MBP is very fortunate to be in the running for a $750 growth grant, from NASE. With $750.00, we could do a lot of things. Right now, the number one need for me, head of the Mommy's Block Party team, is a new laptop. My poor laptop has been on the fritz for a long time, and as any blogger knows, a laptop that doesn't cooperate, can seriously slow you down. I sometimes spend thirty minutes every morning, just waiting for this old gal to boot up and find its way back online. A new laptop would mean faster responses, more inquiries, more posts, and more opportunities to share with our MBP family of loyal readers.

The second thing that crossed my mind when contemplating what we could do with $750.00 in grant money, is branding. The MBP brand was created by me, using lots of available blogger freebies. I love the way our blog looks, but would love for it to have that professional edge. Though our blogging team is serious about blogging, and passionate about connecting moms with brands and companies they can trust and rely on, an unkempt or amateur-designed website can be a deal breaker for sponsors. I would love a similar, but professional logo design, with a full blogger design package for this site. I do the best I can, but am not a graphic designer, and know very little about html. I'd love to make our site look its very best so that when someone finds us, they want to come back- again and again.

Another thing that we could use a little grant money for, is to get some or all of our blogging team to a bloggers conference. We've never been to one, and I would absolutely love to experience the excitement of connecting with other bloggers, attending blogging and social media classes, listening to amazing keynote speakers, and connecting with great companies and brands.

A little grant money might also help us to launch something we've talked about doing for quite some time. We'd love to open up a site to connect moms in need with moms who want to share or give. I was part of a group like this after my son was born, and was amazed by the generosity I saw. Every mom deserves to be able to care for her family, and we'd like to be there in time of need.

Creating a media group for my ever-growing team of bloggers has also crossed my mind. We are now six ladies strong, and I have a feeling that we may still continue to add new team members. This is because we love sharing. We don't want to cater to any one particular age group, so having moms, mommy-hopefuls, and honorary moms on our team, help us to reach moms of all ages, with children of all ages. We just really care about connecting women with amazing business opportunities, fabulous consultants (for those who like to shop from home, or host parties), trust-worthy products and brands, and we love being able to treat moms to great products by hosting giveaways. Moms are so hard-working, and deserving! If my blog expenses could come from allocated funds, instead of eat into our personal family bank account, that would be awesome, too! My husband has been so supportive through this whole process, but I'm sure he'd love to cool it with the blog expenses!

Fingers are crossed, because this would be a true blessing to the MBP team!

Thanks for your consideration!

~Ondria~