Traveling the Blogsphere

I was quite surprised this morning when I received an email from an editor at Blogher.com. It's the web site that supplies me with all these lovely ads. 

As a Blogher member, I have a profile on their site, and I'm able to post blogs there as well. I recently posted by article about how I grocery shop. 

This morning, I learned that they had chosen it as a featured post, and they would be promoting it on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. It would also be promoted on the web site as a "featured" post. 

So this is how I've traveled the Blogsphere today. 

First, I posted my article here.

Then here on Blogher's site. As of right now, my article on the Blogher site has been read almost 300 times. Six people have shared it on their Facebook page. Three people have commented on the article directly, and three more have shared it on their Twitter page. 

Next, it was selected as a featured post, and Blogher posted it on their Facebook page. They have more than 11,000 fans so it's possible 11,000 people saw my face today:

After that, they posted it on their Twitter page. They have almost 25,000 Twitter followers.

So we're clear, all of these links they are posting go back to my article.  

Wow. This is why social media is so popular and addicting! Thousands of people have seen and read an article that I wrote. They've shared it with others and so on. It's very exciting for me, and I'm already thinking about what I can write next that will hopefully be featured. 

Requests? 

 

 

Dog Days

We really work Grace hard during the day. 

While I'm at my desk working, she's doing this. 

Whoever coined "dog days of summer" didn't live Grace's life. 

Birthday Finale

I really love birthdays, and I decided to host a March birthday dinner. With Chris and Laura sharing a birthday and Charlie's birthday just days before, it seemed appropriate. 

Everyone had a gift at their seat. Even the non-birthday people needed a little something. Notice our new table centerpiece? It's a shaft of a barrel from Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky. It used to be a part of a barrel that held and aged whiskey. Chris drilled holes in it, and now it holds tea lights. I wonder if the wood feels less manly?

Back to the party. I strung up a Happy Birthday sign and decorated our sidebar with a few birthday goodies.

The birthday girl and her guy.

The birthday guy and his girl.

Here's the birthday cake I made. More about it later.

The full set up.

Sarah got a slightly belated birthday gift from Laura and Matt. It was a birthday type of evening!

Chris and I gave Laura this necklace.

And we gave Charlie this St. Jude golf shirt.

Chris racked up too. This is a box of goodies and a gift certificate to a company called You Bar that lets you create your own granola bars and other goodies. Very cool gift. I'll report back as to what recipe he makes.

Chris also got a very nice dopp kit from Sarah and Charlie. Totally needed for my traveler.

Sarah and Charlie gave Laura a furniture-making book. I think we're all secretly hoping to benefit from it!

And now back to the cake. Yep. I made that.

It's a six-layer cake, and each layer is flavored with a different fruit. I didn't want to use Jello, so all the flavoring is natural. I prepped each fruit in its own bowl, and then added my cake batter.

I baked all six cakes separately and then stacked them on top of each other once they had cooled.

And, I didn't really want to use food coloring, but the second-from-the-top layer has just two drops in it. The flavor run down, from the top, is strawberry, grape, orange, kiwi, lemon, blueberry. It was a little labor intensive, but I thought it looked festive for a birthday(s) party.

And, every birthday party needs a clown!

See the cake: http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00e551040fb7883401348009898b970c 

Friends, Family and Alpacas

As mentioned, Chris and I headed up to the farm this past weekend for multiple reasons. 

1) Chris always wants to celebrate his birthday at the farm. He kinda loves it there. 

2) Kathy was coming up, and we planned to see Shelby, a friend from Hendrix!

 

3) My folks are good people, and we enjoy seeing them too.

 So this is Kathy. I've blogged about her often. She's my BFF. We will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary of friendship this September. I'll let you know where we register. 

Oops. Autofocus was off. This is Kathy. And, don't be frightened by the hat. We were about to strike out on an adventure, and the wind was cold. And, it's my mom's hat. 

Kathy and I found some artsy trash by the water's edge. 

And, we visited the Indian cave. 

She's a city girl, but she still looks good in a cave!

I even made her jump out of the ranger and open gates. She learned a lot about farm life. 

Then we spied a momma and baby cow!

The baby was so tiny, and it had a difficult time walking. It looked like its back legs weren't quite loosened up yet. 

Then, Kathy met the dogs. They are such big loves. Big, huge fierce-to-predators loves.

Then it was time for the grand show. The alpacas!

Sometimes when you're on a farm, loves comes in all shapes and sizes. The rest of this series of photos have been edited and removed to protect young eyes. 

Finally, the alpacas were ready for some appropriate photos. 

I love how this group is so clearly posing for their picture!

Then, the llama had to get some love.

The llamas really tickle when they breathe on your face.

Remember those fierce protectors of the herds? Did I mention they just work at night? 

The other llama needed some attention too. 

Emily has grown so much since our last trip to the farm!

Llamas really like to smell your face. 

A lot.

Then it was time to shoot some guns. 

Kathy was getting a safety lesson from Chris. 

Practicing your stance is very important.

"How in the heck do you see through this thing?"

She hadn't even shot anything yet, and she already had the look down. 

One last correction. 

Then it was time to shoot. 

That gun looks so natural with her. 

 At what, you may ask, was all the shooting? This deserving tin can, of course!

The hunter and her prey. Notice the holes.

After Kathy showed that tin can who was boss, we traveled back to find the baby cow again. Can you find him in this photo? He's the black spot right in the center. He was circled up against a mound of earth. It was the perfect snuggling spot, and he was out of the wind. Smart momma cow. 

After our big day on the farm, it was time to eat. Of course, we had to do pizzas!

Jack gave Kathy the important job of bubble-popper. 

That's the official bubble-popping stick. 

She did a great job because the pizzas were delicious.

We were so busy having fun that I don't think we got a group photo of everyone. I think it's safe to say that after ten years of friendship, Kathy and I are still going strong.

Even on a farm.