Mi Vida Ocupada: My Busy Life!

Changes coming to sweetsauer.com ~ Please Resubscribe!

Hello to everyone out there who reads my little blog here at www.sweetsauer.com.  I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that this site is going through some major changes this weekend and it is is extremely important that you resubscribe using this feed.  If you fail to do so, I am 99% sure that you will no longer receive my feed when I update.  Make the switch now & resubscribe with this feed!!!  Otherwise you'll have to go to http://www.sweetsauer.com directly to visit me.

Have a great weekend!

Hello, Who's There? Time to Delurk!

Apparently January 14th is Delurking Day.  What is delurking? Well, according to Urban Dictionary, it’s defined as the following:

Delurking: Entering an online discussion after a time spent lurking, especially if suddenly prompted to do so.

Basically it means you’ve been hanging out, reading this blog for a while, but you haven’t felt the need to leave a comment or reveal that you are out there reading my blog...... today is the day that you should finally come out & leave a comment to let me know you’re here :)

 

Thanks for reading, I hope I hear from a lot of you!

It's My Blogiversary (4 years to be exact!)

It was on this day 4 years ago that I wrote my very first blog post after seeing Steve Vai in concert.  I can't believe how fast that time went! Last year on my blogiversary I made a list of favorite blog posts over the years.  Check some of them out!

So for documentation's sake, here are my current stats on Mi Vida Ocupada:

• 1, 089 Posts (including this one!)
• 6,157 Comments
• 136,202  Lifetime Pageviews

Just wanted to say thanks to those of you who keep reading and especially to those who have stuck around over the years :)

PS By coincidence, today is also the day that the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog will surpass Mi Vida Ocupada (aka sweetsauer.com) in # of Pageviews.  That blog currently has 136,063 Hits (since March 2007) compared to Mi Vida's 136,202 (since April 2005).  I am very proud of the success that I have had with the Restaurant Blog (around 1,000 hits a day!)

PPS Keeping up with one blog takes a lot of time, keeping up with THREE on a regular basis???? I think I deserve some kind of blogging medal!! LOL

Photo Blog Unveiled....

Here is the link to my new Daily Photo Blog!  Today is Day 1 :)
Check it out if you'd like and make sure to subscribe if you'd like to keep up with my daily photos.
Thanks for looking ;)

E-mail Subscriptions

A few days ago I mentioned that you could start getting posts to this blog by e-mail simply by subscribing in the box in the right sidebar.  For some reason it did not work before but I have fixed it.  You must re-enter your e-mail address but it should work this time!

New Subscription Tools!

If you would like to be updated regularly when I post new entries to this blog, I have added two new tools to make it easier.  Direct your attention to the right sidebar >>>>>

• The first tool is the  "subscribe in reader" button.  When you click this, it allows you to add the feed to whichever feed reader you prefer (I use Google Reader). 
• The second tool is the e-mail subscription box.  If you would like new posts from this blog to be sent to your e-mail, just enter your e-mail address in the box, and then click the confirmation link that will immediately be sent to your inbox.  Once you do this, new posts will be sent directly to your e-mail.

I am using Feedburner for these services.  If you're a blogger, you might want to check it out.  It will automatically update and transfer any current feeds you have for your blog so that your readers will continue to receive updates without interruption ( I wasn't sure what would happen when I transferred my feed to Feedreader, hence the "test" of the last post.  It worked perfectly and I have already received the e-mail with my latest post).  The service makes it much more convenient for your readers to receive your latest posts and also allows you to keep track of how many subscribers you have.  This is a great thing for those of you who have photography or other business blogs!

Post #1000 & A Bunch of Banners!!!

Wow, this is post #1,000.  Hard to believe!
In honor of this milestone, I decide to make banners for all four girls who registered for my banner giveaway.  I love this kind of stuff!! Hope these lovely ladies like their new banners!

For Leanne:

 

For Dana

 

For Denise

 

And for Mel

All of the papers and elements have been downloaded for FREE from a variety of sites.  If you're into digital scrapping or just want some resources to work with, check out  Scrapping with Ikea Goddess, her blog links to several digital freebies.  That is where I have found a good bulk of my digi stuff over the past year.

Most Popular Posts that Lead to This Blog....

So this blog reached the 100,000+ hits mark yesterday! Since roughly 60% of the traffic comes from  first-time visitors who found the site through a search engine, I thought I would highlight the most popular posts that lead to this blog.  Random stuff is apparently very popular!

1. Top 10 Hybrid Animals

2. Photoshop Disasters

3. Celebrity Look Alikes

4. Best Friend Forever Poem

5. Victory for Celtics

6. Genetics and Eye Color

7. Prince 07-07-07 Concerts

8. Fun Sites that work with Flickr Images

9. Wacipi Pow Wow

10. Loose Change Conspiracy Theory

11. Eating at the MN State Fair

12. Are you a Movie Buff?

There are several behind-the-scenes stats that I find interesting about this blog, but you know what I don't get?? Visitor Loyalty.  There are 511 visitors who have been to my site 100+ times, yet only18 people signed my guestbook.  WTF??!! 

