Behind the Blog

Behind the Blog, design, me

If my husband asks, you never saw me here…

Melanie (aka Chilihead – I just LOVE calling her that) and I had a great time yesterday on Behind the Blog – we had Rick Calvert (the founder of Blog World Expo) on – and I’ll be darned if he isn’t just the nicest and most personable man. (and I’m not just saying that because I want to score a sponsored trip to the BWE in Vegas, either…although that would be nice!)

We also had Kelly Curtis from Pass the Torch on to talk about going from Blog to Book. She recently published her first book and you can find it on her website – she’s a very engaging speaker and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her series on her blog about “Becoming an Author“. If you have any interest in writing, she’s got a great story.

I’ve updated the player on the sidebar – so you can listen to it. Or, you can download it and listen later. Either way works for me. I just want you to listen to my nasally, tin can voice. That’s all. I need to feel the loooove. (I have NO idea where that just came from…could it be the glass of tea and huge piece of fudge I ate?)

In other news, I’ve been working on those blog designs in between homeschooling and trying to keep up with the laundry. Everything’s coming along swimmingly except for the laundry. Any ideas for me on that front?

Here’s a couple I’ve done, along with a revision of one making it a three column from a two column that I originally designed:

Trust Teachers, a site designed for empowering teachers and contracted by a the woman who was my very FIRST paying client when I started my business(Thanks NN!):

Taking on the World (in 4-inch heels), a site devoted to the female entrepreneur – and whose photo is that on the front page, anyway?

The Miss Elaine-ous Life, also one of my first clients – she wanted a third column added to her layout.

I’ll be adding them over on my design site, along with the client profiles, but I haven’t had the time to do it yet, so I thought I’d show y’all here. You don’t mind, do you? 🙂 I’m still working out some crazy IE/FF issues on the 4-inch heels one, so you don’t have to email me and tell me it’s wonky, I know. On second thought, email me…I haven’t had much this week…

So if you’re waiting on a blog design, it’s coming. I’m a little inundated by the laundry situation around here. As soon as I dig my way out, I’ll be back. I hope.

I have missed seeing y’all in my inbox! What gives? Does no one visit any more? Don’t read leftovers? 🙂

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Behind the Blog, homeschool, mystery photo contest

Monday Morning Wrap Up

I’m not really here and you aren’t really reading this. I’m trapped in a swirling vortex of homeschooling goodness and mayhem even as you read (well, more than likely…unless you’re reading this at 6 am…in which case I’m still snoozing under the covers).

Happy Labor Day, everyone – hope you’re all fortunate enough to be able to take the day off from work – you’ve earned it. I will not be taking the day off, as I still have 3 loads of laundry to finish from this weekend…but that’s another story for another day.

A couple of quick notes before I start the day:

1. And we have a winner for Saturday’s Mystery Photo Contest! Bummer. Oh, I totally kid – I’m not bummed. Amber from Bringing Good Home – email me so I can get your “n”eat gift that I may or may not have in the mail for you.

Also — I’m revising my photo selecting process and I will not be blurring the photo next week…so be ready for something that doesn’t hurt your eyes, but that you still probably won’t guess. Bwuahahaahahaha. {that was supposed to sound maniacal, not evil…why did it sound evil?} Here’s last Saturday’s photo:

2. I am doubly excited about tomorrow’s Behind the Blog radio broadcast – we will have TWO guests on. Rick Calvert from Blog World Expo will be on first discussing THE blogging event of the year – Melanie is attending this year and I’m so jealous hacked off excited for her that I can hardly stand it. :)I know she’ll be bringing a lot of good information back to the table with her – but before she goes, why not join us and hear from the founder himself as to why he started the expo and what he expects from it.

Also joining us is Kelly Curtis from Pass the Torch. Kelly is an accomplished blogger and writer who has been published in Boy’s Life, Budget Travel, All You, Chesapeake Family Magazine, Wisconsin West, or Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating Mothers and Daughters. Her new book, “Empowering Youth” is now out and she’ll be telling us how she went from blogging to mainstream media. I encourage you to check out her highly informative 8-part series “Becoming an Author” on her blog.

