It's that time of year again...

NaBloWriMo time! National Blog Writing Month is the time of year when I put my blogging skills to the test. When I see if I can actually blog once a day, every day, for an entire month. I did it last year and while it was a struggle at times, I made it. So, I want to try it again this year. Blogging is something I really enjoy but struggle with, due to work, personal, life in general. But, NaBloWriMo (based off of NaNoWriMo) forces me to dedicate myself to my writing and to the upkeep of my blog.

You can expect a lot of random entries about the oddest little thoughts that pop into my head, as well as some longer, more thought-out posts. Sometimes all I'll have time for is a quick musing over a photo I've taken and posted on Instagram, and others might be a bit more in depth. It's going to be a mixed bag, but that's kind of the fun of NaBloWriMo!

So, here we go, off to the races. Entry #1 = DONE. Hope you enjoy this month-long journey with me!

It's been a while...

Almost two years, to be exact. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it!

So long, old look.

You may notice things look a little less...pink around here. Yep. I decided that for the new year, I'd give this blog a new look. It's undergone a serious face lift. Out with the pink, in with the gold. (Though, I think there's still some pink lurking around somewhere. I can't get rid of all of it, it's pretty much in my blood.)

I've been really into gold lately - gold jewelry, gold nail polish, gold decorative pieces around my home...so it seemed somewhat fitting to infuse my online home with a bit of gold. I'm really liking the look, and I hope you like it too!

Hello, new look.

I took some time away from blogging the past couple of years due to my offline life getting busy and lots of changes happening. Now that things have levelled out a bit, I've decided that 2015 would be a good time to take it up again. New year, renewed blogging commitment. I'm not promising to blog every single day, or even every single week, but we'll see if I can pump out a few posts a month. Let's start slow, folks. I've gotta ease myself back into this. :)

I've also decided to change my blogging topics a bit - there will be less PR posts and more lifestyle/home decor/foodie posts. The Newfoundland food scene has really picked up in the past few years and I really enjoy going out and trying new restaurants, so look for some resto reviews in the coming months. As I said above, home decor is also something I'm going to be exploring on the blog. I'm still a big fan of Pinterest and have taken to trying some DIY pins I've found, so you can look forward to entries on some simple, DIY projects.

Thanks for sticking with me, and for coming back and checking things out. I hope you'll come back and see what I have in store for this little blog!

Blogging Challenge = Complete!

Today is the last day of November and that means it's the last day of my blogging challenge! All month long I've been blogging once a day, every day. There were days when I almost didn't make it; had no idea what to write about; almost completely forgot to write; but, I made it to November 30th with an entry every day. I'm proud that I was able to stick with it, even through the times when I almost said "I don't wanna blog today, I don't have time, I'm too tired, blah blah blah." It's been tough, but it's finally finished! Thanks for sticking with me, and we'll see how long it takes me to write another entry. :) Might be sooner than I think!

Personal Goal? Check.

This year, being the Year of Elizabeth (Again), I made a few resolutions to try and make this my best year yet. I wrote them up in a lovely little blog post for you all to see, and I've been working hard to keeping those resolutions. But I also made another resolution to myself that I didn't share with you.

I've admired friends of mine who are also bloggers for their dedication to their blogs and how they've managed to stick with blogging on a regular basis. It was something I wanted to do as well, and so this year, along with my four listed resolutions that I intended to keep, I also made a fifth one that I kept to myself. I wanted to blog at least once a week for the entire year, so I would have at least fifty-two entries by the end of 2012. It might seem like a strange resolution, but I wanted to challenge myself.

I started off pretty good, and managed to keep up with my once-a-week blogging until around April, when work got busy and my personal life went out the window. I kept meaning to blog, but I just didn't have the time to sit down and think out an entry. So I put it off and put it off, promising myself I'd get back on track the next week.

Summer turned to Fall and I only had one entry a month for about four months straight, so when I counted up how many entries I'd had for the year, I was less than halfway to my target of fifty-two and it was almost November. I was disappointed I'd let it go on for so long, but then, I heard about NaNoWriMo.

As I'd said in my entry at the beginning on November, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, and while I didn't want to write a novel, it did give me the idea to write a blog entry every day for the month. Not only would it be a great way to challenge my blogging and writing skills, but it would take me up to my goal of fifty-two entries for the year.

