All posts tagged: new blogger

How “Going Rogue” Saved my Blog

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Blogging is hard. Hmm…okay, I’ll rephrase. Blogging when your trying to fit into the standard blogging world can be challenging for some, not every one, but it definitely has been a challenge for me and if it has been for you, this little post might be helpful. Let me explain. I’m a researcher. It’s what I have my degree in (kinda..) and it’s what I’m naturally good at. I look things up to gain information on them before I dive into anything whether it’s teaching, cooking or in this case blogging. When I first realized that blogging is something I wanted to do seriously (I’ve had some casual non serious blogs out there for a few years now), I took to the internet; YouTube, other blog sites, articles and ebooks even to learn everything I could about being a “successful” blogger. I learned a lot, took a lot of notes, reorganized my extremely disorganized site and began again, this time with a goal in mind. I followed advice, imitated patterns, developed schedules and followed all …

Don’t Run. Fight. Be Brave.

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Transparency post. I’m never as brave as I look. I have to remind myself constantly that it’s okay to be fearful, but that fearfulness is not an exscuse for stagnancy. My tendency when things catch me off guard, stress my beyond comprehension or scare me is to hide or run away from the challenge. By hide, I don’t mean physically (at first), but I more so hide emotionally. I shut myself off to feelings and can become very clinical in my approach in an attempt to patch it up and remove it from my sight. I become a “1) what’s the problem 2) what’s the solution” type of person. People who aren’t familiar with me and how I handle stress (which is 98% of the population) will often celebrate this side of me because it’s effective. I get praised for having a small to non existent stress response or being able to maintain my cool under insane amounts of pressure, but inside I fully well know that what I’ve done on the inside to get …

Fall Skin Care Tips & Tricks

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Autumn. The time of the year when leaves turn red and gold and the air gets just a little (or a lot bit) colder. You’ve officially turned in your flip-flops and sun screen and have traded them for chap-stick, suede ankle boots and long socks. As much as I totally adore this time of the year, my skin does not. This for me is the season of dry rough skin. This time last year I had just come back from a trip with my family to Barbados. My family is originally from there and we were celebrating my grandmother’s 80th birthday. The sun was hot, the breeze was warm and beachside was where I ate, napped and read. And my skin? My skin was thriving. I returned home and my warm sunny days were instantly replaced with grey days and wind gusts that made a 60 degree day feel like 40. I adjusted (eventually), but my skin did not. I looked dehydrated, my skin was ashy and flakey and my T-zone…a mess. I decided I …

My Holiday Challenge

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Hey Friends! It’s November (well its been November for a few days now) and I’m back! I haven’t been gone for that long, but longer than I would have liked. Life did that thing it does sometimes where it gets a little crazy, stress levels increase and irritation gets high. Quite honestly, it interrupted my desire to be the slightest bit creative. So, I took a breath, focused in one direction and now I am back and all yours. November is one of my favorite months. Mainly because it’s smack dab in the middle of Autumn. I LOVE autumn. First of all, it’s one of my favorite names for a girl. Second of all, the leaves change, the air gets a little colder. I can wear jeans without dying and can finally retire my shorts and not have to worry about my thighs sweating and sticking together for another 6 months. I love layering sweaters over dresses and scarves and high boots and ankle boots and leather jackets and all of the fall fashion trends. …

4 months in…

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Hey friends! This post is a little different from my norm. It’s an open letter to the man I’m dating, today is a kind of special little day and as writers do I felt some type of way and needed to write about it. I wont be posting about us too often but I definitely wanted to share this piece of me with you guys. Enjoy. __________________________ It’s been about one year since I’ve met you…well technically since I first laid eyes on you. We crossed paths this time last year, October. I can’t say what it was exactly that drew me to you, but drawn to you I was. My friends knew about you instantly…I asked around, hopeful that someone knew you…at that time, no one I asked knew who you were. You were a mystery to me, and everyone around me. I ignored you for sometime, about…a month. Didn’t make any attempt to actually speak to you because I figured my interest would fade and I’d be able to carry on with my life…well, …

