2 Free and Awesome Blog Design Resources

Guys, I did a horrible thing over the weekend. I decided to spend "just" a couple of hours tweaking my blog design. Now, four days later, I still haven't found my way out of the rabbit hole, haha. Seriously, I somehow forget just how frustrating HTML work can be! Just wanting to update a couple of things should be easy peasy, but noooo, I've got some conflicting code somewhere that's all like...

Sam Jackson knows what's up. My only saving grace to this insanity is that I am doing all of this test work/ripping my hair out over on a private test blog so you all don't have to deal with weird glitches up on the site. Anyway, all of this frustration gave me the idea of sharing a couple of my favorite go-to design sites that have helped me improve my own site and saved my butt more than once when there's a glitch in the code.

XOMISSE XOMISSE is a godsend! Not only does it have have a ton of really great tutorials and tips for how to improve your blog, but Elaine's tutorials are really straight forward and easy to follow. When I first started working with HTML and CSS code I had no idea what the heck I was doing, and I felt like a lot of tutorial sites weren't to keen on explaining things to beginners. So when I found Elaine's site XOMISSE I immediately bookmarked it! She is amazing about responding to comments if you are having trouble with any of her tutorials. Heck, even now that I understand code more XOMISSE is still my go to source. Also, if you are looking to get a total blog overhaul Elaine offers design services. 
Favorite Tutorials - Make Navigation Bar Partially Transparent - Add A Search Bar to Your Navigation Menu - How to Fix Blurry Images on Blogger

I Can Build a Blog 'I Can Build a Blog' has some really nice little tutorials, not nearly as many as XOMISSE but still a good amount. Dana's tutorials are also wonderfully easy to follow as she explains what each piece of the code does with in the tutorial. Definitely easier than having to jump up and down the page to see what needs to be changed and where. She also sells some very beautiful pre-made templates.
Favorite Tutorials - How to Style Blogger Sidebar Widget Titles - Add a Signature to Your Posts in Blogger
These sites are amazing resources if you are looking to spruce up your blog or are doing a complete and total overhaul. Do you guys have any go to websites when it comes to help with your blog design? 
x's and o's

Vacation Every Day - Palm Breeze

Well I think it's safe to say that summer has officially made it's way to the valley as we will be hitting triple digits later this week, ughs. Thankfully, we will be headed back to cooler weather out on our little mountain in WV in the next month or so. Until then I will beat the heat with one of my favorite pastimes: hanging out on the lawn with the cats on those lovely cooler nights. And nothing pairs with some lazy outside time better than a delicious cool adult fruity drink like Palm Breeze! 

I feel like Palm Breeze was reading my mind when they created these two, Ruby Red Citrus and Pineapple Mandarin Orange, delicious malt beverage drinks. Whenever I want to relax by the pool with a drink I have to hunt down a mixer, which is too much work when it's time to just relax. I go without while my husband sips one of his beers (that I hate). Fruity mixers are totally one of those things that you only think of only when you want a drink, never when grocery shopping, haha. 

However, these bad boys are the perfect fruity drinks that solve those problems for me. I'm looking forward to hanging out outside more with the cats, or even doing some pool lounging which I know will be happening lots this summer. The best part is you don't have to mix them! My favorite flavor is definitely the Pineapple Mandarin Orange, I'm such a sucker for any kind of drink with Pineapple, but the Ruby Red Citrus is definitely a close second.  

I think the cats really dig these little outdoor hangouts, so I have a pretty good feeling they will be happening pretty darn often. I can't think of a better way to spend my evenings. What are some of the ways you relax or spend your weekends during those warmer summer days?

x's and o's

PS For all my Dallas readers out there Palm Breeze is hosting a Girl's Night Out party at Blo Knox where you and your girlfriends will be pampered with free tropical beach style blowouts, tasty hors d'oeuvres and Palm Breeze drinks. RSVP here! 

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. And as always thank you for supporting the brands and sponsors that help make Little Lady Little City possible.

#BreakYouMake with Chobani

(photo by the incredibly talented Megan Robbins)

With National Break You Make Day (June 3rd) approaching quickly I decided to jump in on the fun of nominating someone who I think deserves a break, because I definitely know someone who could really use one. Therefore, in honor of National Break You Make Day and Chobani Flips I am hereby nominating Will because he's the hardest working person I have ever met. Even when he isn't working on actual work he is working on fun illustrations, fixing up our little Scamp trailer, building fun things for the house, or heck even building a whole house! 

Over the years I've been trying my best to get him to slow down a little bit every so once in a while and take a little "me" time for himself, especially after he has been working extra hard. So, we've recently started to try to spend some time outside with the cats everyday and just relax for a little bit. Taking that little bit of time just makes the day feel better and helps relieve any stress.

Who would you guys nominate for National Break You Make Day?

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Scamp 2.0 All Day Everyday

The past two weekends we have been hard at work on our little fixer upper: Scamp fiberglass rv aka Bessy (she's 40 years old, so I think the name suits her). Last fall/winter we did a lot of work on the inside, but there is still a ton more work to do. Though we will we're plugging away on it out here in Arizona, our plan will be to continue working on it once we get back east. At the moment we're working on Bessy's outside. Sadly her previous owners did not take great care of her, so her fiberglass shell had lots of cracks and little holes which is why we're are focusing on restoring her body to full travel condition. 

We ended up replacing the door with the door from our first Scamp, it some how survived the accident with only a scratch. After the crash we weren't even sure if we were ever going to find another Scamp again, but I just really wanted to have the door as a nice little reminder of the first one. It's really just wonderful luck to have it on Bessy now. As an upside the old door included a much better handle and lock. Bessy came to us with an outside lock that would make it easy for someone to easily lock us in. Not good. So now we can sleep easy inside the Scamp without worrying, haha.