Yesterday I'm happy to say, was my fifty-second entry of the year. It was a little accomplishment that I'm actually pretty proud of. I managed to hit my target, and with this entry, I'm surpassing it. There's still one more day left to November, and one more month left to 2012, so let's see what number I can hit by the end of the Year of Elizabeth. :)

The 10k Mark

Last night as I was posting my latest entry about Alias, I noticed that the counter at the bottom of the page had hit 10,000 views. It might not seem like a big deal, and really, it isn't. But for me, it felt like a little accomplishment. (Sad? Maybe. Do I care? Not really.)

I originally started this blog about three years ago for school. In my Humber College PR program, one of our courses was a social media course, and we had to sign up for Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube and create a blog. While I don't use my Youtube account anymore, I tweet almost daily and LinkedIn is one of the websites I visit first when I turn my computer on in the mornings at work.

This blog has undergone a few changes over the years, and there have been months when I haven't written an entry at all, but I've managed to keep it chugging along somehow. I know some people are much more dedicated with their blogs, and have tens of thousands of visitors an oodles of entries, but that's not mine, and that doesn't matter to me. I'm proud of the variety of entries I've written over the past few years and the bits and pieces of my life I've shared. I'm looking forward to becoming more comfortable with blogging over time, and looking forward to seeing what direction it'll take me in next.

And so it begins...

Today is the first day of November. Now that Halloween is over, I know a lot of people whose countdown to Christmas has officially begun, and this year, I have to admit, I'm getting excited early. I usually try to hold off on Christmas excitement until the first of December, but for some reason, I'm getting on the bandwagon early. It might have something to do with the fact that I've just seen a tweet from Starbucks Canada telling me their delicious Peppermint Mocha is back in season...yum.

Anyway, the first of November also signifies something else. November is NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. I know a couple of people who have taken part in this in the past, and I always thought it was a neat idea, but since it's now November and I don't have a story idea, I've decided to take on a different, but somewhat similar challenge for myself:

Instead of writing a part of a novel every day, I'm going to write a blog post every day. It's a big challenge for me, because as you can see, I haven't been as active in blogging as I was earlier in the year. But, now that 2012 is winding down, I want to put a final push on and finish the year off with a flourish!

So. Every day in November, I'll blog about something. It might be a longer entry about Transatlantic Tastes, or my favourite place to get coffee in the city, or it might even just be a short, simple musing about something or other. Regardless, I will blog. Every. Single. Day. of this month.

Wish me luck!! (I think I'm gonna need it...ha!)

You Write How You Speak or You Speak How You Write?

A few weeks ago, one of my co-workers and I were having a conversation about something and I was telling her a story. I have no idea what the story was about, but when I was finished, she was looking at me kind of funny, and after a pause, said, "Have you noticed that you talk the way you blog?" And I replied, "...what? What do you mean?" She said, "The way you speak is exactly the same way that you write your blog."

So that got me thinking. And then it got me re-reading some of my blog entries. But I didn't have to read much, because I already knew that what she'd said was true.

My good friend Sara, author of Gravitas & Giggles, coincidentally wrote a blog post similar to this a little while ago, and I happened across it earlier this week when I was writing my Recommended Reads Part 2 post. Sara really put it perfectly when she said her ears are her editors, and I think mine are the same.

As I write a blog entry, I can hear myself saying the words in my head, the same way I'd say them out loud. It's exactly the way I would say them if you and I were having a conversation. Heck, I'm doing it right now!

I guess I write the way I write (and speak) because I like my writing to be pretty simple. When I write a blog entry, it's usually for my own enjoyment, but I'm also thinking of the possibility that someone else is going to read it, and I want it to be an easy, enjoyable experience for them as well. I don't want them to have to tax their brain and wonder what a certain word means. So I keep it plain and simple.

When you work in communications and a large part of your work is written, you're always thinking about the flow of your writing. Whenever I write something, my brain is editing it at the same time, to make sure that what I'm trying to say makes sense in the best possible way. When it comes to blogging, I end up applying the same techniques. The PR girl in me crosses over into many other parts of my life, apparently!

So, fellow bloggers, what about your blogging styles? Do you find you do the same thing, or something similar? Are your ears your editors, as Sara said? Let me know!