First of all, I have to apologize for the lack of a new post yesterday. In the year and a half since I started this blog I have not missed a post….so you know it wasn’t something I did on a whim. I just reached a point last night where something had to give…and it turned out to be my post.
As some of you may know…I am attending a blogger’s conference in Salt Lake City called Altitude Summit. Today was the first full day of festivities and WOW…what a day! Not only did I get to speak in a workshop on “DIY’s + Pinterest” with the incredibly talented Chris Gardner of ManmadeDIY.com, Jenny Batt of Hank and Hunt, Chelsea Costa of LovelyIndeed.com, and Melissa Esplin of MelissaEsplin.com…but after the workshop I ALSO got to chat with Jessica Alba. :-) She is in Utah attending the Sundance Film Festival in Park City (her film A.C.O.D. premiered Wednesday) and talking up her business venture “The Honest Company” with bloggers. I have to say…she couldn’t possibly have been nicer! Such a pleasant surprise. :-)
Below is a picture of the DIY gift bag I presented to my fellow panelists AND Jessica Alba! It included a bag of my Highly Addicting Granola Clusters, a sampler of essential oils, some Homemade Altoids, and a bar of my Homemade Soap from Wednesday’s post! It also included a few other non-homemade goodies…but I was especially proud of the DIY stuff. :-)
It was a small gesture…but one I hope will have some sort of lasting effect. :-)
Two more days of conference ahead…and then things will settle down again….but I promise to have a “real” post tomorrow. :-) Thanks for your patience!!
xoxo
Jillee
I hope you have a great time! The gift bag looks wonderful.
Looks like your having a blast!! And yay for meating jessica alba!! i bet that was very exciting! looking forward to another post soon! :)
I was a bit worried about you when there was no post yesterday. You are an incredibly prolific blogger so I wondered if life just caught up with you. Glad you are well.
Can I make a comment on your new blog look? The light blue is a lovely color but I can barely read it on my computer screen. The light grey is also difficult (the color used in your post) but the blue is really, really hard to read.
I agree about the color of the text. Love the blog. Hard to read.
I agree. The colors are hard to read. It looks pretty, but I have to enlarge the text to read it easily.
I third this request, they light grey font color is really hard on the eyes, perhaps darken it a bit? Love you blog!
I’m with them on the color scheme.
Thanks for your feedback everyone!
I miss your old blog design. I loved the color blocks; clean, relaxing color choice, and so unique. I think this blog design now looks like all of the others I see online. I still love your content though, so I will remain a loyal follower.
I agree – I’m really thrown off by the front page appearance – every other post is minimized to a one-line “headline” between full posts, whereas I used to see the current day’s post at the top of the page, followed by the previous day, then the day before that, etc – a logical layout, as in most blogs. The new layout makes it all seem out of place to me. I like the color scheme but I really don’t like the layout. Just my honest two cents. :-)
I do agree about the font colours – while quite lovely it is rather difficult to read. I keep wanting to change or darken it. I will miss your old look but this is also lovely. Sometimes changing things up can be very inspiring! I look forward to all your wonderful posts!
Hi Jillee! I echo all the comments here on your new blog format. The first thing I noticed when the page opened was that I had to minimize my screen substantially to be able to see the whole page. That, combined with the lighter font is giving me eyestrain. Still love you and what you put into your blog though :-) You are obviously a very thoughtful and kind person, to have done up those gorgeous gift bags with home made items no less. That would have taken a lot of effort. Surely will have a lasting impression.
I agree on the color of the cop. Very diffixult to read.
I agree about the colors.
Hope you are having a wonderful time and learning lots of things to share with us. :)
Sounds like you had an awesome day!! I LOVE the gift bag!! :-)
Love the new look of your blog! I have been following for about a month now and I love it! It is so obvious how much hard work you put in to this! :) Looks like you are having so much fun and you deserve it!
awesome!
i follow jessica alba on instagram and your face popped up yesterday!
i had to take a double take… haha, so cool!
xo – heather
This Life Is Yours Blog
Love the new look of your blog!! Very clean and contemporary. The,print is a bit light to read, but I’m sure you will sort it out. You look great btw.
all I can say is that I missed you yesterday, had to check to make certain nothing was wrong with my computer. Glad to see you back today……missed you girl.
It looks as though you are having fun. You deserve it for all your hard work. I have to agree with the others. The print is really hard to see, especially for these old eyes. And, I even have new glasses. But, I still love your blog, so I will deal with it. Enjoy..
Everyone has an off day at times. Even though I did miss your post, all is forgiven. =) Have a good time. We (I) will be waiting for more posts when you get home.
