Better Nester Revamp!

I am adjusting my beloved blog to better fit my lifestyle! I've trimmed the site down to the bare minimums. No more sponsors, this is just for fun. I know I can't be devoting my every second to the Better Nester anymore, so the blog should reflect that. I want to keep it pure and simple.

I'll be making little changes here and there in a while again. The Pages links at the top of the page will need to go soon because I just can't keep up with making new buttons for all my tutorials and such. So That will have to become something different. I wanna make the links go to certain tags from the blog like I've seen on many other sites.

Anyways, don't mean to ramble. My point for this post was to say that the Better Nester is changing because so am I! But that doesn't mean it's going away! I am going to make a solid effort from now on to not neglect my little nest over here.

But! In the mean time, you can always follow my new blog, which stalks my life as an artist and student at Full Sail. Just remember, The Better Nester lives on! I will not abandon my project!

Much love!

What's New?!

Hello, all! In case you hadn't noticed, TBN went on a bit of a hiatus for a while there.

So what's new? What happened while I was away?

As for me...? Well, there were a few things actually. First was our WEDDING! It was, in a word, perfect.

Second was our honeymoon in HAWAII! It was, in a word, paradise.

Third was my enrollment into Full Sail University for GAME ART! I am, in a word, ecstatic.

I just recently received my "Launch Box" from them, which included my new computer and really awesome software that I'll need in order to do my course work.

Yes, that is correct. I am going to start learning how to make digital 3D art for video games. I'm really excited to have a career path for myself, set in stone. I can't deny that video games are part of what make me me, and so I am setting forth to pursue a way in which I can turn play into work. 

Things will be a little bit different around here at The Better Nester, but only because I am going to start chronicling my journey from stay at home mom to independent game developer! 

It's true, my dream is to run my own game studio. My mission would be to create games about beauty and art, and less so about action and war. The power of video games is strong, and so many people dislike game because they "teach kids violence." Well, not all games are created equally. There are plenty of games about peace and tranquility, and there will be even more when I'm creating them! Besides, games can also be a powerful learning tool for children in an educational application.

Anyways, fear not! The Better Nester will live on! But I think I am going to start a new segment for my Full Sail tales, for all those who care to read. It just seems easier than trying to put up a whole new blog for it and having to keep track of both.

AND I will also put up more detailed posts about both the wedding and Hawaii soon, so keep your eye out!

Guest Blogger Gabby

I'd like all of you to meet my friend and sponsor Gabby from The...Late, Young Family! Here is a post she has written for you in order to introduce herself. I love her blog and I think you will too! So without further ado...


Oh, and P.S...I know I haven't been blogging quite as avidly these days...School, two babies, blogging, wedding planning, my odd little side jobs...you understand, don't you? ♥


Now here's Gabby!

---

Thank you, Alicia, for having me over for a guest post today!  I am very happy to be here and to share with your readers what my blog is all about!




Hello to The Better Nester readers!  My name is Gabby, and I am a stay-at-home mother to two little ones, Ava and Quinn!  It is no secret that I struggle with ADD; so, my blog, The...Late, Young Family, is my own little outlet for showing off my sometimes eclectic projects and family photos!




I have Sing-Song Friday every week. If you like music, and you are always interested in hearing new genres, then you will want to stop by to hear my song of the week!




Hope you get the chance to stop by, and let me know if you're visiting from The Better Nester! I am always happy to see new faces!

Gabby

Liebster Blogs!

My dear friend Gabby of The...Late, Young Family has awarded me with the Liebster Blog award. Thanks, Gabby! Basically, the award is passed around as a way to feature blogs that deserve some attention but don't yet have many followers. Liebster apparently means "dearest/beloved" so I think that is good enough reason to continue the tradition. How sweet! Here are the rules of the Liebster Award:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter
2. Make sure to link back to the blogger who presented you with the award
3. Copy and paste the blog award button on your blog
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers of less and who you feel deserve to be noticed.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

So here are the five blogs that I would like to present with the Liebster Blog Award!

• You Will Rejoice
• Little Mudpies
• Look. Snap. Love.
• Snickety Things
• Oh So Chichi!

