Test, test, test... I will be starting a new WP blog for myself sometime soon, complete with a whole separate domain name, since blogger refuses to publish to my FTP anymore. I may convert this blog into Wordpress and migrate it -- or I may leave it here and start fresh. Not sure yet...

But the new one will be at www.iamvanessa.com

I will be back, despite Blogger's serious bitch slapping of my blog. Now, PUBLISH, MOTHER FUCKER!!!

Labels: anger, annoying, blogging, friends

I am having a bitch of a time trying to balance blogging and working outside of the house. It sucks because I was so regular with posting...now I just feel like a failure who can't manage her time. But the thing is, I'm doing laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. with whatever free time that is not taken up by sleeping and watching the few highly necessary television programs we like to watch each week. Ugh! In addition, I have a freelance website job going on -- for a certain Pilates studio in New York -- which I am very excited about -- but again, less free time for me and me-blog when I get home each day. Ah, well.

The other thing that has made me actually avoid blogging is my ongoing frustration with Blogger mistreating me and my post publishing process. I know that the best solution is to migrate to dynamic blogging (i.e. Wordpress) -- and I WILL do this! But, F*CK! I just don't have the time right now...so I avoid...because Blogger can't piss me off if I don't blog!

One thing that we have been having fun with is KITTY CAM. I got a web cam for Christmas (which works independently from a computer -- just hooks up to our home network) that allows us to watch our cats when we are not home...or when we have our backs turned and we want to see what those little f*ckers are doing when we are not looking. Plus, their Grandma really likes to check in on them from Connecticut -- just to see how fat they are or to watch them playing. I don't know why I enjoy this so much, but I do. It's like I'm producing my own Feline reality tv show! Here are some still shots from the KITTY CAM as an animated GIF -- of Noodle the Cat.

Labels: annoying, blogging, cats, family, friends, fun, funny, gifs, lizzard, noodle, pets, video, web

Blogger won't completely finish publishing my blog -- which means it's uploading incompletely and not updating all of my posts. I can tell that this is happening (aside from the obvious of them telling me) because the 02/2008 archive page gets published first and on it I have 2 comments for the previous post -- but on my main index page, it says I have 1 comment. Put it this way, Blogger is very unkind to FTP-uploading bloggers who made their own templates. I am getting so fed up with this crap that I am seriously thinking about creating a Wordpress blog -- except the amount of work involved with migrating and template modifications, well, quite simply, the thought makes me ill.

FOR THOSE WHO EXPERIENCED DIFFICULTY LISTENING TO THE SONG FROM MY PREVIOUS -- YOU CAN HEAR IT HERE: http://www.vanessaleehamlen.com/blog/joan/

[It seems as though the closing embed tag keeps getting dropped when publishing -- which makes the song player not want to work in Mozilla -- probably cock-sucking-Blogger's fault...What else is new?]

So I ask ask you all...How easy is it set things up to publish with Wordpress instead of Blogger? I want to publish to my own hosted domain and I want to use my own template. And, unlike Blogger, I don't think that the entire blog needs to be republished every time I post a new post -- because the bigger the blog gets...you get the idea. How does publishing with Wordpress work/differ?

The comments are open!

Labels: anger, annoying, blogging, scary, web, wishes

I have missed my poor blog. I didn't realize how close we had become...until I couldn't spend time with it? (Do blogs have gender identities? Hmmmmm. Perhaps that could be a future post topic...) Anyway, in pondering my remorse for being such a bad blogger -- a great song popped into my head about friends -- by Joan Armatrading.

Now, before you go and think I am in my late 40's or early 50's, I'm not. Of course, I have had grey hair since I was 19 years old -- so perhaps I have an old soul? That aside, I got into Joan as a kid because my mom used to listen to her all the time...as well as Maria Muldaur, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, et al. Her "Me Myself I" album has long been one of my favorite selections to listen to when I am feeling moody and introspective. So, in honor of my good friend-blog, I'd like to share this great song, "Friends", with you all. Might I suggest a nice glass of wine -- or your favorite smooth spirit of choice -- before you listen? Joan's voice is deep, rich and strong -- I find that it kind of sinks into you like the heat of swallowing a luscious gulp of red wine...I find Amaretto di Saronno works well, too. Anyway, I've included the lyrics here for your enhanced enjoyment. I'll be back soon...thanks for hanging in there with me, everybody!

