Rivera Runs Through It: BlogFrog

Showing posts with label BlogFrog. Show all posts

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Lazy Sunday Stumble

Each Sunday, I do a lot of catching up on my blog reading. I like to read all of the posts collected in my Stumble group and share them with my followers. In the past, I've overwhelmed my Facebook and Twitter followers with a bunch of recommendations, so I have decided to gather all of the posts into one blog post for everyone to read!

Web Tools

How To Use Storify from Kludgy Mom. Perhaps this is the next great tool for you. I've been toying with using Storify myself, so I am excited about this tutorial from Kludgy Mom (she's one of the best!).
Great Internet Marketing by Thinking Like a Teacher from Creative Boomer. For my fellow bloggers, internet marketing is one of those skills you need to hone if you'd like to spread the word about your presence online.

Creative & Funny

Where I'm From from Modern Gypsy. A beautifully written piece linked up to Mama Kat's Losing It! about where Modern Gypsy is from.
What did he just say? Funny Kids Cartoon from Sason & Pobi. A cute cartoon where our blogger makes a first attempt at drawing with a mouse (that can't be easy!!).

Events

Women of Faith IMAGINE Conference from Woven by Words. Mimi gives us an introduction to the Women of Faith Conferences by looking back at last year's event and showing us where to go this year!

Product Reviews & Giveaways

Canadian Tire Kitchen Mission | Shark Portable Steam Cleaner vs. Stove & Oven by Simply Stacie. Stacie introduces me to a pretty intense-looking cleaner for the stove and oven. I had no idea they made these portable steam cleaners before reading this!
The 5 Best Parenting Books from Eat. Live. Laugh. and sometimes shop. I wasn't sure if this should go in the family section or product reviews, but here it is. The five BEST parenting books according to Eat. Live. Laugh. and sometimes shop. They look pretty fantastic to me (I'm going to keep this list handy for my future self!)
Looking for fair-trade energy? CocoaWell has it and more... plus a giveaway! from Almost All the Truth. A fair-trade product that gives you energy, helps your heart and circulation - why not try to win some, I'm going to. The giveaway entries end on October 6th.

Relationships & Family

How to Turn Your Nags into Requests He'd Love to Honor from Before You Marry. 3 great ways to turn your nags into requests are hidden in this post - whether you are working toward getting married, or already there, who couldn't use these great tips?
Winnie-the-Pooh, Complete Tales & Poems by Read Aloud Dad.A fabulous review of the classic A.A. Milne stories and poems illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. Read Aloud Dad not only reviews the collections, but reminds us why these stories are so precious to share with the whole family.
Do You Know What Your Pet Is Saying? from Daily Organized Choas. Bibi takes the time to describe the differences between various pet actions so her family can better understand what the furry family members need. A great read for pet-lovers.
Naptime, Interrupted. Kind of. from Genie in a Blog. This is hilarious, embarrassing and an important read for anyone this hasn't happened to yet! What do you do when your kids are enjoying naptime? Think about it and read this!

Health & Diet

From B12-D: A Better You from With a Side of Sneakers. B-12 helps Heather deal with her pain, which is fantastic news for those who feel better taking vitamins rather than drugs. She discusses all the ways vitamins and minerals have been helping her and her husband.
How to Stop Stuffing Your Face At Parties by Alison Golden. Do you have issues with self-control when in social situations? Do you lurk around the snacks and find, at the end of the night, that you can't even keep count of how much you consumed? If so, check out Alison's post for some tips on how to survive your next social event!

Recipes

Cheap Eats - Beer Bread from The Budget Diet. Homemade bread for less than a dollar and no bread maker needed - this sounds awesome!
Rustic Peach Tart from Delishhh. If the recipe doesn't sound tempting, just click the link and take a look at the delicious picture!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Let Brenna Tell you Almost All The Truth

Sometimes when you read someone else's blog you are left saying, "Now there's someone who gets it." Such is the case for me when I read the blog of this week's Stumble Buddy, Brenna at Almost All The Truth.

If you just started following my writing since I've started the Rivera Runs Through It blog, then you may not be aware of my obsession with living a greener lifestyle, becoming a more conscious consumer, or, most notably, my obsession with good, natural foods.Brenna's blog, Almost All the Truth speaks to each one of these topics and more spreading an amazing amount of important information for all of us to stay attuned to every single day.

