I’ve had a serious problem with my ability to focus lately. Well, let’s face it, it hasn’t been just lately. I’d say for the past 5 years or so my focus has been off, but it has really been magnified recently.

I have had the hardest time focusing long enough to sit down and check / respond to emails, write blog posts, schedule social media for the blog, be organized with banking, invoicing, and other tasks.

In addition, this week I locked my keys in the car twice, left my purse in the lunchroom at the grade school, forgot to take my daughter to volleyball practice, and left the stove burner on for an hour while I took a meal to a neighbor with cancer. …

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Happy November to you all!

This month, I am celebrating Dine & Dish being 5 years old! It’s hard to believe 5 years ago I started this baby blog of mine. What’s even harder to believe is how much joy it has brought me over the past 5 years. I have come to connect with so many treasured friends, have had the chance to work with some pretty amazing magazines and brands, and have cultivated a love for photography, cooking, and creative writing in the process. Most importantly, I’ve tossed aside the idea that I will ever be a scrapbooker and have given in to letting my blog be where I store my memories for myself and my family.

With 5 years of blogging under my belt (which is ever tight, thanks to food blogging) I’ve spent some time reflecting on where I’ve been and what I want to accomplish moving forward. With that reflection, I’ve decided there are going to be a few changes around Dine & Dish.

Last month I had a random glitch when I was doing my iPhone update onto my MacBook Pro and I, unfortunately, lost the thousands of photos stored on my hard drive from January through last week. Needless to say, I was devastated. Sure, I still had some pictures from my Photo Journey blog and Instagram, which is much better than nothing, but all the priceless moments and everyday captures, I lost. Guess what I did have though? I had all of my food pictures because that is what I blog about. Do you think in the end I really cared that I still had all of my food photos? Yeah… not so much.

With that being said, I wanted to give you fair warning that Dine & Dish is going to expand some. I’m going to share more than just food with you… I’m going to share family life, things that make me happy, product reviews, books that I’ve read, travel experiences, recipes, photography, etc. Everything that is important to me in my life is now going to be part of Dine & Dish. And, I’m not going to do it on a separate blog… it’s obvious by how many dead websites I have out there how that’s worked out for me in the past 🙂

The month of November is going to be a great one…my blog is getting a big makeover (going back to basics with a simple blog design) and I have lots of amazing giveaways to show appreciation to you all for sticking by me through the years. Dine & Dish has never been the biggest blog out there, and that’s ok. Traffic isn’t what drives me. What drives me is the connection with each of you, and I truly appreciate you sharing in my journey.

If you choose to shut the door on Dine & Dish with it’s new direction, I completely understand. If you plan on sticking around, I am grateful to have you here. Feel free to subscribe via email for updates or follow me on Twitter and Facebook so you can determine what’s worth clicking through for you.

Thanks again for an amazing 5 years. I hope to enjoy many, many more!

The post Happy November – Looking Back and Looking Ahead appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Oh my Lord… do you see that plate of deliciousness up there? Yes? The pasta with bits of bacon, black pepper and a creamy white sauce? You need to hop over to Tasty Kitchen where I found the recipe and make it, pronto. Trust me. Good stuff!

But wait! Before you do that, stay here and strut your stuff. Remember last month when we shared our very best work from the month prior? Whether it was a link to a photograph you took, a blog post you wrote…any work that you were especially proud of you shared.  Let’s do that again, shall we?

Take a look back at what you accomplished in the month of August (or at least close to August) and share your link using the linkup below. If you don’t have a link, but want to share a comment or story, please feel free to do that in the comments section. I hope you’ll join in!

The month of August, as you know, was a difficult one for our family. I wrote the post about losing my brother within hours of his death. I wrote, didn’t edit, and hit publish. It was a post straight from the heart, riding on the emotions that I was carrying with me after witnessing his death. I don’t get the opportunity to write like that on Dine & Dish very often and although I didn’t love the fact that my brother had to pass away in order for me to write it, I am proud of what I shared in that post.

I also really liked this dessert coffee photograph that I took for a Simple Bites post I did. I have tried for years to capture this kind of mood in photos, typically unsuccessfully. I was happy to finally get the mood I wanted through a photograph!

That’s it for me… I hope you will join in and share what work you are most proud of from the past month! (Feel free to share more than just one thing.)

The post August 2011 Strut Your Stuff {Recipe: Bacon and Parmesan Pasta} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

A few weeks ago, Meeta from What’s for Lunch, Honey? sent me an email about the possibility of joining her collaborative site, The Daily Tiffin. I, of course, was honored to be asked by someone I respect as much as Meeta and took her up on her offer immediately. I’m joining an incredible group of writers from some of my favorite blogs. Head on over to The Daily Tiffin to see my first post, “Tips for the Beginning Cook“, which is adapted from an article I wrote for Her Life Magazine.

The Dine and Dish Weekend style Memorial Day menu is up over at BloggedIn. Make sure to check out what we have in store for the weekend menu!

Stay tuned because the next Dine and Dish giveaway is right around the corner. Join us on Tuesday for details.

The post Keeping Busy appeared first on Dine and Dish.