Today I was going to unveil the 2nd book in my new Children’s Book Giveaway.  Instead something else has been running through my brain.  So I’m asking for a little patience and I promise I’ll bring back the Children’s Book Giveaway next week.

A few weeks ago I visited Blue Sky Factory’s website.  As most of you know, I’m moving to Baltimore in June and was doing some research on companies in the area that intrigued me.  I was curious to see where they were located and clicked on their Corporate Office Directions Page.  What I loved, made me laugh out loud and stuck with me was at the bottom of the page there are walking directions from the parking garage to their front door.

Here’s why it stayed with me.  With this one paragraph I understood that they really heard their clients.  They were giving their clients something that they wanted, needed and probably asked for.  I loved it because it’s so rare to actually see a company go that extra step – give their clients what they want/need.  More often than not, companies (me included) put out what we want, what we think you need, like and desire without really listening to what your telling us.

Last year I changed the name of the business to Lil Blu Dragonfly and put up a “temporary” blogsite.  With the move coming up I knew I wanted to make changes and upgrade the site.  I’ve spent the last few months making lists of things I want to change, add, delete etc… After that visit to Blue Sky Factory I realized I was thinking only about what I wanted and haven’t taken the time to ask you what you wanted.  So here it is (I find this frightening beyond belief but I truly want to know) what do you want from me?

I’m asking all you mommies, bloggers, friends and past clients for your help.  Do you want more images, better service, video on the blog, specials, a forum that focuses on local events and mommies, etc… I’m open to all suggestions and ideas.  When faced with something new or a challenge I often ask myself “How am I getting in my own way.”  So I’m stepping aside and asking for your help.  What do you want from me?

Hi All – I’m trying something new and would love your feedback.  I’ve reset the blog to view only one post at a time.  Previously 10 posts were brought up on the front page.  Since my posts tend to be long and obviously full of photos I thought this might streamline the experience for you.  Let me know if you love/hate, would rather see 2 posts, etc…  I’m really curious to see what you think!

Thanks!! – Jennie

Valentines Day was huge for The UnKichen Diva.  That day she not only tackled lasagna but also in a fit of madness decided to make homemade marshmallows!  I kid you not.

I saw homemade heart shaped marshmallows somewhere on etsy in the weeks leading up to Valentines Day and I KNEW that I wanted to use something similar for my “Love Is…” project over on Strawberry Road.  I thought how hard can this be?  I was sure I could do it and went off to hunt through my mother’s cookie cutters looking for heart shapes.  Actually, it really isn’t that hard at all but very, very messy and sticky!!  Here’s the link to the recipe – recipe I used. They explain it far better than I can – plus they have photos for each step – gotta love that!  I made mine vanilla flavored and used red and blue food coloring to get the pink color I liked.  Then I cut the marshmallow slab into all different size hearts and odd shaped square bits…

So now I have two containers of homemade marshmallows – what do you do with that?!?  Make hot chocolate of course.  Not just any hot chocolate but Ghirardelli Cocoa hot chocolate!  I have to admit I’ve never made this before – I am traditionally a Swiss Miss girl through and through.  But pink homemade marshmallows deserve something a little higher class.  I just followed the  recipe on the container and WOW this was some mighty yummy hot chocolate!!  Between the hot chocolate and marshmallows I think I put myself into a sugar coma that lasted several hours!!  As for the rest of the marshmallows – I packaged them up and sent them to the two ladies I knew would most appreciate them – my 2 and 4 year old nieces.  And to think, this all started because I had this fabulous idea for a photo….