and writing notes about a meet-up. This will result in you spending $250 on three years of web space. (Host Monster refunds by the way)

- IM your ex before 9 a.m. or before you have coffee in your system.

- Care.

- Think that the second Twinkie is a good idea.

- Wear a fanny pack.

- Think that doing the “before and after” stomach shot in the mirror counts as a work out.

- Wallow in relationship mucky-muck.

- Count things. This will only result in more work for you.

- Lick a white powdery substance off of the ground. It’s not the inside of an Oreo cookie. Trust me.

- Hold it. If you gotta pee, you gotta pee. One day your bladder o’ steel is going to get you back for making it wait. Watch out.

- Lick the computer screen. It does not taste good and then you’re stuck with a weird smear.

Let’s practice these acts of avoidance and see how much better our week turns out shall we? Sweet.

Sincerely,
Your better half.

Riddle me this

What’s with today today?

Blogosphere Smorgasbord

- Renee from A Beautiful Day in the Reneeborhood has just opened her very own Etsy shop. She has some really cute frames, so be sure to check out Rhapsody in Glue.

- By now you should all be aware of the 20SB meet-up. I want to remind you that this isn’t closed to our 30-something friends. Stay tuned for updates here if you’re not a part of the 20SB ning group. Right now, people are researching the top three cities (Chicago, NY and Boston).

- The wind beneath my wings, aka Jessica has bestowed me with an award. My only task was to pass it on to seven other awesome bloggers.

Rebekah
Sizzle Says
Random Reflective Ramblings
Half Deserted Streets
…and hijinks ensued
Ex-Everything
Anonymous Amy

- The kick ass Rachel gave me the “kick ass blogger” award. And I pass it on to:

A View from 5280ft
Starting Over at 24
It’s 3 o’clock in the morning!
Like Spinning Plates
Each of the Two

- Cleveland’s a Plum and her friend Kerri put together a funny video in honor of the Olympics: A balance beam routine…sans beam. Enjoy

- New Blog Launches: Who’s Your Dachshund and Oh! How Lovely Shops.

- Vacations: Jennifer is currently in Amsterdam and will be in Madrid (for a whole year!) before the month is over. Follow along with her travel blog. Brandy has returned from Mexico and Dan Mega talks a bit about his trip to Vegas.

- Lots of bloggers are moving…I’m sorry I can’t keep track. We do have two NEW additions to the Chicago bloggers though! Renee and in a couple of weeks The Maiden Metallurgist will be here.

I think that wraps up this week’s smorgasbord of blogs. If you’re moving, have a new blog or want to share your vacation recap, feel free to leave links in the comments.

Another one!

Today you can find me at The Extra Ordinary talking about my guilty pleasures.

Be sure to check out the rest of the guest bloggers and read all about their taboos/guilty pleasures.

If you’re a 20Sb or Chicago blogger, please read!

Twenty-something bloggers: Today is the last day for preliminary votes. If you haven’t selected which city you’d like the meet-up to be held in, please do so here.

Remember, this is only a preliminary vote. The city will NOT be decided based on this poll. We will select the top three cities and go from there. In addition, our next poll will feature the month you’d like to have our meet-up take place, as well as if you’d prefer it to be a fun event or more convention-style.

Please share any ideas you have for the event. I’ve read some great ones so far, but I want to hear more!

Also, I know many of you have offered to help by leaving comments on the 20SB page. If you are willing to help, can you please comment here? Thanks!

********

Chicago bloggers: As many of you know Lacey from Perks of Being a JAP will be in Chicago next month. I’d love it if we could get as many of us together as possible to welcome Lacey.

She will be in town twice for work and has given me the following dates to choose from for a meetup: September 2, 4, 15 and 17. I realize these are all weekdays and it’s difficult to work with everyone’s schedule. Right now we are planning a dinner (most likely downtown) for one of those nights. I need to know which night you’d prefer. Obviously it is hard to please everyone, but we’re going to try!

Also, if anyone has any suggestions for dinner/drinks, let me know!

Guess how I’m feeling.

Dear Family,

Do not call me at 6:58 a.m. on a Sunday unless somebody is dead or in jail.

Do not call me at 7 a.m. on my day off to ask me for rent money.

Do not assume that I’d be willing to empty out my checking account just because you said you’ll give me the change lying around your apartment.

Do not make me feel guilty for not wanting to empty out my checking account.

Do not cry to me that you don’t have money when all you do is spend your money on beer, cigarettes, and the Home Shopping Network.

This is NOT the way I want to be woken up. This is NOT how I want to spend my day.

Please realize that I’m not an endless source of funds. I’m not a source of funds at all. I work THREE days a week and am going back to school. I have zero extra dollars. If you’re late on your rent, I’m sorry, but you’re a big girl and boy. It’s not my problem.

