Follow my blog with Bloglovin

So I don't know if you all heard yet, but Google Reader will not be available after July 1, 2013.  They claim the reason for that is due to the decrease in usage and readership of Google Reader but let's be honest, it's more about Google Plus being a fail than a fall in Google Reader usage. (For the full story, click the "read more" button).

One has to wonder, if they're cancelling Google Reader, will they also cancel the Google Friend Connect (GFC) feature?  More than likely they will which is such a disappointment for myself and bloggers like me who've worked so hard to get our GFC follow numbers to grow.  A little over a year ago, GFC stopped being available for non-Blogger (Google Hosted Blogs) to use and I'm pretty sure that in the near future, no one will be able to use GFC.  Is it the easiest service to follow back and use?  Yes and no.  GFC is convenient because you can click "follow" and a pop up window opens and you follow the blog. Done.  However, following back people that follow you is increasingly difficult because even if you click on the little pictures from your followers, not all of them link to their blogs so it's a challenge to follow everyone back.

I think Google is planning on obliterating all of their external services in an attempt to get more people to use their Google Plus feature.  Yuck.  I don't know about you, but I'm no fan of Google Plus.  The circles are confusing, I still am not quite sure how to follow people from my blog page and not my personal account, and only a selected few pages are able to have a custom url (plus.google.com/blogname).  Most of us are stuck with some random long number.  Not a very professional way to market your blog.  If Google was smart, they'd find a way to integrate their GFC feature with Google Plus or transfer the follows on GFC to our Google Plus pages automatically.  Let me tell you, if they did that, I'd be much happier and would actually use Google Plus for once...

It's not that Google is the only social media outlet with challenges.  Facebook and it's ever changing news feed, privacy policies and lack of integration between personal accounts and pages leaves a lot to be desired.  I am constantly irritated with Facebook. Firstly, why doesn't "liking" a page while you're "acting as" your business/blog page count as a like?  Mark Zuckerberg is wealthy and smart enough to figure out a way to integrate the "likes" you make on your personal account with the "likes" you make from your page.  It's such a hassle to go back and forth from your personal account to your page when you're "liking" someone, just so the "like" counts.

Another gripe I have with Facebook pages specifically is the fact that the news feed never seems to be quite up to date.  You can sort it by "most popular" and by "most recent" but the most recent sometimes only has posts made several hours ago and not the most recent post that the page you "liked" actually put up.  Frustrating!

Now Facebook also makes it super hard to get your posts seen from your "page" unless you pay to promote it and even then, it doesn't feel like you're getting many views. I wonder if the numbers they give saying how many people viewed the post are made up because if 5,000 people actually saw the post I paid $20 to promote, shouldn't I have more than 1 like? Ya know? I could go on and on about Facebook but I already made a post about my Gripes with Facebook before.

So what are we bloggers to do? Well the people I know who are on non-Google Blogger hosted blogs are already prepared for this transition because they've had to network using other social media outlets for at least a year now.  It's still not clear if GFC will be cancelled but it's probably around 80% or more likely that it will be so we have to prepare just in case.  Am I going to quit using GFC? Heck no!  I'm going to ride that horse 'till the bitter end. In the meantime, however, I'm going to start actually working on my other social media outlets that I've neglected like Bloglovin' and.... I cringe as I type this... Google Plus.

So, please follow me on both sites, I'll provide the links below.  Comment and tell me your thoughts and put links for your Bloglovin' and Google Plus as well so I can follow you back!!  I'm going to have a super hard time adjusting to not seeing all my favorite blogs in Google Reader so I have to start finding new ways to follow you all!! I follow everyone back who comments so please leave a comment so I won't miss your blog come July!

• What Jean Likes on Bloglovin'
• What Jean Likes on Google Plus

Here's the story courtesy of CNN:

I get a ton of emails every day with questions about my blog, advertising and especially, the Aloha Friday Blog Hop.  My inbox gets so backed up with inquiries that sometimes it takes me days to answer those emails.  Firstly, let me say that if you've emailed me and haven't heard from me yet, I'm not ignoring you...  I'm working on replying to everyone and should be caught up by week's end *fingers crossed*.

So here we go...

Advertising/Sponsoring

I know some of you aren't familiar with advertising or how to sponsor blogs.  I get a ton of questions from people who want to sponsor What Jean Likes or who have questions about what that entails.  Yes, anyone who has active ads on my blog are automatically entered into the Aloha Friday Blog Hop every week that their ad is live on my blog.  Want your link to be one of the first people see?  Sponsor What Jean Likes by purchasing an ad space!! All Sponsors are automatically linked up! More info on becoming a sponsor here: Sponsorship & Advertising page.

