Welcome back! Coffee's always on around here. Pull up your favorite chair and a grab a cup. Enjoy your visit today! And don't forget to stop back by again soon.

{Ok, I didn’t post this last week or the previous due to the passing of my neighbor, so I apologize if you’ve seen these already.}

Some stuff I’ve enjoyed the past few weeks . . . .

iPad Reviews UK – How Wired Magazine Will Look on the iPad

The Gratitude Log – “The Happiest Place on the Internet” -The Gratitude Log is a website where you post things your grateful for. It’s a wonderful concept and I really like. This is my Gratitude Log page. Feel free to check it out and join if you like it.

Noupe – 40 Outstanding Photo Manipulation Tutorials. Some of these are pretty interesting – manipulations include blending a planet into a photo, how to create glass transparency, alien invasion, steampunk style illustration and many others.

Inhabitat – Texas Breaks US Wind Power Generation Record – this is pretty cool. And Texas is the leading state in wind power generation. Last year, they produced enough energy using wind turbines to offset electricity use in the state by 6.2% overall. But Friday, they set a record – 19% of the energy mix!

Blog Mommas – Take a break, share your blog, have some fun! Not just a blog directory for blogging mommas but also for dad bloggers. Check it out and add your blog too.

And I think that’ll do it for now. I hope you have a great week!

Be blessed,

If you view websites and blogs on a mobile device like your phone, ipod, blackberry or whatever, you may know that sometimes it’s rather difficult to view your favorite places on your device. I know how frustrating it can be myself as I often view my favorites on my iPod when I’m away from my computer.

So, to that end, I have recently added an option on this site that will automatically detect where you’re browsing from, and will then display a mobile-friendly version of this site if you’re in fact on a mobile device!

You also have the option of switching to the regular version from your mobile if you wish AND you can even check out the mobile version on your regular computer – just select that option at the very bottom of the page. (Scroll all the way down and take a look if you’re viewing this on the web. It’s at the very bottom on the left side. Then click it again to switch back when you’re ready.)

Pretty cool!

If you have a website you want to add this option to, simply install the WordPress Mobile Pack and, if you want, a mobile-ready theme (like Carrington Mobile). Or simply use one of the one of the basic themes that come with the plugin.

The other cool thing about the plugin is – if you install it on your blog and YOU have a mobile device, it even makes the admin area a mobile version for you! How cool is that? You can moderate comments, publish new posts, adjust your settings and much more.

With mobile devices getting better and more common all the time – especially with Apple’s newest gadget, the iPad – it really is important to offer these options to your visitors and potential visitors who might find your site via a search or something. Just think about how many people can’t read your blog otherwise. Installing something like this is a smart move. And of course, you can always uninstall it if you end up not liking it.

So far, I like the plugin and I think it’s worth it to use it. You never know when someone is reading your blog via a small screen. And really, isn’t that what blogging is all about – your readers?

Do you use the WP Mobile Pack or something similar? Tell us why or why not in the comments.

Be blessed,

Just over 24 hours from now, it’ll be 2010!

There’s just something refreshing about a New Year. Like the slate gets wiped clean and one can just start over from the beginning. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but that’s how I feel about the turning of calendar. (Yes, I do realize I said “just” at least once in every sentence in this paragraph.)

And I’ve already posted about New Year’s over on margin of {error} so go ahead over there to read all about it. It’s a short ‘n sweet post.

Be blessed,

{ write * design * blog }

You ask “What does Annie do?”

It seems I get asked this question an awful lot lately so I’m going to put it here in black and white for anyone who wishes to know. How’s that sound?

Good?

Ok, then . . . here you go:

Writing

Ghostwriting – any and all.

Design

Layout
I’ve done layout work for both digital and print products including full length books, training manuals, workbooks, study aids, annual reports, business plans, whitepapers, and nearly everything in between. I’ve even done cover and interior design and layout for cookbooks!

Research
One of my biggest areas of expertise lies in research. I’m very good at research – digging deep to find anything and everything on a given topic, place, person or business. In fact, for a few years, I was a skip tracer. I can probably find what you’re looking for.

