Category: Blogging (page 1 of 3)

January 18, 2015 / 1 Comment

Online Cleaning

I feel that it is just as important to re-ogranize your house as it is to re-organize and evaluate your online presence. I have spent a bit of time doing just that throughout December and January. Culling through my Feedbin account and removing blogs that I was no longer reading as well as sites that hadn’t posted anything in over a year.

I have also done the same with my Twitter account. I had over 700 people I was following and I have now reigned that in to just over 300. I’m streamlining. I’m trying to keep things simple in order to be more productive and not have such a digital crowded space. As Martha would say, “It’s a good thing!”

May 26, 2014 / 0 Comments

The Onslaught Of Social Media

We live in an interesting world. The times they are a-changing’ as Bob Dylan once wrote. Not all that long ago, you used to have to think about something before you could verbalize it. If someone made you angry or sad or you were annoyed by something, you told it to your pillow, to your bedroom wall or to your diary. Everyone I knew growing up had rules about being on the phone and so you couldn’t always call a friend to chat about something.

In today’s society with the onslaught of social media, people vent their feelings all of the time. There is no thinking about something, it’s just put there. Now I am guilty of this myself as once my sister and my baby niece were flying home and their flight got cancelled and then cancelled again and the airline was neither helpful nor supportive. My dad was on the phone trying to help her, her husband was on the phone trying to get her help as well and we weren’t getting anywhere until I took to Twitter, funny isn’t it? They won’t pay attention to someone they are talking to on the phone but one derogatory (honest) tweet and they were being a bit more helpful. I know on occasion I have also have commented on the rudeness of men on my train. I still find it shocking that gentlemen seem to be disappearing at alarming rates. These men fight to get on first, pushing past female passengers and rarely do they offer to get up and give their seat to a female passenger or person in need. So I’m not perfect either in my use of social media.

In saying all of this, there are times however where I think people abuse their use of social media. Case in point and I won’t mention names but there is someone I follow on Twitter, who had quite a temper tantrum the other day. They were having a whale of a time ranting away, wishing ill will on someone, hoping something terrible would happen to their ex, complaining about their life and how they were stuck in a certain place. After they called a fellow tweeter a B— for commenting on their negative tweets, it moved into a realm of ridiculousness. What this person needed was to have a time out.

Now maybe it’s just how I was raised in the South, but airing your dirty laundry in public is just so tacky! The pros of where we are right now with technology is the capabilities to be able to communicate with people any time anywhere, the downside of where we are right now is the same thing. No one has that cool down period. If it’s in your head or on your lips, you just say it. I think we need to work harder as a society to not do that. Gone are the days of letter writing by which you had to think out your thoughts through pen and paper. As my grandpa always said if you have something negative to say, write it down, think about it, if you still feel the same way the next day think about it some more and if you still feel the same then send the letter. we have no thinking through period anymore, no cooling down period, that seems to have vanished.

This idea was mentioned about two months ago in a New York Times article, The Lost Art of the Unsent Angry Letter. It is all to easy to use social media as a quick outlet for our feelings, but think before you speak, because you just might regret what you had to say and you can’t easily retract those thoughts!

May 10, 2014 / 0 Comments

5 Years Bloga-Versary

Well May 5th came and went for me this year. I have to tell you that there are times where my working week gets the better of me! We are up by 5 and I am home past 6 every night and by the time we make dinner, do the dishes, have a few minutes to talk, do a few things around the house, speak to my mom or my sister or sometimes I’m lucky enough to speak to both, it is time to hit the hay before 5 o’clock rolls around again, because it comes around all to quickly.

I have so many things I want to share with you. I have yet to share with you about going to my Shibori Dying Class, or about visiting the Matisse Exhibition or the number of other things that flit through my head. I will get there. I just need to work harder on my work/life balance. It came to me last night that 5 years of being in this space came and went unnoticed by me this week.

