Time for an installment of Weekend Things:
1. I got a blog makeover! I cannot tell you how thrilled I am about my site’s new look and the functionality.
One of the things I’m most excited about is that I now have visual recipe indexing. Meaning there’s a photo accompanying each recipe, and the recipes are categorized better and by type.
Go to the top right hand corner of the screen, where you’ll see Browse Recipes and a drop down menu, where you can click on the category you want.
For example, if you click on cookies, you’ll be brought to this page, where you can see every single cookie I’ve ever posted and click on what you want. How cool is that.
Not every single category is listed in the drop down menu in an effort to keep things more streamlined, but the major ones are there.
If you’d like to search for things a little more obscure, say, avocado, you can type avocado into the search bar.
Or, use the drop down menu again. The last item that says Recipe Index on the drop down brings you to the Recipe Index page, which looks like this. From there, you can browse by ingredient.
It’s not perfect because I have 4 years of recipes, and was horrible about tagging them. And in the past month, I’ve been working behind the scenes trying to tag and categorize my recipes.
As time goes by and I notice things that could be tagged better, or that I missed, I will continue to tag and categorize as best I can.
If you are looking for a recipe and can’t find it by using the drop down menu, the search bar, or the recipe index page, email me and I can help you find it. I just posted last week that I have 300+ recipes on Foodgawker alone, and even I can get lost. There are also old posts from when I was on Blogspot that don’t have accompanying images that show up, but cest la vie.
All photos now have a hoovering Pinterest button in the top left-hand corner of the image for easier pinning. I know I appreciate this on blogs I visit so that I can pin the image I want to, and for selfish reasons, so that I can pin the recipe as a reminder to myself that I want to make it.
The other thing that has changed is that there is no more loveveggiesandyoga anywhere in my html or in any of the post titles or links. Anything that exists on other sites and refers to me as LV&Y or links to my site using LV&Y, such as other blogs or Pinterest, is now forwarded to averiecooks.
Goodbye old site, you served me well, but I’ve moved on. When I first started blogging 4 years ago, I loved veggies and yoga, and I still do; I just don’t choose to write blog posts about them and haven’t for the past few years.
I have anxiously been awaiting this makeover and launch for nearly one year.
None of this would have been possible without the help of Lindsay Landis of Purr Design. She’s also the blogger behind Love and Olive Oil
And she’s written two books in the past 18 months, The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook and Breakfast for Dinner
If you are at all thinking of a blog makeover, Lindsay is amazing. She’s patient as a saint, creative, a visionary, and at times, a mind-reader. Her waiting list is on the longer side, but she’s well worth the wait. I cannot tell you how much I admire her work, and how thrilled I am with it.
Needless to say, my situation wasn’t just a straight makeover because of the URL changes. Every other designer I had previously worked with or interviewed, didn’t want to touch it with a 10-foot pole. Lindsay jumped right in, and handled it all like the true and extremely talented professional she is. Lindsay is your girl if you need a bigger time makeover.
2. I’m a contributing Blogger, Recipe Developer, and Photographer on Pillsbury, a “Pillsbury Maker”
I grew up in Minnesota, home of Pillsbury, before moving to San Diego and it’s quite an honor with a touch of nostalgia for me to be on the Pillsbury site.
I made Pretzel S’mores Chocolate Cookie Bars
3. They’re similar to the Salted Caramel Pretzel Blondies, which I made after the Smore’s Cookie Bars, because I was loving the pretzel and salty-and-sweet vibe so much.
Marshmallows and a chocolate cookie bar base were swapped for salted caramel and a blondie bar base.
4. San Francisco 500 Square Feet Apartment Tour – Dad, mom, and two small kids living in 500 square feet and tt’s amazing what they’ve done with it and how uncluttered and functional it is.
For anyone with kids, you know how kid stuff multiplies. And for anyone with a food blog, or who’s a cook, or just who’s lived life and isn’t 22 anymore living in your first apartment, you know that kitchen stuff multiplies; it’s bulky, and hogs space. Between kid and kitchen stuff, I could fill 500 square feet easily.
