Sparkly New aLBoP!

Omigosh guys!  Look look look!!!  aLBoP’s all sparkly and new and WordPressy!!  Oooh, ahhh, wow!! O_O

And it only took… -_- okay it took a long time.  Way longer than I anticipated.  But it seems we had way outgrown Blogger… like two years ago. 😛  We were trying to make a blog format, intended for family vacation pics and pictures of people’s dogs, viable as a full-fledged website format.  Not that blogs can’t be professional. 😉  But I had done an insane amount of jury-rigging to make the COGs, etc. look like professional pages on our poor little outdated Blogger aLBoP.

So when I used the Blogger importer thingy for WordPress, it did save me tons of effort.  Well, compared to retyping the posts myself 😛  But every link had to be updated and 90% of the posts were FUGLY!  *Scream!*  It was so terrifying and overwhelming (and some of the less visited posts might still be nasty looking, I make no promises.)  But we did it!

Between Justin combing every single post and making sure every link was updated (there are 84 posts, FYI, and if anyone needs a bulk URL updater for WordPress, we have one to recommend, because going live would have been literally impossible without it!), and me going through all the major posts *and* 192 COG pages one by one to be sure they were pretty and not full of nasty spacing and picture issues, we finally did it, but we’re pretty well wiped. *tired face*

But… I love it!!!  I love how the new start page looks!  I love how the new contact page looks!  I love the new pics I made for the Type Me! page (all of those today, as a matter of fact :P)!  I love the header and the fact that I figured out all by myself how to change the html so that there aren’t little grey boxes around all the images.  I love the new sidebar blurb and I *really* love the drop down menu at the top!  *Melt*  I love it all!  And even though it took way longer than I anticipated, I really am so proud and I really do feel like it was worth it. <3

Okay, so going forward!  I’m gonna bullet-point these…

• If you’re waiting on a Typing you already ordered, thank you so much for being patient!  I feel like it would be foolhardy to promise when we’re going to get all caught up, because of the holidays, but we haven’t forgotten and it’s at the top of my aLBoP to-do list!  That’s why it’s the first bullet-point lol 😉
• “Guaranteed Major Posts” for November, December and January, that you guys earned as a group through your Patreon contributions, will all be coming in January (is the plan anyway).  Feedback from you guys said it was okay to count web versions of the COGs as October’s, which I much appreciate, but I’m very excited for the new stuff we have planned for the new year.  One of the first ones planned is actually Super Simple 1.5 (to go between Part 1 and Part 2… obviously lol) as a more thorough look at the Four Types of Information and differentiating them from each other.  Actually, if you have unresolved questions about the 4Toi, please go leave them on SS:P1, and I’ll try and incorporate them into SS:P1.5 if I can! 😀  Also, we’re really really excited for a new intro to aLBoP video we have planned that we’d love to make one of the January posts, if you guys are cool with that.  It should be a really cool way to introduce new people to aLBoP!
• Phase 2:  Like we said in the last thank you video, we’re moving Phase 2 and the Forum to WordPress as well, and actually separating it into two parts.  There will be a Phase 2 Intro site and Intro Forum, that has a similar self-invite system to the one we already had in place, for people to read the Phase 2 Intro, get their bearings and ask questions, etc.  But then there will also be a separate main Phase 2 site and Phase 2 Forum for people who are ready for more content after the Intro and other intro-ish posts.  We’re really excited for this, and think it’ll help everyone get the content and attention they need for where they are in the learning process.  We’re also using it as an opportunity to delegate to people we really trust to handle a lot of people’s initial questions about the intro, so Justin and I can spend our efforts on producing new content, rather than answering FAQs on what’s already there.
• So, because of all this ^, we’re a) not extending new invites to Phase 2 atm and b) going to be working hard on getting the new Phase 2 and Phase 2 Intro sites live.  But with all the time and effort that getting “Phase 1″—as we call this, main aLBoP website lol—live, I am absurdly behind on my Christmas preparations.  Like seriously, I have a ton of DIYs I haven’t even *started* yet! :O  So you might not be able to expect any of that stuff until we get a chance to work on stuff after the holidays.  I mean, we tend to work on stuff on weekends and holidays anyway lol, but we would like to get the chance to spend time with family and, you know, sleep once in awhile. 😉

But seriously guys, I feel like aLBoP is mine again, in a way that I haven’t in a really long time.  I mean aLBoP and all its phases has been the most fulfilling project of my lifetime, but over time I felt like I spent so much time defending everything that aLBoP is, that I wasn’t able to just stretch out and play in the party that is humanity, anymore, which to me is what aLBoP is really all about.  I feel like I can make it about that again, finally. <3

As the holidays and end of the year are approaching, I want to take this opportunity to tell you guys that even when I don’t get to say it, *you* are what make aLBoP a joy to me.  aLBoP has given me many of the most precious relationships I have.  I can’t tell you guys how much I’ve missed everyone on the Forum lately, and how often I think of you all.  I would say individual names but I don’t want to embarrass anyone on the internet lol 😉  Besides, there are so many more of you than I could count anyway!  And I’m sure more of you than I know personally.  But know that your love and support has bolstered me through every hard (and insanely tedious, the past month :P) time, and that I could never do any of this without you guys!  I only hope that I can lift and strengthen you guys as much as you have lifted and strengthened me!

That’s my goal for 2017(:O!), to spend it working on things that will help as many of you as possible, reach new heights and new happiness by understanding yourself and your own potential, more than ever before!  #SquadGoals!  Can I pull that phrase off?  Doubtful. ;P Ah well.

Enjoy the new site organization!  OH!!!  And don’t forget to update your Pins/bookmarks, etc!  Eventually I’ll change all my Pinterest urls, but that is a project for another day. 😛  And leave me new comments if you’re so inclined! 😀  Bittersweetly, all the old ones were lost in the move although I still have *all* of them saved in my email, because that’s how I roll 😉 <3

Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Life Day, or whate’re you celebrate!

Love you guys a bazillion!

<3 Calise