I just added a new ad space called "Post Sponsor Ads" last night.  It's up, ready and available for purchase if you're interested.  I won't bore you with details in this post.  I'm having a promotional sale on this new ad space to celebrate!! If you look at the very top of my page, there is a colorful bar with information on current sales on ads.  Use the code above to get the discount when you buy ads (if you want to buy ads).  If you don't see it, you can always tweet me @whatjeanlikes to see if I have any current ad specials. I usually respond to those within minutes.  You can get all of those details and info by clicking here:  What Jean Likes Sponsor & Advertising Info.


Aloha Friday Blog Hop Details

• Aloha Friday Blog Hop (AFBH) occurs every week starting late Thursday - the following Wednesday each week. 
• Although it's called the Aloha FRIDAY blog hop, I consider it more of a weekend to early week hop.  
• Co-hosting is completely free.
• Upcoming months are full.  There are spaces open in June and beyond.  (I'm actually working on a spreadsheet that I will eventually make live so potential co-hosts can sign up and reserve a spot)  That spreadsheet should be launched next week and I'll update all of you when it happens.  That will make signing up an easier, more streamlined process for you and for me.
• AFBH doesn't typically start on the 1st of the month and end on the last day.  For example, the March AFBH first week was 3/8-3/13 and the last week for the March team will be 3/29-4/3.
• Co-hosting is a month long commitment.  Don't sign up to co-host unless you are sure that you can and will post the code every week (4 weeks total) and do a little light networking.
• Each week we feature a blog in the "Aloha Hoapili" feature in the hop.  It doesn't cost anything to enter for that drawing. All you have to do is link up to be eligible and my main co-host Sarah chooses the winner at random and sends me the code. 
• Co-hosts are required to have the AFBH button in their sidebar for the duration that they are co-hosting the AFBH.
• I create the code and design for the hop and typically email it between Wednesday and Thursday before the hop.
• We ask that you post the hop no later than noon Friday each week.  If you can't do it by then, just let me know you'll be running a little late.  As long as it's up by Saturday, it should be fine. 
• We asks that all co-hosts follow Sarah, myself and the other monthly co-hosts at least for the duration of the blog hop.  Supporting each other is crucial to building a strong team.
• There aren't any set rules for this hop.  It's all about showing each other love and aloha.  
• Anyone can link up their family friendly blog and/or Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest/Instagram...you can link up all of your links to the hop if you want.  
• The only real rule we have is that if you link up, please follow all the hosts. 
• As a co-host, you basically get the code, follow the co-hosts and after it's live, spread the word.  
• I get questions about how to spread the word; sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, other blog hops, anywhere you think can help is just fine.  You don't need to spend a ton of time doing it, just try your best. A little goes a long way. 
• We ask that anyone who links up follows at least 3 other blogs (besides the co-hosts) to share the aloha with each other.  
• Every month we host a giveaway.  It's optional for co-hosts to participate, not mandatory at all.  
• Co-hosts can give away anything they want whether it's ad space, gift cards, crafted items, or other items.  
• During the monthly giveaway, I create a Rafflecopter form for people to enter the giveaway.  All co-hosts who've contributed to the giveaway have their blogs/links featured first as options to enter the giveaway.  After their links, I add links for the other co-hosts blogs that aren't participating. This gives entrants more opportunities to increase their odds of winning and it helps co-hosts to increase their followers. 
• I personally follow back every person that comments.  I used to follow back every person who linked up but as it creeps to nearly 500 link ups, it's too time consuming to follow everyone who links up.  If you want to make sure you get a guaranteed follow back from me, leave me a comment.  I run a week or so behind following all those that commented back but I always follow back everyone who comments on my blog's AFBH post for the week.

LEPRECHAUN CRUNCH

• 1/8 cup of sprinkles (shamrocks sprinkles are fun),
• 1/4 cup broken pretzels,
• 1/2 cup marshmallows from Lucky Charms cereal, 
• 18 oz (approximately 1 1/2 bags) of Ghirardelli White Chocolate Baking Chips,
• a 9 x 9 baking dish and parchment paper.

