Behind the Blog: Happy Easter and Lots of Rabbit

Happy Easter Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful day with your family and friends yesterday 

...going to church 

...enjoying the weather

...eating

My house was a feasting ground yesterday.

We ate...and ate..and ate to our hearts content. 

I know it's been awhile since I've written anything.  

I swear I haven't fallen off the edge of the planet!

So to help make amends, I decided to do a special post. 

One that's a little different than my normal postings, but that's okay because it's Monday and it's not my normal day!

Easter food, to me, is more than candy filled eggs.

I feel like it's the one holiday where there isn't a "designated" food.  Like the Turkey for Thanksgiving

or Watermelon for July 4th.  Each year can have a fresh focus.

And this year was different. for. sure. 

Guys, have you ever had rabbit?!

It's surprisingly sweet.

But we didn't just eat it, oh no.  

This Easter we made the meal a family experience.

Now I'm not big on cooking, in general, let alone starting with an animal, fully intact.  

I mean if you give it to me, I'll eat it.  

But I'm not too interested in dealing with eyeballs.

Eyeballs or not, though, I couldn't believe how much fun I ended up having after my initial apprehension.

So much, in fact, that I think it deserves a post. 

And it's super useful information. 

DISCLAIMER:  The following may be disturbing to some children.  

How To Prepare Rabbit

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3, 4, 5, 6, 7-12

 Step 13

Step 14 (not pictured)
Eat!!

Oh, don't look at me like that. 

Happy April Fools Day!!

Behind The Blog: Facebook Page

I'll admit it.

There have been times when I've hated this blog.

Resented its drain on my time.  

Planning, writing, deadlines.  Week after week.  

What is this college?!  

Sometimes I'm inspired and utter brilliance flows from the moment I begin.  

In that case, it's fun. I mean who doesn't love being brilliant?

But other times it is like pulling teeth.

But I have never...ever...missed my "blogging" times more, than I do at this moment.

You see.  It's really hard to bake, be creative, or just have two minutes to yourself when you are in the middle of a huge project at work on top of covering someone else's full time position.  

This is my life:

I get up.  And I go to work.  

I come home.  ...And I work.  

It's the weekend.  .......And I work some more.   

I need ME time.  I need BLOG time!  Blog, I misssss youuuuu!!!!!!!!!

It's funny how quickly a perspective can change.  It's all about what you set your focus on.

I was thinking about that a couple of days ago.

I mean I had a pretty terrible day.  By anyone's standards.  But then I remembered all the "little" nice things that happened, and a light went on in my noggin.  What we choose to dwell on dictates how we feel.

Forthcoming: Proof.

A real life example from a few days ago. 

Feel free to block one side or the other of your screen to get the full effect.

See there's a pretty great day in there amongst all that other mess.

So whether it's a "hate" blog or "love" blog moment, I know that in the end I really enjoy what I do.

Especially, in these moments of complete creative deprivation.

Next week, I (*fingers crossed*) will have a real, honest to goodness "baked-good" post for you all.

But in the mean time if you need your N.A.I.B. fix, I've set up a Facebook Page!  (Click any of the pictures to be taken there).

Now, you can connect with me outside of this here blog, and I'll be posting interesting baking tidbits a couple of times a week.  

Just to keep all of our minds where they should be.  

...On cake, of course.

Plus, I link all of my posts to the page so now it can show up on your newsfeed every Thursday!

   

So go on, "like" Nat's Adventures In Baking!  I'd love to hear from you!

In the mean time I need a good massage.  

That's a perspective change for ya.

The thought of a random person's hands on my shoulders normally wigs me out.

Now?  

Not so much.

Behind The Blog: Bloggity Blog Redesign

I don't know why I call this my "Bloggity Blog."

I just do.

Whenever I save a file or photo for this here blog - "bloggity" is usually somewhere in the title.

I guess that's kind of what I do.

Morph proper names like "Nat's Adventures In Baking" into nonsensical non-names.

It's how my cat became:

Booger
Boosh
Boosher
Boo Bear
or Little Bast@#%...oh, that's not a nice one.

I wonder if he knows his name is Archie?


While I have a real food review post coming up soon, I'm pretty busy working for the next couple weeks so I won't have time for a more detailed post until this weekend.

What better time to give you a tour around the new design, huh?

I've been using the "Dynamic" view in Blogger ever since they first introduced it.

For a complete and utter beginner, it's great because it instantly gives your blog a facelift - no brains involved.

However, I always had issues with it looking different on every computer and not being user friendly.  

Finally, after two successful "test" blogs, I got up the guts to switch back to "Simple" view...and viola!  Here we are.

If you ever want to start a blog, I suggest you never, ever go with the Dynamic View - as tempting as it may be.  Your blog layout may suffer for awhile, but you can build in Simple View one step at a time and it's infinitely more customizable.  

So now I introduce to you the new header and even newer - page bar!

Home Tab: Get the goods.  Here's where all the posts happen in a chain of the four most recently added.

Comments Section: At the end of each post.  What made you laugh?  What made you cry?  

About Me: For now it's just background on why I started this blog, but I'll add more to it bit by bit if I feel inspired. 

Recipe Index:  This is my favorite part!  I've wanted to do this forever.  Now you can find the recipe you need, when you need it.  First, I plucked out my favorites - the ones I'd make again - and put them at the top.  The rest are organized by type.  Maybe you'll find something that intrigues you.

Baking Basics: I also set aside a tab for all the baking 101's, the "how to's" if you will.  Once again finding what you need, when you need it.

Fav Blogs: Giving a shout out to the blogs I follow.  The ones that inspire me.  Hopefully you'll find one or two that spark your interest.

And now, for the Sidebar.

On the top half we have:

The Search Bar.  Looking for a recipe that uses graham crackers? Marshmallows?  Type it.  Find it.

The Follow By Email.  Can't remember to check back here every week?  Me either.  Just type in your email address. You'll get a verification email.  Click the link and you're all set.  You won't have to miss out on a post again.

The Popular Posts.  Here's a running log of the top 5 most popular posts.  So you can relive them over and over ...and over.

And the bottom half:

Blog Archive.  All posts listed by date.  Year, then month, then individual post.

Subscribe.  You can add N.A.I.B. to your RSS feed.  If you don't know what that means then you don't have it.  Basically, if you like all of your news, blogs, etc (anything that is regularly updated) all in one place then here you go.

Become a Follower.  Join the club and publicly declare your affiliation with my blog (-gity blog ;).  Every blog offers this, but in all honesty I've never seen any benefit in it, except that it makes me look good. (I'm popular!)

Translate.  In case you have all these international friends who would just love my blog.  Or you want to brush up on your Bulgarian.  It's amazing and scary how many languages you can translate this post into.  Dang, Google.  Taking over the world, one blog at a time. 

--

And that my friends concludes this session of "Nat's Bloggity Blog Tour."

Hope you like it!

And find it a whole lot easier to navigate

...plus a little prettier too.