What a lovely gift bag! I want to try and make that soap soon:)
This is a sad note to write. I was distressed when I went to your website and was met with an advertisement before I even saw the post. It’s bad enough that there’s advertising all over your page now, but to be at the top above the post, that’s just too much for me. You have a great blog and wonderful ideas and I wish you as much success as you want. Thanks for all the information you’ve provided.
Hi Kat, I’m sorry that bothers you! But there has actually always been an ad at the top of my blog. Ads are really the only way to generate revenue on my site and I’m now helping to support my family from my blog revenue.
Oh! But this was a REAL post! LOL!
Hi Jillee,
Not sure if you meant to do this, but your emails come in now with only the first 2 sentences and you have to click the link to come visit the web page to read the rest of the blog entry. I used to save the emails in a folder to refer back to, but now I can’t do that anymore. I hope you can fix that, it was so nice to be able to quickly refer back to an email I saved instead of searching through tons of posts.
I like the new design, love your new logo. Good luck to you, can’t wait for the book.
I agree, I miss getting the complete blog in email – so time saving and it was a joy to forward to friends in that format.
also I didn’t have to be online to read the whole thing — which is nice if I am out with my tablet and not on wifi somewhere.
Hi Vanessa! That was a purposeful change. This is the update on the emails that I posted a couple of days ago:
If you read One Good Thing By Jillee posts in a feed reader you will notice that we recently have started truncating the posts. Why?
Two reasons:
1). Because there are websites (called “scrapers”) that will steal entire posts (images and all) from the emails that are sent out. I work too hard to just allow scrapers to come in and steal the content. The only way to protect it is to truncate it. You can still access the entire post THROUGH the email simply by clicking on the headline.
2). Up until recently the emails were ad-supported, allowing One Good Thing By Jillee to monetize them to a small degree. But at the end of 2012 Google discontinued that service. So now the only way we make any money is if you come to the actual website. I know some people won’t like it, but we’ve had to weigh the pros and cons on this one and this is the decision my team and I have made. I hope you will understand and stick with us. I promise to make it worth that extra click! :-)
And you can still totally save the emails as reference! You’ll just have to click on the link in the email to get to the rest of the post.
That makes sense Jillee, I must have missed when you posted that originally.
Thanks for the reply. Of course I will still come to your website, I was just lazy. :)
New website design looks fantastic – and don’t feel bad about missing a post, you’re entitled to a day off just like everyone else!! =) I bet everyone loved your little gift bags – the homemade items are always the best!
Hey-you deserve a break! Have fun and relax when you can. I agree with the other comments about the site. I liked the old one better. The new colors are nice, but not so much on th eyes. Hard to read. Keep the ideas coming!
Love your blog and will keep reading it, but please, please darken the print some. It is so hard to read now! Love all the info I have received from you.
I love your blog. It appears you very creative and successful with your positngs that interest us all. Thanks so much for you time and effort in sharing with us and your tricks.
Sounds like so much fun…I’m sure you are learning so much and inspiring so many people. I wish I would have know about the conference I would have anted to attend.
I miss your colorful blog! The new format is nice, but I really loved the colored dots and chunks of text, etc. (Also agree this is harder to read)
AND I miss being able to get the whole post in my e-mail as well… that was the one thing that guaranteed that I would read your blog each day – if it’s in my inbox, I will read it, because once I open it, I gotta read it…. :) If I have to click to go somewhere else to read it, there’s about a 90% chance that I won’t take the time to do so.
Hi Jill,
Great name ;)
I actually posted a little explanation about the new email format a couple of days ago:
If you read One Good Thing By Jillee posts in a feed reader you will notice that we recently have started truncating the posts. Why?
Two reasons:
1). Because there are websites (called “scrapers”) that will steal entire posts (images and all) from the emails that are sent out. I work too hard to just allow scrapers to come in and steal the content. The only way to protect it is to truncate it. You can still access the entire post THROUGH the email simply by clicking on the headline.
2). Up until recently the emails were ad-supported, allowing One Good Thing By Jillee to monetize them to a small degree. But at the end of 2012 Google discontinued that service. So now the only way we make any money is if you come to the actual website. I know some people won’t like it, but we’ve had to weigh the pros and cons on this one and this is the decision my team and I have made. I hope you will understand and stick with us. I promise to make it worth that extra click! :-)
I’m with you on this. I always save her blogs for future reference. Well used to anyway. Now I don’ teven get around to following her posts.
Sounds like 2013 has brought many changes for Jillie. If they work for her that is great. I have always been amazed at the amount of time & energy it takes her to do all the leg work & brain work to find solutions to everyday issues.
