Tag Archives: writing

‘Let’s eat Grandma!’ or ‘Let’s eat, Grandma!’ Punctuation saves lives.

Posted on November 25, 2011 | 13 Comments

Hi guys and welcome back to my blog. Thanks for dropping in.

Do you often check your stats?

I was humbled when doing my internet research and came across blogs that have a reported reader base of 300,000. I was so excited about my first 1,800. I went into the kitchen and told my husband. He was lovely and supportive. He said Julie, give it a chance, you have only just started.

Time to reflect.

Time to reflect.

He’s absolutely right.

I am reminded to thank God for my many blessings.

I spend a lot of time figuring out the basics, how to choose a picture, how to get my categories and my archives visible.

There’s a lot of behind the scenes work going on that I don’t know if my reader is aware of.

Here’s a little award going to the behind the scenes workers at this blog. Someone needs a little love and appreciation today. Smattering of applause.

Some people added me to their lists of blogs they like to read. This brought new visitors. Thank you. It is a nice friendly surprise ~ sort of like a present you didn’t expect.

More Readers Comments.

I set you free now and every moment.

Be young. Go ahead do something impossible. Could anything be more sweet?

Most comments are super supportive and positive. Thank you! A guy left a comment saying anyone who writes their biography in the third person is a dork. I deleted it. I reserve that name for me from people I truly love like my sister, my husband and my best friend – who by the way also call me Mutt, Monkey, Jules, Julie Bulie and JB.

Each Word You Say Represents Who You Are

Often when my younger students use questionable language, I sometimes give them a tiny note, a wink and a smile.

Give.

They told me in person It’s not our fault.

I told my sweet and smart students I’m going to buy you a shirt and write It’s not my fault on it for the amount of times I’ve heard that. I love that they have added me to their facebook accounts and include me in their lives. Hi guys! :)

They gave me a couple of toys to play with at school: a spinner top, a stand up Winx as big as my index finger and a poofy top Cars pen.

Smiles. Silliness. Wonder.

Just how cute this is? Wouldn't this make a great gift?

Everything is going to be okay. Really!

Life is Participation.

I walked into class and some of my students noticed I got a new hair cut. They gave me compliments. I think were sincere. Although at the moment my hair is getting really long.

I’ve learned so many things from people and living lately. I would say the number one thing I have learned is how to be a nicer person. I mean it. I surround myself by lovely people and I thank you for being here right now in this minute reading these words. Hi! Welcome.

I’m Still Smiling.

I received a ton of stuff from my loved ones. Thank you so much. They continue to spoil me. I don’t know what I have done to deserve such wonderful treatment but I try to be humble and thankful.

My kids got a lot of clothes, toys and candy. I get love.

We talk about health, not smoking and going the extra mile – and flossing. how knowledge will make you a better people. We talk about how making decisions now effect the rest of our lives.

Miro. Love it!

Miro. Ha!

I feel privileged to be a writer and a teacher, to talk to them and to you too. I’m also enjoying every beautiful minute of this glorious day. Thank you.

I know I got through to my class because they got real quiet and started listening, eyes transfixed. We talked about health we talked at length about existentialism, fatalism and Christianity and dreams. They get it. Kids are smart. They are our future.

As always, I hope this finds you well, happy, lucky and in love. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read and visit. Have a great day.

Julie

Be inspirational. Be inspired. Note to self: Try harder. And smile. Everything is going to be alright.

A Sweet Afternoon ~ Semi Abstract~Fine Art Canvas print

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Posted in family, happiness, Inspiration, Italy, journal, learning, motivation, teaching, writing

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If I can figure out how to write a blog, anyone can.

Posted on November 21, 2011 | 14 Comments
Beautiful table setting.

Would you like to write a blog? Please do.

If you would like to be a published writer, it’s easy, just do it. I started writing as soon as I got a crayon in my hand.

When I was 11, I started keeping a small lock and key diary with a bright yellow and red Snoopy picture. I would write whatever came to a 11 year-old’s mind.

I have entries in my diary about what I would do for my birthday party, where my family went and who I liked and didn’t like at school. The diary entry that makes me laugh is My sister hit me. Now I realize the importance of those four words.

