blogging

Five on Friday | Blog Edition

I go through phases where I think about the blog all the time (just ask Jennifer... or Josh). I make lists and notes and have expectations and dreams and I spend weeks implementing new strategies and deciding the best way to do certain things. On the complete flipside are the times when I completely ignore all of the important things like SEO and promotion and growth and fly by the seat of my pants. Otherwise known as: summer. I made a huge to-do list this week and I'm trying to get back into a routine of spending time working on the blog every morning. While I was working on said list, I kept running across things that I wanted to share or ask you guys and what better way to do that, than a themed Five on Friday blog post? 1 | The Taz + Belly Book Shop Did you see the new page I ...

2012 in Pictures

Admittedly, the blog was a little lacking last year, so the annual recap might look a little slim. Forgiveness is a good thing, friends! In January, I made a few "reVolutions" and actually managed to stick with some of them. Josh left for NOLA without me to cheer on the Tide and boy did he have a great time! I resorted to documenting a rather mundane Tuesday night, but isn't this sweet girl adorable? We rounded out the month with our annual visit to the Barnum & Bailey circus. February brought an art show at Ella's elementary school, I talked about why I'm not a stay-at-home mom and shared a sweet story about my Valentine. Josh invited me on an impromptu date night and I shared another day-in-the-life post. March was when Josh got stuck in NYC and I continued to run. Our ...

If you can’t say anything nice

I've been blogging for just over four years and written over one thousand posts. I've shared happy stories, sad stories, embarrassing moments and rants. I realize that I have some readers that I don't know, but for the most part here I'm talking to family and friends. I'm sharing the story of our life, both for people who relate to what it's like raising girls and for those two girls themselves. I can't wait to look back on these posts as a family and laugh about what we were up to when they were little. To talk about their challenges and struggles, to remember family traditions and even blush over embarrassing anecdotes. I don't know about you, but I love poring over yellowed photo albums and seeing pictures of great grandparents, naked babies and panties on my head. Hearing my parents ...

February: Recapped

It's that time again! I might not have blogged very much in February, leaving little to be recapped, but I do have some pretty great stories to share later this week. February was interesting. 1 - my view; 2 - words; 3 - hands; 4 - stranger; 5 - 10 am; 6 - dinner; 7 - button; 8 - sun; 9- front door; 10 - self portrait; 11 - something that makes you happy; 12 - inside your closet; 13 - blue; 14 - heart; 15 - phone; 16 - something new; 17 - time; 18 - drink; 19 - something you hate to do; 20 - handwriting; 21 - a favorite photo of you; 22 - where you work; 23 - shoes; 24 - inside your bathroom cabinet; 25 - green; 26 - night; 27 - something you ate; 28 - money; 29 - something you are listening to. First up was Project 365. I took a picture based on the prompt everyday this ...

Let’s Chat

You know how it is when I get a bee in my bonnet, right? Once I started thinking about a re-design, I couldn't stop. I had several hours to myself, two nights in a row, and I started playing around with the graphics. Once last night about 10 o'clock, Josh walked through and I was grinning ear to ear. He came around and saw me tweaking some code and called me a geek on his way back to bed! I'm not completely finished -- the font on the family page doesn't translate as well as I thought it would and the photograph of our house in the header is a little rough. I didn't notice until Josh pointed it out, that it was taken pre-metal roof and looks heinous!! Unfortunately, all of the recent photos are in the dead of winter, it's snowing or the bushes are too tall to see the porch. I'll have to ...

January: Recapped

Well, friends, I'm pretty impressed with myself. I cannot believe that I managed to take a single photograph every day of the month. Yes, I realize it isn't that difficult to carry your phone around and take a crappy picture, but since I've been in a blogging/picture taking funk for the last six months I would say this was a monumental task accomplished! I'm really happy with my little calendar for the month. I really wanted the images to be clickable so you could view them full sized, but that is pretty time consuming and I didn't quite get to it. Maybe next month. When I decided to create one for each month of the year I didn't really have an idea in mind for what I would do with them all. Maybe I'll print them for a scrapbook or make a photobook or something. Any ideas? Aside from ...

Unfaithful

I'm sure you've picked up {especially if you watched the vlogs} that I attend a weekly Bible study/fellowship time with a group of local girls. These are women that even six months ago I might not have classified as my "friends", but today I could not imagine living life without them. I have learned more about myself and my relationships and my heavenly Father since June that I might have ever known before. He is teaching us and growing us and forcing us to think outside of the box. We started by reading The Purpose Driven Life which helps you to evaluate yourself and what you are called to do as a Christian. Then we read Outlive Your Life where we learned how we fit into the world and how we can and should make a difference in what is going on around us. Currently, we are reading Living ...