Before we get started let me just preface this post with the statement: I am not an IT expert.  However, through the course of my professional and blogging life I have had to learn how to do a few IT magic tricks.

One of these tricks has been learning how to add an RSS button to my Firefox address bar.

I, like many of you, use the internet to find the answers.  So when I had to solve this problem I headed to google.  After multiple failed attempts to get the answer I hit upon this wonderful post by John Bokma about using the RSS button on Firefox.

I had to do a little bit of tweaking to get the code to work.  So I thought I would just do a brief expansion on how I got it to work.

I’m a self hosted WordPress user, so this probably won’t be too helpful if you’re on Blogger or some other hosting platform.

Let’s start with the basics.

What is RSS?

Greater minds than mine have written on this, and Problogger has a great article on it.  So I’m not going to rehash it.

What am I talking about?

Don’t worry, you’re not the first person to ever pose that question to me.  But in this case I’m talking about the following:

Here’s an example of a website address in Firefox that doesn’t display the RSS button.

Now, here’s an example of a website address in Firefox that does display the RSS button.

That’s the button that we’re looking at adding.

How do I add the RSS button in Firefox?

In a nutshell, you just have to add a piece of html to your header.

What does that mean to a technophobe like myself?

Ok , breaking it down.  You need to cut and paste some code (which is provided) into the code of your site.  The good news, I’m going to show you how to do that!

*deep breath*

First you need to navigate to your feeds page.  For me my feed web address looks like this:

Your feed address may be different.  But it’s important you know what it looks like.  Here’s a tutorial on how to find your feed address.

Once you have the address record it somewhere because you’ll need it later on.

Let’s get started!

Here’s the code

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
    title="John Bokma RSS" href="/index.rss">

This code is directly from John Bokma’s post. I didn’t write the code, I just used it.

I’m going to show you how I used it, which is missing from John’s post.

Once you have copied that little piece of code you need to insert it into your theme.  To find the correct place to insert the code you have to select the Editor which is located under Appearance on the WordPress Menu.

My menu option looks like the following:

Once you have selected Editor you will be presented with raw template code for editing.  You need to edit the header.php file.

In my theme the file looks like this:

You now need to look through the code for the following piece of text:

Once you’ve found that code, paste in the code that you copied earlier on.

Now depending on your feed address you may need to tweak the code you’ve just pasted in.  This is where you need to know your feed address, because we’re going to edit the following information:

You need to remove the index.rss and replace it with whatever comes after the last / in your feed address.  So for me I needed to change it to feed.

Once you’ve updated that you need to update the title of the feed in the code.  You’ll need to edit the following information:

So once those edits are made you simply need to save the changes (by clicking on the save button at the base of the editing field).

My code ended up looking like this:

And it now offers the following in my Firefox address bar:

The End!

I hope this has helped.  Like I said I’m not an IT expert and if it wasn’t for John Bokma’s post I would not have had a clue what to do.  So I hope this helps at least one other person out there.  If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll do my best to either answer them or direct you to someone who might be able to help, from one technophobe to another.

Today I have the immense pleasure of introducing you all to my first ever guest music poster, Abbi.

*round of appluase*

I met Abbi through her Livejournal blog; The Musings of Abbi, the Diurnalist and I’ve been smitten ever since.  I really enjoy reading Abbi’s entries.  For me they have some magical lyrical quality to them.  Whenever I read them I feel like I’m being provided a glimpse into a life that isn’t pretending to be something it’s not.  Which I think is reflected in the music she’s chosen today and the reasons why she loves The Avett Brothers so much.

I had never heard of the group, so not only did I get a wonderful blessing in the form of Abbi guest posting but I also got to add a new group to my listening rotation. Thanks Abbi!

It’s the height of summer here in St. Louis, Missouri, and that means humidity that makes you feel like you’re walking through a hot wet towel, high temperatures that tempt you to fry not only an egg but a side of bacon on the sidewalk, and heat indexes over 100F that would drive you to jump in the lake if there were one within jumping distance.  And I drive a car without air conditioning.  As you might imagine, I spend much of my half-hour commute home from work with the windows open and music pouring out of the speakers.