Marketing Consulting
Over the years, working in printing and real estate, I have learned A LOT about marketing. I’ve helped start businesses (house cleaning, convenience store/gas station, print shop, computer repair shop and others) and I’ve helped run those same businesses. Not only have I put marketing and other systems in place, I’ve done bookkeeping and other management tasks. So you can be sure I understand the unique needs of small business owners.

In short, if it deals with marketing, writing or design whether for print or web, I can do it for you. And even though I have areas of expertise (like real estate, etc), I enjoy working with many different subjects.

And there you have it! That’s what I do.

Feel free to contact me if you need help with any of those. I’m going to be filling up my schedule for the 2nd half of 2009 soon so get in now while you can!

In the arena,

I’ll give the 1st 10 people who sign up to work with me (copywriting, marketing or design related) a 25% discount. You can find my fee schedule on the “Hire Me” page. Link above. And I love to barter too! So don’t be afraid to ask about that.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Someone asked for a desktop wallpaper earlier today with the word ‘breathe’ on it, so I’ve created one. As always, feel free to download it for your personal use. If you wish to use it for any other purpose, please contact me.

Enjoy!

If you like this one, let me know if you have favorite word you’d like to have on one and I’ll put a few more together.

In the arena,

“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Please feel free to use these on your desktop as your background/wallpaper. And do share but sure to let others know where you got them.

Hope you enjoy them!

In the arena,

Want to work with an award-winning writer? Now is your chance! Hurry and book for the 2nd half of 2009 before the calendar is full. I still have some space available. Check out the Hire Me tab above for info on how to contact me and your reserve your spot now.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Here it is, already summer and I’ve been sorely lacking in the writing department. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say – there are many stories to tell – it’s more like I’ve been so busy with other things that by the time I think of writing something to post here, the clock is telling me it’s time for bed!

And I’ve even had to put my computer on an automatic shut off time or I’ll sit here until the wee hours of the morning trying to accomplish all of it.

So, the writing seems to never get done lately.

But I’m changing that today.

But first, let me tell you the other half of the problem -

I upgraded this blog to WordPress 2.8 a few weeks ago and things just aren’t working properly on the admin side. The admin dashboard panel is all out of whack and half the tools aren’t working at all, like the drop down menus and what-not. It’s not really affecting anything out here on the actual blog itself, thank goodness. But it’s really annoying to navigate around behind the scenes.

Since I still cannot figure out what is wrong, I’m just going to leave it as is for now and hope that I can upgrade to the next release when it comes out and maybe that will solve this issue. Or something.

So anyway . . .

It’s officially summer. The kids have now been out of school for 9 days and we’re settling into a summer rhythm. The weather, however, is not fully cooperating this week. It has been overcast, cloudy and a little rainy at times. We’re hoping summer is in full bloom by next week.

Speaking of next week . . . I am completely amazed that next Saturday is the 4th of July! Where did the time go? It’s mind-boggling! I can hardly believe it. And if I hadn’t just looked at the calendar, I probably wouldn’t.

I’ve got a ton of pictures and artwork to upload and hopefully I can do that next week when things slow down a bit. There’s pictures from the end of school activities, some hot weather activities and some from my husband’s sister’s visit a few weeks ago.

(That was great fun, by the way! We enjoyed meeting her girlfriend and her gorgeous standard Poodle. I’ll write about that soon.)

The pictures my husband took at the Classic Car Show last weekend didn’t turn out well, though. He’s going to be bummed about that. It was only 2nd time he’s used my camera and he just doesn’t know enough about the settings to get good shots. He’s used to a good ol’ point and shoot type camera.

The good news is that there’s another car show in a few weeks so hopefully we’ll get some good ones then. Maybe I will be in charge of the camera for that one. . .

Now it’s time to think about fixing dinner, though.

One last thing before I go . . .

I just posted a new “Gallery” page in the navigation above. There are a few of my recent designs posted and I will be uploading more soon. Feel free to check it out. And if you need a designer for logos, website/blog headers, 125×125 ad spots, or whatever, let me know. I’d be happy to work with you.

Speak soon!

In the arena,

Want to work with an award-winning writer? Now is your chance! Hurry and book for the 2nd half of 2009 before the calendar is full. I still have some space available. Check out the Hire Me tab above for info on how to contact me and your reserve your spot now.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.