Blog Secrets?

Posted: August 26, 2011 at 8:02 am

I have a little secret to let you in on. It’s Friday! Oh, you already knew that huh? Well, take the fun out of it why don’t ya?!

I guess I will just have to let you in on some other secrets. And before you get your panties in a bunch – no, I’m not pregnant. Love my munchkins but do not want to add another to the bunch. These secrets are more news bites that I have to share with my blog or blogging in general. I have to blab these new discoveries to someone!

Some Updates Around FFF

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I spent waaaaaayyyyy too much time in my life updating things on the ole blog last night. Peter & I worked hard to change my blog’s menu to include drop down menus and hopefully make things a little easier to navigate around here. I updated every. single. page! And my mind is still spinning. But it was worth it. Check out some of the goodies:

Take a look around. Feel free to visit awhile. I would love to hear what you think! Smile

The “Next” Button

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I know I have mentioned it before, but this little button saves my blog reading life. I subscribe to more than my fair share of blogs. I also have less than my fair share of time to keep up with those blogs. Enter the “Next” button so I can scroll through leisurely and catch a wider variety of blogs and posts than simply clicking through my folders in Google Reader. AND it allows you to read the post on the person’s site.

To get the button – simply go to the “Goodies” tab on the “Manage Your Subscriptions” page. Scroll down and find the “Next” button. Drag it to your bookmarks bar. That’s it! Click and start reading. Smile 

Picasa Rocks!

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I will forever owe Courtney for sharing it with me. Free to download. Easy to use. It makes managing, organizing, and tweaking my photos ridiculously simple. How did I not know about this for so long? It would have made life soooo much better.

Preschool Means More Fun

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It was tough to say goodbye at first but now I see how much Makenzie loves going to school. Plus, I can’t complain when it gives me more time to blog…only one of my favoritest things in the world. I now have the chance to write and post about things that I would normally have to push aside because they wouldn’t fit in with my other post topics. I hope you enjoy the change and getting to know more of the fun side of Tina. Smile 

 

Stay Tuned for A Giveaway!

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I have another giveaway for you all in this afternoon’s post. Just another way to say thank you for your unbelievably high cool factor. You want to stay tuned. There will be FIVE winners for some yummy goods. Winking smile 

I hope you all have an excellent Friday!!!

  • Any tools you recently discovered that you wish you knew about sooner?
  • Any updates or things you would like to see around FFF?

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48 Comments to “Blog Secrets?”
  1. That Google Reader tool = my new best friend. Also your daughter is adorable. I will babysit annnnytime!! 🙂

  2. Mandy says:

    Looks great 🙂 Ahhh preschool. Bella’s first day is Monday. I’m so nervous!

  3. I would love to see some more recipes up in here! You have such good ideas! Happy Friday to you too 🙂

    • Tina says:

      I have made a goal to do more recipes because I really do like them. I just let creating new meals slide to the wayside so easily for some reason. Probably when things get busy I want to just fall back on standby favorites.

  4. Khushboo says:

    Looks great, love the drop-down menus! Have a great Friday 🙂

  5. Heather says:

    Thanks for the tip on the “Next” button. I just added it!!
    And Mackenzie is seriously too cute for words. Love!

  6. Love the updates! I desperately need to do some as well… it’s so hard to fine the time to sit down and get ‘er done.

  7. The blog looks great! I also love Picasa. It is so amazing for editing photos and keeping them organized. I recently discovered Hootesuite which has been wonderful for keeping tabs on Twitter. I tend to miss tweets!

    • Tina says:

      Yes! Hootsuite or Tweetdeck are both amazing tools for Twitter. I’m clearly obsessed with too many blogging related tools. LOL

  8. Kelly says:

    Can I just say that pictures of M makes me smile daily. I haven’t been shy about mine and Keith’s fertility struggles and some days it is just so hard that I want to cry. But usually when I see pictures of M or Baby B on your blog it reminds me that everything we are going through is worth it and that one day I will have a beautiful child of my own. So to whoever says that you are being a bad parent for showing picture of your kids on the blog…I’ll say that is helps me remember what I am fighting for. 🙂

    • Tina says:

      Thank you Kelly! And those struggles consume our hearts. So important to find little pieces of joy to push through. Love you!

  9. Ooo! Thanks for the reader & Picasa tip! I’m on my way to check them out now 😀

  10. The “Next” button on the bookmark bar is ingenious! I’m so glad I don’t have to open a new window to read a full post anymore! 🙂

  11. i love the new drop down menus…this is going to be too fun to click around 🙂

  12. Stephanie says:

    I use http://www.bloglovin.com for that reason…it lets me click “next” and I’m able to comment. That’s why I stopped using google reader…because it was too much work if I wanted to leave a comment on someone’s blog post. Love the new features on FFF!