There’s a certain something to summertime music — it has to be music that makes you feel good, music that sounds good loud and coming out of your open windows.  It can’t be pretentious or take itself too seriously.

The Avett Brothers are my favorite summertime band right now.  These guys come out of North Carolina, so there is a certain twang to their music, but trying to put them in a genre is a difficult task.  They play guitars and banjos and they sing their own songs with tight harmonies, so call them what you will.  Every time I hear something new from them it sounds simultaneously fresh and familiar.

They don’t produce the kinds of summer anthems like “I Got a Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas, but rather songs that make you want to sing along, provide some harmony, have a beer with the guys when it’s over.  Not only do they sound great with the wind rushing through your hair, they sound like the kind of guys you should listen to with the top down as you drive through the country on your way to a pig roast.  And once you get there, you find that not only are these guys playing, they’re the ones roasting the pig.

But just because they sound good in the car doesn’t mean they’re fluffy.  These guys have some of the best lyrics I’ve ever had the pleasure to sing along with at my steering wheel.  They’re honest: no pretension, no gimmicks.

A new relationship?  “My heart like a kickdrum/my love like a voice.”

Mourning the passing of an old one?  “I am a breathing time machine,/I’ll take you all for a ride.”

One of my favorite song lyrics of all time comes out of “Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise”: “When nothing is owed or deserved or expected/And your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected/If you’re loved by someone, you’re never rejected,” and then the verse ends with the succinct directive: “Decide what to be and go be it.”  What more can you ask from a band?

♥♥♥♥♥

You can find Abbi on Twitter under the ID @word_nerd and you can read her musings on her blog: The Musings of Abbi, the Diurnalist

It’s amazing how sometimes life is like a rolling stone.  One minute you’re just minding your own business and the next you’ve signed up to improve your corner of the internet and you’re booking flights to attend an all-day blogging event in another city.

I started this blog on 13 September 2008, that’s nearly two years ago.  I find it really hard to believe that I’ve been at this for that amount of time.  It seems like only yesterday, in fact I thought it was only a year ago.  Amazing really.

In all this time I’ve not really done anything to improve my style or content.  I’ve just been happily coming up with little bits and pieces.  However I think it might be time to admit that I don’t know everything there is about blogging and look at ways to make my content more enjoyable and relevant.

In short, I want to find my blogging voice and mojo.

What does this mean?  I’ve decided to join the SITS Girls and participate in the Problogger Challenge.  The challenge is simple; Using the ebook 31 Days to  Build a Better Blog, produced by Problogger, everyday from 19 July to 19 August I will be posting based on the topics covered in the ebook.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes of the challenge and meeting some new blogging friends.  It should be exciting to do some thinking and activities around something that I really enjoy doing. Who knows I may even learn something. *wink*

This week I’m playing a cover. Inspired by the fact that for the last week or two I’ve been indulging in my love of paranormal romance with the most wonderful Tracey O’Hara and Ezinoz. I’m a massive Rolling Stones fan, but I’m choosing to go with the Guns N Roses as it was originally recorded for the cult classic Interview with a Vampire.

This clip is a mash up of Underworld and Blade, two great vampire movies. Now, I know vampires, supernatural beings and things that go bump in the night aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but on some level you just have to admire someone who can kick ass. Even if it is all make believe…

Just a quick public service announcement to let you all know that you can now subscribe to gnomeangel via email or various feeds.  It’s really rather simple; all you have to do hover of the above icon located on the sidebar and select your form of subscription.  Simple.

Bare with me on this one… I am addicted to author Nalini Singh.  She’s got a series based on Angels, which I’ve read and loved.  While reading the books I couldn’t help but wonder what they would be like if they were turned into movies.

A few weeks ago I saw Legion and it gave me hope that the series could be brought to life and do the subject matter justice.  It seems that up until recently Angel’s wings have been a bit of a cgi let down.  Supernatural handled them reasonable well, my favourite part being when the shadow of the wings gets burnt on to surfaces when an Angel is sacrificed.   Then Legion came along and now we have this film clip from the young Miss Cyrus.

