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Blogging 101: Love Your Theme
Since I became a member of the WordPress community of bloggers in June 2014, I’ve enjoyed experimenting with a variety of themes. A few that have graced the contours of my blog over time have included: Sorbet, Fictive and some that apparently are no longer available. Or rather, I should say, I don’t recognize any other themes that I’ve played with among the vast number of themes that are currently available, either gratis or for purchase.
A few months back I bought the Promenade theme, and after playing around a bit with the background colors, I finally landed on the current warm, coral tone to which I’m so often drawn. While I may continue to tweak things, I’m happy with the results.
Until now. Until this assignment! There are so many other interesting, quirky, wonderful themes – more than I remember. So many more to choose from. Sigh. For now, though, I’ll stay with what I have. Perhaps sometime later, after I feel I’ve gotten my money’s worth, I’ll switch to another theme.
It’s kind of like decorating your home. It’s where you live, where you spend much of your time. It makes sense – to me anyway – to feel comfy and warm and to feel, well, at home when you’re working on (and playing with!) your blog.
So. Have fun with it. Start decorating!
Assignment: Blogging 101: Love Your Theme
Keepsakes
With camera in hand, safari-style, I gathered up a few items – mementos and keepsakes – from various rooms throughout the house, plucked from the kitchen counter, the dresser in our bedroom, the desk in our office, a shelf in the guest room.
Color. Texture. Remembrance.
- A painted plate from a holiday craft venture with my son
- The unique picture frame with a photo of my father
- The silk comb I wore in my hair on our wedding day nineteen years ago
- Sawdust and wood-shavings from Dad’s sawmill in a Mason jar, tied with a bow made from a strip of fabric from one of his old flannel shirts
Yes, these are a few of my favorite things.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadowed
The morning sun casts shadows on baskets that hang in our dining room. This beautiful light on a sunny day that shines through our windows – and the shadows it creates – always makes me smile (and gasp) in appreciation.
Blogging 101: Write to Your Dream Reader
In some ways, my inner self is practically salivating at the prospect of writing exactly what’s on my mind in a post to be read by any number of targeted ‘dream readers’. I even went so far as to list, on paper, the name of each person I would love to address in such a forum.
My motivations, not unlike those of Frank Costanza with Festivus pole at hand, are rooted in a variety of (mostly) well-placed intentions: for some, there is indeed a sincere desire to steer these Readers toward a better path, to prevent them the heartache and hardship that surely awaits them given their current self-destructive behavior while for others, an opportunity to inform them of how I and others perceive their smug self-righteousness, bigotry, arrogance and hypocrisy and how much hurt and hard feelings their actions have caused to others.
For any number of reasons, I recognize that, yes, it is probably wise to just keep these thoughts to myself. There are some things in life best learned by trial and (much) error and besides, who am I that any of these Readers should take what I say with anything more than that proverbial grain of salt.
Oh, but to devise some ingenious method of projecting ones thoughts and views onto another’s psyche in a gentle but firmly anonymous manner, one where you can get your point across, get results and yet have not a shred of skin in the game!
Assignment: Blogging 101: Write to Your Dream Reader
Blogging 101: Say Hello to the Neighbors
One of the things that I most enjoy about blogging is exploring – with my Reader! – what others are writing about out there.
Freshly Pressed is amazing in its diversity and one of my goals as a blogger is to someday have a post of mine featured there. So many talented writers and photographers! Here are a few of the blogs that I discovered (and now Follow) on Freshly Pressed:
Running on Sober
The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice
The Gravel Ghost
Another way to find other interesting blogs is to participate in some of the WordPress forums. I ‘met’ one of my favorite blogging buddies this way when I provided some feedback on a post she was working on. Her posts are fresh and quirky and humorous and sometimes quite telling. Oh. And she has a knack for capturing life with her camera (and post-processing!) that I often envy. Her name is Mara and you can connect with her via Mara Eastern’s Personal Blog.
Many friendships have blossomed in just the short seven months since I cranked out my first post. I’d like to give a shout out to these wonderful ladies whose work and blogs I very much admire:
Martha at Therapeutic Misadventures
Julie at Frog Pond Farm
Roberta at Words Like Honey
My life is richer and fuller because of these new relationships and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful, new world of blogging! It really is a community of like-minded individuals – all of us striving to make ourselves heard (and read!)
I’m humbled and honored to a part of it all.
Assignment: Blogging 101: Say Hello to the Neighbors
Blogging 101: Titles & Taglines
I must admit this assignment has me scratching my head. I’ve switched out the photo of my blog’s home page and I did add a tagline but it does not display. What goes into this particular post, I haven’t a clue…
Assignment: Blogging 101: Titles and Taglines
Blogging 101: Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Hello everyone! My name is Julie – I go by JulieAllyn in The Land of Blog – and I’ve been a WordPress blogger since June 2014. Like many of you, I suspect, I was curious as to whether I had a story in me or not – or at least one that might connect with others.
The experience thus far has been most satisfying. I love being able to meld both photography and my thoughts, views and ramblings into a public forum AND getting to meet some pretty amazing and talented bloggers from all across the globe.
I recently discovered the world of photo challenges here on WordPress and love it. Posting old favorites and hunting for interesting and appropriate new shots to fulfill the assignment themes has been great fun. And participating in these photo challenges has boosted my traffic stats as well!
While I greatly enjoy the photography aspect of posting to my blog, however, I want to focus on and strengthen my writing and storytelling abilities. So here I am. I’m looking forward to stretching and expanding and being challenged to grow my skills and to also making some new friends along the way!
Assignment: Blogging 101: Introduce Yourself
A Fine Old Building
On New Years Day, Bill and I spent a pleasant hour or two reading the paper and sipping our favorite hot beverages in downtown Des Moines. This particular Starbucks, a favorite haunt no matter where it’s located throughout the city, shares retail space with the South Union Bread Café in a grand old building that houses The Temple for Performing Arts.
Both my husband and I work in a suburb area of Des Moines so neither of us is all that familiar with the many wonderful old buildings downtown but the main floor of this locale contains more than a few keys to its past and is a delightful place to sit and relax or grab your camera and explore. Since I couldn’t decide which avenue to pursue, I did both!
A Sawyer's Daughter 
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