[ Sidenote: Congrats to the GIANTS!! Woohoo! You can take the Butterfly out of New York, but you can't take the New Yorker out of the Butterfly! ;-D ]

FOR THOSE WHO ARE EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY LISTENING TO THE SONG -- YOU CAN HEAR IT HERE: http://www.vanessaleehamlen.com/blog/joan/

[It seems as though the closing embed tag keeps getting dropped when publishing -- which makes the song player not want to work in Mozilla -- probably cock-sucking-Blogger's fault...What else is new?]




Friends by Joan Armatrading

It's been so long
Since I've seen you
My old friend
I remember your eyes
How they would shine
Those crazy times
When you and I
Fooled around
I remember the time
You fell in love
Didn't know how
To say goodbye
To your baby
And you made me take
The goodbye note
Around
And that little girl
She cried and cried
And she asked me if
I knew exactly why
You'd gone
I told a lie
I said you felt
She'd be much happier
With someone else
But then you'd do
The same for me
Remember when
We stayed out late
We'd cause a fight
But we would never stay
To the end
I loved you then
I love you still
You know I think
I always will
You're a good friend
A good friend
To me
Who was it
Who came for me when I was
Stranded in the bad man's land
Who was it
Who put up bail for me when I was
So desperate to get out
Who believed with me
That I was not guilty
Who gave me beer when I was thirsty
And who gave me twenty-five dollars to hold

Labels: beauty, blogging, butterfly, childhood, favorites, friends, hobbies, lizzard, memories, mom, music, newyork

Dear Friends,

I have been neglecting all of you. It is true. Things have been a little hectic since I started my new job -- and when one is no longer freelancing from home, it is hard to keep up with a blog as easily as before. Once things have settled into more of a routine, I plan on getting back to posting regularly. But for now, I am experiencing Bloggus Interruptus.

Please, bear with me... Thanks!

-- The Butterfly

Labels: blogging, butterfly, current events, friends, readers, twitter

I got some great loot...here's a sampling of it on our NEW table...Well, not actually new, but a great hand-me-down from my mom and her boyfriend! It just needs a little bit of repair to some of the tiles and grout, but it is perfect for our little dining area. I love it.

I got to play with this little dude (N.J.) on Monday night thanks to my friends, Lori and Michael, who made him!

On Christmas Day, we had a great time opening gifts and laughing...Here's the man saying, "Please, no paparazzi!"

And finally, I leave you with this absolutely hilarious video of my mom enjoying the free Venom mask that was included with the Spider-Man 3 DVD package. None of us could stop laughing -- she is quite a character, isn't she?

Labels: babies, butterfly, connecticut, friends, funny, gifts, holidays, lizzard, mom, newyork, njbaby, towhead, toys, video, Virginia

[ If you are going to swipe any of my pictures, I think we all know that the polite and righteous thing to do is to make sure you credit me for it with a link. If you don't, well then, you are a photo-thieving asshole and you should be shot... ]

Labels: bored, butterfly, household, lighting, photos, pictures, pretty, snow, studies, winter

Labels: childhood, famous faces, freaks, funny, gifts, holidays, misfits, toys, videos, vintage, YouTube

The concert has been a smashing success over at Citizen of the Month! However, Sophia, Neil and I needed to do some fast creative brainstorming earlier today...it was brought to my attention that the original yellow (gold) Star of David was not a good idea for historical reasons. I will not dwell on those reasons here (look it up on Wikipedia if you don't know the specific history) because I don't want to take away from the positive issue at hand -- which is that we actively pursued and came to an excellent solution! The *NEW* and *IMPROVED* Blue and White Glowing Star has been incorporated into the now revised logo design.

And, if you are here for the "Concert Buttons" -- you can now download the whole pack which includes the original 5 from my previous post as well as *7 Bonus Fashion Buttons* not pictured...Slightly different versions with shadows for depth and two with a "magical glow"!

Click the button below to get .ZIP file package!




ENJOY!!!

<---------- IMPORTANT NOTE! ------------>

FOR THE HTML CODE HELP ON THESE BUTTONS -- SEE THE BOTTOM OF MY PREVIOUS POST -- OR REFER TO THE READ_ME.TXT FILE INCLUDED IN THE DOWNLOAD PACKAGE. THX!