  13. I love that Next button, never knew about it! Thanks so much for the tip – it will definitely make blog reading so much easier!

    And I love love Picasa too, especially the “I’m Feeling Lucky” effect edit button – just one click of that button gives such a richness to my pictures. And the organization of it is awesome…in fact when I downloaded it I couldn’t believe something so amazing as that was free?!

    • Tina says:

      I thought the same thing! I figured I would get a pop up saying “if you would like to use this feature enter your credit card # here….for one million dollars muahaha”!

  14. Great work on the drop-down menus! I’ve been meaning to do some of that myself. I use the Next button exclusively and it’s simply an all-around better blog reading experience, highly recommended!

  15. I’m going to stay awhile and check everything out! thanks for including me on your fav blogs list 🙂

  16. I just discovered Picasa, and I love it too!! It’s so much simpler and more precise than what I was using before 🙂

    M. is A-Dorable! She is such a cutie in that little tutu, looking like a princess. And with such a precious smile! What a gem you have there, Tina!

  17. Squee! I love M’s purple tutu outfit- adorable!

    Great work on the blog- I wish I knew how to manipulate mine as well as you do. I love your new drop-down menus.

    • Tina says:

      It’s called…Peter. I worked him hard last night. And after typing that I realize just how bad that sounds. LOL

  18. I LOVE Picassa! For a free download, it can really do a lot with your pictures!

  19. Amy Lauren says:

    Picasa is amazing! Gotta love Google products, they really do know what they’re doing. I’m definitely going to check out the new features on your toolbar, too.

  20. Tina I know how time consuming blog update stuff is — but if it makes things easier it was totally worth it.

    I need to check out this “next” button!

  21. The blog looks great! You can tell you put a lot of hard work into it! I recently discovered how to do drop down menus as well (finally!) Have a great weekend!!!!!!

  22. Aww yay for preschool and yay for updates on the blog!
    I have a google reader but it totally overwhelms me 😛 I’m going to check out this next button! 🙂

  23. I love the “next” button but really wish I could get it to just show me the next result from a particular folder. I like to read my favorite blogs first!

  24. The site looks great Tina!! I’m sure it was a LOT of work, but it looks like it was worth it!

  25. Oh, Tina! I love the updates. I don’t have Reader yet. I’m living in the stone age – I always just bookmark peoples sites, but that is growing out of control. Downloading it now.

  26. teresa says:

    You guys did a great job!!!!
    We’re starting school in a few weeks too. My daughter is so ready. I hope she loves it as much as your daughter does. Oh and I love the lavendar tutu. We have one just like it.
    I really appreciate the recipe work you guys did!

  27. Those sound like great tips – do they work for every type of computer??? Sorry if this sounds really dumb – Me + Technology = one big mess lol

    • Tina says:

      I believe so. You may have to update your settings in your browser to show a bookmark for the Next bar, but everything else should work. Picasa is google so not Windows specific or anythign as far as I know.

  28. I’ve been looking for a picture editor, so I’m going to check out PIcasa! I love anything that’s free 🙂 I’ve been motivated to do some blog edits after HLS and there have been a few late nights trying to edit things – but it’s cool to learn about tech things!

  29. Picasa is awesome! I love having the pics at your fingertips and also having the ability to create albums that you can invite others to view. Such a cool idea.

  30. I love the new changes on the blog! It looks great! And I agree- Picasa is the best! I don’t even take full advantage of it and i love it.

    I’m glad you’re enjoying your free time! That is wonderful. & Makenzie looks so cute in her tutu!

    Thanks for adding me to your blog list. That is seriously such an honor.

    Have a wonderful weekend, Tina!

  31. Jessica says:

    Love the updates!! I’ve yet to explore Picasa…but you may have changed that! Happy Friday!

  32. Loving the drop-down menu! I think it’s about time for me to add some creative flourishes to my own blog. Thanks for the inspiration!

  33. Lovin’ the new stuff!!! Thank you SO much for adding me to your blog page!! That means the world to me Tina! Also…picasa is amazing! Did you know that you can upload your albums to your google account “web albums”. That way if your computer were ever to crash they would be all be saved in your google account!

  34. Coco says:

    Those types of updates take so long to do, but they really do make a difference! I am so honored to be on your blog list — thank you! And I have got to try a green monster one of these days, especially now that I found your “recipe.”

  35. Love the changes and LOVE your fave blogs 😉 I seriously need to do some updates! But i’m planning to make some changes and get a new theme soon, so i’m not so sure how many changing i want to do right now! I do want to the drop down tabs and the social media buttons easily accessible!

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