5. We live in a 1200 square feet urban condo and it feels extremely cramped at times; other times not as much.
No yard, no garage, no basement, and no attic like the houses I grew up with make San Diego much different than rural Minnesota.
6. 10 Ways to Make Better Brownies – Including some I had not heard, like the number 9, “Chill them before baking. After spreading the batter in a pan, refrigerate it for at least an hour or up to overnight. The end result will be brownies with extra-crisp edges and a moist, fudge-y center.”
I have two recipes for brownies, and swear by both of them. They’re both one-bowl, whisk-together recipes that are as fast a a boxed mix and produce consistently stellar, ultra-fudgy brownies.
Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting – This brownie base uses melted chocolate and I like to swirl in Nutella but the brownies are fabulous with or without Nutella
And The Ultimate Fudgy Caramel Brownies
7. I went to Big Potluck a couple weeks ago and am still thinking about how much fun it was.
8. I was named one of the Top 10 Desserts and Sweets Bloggers on Pinterest– “…We compiled the list based on Cision’s proprietary research, with results limited to bloggers who dedicate significant coverage to sweets.”
I’ve been given quite a few honors and awards over the years, but being recognized as a ‘blogger who dedicates significant coverage to sweets’ makes all of my sweet teeth very happy.
9. Eating All Organic Food On a Food Stamp Budget – According to the author, yes, you can feed a family of three all-organic food for the month. The author stayed within her monthly food budget of $526. She offers tips and suggestions what she does.
10. Buttery Sweet Dough Emulsion – “Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor is extra-buttery, with hints of vanilla and citrus; add a few drops of this flavoring to your favorite sweet bread recipe, and your family and friends will be clamoring for the name of the bakery you visited.”
If it could make everything smell like Overnight Buttermilk Soft and Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls I would be in heaven.
11. I got a Mother’s Day Care package yesterday from Sur La Table. They’re an amazing source for everything you need for your kitchen, and for things you don’t even know you need. I’m in heaven when I wander into my local store. They sent me a Le Creuset Teakettle
And a Cuisinart 7-Cup Food Processor in Metallic Red
Needless to say, this kicked off my Mother’s Day Weekend in a fabulous way. I can’t wait to put the food processor to use with a batch of my favorite peanut butter, Honey Roasted Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter (GF)
What are your Weekend Things?
Could you live in a 500 square foot apartment with your spouse/partner and child? For all of you with kids, remember that baby stuff and kid stuff multiplies in the closet.
Could you eat organic (or do you care to) and feed your family on $500 a month? I know plenty of single, childless people who spend that on themselves in two weeks.
If you’ve made anything, done, seen, or bought anything fabulous recently, feel free to link it up in the comments.
Have a wonderful Mother’s Day Weekend and I hope all the moms have a special day that’s exactly the way you would choose.
Stay tuned for an amazing giveaway. You won’t want to miss it!
Blog makeover looks wonderful :) I’m loving the new logo!
Thanks, Brandy! Lindsay is amazing. Remember me talking to you about it at the pool almost a year ago in Aruba!? Well, it finally happened :)
Woo-hoo! Love, love, looove the new look! It loads much faster on my ancient computer too. :D Thanks for the information on Lindsay – I’m kind of hoping to make the leap over to WP (someday…) and I have no idea where to even begin.
Congrats on the Pinterest recognition!
So glad load times are reduced. WOOT! That was a goal of mine!
I LOVE the new site design, Averie! It’s so sleek, stylish, modern and clean. There are just too many wonderful things in this “Weekend Things” to comment on. All I can say is, life sounds like it’s going well for you and you totally deserve it!
Love the new design, Averie! So pretty!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the new design. And I love your tag line recipes for sweet teeth. Growing up I always told people I don’t have a sweet tooth, I have sweet teeth! I honestly don’t understand people who don’t like sugar- then again I am probably addicted. You all looked like you had such a fabulous time at the potluck I would be thinking about it too if I went! Hope your having a good week so far. :)
Oh thanks for noticing my tag line! I just had Lindsay put it up today. Before that it was just the logo and I was debating and trying to come up with something for…years! I could never think of anything and was wondering if people would ‘get’ it; if a little joke like that would translate in so few words. Glad to hear it does! :) And I can relate to you with sweet teeth, for sure!