In conclusion, please don’t call me anytime before 8 a.m. and please don’t call me asking for more money. Ever. And please don’t call me to help you move out with a day’s notice.

This includes bail and beer money.

Sincerely,
Jenn

P.S. Now I need some eff’in pancakes, a hug and a nap.

PostSecret 8.10.08

Here are my favorites from this week’s batch of secrets. Be sure to check out the rest at PostSecret

This reminded me of a story a Chicago blogger told me.

Me too!!

This just sounds like something I’d do.

Hot Damn!

Do you know what this means?!!

I can now legally charge people to touch them!

I can also add LMT after my name. Ha! I’m so official!

Now who wants a massage?

Redirecting

Today I am posting over at Dan Mega’s blog.

Click on the picture to find out what the hell is going on.

20 Something Blogger Meet-up

This poll is closed.

Right now we are planning for Spring of 2009. Knowing the city will help us narrow down a specific month, as we’d like to avoid snow at all costs.

Letters from the Universe

Oh Universe, you’re so smart.

Dear J,

The only way to get what you really want, is to know what you really want.

And the only way to know what you really want, is to know yourself.

And the only way to know yourself, is to be yourself.

And the only way to be yourself, J, is to listen to your heart.

I do,
The Universe

Done and done.

It’s Rex Manning Day!!

Er, Rex Grossman Day? Wait what? Kyle Orton will start the preseason opener? Well there goes my title…

Dear Chicago Bears,

I realize that this is just the preseason and what you do here really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. But it does. Don’t be foolish. What you do in the next four games will set the tone for the rest of the season. If you fail, my faith in you and Kyle Orton will diminish greatly. Of course that would mean we’re without a reliable quarterback (AGAIN) and the little rock, paper, scissors game that Lovie made you play to get this starting spot will have been a bad idea.

Don’t get me wrong! When Grossman is good, he’s good. It is possible for the Bears to have a great quarterback as well as a great team. We did once upon a time. I want to see that again.

I watched every game last season and I have to say that I was not impressed. Grossman, buddy, you’re cute, but come on. If I need to remind you what a football is, I’m going to be very mad. I’m still a little bitter about that whole Superbowl fiasco so let’s not eff it up this year.

Apparently this is the year for Chicago sports teams. Don’t make me cheer for the eff’in Patriots again because I can’t handle it. Brady and his baby mama drama and ridiculously beautiful girlfriend. Why don’t you just rub it all of our faces a little more. And don’t even get me started on the Manning brothers. It’s cool, it’s cool. I’ll walk it off!

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that even though this is a preseason game, you better not eff it up. I only have the energy to hate one Chicago Bears quarterback per season. Choose wisely.

Sincerely,

Me

P.S. Orton, if you lose tonight, I am shaving your neck beard. I can’t handle it.

Change always comes bearing gifts

By now you’ve probably noticed some of the changes taking place here at Free and Flawed. Some are small and some are a bit more obvious.

They don’t stop there I’m afraid. In the coming weeks you’ll probably spot a few more as I give my blog a nip here and a tuck there. Unfortunately, they will not all be cosmetic.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why I write lately. I knew if I was asking, then I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons. I started this blog because I wanted to write. I believed (and sort of still do) that any thought that crosses my mind is important and must be heard/read by someone else. I’m completely narcissistic. More importantly, I wanted to inspire and be inspired. In a way I feel that I have accomplished this, but lost sight of myself somewhere in the process.

I feel that lately my writing has been suffering because I’ve been forcing myself to write a post every day for Blog365. I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could do it. I am starting my eighth month and sadly I will not get any further. And it’s not just the task of writing every day. It’s the fact that I’ve begun writing for you guys, my readers, instead of myself. I find myself desperately searching for the most interesting and entertaining topics because I want you to be happy with this blog.

I invest so much time into maintaining my blogger relationships that the lines between Free and Flawed’s life and my life are becoming blurred. I am not an anonymous blogger by any means, but I do have a separate life outside of my blog. My Reader hits 700 daily. I cannot keep up. I spend hours at my desk going through blogs, trying my best to comment. By the time I am finished that last thing I want to do is spend more time in front of the computer writing my own blog post.

I won’t disappear from the blogosphere. As a matter of fact, I will probably be writing almost every day anyway. I just don’t want the pressure. Some days I might post more than once. I’ll post when the mood strikes! And just because I’m not commenting doesn’t mean I’m not reading. I do read every blog that’s on my Reader. I only comment when I have something to add.

So please don’t worry if I disappear for a day or two. It will be weird to take a step back, but it will be refreshing. I’m hoping it will encourage me to spend more time writing what I want to write and less time editing, tweaking and censoring.

As for the title of this post, I ain’t lying! I appreciate each and every person who stops by FnF. I bought something extra from the wine tasting I had on Sunday and will be giving it away on the blogaroo. It should be here within a week, so watch out for a giveaway. (No. It’s not wine, but it is wine-related.)