I found a place for myself, a place to put my own thoughts but most importantly I have proof 30 years later that my sister hit me. ;)

As I got older, I started writing travel diaries. I have about 15 handwritten diaries in my garage that I wrote when I was between 19 and 30. Sometimes I would like to burn them because I’m afraid what my children will think.

They probably won’t be so interested in my life. Still, when I travelled I always kept a journal  before I decided to give writing a try.

If you want to write, do it. Just take out a pen and write. open Word. I use WordPress to blog.

How to get published.

The first time I got published as a writer I was in high school. It helped to have friends. I was president of my high school so the job was sort of just assigned to me. One of my teachers came up to me and said Julie, you are going to have to write a weekly article for the school newspaper.

A couple of weeks later, I saw my name in print for the first time with a headline saying Howdy Cowboys. What a laugh.

From then, I moved to Europe and remained one of the few people who actually knew English so it was pretty much certain that I would get published in the first English magazine in our city. Luckily for me, the publisher was a good friend of mine. She had great taste in style and the magazine was a big success in my humble opinion.

From there, I just continued writing. I would write or suggest stories to my publisher and she usually printed them. Sometimes, my publisher friend, Ali,  would give me assignments, for example she’d say Julie, there’s a new art opening on Friday, can you cover it? I continue to write for pleasure just as I continue to paint pictures of flowers, just as I love reading other people’s stories.

Also, I would suggest you write from the heart and write as you speak. Finally the easiest way to get published is to publish yourself ~ just as I am doing here.

Thank you for visiting. Comments are appreciated. Have a great day.

Have you ever been published? What sort of things do you like to write about?

I’d love to hear if you’d like to leave a comment below. Thanks.

Country Side Tulips Laptop Sleeve electronicsbag

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Posted in happiness, journal, motivation, relationships, writing

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Getting my blogging feet on.

Posted on September 16, 2011 | 9 Comments

Hey guys. How are you? Good to see you here and thank you for stopping on by to check up on me. Hi.

Greatest gifts.

Stop trying to figure it all out and start living in the moment?

Painting update: I put my painting I won up for sale and I got a bid on it. THAT’S AWESOME. Now I am starting to freak out thinking someone is going to buy my painting and maybe I should give it to my kids. Crazy huh? If you’d like to bid and buy it back for me, that’s fine. ha ha ha. Click here to see ebay listing.

It will be two years in October since I’ve started blogging and only now am I starting to feel comfortable most of the time, like the title says, I feel like I’m getting my blogging feet on.

I suppose it has to do with overcoming obstacles, such as being afraid of being judged and thinking that people from the entire world are getting a look into my thoughts.

It’s okay though. I don’t mind. I’m getting used to it.

Some audiences are nicer than others or easier I should say. The only way of knowing who my readers are, aside from the kind people who leave comments, is checking my blog stats. I like to see where you come from. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again:

I find the far reaching aspects of the world wide web just amazing. It seems like most people truly want to help  each other, teach each other. My visitors come from all four corners of our earth.

I suppose what gets to me is to think that I’m communicating with so many people at one time. Is that called stage fright?

I know this only due to my telephone calls or when I see my friends and they say they’ve read my blog and know about my art contest or where I have been recently.

That's cool. Right?

We have the means to communicate with the entire world, shouldn’t we?

Isn’t freedom of speech one of our greatest gifts?

Think of countries where people can’t say what they think without having serious consequences.

How wonderful to be able to speak, how wonderful to be able to write and share.

If you guys have read my about page, I wrote how I like to write about inspiration ~ which by the way if you have called me inspirational, thank you!

That must be one of my favorite compliments. I was trying to figure out why people need to hear compliments so often. I do. Not all the time. I like to encourage you because I think YOU are amazing. I’ve highlit some of my favorite comments in my right sidebar.

I read your blogs as often as I can. I wonder if you are nodding and smiling now because you know I am writing to you.

There’s the one girl I want to adopt who lost her mom and is just a doll. There’s the other girl who is getting over a heart ache and has such a close connection with God, she gets to her readers every time. She just speaks right to my heart.

There’s the elderly gentleman who is a dad and just such a pleasant read full of wisdom he doesn’t realize he’s dispensing.