Love everything about the new design, Averie. And I agree, Lindsay is definitely a great at web designing :)
Congrats on Pillbury and Pinterest! So well deserving, my friend :)
I love new font and logo looks great.
Love the makeover! It’s perfect. And congrats on making the Top 10 Desserts and Sweets Bloggers on Pinterest!
Looks fantastic! I love the centered layout and the visual features for recipes is a big PLUS as all of your treats look so great, and it always helps me pick which one to try. Congrats!
I love love LOOOOVE the redesign! It looks so good, Averie! There’s something so invigorating about getting a new look for your blog, isn’t there?
It looks amazing! Lindsay has done fabulous design work yet again. I love everything about it.
What I meant is if I can reply to your replies? And it will show up in hierarchy style. You know what I mean?
Ahh, threaded comments.
I will ask my web designer about this!
Love the new site look! And congrats on being recognized by Pinterest. That is quite an accomplishment!
Averie, is there any way to reply to your comment? Am I missing something?
Not missing anything – I got this one. And the one that starts out: Meat definitely takes up a big chunk of any food budget….
And the original one.
Sometimes you just have to refresh the page and wait a minute.
Thanks for sharing your life experiences and perspectives!
Meat definitely takes up a big chunk of any food budget. I drive across the border to the US Costco to get organic meat. I wish we had TJ in Canada…Sigh. In Canada, I spend $60 every week for produce and that’s not organic and only produce…I’m at $1000 grocery bill and that’s all healthy stuff.
It’s hard to imagine until you experience it yourself. I honestly don’t remember that life clearly myself anymore as I’ve lived in a wonderful Canada for the last 13 years. But it made me truly appreciate my current life every day. And living in a 3,000 sf house will feel like living in a palace forever…Probably, it’s not necessary either but it is what it is.:)
Hi Averie,
First of all, the new features are awesome! I think it’s a must for food blogs. It’s on my to do list to have a visual recipe index but will not happen for a while now. It’s a lot of work and I would like a new template all together and many other reasons. But good for you!
It’s amazing how far you made as a food blogger and I would like to be there one day too. I’m sure it’s a lot of work! Good for you!
I come from Ukraine and back there people live in 300 sf apartments all their lives. That’s how I lived. So, yes, it’s possible.:)
Hmmm, in Canada, you can’t live on $500 a month to eat healthy food overall.:) Organic? NO! Maybe in the US, it’s a bit cheaper.
Thanks for the great comment and glad you love all the new features. Ukraine and living in 300 sq ft. I know that other parts of the world live like that; I just…cannot imagine. God bless you for being able to appreciate all the space you have now given your upbringing!
And $500 in the US to eat is $125 a week for groceries. I could feed my family on this but I also don’t buy meat and that would mean buying whatever is cheap and on sale, and definitely not being married to organic. We wouldn’t be eating mac n cheese out of a box, but we wouldnt be eating organic persimmon either :)
LOVE the new design!! There are so many things I’d like to update on my page, and seeing all your new pretty things makes me want to even more! Congrats on the Pinterest award!! And I love that buttery sweet dough emulsion–It really helps get the buttery flavor for me since I don’t usually use real butter!
Oh that’s awesome that you’ve tried that emulsion! Ive tried the Princess one and it was ‘fine’ but wasn’t thrilled. However, buttery sweet dough…I am in love with the name alone! Glad you love my site :)
I’ve only been a follower for a few months, and feel the change is so dramatic! For the good, of course! :-) The recipe layout is so simple, I’m loving it!