Most times when I write about a Stumble Buddy I say "You'll thank me," for this introduction once you start readng, while this remains to be true in the case of Almost All the Truth, it also goes one step further: I'll thank you for taking the time to think about those things that are truly important in our world. Brenna's got a lot to share with you: sje's going to make you think, she's going to make you question and, if we are all lucky, she'll get us to change for the better!

Here's a quick tour of Brenna's blog to give you a taste of what kinds of truth she has to offer:

That's just a bit of a teaser for you. There is so, so much more. Please take some time this week to check out Almost All the Truth and truly think about the words she offers us.

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This post was written as ta part of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It has a FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Ask Alison Golden About Her Secret Life as a Warrior Woman

At the beginning of this summer, I was catching up on my blog reading and my Stumble Buddies when I was struck silent by a post by Alison Golden. It was timely, it was relevant and it was one of those reads that you simply knew you had to share once reading - the post was 4 Heartstopping Myths On Drowning Every Responsible Parent Should Know. I read it, shared it and could not stop talking about it. Although I had been reading Alison's bog for a little while before this, it was with this post that I recognized the Warrior Woman Alison truly was!

I look forward to Alison's posts as I know I will be exposed to humor, inspiration and possibly even learn something new! This blog is written in such an authentic voice, you can't help but feel like you are getting to know Alison, the person, more and more as you read her blog. I invite you to do so and join me in reading Alison Golden The Secret Life of a Warrior Woman, and just to get you started here are some of my favorite posts:

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**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Monday, June 27, 2011

Shape Up AND Have Fun With The BUDGET Diet

As I started my stumbling for the week, and I was thinking to myself, "Who shall be my featured Stumble Buddy of the week?" I was struck by the timeliness and need to share the latest post by Kristl from The Budget Diet.

Of course, if I am being honest, that wasn't something that really surprised me - every time I tune into The Budget Diet I am reading a post that is fun, helpful and, often, exactly what I need at that moment!

Who couldn't use some really great tips on saving cash?

Who wouldn't love to have fun and enjoy life while doing it?

This is what The Budget Diet has to offer you.

If we just take, as an example, the post written on the first day of summer called Summer Boredom Busters - 10 Summer Fun Ideas - here you'll find a fantastic list of ways to entertain the entire family throughout the long summer days. The ideas are not only cheap, they are legitimately fun ideas that kids will realistically fall in love with!

As you explore Kristl's blog, you'll be treated to weekly challenges, quick and easy recipes, cheap and fun party ideas and, of course, some great deals! Here are some of the posts that have causght my attention in the time that I have been a fan, just to get you started:

and for one of those real "A-Ha!" moments:

Cut your Spending by $11 a Day and SAVE $4000 a Year!

So stop wasting your time and money and get on over to Kristl's blog. I know you'll thank me for it!

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**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Monday, June 20, 2011

Find Out What You Should Know from the I Thought I Knew Mama Blog

Most of us have some idea of what we want to do with ourselves - who we want to be, how we want to spend our time and what is important to us. However, life, with all of its twists and turns and new challenges, very often throws in some new factor that opens our eyes, our ears and all of our senses to a piece of life that trumps it all. So, it seems, was the case with Charise from the I Thought I Knew Mama blog.

As you read Charise's post answering the question Why are you called "I Thought I Knew Mama"? you get a real sense of this kind of enlightenment experienced by Charise and her husband with the dedication of their son Jac. It is beautiful post and a great story behind a blog's name.

I Thought I Knew Mama is another blog that I had pleasure of "discovering" through my StumbleUpon group. Charise's posts always catch my eye from her emotional writing (she is a fellow participant in The Red Dress Club prompts), to her healthy, green living and neat product reviews and giveaways in line with those ideals. Charise also has lots of information and inspiration for moms looking to raise their children in a more ecologically conscious, healthy and natural way.

Some of my personal favorite posts from I Thought I Knew Mama, so far, are:

I Thought I Knew Mama is a great blog to explore if you are a mom, if you are a writer, if you are interested in going green or, at least looking for healthier/more organic lifestyle choices for you and your family, or if you are looking to get some cool new stuff from one of the many giveaways Charise hosts!

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**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Friday, June 10, 2011

The Perfect Formula for Learning at Old School with The Damsel

Do you like to learn things?

Do you like to laugh?

Do you wish you knew the simple ways to get things done like they used to get done - with stuff around the house, cheap to get, or at least with multiple uses?

Well then it is time that you join me in attendance in one of my favorite places on the Internet - Old School - Self Reliance 101, with one of the greatest teachers I know, The Damsel.

