Tragedy, and a Transition
Wow, you guys really liked that Harry & David giveaway for their Chocolate Covered Strawberries! Thank you so much for the fabulous participation – 204 entries! The lucky winner is…
…Madeline!
Congrats and I will be contacting you for shipping information!
Sandy Hook Shooting
Sorry for being MIA since Friday and I am touched by the readers who sent me emails, tweets, etc to check in and make sure I was not affected directly by the tragedy in Newtown, CT. I am so very blessed to be able to say that I do not know anyone who was killed or who lost loved ones, but I certainly have felt a lot of emotions about the shooting that I’m sure many have covered since that awful day.
I have to admit that even after hearing about the darkest of days in our nation’s history like 9/11 or the VA Tech shooting, I of course felt sad, but never felt TRUE sadness. That all changed on Friday when I found myself tearing up with every new piece of information that came out. The fact that much of those pieces were changed, retracted, etc in the following hours was almost a form of torture so I cannot imagine how that affected those waiting for news of loved ones who were in the elementary school that day.
I just cannot understand a reason for the killer committing this senseless act and I do not know if we will ever know. I also hope that we as the public do not lose sight of the fact that this may be a “demonstration” of the political views of some, but the bare bones of the shooting simply form a tragedy, and we need to show love to those affected in any way. Love is the most powerful healer and while I know many feel angry right now, darkness doesn’t heal darkness. Hair of the dog is NOT the cure in this case. Check out Heather’s post, she covered the way I feel very well, and the quote she shared resonated with me in many ways:
“Darkness cannot survive in the light.”
Making a Move
I’ve mentioned off and on that I’ve had a self-hosting move in the works for awhile now. Well, I finally have officially made the transition. So check out the blog’s new “front page” design – I’ve said goodbye to WordPress and am flyin’ solo on DreamHost thanks to Chris Roggi! I worked with him last summer when he was an intern at my place of work and sought him out after he moved on from us because he is so talented, hard working, and adaptable to any kind of web design/development project. His site has a portfolio if you want to check it out! My blog’s header is just slightly tweaked but credit for the original design is still owed to the lovely Mai, another talented individual who I am blessed to have come across during my blog world travels.
The marketing nerd about me is of course most excited about the fact that now I can use Google Analytics on my blog! I can’t wait to play with data for days on days. Muaaahahah.
Make sure you update your Google Reader settings and such if you are subscribed to my posts! I’m working on getting email subscriptions going and also getting my sidebar badges up and running.
Not much time to blog today but I have some cool recap posts and giveaways coming up. Life has been busy as usual doing fun stuff around Connecticut. I hope that fun stuff keeps coming because the residents of this state could definitely use distractions and cheering up.
How did the Newtown tragedy affect you?
Are you self-hosted? Did you need help to do it?
