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What’s Making Me Happy 8.31.13

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Secret Society of Happy People

Secret Society of Happy People

Since it’s the last day of “Happiness Happens Month,” August 2013, I wanted to get one more Happiness post in!  It’s been a light blogging month, because so much fun has been going on!  Many of the items listed below are worthy of their own posts, and I will work on that in September.  So for now, here’s what’s making me happy – abbreviated August edition!

  • The most recent happiness:  I went to Caribou to get my last caffeine infusion at 9:45 pm last night and the manager wouldn’t let me pay.  Pay it Forward, I say!
  • And the Section of Social Work is strongly promoting that!  I’m on the social committee (of course) and we organized a Random Acts of Kindness/ Pay it Forward event starting last week, so that’s exciting!
  • The Minnesota State Fair – three times this week!  How crazy is that?  I’ll blog more later about the awesome fun, delicious fried goodness and hot hot sweaty days.  I’ve never gone 3 times in a year before.
  • Ferragosto!  Also deserves at least one blog post because it was the BEST ever!  (Until next year, right?)  The weather was perfect, the food and drink were delicious, and friends came and went with perfection.  It was hard to leave but the feeling continues!  Storing that sunshine in my cells!
  • I am going to do another “book tour” blog/review!  When I saw the question:  “Did you like “Loving Frank” and “The Paris Wife“?” I bit!  (Click to read my blogs about those books)  “Freud’s Mistress” coming soon to this blog!  Details to follow in another blog post!
  • Marissa is moved in to Minneapolis!  She is living life large, of course, and I can only hope that when school begins she can fit in time for studying!

And now I must dash to work… life is great!  What August memories are making you happy??

 

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and it’s 2012!

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Well I set my Goodreads goal for the number of books to read in 2012 (70) and that’s the only goal or thought I’ve put into goals so far.  It doesn’t mean I won’t “resolve” to do other things, I guess it means that I’m just working on each day as it comes and not doing much planning for 2012 – yet.  I’ll get to it, maybe even next week after the busy-ness of life settles down.  I’m sure I’ll keep you posted.

One more reflection on 2011 came from WordPress in the form of “Your Year in Blogging – 2011”.

  • I wrote 130 new posts in 2011!  Wow.
  • The blog had 1900 views!  Wow.
  • People found the blog by searching for “accordion naked” (among other things)!  Wow.
  • Most visitors were from the US but Germany and the UK weren’t too far behind!  Wow.
  • The blog had visitors from Africa, Asia and Australia as well!  Wow.

I like blogging but I don’t know how important it is to me to have my blog seen around the world.  It’s kind of fun.  I do check stats.  And today, for some reason, I’m getting a lot of hits because of a Hungarian site which linked to my post about movies!  Crazy… It’s turning into a high traffic day.  If you’re a blogger who reads this, how did you decide you wanted to go BIG with your blog rather than keeping it personal?

One thing that I woke up thinking about this morning (and will probably turn into a plan for 2012) is that I read way too many blogs and twitter feeds.  It’s becoming cumbersome, so I will do something about that.  I love technology but when it feels cumbersome, it’s time to pare it down.

Many of the blogs that I read are aspiring to many book-related challenges and it just wears me out!  Non-Fiction challenge; Fiction challenge; Bookshelf challenge; European challenge; Classics challenge; etc. etc. etc.  I participated in a few challenges/read-alongs in 2011 and I probably will participate in a few in 2012, but I’m certainly not joining any right now.  A year long challenge sounds like a little much right now.  I liked the seasonal or book-specific challenges and I think that’s where I’ll stick.

Well, off to read (something besides tweets and blogs!)!

If you like reading this blog…

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I don’t think I’m going to continue linking my blog to facebook, so if you are enjoying my posts, please “subscribe!”  It’s simple – if you click through to the blog, there is a box in the upper right corner where you put in your email address and then the blog will be emailed to you as I post them.

There are other more complicated ways to read blogs regularly, but that is the simplest!

And if you like the blog, comment on it!  That’s another thing that brings me joy (see earlier post!)!  Getting comments from people!  🙂

I intend to keep posting about the five senses as well as random thoughts about books and movies.  Nothing too exciting but I’m having fun for now.

Off to read!

BBAW Day 2 – Blogger Interview!

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Day 2 of Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011 – This year’s theme is Cultivating a Community of Bloggers and Readers.  Today’s topic is blogger interview swap.  My interview partner is Linda from Silly Little Mischief ( http://sillylittlemischief.blogspot.com/). When I looked at her blog, I was amazed at her history – quite a lot to see and read! – and at the list of books that she reviewed and read.  I asked to be her friend on Goodreads and found that we have quite a few books in common.  What a fun way to meet a new friend!

The questions I asked Linda had a lot to do with her blog and blogging and less to do with her books and reading, but hopefully you learn something fun here!