This last weekend we spend two days taking off the logos, fixing holes and dings with Bondo, and sanding the shell down to get her all ready for a new paint job. Ahhh, I cannot wait to get her all painted, though I am not excited about how big of a job it's going to be, haha. Hopefully the summer gods will smile on us and make sure it's not too unbelievably hot next weekend. If it is, though, my dad has a pretty great pool at his house we can cool off in. 

I cannot wait to get Bessy looking absolutely amazing again! 

x's and o's

JORD Wood Watch Review

I have a special place in my heart for anything and all things made from wood, so when I was contacted by the people over at JORD to see if I wanted to review one of their watches I jumped at the chance. I actually won one of their watches a little while back and absolutely feel in love with it, so seriously, how could I say no to getting to try out one of their other styles. 

These watches have really helped me get back into the habit of wearing a watch again. Honestly, ever since phones I just stopped wearing one. I can always just look at my cellphone for the time. That, and I really never had a watch that I really fell in love with. That's not the case anymore, however, as these JORD watches are just so beautiful. 

One of my favorite aspects about the watch is just how wonderfully light it is. Usually when I hear something is made of wood I was think heavy, but that's not the case with these bad boys. I also really love just how stylish the watches are. Both work well with just about everything I wear. My favorite pairing is with a plain white tee, I think they just look so good together. Also, I'm not going to lie, when my friends saw the watch they definitely made more than one comment about borrowing/stealing it because they loved it so much, haha. 

So does anyone out there still wear a watch everyday or it is just the occasional accessory piece for an outfit?

Mens Wood Watches
x's and o's

Disclaimer I was given this product free of charge in exchange for a review but all the content and opinions expressed here are my own. And as always thank you for supporting the brands and sponsors that help make Little Lady Little City possible.

3 Steps For Better Cat Photos

I really wanted to get a good photo of Wigs and Sylvester to hang up on our gallery wall, but when it comes to taking pictures of these two furballs (especially with our phones) it can be totally hit or miss. So, I decided to set up a full-on photo shoot with lights and everything to get the type of photo I really wanted. I realize that's *definitely not* a crazy statement at all, haha, but I thought it would be fun to share a semi how-to with some tips we've learned along the way. And of course, I'll include some of the ridiculous outtakes. So, here we go!

Step 1 - Put them on a table. (Make sure it's not too tall so if they do jump off they won't hurt themselves). After lying on the ground trying to take photos of the cats and having them constantly run off Will had the idea of setting them up on a table so there wasn't as much room to move. Without the ability to wander they focused on the kitty treats and toys we are holding above them.

Step 2 - Put camera on burst mode and hold that shutter down. TAKE ALL OF THE PHOTOS, haha! Make sure to just keep clicking away, because in between all those goofy faces and sometimes blurry photos there can be a gem or two. However, I am pretty partial to those goofy faces. They make some wonderful photos too, case in point Sylvester's goofy face up above, haha. It hardly looks anything like him.

Step 3 - Treats and Toys. Bribe the heck out of your feline friends! Treats and toys are a must unless your cat is totally amazing about sitting and looking at the camera, which my two are most certainly not. You can frame the shot so the treat/toy holder's hand can easily be cut out, or you can always leave it in like we did with our final product. 

We got the final image printed from Tiny Prints and I think the end results came out pretty darn wonderful. I am so in love with Wigs' face which is basically saying 'what? all I get for this is that stupid treat?' haha. We are still working on our gallery wall, but I think this image is the perfect addition for sure. How could an image of your pets not be perfect on your walls?!

What do you guys do to try to get the best photo of your pets? 

x's and o's

Snapchat!

I've jumped on the Snapchat bandwagon so feel free to follow along, especially if you dig cats because let's be honest there will probably be lots of snaps of the cats, haha. But, I promise other things as well like videos from the road as we drive back to the mountain and little snippets of just regular life. If you have Snapchat leave your name in the comments below so I can follow! 

x's and o's

Avengers Assemble!

Oh lordy guys, we went and saw the new Marvel movie 'Avengers - Age of Ultron' Friday and it was pretty darn awesome! Will and I went with our friend Andrea, and I forced both of them to go to basically the first showing Friday morning at 9:30, and if that wasn't bad enough I made all of us get there an hour before the movie started in fear of it being crowed, haha! There were quite a few people waiting for the theater to actually open up (yeah we got there that early so the theater wasn't even open yet). Once we got in we quickly made our way the the theater to grab our seats and waited for the masses to come in. We waited, and waited, and waited, but no one came in. I investigated and found out there was a 3D showing 1/2 hour earlier, other people for our viewing didn't come in until 5 minutes before it started. Whoops. At least we had some breakfast sandwiches with us, hehe. 

Ok, not going to lie, I totally bought this shirt specifically to wear to this movie because themed outfits for movies are kind of jam. I'm not the only one. There were a couple other people in the movie rocking their Marvel related shirts, and I really wanted to give them all high-fives but I chickened out, so I gave them mental high-fives instead haha.

shirt // Target

jeans // Paige Denim (similar)

shoes // Urban Outfitters (years ago)

Target is totally killing it this spring/summer with their clothes! I feel like over the past couple of years it was really hit or miss for me in their clothing section. Not only is their shirt pretty awesome with it's retro superhero illustrations, but it is also so freaking comfy and soft. As I mentioned before, because I work in front of the computer from home I want to wear something comfy, and I'm more prone to just wearing pjs all day if I don't have any comfy shirts and pants, so I've just been loving all of these lose fitting and soft/comfy shirts I've found lately. 

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