Oh hi there! Remember me!? ?
I know it’s only been about 2 days since I last posted, but it feels like it’s been so.much.LONGER than that… possibly because of all the blog-related SNAFUs I’ve been dealing with over the last handful of days.
Can we talk about that, please? Just for a second? *deep breaths*
Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed (hopefully you haven’t!), but Spoons has been acting wonky for a little while…. Loading slow, randomly going down, and tossing out database errors like they were going out of style despite the fact that they were never in style to begin with. Things got so bad this past weekend that I couldn’t even log in to my WordPress dashboard to do any editing, which is actually why I had to skip out on Link Love this Sunday… a post I haven’t missed in over 1.5 years!! ? I even had to remove all the ads in hopes that it would help *deep breaths*
Long story short, Spoons is currently experiencing some growing pains, which is actually pretty freaking awesome news (the growing, not the pains), but it means that things might be wonky for the next few days while I migrate servers, put on a new face, and do a little cleaning on the back end of things.
In the meantime, I figured I would pop in with my monthly Currently post because I’ve seriously been missing you guys!!
Current book: Morning Star by Pierce Brown. This one’s actually just coming out today, so while I’m not technically reading it yet, I probably will be by the time you’re reading this. Unless you’re reading this before the stores open…
Current music: Let It Burn by Red.
[youtube=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG2usu-el68&w=640&h=427″]
Current [non]-guilty pleasure: Watching Gossip Girl while I’m on the treadmill. Man… it’s probably a good thing I don’t watch much TV because I get way too emotionally invested in these shows. And even though I know how things work out in the end, I still can’t help but get pissy and yell at the screen when things don’t go the way I want them to. And when Dan and Serena broke up? Omg.
Current nail colour: Naked as the day I was born. I can’t deal with chips right now. Or ever, really ?
Current drink: Black cherry sparkling water from Dasani. I’m not huge on soda, but I do love a fizzy drink every now and then, and naturally flavoured sparkling water is my go-to way to satisfy the craving without all the sugar and chemicals.
Current food: Dates and almond butter. Amg. I’ve been obsessed with this combo forever, but it’s reached a whole new level over the past little while. I’ll literally sit there with a box of dates and a jar of almond butter and munch till my heart’s content. It’s a beautiful thing.
Current obsession: This face! And the extra tufts of fur that grow between her paw pads in the winter ?
Current craving: A trip to the mountains. I haven’t been out since my birthday, and 1+ months is way too long to go without snowboarding during the winter. I went locally a few times since then, but our little hills don’t even come close to the Rockies…
Current need: Someone to snap their fingers and magically make all of Spoons’ issues disappear? Someone? Anyone? ?
Current indulgence: Almond butter. You guys… I don’t know how much AB costs where you are, but it’s ridiculous here — like $18 a jar ridiculous. I’ve been trying to curb the addiction and ration myself out, but that can be a little easier said than done. SO! when I see AB on sale for $11 instead of $18, I do a little happy dance and stock up…
Current bane of my existence: Don’t even get me started on this one. Dealing with blog issues over the past couple of days has probably given me grey hairs. I’m not good with techie issues on the best of days, never mind when they’re computer/code/software related. I’ve been losing sleep!!!
Current procrastination: Cleaning my makeup brushes. We won’t even talk about how long it’s been since I cleaned them… mostly because I can’t even remember when the last time was ?
Current confession: Uhm. That I’ve been using dirty makeup brushes on my face? Ew.
Current quote: This one…
Current excitement: It’s that time of the year again! The time where the Spoons family starts scoping out possible destinations for the annual family vacation. Last year’s trip to Maui was epic, so I’m selfishly hoping for a repeat. It’ll either be that or somewhere in Mexico.
Current mood: Frazzled like you wouldn’t even BELIEVE. And super thankful for good friends who talk me down from the ledge.
Let’s chat!
Your turn! Give me your current:
… a) music.
… b) food.
… c) obsession.
… d) bane of existence.
… e) procrastination.
More places to find me!
E-mail — [email protected]
Twitter — runwithspoons
Facebook — runningwithspoons
Pinterest — runwithspoons
Instagram — runwithspoons
Bloglovin — runningwithspoons
Snapchat — runningspoons
AHH I forgot about that amazing almond butter and date combo. I used to be obsessed with it. Time to get them back in my life (;
Ahh dates and almond butter is amazing!! And that barney almond butter is so worth the expensive price. 🙂 I need to clean my makeup brushes too- I am always procrastinating that!