Labels: blogging, blogs, butterfly, buttons, chk2007, citizenofthemonth, concert, friends, fun, graphics, holidays, music, neilochka, sophia, twitter

Well, if you don't know, you should! Neil Kramer aka "Neilochka" of Citizen of the Month (and twitter) is hosting his Second Annual 2007 Blogger Christmahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert Extravaganza! What is this exactly? Neil explains it best:

"...It is now time to raise our voices in song again in this new holiday tradition. Hanukkah songs about miracles. Christmas songs about faith. Winter songs about the beauty of the season. Kwanzaa songs about new traditions. It is the 2007 Blogger Christmahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert, right here on Citizen of the Month on Monday, December 10th (with a re-broadcast on Christmas Day). The concert is for YOU and by YOU — and this year will be bigger and better than last year..."

Basically, anyone from the blogging-community-at-large is welcome to share a recording of him/herself singing a favorite holiday song! It is meant to be fun...and possibly quite funny...as we all celebrate the great big inclusive Holiday of Christmahanukwanzaakah! Plus, if you are too embarassed to sing, Neil also welcomes photographs from bloggers to help "dress the set". It should be a great time. And, if you have never checked out Citizen of the Month before, you really should because Neil's blog is hilariously funny and incredibly well-written. [ I should hope so on that last part because Neil is a professional writer in "real life"! ]

That said, you'll be pleased to know that I have a submission in this year's concert. I sang "The Man With The Bag", a song that was originally recorded by Kay Starr in 1950. This song has always made me laugh because of its unapologetic theme of Christmas greed LOL! (Hence, my allusion to it in the sidebar where I have my Amazon.com Xmas Wish List!) Plus, I love the peppy big-band sound of it. As I explained to Neil, I don't have a particularly great singing voice...so I decided to really ham-up my submission in the hope that "really funny" would excuse "lack of talent". I recorded it with a clothespin on my nose so that it would be really nasal and then I tried to do a little bit of Ethel-Merman-like styling, although sans the great power of Ethel's voice. Anyway, I think it is pretty funny. I mixed it myself on the computer with an instrumental karaoke track -- not bad production value for being recorded in my home office. Join us at the concert and feel free to laugh at me and my song! I also submitted the "Winter Berries in Snow" picture from the previous post below as decoration for the concert so you'll probably see that too.

I also created the unsolicited artwork pictured above -- I was inspired by the idea of trying to create a logo design to incorporate the 3 holidays into a graphical image that was clean, attractive and symbolically cohesive. It was a great graphic design challenge! I used the three colors of Kwanzaa (black, red, green) -- the Christmas Tree symbols (which double as general holiday season/winter symbols too) -- and a gold blue and white glowing star of David -- as well as a blue background as another Jewish/Hanukah nod. I sent the graphics to Neil last night, but I still don't know what he thinks of them. He may or may not use them, but my real purpose was to create them for my own use to promote the concert because I think it is such a fun idea and concept that Neil has started. People are certainly welcome to borrow my button for use on their own blogs...I think it is kind of neat to have a "I participated in CHK 2007" badge for the sidebar so that blog readers can revisit the fun we had anytime and maybe become new participants for next year's!

[ I would love it if folks credited me for the button if they use it, but it's not necessary. Just leave me a nice word in my comments if you are going to borrow it! Share the love, baby. ]


Click the button below to visit Citizen of the Month:




<--------------------------- UPDATE 12/10/07! --------------------------->

Hey folks! I created this modified version button badge below (4 colors) that folks can also use in their sidebar -- year round if you like (!) -- to provide a link to the concert festivities any time. It's a nice way to thank Citizen of the Month for hosting this wonderful event...





You will need to host the button image on your own site and modify the code below accordingly. Here's the code you will need to use the buttons:
<a href="http://www.citizenofthemonth.com/2007/12/10/the-2007-blogger-christmahanukwanzaakah-online-holiday- concert/" title="Check out the 2007 Christmahanukwanzaakah Concert!"><img src="http://www.YOURWEBADDRESS.com/BUTTON NAME OF CHOICE.png" title="Check out the 2007 Christmahanukwanzaakah Concert!" border="0" /></a>

Labels: blogging, blogs, butterfly, chk2007, citizenofthemonth, concert, friends, fun, graphics, holidays, music, neilochka, photos, pictures, twitter