It’s time to sit down once again over a beverage of your choice and chat about things other than just running, riding, and training. Won’t you please join me? I’ll go first…
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that late last year I signed up for Empower summer camp with some of my fitness-focused blogging friends and we just learned this week that the early-August camp has been rescheduled for 2021. I was really looking forward to sharing a hut with our two coffee date hostesses Deborah and Coco during our 4-day-weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Once the corona virus hit in March, I became apprehensive about joining a group of women who had just flown in from all over the country to attend the camp; however, once we got the word that camp would not be held this year I was both disappointed and very relieved.
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that I’ve been spending some of my spare time during the pandemic scanning old pictures. Here’s just one of many throwback race pictures I ran across. This is from before the 2003 Marine Corps Marathon where some of the runners I’d coached joined me for a pre-race photo.
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that our old National Parks annual pass expired so I decided to renew it online. My search brought me to this National Parks website where I learned that I’m eligible for a senior lifetime pass for the same price as our previous annual passes – woot woot!
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that my friend Erin texted on Tuesday afternoon to see if I had time to take some pictures of her on her new cruiser bike. She rode by a little later and I ran down to meet her in our back yard and snapped this adorable picture. I hadn’t seen her since her birthday celebration in mid-February other than once when she texted that she’d be running by our house and I leaned out a window to cheer her on!
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that Bill ordered Nationals face masks from Fanactics back in April, but they were on backorder. They came this past week and I snagged the Curly-W one on the bottom. Even though it’s not my most comfortable mask, it’s my favorite!
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that this adorable card from Lovepop popped up as an ad on Facebook and it was too cute not to order for my mom. Mom loves hummingbirds so how could I not buy it for her? It came within a week and I immediately wrote her a note and mailed it to her.
She loved it!
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that speaking of Facebook, I got into trouble with them for having Alexa playing Classic Rock in the background during the warm-up portion of the balance and stretching class I teach to our private group via Facebook Live. I was stunned that FB picked up on the music in the background, but I obviously don’t own rights to the music so I took the video down. Normally, I leave the video up after class for my students to take again whenever they wish.
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that I mentioned this last week in Runfessions, but it bares repeating. On June 8th I started the arduous process of upgrading my blog to Ultimate Managed WordPress which gives me a much faster server, a security certificate, daily backups, virus scans, etc.
Before…
After…
During the process of migrating my blog from the old server to the much faster server, my blog was given a temporary URL. Unfortunately, none of the hyperlinks migrated beyond the temporary URL which resulted in me spending hours on the phone with Go Daddy support getting everything ironed out. It appears to be fixed, but if you stumble across anything not working please let me know.
Prior to migrating, I had to deactivate one on my plugins which notifies registered readers of new blog posts and when I reactivated it, all of my followers were gone. As a result, I’ve seen a drastic drop in my daily stats.
And finally, if we were having coffee…..
I’d ask if you have any virtual races coming up, and if you do, I’d wish you good luck and remind you to have fun!
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Today I’m joining Deborah at Confessions Of A Mother Runner and Coco at Running With Perseverance for their monthly Ultimate Coffee Date linkup which goes live the first Friday of every month. Be sure to stop by their blogs for a cup of coffee and to say hello; and while you’re there, be sure to check out some of the other bloggers who are participating in the linkup.
- Questions:
- • Have you purchased or made any fun masks that represent something you love?
- • What fun things that you had scheduled for this summer have been canceled?
- • If we were having coffee, what would you tell me?
I bought some Inknburn masks–I just love their running gear and the masks don’t disappoint!
I’m glad to report that I’ve had no issues with your blog–I’ve noticed other WP bloggers with photos sideways or other issues.
Don’t you just love it when you have a company that you love and they never disappoint?
I was so disappointed about our summer camp adventure being canceled! I was so looking forward to hanging out w you and Coco all weekend. We definitely need to play a ride for the 3 of us out by you where it’s not so crowded. Glad you got your blog up and going. I am currently doing some updates which always makes me nervous! I will resubcribe to your blog
Deborah Brooks recently posted…July 4th 2020 Ultimate Coffee Date Linkup
Yes, I’d love for us to do another ride together. Sadly, the little coffee shop where we stopped last time has closed.