I was first introduced to The Damsel back in November when I first joined my StumbleUpon group. The first post I read was about fruit flies. I read the post and understood - I, too, hated fruit flies - I was amused - Was this woman writing about herself in the third person?? - and I learned - the "Cup of Death" is simple to assemble and implement with the Damsel's clear instructions.

I thought it must be a fluke. A great, simple, short post highlighted among many others that could not have all possibly fit this beautiful formula: relevant, fun and educational - I was so wrong - this IS the Damsel's formula! This is what you will find each and every time you attend The Damsel's class. Now, not all of her posts contain recipes for death traps, but every single one will either teach you something or leave you in deep thought about something. As a teacher, myself, I could ask for nothing more from each of my lessons.

Enough. I am wasting your time. I'm making you late for class! Here are some of the posts on my must-share list:

I had to stop myself. This list was a lot longer a minute ago, but I want you to go explore the school grounds for yourself. Get on over there! The Damsel is waiting and I'm sure she has something wonderful to share with you today!

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**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a brand-spankin' new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Thursday, June 9, 2011

4 Great Ways to Get Your Blog Writing Going

You are sitting in front of your computer. You are ready to write for your blog. You've even managed to carve out a nice space of "me time" to accomplish this task, but then it hits you - what the HECK am I going to write about today? Since you have little time to waste, let me tell you about some of the fabulous resources out there to get you juices flowing.

Share Your Knowledge/Learning

Do you have a skill, a hobby or something else you can teach your readers? Have you just gone to a class, watched a movie or read a book where you have learned something? Take a post to teach us! Here are some examples of some great teaching posts that I've run across:

6 Ways to Start An Art Collection Without Breaking the Bank Using what she knows from being an artist's wife, Ginger teaches us some tricks of the trade so we can all add that glitz and glam to our spaces no matter what our income is!
4 Heartstopping Myths On Drowning Every Responsible Parent Should Know When Alison learned about what drowning really looked like, she knew she had something to share. It was an extremely important post and, because of that, it went viral. Do you have some important knowledge that you should be sharing with the world? Don't take it for granted that everyone knows what you do!
Lemonade Pie Kristl of The Budget Diet blog had a fun, yummy recipe from her childhood that takes only four ingredients and some chill-time. She shared it with her readers who are always interested in fun things to do, make or get for a bargain!
How to Wash Windows from The Damsel of the Old School - Self Reliance 101 blog. The Damsel is one of my great online teachers, this is just one example of her fun and funny teaching style that leaves you begging for more. ...and this is a post about washing windows. Moral here: inspiration can be anywhere - you just have to be up to the challenge of writing about it!!

Challenge Yourself

Pick a challenge, either for yourself or for your blog and write about it. This can be a lot of fun and an easy path to finding material to write about. Here are some challenges you might want to think about:

Go Meatless! This past November I found out it was World Vegan month and decided, in honor of that, to go meatless every Monday for the entire month. I documented it on my blog Searching for Sustenance and it gave me an easy day of writing for six weeks of Mondays. I also couldn't help but occasionally refer back to it from time to time, so it continues to be a source of writing inspiration. Here is my wrap up post What I Learned from Meatless Mondays.With this challenge you'll examine ethical eating and your blog will benefit from it as well.
31 Days to Build a Better Blog Do I write about this enough on this blog? I love this challenge. I am going through it again right now. If you participate with a community like I am (shout out to the SITS Girls!), then not only does the eBook give you tons of ideas for writing, but so do your fellow participants! You will be improving your blogging skills and you'll have something to write about every day! Here's a fantastic look at one of the most content-heavy days in the challenge From Eileen of the Web Design School blog: Tips and Tutorials for Bloggers Day 6.

Couch to 5k Program This is a nine week program to go from couch potato to 5K runner. It is a program designed for people who have often thought most exercise, especially running, is a far away dream. Dream no more! MAKE IT HAPPEN and take your readers with you on the journey! You will transform yourself, inspire others and be able to write about the program, your ups, your downs, your runs, your falls - there is SO much to write about here... (I keep dreaming of the day my IIH takes enough of a back seat for me to try this one!)
30 Day Challenges In general there are a lot of various types of 30 day challenges out there - fun ones, fit ones, financial ones, a quick search on Google will send you on your way to finding one that fits for you. One post about 30 Day Challenges that caught my eye was 10 Thirty Day Challenges No One Wants to Take.