It’s such a wonderful quality to be amazing and not even realize it. It’s very endearing.

There’s my favorite blogger who I’ve followed since day one and she knows what is going on my life every day because she comments and reads and I can see her clicking here. She has even read and commented on the post that I later deleted, because she’s just been there.

There’s the lady who writes like a teacher and is so full of good advice, gently offering her story and letting HER readers give the input. It’s called stepping aside, something I need to learn to do.

Then, there’s my family. My mom gave me the best compliment recently. Hi mom. She is always full of encouragement.

She’s so sweet and supportive. I’m so blessed to have someone believe in me. She’s taking classes at the community college, a class on writing. She told me what her fellow students are writing. Those are real stories, stories about the holocaust, about death, about life.

Her friends are lovely people who have lived lives and have something to tell.

In the words of Colonel Klink on Hogan’s Heroes, I know nothing.

I’m learning by doing. I’m learning by writing. In the mean time, I’m thinking about how my writing and my person has evolved in the last nearly two years as a writer and how this has changed my life.

Strange how that is. I didn’t set out to have a blog change my life. I think basically it’s just made me a better communicator, a better person, I hope perhaps a better writer.

In the mean time, I am sending you all well wishes to let you know how much you inspire me with your stories. You all are amazing people out there, it’s a good world, full of love, full of joy.

xo

Jules

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Real live post. How. blessed. is. my. life.

Posted on August 23, 2011 | 5 Comments

Hello friends.

Warning: This is not an epic post!

How are you? So VERY nice to see you. Thank you for stopping by!

First off, a big huge thank you to Michelle at Bleeding Espresso for publishing my August in Italy article.

Are you tired of reading old posts from me that I have put on the front page of my blog? Have you noticed that I have been doing that? I have. What I do is go over to the right side of my screen where it says visibility, public, edit and set a date for my updates to post.

I did this for a week so I could take a blogging vacation. I chose three posts I liked and scheduled them every two days so perhaps you guys clicking over here would have something to read in my absence.

Coffee anyone?

Coffee anyone? What kind? I'll get you one.

I took a vacation with my family.

It was absolutely breath taking lovely and wonderful. At moments I truly wanted to pinch myself and ask if I deserved such a wonderful life. I don’t know why I feel this way.

Like I don’t deserve it! I give myself pep talks before I go, like all the world is mine to enjoy. Then I do and I laugh and it’s lovely. Then I look at the pictures and think

Oh. My. Gosh. How. blessed. is. my. life.

Can I, should I, share these pictures with my friends?! What will they think? What will their comments be? On a recent post I was pretty clear that I don’t take criticism well. In fact, the reason I don’t always blog is the fear of failure.

In fact, the one negative comment seems to always stick out, doesn’t it? I’m not going to write it though because I’m working really hard on focusing on the positive. Darn it. Now just thinking about it makes it true. Oh well.

Like I was saying I was looking at the pictures from my vacation trying to decide if I was going to share them or not because I don’t want to be judged. First thing I looked at was how I looked in my bathing suit. For half way through my life, I can’t complain.

I’ve been taking great care of myself lately with my diet, exercise and sleep. Three key factors to happiness if you ask me. But then again, did you?

ha ha!

I’m just joking.

I think hugs and kisses rate up there too.

Hey, guess what? I made my first tomato sauce from tomatoes from my garden. Now that is a big sentence for me. I am SO not a cook. I SO do NOT enjoy cooking. It’s very easy. It’s because I clean morning to night so cooking adds more work to my plate. I can hardly stand it.

Yes, please!

Yes, please!

Yet, I think a little hard work is worth the effort so I just do it. Plus, I’m trying to go the extra mile here and put in the extra work to my life to make it extra ordinary.

I’ve taken up cleaning with my ipod on. I can honestly say that’s added a great element to my life. I’ve been asked to not sing while doing so. :)

Sometimes, I’ve even been spotted dancing whilst cleaning.

hmmm.

Well, thank you for visiting for being my kind companionship over the last year and a half of blogging. Thank you readers for being kind in your comments.

Hope you are all well, lucky and in love. I hope this posts finds you with a little something extra in your life.

Julie

My latest painting.

My latest painting.

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Posted in motivation

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Bl❀ggity bl❀g bl❀g.

