Three Quick Questions

 
One of my favorite things about blogging is visiting all the other talented and fun people out there and seeing a glimpse of their personal side. I came up with the idea of asking 3 quick questions. Nothing complicated or personal, just a couple little things that I think you'd feel comfortable sharing.  So here goes:

1. What is on your desktop?
Mine as you can see is a cat. It's my son's cat, Mr. Patches. He lives with my son now but he spent his first 5 years with me. This is my favorite picture of him. However, I change my backgrounds about every week or so.

2. What's the last CD you listened to?
For me it was The Best of Etta James. I love her! She has the voice of an angel.

3. What's the last craft project you finished (for personal or business)?
I made some napkin rings for myself.

So what about you?

Hiking at Starved Rock & Matthiessen State Park

We woke up Saturday morning and took a two hour drive west. We went hiking (we LOVE hiking) at Starved Rock & Matthiessen State Park. Both parks were beautiful and nothing like hiking the sand dunes that we are used to. Between the two, we really liked Matthiesson much better. Some of trails were quite rugged in my opinion. There were a few other things I wanted to share about this trip but I'll save that for another time.

First we went to Starved Rock and hiked about 2 miles, which a good part of was up! Then we found an awesome picnic table under a huge shade tree where we ate our picnic lunch. I marinated and grilled some chicken breasts the night before and sliced them really thin and piled on some delicious bread, some fruit, and iced tea. The best lunch I've had in a long time.

STARVED ROCK STATE PARK

We got to enjoy this beautiful view after hiking up the giant rock. So worth it!

 This was down in one of the canyons. I thought it would be nice and cool down there but we were amazed at how humid it was. All the moisture just gets trapped down in the canyon. We were sweaty from head to toe!

 OK, so I searched for mushrooms too. Well, you knew I would!

 

MATTHIESSEN STATE PARK

This was down in the lower dells (that's what they called it there). We felt so little, and so sweaty again!

This was one of the waterfalls we walked to. It was quite challenging at some spots but it was fun! There were people on horseback on the trails above the fall.

 These were tree roots that were growing down the side of the canyon. I wish I could have gotten a better picture but it was so humid down there I seemed get a grey tint since I was so close. Brian loved this part and wanted to make sure I got a picture.

So that was our awesome day trip. Next time we'd like to stay in one of the lodges and make a weekend of it. We got a KILLER workout and a had great time.

So to my beautiful daughter: If you are reading this, I'll be working out and getting in shape because by the time spring break arrives, we are going to dominate our very own Trail 8! 

Adding Meta Tags to Blogger

UPDATE: Blogger has changed a bit since this link was posted. I found a new and updated way to add the meta tags. If you follow the original link, it may be confusing because the way of getting to the "edit html" has changed. So if you are having trouble finding that location, check the new link. Sorry for any confusion.

There are many ways to get lots of traffic to your blog. Most people already know about joining blogging communities, visiting and commenting on other blogs, and providing links in emails & forums, just to name a few.

Another excellent way is very simple and not everyone knows about it. I'm sure you've all heard by now of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Yes, keywords and titles are very important but there is one more step to take it to the next level. Add meta tags to your blog. I just did this a couple months ago and what a difference it has made! When I see where my traffic comes from, I see that a lot of it comes from Google. I'm also noticing that many of the visitors are coming from google images. So there's another tip, add images and be sure to use names and descriptions with them as well.

Example: I did a search on Google typing in the following phrases and I was on the first page for all of them:

make owl napkin rings
snackwell's 130 calorie pack
pink lemonade cookies
m & m trifle

Remember though that your titles, description, and keywords are very important so choose them carefully.
The following link will give very easy instructions. This is for Blogger.
http://ariwahju-ariwahju.blogspot.com/2011/03/add-meta-tags-to-blogger-for-better-seo.html

Photo Above: A delicious and refreshing Champagne Punch we had at a family party recently. Thought it would make a pretty sight for the end of the hot summer season.

Photo Wall

Since yesterday's post I've had a couple people ask about my photo wall so I decided that I'd make that my next post before you all forget about it. I think it's a cool idea and can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you want to make it. The photos were uploaded to WalMart for $3 a piece so I had $36 in photos. As for the frames and mats, you can choose to your creative heart's content!

We chose the black mats with the black frames because we have a lot of black in the house as we have more of a contemporary look. This one measures about 34" x 55" and if fits perfectly in this space. If you don't want to make it as big, you can make it to any size you want. You can even find some awesome collage frames that holds several 5 x 7 or 4 x 6 sized pictures and you can set the theme on those.

We obviously chose a nature theme for this room but after 2 years we've become tired of these images. We're thinking it's time to change the pictures. I'm thinking maybe the next theme will be structures and architecture, or bridges, or beach scenes, or Yosemite, oh heck, I can't decide!

A photo grouping would also be cute in a kitchen or dining room and you can use a cooking and food theme.....

Photos, Photos, Everywhere!

If you are anything like me, you have thousands of pictures you've taken with your digital camera. Oh how photography has changed through the years. Now you can go to google and find an image on absolutely anything, in fact, you can find thousands of images for what you are looking for!

