If you are a photographer, or love to cook, then you are familiar with The Pioneer Woman. She gets something like 40 million hits to her site every month, which is crazy. Basically … she’s awesome. And if you don’t check out her site, you MUST — because she has something for everybody!
One of the reasons I love her is because of her photography skills. Tucker introduced her to me way back when, and I’ve been hooked ever since [see? I told you I would give you credit! ha!] I love her photoshop actions, and use them frequently in most of my photography. I learned how to REALLY use my DSLR through her site. I think she is a GOD!
Maybe not a God, but really, really awesome none the less!
What’s the point of all of this you ask? Well, every once in a while, in her photography section, she does these assignments. Take a photo of this, take a photo of this, do this with your camera and take a picture, etc. Anybody who wants to submit a photo does so through her flickr group, and then she picks her favorites, and sometimes a winner.
I realize that this is silly, but — people are OBSESSED with her site! Because she so stinkin’ rad [and her food is waaaaaaaay good!!!!] so this little thing, totally made my day yesterday.
Lately, I’ve been debating on what I want to do with this blog. What direction I want to take it in.
I started this blog over at a wordpress.com forum roughly two years ago. I wanted to be a resource for military spouses out there, and to be a VOICE for what our lives entail. I think, for the most part, I’ve done a pretty good job at it. My hits have been soaring, and I’ve met a lot of great spouses through this outlet.
But I feel like I’m missing something.
There’s no real format to this site. It is what it is — me bitching about life, more often than not, while throwing in some random stuff every now and then. Don’t get me wrong — it’s given me a lot of great opportunities, and again, I have met some really great people. People that have helped me through some really hard times. People who have turned into real life friendships, that I cherish more than anything.
But I feel like starting over. Or at the very least, doing a major overhaul to what this site entails. A new look. A new meaning. More purpose. More direction. Less randomness.
I feel like I’ve pigeonholed myself. That I’ve turned myself [at least on this site] into *just* an army wife. And that goes against everything that I feel and what I believe in. And what my initial purpose was! Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe you all can tell me otherwise. But somethings gotta give.
I won’t do anything rash without giving fair warning I promise. But I have a lot of stuff to figure out. And some decisions to be made. But I think, in the foreseeable future, that there may be a temporary closing of business [just on the front end of things!] while I do some work to the site and come up with a new plan of attack.
I definitely won’t stop writing, that’s for sure. I can totally promise you that. This has been such a wonderful outlet for me, and I thank ALL of you for coming by and reading my ramblings. All the comments, all the emails, all the friendships that I have formed — it means a lot. I need this place for therapeutic reasons. But, as I said, something just needs to change.
So — be on the lookout. Good things are on the horizon. I promise
Let’s lighten the mood around here a little, shall we?
OkGo is, perhaps, one of my most favorite bands. Their songs are super catchy and their albums are spectacular. If you haven’t listened to them, then you should. Because they were rad. PLUS, their videos are awesome. First there was this little gem. And I’m pretty sure everybody an their mother has seen this bad boy.
Well folks …. they did it again. But this one is way bigger, way better, and much more impressive. I have no idea how they are going to top this one.
Well played, boys. [btw, this whole album is frickin' fantastic. I recommend it!]
This was in a comment from a reader [who commented on this post] and it was just too good to not respost for everybody to see.
See people, there is a rhyme and reason to everything.
[emphasis is mine]
By law the administration’s pay increase proposal is restricted to no more than the Employment Cost Index (ECI). The ECI is a quarterly economic series detailing the changes in the costs of labor for businesses in the United States economy. The ECI is prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in the U.S. Department of Labor. It is 1.4%. The 2009 inflation rate was -0.34%. Negative inflation is generally not considered ‘rampant’. Social security, which is national, did not increase in 2010 for the first time in three decades and is expected to not increase in 2011 either. Welfare payouts are determined at the state level, not by the President or Congress.
Also last years initial proposal was 2.9%. It ended up being 3.4% because Congress decides on the final increase, not the President, who submits the initial proposal based on law, not his discretion.
(source)Directly from the dfas.mil website-
How are annual pay raises calculated? Military pay raises are linked to civilian pay raises. Military pay raises have been at least one half of a percent higher than the civilian pay raise each year, as measured by the Employment Cost Index (ECI), until 2006. Starting in 2007, pay raises are equal to the increase in the ECI. Pay raises may exceed these automatic levels if authorized by Congress. In January 2010, the military pay raise was changed to 3.4% (ECI).
Was there some new recent development in the 2011 budget? Primarily in regards to the PROPOSED military pay raise? Was Glenn Beck or Rush Lamebrain spouting their mouth somewhere? If you know something, please let me know. I am totally clueless on this one.
Because holy crazy hits! (Hi to all the new people!) This post is driving a lot of traffic here, and I’m not quite sure why. I can’t find any new developments out there, and I definitely haven’t heard anything. So my guess is that something prompted a sudden influx of needing to search for it. Either way, I’m glad I closed the comments on that a while back. Dealing with trolls is not my idea of a good time. Especially not right now.
With that said — HELLO to all my new visitors! I hope you all stick around and find something that you enjoy. Comment, follow the RSS feed, or just introduce yourself and say hello! I love new readers, and I hope some of you stay for a while.
This week has been crazy. I have been super slammed at work, so by the time I’ve been getting home in the evenings [one night this week it wasn't until 9pm! Ugh!] the last thing on my mind has been blogging. The hubs was home last weekend, as well. Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to this weekend. In January, my DH gave me a gift certificate for my birthday to one of the spa’s in town. Tomorrow, I’m cashing in! Aromatherapy massage, facial, and pedicure. It will be bliss. I’m also doing a maternity shoot on Sunday for one of my very, very dear friends. I am SO excited! She is my first maternity shoot, and I have so many great ideas [which means I need to make a craft store run this weekend to grab a couple essentials].
I’m also working on getting my photo biz blog up and running. For client purposes, I decided I need to do one seperately for that. I was going to attempt to code it all myself, but … for lack of time purposes, I decided to do an etsy search, and found some fantastic layouts for blogger that I think will be perfect. I took a poll on twitter earlier this week, and I think I found a winner. I plan on purchasing and getting it up and running on Saturday night. I have quite a few shoots coming up, so it’s the right time to get that up and running. Hopefully people will find it, link to it, share it, and the result will be some more clients! Hooray!
Speaking of clients, and photo shoots — the same girl whose maternity shoot I’m doing this weekend, well, I’m also doing her newborn shoot as soon as she pops out her [sure to be super adorable!] baby girl. I was browsing etsy, which has become a new addiction, and found this gem. Ummm … HOW ADORABLE IS THAT? So, I enlisted the help of my good friend, LAW, who is a fabulous knitter [and much faster than me]. I bought the pattern, we checked out yarn, and she is halfway done with knitting this gorgeous thing. I AM SO EXCITED.
Alright, well — that’s enough of my babbling for the day. Sorry for all the randomness. Hope you are all having a WONDERFUL Friday!
My darling husband is coming home for the weekend to visit little ‘ole me [and the dogs] so I’ll be out of commission for the weekend. [Hooray!] It’s supposed to be a gorgeous weekend, so I’m hoping to get out and take lots of photos. We also have plans for our favorite restaurant, and hope [...]
I was browsing through twitter earlier today, and through a series of clicks, stumbled upon the twitter account of somebody that used to be a friend, but has since [thankfully] been cut from my life. I started reading what they had written, and it all seemed to negative. So angry. So closed-minded. It was refreshing to be reminded [...]