When I started this space 5 years ago, I didn’t know where it would lead, but it has truly grown into its own. A year ago I moved into this new space that I call my writing home. I love the simplicity of my site. It is colorful, yet simply elegant, it lets me showcase my writing and photography without a lot of fluff and that is what I wanted it to be.

Thank you for sharing this space with me. Thank you for coming to visit me and read my words and view my pictures. I write for me, but it is nice to know that my writing not only touches my own soul, but you have shared with me that it touches yours too.

When I did think of writing about my 5 years of blogging the other week, I had made a Kentucky Derby Pie. It turned out perfectly. A slice was cut and fresh vanilla whipped cream was pillowed on to the top, but Mr. Michie stole a bite before I could get a picture.

So, instead of sharing that pie with you and recipe, I shall share a cake recipe with you, as cakes are a wonderful celebration of life. The image and recipe comes from the lovely Twigg Studios. The pie recipe I will share just as soon as I make another one. Pies should be made to share, but unfortunately, this one was just too good, we were greedy and devoured it ourselves before we could even give away a slice!

For the full Mandarin & Lemon Cake recipe and assembly instructions please visit Twigg Studios, HERE

Image pinned HERE

December 13, 2013 / 1 Comment

Staking My Claim

I have discovered some things this week that have left me unsettled. I am still fighting my cold and that seems to be draining all of my energy from me. I can feel it leaving my very marrow and seeping out of me. I store it up at night so I have energy to get through my day, but by the time I get home, it has all evaporated and I am like a limp piece of celery.

This week and the previous weekend have brought changes with it. Work for one has been on my mind a lot this week. I normally try to leave work at work, but it has been a constant ticker-tape running through my thoughts as I travel home and when I go to bed. The New Year will bring with it adjustments to the current state of things. Now that I know the path that is to be taken, I can begin to blaze this fresh trail.

I also unexpectedly learned about one of my blog readers and it has made me question myself. This is my space to be, my place on the mountain that I have put my flag down, staked my claim and called my own. It is my arena to be free with my thoughts, musings, writing and ideas. But, this person is using my space as a sphere in which to gather information and I don’t like that.

Now, I can’t control who reads my blog, but I vehemently despise the fact that it is being read to glean information from. With everything going on at work this week and that information coupled with it, it has served to hinder my productivity here.

I am carefully considering what I say in my space, and I don’t like feeling caged in. I have felt completely inhibited, like there is a wall around me. However, there is nothing I can do about it. If someone wants to read my writing for the purpose of gaining intel, then so be it, I don’t want to feel that I can’t express myself here. Tomorrow is a new day and with it, hopefully my feelings about this situation shall shift.

One thing is for sure and that is simply that I will continue to write, to be free with my thoughts and ideas and if they try to use it to their gain, then so be it. I know who I am and unfortunately, they don’t have a clue, never have and never will.

July 1, 2013 / 0 Comments

So Long Google Reader

Google Reader heads into retirement today, the first day of July. I am being truly nerdy and trying out two readers at the moment to see which I prefer: Feedly and Digg.

Anyone else trying something out there they are liking?

(cute image sent to me in a reminder e-mail from Feedly to move everything over to them)

June 25, 2013 / 0 Comments

Blog Update

Hello? Hello?? Are you there? I just wanted to give you a mini blog update today. Well, I am pleased to announce that I am FINISHED! All of my Jenny Wren posts have now been updated to make sure that everything is working, all pictures imported properly, all videos and links accounted for…

I have also had a long discussion with Goose Girl & Foxy. They have decided that they don’t want their own space anymore. They felt lonely having their own site and wanted to come back to sharing my space. I’ve let them.

So last night the three of us with the occasional double checking with Mr. Michie, worked to import their blog here and make sure all posts moved over smoothly. It was a bit of a tall order for a Monday night, but nothing we couldn’t handle. So from now on, this along with their menagerie of friends is their home too.

It should be smooth blog sailing now in my new home, so stick with me and enjoy the ride.