Beach Bunnie, I’m sorry to hear that you aren’t following my posts anymore :( If you read what I posted above your comment I hope you’ll understand why I did what I did with the emails. You can definitely still save the emails for future reference – you would just have to click the link to read the whole post.
I thought your new color/design scheme was yesterday’s One Good Thing. If you call that taking the day off—-Girl we gotta talk.
Still trying to figure out how to get to your archives to read the “early” stuff.
How great was that, the summit was close to home in SLC– you didn’t have to schlep through an airport etc.
BTW love the outfit–just the right amount of color to pop!
Hi Jillee,
So glad you are having fun! You deserve it!
I have to agree with the others about two things. First the light grey type is SO hard to read! And I secondly, although I don’t mind a change in formats, I do very much miss being able to read all of the post on the first page. May I ask, why the changes? If it ain’t broke…
I will continue to read, it’s just not as enjoyable.
Thanks for considering these suggestions!
Jeanne
HI Jeanne!
Are you referring to the new email format? The post format on the actual site hasn’t changed at all.
It has changed – see my comment above. Every other post on the main page is reduced to a “headline”.
Everyone is entitled to an off day!!! You can’t be at a conference, and writing a blog, and networking!!! I’m sooo glad you are having fun at the conference, and meetig Jessica Alba!! So cool!!
I agree about the new color scheme, I loved the old one, the black for the text and bright, cheerful colors for the highlighted text. I don’t like the new header, either, it’s not ‘you’. That’s my opinion anyway lol!! I don’t care about the ads, if its not something I’m interested in I simply over look
Hi Jillee,
I’ve been enjoying your blog tremendously for some time now, but am not one who normally comments. I’m glad you took a deserved day off. Thank you for the amazing ideas you send every day, I’ve used many and been inspired by many others, including your powerful testimony. The new format is something different to get used to, but times change and I understand that adjustments and tweaks must be made in order to keep up. Thank you for all you do!
You’re allowed a day off now and again :)
Hi Jillee!!!
Such a cute and thoughtful goodybag. Where did you get those tiny essential oil samplers??? I would love to know, thanks
Janessa
I got them from Doterra!
Bag looks wonderful!
New format of site….not so much. I hate it. It’s incredibly hard to read, and it doesn’t pop nearly as much. Just opening your page used to make me smile, because it was vibrant and infectious.
Hope the ice storm didn’t affect you too badly! :)
Nice gift bad – I’d have loved to receive it!!!
Awesome gift bag, Jillee!
I love Jessica Alba. She’s gorgeous and a talented woman. I’ve never tried her products, but have heard a little bit about them. I’ll have to look into her stuff soon!
Hope you’re having fun!
And I LOVE the new color scheme and setup of the website! Very classy and chic! I mean, it was great before, but this is a lovely alternative!
such a sweet gesture! have a blast at alt!
Hi! I must mention that I am not having any trouble at all regarding the color change. I like the change…after all, change is good, right? Have a good time this week end!! Thanks for all you do Jillee!
Just enjoy the conference, we will still be here when its over! :)
I guess I don’t “get” what all the “fuss” is over re the site? I have ALWAYS gotten TWO different pathways (dunno what the tech name is for them) in my email–One was “greyed out” and if you clicked on it it took you to the site (or so I think!) and you could read the post AND the comments. And you could comment on the post. The other one had the title in blue and ONLY took you to the post; no comments. Hmmmm…..
However typing THIS comment I see that the type font visible to me is extremely TINY and almost not visible—–AND in extremely faint gray—much lighter than the blog post comments themselves—
A work in progress I am sure and it has NEVER “bothered” me to have to make a click or two to read Jillee!!!!!!
Soooooo happy you are having a WONDERFUL time at Alt Summit!!!!! So wish anything like this would happen in the Albany NY area!!!!! Ever.
Awesome gift bag!!! Sounds like you are having the time of your life – enjoy yourself and we’ll all be here when you return to planet Earth!!!
I hope you had a great time at the summit!
You always give us so much useful information and I really appreciate it!
Thanks for all you do. Love reading your blogs!!!!!
It looks like a great conference!! And meeting Jessica Alba – WOW!!! I think your gift bag is fabulous!! I know I would be thrilled to get one!! :) Have fun and don’t stress about the blog – we’ll all be here when you get back!!
Just found your site and am loving it, you go girl! Love the sweater in you pic with JA where did you get it?
Love everything about your blog!!! : )
Enjoy your time out of the house and I will be here when you are back. Looking forward to hearing more about your conference.
Love ya, Jillee!.
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