The Secret Life of the American Teenager Volume 3 Review

I have mentioned a couple times before about how much I love watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager. The show is written by Brenda Hampton who also wrote 7th Heaven. I have tuned in and watched every show. I really like it. The Secret Life of the American Teenager is an ABC Family original show about a 15 year old girl named Amy who finds out she is pregnant. She met the guy at band camp and now she is faced with many decisions and choices about what to do as a pregnant teenager and mother. You also follow the lives of Amy’s parents and friends. It reminds me of being in high school again. The show is really well done and is sadly really realistic with what is going on in high schools around the U.S. I own the first two DVD sets so, naturally I was ecstatic about having the opportunity to review the third one.

Amy is now a mother; the episodes discuss what it really is like to be a mom. She is learning the hard way that motherhood is not all cute clothes and pacifiers. She has to juggle school, motherhood, and her boyfriend Ben. The show isn’t just about Amy. There are many other characters that are trying to figure out what to do with the situations they are in. Ricky is John’s father and he has to balance going to school, being a father, working and spending time with his on again off again girl friend Adrienne. Grace is a Christian that is tempted to have sex with her boyfriend Jack. When she does for the first time she is plagued with guilt because a tragedy happens that night. She blames herself for what happened. I don’t want to ruin anymore of the surprises in store on the 3rd volume of The Secret Life of the American Teenager including some really awesome bonus features.

I know that there is a lot of controversy about this show. It is rated TV-14 and I wouldn’t recommend anyone under 14 watch the show. There is a lot of adult language but no more than any other show for teens. I love how they tie moral decisions in and how it doesn’t glamorize being a parent. I think that it would be a great way to open dialogue with your teens by sitting down and watching it with them. If that makes them uncomfortable then maybe watch it in another room or buy the DVD. I think it would be a good idea to discuss the real issues with your children and answer their questions about sex. Please remember that doesn’t mean they are having it. Opening the lines of communication and not brushing the issues under the rug is important. Honestly these things are happening all over the U.S. Kids are having sex and are getting pregnant, even middle school kids.

I highly recommend watching this show with your teenage children. If they want to watch it, then they can ask questions or start a conversation about sex. I know that a lot of adults like to watch it like I do. It is serious but, it also has a lot of humor to it. If you are close to my age you will recognize that Molly Ringwald plays Amy’s mom, Anne. The cast is full of great actors that are blossoming in to big stars. Please check out The Secret Life of the American Teenager volume 3 on DVD in stores now!

Thank you to Walt Disney Studios for the complimentary copy of The Secret Life of the American Teenager volume 3 DVD set for my review.

Look Ma, I am 6 months old!

Today is my SIXTH MONTH anniversary! Wow I have come so far from when I started. I am looking forward to going further. It both seems so long ago and just yesterday. I poured so much sweat and tears in my posts and work that it seems like a long time ago. It also seems just like yesterday when I had started because time has flown by so fast.

I have already learned so much from blogging and I hope you have learned a thing or two from me. I would like to thank my wonderful friends, the companies that continue to believe in me and of course last but not least my awesome readers. I know some of you have been with me since day one. I am so happy to get to know all of my readers and share my life with you all and I am excited to get to know you all more. Cheers to me and my six month anniversary!

So far I have learned that:

Blogging is hard work but, completely worth it.

Blogging friends are the greatest people to have as friends.

I just literally learned what SEO is after six months of hearing the term and now I can stop thinking of a girl’s last name that I went to school with.

If you write it they will come and read it.

Comments are like hugs you can never have too many uplifting comments.

When sad or bad things happen you will have an out pouring amount of support even from strangers.

Trust your gut when it comes to blogging stuff.

Ms. V is the one of the best public relations reps out there and she is a total sweetheart.

I have a voice and I will use it in all my blogging adventures.

Blogging is a combination of bodily fluids. Tears, sweat, blood and sometimes even pee from laughing so hard.

Thanks for reading my blog. I love you all. I am looking forward to my 50th blogging anniversary and I hope you are all there to celebrate with me!

When blogging relationships go bad..