Guesting A Recipe

I've written up an "Easy Pleasing Recipe" as a guest post over at You Will Rejoice (who just so happens to be a sponsor of mine!). The recipe is for some quick and delicious quesadillas and you can check it out HERE!

If you try it out, be sure to let me know if you liked it! And definitely be sure to leave my sponsor some love!

Let's Help Save The Lives Of Thousands Of Children

For those of you who don't know, Joseph Kony is a terrorist who preys on children. Unfortunately, most people don't know.

This video has recently come to my attention, and by recently I mean a half hour ago. Already, I insist that everybody I know please watch it. It is a half hour long, so if you don't have time to watch the whole thing then I'll sum it up for you:

• Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.
• Joseph Kony abducts children and turns them into armed soldiers if they are boys and sex slaves if they are girls.
• Joseph Kony forces children to kill and mutilate, and sometimes even to murder their own parents.
• Joseph Kony is still at large and is doing everything he can to prevent his own capture.
• Awareness of this issue is KEY to convincing the government that this issue is still important enough to focus on.
• This issue is bringing the ENTIRE world together in the name of PEACE.

I was amazed when watching this video at how evident it was that World Peace is truly possible due to the connection we all have over the internet. I think this is a good place to start. Stop Joseph Kony. He must be found and arrested so that children may stop fearing and witnessing death. Imagine your own children in that situation. It is important enough to share this video, if that's the least you can do!



KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Now Offering Ad Spaces!

I know it may be a little early, but I decided to go ahead and make a Sponsor page for The Better Nester.

The main reason I wanted to get started with sponsoring was to announce that I am looking for AD AND GUEST POST SWAPS. Let's help each other and do a free and easy trade at no cost to either of us!

Please visit the Sponsor page, linked at the top of the website beneath our header for more information on buying ad space.

Featuring: Premium sponsor spots at the top of the list! Get a whole 250 x 250 pixels all to yourself!

New Site Design

In an effort to get more personal with my website, I decided to hand-draw an entirely new site design for The Better Nester. (Although, it was colored digitally.) I'm pretty happy with the way most of it turned out.

But what do you think??

Let me know!

Top Mommy Blogs

 

The Better Nester is finally on Top Mommy Blogs! Yay! I feel special... ;)

So, do us a favor and throw us a vote every once in a while. All you have to do is click on the little TMB button to the top left of the site (or the one up above here) and your vote is cast!

You can vote once every day! And then I'll get to feel even more special!

Thanks, everyone!

Follow Us On BlogLovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin!

In an effort to expand my horizons I have found this little site which keeps popping up every other which way I look. So if you enjoy the benefits of bloglovin' you can enjoy the benefits of the Better Nester on bloglovin'.

In other news~ I have finally figured out how to get my feed straightened out. So I finally have a working RSS link! Woo! You're welcome. ;)

New Custom Domain!

We've upgraded over here! Got a new web address! We are officially just www.thebetternester.com! Yay~

Follow Me On Pinterest

I've only been on for a few hours and I am already more than addicted to Pinterest!

If you feel like following me then please feel free to do so! Or if you need an invite, then let me know!

Imported Photography Blog

Well, I've taken the liberty of importing all the posts from my photography blog into this one. It makes it easier to keep track of my posts and comments and helps to keep this blog (my main blog) updated and rich with content. So now the new feature of The Better Nester is more information and pics of my everyday life! I hope you don't mind the lengthy details of my days!

My New Button

I recently posted a button for my blog back before I had changed the name of my blog to the Better Nester. So here is my button v2.0! Made it all by myself in Photoshop with the pen tool! There will be many more, I'm sure.






<center><a href="http://thebetternester.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeDmdLGtVIb0CBeLO_eoqAZxDGtsS4uL-8HN73IALIC0O5nmulhEuSM2Ny-QJZc92J3BM1F9wJMwq49bnS3lsSgi2Ky3If5bYW6cdkdi222AdSMbtTx8TMffR3C66tKCApjo-nchB6XI/s1600/button.jpg"/></a></center>

My Hurried Attempts

 I was so excited to start my photo blog that I snapped some quick pictures when Adrianne got up from her very late nap. So unfortunately I don't have picture documentation of the morning, which consisted of a nice and unexpected visit from Mike's brother, Nick, and their wonderful Dad. But here are some of my visual thoughts and memory snippets from this evening.

