Just TWO words for you...

Yup, this is a very short post...I just have to share two words with you:

FRESH STRAWBERRIES!...in Ottawa of course! Mmmmmmm...I can taste them now!

Ottawa Renegades, Robert Plant and more...

I don't know what is happening in Ottawa but this year is our year for concerts. I have added two more concerts to our Ottawa Concert page. It has recently been confirmed that Robert Plant & the Backstreet Boys will be here in Ottawa on separate nights.

This is also a reminder for all of you Ottawa Renegades fans. The one-day sale for the special $99 season ticket passes is this Saturday, June 25th. You can order them on line through capitaltickets.ca or you can pick them up at one of these 3 locations:

• Famous Players in Gatineau
  
• The Coliseum Theatre on Carling
  
• Silver City in Gloucester
  

This is an amazing deal that is hard to pass up.

I have a few new page ideas in mind that I will have to work on in the next couple of days. I'll let you know when they have been added to our Ottawa website.

Some more interesting pages!

It has been slow going lately with our Ottawa website. I should be putting way more time into it then I am right now.

Site Build It has a few new updated features and I haven't even been able to find the time to read about them. I really need to find some time to sit down in front of the computer and NOT read forums and/or blogs and just focus on these new features. Hmm...maybe I should be doing that now.

I guess I will keep this short then. I just wanted to say that I have created a couple more pages in the past week (Pages #66 and #67):

Diefenbunker - a cool nuclear bunker that was built in 1959-1961

Ottawa Jazz Festival - another amazing music festival in Ottawa

And that is it for now! Cheers!

Updating pages

There isn't too much new with our site but I did have to update the Ottawa Concerts page again because I just found out that Bruce Springsteen will be in Ottawa this summer too. Ottawa is definitely getting their share of great concerts this year. Just take a look at who is coming!

On top of all that the Jazz Festival & the Blues Festival are all coming up very soon too. This is going to be one happening city this year.

Apart from updating our concerts page and a few other pages recently I haven't done too much with our site. I have been quite busy off of the computer and outside of the house. Our site may not have too many new pages but our landscaping is looking pretty good!

Hope the rest of my fellow AMers are getting much more accomplished than I am!

Huh? I've been tagged?

I've been tagged? What does that mean? I really haven't explored too much yet of this Blog World so I don't know if this is a common occurrence. Anyway, Tara has tagged me.

I don't know if there are rules to follow so I will just go ahead and answer the questions:

1. How many books do I own?

I can't stand clutter or collecting dust so I only have about 75 books. They are all hard covers that I want to read again or they are keepsakes or they are from countries that I have visited. A couple are even University text books that I didn't pay close attention to while I was in University but I thought I may want to read them later in life. Haven't yet!

2. Last Book I Bought:

Full price: Dogs Never Lie About Love by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
Book Sale: About 10 or so easy reads to read on the bus to and from work

3. Last Book I Read:

Violets are Blue by James Patterson (one of the easy reads I bought for the bus)

4. Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me:

I don't really consider myself a book person so I actually really struggled with this one.

Diary of Anne Frank – I read this when I was around the same age Anne was when she wrote it so it had a huge impact on me.

Living, Loving & Learning by Leo Buscaglia – I read this in my late teens and I will always remember his lecture about why, in today’s society, we can't just walk up to a complete stranger and give them a hug (long story but very interesting)

The Little Engine That Could – my favourite childhood book – I read it daily for years and I think it says a lot about who I am today…VERY determined (some call it stubborn)!

Most of Maeve Binchy's books - I read about 5 of them one summer when there was some very emotional stuff going on in my life. They were a great escape.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad - I started reading this quite a few years ago (never finished) but I think it is what really got me seriously thinking about my personal finances & making money etc.

5. Tag Five More:

Uh-oh! I only know of three other bloggers (Tara & Jon) and they have both already been tagged. I guess that leaves Megan!

Well that was interesting!