I lived in a small (900 sq ft) bungalow in Chicago, and now live in a huge American Four-square (3200 sq ft) in Northern Michigan. I went from a kitchen counter that was able to barely fit a coffee pot and a toaster, to a kitchen with empty cabinets. Altho, my kitchen is extremely outdated, it’s functional. My biggest change was spending almost a 1/2 century with a gas stove, and getting used to electric. Now, I can do either without a problem (but still *prefer* flames to coils:)
Thanks for being a newer follower Sharon & glad you like the change! Dramatic, in a good way :)
And we used to live in Chicago! That’s where my hubs is from and that’s where the two of us met. I used to have some apartments in the Gold Coast, Wrigleyville, and all over the city that were so old and small it was…laughable. So I do know what you mean with the old Chicago construction. And now you have 3200 sq ft…nice! We used to go to Michigan to ‘get away’ for long weekends some times…the memories :)
Hi! I wanted to let you know that I nominated your blog for the Bouquet of Three Awards at http://marinaskitchen.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/bouquet-of-three-awards !!!
Marina
Thanks for the nomination :)
So many congrats’ on everything! I LOVE the new redesign, it’s so you (and I adore the new recipe index with photos!) Lindsay is amazing, it looks like she did a phenomenal job!
I like this upgraded look too. :) It’s very clean and easy to follow.
I’m absolutely loving the redesign – it’s so gorgeous! Congrats :) I know how time consuming it can be.
And your design is one I have ALWAYS loved! My very first WP blog (after transitioning from blogspot) were your colors – teal, white, and a hint of black/gray. Love those colors!
The Buttery Sweet Dough Emulsion is key in Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream. The stuff is so fantastic…I swoon just thinking of it. I have the Princess Emulsion, too, because you never know when you might need it, but no recipe to put it in! So far, anyway.
And a huge congrats on the Pinterest honor! I know that’s how I discovered you. So glad I did! :) I made the Honey Roasted White Chocolate Butterscotch Peanut Butter last night. It is to die for. Wowza.
Thanks for finding me on Pinterest! And for making that PB..it’s my FAVE Pb recipe I have EVER created. Better than chocolate. I love that stuff…so much :)
Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream = just the sounds of that makes me weak in the knees. lol
Ok so I have the princess emulsion and I used it in cookies or bars, maybe like a year ago, and there is a note in it; I can’t put my finger on it, but a close friend of mine also has it, and she can taste this same note/element/flavor and I will be super honest, I didn’t love it. Nor did she. Maybe I haven’t found the right use for it but it really overpowered everything. If you use it successfully, please LMK! I am dying to give it another go!
Congrats on everything you have accomplished!! You need to teach me your Pinterest tricks. :-)
The blog makeover is beautiful! Everyone has a lot of great things to say about Lindsay… looks like I’ll be adding myself to her list real soon. :-D
Thanks girl; yes, she is amazing and you will looooovvvve working with her!
Kudos on your comprehensive upgrade! As a past and future small business owner, I fully understand how much behind-the-scenes work this kind of thing entails. Here’s hoping this terminal transition will be (realistically: “relatively”) bug-free :)
Glad you can appreciate the workload. Yes, it took more than an hour or two to toss this little thing together :) Thanks for the support and ‘getting it’ :)
Your new site and all its beautiful features are incredible! I love it! The photos that accompany each recipe is the best part, I feel. It is something that helps so much in finding a recipe if you forget what it’s called but remember exactly what it looked like. Searching by ingredient, however, is also pretty darn cool. Wow! Amazing makeover!
I love that you are a Pillsbury contributor and that it is nostalgic because of where you are from. Congratulations! Also congratulations on being named one of the top 10 desserts and sweets bloggers on Pinterest! You have the greatest desserts and they are easy, too. Gorgeous photography for every recipe and can be made in a jiffy.
As for $500 a month, no way. We easily spend much more than that in a week with the amount of food we go through. Not always, but often. I imagine we will be able to travel around the world and back when our boys move out and are on their own. The majority of our income is on food! And as for 500 square feet, ugh. I mean, we could probably do it, but we might kill each other! :-)
I can only imagine your grocery budget and yes to traveling the world on that alone, once the boys are out of the house :)
And thanks for the sweet compliments, as always, and for always being such a positive voice, Michele! Glad the pics/with recipe will be helpful…I agree! :)
Happy Mother’s Day!!!
I love the look of your site! It’s just beautiful!!!