Exactly what do you do with all those pictures you take? Do you print them out on your home printer or do you upload them to your photo department at your favorite store? Do you look at them on your computer, on your big screen TV, or do you put them in a "physical" album? Do you scrapbook with them, turn them into computer backgrounds? Do you make enlargements and decorate your walls or just put a few favorites out on your tables? And where do you store them? And I'm most curious as to how you organize them all?

I do all the above. I don't print them out so much anymore unless I'm sending them off to my daughter. I mostly view mine on my computer or our TV which is connected to the Internet and I can view my Picasa web albums through there. As for organizing them, I find that the best way for me is to put them in folders according to the year. In each year are folders with the events that they were taken. For those odd ball photos that aren't from any special event, they are in a folder marked for that Season.

I also have an awesome photo wall in my living room with pictures from nature which I'll show you all another time.

I'm anxious to hear how the other photo-geeks like myself use and organize their pictures.

UPDATE: Our chair did not win the contest (the post below this one). But the chair that did win (Wagner's Ribs) was painted with a beach scene and I can honestly say that it deserved to win. It was beautifully done. You can see it in the picture (post below) on the upper left corner.

Chairs for a Cause

The place where I work is just steps away from the Indiana Dunes State Park. Last night we participated in an event to help raise funds to promote tourism for the Dunes. The local businesses who wanted to participate purchased an Adirondack chair to decorate any way they wanted. The chairs were then displayed at the event where the residents could come and vote for their favorite. They also had food, drinks, and a dunk tank. I don't know who was getting dunked though.

They had a total of 16 chairs (our town is VERY small) and above is a representation of my favorites. Our chair is front and center. I personally think it's the best one of all. One of our tech's father in law painted it for us. Notice Howard in the upper left corner of our chair?

Our chair also has:
Coaltrain (our very own macaw)
The lizard to represent "Gates" our alligator that just passed away :(
2 hawks, we rescue lots of them
A deer, we have 5 fawns we're playing mommy to right now
A dog & cat because well, we do see those too
A snake, we have over 65, most non-poisonous
A horse, we don't see horses ???
And various ground animals

As of the time of this posting I don't know who won. I'll keep you posted.

Click the picture to see it bigger

Early Fall Colors

Would anyone care to explain to this tree that it's only August 18th? I noticed these bright red leaves today while I was laying on a raft in my pool. Can it be an early sign of spring or do you think someone climbed a ladder and painted that section of leaves just to confuse me?

No Bake Cookies

I made up a batch of these for my niece's baby shower a couple weeks ago and as always, they were a huge hit. They are nice to make in the summer when you don't want to heat up the house with your oven. They taste very similar to "Buckeyes" but the textures isn't as creamy because you have the Rice Krispie Cereal to give it some snap. They are delicious!

No Bake Cookies

1 stick butter, room temp

2 cups peanut butter
1# powdered sugar
3 cups Rice Krispies Cereal

Chocolate, melted:
use dipping chocolate or 8 oz hershey bar and 12 oz choc chips
(I used the chocolate almond bark 24 oz size)

Using hands, work dough til soft and smooth. Form into 1" balls. With tooth pic, dip into melted chocolate. Set on wax paper then refrigerate.

And if my son is reading this post, I still have some safely stashed in the freezer just for you!

Playing with Textures & Layers

 I was as looking through all my photos and decided it was time to share some of my favorites with you again. I'll be doing that from time to time. Once again I'm in the mood to play with textures and layers. I still have so much to learn in this department but I'll get there.

This first photo is an owl statue we saw at Brookfield Zoo. As many of you know, I love owls, so naturally this is one of my favorites. For those of you who don't know how I started with my owl fascination, just click HERE or you can scroll to the bottom of the page and see the little video I have of our rehab owl Howard.

This next picture is the lighthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan. Brian and I like to take the 30 minute drive there a few times a year. It's a great place to get out and walk around. There's a charming little downtown with old and new buildings, and the lakefront is just beautiful! I really like the layer I used in this picture. I think it's my favorite.

Below is a hiking trail at Ludington State Park. Brian has family near there and we like to stop for some exercise when we are there. I just loved this trail with the dried up pine needles on the ground and the tree roots exposed. Just beautiful!

If anyone knows their way around PhotoShop, I suggest stopping by this great blog I just found! It's called ShadowHouse Creations and this guy is so talented and so generous to share his work with us. He also has some super helpful tutorials so you can learn how to turn your photos into artwork.

A Look at My July Challenges

In early July I posted challenges for myself and things got a wee bit messed up because it was a stressful month in my personal and work life. I didn't do so well on the crafting and graphics designing but I did MUCH better on the new healthy me.

Another reason I didn't do so well on the crafting and designing is because the weather has been so perfect for enjoying the summer. There will be plenty of time to do "inside" projects soon enough.

As for the new healthy me goal. I didn't lose the 7 pounds I was hoping for because I got a late start (more like the middle of the month) but what's important is that I'm on the right track! I decided to start slowly so I don't overwhelm myself. I am using my elliptical and have cut way back on the junk food and am making healthier choices in general. I'm not one that likes to be restricted as far as eating so that works best for me. I'll keep you all posted!

Now I think I'll begin my fall challenge & project list.