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Royally Exhausted

April 30, 2011 By

Yes, I got a case of royal wedding fever. I’m one of those crazies that watched the wedding in the middle of the night. I slept, don’t get me wrong. I was asleep by 10:30pm Pacific Daylight Time, and woke up at 1:30am to watch the festivities. I stayed awake until 5:30am, when they kissed then promptly fell back asleep. Another alarm was supposed to wake me up for work, but I kept hitting the snooze button and ended up being 20 minutes late for work. My boss is cool, though, and since I wasn’t majorly disruptive and got all my work done, all was good.

Like most women, as a little girl I dreamed of being a princess. For me, it was about the gowns, carriages, and the formality. So, like most women, I was most eager to see The Dress. While waiting for that, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Silly Hat Parade while swigging Diet Coke. Most amusing was Princess Beatrice of York, who mistakenly thought she was at the Insanely Crazy Hat Parade known as Royal Ascot:

Source: vanityfair.com via Candi on Pinterest



The birds were a freebie lovingly provided by Mother Nature.

After the Silly Hat Parade, the world finally caught a glimpse of The Dress, and immediately the world drew comparisons to Grace Kelly’s dress:


And it had sleeves! Soon, brides will be able to find their dream wedding dress at David’s Bridal without feeling naked, which is how I feel in strapless designs – like I’ve left the house without a shirt on. Also, while her bouquet was very pretty, I thought it could have been a bit more … more.

Despite the beautiful dress, I do have to say that I liked Crown Princess Victoria’s wedding dress more. Maybe it’s just the Swede in me, but I like simpler designs without so much lace:


So the wedding was great fun to watch. It’s not every day that one gets to view a royal wedding, and since these sort of things don’t happen too often (at least, not the ones that are broadcast live to the entire planet), I think I can safely say that I’ll be watching the next big royal wedding, whenever that may be.

For an excellent wedding wrap-up, read this story in the Daily Mail.

Filed Under: Love, Sleepy

Anglophelia

April 27, 2011 By

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’ve been to London. I haven’t been back in way too long, but I never lost my affection for all things British. Lucky for me, Mister shares my affinity for British culture. For example, BBC America is one of the top 5 channels watched on our TV, if we watch a movie there’s a good chance it will be British, and we even have cabinets that look like the old red telephone boxes to store our DVDs in:

Entertainment center

With the Royal Wedding coming up, I’ve been avidly reading any an all news I can about the wedding. And even though I have to work on the 29th and can’t really take the day off (I work in finance and it’s the last business day of the month), I do plan on watching the wedding – live, not later on the internet. Yes, I’m crazy, and yes, I’ll need lots of caffeine to work effectively the next day. But how many times does an opportunity like this come up?

I may or may not post my thoughts about the wedding, as I will likely be catching up on sleep. Mister probably won’t watch it with me, because boys just don’t get into weddings the way girls do (though I’m sure he’ll want to see the footage of Westminster Abbey and other royal locations). Just keep your fingers crossed that I can stay awake.

Filed Under: Travels

10 Tips for Personal Bloggers

April 25, 2011 By

This was a guest post that I originally wrote for Ben Barden’s blog Top Ten Blog Tips. I recently got an email from Ben saying that he’s consolidating everything over to his blog Quick Blog Tips, which is an excellent blog full of blogging tips for everyone. This is also the post that also saw me starting my Personal Blogging series. I hope you enjoy it!

I’ve been blogging for many years now, and in addition to finding interesting blogs to read, I’ve seen lots and lots of blogs and blog posts on how to help make your blog bigger and better. But every single one of those blogs and posts appear to be targeted towards professionals, or those who hope to become professionals and earn a ridiculous amount of money from blogging. But what if you just want to blog? What if, instead of having a blog that preaches your expertise in a subject, your niche is YOU? Here are some tips I came up with to help myself see through all the pro-blog babble and stay focused on my own little blog.

1. Why are you blogging?

If you don’t have a reason to be blogging, then you won’t find satisfaction from it. I started my blog as an extension of my journal, hoping that maybe, just maybe, someone in the great wide interwebs would see it and provide some feedback. It worked – I’ve made some great friends in the time I’ve been blogging. I started blogging because it’s therapeutic, and I continue to blog because of the relationships that I’ve made. Others I know blog to keep far-flung family and friends updated on their lives. Why are you blogging?