Posted on August 1, 2011 | 7 Comments

Hi friends and welcome back. Nice to see you. Welcome new visitors.

Hello Africa! Hello Asia! Hello Europe! Hello Australia! Hello Canada! Hello south America and above all hello U.S.A! Did I leave anyone out?! Hope not!

What motivates you?

Key kitty kitty kitty. That's me talking again to my cat. : )

Key kitty kitty kitty.

My best friend kicks my bum in tennis and probably anyone else’s. When we were playing at university we were great partners.

We spent our time between matches actually doing cartwheels on the court. Sometimes we’d do them during matches. :)

One day our coach pulled us aside and assigned us new partners. Not the Chinese, we chanted. They’d kill us at tennis. They were serious players.

Sure enough, my best friend and I found ourselves paired up with fantastic new partners.

I’m building bridges here.

Stay with me folks. There IS a reason I’m telling you this.

The reason is this.

I ask you, What motivates you most? Is it someone who comes over, puts your hand on your shoulder, smiles, and says good job, or is the person who gets behind you and yells ‘DO IT!’?

Can I let this go? Will I let this go? When? Now.

Oil Painting I made for my BFF.

When I was on swim team in high school, my sister was my best motivator. She’d follow me back and forth across the lanes and scream ‘Go Julie!’ Her coaching strategy was swim toward the chocolate cake and away from the shark.

The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.

I prefer swimming towards the chocolate cake. But I think both motivators will work.

When we were back playing singles tennis, my best friend would look me in the eye and with a sly smile say You’re going down.

She’d say it with such conviction she would win! I think this is called psyching me out.

She’s an awesome tennis player.

The point is, get out there, do your best, don’t be afraid of things that are new, go towards your goals and model good behavior hopefully doing cartwheels inbetween.

Have a nice day and thank you for visiting.

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Posted in happiness, journal, motivation, relationships, teaching, writing

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Children’s laughter ☆ shooting stars ☆ fresh sheets ☆ the smell of cut grass ☆

Posted on July 25, 2011 | 7 Comments

Celebrating.

Just some flowers I have painted.

Things we love.

I probably shouldn’t be writing a post right now out of sheer exhaustion. I didn’t think people could get this tired. Or so I thought. So perhaps I am writing with what is left of just pure nervous energy.

There is so much on my mind that needs to get out through my fingertips.

We have no limitations. ♡

Number of times someone has smiled while reading my blog? 1~? ♡

This is the second post I have started and was not able to finish. I have little faith that I will actually be able to get a decent thought on the page. I wish I could gather all of my scattered thoughts and put them into a nice little box and tie them with a pretty bow.

Only they aren’t logical.

It’s sort of like dressing a child. Or trying to get a net around an octopus not that I have ever tried.

Heck. I should just hit publish.

{The way most people have found my blog? By googling the sentence Let’s eat Grandma. I’m not joking.}

Dream a little dream for me.

Dream a little dream for me.

What’s stopping me? Thoughts.

{Later} Three Strikes and You’re Out

Julie, you are spending all of this time on your blog and you aren't making any money. And I say, Mom, Dad.

This is my third time back to the drawing board and back to the keyboard to get my post published. I’m quite convinced in my ability to hit that publish button staring at me. It is just taunting me, looking at me, saying to me, Come on, Julie, just push me!

It would be so easy, wouldn’t it? Easy to write a blog and express your thoughts?

Today yes. Today no. People can change their minds, can’t they?

What people are saying about my blog.

To be perfectly honest, now that I am a year into this blogging project I have a lot of doubts that people are saying much at all about my blog. I think for the most part a lot of people have forgotten I publish a blog. I am a stats addict. That means I often check who is visiting.

Checking your stats

I like checking my stats to see who is reading this. It has to do with being a seeing you. You walk into the room and the first thing you do is make eye contact with your the people in front of you. When you are a blog writer you have little idea who is reading this except for the people who leave comments.

Surprise someone with a smile.

Surprise someone with a smile.

How I wish I could see your eyes. I bet they are beautiful!

God bless you for not giving up on me. It isn’t always fun. I am not always funny. Although I do admit my favorite comment has to be the people who say I make them laugh. What a wonderful ability it is to make someone laugh.

