valentine's day Thank you San Francisco Chronicle!

My Kitchen, photo by Rudy Calpo

A big thank you to Anh-Minh of the San Francisco Chronicle for the mention in her great article, Exposure of blogs benefits designers, readers.

Also mentioned are Scot Meacham Wood, Tartanscot blog. Grant Gibson, and Jennifer Jones of the Niche Interiors blog, among many other national designer favorites. I hope you have a chance to check out Anh-Minh's list of "designers who blog" list!

I feel honored to have been included.

valentine's day Blog Love: Dining and Decor

valentine's day

Photo by Mrs. B of Dining and Decor

This blogging world never ceases to amaze. I received an email last week announcing a new blog venture. This happens every now and again. many times the emails are from commercial blogs that are requesting a link. Sometimes, however, I receive an email that makes me smile and clap my hands while a little squeal in my head is saying "YAY!!!"

This is one of those times!

Allow me to introduce you to Mrs. B of Dining and Decor. Mrs. B and I have been online "design" friends for awhile now, ever since collaborating on the decor of her home through my e-decorating service, kdspace.

Mrs. B sent me an email letting me know she was taking the plunge and starting a new blog, so I clicked on over right away! I am so impressed I cannot fully describe it. Mrs. B has skills with a camera I could only hope to achieve....and believe me, I have already bent her ear on what camera she uses. Her eye is immaculate....and her subject matter.....as you can see by the photo above....delicious! Mrs. B will be delighting us with sumptuous treats and beautiful design, so if you love food and decor....hop on over and introduce yourself and say "welcome"!

You will NOT be disappointed!

Have a Happy Weekend!

(p.s. - my computer urgently requested a little R and R today.....I had no choice but to oblige. After all, she has been slaving away 24-7 for quite awhile. She should be refreshed and ready to meet the day again sometime next week....Tuesday I am hoping!)

valentine's day Stop Copying Me!

I am having a bit of a dilemma here, and I'd like to ask for your input.

I experienced a bit of a traffic spike the last couple of days, which was a wonderful surprise! Thank you to all of you who come to read katiedid!

I was curious to know if there had been a link to my site that was directing a bit more traffic my way so I could thank whoever had been so nice.

Which brings me to a couple of questions. Technorati used to provide the answers, but doesn't seem to give as much information as it used to.

So I put the question out there to Google. Where else might I check who had linked to the katiedid blog? Up came information directing me to Copyscape. This is a handy little site that lets you know if there are any websites out there lifting copy from your blog or website.

My original quest had been to find out if there had been a helpful link to my blog, but I was curious about Copyscape, so I tried it out. Lo and behold, I found a site that is lifting all of my blog posts directly from my site, pictures and all. They do refer everyone back to my site as the original source, so at first I thought, just more exposure, right? But then, I realized, there is a LARGE amount of advertising on this site. So in essence, I am exerting a huge amount of effort to line someone else's pockets! Sooooo not right!!!

But is it considered plagiarism, since they list katiedid as the source?

Has anyone else experienced this? There are other design bloggers who have their hard work posted on this site and they may not know about it. I certainly didn't!( I will be letting these bloggers know, believe me!) The site even lists my blog in their sidebar as a "news source".

So what does one do? Copyscape does provide quite a bit of advice, but the website in question is owned by someone who has 288 other domains....so not likely to respond to my letter to "quit it".

It just occurred to me that since it appears this site automatically uploads all of my blog posts, THIS one will show up too.

So Mr. Copycat...you know who you are....STOP COPYING ME!

Anyone who has any information about this sort of thing, I would love to hear it!! Thanks all!