That’s it for now. Working on about six designs simultaneously…going crazy in between times. So if I’m silent on your blogs, or I’m not answering my emails…please don’t hate me. Understand that I’m human and this is a season in my life. I’m trying to be better, but all I can do is all I can do right now.

I’ll be running leftovers this week because I want to be able to focus solely on my kid’s first week of school. The first week is always the toughest for new adjustments, etc…so I want to be free to be “free”.

What’s happening with you this week? Anything exciting planned?

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Behind the Blog, design, mystery photo contest

Bloggy ‘Bidness

Don’t forget about Tuesday’s “Behind the Blog” Talk Radio Show! We have Stephanie Precourt from Adventures in Babywearing as our special guest. She will be discussing marketing and public relations – in case you hadn’t noticed, Stephanie is a PRO at both. 🙂 She had her trip to the BlogHer conference sponsored and earlier this year, she went to a special mixer at Disneyworld for blogger moms. So tune in at 12 pm central and be armed with your best questions for us!

Oops. I totally forgot to post the wrap up for Saturday’s Mystery Photo Contest! Well, mainly it’s because no one won this week, which is so incredibly sad for me, because I had an awesomely “n”eat prize for the winner. So, be on the lookout for it next Saturday. Here’s the reveal – it was a tea infuser – I figured with all the Southerners, someone would guess it. Maybe it’s only Northerners that drink hot tea? (I grew up drinking my Aunt’s tea in Alaska…but that’s another story for another time)

Oh, and hey. In between the chaos that is homeschooling, caring for my parents, writing 3 new articles for Blissfully Domestic’s new launch, moving my blogs to WordPress (yes, that’s right – I’m moving – watch for the big announcement!), preparing for the Behind the Blog radio show with Stephanie (Melanie totally carried the ball on this one as usual!), I’ve been designing. A little. Actually, a lot. But most of it is nothing I can show you. (Don’t you just loooove that?)

The good news is that I’m working my way through my queue and before you know it, I’ll be opening it up again to accept new clients. So please don’t give up and get your blog designed by someone else! You know you want to wait for me! 😀

In the meantime, here’s a few of the blogs I’ve done – only one is technically “live” right now (the other two are adding info in as we speak!), so I won’t be including links, just a screenshot. You can check my design blog to see them in their full glory when they go live, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Well, how was that for a wrap up? I think I covered a whole week’s worth of information in this one little post here.

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Behind the Blog

Michelle from Scribbit our Guest on Behind the Blog


Don’t miss today’s edition of Behind the Blog (a weekly live blog talk radio show hosted by Melanie from Don’t Try This at Home and myself)- we’ll have Michelle from Scribbit on discussing a variety of topics such as life in Alaska, organizing,and copyright issues.

Join us in our chat room and chat and listen with other bloggers – you can ask questions from the chat for Michelle or you can call in as well! We’d love to see you there!

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Behind the Blog

Chilihead, Boomama and Me on Behind the Blog

Our most recent show:

What an odd combination, huh? I never in my wildest blogging imaginations thought I’d be in the company of such wonderful ladies, much less be talking on a live radio show with “The Boomama“. (I now refer to her not by her name, Sophie, but as “The Boomama”, because, well, because that is how I shall refer to her – there’s no reason other than she’s a veritable blogging icon.) She would not like that last reference to her, so just ignore that I typed it, mkay?

But seriously – yesterday’s Behind the Blog show was great. Melanie is so good at keeping things on track and manning the switchboard so I am free to read all the comments going on in the chat. Poor woman, she didn’t realize what she was getting into when she agreed to do this show with the likes of me. {I’m the Liza Doolittle to her Henry Higgins, I am}

So grab some tea or coffee and take a few minutes (or an hour and a half)and listen in to what The Boomama has to say about “Finding Your Bloggy Voice”.

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