I also love hearing my mom tell me she is proud of me. And my dad too. And lots of supportive loving friends. It’s nice to hear. Unfortunately for insecurities I cannot hear it enough. I think maybe that is why I keep putting my thoughts out there. I keep contributing because I love hearing Julie, I love your blog.

There’s a strange phenomenon attached to comments. It’s hard to explain but some of us blog writers base the quality of our content by the feedback we get from our readers. I’ll be more explicit. I’d like to think that most blog writers LOVE to receive comments. I think this is because we want to know our words count.

At the same time, a lot times when I am in front of my classroom, I’m happy if everyone just stays quiet so I can get my lesson done. What I am trying to say to you here now is that I like comments and when I don’t get any I feel like I am not connecting with the reader.

Connecting with the Reader

At the same time, I haven’t been writing as much as I used to so I have no qualms in saying I’m not getting as many visitors as say in the first days. I do have a steady stream of lovely people however who continue to wander on by and read my thoughts and for that I am truly thankful.

Yes. You. I'm writing to you.

Yes. You. I'm writing to you.

The craziest thing about my readership has to be the fact that my blog readers are TRULY from all corners of the earth. Every time I check my visitor stats, I see clicks from all over the world. I wish I knew how in the world you guys found me. I’m glad you did!

Well.

Friends.

Once again.

Thank you for stopping by and having a chat with me. I appreciate your silence. I appreciate your words. I appreciate that you are sharing this moment with me here now.

Have a wonderful day.

Julie

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Posted in happiness, journal

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6 reasons my blog readers rock. ❒ ~ check ✔

Posted on July 17, 2011 | 22 Comments
Muah ♫.•*¨`*•♫.•´*.¸.• {blows a kiss.}

Muah ♫.•*¨`*•♫.•´*.¸.• {blows a kiss.}

Welcome back visitors for yet another pot of freshly brewed hot blog copy, using homegrown partially recycled pure grounds. Whatever that means.

Blog copy. Try saying that ten times fast.

I wanted to start off by saying I’ve had a few readers who have been such loyal blog followers leaving comments, hitting the facebook ‘like’ button, encouraging me.

I thank you for being my constant inspiration. Believe it or not, some of you wonderful readers have sent me long inspiring letters AND super cool REAL presents. That’s just too cool.

Like This!

Now my readers are going to ask What does blog copy mean? Then they are going to ask me what fresh brewed has to do with blog copy. I’ll have to send them to an expert because I have no idea.

Bwah ha ha

I’m digging myself quickly into a hole on this post. I can feel it spiraling down.  I still have friends who don’t know what blog means.

Note to self.  Should I start calling it an online journal?

❀ I know you are there. I can see you and it makes me happy and sad all at the same time.

❀ It's okay to take a break. ❀

1. I love my readers. Some of them I have known for ages and others are new. They continue to inspire me to write.

They tell me nice things like you never know Julie, maybe you will make someone’s lives better. They say things like they love to read my blog. I don’t know if that counts though because it was probably my mom. ;)

2. I love writing. To me writing gets my thoughts on the page and out of my head. Yesterday while shopping with my kids I sat down and wrote a list of 15 things I had to do. I felt overwhelmed and getting my list on the page made me feel like I could accomplish it. I’m just taking baby steps one at a time. Stay with me folks.

3. The more I give the more I receive. My friendships have been growing steadily and so is my reader base. I feel like I have never learned so much about life, love, laughter and people as I have in the last couple of months since sharing my life with others.

I had a lot of fears to overcome. I think we all get used to talking to our inner circle of friends or to ourselves we think that if we wrote it for all the world to see we would be drastically made fun of.

4. My learning curve is out of control. The minute I hit the publish button on my first blog entry most of you know I couldn’t sleep. I thought, Oh great, delete, delete, delete. My husband is currently worried about me because it has been almost all consuming.

I just read. I want to know what makes a blog successful so I just click away. Luckily I’ve been super peaceful and smiling.

I'll forgive you. ´¯`»¸¸.·☆

It's a new day and new dawn and I'm feeling good.´¯`»¸¸.·☆

I’m not so certain that spending more time online is a good thing though.

