Traveling (Flash back)

Today is the first day I’ve reconsidered traveling. I was told my apartment was suppose to be showed yesterday, so made a point to leave the house two hours early and head to a wine tasting. They showed up today at 5:30, I was still in my pjs working on my computer. Needless to say I don’t want to leave my house just yet but don’t want to awkwardly sit here while people wander through my home.

About my apartment

I have a gorgeous apartment in the Lyndale area of uptown Minneapolis. Uptown Minneapolis is gorgeous from March to November and my apartment is in the heart of it all. It’s a spacious modern one bedroom overlooking the street from the third floor. I get plenty of light and love the interior design. I can walk to Calhoun square from here within ten minutes. Basically this apartment is to die for and is fairly reasonably priced, it’s not suburb pricing but for the considering it’s pretty good. Plus it comes with one parking spot and street parking is free. It’s a gem on the edge of the nice neighborhoods and what I what consider the precipice of the ghetto. Any further East of my place and everyone only speaks Spanish or Somalian. To the West is Fujiya (the delicious little sushi spot) and more of the upscale living. For me it’s perfect, minus the fact that I hate winter and it’s in the middle of one of the coldest states in the United States.

If you’re interested in the apartment let me know. You can just leave a note in the comments and I’ll get ahold of you.

Quote: The Four Brothers of the Spirit

The Four Brothers of Spirit

“The child is taught from earliest consciousness that she has these four brothers with her in the world wherever she goes, and that they will always look after her. The brothers inhabit the four virtues a person needs in order to be safe and happy in life: intelligence, friendship, strength and poetry. The brothers can be called upon in any critical situation for rescue and assistance. When you die, your four spirit brothers collect your soul and bring you to heaven.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Findley's Lass (The Clan MacDougall Series, Book 2) by Suzan Tisdale

Book Review: Findley's Lass

Book Author: Suzan Tisdale

"I write romance blended with mystery and intrigue and bad guys that you just want to see hang. Perfectly imperfect heroes and heroines.

And always a happily ever after. -- Suzan Tisdale"

Quote: A Soul without Wisdom and Little Grace

A Soul Without Wisdom

“I filled the song with everything I wished I could teach him about life. I tried to reassure him with every line about how the world is hard and unfair sometimes, but that it's all OK beacuse he is so loved. He is surrounded by souls who would do anything to help him. And not only that- he has wisdom and patience of his own, buried deep inside his being, which will only reveal themselves over time and will always carry him through any trial. He is a gift from God to all of us.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Diary: A BIG Thank You to Brian Rathbone

Thank You, Author Brian Rathbone

Brian found me on Twitter shortly after I started posting my book blog posts on social media. We hit it off as online friends. He's funny, I'm nerdy, and well I thought he was so interesting that I had to check out his site. I love indie authors and fantasy books so I figured I'd enjoy his work, so far I was definitely right. After following the link from his Twitter profile, I noticed a few things where broken on his site and walked him through fixing him. In the long run, a lot more things broke and we reconnected. That led to a whole new website. I'm proud to present BrianRathbone.com. It still has a ways to go but is leaps and bounds ahead in design, analytics, among other nerdy things.

Quote: The Tempest

The Tempest

“Go back to bed so that, when the tempest comes, you'll be strong enough to deal with it. And the tempest is coming, dear one. Very soon. But not tonight.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Freelance Design

I no longer do freelance work, except in VERY rare cases. Just updating an old post.

My company, Agency Couture, specializes in bringing small businesses online. We leverage social media to reach your target demographic and bring consumers to your website. If you are new to the online space you may be interested in a training workshop or one-on-one classes in person or via Skype. These courses can be customized to your needs. What takes the most time out of your day? Let’s put together a plan to show you how to simplify your tools and the time you spend online using the right databases, social media tools, metrics, and by implementing an easy-to-use back-end on your site called a content management system (CMS). How can I help you and your business succeed online? Let’s chat about web design, social media customization, or speaking opportunities, send me an email or use my easy to use contact form.

My Bike Arrived at Northtowne Cycling!

Kalkhoff Impulse

NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness

My Rating: 5 Stars

Des Moines has a fair sized biking community and multiple bikes shops. Unfortunately not very many of those bike shops carry electric bikes. So I called around. That is when I met Derek, the owner of NorthTowne Cycling in Cedar Rapids. NorthTowne does carry electric bikes.

Choosing a Bike

Derek is a busy guy, especially in the spring, but took a lot of time to correspond with me via email and multiple phone calls to discuss what I wanted in a bike. I did my research before ever calling Derek and had narrowed down my search by talking to a few California bike shops. In fact, by the time Derek and I spoke for the first time I'd probably called over twenty bike shops and watched dozens of videos on Electric Bike Review. At that point, Derek was my last hope before ordering the bike I wanted from California and hoping it fit.

I've been wanting an electric bike for over a year. My research began in ernest fall of 2014, but really ramped up after I discovered Electric Bike Review. That's when I realized everything I wanted in an electric bike would not really suit me. Highly recommend checking out the Electric Bike Review community before even considering an electric bike. My original top 2 picks where immediately squashed by bad reviews and the amazing competition.

Book Review: How to Catch a Prince By Rachel Hauck Published by Zondervan

How to Catch a Prince

Rachel Hauck

Book Description

Prince Stephen came to America to escape responsibility. But what he found complicates his life more than ever.

Corina Del Rey is happy with her life in Melbourne, Florida. She spends her days engrossed in her career as a journalist and has her sights set on climbing the corporate ladder-if for no other reason, to distract herself from her dissolving family. But when she is confronted with the past she fought so hard to put behind her, she struggles to make sense of her future.

Changing Permalinks in WordPress for WAMP Users

WAMP Tip

Users of WAMP (Windows): Some versions of WAMP (all versions?) do not enable mod_rewrite or permit following SymLinks by default.

BOOK REVIEW: The Wood's Edge by Lori Benton (Sponsored by Blogging for Books)

The Wood's Edge by Lori Benton

First Two Chapters

About The Book

At the wood’s edge cultures collide. Can two families survive the impact? 

The 1757 New York frontier is home to the Oneida tribe and to British colonists, yet their feet rarely walk the same paths.