Every month I have a goal to share with you a few things that I’ve learned during the month along with Emily & her readers. I missed sharing what I learned in July because of our family road trip. This month, the things I learned range from my nerdiness for nugget ice to a few helpful social media & blog tips. Here ya go:
~ Sonic has bags of nugget ice for sale! On our way home from Tennessee earlier this month, just as we were about to get on the interstate, we saw a Sonic. The sign said “bags of ice for $1.99” {honestly, I cannot remember the exact price but to me it didn’t matter, we were going to stop!}. I looked at Greg with my big brown eyes & smiled. He immediately knew we had to stop! We pulled into the drive-thru & ordered some slushies & tots & one bag of ice! Best. Day. Ever. I would have held her {clearly, a bag of Sonic nugget ice is a “she”} in my lap all the way home if I could! Thankfully, we had a cooler in the back & she made it home to Illinois. The bottom of the bag was a little watery but the first thing I did when we got home was grab my bag of ice & place her in our freezer! Maybe I’ll keep a cooler in the back of my car from now on so whenever I pass a Sonic, I can stop in for an order of tots & a bag of ice!
~ You can set up notifications on Instagram to let you know when your favorite Instagrammer has posted a photo!
Or maybe someone you’re following is going to make an announcement or post a giveaway & you don’t want to miss it. In the collage above, I’ve shown you how to turn on post notifications for my friend, Myquillyn who has a stunning Instagram account!
The steps are easy! 1) Go to their profile page & tap the three dots in the top right corner. 2) Select “Turn on Post Notifications” on the bottom pop up screen. 3) Ta da! For one quick second at the top, it will say “Post Notifications On” at the top of the page. So easy! And if you ever want to stop the notifications, do the same thing except you’ll choose “Turn Off Post Notifications” on the bottom pop up screen.
~ You can make your own website icon! There used to be so many steps to make one & then have the correct plugin to load it into your blog, etc…Now, it’s super easy if you have a WordPress blog. With the latest update {WordPress 4.3 “Billie”} you can upload a customized site icon that will “represent your site in browser tabs, bookmark menus, and on the home screen of mobile devices. Add your unique site icon in the customizer; it will even stay in place when you switch themes. Make your whole site reflect your brand.”
{VERY IMPORTANT:: Just make sure if you use a Genesis child theme on your blog that you update to Genesis 2.1.3 BEFORE you update to WordPress 4.3! If you have a Genesis theme, you should see this notification at the top of your Dashboard screen}.
Here’s how to do it:
Make your site icon in Picmonkey, Canva or the editing software of your choice using the set dimensions of 512 x 512 then add it to your Media library of your WordPress site. From your Dashboard, go to Appearance > Customize > Site Identity. Upload your site icon & click save! When you refresh your site, it should appear on your browser tab.
The next few steps aren’t necessarily new to iOS users but for the sake of those who may be interested to add your site icon {or anyone’s} to the home screen on your iOS mobile device, follow these steps:
1) Go to the website on Safari.
2) Once you’ve opened the webpage in Safari, click the square with the up arrow.
3) When the pop up appears at the bottom, click Add to Home Screen.
4) Click the “x” to enter a description of the webpage. I just put “ct” in mine. Short & sweet. After you have typed in the description, click Add on the top right.
5) And the site icon is added to your home screen. Yay! {Android users click here for help with this}.
~ Buying the 3 for $12 bundles of flowers at the grocery store make me happy. They make my home happy and they last for a few weeks. So, every few weeks I buy some for our home if I see some that I like. With the chaos that can take place in our home, having a visual reminder of something that can grow with just a little water & sun and be so beautiful helps calm the chaos. At least for me.
~ Cold brew coffee makes me happy too. I use Pioneer Woman’s recipe to make the cold brew & since I’m dairy free, I add Vanilla Almond Milk as my creamer. FYI – cold brew at Starbucks is not that great. The barista at my local Starbucks told me that they are still trying to figure it out. Yep, it was like drinking water that had cigarette butts soaking in it overnight instead of coffee beans. I took a sip & she apologetically handed me a free drink coupon to use next time. I’ll stick to my home brew & use my coupon to get my usual order from Starbucks, unsweetened passion tea lemonade.
What about you? What have you learned this month?
Sara says
Oh, the ice! I used to send my husband for bags of Sonic ice when I was pregnant. It was perfect for pregnancy cravings. Also great for parties 🙂 I also have a genesis based wordpress site, so I’ll have to check out the new icon feature! Much easier than uploading through the file share programs!
Sara recently posted..Blue Ridge Dress Pattern Swap
Caroline TeSelle says
sadly, the Sonic near me is not close enough to pop by 🙁
Teresa says
I’ll have to check out our sonic and see if they have ice for sale! Thanks for the info about the icon – I have one on my tab, but am never sure what I did to get it there. This way I have steps to follow when I’m ready to change. I know – changing is probably not a good thing, but I get bored and have to change it up once in a while. 🙂 Your icon looks sharp by the way – easily recognizable.
Caroline TeSelle says
And sometimes a small change messes up your whole site! 🙂
Courtney Laib says
Yay for Sonic ice! What a great discovery! I like what you learned in August:)
Caroline TeSelle says
Thanks Court!
Megan says
I love iced coffee and flowers. 🙂
TJ says
I love sonic ice. It is one of the few things I miss about living overseas. I use to just order a cup of ice sometime but didn’t know about the bags of ice. I was disappointed in the cold brew coffee at Starbucks too. Glad you at least got a free drink coupon.
TJ recently posted..5 Things I Learned in August (2015 Edition)
Emily says
I MUST try the recipe for the cold brew coffee. How is it that we have over 10 (maybe more) Sonic’s in my city alone, and I never knew they sold ice! Not that I can’t just buy it from the grocery store, but theirs is better… no idea why, just is.
Fresh flowers are my favorite too <3
Caroline TeSelle says
I wonder if every Sonic sells it? Next time I drive by one I’m gonna check!
Elizabeth says
Visiting from Myquillin’s weekend links and wanted to thank you for two reminders:
1) I need to write. My blog has been neglected for over a year, as my only readers (aka family) have reminded me.
2) I need to buy flowers. We start back to school (homeschool) on Tuesday and that was on my mental list to do. Not my original idea, another hs blogger shared.
The ice story made me smile. I’m not a Sonic fan, but I’ll pick up a bag today, though our well-water infused ice is pretty great. 🙂
Thanks again!
Elizabeth from MO
Shannon says
Oh how I wish my barista had done that……couldn’t agree more on the description of their cold brew. #gagamaggot
Krista says
Thank you!!! I thought I was missing something with the cold brew coffee, like ‘Why is everyone else loving this and i want to throw up in my center console?’ type thing. Glad to know I’m not the only one!! ??