Some of My New Favorite Blogs

Cake Wrecks : When Proffesional Cakes Go Horribly, Hillariously Wrong
Have you seen this blog yet? Written by a husband and wife team, this hilarious blog showcases cakes gone wrong, as well as artistic eatable masterpieces.

*Warning: some posts have adult humor. Although they will usually warn you in advance if it is not for young eyes.

Kevin & Amanda
This blog is great if you are interested in photography, crafts, cooking, dogs, or scrapbooking. My favorite part of this blog are the free handwriting fonts. They are easy to download, and adorable.

Another Ordinary Miracle
I started following this blog years ago as this young adoptive family suffered several failed adoptions. Since then they have added three children to their family. They now have a 4 year old little boy adopted from a Russian orphanage, an almost two-year-old daughter adopted from a Korean foster home, a 15 month-old son adopted domestically (whose adoption is still not finalized so they are unable to post his picture or even his name.) And their newest addition, a biological miracle, a micro-preemie born at just 26 weeks, and still living in the NICU.


Ryan Byrd's Ramblings
I went to high school with this guy. He's funny, witty, and a self proclaimed geek. Somehow he finds the funniest stuff (videos, pictures, etc.) on the Internet. He's always good for a laugh.

Single Dad Laughing
After one of his more recent posts went viral, this new blog's readership has gone through the roof. (Ironically, I went to high school with this guy too.) He's funny, sarcastic, witty, and will have you laughing. And as icing on the cake, he is an adoptive father.

The Chin Wag
This restaurant review blog (written by my brother-in-law) is a must read if you live in my area and like to eat out. Especially if you like burgers and doughnuts :) Warning: don't read hungry.


And a Cool tip for Private Blogs:
If you have a private blog or are thinking of switching your blog to a private blog you MUST check out this awesome idea. If I ever go private, this is how I will do it! Genius!

KellBell Blog Design

I got a face lift!

Not me personally, but my blog did!

(If you are reading this in Google Reader or an RSS feed you really should click over!)

Isn't it beautiful?!

A dear sweet friend of mine has discovered quite the talent in blog design. She has a darling little blog full of free backgrounds and headers.

Not only that, but she has lots of fun blog design secrets to share too. Like how to personalize the little icon next to your blog address (take a gander at mine!) or how to make your pictures larger than large, or how to make your colors all matchy matchy.

You really should visit her blog

http://kellbellblogdesign.blogspot.com/

And tell her Nicole sent you!

Blurb is the Winner!

I took Nikki's advice and gave Blurb another try.

I am so glad I did. I just received my 2008 Blog Book.

I like it so much more than my first book. I was able to edit all my posts, ensuring that no posts were split between pages. I could edit the sizes of my pictures, even making some of my favorite Wordless Wednesday picture full page images.

Blurb's new version of their program is much more stable than the original. It didn't cause my computer to crash at all. I did find it a little slow, but nothing that I couldn't tolerate.
I'm not in love the cover, but that's a small issue.

Bonus: Blurb printed my book faster and cheaper than SharedBook. It only took a week from the time I finished editing it till it hit my mailbox. This book has more pages than my first book and still cost less money (about $10 less.)

My vote is for Blurb. If you want to convert your blog to a book I recommend using Blurb.

My First Blog Book

I have been working on turning my blog into a book for a long time now.

I've tried several different programs and formats.

I've worked it and re-worked it.

First, I tried using Blurb. This program will slurp your blog into their program and let you edit each individual page. This was Blurb's first attempt at this program and it was not very stable, or user friendly. The problem was that the program was very slow and the work was very tedious. And it caused my computer to crash regularly. I finally gave up when I heard the rumor that other companies were working on blog printing services.

In the meantime I heard of other people copy and pasting their blog into a Word Document. This format give you the most control as far as layout is concerned. And it allowed me to keep my comments. After many hours of copy and pasting I finally finished. Then came the problem of deciding how to print the sucker. I tried uploading it to Kinko's on-line site. The problem I ran into was that much of my formatting was not compatible with Kinko's program. It was causing my formatting to wig out once it was uploaded. I tried converting the Word Document into a .pdf file, but ran into formatting problems again.

I was ready to pull my hair out when I heard Cutest Blog on the Block was launching a blog printing program, called SharedBook. So I tried again. I slurped my blog into their program. And of course, I discovered another set of issues. First, there way of keeping the comments but it simply included them as an additional section at the back of the book, not with each post. Second, it slurped ALL my posts, including slide shows and videos (which obviously won't work in a book). So I had to manually delete all my slide shows and videos from my blog before I slurped again. The biggest problem left was that it left me no way of manually editing my pages (changing the size of pictures, adjusting placement of text, and ensuring that posts were not split between pages.)

But I was done.

I had spent most of a year on this project and I wanted to be finished. So I ordered a copy. It cost about $50 for 138 pages (basically 2005-2007 of my blog).

