Blog Update

No literally, this is what I've changed in the good 'ole blog so far.


New banner

New "about me"

In my 20s. In love. Puerto Rican. Moved 3,000 miles away from home. Lived in LA with my boyfriend. Came back for school. Still in love. Making it work long distance style. Major shoe obsession. Love writing randomly on notebooks. Obsessed with making lists. Only child. Capricorn. Learning Italian. Discovered a passion in blogging. Can’t live without a calendar. Coffee addict.

I think those are the biggest changes so far. Well, blog related anyway. I also changed the layout to make it wider. I moved the elements around. I too closed my "shop". I realized that I had no time to take pictures and post them and all that. However, I'm forever thankful to those of you who supported me with my mini project. With the move, I gave away hundreds of dollars worth of clothes, shoes and accessories. I wanted to sell them, but seriously NO TIME. I liked that button so much, that I changed it to Ambar's Thoughts. So basically, now I have two. You get to select your fave. Speaking of buttons, I know there's a few that I have yet to add, I haven't forgotten, and also a couple of awards that I won, and haven't even thanked the bloggers for. All of that is coming.

I really want to keep doing "What am I wearing" posts but due to lack of a photographer :(   well... I dunno if I'ma be able to do it. Maybe I can convince my dad?? LOL We'll see.

Regardless, I have big plans, and a full agenda people. So get ready!!!

Besos, XOXO





PS: Did I mention that it's like 300 degrees in here. NO?? Well it is!

I Need Help...

..your help!! I'm trying to find someone to custom design my blog. And I'm at zero, zip, nada.

Even though I love the current design, [God knows I do], it's not unique, and that drives me a little crazy, so please, PLEAAAASSSEEE let me know of any blog designers that you know, or maybe somebody you've worked with before. I do realize that I need to pay for this, but the few sites I found that I liked are booked until like mid May.. WTFH?!?!?!?! I sorta need it now. So just drop me a comment, e-mail, tweet, whatev, just HELP ME PLEASE.

Meanwhile, I'll be anxious like this...

Pictures from here and here.

Tutorial: How to Change Your Blogger Blog to a 3 Column Layout

You decided that you wanted a three column layout instead of a two column one. And here's how to do it. Disclaimer: I'm by no means an expert on the subject but I try to explain the easiest way possible.

Let's get to work... it's easier if you decide to do this early on your blog career? because that way you have less stuff on your HTML code [well hopefully anyways].

Your template should be Minima for this to work easier. If you need to change it here's how:

Go to your Dashboard and click on the Layout tab.

Now go the Pick New Template tab.

Choose Minima, it's usually the first one.

Save your template.

Now go to the Edit HTML tab.

Here's where the actual work begins, so pay close attention. You might want to use the find feature of your browser, you do this by hitting the keys Ctrl + F on your keyboard and you shall get a little search bar on your page. Something like this:

Mine is always located at the bottom, but it depends on what browser you use. What you need to find is this:

#sidebar-wrapper { width: 220px; float: right; word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */ overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */ }

Copy the entire section and paste it directly below itself. Now we need to change the elements that I highlighted in deep purple.

#left-sidebar-wrapper

float: left 

Scroll up until you see this part of the code:

#main-wrapper {

width: 410px;

margin-left: 25px;

float: $startSide;

word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */

overflow: hidden;  /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float*/

}

Add the words that you see in deep purple.

Now we have to readjust some numbers. On your HTML code, change the numbers to the ones I highlighted in deep purple below:

#outer-wrapper {

  width: 880px;

  margin:0 auto;

  padding:10px;

  text-align:$startSide;

  font: $bodyfont;

  }

#main-wrapper {

  width: 425px;

margin-left: 25px;

  float: $startSide;

  word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */

  overflow: hidden;     /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */

  }

#sidebar-wrapper {

  width: 200px;

  float: $endSide;

  word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */

  overflow: hidden;      /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */

}

#left-sidebar-wrapper { width: 200px; float: left; word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */ overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */ }

Now, find this <div i d ='main-wrapper'> on your find box and paste the following code exactly above it.

<div id='left-sidebar-wrapper'> <b:section class='sidebar' id='left-sidebar' preferred='yes'/> </div>

We're almost done, the only thing that you need to do now is adjust the size of your header so that it is the same width as your page. Find this section of your HTML code and change the numbers to the ones I highlighted in deep purple. Note: If you use 0px you will not have the border lines around your header.

#header-wrapper {

  width:860px;

  margin:0 auto 10px;

  border:0px solid $bordercolor;

  }

#header-inner {

  background-position: center;

  margin-left: auto;

  margin-right: auto;

}

#header {

  margin: 5px;

  border: 0px solid $bordercolor;

  text-align: center;

  color:$pagetitlecolor;

Save your template.

Now you can go to your layout tab and drag some of your page elements onto your left sidebar.

PS: Here are some links where you can fins cute backgrounds for three column layouts.

Fresh Blogger Templates
The Cutest Blog on the Block

Feel free to comment or e-mail me with any questions.

