Plans for this Week & Blog Changes

It’s finally Thanksgiving week and I’m actually pretty excited about it, y’all. We have family on my side coming down, and we’re going to have it at my parent’s house this year. And the best part is that I don’t even have to cook! Not that I have before, I’m usually in charge of drinks or salads because ya girl doesn’t cook. Emery has the whole week off from school, and my time off starts on Thursday. That’s four days of no workie and I’m ready for it! My brother and his family are coming down too which means I get to see my little man! I intend to take full advantage before those wittle chubby cheeks disappear for good. I’m NOT okay with him growing up so fast, Kim. Make him stop. Anyway, it should be a pretty laid back week. Definitely some running, and possibly some hiking. Now, instead of the usual book review post today we’re going to switch things up a bit. And in all honesty, I didn’t even have the reviews ready sooo…..yea...

First, and the most obvious, I finally changed up the look of this little blog of mine. It’s different, but hopefully in a good way. I’m still working on a few tweaks here and there, but for the most part, I think it’s all functioning correctly. Woohoo for a change! Second, I wanted to address the content on here really quickly. If things have come off a bit like “filler/fluff pieces”, you’re not wrong. And I know that I said I would never do that, but there are some things I can’t share just yet so I avoided those subjects altogether. Sometimes, this caused me to feel like I was coming off as fake. Also, as most of you know I’ve been dealing with depression, anxiety, and some other issues. And to be completely honest with y'all, I didn’t want that to be reflected on here. I didn’t want my depression to take hold of my writing either. It would have made for some pretty downer reads. So instead, I fluffed and glossed over. Trust me, there are plenty of drafts stored away that I wanted to unleash into the world, but I wasn’t able to at the time. In most cases, that was probably a good thing. I re-read some of them over the weekend and thought, “Oooh, girl you would have regretted that so much.” So, it was definitely for the best. However, I promise to dive into the “why” a bit more going into December. And that means that I’ll be back to the normal not-so-fluffy style of posts very soon. You’re welcome.

And finally, I'm considering removing my watermark on certain images and rethinking the posting schedule. But we'll see. After looking back at previous posts I noticed that it felt more organic. I posted when I wanted, and when I had something to say. I still plan on posting book reviews, and the "currently post" for the month like always.  But everything else will be up in the air for now. Then again, I could totally change my mind about all of this tomorrow. Like I said, I'm still tweaking with some things. So yea, that about sums it up. There will be a lot of stuff for me to work on soon, and I just hope I can get it all done before the end of the year. Wish me luck! 

Domain Name Change

Oh boy. I did it. I bought a domain. It was super scary for some reason. I just figured I might as well change it to what my blog is actually called instead of just my name. And yet, I was so nervous about it. :-/ Remember how I was all about "Yay, I need some change!" and "I want to jumpstart this space again"?? Well, this was the first step. And for some reason I had a tiny little panic attack when I purchased it. Now, I just need to get everything else put in it's right place. I'm really...really new to this whole thing. I'm hoping that Google Domains is pretty simple to integrate our blogs with otherwise I'm kinda screwed. Ha! I can't seem to figure out how to keep the "redirect message" from popping up every time I open a new page, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the google followers button back up. So, yea, it's going to be a work in progress. Anyway, if you're reading this please update my domain to: www.mylittleocean.com on whichever feed platform you are using. Thank you! 

Update 3/6/15: Apparently the GFC will work itself out after the 60 day "transfer" period is up. Fingers crossed. Until then, I'm going to take the gadget down.

Blog Changes

Hello,

Okay, so with the change in season (as usual) I feel a need to change up the blog. Regardless of it's lack of being used. School will be on break for a few days next week, and I'm looking forward to a few days off from work too. So, I feel like this is the perfect time to do some maintenance around here.

As some of you may know I'm pretty indecisive, and a bit of a perfectionist which is why everything takes a tad bit more time for me to finish. This fall I've decided to strip everything down and build it back up to my liking. This means that my blog could very well be an eye sore for the next week or so. I lazily threw together a header, and took everything else down, but you can still find all of the "follow along" buttons at the bottom. Here's hoping I don't mess anything up too bad! ☺

An All-Around Sprucing

I’m in that mood again! That “let’s clean up, and make things look pretty” mood. Spring does this to me every year. And this doesn't just apply to home life. It tends to cross over onto my blog. But, I can also be a creature of habit so sometimes the changes are subtle. Or at least they are on my blog. I tend to go a bit more drastic when it comes to my actual surroundings.

This spring I've decided to paint. I know I've said it before, but this time I’m dead serious. Living in my parents house without them has left me feeling weird. Our stuff is in it, but everything else is still my parent’s. The dishes, the paint, the decorations. Even though they gave us the house and told us to do whatever we’d like with it, I haven’t been able to bring myself to do anything. I still see it as “Mom and Dad’s house” and I feel like I shouldn't change anything because they’ll be back. My mom on the other hand told me to go wild. She told me to change the paint, plant some flowers, throw out the curtains, and really change it up if I want to. So, I’m taking her advice and hoping to finally really make it our own. It’ll be like starting over with a clean slate. Breathing some new life into an old home. And I can’t wait to get started on the spare room! I was thinking of turning it into a guest room/reading room. I have so many ideas, and some will come and go, but I really feel like this is something I need to do. As much as I love change, I can be a bit stubborn when it comes to letting things go. Thankfully, I'll have plenty of time to take it one project at a time.

Now, my blog is definitely a different story. I've had the same template for awhile now and every year I feel like changing things up. I’m definitely not a fan of clutter/advertisements so I try to keep everything as minimal and easy to navigate as possible. That said, I wouldn't mind adding some color and changing things up. Sometimes I feel like I should throw caution to the wind and “liven” things up a bit! But then the perfectionist in me starts to take over and I find myself getting a headache over the simplest details. So for now, I’m just messing with a few things here and there. I've also been experimenting's with some brighter color scheme options as well as lighter ones. I've looked into finally getting my own domain, but some of you know how picky I am on that subject so we’ll see how that goes. There are just so many possibilities and I really want this blog to be a representation of me regardless of how many/few readers come across it. I know that's kind of hard to do with a webpage, but hey, I can try. :-P 

Ha! Can you seriously believe that this is such a big deal for me?? I guess it just goes to show how truly OCD I can be. LOL! But change is good. However much or little I do of it, it's always a good thing. So, in the meantime if things look a little off or a little funny it's probably because I'm dabbling. I'll get it all finished soon.