Introducing, Linda…

Wow – you’ve been blogging a LONG time (since 2007!)!  Can you talk about your blogging beginnings?

I started blogging because I needed a place to dump all my thoughts on my 2008 wedding. Since then I’ve added posts about my life (books, food and travel).

Your blog is really organized and interesting to look at.  Can you talk about the technical aspects of your blog – have you always used your format or have you tweaked a lot throughout the years? Do you get help from someone? Do you have any sponsors?  

Thanks. I’ve switched templates several times over the years. I know a little HTML but I rely on premade templates for most of my blog. If I see something I like on someone else’s blog I’ll email them to find out how I can get it. I don’t take sponsors or paid advertising.

Do you follow a blogging schedule?  Where do you look for topic inspiration?

I usually blog Monday through Friday. I try to post every day. I look for inspiration everywhere-other blogs, my life.

How about your blog reading – do you catch up daily? Twice daily? Weekly? with the blogs that your read? 

I check blogs twice a day-in the morning and at night usually. I have 422 blogs in my Google Reader. I need clean that up but I’m sure BBAW will add to that!  (Yikes!)

We have read a lot of the same books – I’m definitely going to look for you on goodreads.  Do you have a favorite genre or style of writing? 

I generally read fiction (sci-fi, chick lit, YA, classics) but I will read nonfiction too. 

What book do you love that other people seem to dislike? 

I get a lot of grief from my real life friends about the amount of YA I read. A lot of them think I should be reading more adult books. 

What book did you dislike that others love?

I’ve been trying to read some classics-Catch-22, The Sun Also Rises. I haven’t really enjoyed too many of them. I did read Jane Eyre and enjoyed it.

What do you find to be the most rewarding thing about book blogging, or blogging in general?  

I love the dialogue that comes with blogging. Not just the comments but the posts that come out of what someone else said. I don’t blog in a bubble and I love interacting with other bloggers and my readers. 

Great questions! 

Thanks Linda!  Great to meet you!

Off to read!

BBAW – Day 1

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This week is Book Blogging Appreciation Week – year four!  I’m not sure I will participate in all of the daily topics, because I am trying to do the 40 things with Boof and another post per day may be a bit much, but you never know!

A great majority of the blogs that I read daily/weekly are book blogs.  I attempt to keep up with 79 blogs and am in awe of those who keep up with hundreds.  How does that happen???

Today’s BBAW topic is about community – giving a shout-out to those blogs that you admire, aspire to be, turn to for advice, or feel connected to.  I feel new to the book blog scene (just over a year) and the amount of bloggers out there overwhelms me.  (Maybe I need a new format to read them??)

A few that I can relate to and read frequently have ties to Minnesota, so I’ll name them first!

Book Snob is new to me, but discovered when she posted about a book that I read and loved this summer – The Girl in the Garden.  She is a Minnesota blogger (and the book was written by a MN native) and I’ve really enjoyed everything she has posted!  There’s so much to see on her blog!

Sheila at Book Journey is also living in Minnesota – up nort’, I believe.  It’s fun to read about her crazy-busy life as well as her perspective on books.

Mari at Bookworm with a View has moved a few times but I believe has ties to Minnesota. I discovered Mari through Lian at the Chaos Chronicles and have followed her probably the longest!  We have similar tastes in books and she also has some pretty fun adventures.

Obviously I’ve been following Boof quite closely at the Book Whisperer, and have been playing along with her 40 things challenge lately.  What fun it has been!  And I’ve just met Linda at Silly Little Mischief through BBAW’s Book Blogging Interview Swap.  She interviewed me and I interviewed her, and our posts will be up tomorrow.  We also have a lot of books in common.

Good stuff, blogging!  And now…

Off to read!

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Blogs

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I added links to my page with some of the blogs that I “subscribe” to. I only included BOOK blogs, although I do subscribe to others that I really enjoy. Maybe that’ll be another list sometime.

I feel like I’m kind of hodge-podgey in my subscriptions to blogs – whether or not I’m “following” via google, “subscribing” via email, anonymously stalking… I’m not sure why. It’s very random, based on how I am feeling at the time. Most of the blogs were found when I signed up for a challenge – I checked out all the other blogs that signed up for the challenge and subscribe to those (through blogger) that I felt had the most interesting blogs or the most similar tastes to me.

I went back to using blogger after my utter frustration with wordpress subscription’s slooooooooooooow loading. Also, blogger is the feeder for the reader app I use on the iPad. SO I moved “booky” blogs over to wordpress and back again. This summer I check the reader twice a day, reading (or skimming) about 20-30 new blog entries at each time. I star those that I want to read more thoroughly or whose books I want to add to goodreads TBR.

So, tell me about your blog reading? How do you keep up? How long do you give a blog before you “unsubscribe”? What reader do you use, or do you read via email?

Do you have any suggestions for more great blogs for me? I’m always open to a few more!!!

Off to read!