Today might be THE day.....

.......that this blog hits the 100,000 hits mark!!!  Less than 80 hits to go according to the site meter counter! 

PS Thanks to the 12 of you who signed my guest book in the past 24 hours (I especially appreciate the comment from my visitor in France- I was wondering who you were!) but who are the other 180 people who visit each day???  Like I said, the guest book is now a permanent feature, so its never too late to stop in and say hi :) 

983.....

This is post # 983 on this blog.  Wowsers!!! 983 also happened to be my house address growing up.  Anyway, I made a new banner with my favorite little barn.

According to my stats on site meter, I have 98, 836 hits.  That is just 1,164 hits away from 100,000!  (According to Typepad I hit that mark long ago).  That is a lot of posts and a lot of hits.  If only I knew who keeps using Google to search for my name multiple times on a daily basis then I would feel much more comfortable keeping this blog public.  Anyone want to confess? It is much easier to just bookmark the site.....

My 3-Year Blogiversary!

Holy smokes....this week marks 3 years of me blogging!

3 years, 802 posts, 82,000+ hits, 4,302 comments

Thats a pretty significant milestone, isn't it??!!

The funny thing is that I have never really gone back and read old posts until this week (unless I was specifically looking for something).  Wow, it was fun going back and reading what I have been up to the past three years!  Blogging has been such a fun way to keep a journal! 

Some of you have been with me all three years, and some of you have found me at various stages along the journey.  Some of you are newer arrivals and have not read anywhere near my 800 posts, so in honor of this blogiversary, I thought I would highlight a variety of old material. 

• Ode to the 80s (what I loved)
• Introducing Annika (my first niece)
• Mary's wedding
• Matt & Colleen wedding
• 7 interesting things about me
• Things I've done (that maybe you haven't!)
• Mandie's wedding
• Memoirs of a Geisha and Japanese dolls
• Laura wedding
• 7 years with Bessie (my former car)
• My pride and joy (all about my special cats)
• Sayonara (I was caught being ignorant!)
• Back from Hollywood (my brother Jeff is my guest blogger)
• Driving Tips (Every driver should read this, please!)
• My Vegas vacation ( day 2 day3)
• World's most expensive foods
• My knee surgery (recovery,   
• Kara's wedding
• Counting my blessings (the time the entire front end of my car fell out)
• Madeline Island retreat  & More. (weekend away with my best friends)
• History of my name
• Lanee & Roger wedding
• Letter to Myth Nightclub (this night still ticks me off!)
• The new sweetsauer.com
• Meet Bianca (my 2nd niece)
• My cancer scare (that turned out to be nothing)
• My Costa Rican dream
• My 30th birthday
• Chocolate
• My first video blog (its really me!)
• My battle wound stories (yes, I am a clutz!)
• Questions answered. (Blog readers asked me questions)
• My poll about Crocs (do you love them or hate them?!)
• Job news (2007 version)
• Prince 07-07-07
• Shout-out to my regular blog commenters
• Pictoral blog guestbook (go ahead and sign!)
• 35W Bride collapse
• A look back at my senior year of HS
• Erin & Stew's wedding
• A look at how I have changed (8 years of school and profile pics)

A million thanks to those of you who read this blog (especially to those who actually comment!)

Categorizing Old Posts...

After blogging for 2 1/2 years and publishing 600+ posts, I thought it was about time that I start putting old posts into categories.  If you look to the left sidebar you will see a list of categories, which is helpful for finding and navigating through old posts.

I am making my way through the process of categorizing posts slowly, but surely.  It is kind of fun looking back at some of my old posts!

I hope this new feature is one you will enjoy and use :)

Post #600

Wow, who ever would've thought I'd have that much to say?!

Trick question, because everyone knows I love to tell stories!!  I used to write blog posts and send them as e-mails to my friends on a regular basis before I ever started to blog!

Its been fun.....here's to 600 or 6,000 more!!

So today's news....

I CHOPPED off my hair last night. 6 whopping inches.

AND I dyed it DARK.  With a ton of copper highlights.

It didn't turn out quite how I was envisioning.  Don't ya hate that?

Its pretty drastic, I really have to get used to it.  I also need to hit the tanning booth or something!

A few more shots....

I am going to give myself a week or two to get used to it and then I might need to re-evaluate!

Am I crazy or what????

Holy Crap! 10,000+ Hits

I just looked at my site counter and saw that I now have over 10,000 hits to this site.  10,000 hits in a little over 6 months time.  Amazing!!!!!  Who knew that I would have that many people who are interested enough in Mi Vida Ocupada and what I have to say to keep coming back??  I feel honored.... Thank you so much!!! Thanks especially to my regular readers, friends, family, and others who have me linked on their sites.  I hope I continue to have things to share that will keep you coming back in the future.  I also hope some of you lurkers will break out of your shyness and show me a little love with a comment now and then.

Goodnight ya'll!!!!!