2. Don’t expect to make money.

In fact, don’t even try. It’s extremely rare that a personal blogger can make any money at blogging. If it happens, it usually amounts to pocket change. Don’t worry about signing up for affiliate marketing or other advertising options. If you get to a point where you have a decent number of readers and want to start sharing some favorite products through advertising, that’s great. Just don’t set out with the goal of making money, because it won’t happen.

3. Forget about the most popular tips.

SEO, Content is King, get your own domain, etc. Every pro and pro-wannabe preaches this gospel. If all you want to do is talk about your life, what does it matter where you rank in the search engines? And your content will be about your life. People will either like it or not, just like in real life. As for your own domain, this is a decision that only you can make. The free options out there are really decent options for personal blogs.

4. Don’t ignore the pro advice.

This seems to contradict tip #3, but there is a lot of advice that the pros give regarding blog design, commenting, etc that is relevant to all blogs, personal or not. You don’t have to stop listening to the pros altogether, but you also don’t need to worry about every single piece of advice they dish out. Pick and choose what’s relevant to your blog and situation, and ignore the rest.

5. Be yourself.

While the anonymity of the internet can be an opportunity to let hidden parts of your personality shine, don’t try to create a persona that is nothing like you. Unless you are extremely creative and tenacious, eventually the real you is going to want to come out and one of two things will happen – it will show on your blog, which could affect your readership, or you’ll end up abandoning your blog instead of showing your real face. Being anonymous and protecting your identity are one thing, but being fake is quite another. Be the real you on your blog, which is what people want to see on a personal blog – a real person.

6. Don’t listen to the naysayers.

There will be people out there who will tell you that personal blogging is not a worthy endeavor. Personal blogging is dead, they say. These are probably the same people who wouldn’t be caught dead in last season’s fashions. I say, if it’s something you enjoy then go for it. Because a personal blog is meant to communicate your thoughts about your own life, it’s not meant to be a trendsetting moneymaker.

7. Think like a storyteller.

Some people are natural storytellers, and a post about the most mundane things will appear as a great adventure. Other people, not so much. To make your blog more fun to read, think like a storyteller and be descriptive. Imagine you are telling your stories to a large audience (which you are, since you’re on the internet). Try to come up with some creative language to spice things up a bit. Which would you rather read?

a) I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

b) I realized that the absolute freshest bread is not good PB&J material. As I was spreading the peanut butter, then came apart and stuck to the PB coated knife, until the knife was covered in a giant wad of peanut butter and bread. Now onto the jelly.

8. Be careful.

I don’t think you need me to tell you how accessible the internet is to the entire world. Think hard about how much personal information you want to reveal about yourself online. I’m fine with people knowing my first name and what city I live in, but I don’t reveal my workplace and keep my family and friends way more anonymous than myself. Also be very careful if you decide to blog about your workplace or anyone you work with. You don’t want to jeopardize your job because of what you write online.

9. Get out there and make friends.

I have to admit, I’m not that great at making friends. However, I’ve found it much easier online to be social and make friends. Blogging gives others a chance to get to know you, and vice versa, before that first comment is made. By the time someone comments, you’ve said something that someone else wanted to hear or that struck a chord with them. Comment back, say hi, and visit their blog – and click on the links in their blogroll. You’ll find this is the best way to just get out there, meet people online, and make friends all over the world. That, to me, is the most fun thing about blogging.

10. Keep at it.

If you’re blogging to get out there and make friends, or just to be heard, keep at it. It will take you some time to build up a network of blogging friends, so don’t give up after the first few posts. It can be lonely when you start out, because you feel like you’re talking into a void, but sooner or later people will come across your blog, read what you’ve written, and be compelled to comment because they felt a connection. Don’t feel pressured to become something you’re not just to gain a readership (see point #5). Just tell your story, say what you’re feeling, and get it out there.

Personal blogs are extremely popular, and extremely underserved when it comes to “how-to” advice. I hope this list was helpful to all the personal bloggers out there!

What do you think? Do you have a personal blog? Do you agree with these tips? Are there any others you’d like to suggest?

Filed Under: Personal Blogging

The T-Shirt

April 18, 2011 By

Mister likes to wear t-shirts around the house. He has a huge collection of these shirts, nearly 40 of them in his favorite color – black. He also has dozens in other colors that he rarely, if ever, wears, so we won’t talk about those here today. I want to talk about the black ones.

