Mrs.B

1. Blogging IS a great way to make real life friends
… just don’t expect EVERY other blogger you meet to be your bestie. Just like in real life, some people you click with and come people you don’t. …

I was going to write a post on why I run, but then I thought that I have written about this a lot already and instead I asked myself another question: “Why have I only been running for the past 2 years?” …

It’s Skull Saturday over at Mum on the Run.

I have a confession though – I don’t actually like sculls :|

However, when I saw this t-shirt at H&M I just had to get it for Oliver because a) it’s cute and b) he rather likes cameras at the moment.

In the 7 years that I have blogged, I have transferred my blog from a static website to Blogger, then to Wordpress.com and then to self-hosted Wordpress. I have changed themes more often than I can remember, each time fiddling endlessly to make sure that all the old information is carried across properly.

Having my entire blog online has always meant a lot to me. That is until now. [...]

Where do I start?

As of yesterday my blog is seven years old!

Seven years ago I had a newborn and a website on crankymonkeys.com that I used for posting photos. The newborn made me want to write so I started writing on that photo site. I had no idea that the word blogging even existed. I just needed to vent and to record this new adventure that had started.

This blog is now my digital scrapbook and I absolutely love tinkering with it, reading and replying to comments, interacting with other bloggers through it and sharing my stories with those in a similar boat. [...]

The very cool Jude Wharton (she runs AND she has a digital media company = cool) made my day a few weeks ago by giving me my very third Versatile Blogger Award.

(My previous Versatile Blogger Awards are mentioned here).

Thank you Jude for giving me proof again that there are people out there who read my blog other than my mother. [...]

I absolutely love having a self-hosted Wordpress blog. I have worked in web design&development for over a decade and I love getting my hands on the code and tweak the theme.

If you don’t know CSS or HTML or PHP that well, a self-hosted blog has other benefits – for example it opens up the whole world of plugins to you – little “programs” that make you site run more efficiently, and be more interactive and fun.

Here’s the list of the plugins that I currently use and am very happy with to recommend.

I read the BritMums blogging predictions for 2012 today and there was one that totally struck the chord with me:

Veteran bloggers will rethink their focus. Just like magazines get makeovers every few years, longstanding bloggers will update and adapt their blogs to reflect their changing interests and online skills. Those who started blogging as new parents will switch from “baby blogging” to write about other topics that interest them, taking their audience and influence along with them.

I have definitely reached the point in my blogging life (this blog will soon celebrate its 7th birthday) when it’s less about adjusting to life with child(ren) and more about all the other things that make up my life. [...]

I’m taking part in Sticky Fingers’ Gallery this week – the theme is “Christmas of Yesteryear” :)

I chose not to go too far back in history, only to 2009 – the last time we had a HOT Christmas in Canberra.

I had 6 warm Christmases when I lived there pre-kids and I love it that way – snow and darkness are so overrated. [...]

Dear 22-year-old me,

congratulations on your graduation!

You’ve had great 4 years but now you’re keen to get out of Small Town, Missouri and start a grown-up life.

Funnily the one thing that worries you more than getting a job and being able to pay your bills is making friends now that school life is over… You just cannot imagine how you’ll ever make great friends again now that you’re no longer in an academic situations with all kinds of extracurricular activities. [...]

It’s a great date today and I thought I’d mark it by having a little giveaway.

It’s always fun to do those – I know, I’ve done ONE before :D

No one sponsored this, so I’m just giving away stuff I like – 4 great fridge magnets and 2 cute tea towels, all to do with London or the UK.

I will ship anywhere in the world, so don’t hesitate to participate even if you live in Australia.

To be in the draw, all you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what your favorite city is and 3 reasons why you feel that way. [...]

Momma on the Rocks published a list of things she’s never done yesterday and I thought that was a great idea for a little trivial Friday night post.

My list is divided into two, to clarify whether I actually am sad about the things I’ve never done or not :) [...]

Yesterday I wrote about something that happened 5 years ago. I did not expect to get as much personal sympathy as I did and in a way it made me feel awkward. I wrote that post because Mumsnet’s campaign needs human faces, but I know that there are many who view this as writing to get attention.

I realise that one has to draw the line somewhere in how much is shared with the world, but I also think that a lot of things we all go through we would cope better with if we only shared them with someone else. [...]

BritMums Blog is asking this week what you’d do differently/the same if you could start your blog over… Since I love reminiscing, here are my thoughts.

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I wrote my first blog post on 26th of February 2005, it was Oskar’s birth story, written a week after he was born. I’m thinking that I’m not the only one for whom a birth of a baby equals a birth of a blog.

That first post wasn’t actually even a “blog post”. I had made a static website in 2000 to post photos and once Oskar came on the scene, I started adding text of what we were up to, so it turns out that I didn’t even know I was blogging when I started blogging :) [...]

There was no asparagus grown or eaten in Estonia when I was growing up so it’s a bit of an unknown beast to me. I remember when I lived in Germany that the Germans like white asparagus, covered in some weird cheese sauce, but that never looked appetising enough for me to try it. In [...]