Goodbye Google Reader and GFC, Hello Bloglovin', Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Etc.

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Hello.  I hope everyone's had a great weekend.  Last Friday, I found out from Lauren of Style Elixir that Google Reader will be shutting down. Google says that there are two reasons for this.  The first is due to the decline in the number of users and the second is that they want to focus their energy into fewer products.  Well, most of you might have heard or read that it will only be available until July 1, 2013. In line with this, Google Friend Connect (GFC) will most likely end as well.  

It is an unwelcome news for a lot of people and I definitely feel a bit disappointed too.  I am subscribed to a number of blogs through GFC and been using this bookmarking tool for years.  Recently though, I've been keeping myself updated through Bloglovin' and it's cool that Bloglovin' has made it so much easier to import your entire bloglist in just a click of a button.   

I was just starting to build up a following through GFC but since it will be retiring real soon, I thank everyone who has followed me through GFC and I do hope that you will continue to follow my blog on Bloglovin'.

However, Bloglovin' isn't the only option we have to subscribe to our favorite blogs.  Of course, there's email subscription, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram- these are the popular alternatives.  Do you know of other bookmarking tools?  Which one do you prefer to use to get updates from your favorite blogs and websites? 

So anyway, I don't normally ask people to follow my blog or offer to follow in exchange for my following simply because I don't want to make it a conditional (follow me- I follow you) thing.  As much I want to build up a bigger audience, it's just so much happier each time you get new followers, knowing that they genuinely like your blog enough to want to stay tuned to your future posts.  Of course, when you join giveaways, becoming a follower is a basic rule, and I've certainly participated in a lot of giveaways but if I don't feel a slightest connection to a blog, then I would rather not join.  I usually follow a blog for the simple reason that I like it and I don't really mind whether or not the blogger follows me back.  Surely if they follow back, that would be wonderful, but that is their choice  :) 

Today, I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to follow my blog through email subscription, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest .  I haven't been super active on these social sites but beginning today, I will be using these platforms to share updates from this blog.  If you do find my blog worthy of your time, if it makes you smile, then it would be great to know that you want to continue reading my posts:)  See you tomorrow!

Happiness is A Cup of Coffee

This isn't just a cup of coffee.  It's a cup of coffee made with love.  It's late at night and I was about to start my shift when my husband brought me this hot mug of instant Cappuccino and to my surprise, a chocolate heart!  ~Sweet~

We Like Our New Home!

After the long hiatus, I'm back to blogging as it is one of the things I truly enjoy doing. It's been almost two months now since we moved out.  We like our new home. It's a comfortable place to live in. There's a bit of an outdoor space where our dear dogs can be free and play or rather, wrestle with each other. It has good ventilation and view. We can breathe fresh air throughout the day.

It's a humble home and we're very happy that we made the move. I'm excited to decorate each space one step at a time. I can't wait to incorporate those beautiful interior design ideas I see online with my own style.   Meanwhile, there are still boxes that must be unpacked, stuff that needs arranging, plenty of cleaning up to do, and loads of work to be done.

Our dogs look happy! I think they like to have a view of the skies, trees, neighbors and other dogs. Well, who wouldn't?  So here are some shots of my cute furry creatures that I would like to share with you.  These photos never fail to make me smile. Hope they can make you smile too :)

Happiness is a State of Mind!

I used to write all the time until somewhere along the way, I forced myself to stop.  I used to reason to myself that it is my way to purge sadness from my system.  That I am turning ugliness into something beautiful but soon realized that it is the other way around.  

Something else was happening to me.  The more I write about sadness, the more that I feel sad.  The more I write about frustrations, the more I feel exasperated.  The more I talk about anger, the more I feel hurt.  

I sometimes miss my dark writings.  I was brave enough to call it poetry and I was vain enough to think of it as beautiful.  Sweet misery.   But all I did was shut myself out from the rest of the world.  I was someone who overly complicates things, concentrating on the imperfections I see in me, in other people, in the world I move in.  And it did not comfort me in any way.  I became an unhappy girl who was contented to dwell in loneliness.

I promised myself not to write about the same things.  I decided to fill this space with happy thoughts that lift the soul.  There was a time when I used to imagine Peter Pan coming in from our window, even though our house has no second floor.  “Just think of happy thoughts and you can fly with me to Neverland!”, he would say.  

Think happy.  Think happy.  Think happy.  This should be my mantra.  For I am one of those people who have this uncanny attraction to sorrow.  Thus, I must constantly remind myself to be happy.  Think happy.  Feel happy.

I would like to believe that I have learned a few important lessons in my journey outside of that dark world.  I am slowly learning to accept the things I cannot change and make the best out of them.  I cannot forever hate what is given to me.

Didn’t they say that “happiness is but a state of mind”?  It’s what you sincerely believe in that feeds your heart and soul.  There is no point in making the world cold, when you have the fire inside you.   Gratefulness sparks happiness, keeps your feet on the ground.