Love that quote! My current music is anything Coldplay after watching them perform at the Super Bowl. Current food is blueberries, just can’t get enough!
Naked as the day I was born. Hah!
My current obsession has been following the Adnan Syed PCR hearings. (Did you listen to Serial?) It’s so bad. I’ve basically been stalking all the key people in the courtroom via Twitter…
I did notice (it took me about 5 times of refreshing to pin each of your last recipes!), but I’m SO excited for you that you had to deal with these headaches!! That’s one of the most exciting things about blogging — knowing that you’re growing! Keep hanging in there and know that the success throughout the rest of this year is going to make this past weekend completely worth it. 🙂
Thanks so much, Amy! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell myself — that a few days of downtime and headache isn’t much in the grand scheme of things.
PHEW! finally caught up now!
I legit just sent a screen shot to Niki who just announced she’s watching Gossip Girl for the 16th time.
Love, miss Jenny.
PS- Chin up tiger. Support is here
Oh no! Hopefully, things will get fixed up soon. Every time something goes wrong with my blog I seriously want to die. It’s awful and it’s too technical. It’s so easy to start a blog, but when things go wrong they’re definitely not easy to fix.
Right?! So horrible. Especially because I feel like there’s a never-ending amount of behind-the-scenes things to learn!
Oooh Maui would be fun to go to again!! My current obsession is cocoa swirl cookie butter from Trader Joes. Holyyyyyy man!
I am in love with your dog! What is her name/breed? Where did you get her from? I love her. I love dates and almond butter, but I don’t do well with dry fruits tummy wise. 🙁 Boo!
Thanks, Beth! Her name is Kaiah and we’re not 100% sure what kind of breed she is since we picked her up from a shelter. She might have border collie in her since some of her brothers/sisters were black and white, and possibly some elkhound? Who knows what else though.
Hi Amanda. I found your blog through Google +. I like the format of this post. I’ve just been trying the Barney Butter brand almond butter myself. The variety I have has a bit of cocoa and coconut. I agree that it’s really good. I’m on a new diet right now, so I can’t go too crazy with it, but I’ve been adding a teaspoon to Shakeology shakes in the morning. I may have to try it with dates.
Thanks for stopping by and saying hi, Susan! That cocoa/coconut Barney Butter is AMAZING, and you should definitely give it a shot with dates! Tastes like candy, but healthy! 😀
I’m so SO SORRY that you’ve been dealing with technological blogging issues! They are no fun! But, on the plus side, yay for blog growth!
I never paint my nails either because they chip like 5 minutes later and it drives me crazy. Then I just pick it all off.
Dates +almond butter= perfection!
I hope your blogging issues are fixed soon!
omg i thought 10 dollars for almond butter was bad here!!! 18?!!? terrible!!
… a) music–Adele (i know i cant stop!)
… b) food- Asian style brothy soups with lots of veggies
… c) obsession–hot for food vlogs on youtube
… d) bane of existence–the winter
…
boo on website issues…how i wish i was tech savvy like my brother and could figure out that stuff out on my own. hope you get it all ironed out!! If it helps I didnt notice any difference 🙂
Oh my. I noticed your blog was down and I kept my fingers crossed it didn’t take you pulling out all your hair, screaming in frustration and eating ALL the chocolate to resolve the issue. Though the latter would have probably been the least annoying.
I’m undecided between pretending I didn’t read your current procrastination and looking up how to clean mine. Let’s say both of us are in dire need of getting active there …
I will admit that much chocolate was donated to the “get Spoons running” effort. And the best and cheapest way I’ve found to clean my brushes is by washing them with baby shampoo. Gets all the oil/dirt/makeup out and leaves them super soft!
Oh no! I’m so sorry you’ve been have tech issues. That’s so stressful! I have noticed it taking a long time to load for a while (prob ever since that Greek yogurt muffin recipe went viral, lol) but it’s actually improved a little recently. Hopefully this solves all of your issues and you’re back to good. It sucks to have problems but if it’s because of growth then that’s definitely a good thing in the long run. Hang in there!
Also, I am DYING to go back to Maui. I love that place SO much!!
It’s been both a blessing and a curse. It sucks that everything kind of came crashing down at once, but I’ve been meaning to get around to doing a few spring cleaning things, and I guess this just kind of forced em to get on it instead of putting it off 😆
So many comments to make. I don’t think I’ve ever cleaned my makeup brushes. Gross.
