A blog post stew
A blog post stew
I’ve had all these little random things I’ve wanted to talk about, but none of them were enough for their own post, so I threw them all together in a blog post stew.
First, thanks to everyone who entered Roxy’s Birthday giveaway, the random winner was Dianne. She’s pretty excited about getting some cute note cards, and sea glass.
With a New Year right around the corner, how about some reflection on how, and what you are doing with your blog? My friend Amy from Go Pet Friendly has been hosting the Pet Blogger Challenge for the past 6 years.
Amy always comes up with great questions, and it’s a really good opportunity to look back at what you’ve done, and make goals for the coming year. This will be my 5th year participating, and it’s always something I look forward to.
Another thing bloggers should maybe think about is getting your blog in shape for the New Year. Looking at your blog and making sure everything works is a start. A new visitor pointed out to me that my social buttons along the top didn’t work correctly. I would never have looked at that, but now they are fixed. A big blog fix for me this past year was moving my hosting. I was with Host Gator and got sick and tired of their non existent customer service. A friend who works for Blue Host said they are the same company. So I started searching for something better. I found Green Geeks.
(Affiliate link)
They moved all my sites for me, for free, made sure everything worked correctly, and on the few occasions I have had to contact them, they are right there. Immediately. A few months ago I did a WordPress update and my blog disappeared, completely. I emailed them at 10pm, and when I got up the next morning everything was up and working again. So if you are thinking of switching hosting, I highly recommend them. And if you use my affiliate link, I’ll love you.
We’ve decided to stay one more week. We were going to leave on Friday the 1st, but Al decided that one more week of paycheck in the bank would make him feel better. So, ugh. But he needs to feel good about it, and he is right, so there you go.
I’ll just have to go get more sea glass for projects. I did this cool frame with sea glass on it, and of course it has one of my sea glass photos in it. I’m selling this, either here if one of you guys want it, or on Etsy, if not.
If you love it, shoot me an email.
I’m almost done with another sea glass mobile I’ll be selling too.
Gotta keep busy.
IS THAT MISS ROXY as a pup? My goodness, what a darling little thing she IS! Well Mary, what a year. As a blogger, I had to make the toughest decision to stop mine but I keep it open and update it every few weeks, but that chapter led to another volume of creativity in my life, and that’s Instagram. It has been a great place to yet again meet other people AND have a place to share my efforts in photography. If I can sum up my year, I’d say it’s been a year of development – finally finding another mode of artistic expression that I’m happy with is liberating. I had always been encouraged to illustrate, all my life, but resisted and never felt happy with that form of art. Writing of course is a given….I love it, I pursue it. But the visual arts are important to me and now I know that it’s light and shadows that intrigue me the most.
It’s been a wonderful year, and thank YOU for being a part of my development. MUCH LOVE! ANita
I will definitely keep the Green Geeks in mind…I’m still on the fence as to what I am going to do, but I have heard some not so great things about Host Gator and Blue Host. Please let me know if you continue to be happy with the service that Green Geeks is providing. That picture of Roxy is absolutely adorable!! I love your sea glass projects and photos…but I cannot shop any more for awhile…
Roxy was a cute puppy! I love your sea glass frame. I will have to remember the Green geeks too. Congrats to Dianne on winning the giveaway! happy Tuesday, enjoy your week!
The frame is a super way to use sea glass. I do love it…but I also have tons of sea glass so will “steal” your idea. So, one more week in Washington? Hope the weather is good for you as you collect more glass. All the best in 2016, Mary!
Your art is such fun, love your use of found items to create art.
We were at Host Gator for about 18 months. They were so awful. We had so many issues and they never helped and when they did help, they messed stuff up even more! It’s important to have a good host for piece of mind. We have a different company, but are real happy too.
OMG is that Puppy Roxy in the pic???? I could have died from cuteness overload!! Great to know about Green Geeks, I’ll keep them in mind in case I need to switch a client to a new host. I love what you did with the picture frame, and even though you’re anxious to leave, at least you have one more week to stock up heavily on beach items you won’t find in the desert! :)
Ugh, I didn’t know you’d be stuck there another week. BUT take heart my friend, it will be here before you know it!
You have just one week left to stock pile all the sea glass you can find!
(Trying to create a positive spin for you ;-) )
Very cool sea glass photo and frame and omg, what an adorable puppy; prequel to a great senior dog.
Nice day for stew, Mary!…:)JP
I’ve been looking for a new host so thanks for that link. Did they really do all the work of transferring your blog to their site? That process has scared me away from moving…
I love the sea glass and frame! You’ll survive one more week – you will!!!!
Sorry to hear you have another week of rain ahead of you. Ugh. But hopefully arriving in the desert will be all the sweeter.
Happy New Year my friend.
We have been OK with HostGator so far, but if that ever changes, we’ll definitely switch through you! I am going to want your sea glass mobile definitely. If you still have the frame at that time, I might take both.
One more week in the rain zone? Hang in there!
Happy New Year to you, Al, and the girls!