• Line the baking dish with the parchment paper.
• Put the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 1-minute intervals, stirring each time until chips are melted (a rubber spatula does the trick).
• Pour melted chocolate into lined baking dish, and smooth over with rubber spatula to make as flat as possible.
• Add pretzels, marshmallows and sprinkles on top and gently push into chocolate.
• Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

SHAMROCK SURPRISE TREATS

• 6 T butter,
• 10 cups mini marshmallows,
• 5 cups Rice Krispie cereal,
• green food coloring,
• shamrock cookie cutter,
• MNM’s,
• Pam cooking spray and
• two 13 x 9 pans

• Spray both the baking pans, rubber spatula and the cookie cutter.
• Microwave the butter until melted.
• Put the marshmallows in a large, microwave safe bowl, add the butter and microwave until melted– mine was a minute and 15 seconds.
• Stir it well, adding a few drops of green food coloring.
• Coat the cereal well and spread in pans.
• Cut out the shamrocks.

I'm a single mom who works a full time job and photographs as often as possible when I have time.  It's safe to say that I photograph a lot more than I have time to edit because I'm so backlogged with editing personal photos that I take for my art that I'm finally editing photos taken late last year.  If it's not a job commissioned by a customer like an event, wedding or family portrait, I consider it my personal art and thus it sits in my computer until I have enough time from being a mommy and working the "day job" to properly edit it.

Le sigh.  So sat these lovely photos at Sandy Beach on O'ahu's southeast shore for months... unedited... untouched... unloved.  It's not that I forgot about them.  They were always on my mind, I just never had enough time to devote to properly editing them.  This week is going to be literal hell week at work so I spent the better part of my nights last weekend playing catch up.  I have yet to reply to several emails and haven't even started following back everyone on the Aloha Friday Blog Hop which had an AMAZING turnout last week.  So proud of our team!

Back to photography... so I finally found the time to edit my photos and though I have tons more to edit (specifically of the Milky Way and starry night sky), I was able to put the final touches on my sunrise shots and upload them to my gallery.  Did you know I have a gallery for my photography?  You can check it out if you want: What Jean Likes Photography.


I've been playing with HDR settings on some photos and basic enhancements on others.  Sunrises are so vibrant and beautiful, especially here in Hawai'i so I rarely end up giving them that vintage-esque look because I don't want to diminish any of the natural vibrant colors and beauty in the sunrise.

Sometimes it's fun to remove all the color and just focus on the variety of textures in the photo by making it black and white.  The rays of the sun look so much more pronounced when you take the color away.  How amazing is this beautiful world God gave us?

This purple horizon shot was taken just as the sun rose while I was setting up my tripod on the rocks in the photos above.  I saw the light start to peek above the watery horizon and the colors and rays of light were so amazing that I had to snap a few handheld shots.  This was just taken on a whim but I think I may like it even more than the ones I planned...

This wasn't my first sunrise shoot at Sandy Beach. I shot there before from a different location and angle yet was equally beautiful.  I just feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place.  God planned this world so perfectly down to the most minute detail and I'm in constant awe of His attention to detail.


I'm thinking of doing more photography tutorial-esque posts in future months once the "day job" mellows out.  Would you like that?  I get questions all the time and I think it may be a little easier if I walked you through it step by step.  Long term goal here...nothing yet because I don't have time but I just thought I'd throw the idea out there.

Happy shooting and don't forget to take a moment or more to enjoy the beauty God created in this world for us to admire and look at in awe.

Aloha,

Follow me on instagram @whatjeanlikes

Unfortunately, I don't spend enough time using my DSLR's and doing "professional" photography work because my day job has me otherwise preoccupied.  Between being a single parent and the day job, I find that I have very little time to pull out my DSLR, get it ready and lug it around.  Thankfully, technology has made taking photos a breeze by installing cameras into smart phones.  I have to say that the one in my iPhone is not too shabby.  I've heard wonderful things about the cameras in some Android and Window phones and I'm not sure if the apps I'm going to list below are available for those services but this is about the apps I find most useful for me...

I'm always snapping photos on my iPhone whether it's of my son & nieces, food, flowers, sunsets, beaches or clothes...I feel like I'm always pulling out my iPhone to snap a pic or two or twenty.  If you didn't know already, I'm addicted to Instagram and am always on it. Come follow me @WhatJeanLikes.

Over the last year or so, there are apps I find that I use more often than others and I thought, why  not share my favorite Photo apps on the iPhone for Tip Tuesday?

Camera:  Other than the built-in camera, there are a few that I rather like shooting with

• Camera! Awesome -All time favorite camera app created by SmugMug. LOVE it.
• Camera + -Created by photog Lisa Bettany, this app is amazing for snapping lovely shots.