It has been a long, long time...

It has been months since I wrote a real blog post!  This summer has been so busy and with everyone leaving the blogisphere it has been hard to stay motivated.  But, here I am, determined to give it another try!

I started the summer with every intention of expanding my business and adding new products.  Instead I wound up as chair of the committee to keep our local police force.  I had no idea what I was doing but I took it on...because that's the kind of crazy person I am. Suddenly everyone knows my name, I am interviewed by reporters every week, councilors and police chiefs take my calls, and the mayor probably hates me.  Well, it's her own fault.  Oh and in a couple of weeks I am supposed to drop the puck at a hockey opening game. 

We held a march and a rally last week and it was a huge success!  Hundreds of people came out in the rain and we gave out balloons and pins so they could show their support.  We had a pipe band and a police escort (much to the mayor's annoyance) and we walked from the top of town right past the police station to the park where we spoke from the back of a pickup truck about the important of democracy.  After my little speech I went up to council chambers to deliver a speech on behalf of the people of our town.  I toss around phrases like 'legitimate public consultation' a lot these days.

I miss cocktails at lunch.

Things have become more manageable now so I am back to focusing on business and family.  Last week I tackled the mountain range of laundry that has been waiting for me for week, and launched three new products in my shop!  I am now carrying buttons, magnets and pocket mirrors - all of them can be customized!

This is the first set of designs - based on Downton Abbey of course!  The full set of 15 drawings is on my Royal Ribbons site and are all available as magnets, buttons or mirrors...feel free to mix and match!  It's time to start thinking about stocking stuffers...

I am the counsellor for the Rotary exchange student from Denmark.  She is a very nice girl but it was a busy busy time at the end of August when she arrived.  I had to get her registered for school, bank account, library card etc.  On top of the police committee!  But we managed and she is having a great time - I made us smores on the beach at a corn roast a couple of weeks ago and she loved them!

The Little Prince has moved from nursery school to Montessori school...he seems to have adapted without any trouble and dove right in.  I thought there would be sobbing and clinging but nope...he barely said 'bye' to me when I left him there!

Besides all that, I shot some guns, did some day trips, did some needlepoint, saw a big band concert, and kept plugging along with my family tree research. 

I am looking ahead to the fall fair next weekend and Thanksgiving in a few weeks - all the holidays seem a bit early this year!  I need to start thinking about pumpkin pies, turkey, and a big ham!  Every year I think I will try some new things but I always stick with what works so I am afraid there will be nothing new to show or report this year, which is a shame because Pinterest is such a resource for ideas! 

I joined Tumblr - I have no idea why tho.  I checked it out and couldn't figure out the point...now I have come to terms with it even tho I still don't really understand it.  But, there are lots of Downton fans there so we talk about Season3 and all we think will happen.

And that's all I have to report for the moment. I hope you had a great summer and I can't wait to read all of your autumn posts!

If you can, please leave your comment here instead of on Twitter. Thanks!

Have a fabulous day!

Blog Housekeeping

Maybe it's the whiff of spring, the longer days, looming daylight savings time...I don't know but I suddenly feel energized and want to pump some life into my blog again.  I wouldn't say I have neglected it, but I have felt a bit uninspired this winter and my blog has shown the signs.  Truth be told I think I have had a case of SAD for a while now - I spend a lot of my time thinking about sitting in the sun which tells me I need a big shot of VitD.  And some UV rays.  I long for days without socks.

This week I am making some changes to my blog to prepare for more writing and posting!

I would like to take a moment to remind everyone that my logo and blog banner were designed for me, paid for by me and property of...me.  Please refrain from using them except when speaking about me and linking back to my blog.  I was told someone is using my logo as their Facebook picture and that is just not cool. I have spent 3 years building my brand, reputation and image in the social media world and I do not appreciate it being compromised by someone who lacks the imagination to come up with their own logo.

I took my blogroll off and moved every blog I read into Google Reader.  It took a bit of getting used to but I now like being able to quickly scroll through posts, skipping the ones that have no interest for me and commenting on the ones that do.

I have been making a concerted effort to leave a lot more comments on other blogs.  I have noticed readers don't comment like they used to...one of my posts has more than 1000 views and 9 comments.  Considering I have over 500 followers it makes me wonder why 98% of them aren't leaving comments.  Even a simple 'Have a great day!' let's a blogger know you are reading.  I had a conversation with someone on Twitter and we suspect people being able to tweet their comments means they wont leave them on a blog.  So, I am taking a little Twitter break.  I will still pop in on a daily basis but I would prefer you leave comments here.  I love being able to go back years later and read what everyone said about posts...that just isn't possible with Twitter.  When the Little Prince is all grown up I want to be able to show him my blog and let him read what the world thought of it!

Less time spent tweeting means more time to spend writing blog posts and coming up with some fresh ideas for The Life of a Suburban Princess!

To all of you who do leave comments...thank you!  I look forward to reading them every day and if you have a blog I am not commenting on, please give me the link so I can follow you!

While we are talking about leaving comments....I really wish blogs didn't have word verification, especially now that blogger has made the 'word' even more complicated.  You might not even be aware your blog requires readers to jump through hoops so please take a moment to check.  Go to your blog settings, click on comments and scroll down to this setting.  Change it to 'No' and your readers will be able to comment without proving themselves human.

I always appreciate when I click to comment on a post and the comment box is a popup.  This means I don't have to click back over and over to get to the main list of blog posts.  To have your comments in a popup box simply click on settings, then comments and scroll down to this option.

You may have noticed I also have my links set up to open in a new window.  When you create a link on a word, click the little box and this will ensure your readers stay on YOUR page and don't have to click back a dozen times to find you again.

I have added some buttons at the bottom of each post...this will make it easy for you to share information.  When something strikes your fancy please take a second and share it through one of the buttons!

My Facebook page is updated every time I post.  Do you know if you don't interact when someone posts Facebook will stop showing you their posts?  Please take one second and 'like' updates when you see them in your news feed.  Also, in your news feed you have the option to view items by popularity or chronologically.  Just below the status update box is the word 'Sort'.  Click on the little down arrow to choose 'Most Recent' and you will see all of the items in your news feed instead of just the ones others have deemed important.

I am still in deep smit with Pinterest.  Like so many others,  I get a lot of ideas from there and love being able to gather everything in one spot!   Every day I look for new ideas, recipes, outfits to pin so if you are on there please add me!  I have created a board on Pinterest just for my blog so I am busy pinning pictures that link back to here.

Basically I have spent the last week making sure it is easy for you to keep up, follow along and leave comments!  Hopefully more bloggers will do the same so we can get back to supporting each other the way we did a couple of years ago.


Have a fabulous day!

PS...dont miss my Luxe Box giveaway! Enter for yourself or a friend!