great find… declutter calendar.

                                                                                               February 22

every year i have the best of intentions to be more organized. to take time to sort and throw and donate. to stop feeling like i need to catch up. each year ends with me not feeling like i accomplished all i would have liked to. obviously… because i keep doing the very same thing every year. :) please tell me i am not the only one.

this year… this year i am seeing and feeling the difference already. my tool? i came across this amazing, free download, awesome, helpful, easy calendar. did i mention, free?
ways to create a saner, simpler life? yes please.

the declutter and organize calendar from my simpler life.

 when wanting to declutter and organize, it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. this calendar takes all the thinking out of it. each day is a task. things like… declutter one bedroom shelf, toss expired skin care, clear off the top of your nightstand.

simple, specific tasks.

i have not been asked to share this, i do not know the brilliant woman behind this. simply… it has really helped me and i hope if you are looking for a helpful tool in organizing your home this year it might help you too!

 

{14 Comments}                                                                  ♥ jennifer

gifts.

                                                                                               February 20

today i am continuing my list…
my list of one thousand gifts.
i am writing them down, one to one thousand.

not of gifts i want. but gifts i have.

 

426… laughing at the neighbor dog trotting around our yard. only when koa is inside. :)

427… my sweet valentine.

428… cheesecake on valentine's day.

429… a photograph that awes.

430… talking to my husband about a crazy dream he had.

431… working on our office that we are filling with military memories.

432… going through old military photos to hang up.

433… proud of the service our family has given.

434… laughing at some of the crazy photos.

435… finding a neat photo that great uncle melvin took during the korean war.
looks like it is from the set of mash!

what is on your grateful for list today?

 

joining…

 

{17 Comments}                                                                  ♥ jennifer

stop, stop.

                                                                                               February 18

source

 i love laughing like this. so hard you think you could pee or that you can't breathe and tears are rolling down your face and your stomach hurts. you know what i mean? :)

hope you have a weekend full of laughter!

 

{17 Comments}                                                                  ♥ jennifer

studio sneak peek… blogging work.

                                                                                               February 17

sneak peek

 

this week in the studio…

it has been more thinking work than fun work. blog work. taking up lots of time work. makes me question things kinda work. there are times when i just want to stop all this blogging business and just do my art. do you ever feel this way? i feel like i haven't painted in ages. but then i know i would miss all the friends and connections i have made.

so this is what has been taking up my time… have you heard about the changes with google friend connect? they are 'retiring service' for all non-blogger blogs. this includes my blog. so come march 1st, if you are reading along with studiojru because you joined through google friend connect… you will no longer receive my blog updates. it is confusing. even if you are a blogger (blogspot) blog… if you used google friend connect to follow blogs, this will change the way you see all of the non-blogger blogs.

when i first heard about this change, there was nothing to replace it with. since then i heard about linky followers and decided to supply that as an option. it is similar in some ways to google reader. it was created from the same person that made linky tools… the thing you use here on friday's to join the party! :) he quickly explains it here.

i spent a few days figuring it all out. then writing a post to try and explain how it works… in an easy to understand way… if that is even possible. lol it really is not that hard to use, but explaining it in a way that sounds easy… now that was more difficult! along with a few blogging friends… we put together posts showing ways to follow blogs.

* * *

while i have many of my art friends here today… i will give you a few ways you can still follow studiojru if you are using google friend connect right now.

the new linky followers tool…  :: Follow Me ::

subscribe… using my rss feed

receive studiojru posts… in your email
(be sure and verify subscription)

 

so… my plan is to be able to get back to fun, messy, painting work next week!

 

i am so looking forward to seeing your creative heart this week.

♥

ready to share? let us celebrate the process and the accomplishments.
please remember we want this to be an encouraging group, it would be wonderful if you would visit as many of the other studios as you can.
and remember… 'studio' is meant to be wherever you are creating.
if you are new, check the about post. you can grab the button right here.

please include the button or a link back to this post so people know where to find everyone.


 

{35 Comments}                                                                  ♥ jennifer

bye google friend connect. hello linky followers.

                                                                                               February 15

you have probably heard by now the changes with google friend connect coming in march. google friend connect will no longer work on non-blogger blogs like mine. they are 'suspending service'. boo. so if you are following me with your cute little photo in google friend connect, starting march 1st, you will not see my blog in your reader or dashboard. i hope you will stay with me though… i would miss you!

if you are a blogger blogger, this will still change the way you follow/read non blogger blogs. people can still follow your blog with google friend connect, but if you are following a non blogger blog using google friend connect… you will no longer see that blog.

i have a new way of following my blog to show you… linky followers. i use linky tools for my 'in the studio' posts. the creator of linky tools has created a new way of following blogs.

sign up is easy. go to the website or click :: Follow Me :: (here or on the widget in my sidebar). there are directions to guide you through the steps. just register and you will get a confirmation email. when you first sign in, you will see a widget code for you to use on your blog. this is available at any time if you aren't ready to use the code then. you don't have to put one on your blog either, you can use it just to follow and read your favorite blogs.

you can then add your thumbnail that will be seen by the blogs you follow.

 there are easy to use tabs on your dashboard… including blogs you follow, your followers, your private blogroll, and manage your stuff.

'blogs you follow'… from here you can use categories to organize the blogs you follow. you can also create your own categories!

'your followers'… you can see a list of who is following you. you can easily visit their profile and then visit their blog if you would like to.

'your private blogroll'… this is where you can put in blogs that you would like to follow and read in your blog reader that don't use linky followers.

'manage your stuff'… from here you can edit your profile, add a thumbnail message that people see when they mouse over your thumbnail photo, add your blog and blog name, and create a profile message for people to see when they look at your profile. when you are done… just click 'save profile' at the bottom of the page!

you also manage your blogs from here. you can customize the widget for your blog. you can add a 'featured follower', set the order of followers, and set how many thumbnails you want shown in your widget. this is also where you update your latest post… the only down side about this entire set up. you have to manually update your posts. you just put in your title and click update. not hard to do, but something you will need to remember to do so your followers see that you have a new blog post up. having this done automatically takes a lot of computer power and since this is a free service, it isn't something that can be done at this time. with all the other great features, i think it is worth it though.

 

then there is the blog reader. i love this…one of the best features in my opinion. just click the blog reader (big orange) button on your dashboard to bring up all the blogs you are following. then, you click 'view blog' next to the blog you want to read and it brings up the blog below the list. click the orange circle with white triangle to expand to the entire blog. since it shows the entire blog, you can click on any blog tabs or sidebar links and leave a comment! :) yes… you can leave a comment right there without leaving your blog reader! when you are done with a blog post, click the arrow to minimize back to your list.

i hope this gives you a bit of an understanding of linky followers. like anything new… it might take a little time to understand. but i think he has made a really easy system to use.
if you have any questions… please ask and i will try to help you out!

so what do you think… are you going to try it?

 

there are other ways of keeping up with your friends and your favorite blogs too. a few of my friends have made posts to explain some of them…

jacqueline from them pates talks about blogger dashboard and blogs on side bars.

jen from i believe in love talks about google reader.

stephanie from beyond words designs talks about bloglovin'.

 

{27 Comments}                                                                  ♥ jennifer
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