Also... A Few New Things Around Here

Now that I am not working like a slave have some time on my hands, I've gone back to the good 'ol days of being obsessed committed to blogging. Don't get me wrong, this is what I love 'yo. So because I've been "working" here again. I've added a few things, removed some others, and I'm here to let you know all about it.

First things first, I finally deciphered how to use feedburner, WHEW! It feels good. So basically now you can subscribe to my blog via e-mail. YAY!

Where the red arrows are, just in case you missed them.

Thanks to those of you, who answered to my demented tweets while I was learning/figuring it out. Besides that, I finally got to post my blog button. Feel free to grab it, I know some of you already have [and you are awesome]. What I want to do is look around for everyone's buttons and add them to a different page, sort of like a tab [that I will create] for buttons. But meanwhile I will have them up here in the main page. So hit me up if you wanna exchange botones buttons.

Thanks girl for showing me how to do it :)

And another great milestone that I achieved today [I'm a bit on the dramatic side, huh?] was creating my own favicon. What's that? Well it's the little heart you now see besides the name of the blog on your browser.

LOL. No need to see my tabs.

Seriously, I felt so accomplished. I've been wanting one ever since I saw it on her blog and learned that bloggers could have that too. I found out what it was called and how to do it and is as easy as 1-2-3. Literally. The only sad thing is that I found out a bunch of "web designers and blog designers" charging even $10 for doing this!!! Com'on people, let's help each other out, isn't it easier to just put the instructions on your blog? Sigh...

Other minor changes and tweaks I did was remove my Polyvore badge. And of course now this lady here's making me wanna go back to being majorly hooked there. We'll see. I  am running out of synonyms for also, joined a community called Blogs by Latinas, it's a directory of blogs, by female Latin writers. AWESOMENESS. I added the button to my blog as well, and not to be redundant, but I also created it. I strongly recommend browsing through there, and if you fit the profile, join!

And now, to what really matters the most....YOU GUYS! I updated my blog roll. Now, if for some reason, I erased someone, and you'd like to be added back. LET ME KNOW. If you are not there, but you'd like to be, LET ME KNOW. If you are on the list, but you wished to be removed, LET ME KNOW [hey! you never know].

Be sure to scroll down that list, there's a lot of new people. Even some IRL friends of mine have opened up their own blogs. So look, look, look. Have fun.

I think that's it for now, loveys.

Kisses XOXOXO

Also.... jajaja just kidding!

Making Your Blog Fashionably Professional

I will start by saying that I am not a very computer oriented person. Yes, I use my computer all the time [remember how I don't watch TV] but I don't think Facebook, Twitter and MSN Messenger count. So venturing into having my own blog, the way I wanted it and actually making it work has been hard but extremely fascinating at the same time. I have learned so much about computers, the blogsphere, gadgets, widgets, and all things imaginable. I will now share all this knowledge with you. Hopefully this will b ethe first of many posts to come, since I hope to keep learning. Actually programming makes me feel all important and computer savvy.

I am going to post a link to all the sites I'm using at the moment to make my blog fashionably professional, and also, to the ones I've found so far on my journey this past couple of days.

Background

I think everybody should start by picking a background. STOP right here if you want a three column page layout like mine, you should change that first. See it doesn't make sense to go looking for a background, fall in love with it, and then realize that you want three columns instead of two, because then that background won't work anymore. Go here if you want to do that. You will also find how to remove the border lines behind headers, how to remove lines between your sidebar items, how to remove the navigation bar on the top [all of which I did] and a lot more other tricks that you can do to customize your blog.

Now, if you decided that two columns is fine for you, I did found a great place, shabbyblogs.com where you can get your background, blinkies, buttons, and all that extra shabby stuff.

Networking

We all know how to network, at least a lil' bit, I mean, who doesn't have Facebook, and/or Twitter? But the thing is, it doesn't stop there. Yes, you should definitely market your blog everywhere possible, but I found some blog targeted communities, that happen to be really useful [so far], so go take a look, and see if they work for you. There's technorati and blogcatalog where yo can claim your blog, as well as meet other bloggers, aheemm, increase traffic, anyone? I really like blogcatalog, it has really cool widgets that you can add to your blog, as well as groups you can join, and you can friend other bloggers, etc.

Widgets

I don't have a fancy definition of what a widget is, but if you know how to use blogger, you probably know already. They're all those little things you can add/remove from your blog (the archives, your profile, AdSense, polls, lists, etc) in order to customize it. Two of them that I'm using right now and I really like are LinkWithin which links related posts, and the AddThis button, which lets you do just that, add your blog to other places.

Google Tools

They're FREE! So take advantage of them. Google AdSense and Google Analytics. AdSense makes you earn money just for blogging... I know! They choose the ads for your page and everything, and Google Analytics, well they analyze pretty much everything for your page. You can see how many visits you got, how much time visitors spent on your page and all that good information that helps you be a better blogger.

I think I covered all the basics, because like I said, I am no expert and I'm also just starting, so this will save you days of searching, investigating, and reading to see what works, and what not, or where to find all those cool things, everybody seems to have, but you can't find anywhere.

Extras

Some other useful links. Enjoy

Pro Style Bloggers
My Blog Makeover
How To's For Your Blog
Make Money Blogging
Blog Tips
Blogs By Women
Templates