I live in hope, people!  Hope that one day I’ll be able to see these stories on the big screen.

74 Lime Lane is a wonderful blog run by the talented Kellie.  It’s an amazing mishmash of design, craft and photography. Each week Kellie provides a smorgasbord of wonderful items, links and images.

As well as being a kick ass blogger Kellie is an aspiring photographer with an eye for the truly sublime.  You can even purchase a little piece of Kellie’s magic through her Etsy Store.

Don’t believe me, check out these lovely images…

Image source: 74 Lime Lane

Why not take a stroll through the internet and spend some time at 74 Lime Lane.

Image source: rrachell

I saw this image on Kind Over Matter and the words really spoke to me.  (Not to mention I love the sense of everyday life that this photo captures.)  So I posted the words to livejournal and then watched as Alivicwil and Marjory proceeded to turn it into a discussion about ‘regular’.  I love my friends.

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you feel like the universe is conspiring against you?  I’ve just had one of those weeks.  It’s been horrid!

Work has been hideous and drama filled, I’ve had to go for one of the worst possible infertility tests I can imagine and the results of those tests haven’t been great.  It’s meant that all week I’ve been looking forward to Friday with blind abandon.  Not because anything special was happening on Friday; just because it meant that my work week was over.

I cannot explain the relief of driving out of the work car park on Friday and heading for home.  On the drive home I daydreamed about getting home, changing into my jim jams and climbing into bed with another great book from Kinley MacGregor and forgetting all about the week that was.

Turns out the universe wasn’t done with me just yet… Thinking nothing could raise my spirits from the funk they were in I hadn’t counted on getting mail.  I got home to find a parcel on my doorstep and overseas mail in my mailbox.  Score!  Nothing makes me as happy as receiving mail!

Last week I had ordered lettering for the sides of my Derby helment.  I wasn’t expecting to get them until the middle of next week… at the earliest.  But here they were, waiting for me.  Yippie!  I grabbed my helmet, prepared the surface and stuck them on.  I love them!!!

I ordered them from Frank’s Sister on Etsy.  I was nervous about ordering them without being able to see them, but Frank’s Sister didn’t disappoint.  They look perfect.  They’re in great condition and are exactly what I wanted.  I’m so happy.  I can’t wait to hit Derby training on Sunday and show them off!

(I just noticed myself in the reflection of the helmet… lucky I had pants on!!!)

Time to turn my attention on to the parcel.  It was from Victoria Mason; artist extraordinaire.  I have been in love with Victoria‘s work for well over a year.  I even featured her work in a Friday Fancy last year.  But I hadn’t made the leap to buy a piece yet.  Then I saw her latest creation featured over on Kootoyoo.  I wasn’t lucky enough to win the necklace on offer, but I did have access to email and now I had Victoria‘s contact details I thought I would take a punt and get in contact with her to see when they would be available.

She was amazing.  Really friendly and helpful, just wonderful.  I feel really blessed that I was able to order one of her prototypes.  I expected to have to wait for ages to get one as they are so new, but no I was able to order one straight away.  Then a double shock – it arrived on Friday.  I wasn’t expecting to see it until next week.  I opened the parcel and fell in love.

This photo doesn’t do it enough justice.  It’s absolutely stunning.  It sparkles.  The detail in the crocheting is amazing.  Just beautiful.

I’m so happy with it, especially because it’s a combined birthday gift from my parents and HUBBY.  I feel like it’s something that I’ll be able to cherish for years to come and hand down to our children.  It totally made my week.

Needless to say I still got into my jim jams and climbed into bed with another great book from Kinley MacGregor; just I did it with a smile instead.

1. easter basket, 2. bunny in snow, 3. Easter eggs, 4. Happy Easter

We had a relaxing weekend.  It was pure bliss.

We don’t really do much to celebrate Easter, except eat a tonne of chocolate from about February to May.  So there were no family obligations or social outings this weekend.  We both just took it easy.

Only three more weeks now until we’re on holiday and neither of us can wait.  Should be fun.

♦♦♦♦♦

If you’d like to see other flickr faves sans the life story check out ArtMind.