pretty merry

for the love of spring.

 

Spring is definitely here, make the most of it!

 

A few quick tips:

 

1. Hit your local farmers market and stock up on the fresh veggies.

2. Plan menus with seasonal vegetables: asparagus, artichokes, beets, radishes etc.

 

3. Fresh flowers make everything better.

4. Take an afternoon off and wander around ... a long and relaxing walk in the nature under trees that are getting their green back is a must, as well as deep breaths of fresh air.

 

5. Quick spring cleaning - since spring cleaning can be overwhelming even in theory, do one thing at a time, tackle one area per day. Leave small steps for the week afternoons/evenings and big ones for weekend.

 

6. Organize your closet, store winter clothes and prepare the ones for spring. Go carefully through your clothes and donate the ones you won't wear anymore. Invest in a few new pieces that will make you feel good about yourself.

7. Open windows and let the fresh air in.

8. Freshen up your walls with a few new decorations, photos or paintings.

 

9. Do a facial, body scrub and a quick pedi using a very bright or pastel nail polish.

 

10. Read a book or your favourite magazine somewhere outside, preferably while drinking a fresh juice or a cup of tea.

for the love of feedly.

 

When Google announced the retirement of Google Reader I panicked a bit, but then quickly searched for alternative options for reading the blogs I follow.

image via feedly

I like the convenience of having all the blogs in one place and I liked the simplicity of Google Reader. Most common recommendations were Bloglovin and Feedly - I've tried Bloglovin even before the GR retirement announcement and I used Feedly on my iPhone since December. I somewhat like Feedly more and I've started using it also on my computer (it installs the shortcut to your browser toolbar) and after the first 'I-don't-think-I-like-it-what-will-I-do-without-GR' I must admit I love it.

The design is nice. You can change the theme (I use the one named Bug).

And it is so easy to add new subscriptions.

The only tiny thing that I didn't like and I see that it is changed now - the links in the theme I like are colored in yellow and are hardly visible/readable on the screen - I see that you can change the color of the links in text under Preferences > General. I still have to try this, though.

I kept the same organization I had on Google Reader, but I have moved a lot of blogs to the 'not sure' folder. I haven't deleted all the subscriptions I don't follow regularly yet, but this is on the future to do list ;) Another thing - I am still subscribed to a ton of wedding blogs. I don't read them anymore, I sometimes browse a bit through some images and think of organizing another dream wedding or even more of those if I think of all the ideas I get, haha ... but this is another theme for another post :)

Overall, I think Feedly is so much better than Google Reader! How do you follow your favourite blogs?