I have always sustained that a to be happy in life you have to find a balance of work and pleasure.

I’ll give you an example. Say you are successful. I ask you how you are spending your days. Are you spending them alone or with other people? What percentage of your time are you dedicating to your family, to your work, to entertainment?

How much of your time are you dedicating towards being a good person, toward helping others? How much of your time are you dedicating toward making yourself a better person?

As my best friend says it’s the doing that makes the difference. In writing and sharing, I’m a do-er not a be-er. Note to self: don’t forget to hyphenated the word be-er.

This chick is so cool. She's thinking about you. ❀

I can see you. Just tell me everything is going to be okay. It will! ´¯`»¸¸.·☆

5. People are curious. I think one of the reasons people are reading this now is because they want to know what it is like to live in Italy. I think I should write more about that. I’ll tell you. I spend a lot of time with my family, cleaning, cooking, writing, drawing,  a lot of time with my friends – as much as possible and the major part of my time taking care of life.

6. I push myself to succeed. I strive for excellence. I strive for peace. I model good behavior. I strive to be a better person. I’m crazy scared that I’m going to bomb in front of all of my peers so I’m doing all I can do to make this great.

I know it’s not. But like I tell my kids, I’m not a great mom, I’m not even a good mom, but I do try. I make it a goal. I know they know that. Making it a goal shows you care. I tell them I love them every day so many times. They know the story because I tell it to them every night before they go to bed.

I tell them I love them more than the moon, more than the stars, and more than all of the oceans.

Tell people you love that you love them. I don’t think you can ever say that enough. Be the change you want to see. Be inspiring. You think you don’t know how? I’ll give you a start. Smile at someone you don’t know. Live your life with passion. Pursue excellence. Take care of yourselves.

Until we blog again. Uh hmm, I mean journal. Have a good one.

Julie

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

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Posted in happiness, Inspiration, Italy, journal, learning, motivation, teaching, writing

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Reach for the moon. ☆ If you don’t make it ~ at least you’ll be in the midst of stars.

Posted on July 1, 2011 | 7 Comments
When they say you can't, show them differently.

10 x No = YES!

Here’s a story I learned when I was young.

There’s a bunch of fleas put in a jar. They keep jumping super high. In fact, fleas can jump 60 times their height! The fleas are now in the jar jumping so high so high.

Then someone comes along and puts a cap on the jar. Bump bump bump. The fleas hit their heads. Ouch. They change their behavior and say in a tiny flea voice I will only jump as high as this lid. Ouch ouch ouch.

Then someone comes along and opens the jar. What do you think happens? Do the fleas jump super high or do they jump just as high as the lid?

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. ღ ॐ Friedrich Nietzsche ♡

Unfortunately they only jump slightly lower than lid. You know why? They learned they couldn’t jump any higher.

The point of the story is that we are all little fleas that can jump 60 times our height.

You can jump higher.

Please don’t let ANYONE ever tell you that you can’t do something that benefits yourself, humanity, your team or someone you love.

Even better do something for an enemy. Forgive them.

More Peeps?! WT~@#?

Surely a vanilla green tea with honey day today.

Tell me when you want me stop talking about this but I have a good number of visitors here. I think that’s unbelievable.

I just don’t know when I am going to get used to thinking I’m talking to more than my husband or children. Still it just floors me. I googled the question How many people visit your blog?

I keep getting referred back to one site and I found an interesting chart saying they get 20,000 visitors per week. I’m not buying it. Maybe they are. I just don’t know of any personally.

I am sure somewhere someone is. If so be brave, come forward, leave a comment. One guy said he got like I don’t know 250 per week when he wrote an iphone review. Probably.

Cough cough cough bull…bull. bologna.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Welcome new readers. I hope you become a regular visitor.

The bottom line is I am completely satisfied with the positive feedback I am getting and the steady increase in visitors. Thank you.

Do you like email – I don’t so much.

What do you think about the box that reads: If you are new you might want to consider adding me onto your email subscription? I wish someone would explain that to me. I personally don’t like email so much.

I do all of my communicating between my friends on facebook. What am I going to do with a HUGE list of emails? Sell them to marketers? No. Why? So they can send me junk mail that I trash?