After recent events, that have to do with my blog, I am starting to wonder if all of my efforts are worth it. I really enjoy blogging and reviewing products and doing giveaways but, I am starting to question these things. I have many wonderful relationships with many pr agents and businesses which I am grateful to have. There is one “business” relationship that I had for three months; I really worked hard on everything I did for them. I put business in parentheses because it seemed like it was much more personal as this person emailed me almost daily. I went above and beyond what a normal product reviewer would do, I spent hours upon hours doing things that weren’t really in the scope of my job. It was almost like I had become an employee of this company. I was promised multiple times that they would fully sponsor me to go to BlogHer 10.

I spent my time writing posts for them that were not product reviews. I posted and posted for them. One I had to go back and edit because they stopped their relationship with a foundation. That meant I had to rewrite part of it, so it would make sense. I tweeted about the business multiple times. I also researched for them. I gave them free advertising for three months. I wanted to make sure they got their money’s worth. BlogHer is not cheap by any means.

I prepared a Twitter party and then held the Twitter party on a very devastating day, the last thing I wanted to do was have fun at a Twitter party. I wanted to be there for the community that I belong to. I wanted to mourn a loss of a fellow blogger. Yet, I sucked it up, I superglued a fake smile on my face, and did my job. Little did the guests of the party know that I was crying between my tweets. I was so upset, it turned to frustration because I had not had the help that I thought that I was going to have. I had to deal with other things between the others that were helping me. I had to deal with the sponsor making rude comments at the guests. I thought that overall it was a success. Anyone who has ever hosted a Twitter party knows how difficult they are to run and how stressful they are.

After all the hard work I put in to the company, and after all the nice things I did, I am left with nothing in return. They informed me out of the blue after emailing me as if nothing was wrong and after they sent me a Christmas present and then bailed on me. There were many questionable actions shown by the owner of the company. Many that made my stomach turn. I should have known but I trusted them. Some of the wrong doings were but not limited to insulting other bloggers, forwarding their pitches to me and making fun of them, lying to others, and just plain rudeness.

I was so excited to be able to go to Blogher 10. I talked about it all the time. I was like a kid at Christmas. I know it’s probably not all I think it is, but I want the experience of going. I want to go and learn and meet up with my friends that I have made in the last six months. I want to be able to have some time where I am around adults for an extended period of time without other people’s kids. Everyone deserves a break.

I want to represent a company or companies and use my voice to promote them. For me it is more than just a trip to New York. It is a way to break out of my shell and bloom in to the blogger I want to be through the training and the possible networking I will gain from this experience. It is not a trip it is an adventure and an experience. Now, I am not sure I can even have that experience because of the hurtful things this company did to me.

I am sure one or two of you are thinking, it’s just business. Well, it is not. It is extremely personal and extremely hurtful. It would have been completely different if it was just someone I did a few product reviews for and they just changed their mind. It was something I invested my time and heart completely and fully in this company and I thought that I was doing a great job. I was completely floored that someone would have the nerve to just do this to me after she knew I worked so hard and did so much. It is just so wrong to this to me or anyone. I have spent a lot of time crying. I have gone back and forth between crying and being angry. I feel like I failed and there was nothing else I could do. I felt helpless, I immediately reached out to my friends and I want to thank them all for their continued support. They mean so much to me.

Please don’t walk over bloggers. They deserve the respect and kindness just as much as anyone else. We work very hard for our blogs and for the PR and companies. Only a blogger would truly understand the time and effort we put in to our work. I am sure that most of the companies appreciate all the work bloggers do. It is like when you work really hard on a bunch of projects and once they are completed they call you in their office and fire you.

I am pretty sure I want to keep blogging. I am trying not to let one bad apple ruin it for me. My only regret from blogging is working with that company. I am still extremely upset about this whole ordeal. I feel like I wasted three months for nothing more than empty promises and many lies. I hope that this post brings caution and awareness to others especially bloggers. I hate having the mentality of not being able to trust the people I work with, and now questioning everything and wondering if the same thing will happen again.

So, here I am again back to square one, for looking for sponsorship to BlogHer 10. If you are interested in possibly sponsoring me, please use my contact form or email me. I will work very hard to promote your company. I will post an informational post in the future. I just wanted to get this all off my chest and perhaps help me work through the complete disappointment and hurt that I am feeling right now. I hope that this post helps someone too.