Our new theme is a customization of PrimePress by Ravi Varma. The banner image is a slice of downtown Neenah, Wisconsin, photographed by my husband a couple of weeks ago. (He’s having fun with a new camera and we’re both seeing our home town with new eyes.)

It’s been an incredibly busy summer! We’ve had several new client projects, lots of new work quoted, and legwork done toward the launch of a new business. We basically went from June 1 through August 1 without a break, working long hours, hardly stepping outdoors.

About three weeks ago, we decided that enough was enough … work would still be here tomorrow, but our summer was quickly coming to an end. We purchased bicycles and ever since, we’ve been taking a little time most days to go riding around town or heading out of town on one of our many trails. We’re looking forward to the cooler weather of fall for more comfortable riding and more colorful photo opportunities. I’m finding it’s kind of fun to be married to a photographer!

I’d like to say that daily blogging will once again accompany our new look, but that’s probably not realistic for the next six weeks. We’re facing major deadlines that must remain a priority. (We like happy clients around here!) I’ll post as I’m able and we may add a few guest posts to the mix.

Roll back the clock to 1995 and read what Newsweek’s Clifford Stoll had to say on the topic of technology, in his article “The Internet? Bah! — Hype alert: Why cyberspace isn’t, and will never be, nirvana.“

I always refer to blogging as having a conversation, so I’m delighted to be pulled into one by Coryan from UTurnAhead.com. Actually it’s more like a game of tag … don’t be surprised to find your own name at the end of this post. I’ve been tagged by Coryan to write a list of seven weird things about me, but I’m going to follow his lead and go with “strange but true.” So here goes.

1. I’m a bit of a health nut, but in a politically incorrect fashion. A few years ago, I jumped off the low fat, low sodium, artificially sweetened, ultra-pasteurized bandwagon and I’ve never looked back. There’s raw organic milk from grass-fed cows in my fridge, and my morning coffee with real cream is a real treat.
2. I was married at 18 to my high school sweetheart. 28 years later, we’re still going strong! No, I don’t think that’s strange, but it’s also not quite normal! We have two grown and happily married sons, and five beautiful granddaughters.
3. I used to play the violin. It took me eight years to figure out that I would never be any good at it.
4. Yes, I have a stubborn streak!
5. Before reopening my business, I worked as a marketing communication specialist for what would have been the world’s first nonprofit youth mall. Coincidentally, it was located in the United State’s first enclosed mall. Talk about a fun job if you like teens and marketing! Unfortunately, it didn’t get off the ground, and that mall, in great disrepair has recently been razed.
6. I taught myself web design because I wanted to understand how it worked. Along the way, I discovered my inner geek. There’s a part of me that really enjoys working in code.
7. In another life, I was a happy and busy stay-at-home mom, with a huge garden, chickens, ducks, geese, a goat, a lamb, horses, a dog and several barn cats. We lived in Great Falls, Montana with a distant view of the mountains out our front window. That’s where I rediscovered that I loved to write and draw. You simply can’t be around that much inspiration without a way to record it!

I enjoyed coming up with this list! But we’re not quite done yet. Now I’d like to learn seven strange but true things about:

Scott Alberts of ALBERTS Illustration & Design
Kimberly Bock of Learning SEO Basics
Dean Peters of Heal Your Church Website
Heather at CottageBlogger
Joe at The Bunker blog

That’s right. Tag, you’re it!

Photo courtesy of Uptonia