Though I had a bunch of projects going already for the weekend and plans to take Rybear to see his great grandparents on Sunday, I figured the pressure would help me to redesign the site and quick. I have been talking about it for a couple weeks now.

Sometimes you need to jump in head first.

Well, I have made great headway, but still have a long way to go. Some of my original ideas were not panning out once I try to actually design the “great idea.”

It’s funny how quick what seems like a good idea can actually turn pretty crappy once you start to act it out.

It is important to know when to stop a project and change directions. I don’t know how many times I have tried to force a bad design idea only to waste hours with no outcome other than finding I should have went with my instincts and changed direction hours earlier.

Some of my best work is some when I am flexible and let the design process happen organically–forcing it is just a bad idea that gives you forced, awkward results. This is true in many situations, not just design.

And I work best with some pressure added, I need to feel the squeeze of a deadline.

So my goal is to have the site up tomorrow at this point I am not sure what shape it will be in as the complexity of the portfolio design and the addition of several new sections may take a while.  I am still figuring out a lot as I go.

I love how ballsy I am being on a lot of areas of my life, I am kinda impressed.

I was working on another new web project for a client on Saturday morning and needed to call on the help of tech support. I end up getting a business consultant on the line rather than a regular tech guy and spent the next hour on the phone discussing the growth and expansion of my business.

It was crazy, I was speaking a language a month and a half ago I didn’t know.  I was talking about things I had no clue about a few months earlier. I got off the phone and Sean gave me that look, he knew I had more up my sleeve.

Expanding my options, thinking big, and learning so much.

So being ballsy has been paying off.
I have learned so much.
I have some new kick ass designs.
I speak a few new technical languages.
And I don’t have a Blue Felt website- just yet!
It will be bigger and better than the last one, and hopefully up tomorrow for business.\

Torie
Getting Gutsy

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I have a few great free word press and website resources to share today that I have found interesting.

Web Site Articles, Tutorials, and Tips
WebsiteTips.com is an educational Web site design and development resource especially for Web site owners, Web designers, Web professionals, webmasters, teachers and educators, students, and anyone wanting to learn about Web sites.

13 Great WordPress Speed Tips & Tricks for MAX Performance
Performance is a key factor for any successful website. And since WordPress is becoming more popular than ever, it will only be at its best when raised in the proper conditions. Here are a few things to try if you find that your WordPress site is not performing as well as it could be due to high traffic or hidden issues you don’t know about.

48 Unique Ways To Use WordPress
WordPress, one of the most popular blogging platforms (if not the most), is capable of being more than just a blog platform. It’s capable of being a full-blown CMS (Content Management System). As someone who has both written small, custom CMSes from scratch as well as evaluated million-dollar professional CMSes for large corporations, WordPress‘ robustness never ceases to amaze me.

That’s it for now, I will have more to share tomorrow!

Sean and I talked a short while and then we both went back to work.

Rybear woke up about 20 minutes later and I took him outside to enjoy the nice day we were having. For a kiddo born in November he hadn’t seen all that much sun. My phone rang and it was a number I didn’t recognize, but I answered it anyway.

It was my my previous counselor from the VA vocational training program (that paid for my college.) I hadn’t spoke with her since well before I graduated in 2007. She told me that she was reviewing her files from two years ago and all of them were good but mine. They had mistakenly not processed a job placement allowance that was allotted to me after graduation. She apologized and said not only would she process it right away but she would process it at the current rate of $671 per month for two months.

I put that money out in the universe for part of Sean and my empire and the universe gave it (and a little extra) right back to me. Within an hour, I must add.

It is crazy when stuff like that happens. I have been all jazzed since then, I know these new websites, though they are taking so much of my time, are going to be so worth it in the long term.