Are you not able to make almond butter bc of the possible cross contamination? I think I would go broke if I had to buy as much as I eat. Also, I just renewed my love of dates and almond butter as well. I got that giant package from Costco. Bonus is that a lot of them are dry which is my FAVORITE.
I get my dates from Costco too! And yes to them being super dry! I love sticking them in the freezer if they’re a little too soft to help with the texture, otherwise. And making my own AB is a little tricky because I can’t buy almonds in bulk since they “may contain traces of peanuts.” And the packaged almonds are pretty much just as expensive as buying AB 😕
I LOVE the fur that pokes out between the toes on dogs and cats! I forgot about how much I love that. <3
No fun! I’m super thankful that my husband is a web designer and loves this kind of stuff, so any of the technical stuff I HAPPILY hand over to him. I hope it gets sorted our soon (and with as few issues as possible)! I clean my makeup brushes far less than I probably should, so you certainly aren’t the only one in that boat!
Ohhh now that’s definitely lucky! I swear… the next guy I get into a serious relationship with is gonna need to be a techie…
Just dropping in to say I’m with you there with your website woes.
I’ve been experiencing my own too. Slow site, significant downtime periods etc. I made some changes too, and hopefully it’ll resolve it, but I’m keeping an eye on it.
Oh, happy February! 🙂
Oh noes! Sending all the good techie vibes your way, Neil. It’s SO frustrating when this sort of thing starts to go wrong, especially because it’s something I know so little about!
What a bummer about all of the technological difficulties you’re having, but I know you’ll get it all figured out! Thank you for continuing to work so hard!
LOVE LOVE LOVE your current quote!
BTW – I’ve been having plenty of issues with my little part of the interwebs too! I tried EVERYTHING and then had to finally switch hosting companies to BigScoots (best customer service – I was chatting with them last night till midnight and then again this morning at 4am – never got that lucky ay Bluehost) and today – FINALLY – things are starting to be ok – I think some of my old posts didn’t go out before and did today…oops….
Ohhhhh! That would explain why they weren’t showing up in my BL feed and then all came at once. Ugh. Techie issues are the WORST, eh? And you had to leave Bluehost too?! We seriously need to chat…
ahhhh i am going to Maui with the boyfriend in a month and am so excited! totally need this trip. i love almond butter too (and it ranges from $11-$17 here as well) but try not to buy it b/c i can’t stop eating it, with a spoon, all day every day. it’s so bad. sounds amazing with dates though – i’ll have to try that at some point. good luck with the blog growth! 🙂
I’ve noticed that your site has been acting a little wonky. It’s so frustrating when that happens! I will say though that today is the first time in awhile that it loaded at a normal speed without freezing, so I wonder if taking the ads off helped temporarily at least? Hopefully you figure it out soon!! And ahhh Maui! I hope you go back there. The best.
Omg! You were -killing- me with all the Maui snaps! Especially because Kaanapali beach is where we stayed last year and it was my favourite place in Hawaii.
Sorry for the tech issues babe 🙁 I hope they start to get cleared up for you soon! But on the bright side, at least it means that Spoons is a rockstar, right? 😉
And Red….seriously I’ve been in love with them since High School. I love that a rock band can still make good, clean music that glorifies God. It reminds me of POD back in the day!
Your pup….I die. What a cutie!
Right?!?! I had no idea they were a Christian band when I first heard them, and I fell in love with them even more after I found out. So good.
I’m so sorry about your blog issues. That sounds so super-frustrating. Awesome that you’re blog is growing and getting so many readers, of course, but also stressful. You’ll get through it!
Current music: Sidekick by walk the moon
Current bane of existence: Went to submit an internship application I had worked on all day Sunday and found the position had already been filled. So much frustration!
Aww sorry to hear about the internship, Joyce. But maybe that just means bigger and better things are in store!
Oh I hope things settle down with your blog. I am so technologically inept that when something goes wrong I just freak out. Also dates and nut butter is the best combo ever!
You and me both! It’s been a stressful week and I seriously just want someone to snap their finger and make it all okay!
Yay for growing and boo for pains 🙁 I hope you work it all out soon!
Current food: dates and salted almonds.
Current obsession: Slippers. The floor of my apartment is always a little chilly and they’re cute and cozy ?
Current bane of my existence: Midterms. Blah. But the likely worst one will be over by lunchtime today!
Good luck on your midterms, girl! Hope the worst one was a breeze for ya 😀
I love getting an insight to what others have been up to, it really sparks new interests for me! Totally feel ya on the almond butter front, I decided to try and make my own sunflower seed butter as a replacement to say up some money!