I’m not going there. Am I wrong in thinking if someone wants to see what I am up to they can go to my site or drop me a line? People know how to bookmark, don’t they? Argh.

The first week I was blogging I added myself as a subscribe to my newsfeed by email button. I kept getting letters from myself and it was awful.

Reach for the moon. If you don’t make it at least your are somewhere amongst the stars.

☆

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

Julie

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Posted in happiness, holidays, Inspiration, motivation, teaching, writing

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13 excellent blσgs for your reading and viewing ♥ pleasure

Posted on March 8, 2011 | 23 Comments
иєω σяlєaиs ¢ιту♥ Be lovely. ♥ Be inspiring. ♥ Be generous. ♥ Be kind. ♥ Have integrity. ♥ Believe in love. ♥ Believe in yourself. ♥ Never give up. ♥ Be the change you want to see.

иєω σяlєaиs ¢ιту♥ Be lovely. ♥ Be inspiring. ♥ Be generous. ♥ Be kind. ♥ Have integrity. ♥ Believe in love. ♥ Believe in yourself. ♥ Never give up. ♥ Be the change you want to see.

Hi guys, welcome back. Good to see you. New visitors, welcome, join, comment. Grab a cup of fresh brewed blog copy. Sugar? Milk? Beuller? Anyone?

Today I’m talking about what makes a good blog based on scientific evidence also known as my opinion. OK OK, I’ll throw in some scientific evidence.

Here are the 13 best blogs who have gotten my blogging bum in gear and motivate me to be a better blogger. Try saying that 10 times fast.

1. BJ at Tiny Island This blogger lives in Singapore. She has a nice style of writing. I go back to her blog because not only is has she become a blogger friend, she has great information on living in Singapore. I feel like I’m travelling without leaving my home when I visit her blog.

2. Tana @ From Kenya with Love If you haven’t read about Tana, my friend from Junior High School, who moved to Africa from California when she was young and raised three gorgeous girls on her own, then now is your chance. Tana tells awesome stories of adventures in Africa that will have you cry, laugh and worry. You’ll love her blog.

3. Michelle @ Bleeding Expresso The Godmother of blogs. I kiss her ring. Based in southern Italy, when I got the nod from Michelle my visitor hits soared. Her blog is FULL of useful information, wit, charm and pictures. She captures the spirit of Italy way better than I can. But best of all, she’s got a goat. Actually three goats.  I’m telling you I have yet to see a cuter goat.

Like This!

4. Matt @ ma.tt This cool blogger who designs blog platforms likes to play jazz in his free time. DID YOU HEAR ME? He’s young, talented, traveling the world and has provided half of the world with a FREE place to write your words. We bow down to our youth.

5. Chris @ The Art of Non-Conformity This guy is AMAZING. I admire him. I came across his blog when doing research for my ebook Zero to Blog and saw the fantastic headline 279 days to overnight success. His ebook is FREE and downloadable now.

Chris’s mission is to travel the world and share his stories. Let’s see if he will dominate the world with his World Domination Manifesto. I found his blog absolutely packed with valuable information – for bloggers, travelers, doers and dreamers. Not only THAT, he’s making this world better place. Five star blogger.

6. Anne @ Anne on Life http://anneonlife.com/ – This lovely mom gets an A in my book for being excellent. She does it all, the mom, the blog, the math, the homework, giving her kids the jeep, but what I love about Anne is NOT only did she go back to continue her education in the later part of her life, she got outstanding grades. When she commented on my list of 7 killer buzz words, she got me to snicker when she wrote:

I love ‘hiney’. Uh, that didn’t come out right.

7. Barbara @ Blogging without a blog I can NOT emphasize enough how much I love clicking and going back to Barbara’s blogging without a blog. She and I have similar tastes in books and motivators such as Wayne Dyer, Byron Katie and Tony Robbins. Written in a classroom like setting, when you click over to Barbara’s blog you a guaranteed to learn something new every time.

purple flowers

I smell spring.

7. Pam @ bored cook Good recipes, good stories and a good blogger. She’s actually gets you cooking delicious food. I love her stories about being young and visiting Italy hoping to bet pinched in the bum.

8. Linda @ Lindaloumac This nice English lady moved to Italy after she raised her lovely girls. She keeps us up on her adventures at her blog. She’s also an avid reader and shares tons of information and book links.