Congrats on the site upgrades and wishing you a happy (early) Mother’s Day. Enjoy :-)
Thanks, Bria!
Love the new site! It looks great! Congrats!
What a great week for you full of so many good things, congrats x a million, you deserve it!
I’m late to the party, here, but congratulations, the new site looks awesome. You of all bloggers will really benefit from that visual index. I’m in the midst of a blog re-do myself, and this is very inspirational.
You have been so busy, I don’t know where you get all your energy, I don’t even have the energy to COMMENT on everything mentioned in this post! Suffice it to say…go girl! I’m very happy for you :)
Good luck with your re-design, Sue. It’s SUCH a long, detail-oriented, technically-oriented process and seems to drag on forever at times, even with the best possible person working for you. Hope yours is coming along! And thanks for your support! I work like a dog around the clock but when I’m old and too tired to do it anymore, I will look back on this chapter in life and be glad I gave it all I had :)
OMG Averie! It’s gorgeous!!!! LOVE your new site!
Great look to the new site! I love it and I love all the ways to search your recipes. I cna’t imagine the work, but it will pay off in spades, as I am sure you were constantly reminding yourself through all the headaches of doing it!
I’ve made a few things, yes. One a day for all of 2013, in fact. http://cookiesandcrafts.wordpress.com/i-made-this/
Congrats on EVERYTHING!! The Pilsbury thing, the Pinterest thing, the blog design…all of it!!
I am conflicted about that food stamp thing. I haven’t read it (just opened it in a new tab) but I have a feeling there will be a few major sticking points with me. I know that I spend near $300 a month on groceries and I’m very frugal for the most part and make a lot of things myself. Still though….I do buy quality over quantity for a lot of things that I am not willing to compromise on.
Thank you for the enthusiastic well wishes! :) And I can’t even quite begin to tell you how much work it was, but I think you already know. And yes, will pay off in spades.
And if for nothing else, maybe you will get this comment reply right in your inbox…finally!
And I know you are super frugal re groceries, making your own (we are the DIY queens) and yeah, very very easy to spend $75 a week on groceries for one’s self! Organic or not!
LOVE the new look. I find myself checking Purr’s site every once in a while just to see what new designs are added to their portfolio. Everything they do is amazing!
Your site looks lovely and so easy to navigate. Purr Designs does beautiful work – I admire it often! Congrats on the Pillsbury gig and the Pinterest rating. Your creations are amazing and I wish I had time to make them all!
1) LOVE the site re-desng Averie!! It’s SO clean, streamlined, and easy to navigate. Especially that recipe index! It’s beautiful. So many gorgeous pictures all together. And browsing by ingredient, I just love that! I love the popular posts at the bottom, too! And I’m still diggin’ all this pink. My favorite color. I bet Skylar loves it too! I can’t wait – mine is in July! :)
2) Happy Mother’s Day!!
3) Congrats on being a PIllsbury contributor! That is SO, so, so exciting. So happy for you. Congrats on the Pinterest ranking too. You deserve attention on there!
4) Love all of the new things happening for Averie Cooks!
Thank you my friend. I can’t even quite begin to tell you how HARD I worked the past 10 days or so on this…in addition to everything else :) But it’s so worth it and now hopefully I am set for a long! time! I know you did your vis recipe indexing after…like 1 yr of blogging. Very smart :) And so glad you love it. You’re going to love working with Lindsay – she’s a dream come true!!
The new site looks amazing, Averie! <3
Love the new design! Visual recipe indexing is SO much easier for finding recipes, I gotta see the pic first always! Looks really good Averie & congrats on the pillsbury feature!
Thanks Katy!
Your new site looks so pretty, Averie! It is so you! Love the recipe index! Have a fabulous weekend! Happy Mother’s Day!!
The blog looks great, Averie!! And I hear you about the behind the scenes work – I’m still working on it!! But totally worth it. And how cool to be named a top dessert pinner!
Girl. I know. When I read that blog post of yours I was in the THICK of my own little hell :) But it’s 95% indexed and done; shy of some savory recipes and some really old stuff that’s just not a priority to me, but the past 2 yrs and desserts – done! :)
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new site design! I love everything Lindsay designs, she is a graphical genius! I actually find myself following blogs simply because they’re designed by Purr lol.
