KimberlyMichelle » Bloggy

new year… new blog design

Kim — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:21:17 +0000

For 2012, I wanted to head my blog more towards minimal design after loving the simplicity and white space I found in making the weverb11.com website. So, after lots of fiddling with lots of different WordPress.org templates, this is what we’ve got…

The main page is free of ads and a sidebar … you will have to click through to see the full blogs, but this way you’re not inundated with everything if you’re just checking in to see updated entries. It also loads MUCH faster this way and you won’t have to scroll through multiple pages and whole posts to revisit pages from a few days ago.

Oh… and there’s a new logo too. When I saw this font [Inlove by Sudtipos] and that M… I just KNEW I had to redesign my logo and use it.

I still have some small little tweaks to make, but I figured I’d roll it out now and start the new year with lots of fresh blogging space.

Happy 2012 everyone!

#weverb11 #9: appreciate

Kim — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:42:00 +0000

In which moment did you find yourself flooded with gratitude? How will you rally around gratitude in 2012?

Father’s Day.

Miss L started to walk. Really really walk. Long after every other kiddo started walking and long after random people would ask me if she could. Just like I kept telling myself, she did it when she was ready and not a moment before. And she never looked back.

And because that moment coincided with Father’s Day, I was able to hit the pause button really quick on life and savor this little slice of life. Miss L was growing up. I have an amazing partner/husband/dad there to watch her grow with me. My family and extended family are wonderful and supportive and helped make me into the person I want to be.

And I have this precious being of golden light that is radiating because she mastered putting one foot in front of the other for the first time in her history.

Happy tears friends. Happy happy tears.

#weverb11 #7: travel

Kim — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:44:00 +0000

#7 Travel.

Where did you travel this year? What was your favorite part? If you didn’t get to travel, where do you want to go next year?

Walt Disney World

New Orleans (twice in April!)

No favorite part… just the ability to get away was a lovely gift in 2011. It might sound like a broken record, but 2011 was a good year for spending time with family and friends, even if it was just a little bit of time here and there!

#weverb11 #6: favor

Kim — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:20:00 +0000

#6 Favor.
What was your favorite month of 2011? Why did it beat out all 11 other months?

September.

It started out with white water & wine, as is becoming a tradition.

Then life was crazy for the next three weeks. And then we escaped to Mexico for a week of relaxation and fun.

And we came back loving life a little bit more. And knowing exactly how full Miss L makes my life when she’s in it every day. And being thankful for family that loves her and us just as much.

It was a wonderful reminder of how lucky we are to have such gifts all around in life…

“made by you” gift exchange reminder!

Kim — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:14:00 +0000

Just a friendly reminder to all of the participants of the “made by you” Gift Exchange that the “exchange” window of time is coming to a close on December 16th!

And if you choose to blog about what you “made” … simply link your blog entry here and I’ll link back to your blog and share out what you sent in special blog entries from December 20th-23rd.

I can’t wait to see all of the awesome gifts!!!

#weverb11 #4: Haiku

Kim — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:32:00 +0000

Haiku. Sum up your year, via haiku.

Crazy blonde hair everywhere

Travel there and here

Less photos but more living

#weverb11.com

#weverb11 #2: Listen

Kim — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 07:59:00 +0000

Listen. What song did you listen to in 2011 to completely change your mood? Think about ways you can you add more music to your life in 2012.

“Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster the People

It was infectious and smooth and truly groovy. And when I first heard it, I thought it was a fun mindless song to begin summer with. And then I heard this interview on NPR back in May, and realized that it was a sinister song full of creepiness in the lyrics. So, I hesitated singing along with it and becoming the trapped teenager in a hostile consumerist high school about to rage against his tormenters… until I realized I liked the song too much to pass up enjoying it on the radio. And I still pump up the volume every time it passes through the airwaves. I’m not sure what this says about me, except that sometimes a good beat will triumph over lyrical intent in my head.

As for music in the new year? I’m going to take advantage of our satellite radio subscription and vary up my programming choices a bit more. I usually flip around the radio stations a lot, but it’s so easy not to without commercials or DJs talking, so I end up complacent with one or two stations.

#weverb11.com

#WEverb11 is live…

Kim — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:44:03 +0000

Well… you’ve gone and done it!

Our effort to reinvigorate #reverb11 has happened… and it’s live on the ‘net for all to participate at www.WEverb11.com. Check out the details there, and engage and share your responses to each day’s prompts on the website as well!

You can also follow @WEverb11 on Twitter for the month of December!

Here we go!!!

there is no official REVERB11… let’s make our own!

Kim — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:16:21 +0000

UPDATE 11/30 at 1:00PM PST: We need to decide on a name! I’ve mused on this topic with some of the participants in the spreadsheet… and narrowed it down to the following: #reflect11 or #WEverb11.

Vote for your choice below… and voting will close at 8PM PST!

———————————————————————

I just got the email I was expecting for awhile.

Gwen Bell has decided not to organize or host Reverb11. No prompts this year. No guest writers. Nada. She’s in a different place, but unfortunately she made it out like things were on schedule for another year. But this afternoon, she officially announced that they’re not. [Insert giant sad face here]

But I feel like I need it… and I really want it… because it was such a lovely way to end the year in 2010. It brought blogging back to where I love it. And I looked forward to reading entries by friends and strangers alike! And…. I spent hours indexing those blog entries into delicious and I feel robbed that I don’t have that community this year.

So… let’s still do this… but make it together and our own? This way we won’t get any of those super insane/repetitive prompts too??? We’ve got one day and some spare hours to brainstorm a name like crazy and make this ours…. but we can do it and get this off the ground for December 1st!

I’ve created a GOOGLE DOCUMENT to brainstorm two things:

TAB #1) A name for this activity! (think of something we can use as a twitter hashtag perhaps?)

TAB #2) Prompts to answer – we can continually update this through 12/15…

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE DOCUMENT

What do you think??? Are you interested in participating again??? Am I crazy to want to do this again??? Oh well…

EDIT 11/29 8:45 pm: Based on the comments, some logical thinking, and personally knowing how there was a dropoff in participation as the month proceeded… I think everyone would agree that having access to more than one prompt at a time is helpful. But, I also know that having the whole list ahead of time is somewhat boring and stale. So… I think a happy medium will be clustering the prompts into groups of 5 prompts at a time.

We’ll share the first prompt with everyone on December 1st to kick things off, then we’ll share a set of 5 prompts (1 for each day) on the 2nd, 7th, 12th, 17th, 22nd & 27th.

As for where? Well… once we have a name we’ll figure all of that out! And we’ll make it as collective as possible. Some place that we can share and exchange our blog/twitter/whatever entry links and reflect and discuss. I’ll devote some serious brain power to thinking about the best digital resources we can use to do this!

catching up on a Sunday…

Kim — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:27:10 +0000

Just a little note to remind you of two things from this past week on the blog:

1) Win a cookbook! Just follow the directions in this blog post! [deadline is tonight at midnight!]

2) Sign up for the “made by you” gift exchange! [deadline: November 9, 2011]

We’ve got 17 participants so far… and we’re all excited and ready to go!!!