Causes
Many causes need people to be talking about them. If you have a cause, or an action that is near and dear to your heart, then get writing! You'll feel better about it and you can engage your readers in discussing important issues. Here are some examples of blogs writing with causes in mind:

Conversations on Giving This is a segment on the Do Good blog where the act of giving whether through charity, kindness or self is discussed. It is a simple idea that can be written about in so many different ways.
365Give This blog fascinates me. It is about giving every single day. It doesn't have to monetary, it doesn't have to be huge, but it is making the commitment to giving at least once every day and then writing about it. Imagine you made this commitment. Imagine you had to write about it. How would this change you? How would it engage your readers?
One-Shots Stay in the loop with your special causes to find out if there are any special events or petitions floating around that need some publicity. Don't forget that your blog can be your podium when necessary. For example, this week I am trying to get people to let the Girl Scouts know I would like some gluten-free cookies! To that end, I wrote this post: Tell the Girl Scouts How Big the Gluten-Free Market Is! (if you have a minute, you should totally check this post out and sign the enclosed petition!).

For the Art of Writing

The Red Dress Club Every week these ladies provide two writing prompts. The prompts could be as simple as a word or a picture, or they could even be specific lines to be included in the writing - they change all the time and I check in every week. If you write on one of the prompts, you can return to the site to link up your post to share with the Red Dress community for concrit. It's pretty awesome.

One is called the Red Writing Hood prompt and can usually be either fiction or nonfiction and is typically limited to be anywhere between 600-700 words. Here are some of my prompt responses: Detour in "Off My Trail", Someone who drives you crazy in "One Lucky Turtle" and Fightin' words in "Someone Stole My F-ing Car" (*warning: this one is angry)
The other prompt is called RemembeRED and is a memoir prompt and has the same types of length restrictions. Here are some of my prompt responses: Forgiveness in "I Forgive You", A positive from a negative experience in "Wash Away My Normal" and something you are proud of in "My Teaching Appreciation Day"

The Writer's Toolbox: Creative Games and Exercises for Inspiring the 'Write' Side of Your Brain

The Writer's Toolbox This is an offline resource that I actually found in the Barnes & Noble bargain section years ago. The box comes with a timer, a number of different tools (sentence sticks, sensory cards and the protagonist game, for example) and book describing different ways to use them in conjunction with each other to find inspiration.

There's More!

There is definitely at least second post in here about how you can write about what's going on in the news, how you can join blog communities like Blog Frog or SITS Girls or even Twitter parties like #CommentHour to see what other people are writing about and write a reaction post to it and link up. There's still even more, but to be honest, I think I am taking up too much of your time because you really need to get to writing!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Get a Clue with Kludgy Mom

I can't think about StumbleUpon without thinking of Kludgy Mom. It is not that this is, per se, her claim to fame, it just happens to be how our paths crossed in the winter of 2010. I was going through Darren Rowse's 31 Days to Build a Better Blog for the first time and became curious about using StumbleUpon as a promotion tool for my blog. I had no idea what it was, but I found Kludgy Mom's blog and was swept away by its design, its simplicity and her depth of knowledge of social media.

The first post I ever read from the Kludgy Mom blog is one I continue to recommend to new Stumblers to this day:

How to Use StumbleUpon: Tutorial

What I learned in that post has been enough to turn me into a stumblin' junkie that has StumbleUpon as one of my leading traffic sources month after month.

Since that time, Kludgy Mom has continued to teach me about Social Media, introduce me to new ways of finding income on the Internet and make me laugh with her and at myself with her fabulous sense of humor. As you will see when you visit Kludgy Mom's blog, she is a woman of many talents. She claims in her tagline that Kludgy Mom is "the art of living haphazardly," and while the haphazard part of that statement may be what initially draws our attention, it is this Austin mom's art that wows us post after post.

Some of my favorite posts from Kludgy Mom are:

Take a moment now to head on over to the Kludgy Mom blog to see what her latest post is about - and be ready for anything: social media, product/app reviews, a recipe, a lesson for bloggers, or just a humorous post about a day in the life of Kludgy Mom. Whatever it is, I am sure you will be better off for having read it!

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This post was written as the first official post of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?

**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a brand-spankin' new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Monday, May 30, 2011

My Stumble Buddies

Every single week I participate in a discussion in the Kludgy Mom BlogFrog community where bloggers get together, share posts they're proud of and help boost each other up using StumbleUpon. It has been an amazing experience. Since I started participating this past winter I have learned so much about blogging, social media, the Internet, myself, places around the world and my fellow Stumblers.

