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2013 Resolutions-ish Revisited

On January 1, 2013 I posted this: I think these are resolutions?

Later that day I fulfilled one of the resolutions when Andy and I adopted Larry Gary Gray (formerly Larry Q. Gray).

Larry with Santa

Don’t tell Santa Larry’s a Jew.

Then I forgot about the rest and went on with my year. Today, I remembered that post and figured I’d take a look and see how I unknowingly did on these “resolutions”

Here we go:

DSB 2013 Resolutions-ish – REVISITED

(For more details on the reasoning behind these resolutions, see the original post)

 

Be less of a jerk

Verdict: You decide.

Yesterday on my way out of a store, I opened the door and while the door was open someone coming in grabbed it from me so she could enter. Then she said “YOU’RE WELCOME.” I didn’t realize I was supposed to thank her since it was a mutually beneficial door exchange.  She didn’t hold the door for me; we exchanged the door at the halfway point.

So this one I leave to you: Am I or am I not still a jerk?

 

 Get hot for wedding

Verdict: Fuck yeah success. Thanks Refine Method.

Dori and Andy farm wedding

In order to get hot for wedding, I needed to get back to a consistent workout routine, which slowed down following Hurricane Sandy because of fewer transportation options and the closing of Refine’s Union Square location (which was just one train ride away). I did try CrossFit Jersey City for a month but I didn’t love it nearly as much, or see the same great results as I do at Refine.

My exact words were, “I need to find a way to make the midweek Refine class work – even if it’s just once a week.” Thanks to joining the Refine Resolution Challenge and committing to three classes a week, I realized that getting to Refine before/after work (Refine is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan; I live and work in New Jersey) wasn’t actually bad! Those three classes a week increased to four and, as I got closer to my wedding, five — and it wasn’t a hassle at all. Andy ended up joining the challenge as well.

Now, Refine is a family affair.

family refine

The #RefineGray fam with the genius who invented Refine

 

Train for a marathon like a real runner person

Verdict: SUCCESS!

I said I wanted a coach and I got one. I said I wanted to incorporate jargon such as “tempo runs” “speedwork” and “hill repeats” and I did all that too. I ran 4-5 days a week. So I think we can safely say that I successfully trained like a real runner person.

 

 Run a 4:15 marathon

Verdict: Remember how upset I was when I ran a 4:11 marathon? HAHA. Success.

Dori at Richmond Marathon finish line 2013

 Run in the cold maybe once a week

Verdict: Failed miserably.

Not counting the last few weeks of marathon training, I ran in the cold one time. My face felt like it was going to freeze off and that was the end of that.

 

 Suck it up and run on the treadmill

Verdict: Failed.

Yeah I didn’t do that either. But this year, as my knee heals and I start to build a base for my next goal marathon, I will. Especially since my gym is getting fancy new treadmills that seem like they will motivate me.  And since I’m serious about my goal for the Eugene Marathon (if I’m ever able to find a decent flight, that is…) I will do it this time around.

 

 Wear sweats to work and shower less often

Verdict: Sigh. Failed.

I wore yoga pants to work maybe twice and I showered more than ever, not counting that time after my 20 mile run when I didn’t shower for 27 hours.

 

 Do girlfriend things

Verdict: Failed.

I said: “For some reason sometimes a girl likes me and wants to be my friend. I never understand why as I do nothing to encourage such behaviors. But I figure I might as well give in. So, hi Ashley Runningbun. You’ll probably see a little more of me in 2013. Maybe we’ll run. And drink Bloody Marys.”

Then bitch got knocked up so no Bloodys.

 

Get drunk at my wedding without getting painful hiccups

Verdict: Success.

I was wasted at my wedding and did not hiccup once.

Dori's wedding

 

Get a dog [so something will love me]

Verdict: Best success of my life. This little boy is the best creature to ever exist in this world and every day Andy and I can’t believe how we possibly found this sweet, funny, cuddly, loving, perfect little thing.

larry fat

His ass is not nearly as fat as it appears

I succeeded at some resolutions and failed at others, but considering that I forgot what any of my resolutions even were I think I did pretty well!

Happiest hiking pup ever

Did you accomplish the  goals you set for yourself this year?

A New Look: Dori’s Shiny Blog Site Redesign

Welcome to the new look of Dori’s Shiny Blog!

A little over a week ago, I realized just how much I hated my blog. I then made sure the rest of the world did, too.

My blog theme sucks. So does the look. Time for a change.

I think I’ve known for awhile, but when I just could not install social sharing icons at the bottom of my post despite trying a number of different widgets, I realized my current theme had to go. I last redesigned my blog in 2009 and obviously, the times have changed. Visiting this  blog was a terrible user experience. It annoyed me to no end that the theme did not enable photo captioning (hence the lame italicized captions in brackets I placed underneath photos.)