It took nearly a month from the time I ordered it to the time it hit my mailbox.

And sadly, I'm not thrilled with the outcome.

The color pictures are not as high quality as I would have liked and there is still that annoying issue of posts being split between pages.

(This page contains two pictures from a post about Dan's birthday, an entire post about boys eating cake, and the first half of my post about holes in my ceiling.)

So, now I am ready to start working on my blog book for 2008, but I hesitate to use SharedBook again, because I don't love it.

I've heard Blurb has a newer, better version of their program. Should I try it again? Or, just accept that nothing is going to be perfect? Has anyone else made a Blog book?

An Inquiry

I saw this shirt and wondered,

"Are your kids cuter on your blog or cuter in person?"

Personally, I think my kids are cuter in person.

They are definitely quieter on my blog though.

Why I Blog

I started this blog several years ago. At the time I used it simply as an on-line photo album for friends and family to see my cute kid (I only had one at the time). Blogging was fairly new then. Blogger was very different then. I don't even think there was a spell check function.

I only had a couple of regular visitors, and rarely received more than 1 or 2 comments to any post. Usually that comment was from my sister or my sister-in-law reminding me that they thought my kid was cute.

Over time my blog has evolved. I started posting more often, and using it for more than just pictures. I started to write again. I graduated from college many moons ago, and considered myself a fairly decent writer. Since then my writing skills have gotten rusty and my vocabulary has taken a nose dive. Blogging has given me a way to start writing again, a way to keep my brain from turning to applesauce. A way to keep the dementia at bay.

Most recently, I have started writing about topics that are near and dear to my heart, specifically adoption, infertility, motherhood and religion.

My readership has increased dramatically since I started writing about these things. Who knew other people wanted to read what I had to say?! I sure didn't.

I now have between 20 and 30 people visit this blog each day. I get several comments, mostly still from family and friends. I have people visiting from all across the country.

Mesa, Arizona

Walnut Creek, California

Redmond, Utah

Chicago, Illinois

Houston, Texas

Reno, Nevada

Denver, Colorado

Pasco, Washington

Brentwood, Tennessee

Twin Falls, Idaho

Chaska, Minnesota

Newport News, Virginia

Bedford, Pennsylvania

Mankato, Minnesota

Shelley, Idaho

Evans, Georgia

Charles Town, West Virginia

And that is just this week.

I also have readers in Spain, Korea and Germany.

I honestly don't know how long I will keep blogging, or what I will blog about in the future. (Let me know if you have any requests.) It mostly just comes one day at a time.

Dan gives me grief about posting everyday. But honestly, I like the pressure to create. I like the deadline, even if it is self-imposed. Like a newspaper columnist, I like knowing someone out there is reading something I wrote.

It's very empowering.

Especially for a stereotypical, mini van driving, middle class, stay at home mom like me.

Some days I just want to make you laugh. Some days I want to make you think. Some days I just want to break the monotony that is my life. Some days I just want to feel validated by someone more than three feet tall. Whatever the reason, I enjoy blogging.

Thanks for joining me for the ride.

Happy to be Tagged

Yesterday's post was deep, maybe a little too deep. So today I am doing a silly tag from Kelli. (Thanks Kelli, I needed this!)

I have to list ten of my favorite things that start with the letter . . . . P, chosen by Kelli.

In no particular order:

1. Preston and his Precocious big brother
2. Pasta. Easy, healthy, and yummy.
3. Pedicures. It's about time for another one. Anyone game?
4. Priesthood. One of the biggest blessing in my life.
5. Pepsi, vanilla please.
6. Prayer. Where would I be without it?
7. Photography. I don't trust myself to remember how sweet their little cheeks were 20 years from now.
8. Pizza from Papa Johns with Garlic Sauce.
9. Pink iPod. Love it, love it, love it.
10. Packages. Who doesn't love it when the FedEx truck pulls up in front of their house?

I now tag Michelle with the letter L, Mindy with the letter R, and Chelsea with the letter A.

Birthday Wishes

(The four-year-old version of me)

Monday is my birthday.

I am turning 29, for the first time.

I don't know if that makes me young or old.

It's all relative.

I am asking you, dear blog readers, for a birthday gift.

I want you all to write my birthday post for me.

Email me (nikalo@hotmail.com) something:

a memory you have of me
a birthday wish for me
a joke I will like
a story (maybe about me)
a picture (maybe of me)
ANYTHING.

On Monday I will post them all.

(unless they are crude or obscene, this is a G rated blog after all)

I realize there are many of you who read this blog regularly, who don't comment. I expect you ALL to participate in this. ALL OF YOU! Even if you don't think I know you read me. I get lots of people who click over from Emily's blog, and Deb's blog, and Megan's blog, and many others.

You know who you are. Not knowing me in real life is not a good excuse.