blogging101 – Page 11 – hugsnblessings

blogging fundamentals

Published on May 17, 2016 by Dawn Marie11 Comments

Back to School!

It’s been awhile since I’ve taken a Blogging University Course at WordPress.com, but I am so verily excited to be tippity-tap-typing in my cyber-school classroom!

Because WordPress has worked with thousands of bloggers, helping them create the blogs they want and tell their stories – there are so many things yet for me to sharpen my blogging skills with by working with them again!

Blogging University offers step-by-step courses with manageable daily assignments and pro tips from WordPress.com, to help us grow as writers, push our photography skills, and more. And now courses at Blogging U. are available on demand, so you can begin whenever you’d like!

Currently there are five different courses available and after reading over the course desciprtions, I have opted to re-take one I previously enjoyed titled:

Blogging: Learning the Fundamentals (formerly Blogging 101!)

This particular course offers a solid grounding in the three big components of blogging: publishing, customizing your blog, and engaging with the blogging community. Because one of the items I would like to expand upon MUCH MORE is meeting more bloggers & supporting them in their efforts I decided this would be the perfect course for me to re-take at this time! I have found, in the past, that the best way to meet others is by risking to share myself with them as well. So I look forward to meeting others who, just like me, are daring to share a bit of themselves; whether through story-telling, recipe sharing, travel expeditions, or the snap of a photograph, in the blogging world one post at a time!

Our first assignment welcomed us by asking to publish a “who I am and why I’m here” post. For those of us who have already been blogging for a while, they still encouraged us to do a version of this assignment:

“…use it to revisit what you said when you first started blogging, to take stock of what you’ve accomplished and what more you’d like to do, or to lay out some goals for your next six months.”

And so I went back to whence it all began…my first “who I am and why I’m here” post, which you too may read by clicking on the link below:

blogging101

As I reread this post myself I giggled reflecting on the nervousness I felt to be attempting something so foreign to me. Looking back I was truthfully very scared!

I have learned so much since then about blogging, about computers, but most importantly about myself. For I am far braver than I had ever imagined. And I’m far more at peace with myself as a result of learning to ‘risk’ with others by unveiling my thoughts and feelings and beliefs, even when it is scary to do so.

More than just learning about widgets (which was pretty cool) and linking (my favorite) or pingbacks (adore,) I have learned so much about Me.

I am adventerous.

I am silly.

I love to create fun!

(But I’m not very funny.)

I am passionate.

(About others & my Faith.)

I am loyal.

I hate lies.

I laugh at anything Minion!

I am sincere.

And I care deeply…

which is why I am hurt deeply

when rejected.

But most importantly

I love my Cuppycake

more today

than ever…

and my God

above All.

I have accomplished far more than I ever imagined when I first began blogging a year & a half ago, yet there is still more I hope to do. I wish to be more courageous. And I hope to use that courage to share my experiences and to expand my blogging skills. One of my first goals is to meet more bloggers!

Will you be the first?

hugs n’ blessings to all my new classmates & friends!!

itsy-bitsy-spider.

Published on April 18, 2016 by Dawn Marie4 Comments

it’s the monday giggles…

Why does this always happens to me when I’m outside raking?!?Photo courtesy of Pinterest

(Fingers-crossed) Spring sprung this Weekend in our NW area of Pa!

And in my local neighborhood…

kids were outside playing until way past dusk,

people of ALL ages were seen bike riding,

every breed of dog could be found being walked,

and Cuppycake raked the yard!

(Yep, it’s official…the rake is out.)

I wish I’d have taken a picture of He and Helen out there together…

Cuppycake would rake a pile of fallen sticks & Helen would carry the pile, stick by stick, back out into the yard to be scattered once again.

(As you might imagine Helen & I were the only two who thought it was adorable.)

Yard work is a serious order of business in our household. Every member of our family owned their own personal rake while living at True North. Most kids around the age of 3 or 4 get a red-rider wagon in the fall…ours received toddler sized rakes instead.

We had them in every size & width. Flat edged, scooped, tightly tined to loosely fitted, (which always had a nice bounce as it scraped across the ground surface I might add.) I never knew they made rakes in so many different materials either until I met Cuppycake. Metal, plastic, willow, & bamboo to name just a few. And every year, without fail, he’d arrive home from a hardware store visit with “the Best Rake ever invented.” Guarnateed to cut yard-work in half (for all of us…)

Things have improved, mind you, since our move to North Star…we have downsized to 3 hand-chosen rakes which remain. But not to worry, Cuppycake makes certain the matter is still handled with authority & laser-beam focus. You can always be assured that at the end of the day’s task there will not only be neatly raked, all in a row, perfectly-proportional in every way piles, BUT there will also be another compiled list of 3 more (until recently unthought of) NEW projects to complete this summer as a result!

This year it looks like concrete will be involved.

I think I need to begin training Helen to carry the rake away instead….

hugs n’ blessings to all the idea makers out there!

(And those who contend with them all!)

one year.

Published on April 17, 2016April 17, 2016 by Dawn Marie8 Comments

Where were you a year ago on this day?

Do you remember?

What were you doing?

Were you alone or with others?

What was the weather?

What were you wearing?

Where did you eat?

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Do you remember?

(And “Only if it was the 21st night of September,” does not count as an answer!)

It is good to remember….

“3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

Philippians 1:3-11

Today is a day I could tell you

all of those details

and more.

(A lucky penny I found this morning reminded me of that.)

But to sum it all up I would simply say,

“We were thirsty…“

(I promise if you click on the link above you shall discover more!)

The penny reminded me I’d made a promise and today is the perfect day to make good!

May this video mark a Special Year behind you and may the glow of their love be a promissory sign of the splendid days to come, and may you remember them for a lifetime!

hugs n’ blessings to my favorite sister/video expert for walking me through the complexities of video-making!

AND

a hug n’ blessing for you, as well, if you could remember your ‘one year ago day’ too!!!

**the aprons were made from old dresses and costumes and pieces of such throughout my darling daughter’s childhood, stitched now together for others to have a small reminder of her in their possession. It was a joy for me to reminisce over every one as they were deconstructed…her girl scout uniform, first party dress, favorite church dress, dorthy costume…and to watch them each find a new heart & home to be cherished in. Thank you to all who so tenderly chose one & shared such a special day with us.