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Back by popular demand, we present the 2013 Smarty Awards! It’s your turn to…

Smarties, we have a huge favor to ask of you and it will just…

In no particular order, here is a list of our top ten posts of 2012. We write at least one article a day, often times two and three. It’s sad to see it go into the bloggers world abyss, so we’re reliving a few of our faves! Enjoy!

A Letter to the Newtown Mothers, by Cheryl Perry. This tragedy hit too close to home and Cheryl wrote this from her heart on behalf of all of Smarty Charlotte. We could not be more proud of this beautiful note.

Participation Awards, by Susan Bowman. Susan writes about our generation of kids who get awards just for signing up – what do you think this is doing to our children as they grow older? Read on.

I blame Lululemon, by Krista Wilson. Lululemon is an addiction. Period. Worth every penny.

Not your Camp Counselor, by Wendy Bentien. Timely as we were all pulling our hair out with our kids home over the summer. Wendy is hilarious.

Today would be Jen Bunich’s 41st birthday, man do I miss her. So much has changed in just 4 1/2 years. I feel like I’ve aged 20! Jen would be so incredibly proud of what this Smarty pink & green movement has become. For those of you new to CSP, here is how it all started.

Three weeks before Thanksgiving in 2007, two Smarty Moms & besties were holed up in a Hilton Head, SC hotel room. We brought 3 of our 5 young children with us (see photo to right) so we had a valid excuse for a weekend getaway hall pass (now adays, we are WAY more empowered and know that we should have taken that journey solo, sans kids, but you live and you learn:-). The birth of CSP was about to take place.

We kept it on the downlow because we just weren’t sure what people would think of it. This was before facebook was on anyone’s radar, the term “social media” was in it’s infancy stage, and most people didn’t even know what a blog was. But we did. And we knew it was going to be life-changing. Before we drove home that Sunday afternoon, we scheduled our first week of blog posts. We hand-picked our closest hundred friends, sent our email, and hid for a week.

Once a year we update our photos since we get tired of looking at the same face & pose day in and day out – and we’re sure you do too! So we scour the city for pink & green get-ups, rally our hubbies, brush our kids’ hair and force them all to cooperate for just a few keepers!

Smarties, we’re thrilled to unveil our latest photoshoot by our friends, Brooke Brown, Tricia Wiliams and Kate Lee! Our Smarty friends at Lilly Pulitzer SouthPark sponsored our wardrobe – it was a match made in heaven! These fabulous outfits absolutely brightened up our photos for our sassy little pink & green site!

Meet the 2012 Smarty team and enjoy our lookbook!

The CSP Bloggesses

Smarties, I have to give some props to Mary Frances Moegling! She emailed us and wanted to “magnet up” her ride in the Fort Mill/Rock Hill/Baxter community! We couldn’t be more thrilled to have this kind of pink & green enthusiasm. We found out that Mary Frances is a long time reader, she has been with us since she read about the loss of our beloved Jen B.

This January, we had a huge scare in our Smarty family. It was frighteningly similar to our tragedy four and a half years ago, literally to the day.

January 18, 2012 was like any other day in my busy mom life: carpool, meetings, conference calls, grocery runs, the usual. Until I got a phone call from my dear friend and Smarty co-worker, Kaylee. She told me she had a chest X-ray and they found a mass on her lung – which was the last thing I expected to hear. Four years ago, I got the exact same call and a week later, it was the worst day of my life when I lost Jen Bunich. So I tried to compose myself and sound strong, but I was terrified for what was to come.

Smarties, we’re thrilled to introduce you to the newest member of our Smarty family, Jennifer Voorhees. Brand new mommy to sweet Addeline, “Addie”, Jennifer will be covering all things pregnancy and new mommyhood and with a working mom twist. This rockstar of a mama works at Charlotte’s hippest and largest ad agency! My favorite tidbit about Jennifer aside from her rockin’ name, is that her mentor at work was our beloved Jen B, who is shining down from heaven right now.

Let’s get to know Jennifer!

Today is a very special day for our Smarty family. It is bittersweet in that four years ago we lost our Jen B. But it is also the day that we have decided instead of mourning, we will rejoice and celebrate the friendships we have. We will celebrate all that was amazing about Jen and the thing we loved the most, her friendship.

This week, the power of our girlfriends has been brought back into focus as a member of our Smarty team has been dealing with a health crisis. From the moment word got out, she has had support, meals, encouraging words, hugs, prayers and love. I have watched this and said to myself what an awesome group of friends she has and then I realized, not just an awesome group of friends, but what an incredible woman. Her friends are a reflection of who she is.

And we’d LOVE your pink & green vote! You know CSP loves us some BOB! For the past three years, we have won at least one BOB each year, and we’d love to continue the trend!

Charlotte Magazine’s BOB (Best Of the Best) Awards are divided into four categories and are open for voting for two weeks at a time. We qualify for two categories: Arts & Entertainment and Services & Family.