Since Mister is so fond of his t-shirts, they’re pretty much all he wears unless he’s leaving the house. As a result, some of them have started wearing a bit thin in places. I’d even go so far as to say that a few of his shirts are air-conditioned. Observe:

T-shirt before

This kinda drives me nuts a little bit because he has so many shirts yet he can’t just toss the holey ones and work his way down the pile. He just keeps wearing the same holey shirts over and over and over again. Finally, I’d had enough. Inspired by the fine folks at this DIY blog, I decided that I was going to do what a good wife does and fix his shirt.

I took myself to the fabric store and found the perfect fabric to patch his shirt with. Since I wanted to surprise Mister, I took the shirt, new fabric, needle and thread to work and did this during lunch. Then I snuck the finished shirt back into the house, carefully folded it and put it back in the pile.

It wasn’t until Saturday morning that he got the shirt out of the pile. I was just waking up when Mister got a shirt out of the closet and went into the office. I waited in bed for a few minutes to see if he had any reaction to it, but since I didn’t hear anything I got up and went into the office with him. I saw that he did indeed have the new and improved shirt on and didn’t seem to notice that I had fixed it. So I said, “Nice shirt.”

“What the…?”

He saw the thread that I used to fix the small holes in the front and on the pocket corners. Then I told him that I patched the armpit holes too. He was laughing pretty hard by this point, but pulled the shirt off and saw the colorful patches I put on the armpits. Yes, colorful. On a black shirt. You see, Mister isn’t exactly a fan of hippies, so I – well, see for yourself:

Tee shirt after

Tie-dye smiley face fabric! And hot pink thread on the smaller holes! Let me tell you, I was giggling the whole time I was sewing this.

While all this is going on, Mister ordered himself a new copy of his national history honor society certificate. He also bought something else for himself – when he mentioned this, I figured it would be a pin or something. The conversation went something like this:

Him: So I ordered my certificate today.
Me: OK
Him: I also bought myself a little something.
Me: That’s fine.
Him: I got myself a t-shirt to wear around the house.
Me: (blank look)
Me: You’re kidding, right?
Him: And I’ve decided that I’ll let you pick ONE t-shirt from my pile to get rid of.
Me, thinking to myself: Oh, honey, you have NO idea what you’re in for!

So I threw one t-shirt away. He thought I was going to pick one with bigger holes in it, but I told him that I picked from what was in the laundry and didn’t want to pick from the closet because I’d end up picking one pile of shirts and didn’t want to make him mad. Little does he know that his t-shirt pile would be getting smaller anyway.

Also while I had his shirt hidden in my desk at work along with my needles and thread, Mister started asking me if we have a sewing kit. I had to lie and say no because I didn’t want to reveal why I had a sewing kit with no needles or black thread, so I bought a small kit at the store. He had something else he wanted to fix, and it took every ounce of strength I had to keep quiet about my plans.

The new and improved t-shirt is now in the trash, though I’m not sure why Mister wouldn’t be proud of my handiwork. I’m such a good wife to be mending his clothes!

Or, as Mister says, “You know this means war!”

Filed Under: Funny, Love

Pin Me

April 14, 2011 By

I’ve been sucked into a black hole of digital eye candy.

Have you heard of Pinterest? It’s a website that lets you pin things to a virtual pinboard, which you can use as inspiration, reference, share with others, and waste more time than you ever thought possible. I’m talking the kind of time you wasted when you first discovered the internet.

At first I resisted getting sucked into yet another site to keep up with. I just didn’t need it, I said. But I kept seeing other people’s pinboards and thought about it. No, I have Tumblr, I said. But Pinterest lets you visually categorize things. I’m a visual person. And suddenly I wanted one.

Since Pinterest is still invite-only, I clicked the button on their site and waited. And waited. It seemed like my invite would never come, but a week later, as I was trying to wrap up my internet surfing so I could go to bed, I checked my email and there it was. My invite. My bedtime flew out the window as I quickly got to setting up my account and started pinning things with reckless abandon.

The cool thing about Pinterest is that you can follow other people’s boards – either an individual board or everything they pin, and you can repin their pins or comment on them. You can also tag people when describing your pins and use hashtags, which work exactly as they do on Twitter. It makes it way easier to feed the addiction, that’s for sure.

I’ve been spending way too much of my time online browsing through any pinboards I can find. Mine are here. Do you have a Pinterest yet?

Filed Under: On the Internet