And as a social media manager, it was embarrassing that my blog practiced literally nothing of what I preached.

I was also using my blog as my final assignment in an NYU class I took called SEO & Site Content. That class motivated me to stop being so lazy and do something about my website. It also motivated me to choose a tagline that explained what my site is about and update my About page so people would stop being so fucking confused all the time about the name “Dori’s Shiny Blog.” I also added a page i wanted for a long time: Race Recaps.

Plus, the entire look pissed me off. I needed a change.

I reached out to two designers who work with other bloggers, and one responded. We scheduled a phone call and about 45 minutes before the call I freaked out and canceled.

I realized I had no reason not to do this myself.

I know how to install a theme. I know how to use the Theme Test Drive plugin. I know how to customize a good theme to the best of my ability. I know how to install plugins and widgets. I know exactly what I want. Why would I pay someone to do something I could — and SHOULD — do myself. That is my job, after all!

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I started my blog redesign. I have to say, finding a good theme that met all my requirements seemed impossible. Part of the reason is that the themes are not organized. I wish there was a filter where I could select all the elements I wanted in a theme to narrow my search down, but that doesn’t exist.

I bought a theme we use at work thinking it was good. Once I had it, I realized it was an impossibly complicated theme and I didn’t understand how to customize it. My brilliant software development engineer brother even found it complicated. Also, it made my blog look like work, and no one likes to be reminded of work.

I wasted many hours trying to customize that theme before giving up and moving on. After installing and despising a number of themes, I finally found one that seemed pretty good – but not great. But they had a sale going on to upgrade to the paid version for $20, down from the full price of $80. I got the feeling that the upgrade would fix most of the issues I had with the free version so I went for it.

I’m happy I did because you’re now looking at this theme!

Once I had this set up, getting in my widgets was very easy and much less time consuming than that old atrocious theme. If you ever saw the random floating “Tweet” link at the bottom of my posts, that is because that link was the best thing my old theme could do with a social sharing widget. Not exaggerating.

I included widgets that I really like, such as the Popular Posts and Recent Posts. I especially love the previous four posts that appear under the most recent post, and I am a huge fan of the footer widget section. Plus, there are some really great features I haven’t even played with yet, like sliding images and carousel images that link to my posts.

But for now, I’m happy with the start I made. Many people think my computer scientist brother did this for me, but aside from receiving countless frantic emails from me about all the things I don’t know how to do (which were always followed up with a “Nevermind – I figured it out!” email), all he really did was offer advice and implement the color hover in the top nav bar.

I have more work to do (the search functionality isn’t quite right yet and I am unable to upload and post photos… I had to upload that Tweet photo to another site and insert the picture URL to get it to show here, oy) but I am already so much happier with the look and functionality of my blog!

Of course, one key element was still missing: a new logo.

I reached out to the amazing designers we work with at the office, Bruckner Design, and asked if they had time to take on this personal project for me, along with how much it might cost. They are amazing, both as designers and as people. They offered to design my logo, favicon and select a complementary background color at no charge.

I was so touched and happy.

While I waited for the logo to be done, my current blog theme looked extremely messed up. I was using the Theme Test Drive, but any widgets I changed and added would still show on the live blog. My ads disappeared and the entire right side of the page, where the widgets lived, looked like a mess. Also, I formatted my most recent post at the time (Richmond Half Marathon recap) to fit with the new theme. That meant the post looked really messy in the old theme, and that is what people were seeing. I prayed no one went to my blog last week and avoided most types of link sharing or promotion.

A few days later, my designer let me know she finished my logo. . . and I love it! I knew she would understand what I wanted, and she did a really perfect job. I’m still constantly enthralled by how she got the favicon to look so SHINY.

Miracle workers! I am so happy with my new logo, the look and functionality of the site ,and the possibility of ways I can make it even better.

I think/hope this fresh new change will inspire me to blog more often and blog better. I have a lot I want to write about in the coming weeks (Andy and I started CrossFit Fundamentals, I’ve been spinning more often, Refine Method became more awesome than ever but I can only get there on weekends right now, wedding planning, etc) and I’m much more excited to do so with the new theme!

A few things to leave you with:

  • The Refine Resolution Challenge: A smarter approach to transforming your body in the new year, classes in this program are only $20 each, and you earn free classes for each month you achieve your personal goals.
  • Win a free month of YogaVibes TODAY ONLY (December 4) through my work giveaway. Read my YogaVibes review  and go here to enter to win a month of online streaming yoga and Core Fusion classes.
  • I really like beards.

 

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