Living Life Unstuck

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I think there’s a point in every young-ish adults life where they realize something critical. We look at ourselves in the mirror and realize that where we are right now, is not where we thought we’d be 5 years ago. For some of us this is an encouraging realization. Maybe you didn’t expect to be making as much money or to be married with children or owning your own business. If that’s you then congratulations! Keep moving forward in that direction, we need movers and shakers like you in this world. For others of us tho, this realization comes with some sadness and perhaps some anxiety. Maybe you’d hoped that by now you’d be living on your own, maybe you thought you’d be rid of credit card and school debt, maybe you thought you’d be working your dream job or maybe you thought that you’d at least be in a relationship if not married. I’m writing right now to encourage those of you who fall into the second category, myself included. I was reflecting on …

Why I Blog

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This is my first consistent year of blogging. The first time I’ve had an actual calendar of posts, footage in stock and mapped out when and what I would post about. Because this is my first year of taking blogging seriously, I still have a lot to learn. I plan on learning all of those things in the upcoming year, but this year my focus was simply on having the discipline to be consistent. I think I’ve done a pretty decent job at that. So, what drove me to start a blog anyway? A lot of things actually! Let’s take a look at them below: I love writing – That’s definitely a BIG part of the reason I started blogging. I really enjoy writing and I always have. The desire to share – I’ve always had the desire to share information and things that I’ve learned in life with others. I want to share life discoveries, tips and tricks, strategies and share experiences with people all over the world. Community – The writer community is …

Practically in Love 1:3

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Hey Friends! Thanks for popping in. This is part 3 of a little series that I’ve been doing. If you’d like to know what the series is about and it’s purpose check out my intro to the series Practically in Love here. Alright, part 3 here we go! Boundary setting is an act of love. For yourself yes, but also for others.  Why is it so important to set personal boundaries? Because it gives you space to think and to grow. Without proper boundaries, you open yourself up to distractions and to stressors that in the end tangle you up and can affect your ability to grow. Obviously some stressors are relatively unavoidable, but if we look closely at our lives and the things that leave us feeling  overly stretched and stressed, most of those things come from the inability to set boundaries around our time, commitments and involvement. Lets talk about gardening for a moment. Random? Not quite. There are plenty of people who are amazing at gardening. I, for one, am not one of …

Practically in Love : Intro

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Love one another It wasn’t a suggestion. It wasn’t prefaced with “You should probably..” or followed up with “If you feel like it.” It was a command that was actually followed up with “as I have loved you.” Who is the speaker? Jesus. What did he want us to do? Love each other as he had loved us. It seems simple enough, until you think about what that actually means. I feel like our society has corrupted the idea of love. We think love is that thing we’re feeling when someone special makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside or that showing love is saying “I love you” at the close of a phone conversation. I have reason to believe that this is nowhere near the kind of love that Jesus was talking about. I think Jesus was talking about the messy kind of love. The kind of love we avoid because it takes too much time or makes us too uncomfortable. Why do I think that that’s the kind of love that Jesus was talking …

Friday Findings

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Hi friends! Happy Friday! I hope this week has been a good one! This week for me has been challenging, but the good kind. I’ve been challenged to do things that made me uncomfortable, things that I felt incredibly unprepared for and to shine a light on a side of me that I prefer to keep hidden for the sake of a friend. Specifics? They’re coming. So, what exactly is this “Friday Findings”? It’s a section of my blog where I will  update you weekly on things I want to talk about from the past week. Category: lessons learned. Lets get started! This week God has been teaching me something. What? I’m not quite sure yet. But twice this week I’ve been in situations where I’ve had to get quite uncomfortable and talk about things I normally wouldn’t for the sake of encouragement and transparency. It was pretty cool. I don’t normally jump for opportunities like that because I usually walk away from them feeling pretty exposed and vulnerable. This time was no different. In …