diff --git a/app/styles/app.css b/app/styles/app.css
index 8da1992..3d83084 100644
--- a/app/styles/app.css
+++ b/app/styles/app.css
@@ -82,6 +82,21 @@ blockquote p:last-child {
   margin-bottom: 0;
 }
 
+header a[href^="http://"]:after,
+header a[href^="https://"]:after,
+footer p a[href^="http://"]:after,
+footer p a[href^="https://"]:after,
+.blog a[href^="http://"]:after,
+.blog a[href^="https://"]:after {
+  content: "";
+  background: url(/assets/external-link.svg);
+  background-size:  18px 18px;
+  background-repeat: no-repeat;
+  background-position: center center;
+  margin-left: 0.2em; /* spacing*/
+  padding-right: 1em; /* sizing */
+}
+
 /*
   TODO: these h2 styles have to move up to h1 styles because of the markdown rendering
   TODO: move the title to not an h1, then move these styles to h1
diff --git a/app/templates/application.gjs b/app/templates/application.gjs
index 39f429c..460e74f 100644
--- a/app/templates/application.gjs
+++ b/app/templates/application.gjs
@@ -29,8 +29,12 @@ class MyRouteComponent extends Component {
 
     <footer>
       <div class="socials">
-        <IconButton @icon="github" @href="https://github.com/EndangeredMassa" @title="link to github.com for EndangeredMassa" />
-        <IconButton @icon="mastodon" @href="https://social.massalabs.com/@sean" @title="link to social.massalabs.com (mastodon instance) for @sean" />
+        <IconButton @icon="github"
+          @href="https://github.com/EndangeredMassa"
+          @title="link to github.com for EndangeredMassa" />
+        <IconButton @icon="mastodon"
+          @href="https://social.massalabs.com/@sean"
+          @title="link to social.massalabs.com (mastodon instance) for @sean" />
       </div>
       <p>
         Thanks to <a href="https://kevquirk.com">Kev Quirk</a>
diff --git a/app/templates/blog.gjs b/app/templates/blog.gjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d79a39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/templates/blog.gjs
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import RouteTemplate from 'ember-route-template';
+
+export default RouteTemplate(
+<template>
+  <div class="blog">
+    {{outlet}}
+  </div>
+</template>
+);
diff --git a/public/assets/external-link.svg b/public/assets/external-link.svg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5675153
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/assets/external-link.svg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="gray" class="w-6 h-6">
+  <path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" d="M13.5 6H5.25A2.25 2.25 0 0 0 3 8.25v10.5A2.25 2.25 0 0 0 5.25 21h10.5A2.25 2.25 0 0 0 18 18.75V10.5m-10.5 6L21 3m0 0h-5.25M21 3v5.25" />
+</svg>
diff --git a/public/assets/icon-mastodon.svg b/public/assets/icon-mastodon.svg
index 980becc..54fa413 100644
--- a/public/assets/icon-mastodon.svg
+++ b/public/assets/icon-mastodon.svg
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" ?><svg viewBox="0 0 448 512" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path fill="currentColor" d="M433 179.11c0-97.2-63.71-125.7-63.71-125.7-62.52-28.7-228.56-28.4-290.48 0 0 0-63.72 28.5-63.72 125.7 0 115.7-6.6 259.4 105.63 289.1 40.51 10.7 75.32 13 103.33 11.4 50.81-2.8 79.32-18.1 79.32-18.1l-1.7-36.9s-36.31 11.4-77.12 10.1c-40.41-1.4-83-4.4-89.63-54a102.54 102.54 0 0 1-.9-13.9c85.63 20.9 158.65 9.1 178.75 6.7 56.12-6.7 105-41.3 111.23-72.9 9.8-49.8 9-121.5 9-121.5zm-75.12 125.2h-46.63v-114.2c0-49.7-64-51.6-64 6.9v62.5h-46.33V197c0-58.5-64-56.6-64-6.9v114.2H90.19c0-122.1-5.2-147.9 18.41-175 25.9-28.9 79.82-30.8 103.83 6.1l11.6 19.5 11.6-19.5c24.11-37.1 78.12-34.8 103.83-6.1 23.71 27.3 18.4 53 18.4 175z"/></svg>
+<?xml version="1.0" ?><svg viewBox="0 0 496 512" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path fill="currentColor" d="M433 179.11c0-97.2-63.71-125.7-63.71-125.7-62.52-28.7-228.56-28.4-290.48 0 0 0-63.72 28.5-63.72 125.7 0 115.7-6.6 259.4 105.63 289.1 40.51 10.7 75.32 13 103.33 11.4 50.81-2.8 79.32-18.1 79.32-18.1l-1.7-36.9s-36.31 11.4-77.12 10.1c-40.41-1.4-83-4.4-89.63-54a102.54 102.54 0 0 1-.9-13.9c85.63 20.9 158.65 9.1 178.75 6.7 56.12-6.7 105-41.3 111.23-72.9 9.8-49.8 9-121.5 9-121.5zm-75.12 125.2h-46.63v-114.2c0-49.7-64-51.6-64 6.9v62.5h-46.33V197c0-58.5-64-56.6-64-6.9v114.2H90.19c0-122.1-5.2-147.9 18.41-175 25.9-28.9 79.82-30.8 103.83 6.1l11.6 19.5 11.6-19.5c24.11-37.1 78.12-34.8 103.83-6.1 23.71 27.3 18.4 53 18.4 175z"/></svg>