I got funs masks from Farm to Fork Fondo. I actually canceled my Empower registration a week before camp was canceled — after the wedding was postponed. Hopefully we can gather together safely next year — in the meantime the three of us should meet up for a ride!
Interesting on the blog upgrade. Before the shut down I was about ready to quit blogging, but now I’m really leaning on the connections, so I’m tempted to hire someone to do some upgrades.
Yes, the three of us should plan another ride this summer!
Isn’t it interesting how the pandemic has changed our views on so many things?
Your upgrades sound tedious but helpful. I feel like my site keeps getting slower and I need to look into why its happening and do some updates. But I worry I’ll mess something up!
I couldn’t have done the update without a lot of help from Go Daddy support. If you have a WordPress blog, you can go on the Dashboard and click on Tools and then Site Health and it will what needs attention. I called Go Daddy with that information and that’s when they told me that I was on a server that was way to outdated/small for my blog size. Good luck!
Those Nationals facemasks are so cool! I will have to see if they have Phillies masks. My hubby would love that!
I sometimes wonder about upgrading my blog to a paid site but then I worry about having tech issues like the ones you describe and I wonder if it is worth it. I am not in a bloggy frame of mind right now, but maybe this fall. Are you glad you did it?
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My guess is that they have those face masks for all of the MLB teams.
Yes, I’m very glad I upgraded my blog. I was already self hosting, but on a much older, smaller, and slower server. I upgraded to get the things I mentioned, but that still required migrating the website. I was very nervous during the process; afraid that I might lose everything if it crashed during the process.
Love the card! So pretty.
Sorry about the Empower camp — but you knew that would happen, right?
On YouTube you must use YT provided music, so I’m not super surprised. I have to turn Alexa off usually when I’m filming stuff; she likes to chime in unasked. I forgot to do that on the audio I taped today but luckily she remained silent!
Good luck with the blog transition. That’s always tough.
Chocolaterunsjudy recently posted…The grass is always greener: Tea/coffee Date July 2020
Yes, deep down I was pretty sure Empower camp wouldn’t happen, and I was relieved when the announcement came out. We’d been told about a month ago that even if they had the camp, we would be able to get a full refund if we decided not to attend (and that was certainly the direction I was leaning).
HaHa, Alexa does like throw her two cents into the conversation occasionally, doesn’t she?
I hope things will be closer to normal-ish next year and that you’ll be able to do the Empower summer camp then!
My National Parks annual pass is expiring at the end of this month (I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I got it!), so I’ll be renewing soon too. Yay for the lifetime pass for you! :D!
That bike photo is so cute! I need to go ride again soon.
That card is beautiful! <3
Did you have another trip planned this summer to any National Parks? We did, but luckily hadn’t made any of our reservations so we weren’t out any money.
Oh that card is beautiful! How wonderful that you were able to send it to your mom! The big thing for me that was cancelled was a trip to visit my parents in Maine. I had intended to take my daughter to visit them for a couple of weeks but with my folks being in their early 80’s I didn’t want to risk flying then staying with them. So we’ll hope for a visit from them in the winter instead.
I’m so sorry that you and your daughter weren’t able to visit your parents. We had to cancel a trip to visit my mom on March 12th just as the whole COVID-19 scare started here. I’m hoping it works out to go see her in two weeks, though!
Sorry I am SOOO late reading/commenting (I’ve had an action-packed weekend…so far). I had not heard about Empower canceling, but I was not on the roster, so I guess it’s off my radar. I agree, it would be both a relief and a disappointment. That hummingbird pop-up is adorable! Let me know if you ever see a dragonfly 😉
No worries, always enjoy life first!
Check out the Lovepop link and see if they make dragonflies. I don’t remember seeing one, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make them.
I didn’t realize playing Alexa during a video would matter but I guess that makes sense.
Bummer about Empower camp. I was planning on going this year too but I’m not surprised they cancelled considering.
Denise @ runheartfit recently posted…Coffee Talk: July Edition
The whole music thing totally makes sense, but it really surprised me that FB could pick up on it playing in the background. Hopefully all will work out for next summer for Empower camp!
Those pictures look so fun and I’m so glad your masks came.
I think I would have been stressed about a camp like that, no matter how fun it sounds. You would hope that everything would be ok, but you just really never know. 🙁
And that’s exactly it, we just don’t know…
You are so inspiring! I love your positive attitude.
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Thanks so much! 😀