Some More Affiliate Links & Another Page

I have accomplished a few things in the past couple days:

• I have finally added a few more affiliate links on our website. I guess I had to be reminded that what I am trying to accomplish with our website IS "Affiliate Marketing". I don't know if I was scared to add them in the fear that nobody clicked on them or if I was afraid that they would take away from the personal tone of our site. I don't want people to read it and think "oh, she is just trying to sell us something". I am really enjoying creating our Ottawa website and I don't want it to be all about marketing.
  
• I have moved around some of the Adsense because supposedly it does better in certain areas of the page. I keep hearing that the left hand side increases the clicks. I had originally placed them on the right hand side because, once again, I didn't want to seem like I was pushing the advertising in my readers faces BUT if it increases my clicks and the reader finds something they want then it is a win-win situation!
  
• I have created page #65. It is information on the Ottawa Airport. I guess it is necessary considering a lot of tourists will be flying here!
  

So, there you have it. I am going to go do some more research to find out what other keywords my readers are looking for so I can create some more pages. I may have to take a bit of a break to go out and do some yard work. Ick - it is 40 degrees celsius with the humidity today. Well, at least I can come back into the air conditioning and work on the website!

Ottawa Tour Guide for Two Weeks AND Page # 64

Well, if I was going to build any other page right now it had to be about Ottawa Bluesfest. We are going this year but just to one show - the Black Eyed Peas. There are hundreds of other shows to go see but we just don't have the time. I am happy though that I finally got another page built on our website (page #64).

As you know I have been busy entertaining a guest for the past two weeks. We have seen a lot of Ottawa and some of the surrounding towns. In no particular order, here are some things that we have seen or done:

- visited Upper Canada Village

- went to check out the new War Museum

- visted a cute town called Perth (west of Ottawa)

- went on a 3-hour boat cruise on the Thousand Islands (1.5hours west of Ottawa)

- went on a cruise on the Rideau Canal

- went to quite a few Ottawa Restaurants such as the Canal Ritz, Empire Grill, D'Arcy McGees & Alfonsetti's

- walked around Parliament Hill

- checked out the garden centres so we could start some gardens

- drove through Gatineau Park

- and lots more.

It was a very busy two weeks but we had a great time. Now I must put some serious effort into our Ottawa website. No more slackin'! My to-do list is huge.

Off I go!

Another HUGE concert in Ottawa?

There is a possibility that Ottawa may be hosting another huge concert event this summer. Nothing has been confirmed yet but there has been talk that Live 8 may come to Ottawa on July 2nd.

What is Live 8 you ask? Bob Geldof is organizing free simultaneous concerts in some of the G8 countries to take place days before the G8 leaders meet in Britain. The goal is to bring attention to the poverty in Africa.

So far concerts are being organized in London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Rome and Paris. Some of the acts at the various locations include U2, Duran Duran, Elton John, Coldplay, Sting, Will Smith, Mariah Carey, Annie Lennox, Madonna and MANY more.

If I hear anything more about it I will be sure to let you know. In the meantime, if you are interested in finding out what other concerts are coming to Ottawa this year (and there are many), then check out our Ottawa Concerts page!

Where Have You Been Ottawa Girl?

I feel like I have been away from the computer for ages. Realistically it has only been a few days but it feels like more. So, what have I been up to? We have had a visitor here from England and we have been all over the place. We have been all around Ottawa and some of the surrounding towns. Touring around Ottawa has just confirmed to me what an amazing city this is and that there is SO much to do here. We have been going non-stop and we still have a few more activities planned before our guest leaves. I am also finding some new information to add to our Ottawa website which will have to wait until our "tour guide" duties are over.

Some other big news is that Lynn & Alex from the Amazing Race just got married here in Ottawa this morning at the Ottawa Congress Centre. I hear that they were supposed to go to the Empire Grill for their reception later on in the day. Supposedly Lynn & Alex loved the menu for the Empire Grill which is why they chose it. It is funny because we just went there for dinner last night AND we have had the restaurant listed as one of our favourites on our Ottawa Restaurants page for a few months now! They've got great taste.

That's all for now. I am pooped & heading off to bed.