As each week passes, I keep thinking these bloggers are awesome - I want to share them with everyone! And, in little ways, I have - very often my Stumble Buddies are featured in the "Food Reads" or "Good Food (Recipes)" section of my Friday's Food Finds segment on my Searching for Sustenance blog, or I've linked to their blogs on a relevant post (like in How Darren Rowse Forever Changed my Life in 10 Days), but so far only one Stumble Buddy has received the type of spotlight treatment I would like to give to all those who have taught me so much, and that is Read Aloud Dad in a post I wrote entitled Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?

It is time to spread the love. Each week another one of my Stumble Buddies will be featured here on Rivera Runs Through It. For now I will leave you with the links above to give you a taste of what's to come and an open invitation to our weekly StumbleUpon discussion that starts each Wednesday. It's open to all bloggers, it has a couple of rules, but if you are interested, come check it out at the Kludgy Mom BlogFrog Community this Wednesday, June 1, 2011 will mark the beginning of WEEK 37.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Where Do I Get My Degree in Blogging?

You've heard that blogging has turned out to be an honest-to-goodness career option for some folks. You're now wondering-

Can I get a degree in blogging?
Is there a certification process?
Will it be too expensive for me to explore?

The answers: No, no and no.

First Start Blogging

Let's make something clear: if you are reading this over an Internet connection and you have a keyboard in front of you, you can already be blogging. You start at any free blog hosting site (I use Blogger because I am sort-of Google addicted) and you start writing. The minute you start doing that, believe it or not, you can start calling yourself a blogger.

Recognize When You Need Help - Don't Give Up!

If you have already gotten that far then perhaps you have come to realize that just because you write something, no matter how brilliant it might be, that doesn't mean readers will be reading it. It's not their fault, they probably don't even know that it's there! This is when every blogger starts asking all those big blogging questions:

How do I build my audience?
How do I engage my readers?
How do I get people to actually follow my blog?
How the heck does anyone ever make any money doing this?

This is a time when it seems like maybe you should throw in the towel and start using your time doing something else entirely - my advice? DON"T GIVE UP! While I have yet to rake in the millions, I am happy to say that I have learned the answers to these questions in the last couple of months, with help. Here's a sampling of my little success story so far:

I have taken my food blog Searching for Sustenance from less than 50 pageviews in September of 2010 to over 4,000 pageviews in March of 2011.
I have started this blog, Rivera Runs Through It, written guest posts on blogs around the Internet and was invited to be a contributing author to The IH Brain Pain Blogs.
I have just started to begin to earn very small amounts of money (you never saw anyone get as excited as I did over $2 this past Valentine's Day), but I am now understanding how money can be made here.
****I am doing all of this while on medical leave*** In other words, I about half as healthy as you are. I know that with just a little more effort - which would equal to that of someone working at this part time, or after work, real money could have been coming in by now.

So here's the real question: Where did I get my help? Simple - from the ProBlogger! Darren Rowse has been my professor in Blogging Basics, Blog Promotion, Building Audiences and even Finding Finances in Blogging. It's better than a degree in blogging because it is an ongoing conversation with a professional as you learn the ropes.

How to Learn About Blogging From THE Pro

Purchase Darren Rowse's eBook 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. This is the single financial investment I have made into my blogging endeavor up until this point and it was well worth the twenty bucks. (It was announced that the price will be increasing to $29.95 on May 10, 2011. That still works out to be less than $1 per lesson and believe me each lesson can be revisited day after day!)
Follow the ProBlogger blog. This is free and extends all that is learned in the eBook.
Follow Darren Rowse on twitter @problogger
Come back and let me know how it is all going!

Extra-Curricular Activities

While going through the ProBlogger program is not exactly the same as the time spent at university, there are still some extra-curriculars you should not ignore while obtaining your new knowledge:

Become a blog reader
Join blog communities (I, personally, love Blog Frog)
Build your web presence using social media

Come to think of it, this is sounding just like college after all: engage in classroom conversations, join groups like fraternities, sororities, clubs or teams, and, above all - keep your social life bubbling!!

Well, thinking of it that way maybe we DO deserve a degree after all! And, guess what? I just found one on Amazon:

Blogging Blogger Blog Degree: Custom Gag Diploma Doctorate Certificate (Funny Customized Joke Gift - Novelty Item)

I stand corrected. You CAN get a degree in blogging if you really want one. Just keep in mind, just like any degree, if you want it to really mean something, then you will have to do some work first!

Related Reading from Rivera Runs Through It:
How Darren Rowse Has Forever Changed My Life in 10 Days

Graduate and diploma image by LuMaxArt and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License

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