9. Katie and Krystyne @ Tres Chic – Two newly graduated high school students embark on their journey to France to study abroad for four months. Read about their adventures and share their journey.

10. Dr. B @ Dr. Tom Bibey Blue Grass Physician I love love love love going back to read Dr. B’s blog. His visitors are like his patients and he takes good care of us all. His mom was an English teacher and his best friend passed away. He keeps his soul alive telling us what it is like to grow up in a small town where you get to the local diner by turning left at the oak.

Plus, he does it with grace, beauty, dignity and love for his wife and family.

There was not a whit of culture or refinement in me or my brothers.  We were just wild sunburned boys who ran all day and stayed covered in red clay dust.

11. Jeff R @ The Anti ignorance Blog
This young fellow is discovering the world through his words. He’s not bothered by visitors or by growth. He’s just writing. Isn’t wonderful that we have the opportunity to read about what our youth think? Give him a visit and let him know we aren’t all bad.

12. Miss A. Topp @ Love, Literature & the Pursuit of Happiness Enthusiasm, smiles, friends, a big family and willingness to tell the truth. Miss Topp is a young teacher and a lover of books. She’s working on her latest novel. In the mean time, feel free to follow her blog at http://msatopp.wordpress.com/

13. Julie @ local food.

One of the perks of coaching our 13 year-old son, Jack’s soccer team is getting to know the parents of our team members. Disclaimer: Joe does the coaching, I do the Starbucks run and cheering. One of the families we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know is Vince and Denise Brigantino. As a thank you gift for coaching (and cheering), they gave us a lovely bottle of their family grown Cabernet Sauvignon. We uncorked it tonight, let it breath for about an hour, and served it with Baked Ziti – yum!

When Julie writes you enjoy the northern California lifestyle along with her.

Thanks for joining me. Leave a comment. It’s how we little blog writers get paid. : )

Julie

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Building a Better Blog – You guys rock.

Posted on March 1, 2011 | 4 Comments

I’m so proud of my readers I’m turning the spotlight on you.

My heart is bursting with joy as I welcome you again to another pot of blog copy at jbulie’s blog. I have to share today how proud I am of my readers. They are all taking HUGE leaps and bounds towards their personal goals. It’s such a wonderful feeling to be part of that.

What I didn’t expect when I started this blog is the many thanks I am getting.

Choose HappinessWho would have known?

So much news to report all about you guys, my readers. I don’t even know where to start. Yesterday I had a chat with a friend of mine that I have known since I was a young kid. We were literally cracking each other up talking about our lives, our families and our progress on our blogs.

We pitched each other ideas and we got to the point of intense laughter. My idea was the hand in the video with the Mtv microphone interviewing myself about the success of my ebook Zero to Blog. I had the microphone decorated like a real mtv mic with lights, bells and whistles on it. And a puffy something or another.

Only problem was working out logistics since I make my own videos, I have to be the hand and the voice. We were laughing thinking how we are going to manage this on line from a distance. Maybe we can use a fake hand?

I’ll get my cat to prop it up on a pillow. Too bad the cat can’t talk.

Everyone’s starting to write, express themselves and make blogs.

It started with a friend of mine who is a runner. She sent me her article and asked me what I thought. I thought it was out of this world. She made a step of sharing. If you knew this girl and her story you would see what a big personal step that was for her. She’s a mom of five. Her running is her time for herself. She runs marathons. When I went on a diet, she’s the one who filled my inbox with health and fitness information. I love this girl. She is working on her personal growth and I am so very proud of her.

Then the blogs.

At LEAST four of my good friends who have read my book have talked about it and made positive steps on make their blogs more reader friendly and interactive, by asking for comments, by interacting with their visitors, by adding music, but adding of themselves. It’s a wonderful feeling to know I am somehow part of their process. We encourage each other. It’s like a fire under your buns. :)

OK, I have more and more and more to tell you about but life is calling me. I feel like I’m living life at the top of my game. I have my work, my family, video, my book, my blog, my friends, my mom’s new website and my clothes line going on.

OH AND two of my readers have a date this Saturday. Ah ah ah, life is good.

jb

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