Wow, that’s a huge testimonial for her right there! ( following blogs simply because they’re designed by Purr)
hooray congrats averie – the new site looks great!
Thanks for saying hi, Jennifer! Good to hear from you!
Love the fresh new look, and the visual index is fab!
Hi Averie – your new website redesign looks absolutely sensational! Congratulations on everything! And have a very Happy Mother’s Day! : )
I love everything about your new makeover! I’m going to keep Lindsey in mind and get on the list. Even though I just started my site, and have done it all by myself…I want my categories more organized with pics, etc. Thanks for the referral.
I often think how much I miss my other kitchen (sold my other home to my sis), it was much smaller than my kitchen now. I love all my space I have…but Averie, when I make a disaster…it takes me more time “walking” from one end to the other just to clean it all up! (=
Congrads with Pillsbury! I’m going to have to go over there!
You are just amazing…I really don’t know how you do it all! I look up to you all the time and I will usually find myself wondering…how would Averie do this…and how does she do this…I know, I’m crazy! lol
Hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend!
I do it by working 20 hrs a day and I am not exaggerating. It’s the only way I can fit all of my life & work into a 24 hr period. :) I work a whole other day at night but it’s okay! My life will be boring when I’m 80 and I can look back on these times then. lol
And you will love love love working with Lindsay!
Congrats on the new website…its beautiful! So excited to navigate all my fav recipes ina new way. Have a great weekend!!
Wow, congrats on the updated site. It looks amazing! I recently changed over from blogger to wordpress so I know what that’s like.
500 square feet of living? I’m sure I could manage, but it would be hard. The saying, “Everything is bigger in Texas” is definitely true, but as a native Texan I don’t know anything else. :) We have neighbors that moved to Texas from Cali and they were in shock with how big of house they could buy in Texas. Kind of spoils us…BUT you guys have the GORGEOUS scenery and ocean views that we don’t have here in Texas. :)
We lived in both NC and SC for a few yrs and also AZ – places where you can get SPACE for very, very cheap. In Cali, we can buy a 1200 ft condo and you can buy a 5000 sq foot house with 2 acres of land :) It’s just crazy. And yes, our first house in CA was close enough to our neighbor’s lot line that I could reach out from my kitchen window and touch my neighbor’s kitchen window (and hear their conversations at their dinner table when we had our windows open!
I love your new design, and congrats on finally getting the url situation figured out! I know it was slightly confusing for me because I didn’t know whether to look up “loveveggiesandyoga” or “averiecooks,” so that’s great you only have one now!
And congrats on Pillsbury and and being named one of the top 10 dessert bloggers on pinterest!
I don’t know how the family does it living in 500 square ft! I can barely stand living in a dorm room with one other person. The best part of working for Disney for me was (besides working for disney!) having my own apartment! It seemed HUGE after a dorm!
The URLs would have worked either way before, everything from AC was fwd’ed into LV&Y. But now, everything from LV&Y is fwd’ed into AC and any visual reminders of LV&Y is totally gone!! But yes, I know it was confusing for so many ppl! I would have been too :)
Averie, love love love your new site! It looks gorgeous, and the recipe index with photos is fabulous! Everything is just beautiful!
My husband and I live in a very unconventional space – it’s one apartment in a house converted to a triplex. It really is fine for us and our dog, but entertaining requires a lot of creativity (where do we put all these people?!), and of course the kitchen is SO teeny – it’s a converted hallway closet! But, it’s our first home together so I know that it’ll always be a special place to us. :)
And you will always have those special memories which is wonderful!
The site looks awesome! I will have fun checking out checking out the recipes and interesting posts. I always learn something new.
Have a great weekend!
Love the new look, Averie! It’s so clean and user friendly. I wondered what the changes would be when I tried to look up the Nutella Cinnamon Roll recipe last night and couldn’t access the site. Feels like a breath of fresh air :)
And what honors! Congratulations :)
I couldn’t imagine living in 500 square feet- and I don’t even have kids! Tiny spaces are far people who are far more organized and tidy, haha. Our first apartment was 800 square feet, just a studio with no closets, and I couldn’t *wait* for more space. Now we live in a slightly bigger space, and closets and rooms with doors make all the difference!