{woman on the phone found here}

May 9, 2013 / 1 Comment

Moving In

Well, I officially moved last night and now I am in the process of unpacking. With the very generous help of Mr. Michie, the process went extremely smoothly. He helped me make the move, convert my labels to tags and write the coding into my old blog, so that you will now be directly linked to my new site, whether you are trying to view an old Jenny Wren post or go to the blog itself. We also think we have the coding right for subscriptions, so if you do subscribe to me, you shouldn’t have to lift a finger. However, if you do subscribe to me and my new posts aren’t coming to you, could you kindly give me a shout out, so I can work out what went wrong behind the scenes.

Tonight, I will work on backing up all of my image files and a couple more behind the scenes projects. I have a few things I want to change as this is still a site under construction. The foundation has been laid, the structure has been framed out and built and now I am just doing some of the interior decorating, to get everything as I want it. It is a work in progress, but I will get there.

This weekend, I will begin the process of going through all of my 700+ posts to ensure that they successfully made the move, enlarging the pictures, something I wasn’t able to easily do before as the borders in my old blog kept me in check. Looking back over the 4 years I can see an improvement. I look at some of my old photos and I cringe, not really believing that I took that, or that I thought what I was doing was so cool at the the time, with my crazy Photoshop skills, but in actuality it just wasn’t, well at least not to my little perfectionist eye. But, they are a part of me, of where I’ve been and where I’m going, so they will stay. Stick with my for just a little bit longer, all will be running smoothly soon…

I’m happy here, I like this new chapter in my blogging life. As Martha Stewart says, “It’s a good thing!”

May 7, 2013 / 2 Comments

A New Home

My journey here has been a long road. I have thought at length during the process of making this decision and I feel that it is time for me to truly “grow-up” in the blogging world.

I wanted a place to call my own, to reflect me and to give me a cleaner, more organized, yet still whimsical and elegant appearance.

This will be an ongoing process for a little while. I will go through my old posts as quickly as I can to ensure that everything has made the transition smoothly. But, there might be a few bumps along the way, so please bear with me.

My “Type A” personality is telling me to wait and do this at the weekend, or till I have a long school break, or wait till the stars are aligned, wait till my work life is a bit quieter, or our home life isn’t as busy, wait till everything on my new site is exactly how I want it, but Mr. Michie is telling me to jump in, don’t dive, just jump, so CANNONBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! Here we go!

May 7, 2013 / 2 Comments

A Long and Winding Road

I mentioned on Sunday that I have a new home I have been building and working toward. This week I will begin the process of packing up and moving to that new blogging space: JenniferMichie.com

Through this process, I might be radio silent for a few days, so please don’t worry. I will keep you posted when I can. If all goes to plan you should not have to change your rss feeds if that is how you read me and in a perfect world everything will link up beautifully! Fingers crossed! I know there will be some cleaning up to do, but I’m ready.

I wanted to wait for the right time, or a better time, or who knows what, I am not a procrastinator, but I wanted everything to be “just so”, but, Mr. Michie told me to run, not walk. So, I am running head long into the wind and away we go!

I hope you join me on this new adventure!

May 5, 2013 / 1 Comment

4 Year Bloga-versary and BIG NEWS: I’M MOVING BLOGS!

Well first things first. Today is my 4 YEAR BLOGA-VERSARY! I can’t believe that it has been 4 years since I got on this ride and I have loved every minute of it. I have learned a lot in my 4 years sharing this space with you, which leads me to my next announcement: I am moving blogs. This has been a long thought out decision for me and an ongoing design process. I have loved the time that I have shared with you in this space, but I feel it is time for me to grow-up a bit and have a place to truly call my own.

The paring down approach we are taking with us into this new year, is one that I have decided to take into my new space. I wanted to keep the design clean and simple, yet still elegant and whimsical.

I will begin the process of moving everything over soon, so please bare with me as I will have a bit of tidying up to do to ensure that everything has moved over smoothly.

Thank you for sharing this spot with me, I hope you continue to read and follow me in my new space. For the next little bit, this is still “home”. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted on the BIG MOVE, I’m still packing up boxes, so I’m not quite there yet.

Jennifer x

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