I noticed the database error thing and then Meredith told me all the trouble you’re having! I feel like I’m buying time right now before I need to do some back end cleanup but let’s just say I don’t have time (or $!) now to be proactive about it. I hate technology and sometimes I wonder if I’m trying to torture myself by having a blog! Hopefully by the end of this week you’re feeling relieved about the whole thing.
Right?!?! Coding and all that nonsense are SO not my thing, and it takes me forever to figure out how to do something from the tutorials I find. It’s really good to keep up with it though so that it doesn’t all come crashing down on you at once… like what just happened with me 😡
AH!! As much as I love technology, sometimes I also can’t help but hate it. Hope you get it all worked out soon!
music – BIRDY…all the birdy!
food – can I say coffee? because I can’t get enough of it…like more than normal!
obsession – hot yoga!
bane of existence – break ups and heartache…ugh
procrastination – updating older posts…it just feels so DAUNTING!
Sorry to hear about the break ups and heartache. Sending ALL the love your way <3
Excited to hear about the growing (not about the pains though)!!! And I LOVE that quote. Did you see that on Marc and Angel?? 🙂 I want to learn how to ski/snowboard so that I could do something fun outside in the cold and snow besides waddling in my boots and puffy jacket.
Current food: frozen blueberries in the dining hall
Current bane of my existence: having to wear snow boots
Curse procrastination: buying long socks so that wearing snow boots isn’t as annoying
Yessss to Marc and Angel! I seriously love those two. And our winters here are so long that I’d literally lose my mind if I didn’t have some kind of activity to keep me going.
Sorry to hear about ur site but I catch ur blog when see it and keep all ur recipies keep up the good work we need u badley Hope everything is working out
I’m so sorry to hear about your site issues! Have you tried using Google PageSpeed Insights? You put your URL in and they’ll rank your page on how fast it is and then give you tips to improve it! It might not solve all the problems, but it really helps and can even boost SEO because google hates a slow site! I’m going to work on mine this weekend so I’ll let you know if I have any tips on it.
Barney’s and dates is the only way to live!
I’ve actually been using gtmetrix.com to analyze page speed and performance, but I’ll give the Google one a go too! I seriously wish I understood this stuff better 😡
I am so sorry you are having to deal with these problems. I wondered what was going on when I couldn’t load your site over the weekend, and I did really miss your Sunday Link Love. I hope everything is worked out soon.
You and me both, Angie! I’m -thinking- that everything has settled, so hopefully I can work on cleaning things up.
I guess I’ll confess that it was just a couple days ago that I learned I needed to clean my make-up brushes. I’m doing a no-make-up experiment to see if it helps my breakouts, but perhaps it was the dirty brushes all along.
Sorry about all the technical issues! I feel so helpless when things like that happen. I’m glad you were able to fit back in today!
Dirty brushes could definitely be to blame! You can actually wash them super easily with baby shampoo, and then use a little spray bottle filled with water and a few drops of tea tree oil to disinfect them between washes.
I hate to say that this site is now so super speedy without the ads! Let’s see if the migration and slight changes can get the site to run as well as it is for me at the moment but with the ads! I hate that you have dealt with this for the last several days, I wish I could have been more help but you know I hate technology and don’t understand it lol
That makes two of us! I swear the next guy I get into a serious relationship with has to be a techie guy 😆
Oh no! Sorry to hear about your site. That’s so scary!!
Currently:
music: Audiobooks, actually. I just discovered my library has them online!
food: sweet potatoes!
obsession: I just got a chromebook and I love it!
bane of existence: long hours at work 😐
proctrastination: working out (haven’t been able to lately because of former answer)
Your library has audio books?!?! Oh that’s definitely neat! I’ll have to look into it and see if mine has them!
Such a beautiful and poignant quote! I really love it – thanks so much for sharing it today.
I think I mentioned it was running a lot slower for me and it wouldn’t load on my ipad. I’m glad you are able to solve the issue and figure out what you need. I always like when there is a problem with an easily solvable answer.
But then again if a blog is the worst of your problems, I suppose you are doing alright! At least that is what I tell myself ;).
Currently I’m loathing going to work this morning. We got a small snow fall and I’m not in the mood.
I feel like techie issues are usually pretty easily solvable… as long as you can figure out what’s wrong in the first place 😯 I seriously wish I had a techie guy in the family that could help me out!
Oh no! Sorry to hear about all the website issues. Hopefully they’ll resolve quickly. Currently listening to Michele McLaughlin (we always put on a classical Pandora station in the morning..great way to wake up!)