I loved the weather today, it was about 65 and sunny. I love the way the cool, fresh breeze can blow a curtain around. I think it's so nice to have such a comfortable temperature and to still have that gorgeous sunlight pouring in through the window.

This is Adrianne's rock and coin collection. All over my floor! It somehow ends up there more often than you'd like to know, but the great thing is I don't even have to mind because she loves picking it all up and starting over again.

The American Pediatric Society may say that absolutely no television is good for children under the age of two but I think Adrianne finds it to be a nice break from all the very strenuous learning and growing she does all day. Besides, she only watches two episodes a day. And her shows of choice are Blue's Clues and Baby Einstein, which I have found to be extremely educational. She interacts with the shows and can sit still and be very attentive during them.

Not to mention it just makes her so darn happy! She has a Blue's Clues dance when she wants to watch the show that she actually got the moves from the show itself. It's actually really impressive! And if her little dance doesn't get me to turn it on, she grabs my hand and writes in my "notebook" with her finger. The look of pure joy on her face when I boot up Netflix is one of the best things in the world.

She is on the edge of her seat, always. I love the way she plays with her little toes!

She also knows how to kick back and relax...

Why are her little feet so beautiful? I can't believe how many pictures I find myself taking of them.

TV time means Mommy gets a very short break time. I have found myself busy with an almost embarrassing amount of hobbies these days. I have been painting a lot, for example. But, wow, I think my art studio needs an upgrade. Check out the house plant on the left that I'm trying to let die so I can get rid of it. It's kind of sad, but our apartment just isn't suitable for plant keeping. Or maybe it's just me! Either way...I miss that plant, it did so well for a while. It's actually a plant I got as a gift when Adrianne was born that came in a cute little pink basket. I couldn't get myself to get rid of it, but it's a bit past it's prime...

Anyhow, here's my current painting. I'm a little over halfway done now, just working on the bulk of the flowerbeds in the foreground. When it's finished I'm going to hang it above my sink and pretend it's a window overlooking my garden since I don't currently have either a garden or a window in my kitchen...

I may have a lot of hobbies but at least I'm keeping up with my over-stuffed homework schedule. If you think that looks busy, you should see my appointments calendar...

Oh, yeah...and besides homework and hobbies and mommy-ing...check out this motherload. Hmmm...is that laundry pile a little daunting? Oh come on, don't blame me, I'm a busy woman. We'll get back to this later, hehe.

At least I've managed to confine Adrianne's abundant toys to a relatively singular area. Hmm...I think we may be running out of room though!

Oh, what's that? "Mom! My show is done!" Huh, I guess it's time for dinner!

Ahh, nothing like a home cooked meal on a lazy Thursday evening... Hey, don't make fun. I happen to make the very best macaroni and cheese in the whole entire world.

There. See? Adrianne thinks so too. Right, Adrianne?

"Yes, Mommy. OM." She just so happened to finish her whole bowl of macaroni tonight! Not to mention the two whole bowls of oatmeal she had later on. I blame the hearty dose of sunshine and chasing Grandpa around the park in Lewiston this morning for her lovely appetite today!

Isn't she beautiful?

First Post

Hi there!

My name is Alicia and I am both a mother, a wife, and an artist above all other things. The most fulfilling thing to me is to create things that can enrich my life, my home, and my family. And believe me, I try everything!

The purpose of this site is to share my experiences and my knowledge with all the others out there with a passion to create! I am here to inspire, to motivate, and to show you how to do things that no one else has bothered to show you.

Thanks for stopping by my site and I hope you find something that can help you!

Alicia Yamashita


P.S.

This is my beautiful family. I just can't help but show it off. Our second baby (a boy!) is on the way! We are so happy, and we couldn't be more lucky to have so much fun in our totally average lives! We always make the most of everything and we encourage you to too!!!