Average Jane™

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 15: Phone

I'm not a fan of phones. I'd really much prefer to be emailed. Texting is my second choice. Actually talking, well, let's make it brief.

My desk phone at the office mainly serves as an extra clock. I have my voicemail recordings emailed to me, so it's very seldom that I even pick up the handset. I think the whole concept of a desk phone is probably headed the way of the home landline—and for the same reason.

In case you're interested, the iPhone app I used today is called Halftone.

P.S. If the makers of Aveeno are wondering whether it was worth it to give away their product at BlogHer a couple of years ago, the photo above is evidence of a resounding, "Yes!" I am completely sold on their lotion and I have been purchasing it ever since, both for my office and for home. My hands are mummy-dry and I'm very sensitive to perfumes in lotions. Their lotion is truly fragrance free and works wonderfully for me.

It's Average Jane's 8th Blogging Anniversary

I started writing this blog on February 15, 2004 and somehow I've kept it going all these years with no end in sight.

I can't say I've ever really had a plan for the blog—it's just an online home base for me to discuss whatever is on my mind at the time, be it recipes, pets, personal observations or just a diary of what I've been up to.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the readers who have hung on from the beginning as well as those who have discovered it more recently. I know it's a "take it or leave it" kind of blog and I appreciate that you've opted for "take it."

So how have things changed since the beginning? Well, back then most of my readers came directly to my blog every day to see what was new. Then RSS readers became more popular and I presume that caused a shift in how it was viewed. Fortunately, I've had exactly the same blog template since the very beginning (except for the addition of some sidebar bling, as you can see in the image above), so you don't miss much by not coming directly in.

Most of my traffic comes from Google and it's mostly people looking for recipes. The rising popularity of Pinterest has me going through my recipes and making a note of which ones don't have photos so I can make the food and take pictures to add to the posts.

Eight years feels like an achievement but it also seems like it's gone by so fast. This summer I'm planning on attending my eighth BlogHer Conference and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to continue going every year or if maybe it's time I turned my attention (and budget) to other goals, such as travel for travel's sake.

But that's a decision for the future and this is now and I couldn't be more pleased with the people and opportunities that blogging has brought to my life.

Thanks for reading! I'll resume the February Photo Challenge later today.

 

 

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 14: Heart

This morning the boss brought in warm peanut butter cookies with (Dove?) chocolate hearts melted onto the tops. They were amazing. They were also the only heart-shaped things I noticed today, so I'm glad I took a photo.

Tonight my husband surprised me with a dozen red roses while I was cooking dinner. We stayed in, had spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, cheesecake and sparkling wine, and watched the latest Russell Peters comedy special on Netflix. It was a very pleasant way to spend Valentine's Day.

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 13: Blue

I thought a collage would be fun today. My husband and I went to Guitar Center after dinner and while he shopped, I went around looking for blue things in the store to photograph.

At first I wasn't sure how I was going to combine them all into one image, but then I realized that I could just screen capture the photos folder on my iPhone and crop it. Voilà!

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 12: Inside Your Closet

I had a hard time choosing which image to use for this challenge. I went with this one because it's a glimpse at the things I hang on the wall of my dressing room solely for my own enjoyment.

On the bulletin board you'll see some autographed posters, a vision board from a couple of years ago, every conference badge I've ever had, and some miscellaneous postcards I like. Oh, and the Weekly World News "Frog Baby Born in Kansas" issue, which I naturally had to frame.

Hanging on the door is a poster I had printed with all of my Facebook friends (at the time). My rule for adding friends on Facebook is that I have to have met you, read your blog for a while, etc. No strangers, is what I'm saying. So looking at this poster every morning and evening makes me really happy. It's such a fun reminder of all the people in the world that I care about and vice versa. 

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 11: Makes You Happy

Of course this was going to be a pet photo.

I spent most of today ferrying cats all over town for my rescue group. When I got home, I was greeted with the sight of Dr. Jones and Toby sharing the couch in their usual way. Of course, they'd both be a lot warmer if they'd just cuddle together, but they haven't reached that stage yet.

Two of my other sources of feline happiness never appear in the same room together and the third was off somewhere else in the house, so I had to take what I could get.

If you're wondering where my husband falls in all of this, he was either asleep or having band practice every time I was home. But yes, he definitely makes me happy as well.

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 10: Self Portrait

I actually had a photo shoot yesterday to get new headshots for my social media profiles, but because the implication of today's photo challenge is that you are to take a photo of yourself, I used Instagram to capture what I looked like today.

I almost never wear my glasses, but my left eye has been bugging me so I figured I could use a break from my contact lenses today. I also decided to take a break from smiling, despite the fact that smiling's my favorite.

If you want to see my new profile photos, feel free to look for my LinkedIn account, Pinterest, etc. They're out there!

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 9: Front Door

The front door of my house is incredibly boring, so instead here's the front door to my office. If I'd known the fingerprint scanner would be placed to the left of the door, I wouldn't have scanned my right hand. Fortunately it's only necessary to scan your finger for entry outside of business hours.

I don't know about everyone else participating in this photo challenge, but this topic made me think, "Shut the front door!" all day long.

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 8: Sun

We didn't have any sun today, so I decided to post a photo from a month or so ago of Trillian recharging her feline batteries in the sunlit window.

Average Jane's February Photo Challenge Day 7: Button

I have a cool, faux black leather trench coat that I wear when the weather isn't too bad. It has a bazillion of these buttons: a long row up each cuff and lots of them in front. They fall off constantly.

Any time I'm wearing the coat, I have to attune my bat senses to the faint "clink" of a metal button hitting the floor. At any given time, I have at least one of these buttons in my purse and a couple more scattered between my office and home desks, all waiting to be sewn back on when I get out my mending kit.

It's still a rad coat, though. Especially if you don't know I got it at Hot Topic. Heh.