Since I jumped on Twitter a couple years ago, I’ve enjoyed #FollowFriday. The concept of finding new people to follow and recommending people to others is fantastic. What better way to get the most out of Twitter than grow and enhance relationships? Meaningful conversations and helpful friends on Twitter brings me great joy.

Unfortunately, FollowFriday and the 140 character limitations of Twitter don’t allow me to go into much detail about the people I want to recommend others follow on Twitter. That’s why I’ve decided to take Chris Brogan’s advice and turn Follow Friday into a simple blog post. Welcome to my first one!

I recommend following @BLENDcentralMN if you’re a parent wondering what you can do to help reduce childhood obesity. BLEND is a grassroots initiative to help Minnesota parents and educators discover simple ways to encourage healthier choices, especially in regard to exercise and healthy eating. BLEND makes this sobering topic fun, creative, and easy to engage. They really peaked my interest, after I recently purchased Bento-Boxes for my kids to take to school in an effort for healthier lunches. I’m looking for tips and tricks all the time, and BLEND promises to help me with practical advice and family activities. They are just getting started with social media and could really use some parental support. If you’re a mom like me from central Minnesota, interested in connecting with people of who care about reducing childhood obesity, then I recommend you follow @BLENDcentralMN this Friday on Twitter. Say hi from @confessionsmom if you want!

If you are reading this and do not use Twitter, you can join them on their blog at BLENDcentralMN and also on Facebook. Who do you recommend I follow this Friday? Please tell me why. Thanks.

It’s true. I use Facebook to find out what my husband is doing or thinking during the day, and I use Twitter and LinkedIn to learn about what he’s working on. This doesn’t mean we don’t talk or spend time together, but I have to admit during a long day apart, it’s fun to see pictures, links, or thoughts posted by my husband. It gives me ideas of things to follow up with him about later, and he likes to know how my day is going or what I’m up to with the kids. Does this make us weird? Maybe. Different? Absolutely!

How about you? Do you use social media tools to communicate with your spouse? Tell us here.

I am so happy that I have finally completed the Twitter t-shirt design project. I started with a contest here back in March for fun “twitterisms” to use on the t-shirt. I selected a winner and then drew a blank on how to incorporate the winning phrase “Tweets of a Feather Tweet Together” by Susan into a tshirt design.

While coloring with my two littlest on the family room floor, I came up with my tshirt design idea. With colors in hand, I started sketching out my idea, and then had to move to the computer.

My five year old was excited to see my version of a blue, Twitter bird appear. She asked for my first sketch, which I gave to her.

My oldest has a cafe press store, so I’ll let her sell the t-shirts. The design can be altered to be tweeting other tweeps for advertising, so if you want to be the one tweeting with me on the t-shirt, send me an email.

Click here, if you are interested in buying my Twitter t-shirt. There is nothing printed on the back of the round-neck t-shirt, but there is my contact info on the back of the v-neck design. That’s why I’m linking specifically to the round-neck tshirt.

Have other ideas you want to share? I’d love to hear from you. All you Twitter friends, be sure to click the “tweet” button by this post and share it with others who may be interested. I’ll see you back on Twitter!

 If you are like me, you are starting to memorize a few abbreviations that make texting, instant messaging, and blogging easier. If you spend any time on Twitter or Facebook, chances are you see plenty of abbreviated phrases. Just in case you are wondering what some mean, here are a few. Please leave a comment with your favorites or ones that you use all the time!

BRB: Be right back

DD: Darling Daughter

DH: Darling Husband

DS: Darling Son

DW: Darling Wife

LMAO: Laughing My A** Off

LOL: Laughing out loud

LOML: Love of my life

ROTF: Rolling on the floor

OMG: Oh my gosh

PPL: People

TY: Thank you

T+: Think Positive

Confessions of a Mom names a winner in the Twitter T-Shirt Contest. Many “Twitterisms” were shared by bloggers from all over.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to post ideas, email me, and give feedback. It was very difficult to choose, as so many of the submissions made me laugh. I may make more than one t-shirt eventually, as the ideas are spinning in my head-which is scary.

Without any further adu:  The WINNER is: “Tweets of a Feather Tweet Together” by Susan.  A t-shirt is being designed with this Twitterism, which  Susan will get once it’s done.

Due to the fantastic entries, we decided to list our Honorable Mention submissions:

• “RT to Sender” by Glennia
• “If I tweet with you tonight, will you still love me tomorrow?” by Terri
• “To Tweet or Not to Tweet, that is the Question” by Beeba

About the Contest: People posted funny Twitterisms; words associated with the micro-blogging site Twitter. Words such as tweet, tweeter, tweeple, follow, and peeps are all words people use on Twitter, so it’s fun to use the words to make up witty sayings that refer to using Twitter. A key aspect of Twitter is that you can only type 140 characters in your post, which is about one sentence.

My ten year old daughter wants to sell the t-shirts in her store, so they may be available to purchase at a later date.

 CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.  You may still leave comments, but March 31st was the deadline to win. We are now in our “Winner Selection Process”

All you Twitter fans out there: You are funny, creative, and some of the best writers and business people I’ve ever tweeted. I want to create some fun “Twitter” related shirts for my ten year old daughter to sell on her website. So here are the details of the Twitter T-shirt Contest. Between March 18th and March 31st, put your ideas into a comment to this blog post. You can enter as many times or ideas as you would like. The idea I select as “the winner” will be put on a t-shirt and awarded to the winning person. Yeah, the judging criteria is subjective, but keep in mind I love a good sense of humor! Ideas must be PG, and in 140 characters or less (of course!) I will email the winner later to get size and shipping information. Good Luck!

 Need an idea of what I’m after? Here are two I’ve created:

Come Follow Me (what would Jesus Twitter)

“Critter” (when pets Twitter)

*Ps. Steve Gasser is not eligible to win. He’s married to me, but he’s welcome to have fun with us and keep the ideas flowing.

“Ok, I keep hearing about Twitter, but I don’t get it. What is Twitter? ” Twitter is going to be the most frequented website very soon. It isn’t going away, but it is gaining national attention. Twitter was initially designed to Tweet what you are doing at the moment, similar to your status updates in Facebook. However, Twitter’s popularity has come from tons of people using it to exchange ideas, ask questions, find support, share information and resources, and so much more. I use Twitter to find new cost savings ideas, network with other mom bloggers interested in having me write articles for them, and vent about American Idol or what ever is going on in my day. While you may have friends who follow you on Twitter, most are people you don’t know or may never meet in person.  It is simple to set up an account and get started, and I’m willing to help you. Go to www.twitter.com , set up an account, and search for @confessionsmom to find me. Make sure you leave a comment here, and I’ll be sure to watch for you and follow you too. Email me if you need help.