That brownie tip is a good one- I love chewy insides and crisp edges.
Happy weekend and Happy Mother’s Day!
I know; the site was only non-functional to users for about 4 hours and I had soooo many panicked emails but glad you got your recipe & thanks for the nice comment!
Congratulations on the Pinterest top 10!! That is so fantastic, you work hard and it’s well-deserved :)
I love the new layout too- so cute!
Wow, Averie, it looks wonderful. Enough change that I can tell, but not so much I’m wondering where you went! I bet it was with the wait. I like the URL change (all the same stuff!) and the recipe index is awesome! I remember going through your other one and loving it all, but it was a ton to go through. Now I’m even more excited to keep going through all your posts! Excellent work!
Your blog looks awesome! I noticed the changes right away and love it! Love the pic of your kitchen too. It’s so pretty with all that wood – exactly the color scheme I want in my next kitchen. No more white cabinets!
White can be cool in a modern, fresh, super crisp way…or it can look a little 1982. One of those tricky ones to navigate. This was all wood when we moved in and that’s the way it’s stayed!
WOW!!! Averie the site looks beautiful!!! I love it so much!!! Lindsay did an amazing job!!! I am so excited for you!!!
Sounds like you are having a great week!! Your are on fire!! Pillsbury! To 10 dessert blog! Thats is awesome!!
Thank you, Tieghan!
LOVE your new design–especially the picture feature with the recipes! Sometimes I can’t remember the title of something, but I know it when I see it. Congratulations on the Pinterest top 10 and your affiliation with Pillsbury–very appropriate for a dessert blogger (and cool that it’s a tie to your childhood state). I tend to buy organic produce based on the “dirty dozen” list and since I have my raised garden, I only have to buy salad greens from the grocery for about 6-7 mos. out of the year. Otherwise, I look for organic items on sale. I’m not exclusive about it all but I definitely buy more organic than I did 10 yrs ago.
Glad you like it, Paula! I know for long-standing readers like you who really make SO many of my recipes, that it’s gotta be nice to have the visuals. Sometimes I can’t even remember if I called something Chocolate Fudgy Cookies or Fudgy Brownie Cookies and I’ll be looking all over my own site for the wrong thing :) Yeah. Have a wonderful weekend!
Congrats on the redesign! I give props to the family living in the 500 square foot apartment. I am not sure I could do that successfully! And Happy Mother’s Day to you, Averie!
I know, 500 sq ft is TIGHT! Have a great weekend too!
Congrats on the new look girl! It is GORGEOUS!!
The new blog design looks beautiful! I love how “clean” and intuitive it is! Congrats on the top 10 dessert blogger award!!
LOVE. IT. I knew it was a Lindsay design as soon as I saw it. She is ridiculously talented and it seriously looks so great.
Agreed on being able to spot her work instantly and so talented!
The redesign is great!
I LOVE the pictorial recipe addition!
Congrats on all the website upgrades! I am so impressed-I haven’t even gotten around to making my website have a non-“.wordpress” URL.
As for my weekend, it’s all work for me-I have a show, a web series shoot, a rehearsal and a class. My work is mighty fun, haha:)
Wow, action packed! Well hope you get some R & R!
Oooh, I like your new design! It looks fantastic. It’s great to have pics with recipes! Congrats on the top 10 dessert blog list, too! You are rockin’ it :D
Thanks, Jenn! And you have seen me through the first phase from Blogspot to WP. I still shudder at the weeklong nail-biting garbled, broken, horrible URL situation. I was a wreck with Lindsay b/c I explained to her what happened from Blogspot to WP and how it would kill me if I had to ever re-live something like that! (and I’m sure you, too…or her!) But thankfully, it wasn’t too bad. But…host promised ‘just minutes of downtime’, which was actually about 5 hours :) But if that’s the worst of it, I can live with it!