i'm over here today, talking about good pizza & how awkward i am in public.
happy graduation, peeps!
guest post
i'm over here today, talking about good pizza & how awkward i am in public.
happy graduation, peeps!
1 a.m.
it's 12:42 a.m. on monday morning. memorial day. here's a grainy instagram of me "thumbs-upping/ pointing at" nick falling asleep with his headphones still on.
in a few hours' time i'll be hopping in the car and driving back to salt lake city for my sister's graduation party.
i should be going to sleep. if i'm not doing that, i should be finishing my essay.
but i'm not.
i'm awake. i've set all obligations and responsibilities aside for a minute, i'm perusing pinterest, doing all things internets and freaking loving it because it's all mine.
no little nieces to make cupcakes with. no in-laws to speak to. no puppy to climb all over me. no husband to talk to or watch Dr. Who with. nobody.
don't get me wrong- i love nicky pants more than anything. it's been a year and two months since we got married, and i still consider us in the "honeymoon" phase because, honestly, i still get butterflies and grin like a fool when all he does is walk into my office at work just to say hi. and when i am away from him for longer than a few hours (every day), i run into his arms and kiss his face as soon as i get the chance. i look forward to my nightly cuddling and good morning kisses. i live for moments like those.
but this moment, all to my own self, just me, only i, nobody else, all alone, personal time is mine.
and i love it.
i am DYING to go shopping for the summer. my yearning to return to city creek grows stronger and stronger each day. and so does my obsession with cotton on.
but here's on the menu for this summer: a chambray shirt. a fedora, and colored skinnies. a stylish iphone case. bright colored eyeshadow. nude/neon manicure. liquid eyeliner for flawless wingtips. blonde hair. colored wayfarers & a gray maxi.
what's on your guys' summer lists? who wants to go on a girl's shopping trip with me?
tiffy's graduation
I need to pay tribute to my my best friend tiffy graduating from Snow College 3 whole weeks ago. a post long overdue.
nick and i took off one morning all the way down to ephraim just to see her walk. she even graduated cum laude-- go tiff!
we're awesome and were 10 minutes late to the program. even though her parents had saved seats for us we couldn't find them in the sea of people. so we stood for almost a whole hour before we went into the "overflow" section just so we could sit. we ended up walking and standing the back anyways just to see her walk, and that took FOREVER. the best part is that i was texting her while she was graduating.. i guess some things never change.
i won her best friend award because i drove for 2 hours, stood for 2 hours, and drove back another 2 hours just to watch her walk across a stage. but it was worth it. best friends are always worth it, no?
now she works up in salt lake, and she might even be moving right next to us so i can see her all the time.
(the picture of us hugging was taken while we were jumping up and down from excitement. LOVE. HER.)
congrats tiffy!
a surprise birthday
last friday we had a surprise party for my mother- we'd been planning it for a MONTH! talk about hard secrets to keep.
one of nick's friends, the lovely and most talented John Allred, came to do a private concert for us because my mom just raves about his music. then again, why wouldn't she? he's amazing. but we forgot to tell him it was a surprise party.. so we're all waiting around for my mom to show up and he's like, "wait a second, this is a surprise party?! i thought we were all just standing around!" haha. awkward.
but nonetheless this night was awesome. watermelon cake balls, fresh pina coladas, a mini fruit pizza bar and the cutest lemonade i've ever seen, courtesy of my amazing sister. good music, good family, good friends. and that's the way we spell SUCCESS.
just a teeny update. it's all i've got.
- i started summer school this monday and it's already kicking my butt. sleep... what is that? but don't worry, i plan on kicking all of my classes' butts right back. w'cha!
- nick & i got iPhones last weekend! yes folks, that means instagram.. woohoo! so if you have instagram, i want to follow you. okay? hit me up @mrsschammer. don't have instagram? okay, go here. i'll be on that a lot more now instead of on here. i'm sorry, but school takes lots of time i just don't have... it's sad, i know. you should see my planner.
- koda is great, just as cute as ever & we are trying to get her to stop chewing up the furniture.. literally. & she turned one. aw.
- nick got a job! he works on campus at the U & we get crazy discounts on everything in the bookstore... umm yes, it is awesome.
- there are lots of parties coming up that i'm super stoked for. i'll definitely be dedicating a post just to the awesome times i'm going to have very soon
- & just as a side note, if you haven't tried the SoBe Life Water Pacific Coconut w/ coconut water you're SO missing out on what may be my favorite drink of the summer. if you go to Target right now SoBe Life Waters are 10 for $10 and you get a $5 gift card right at the register... so they're only 50 cents each! you should go to there.
- this is the first time all week i've been on here and (although it goes without saying) my reader has so many unread posts that it's embarassing. but no need to fear! in 5 weeks' time i'll be back. pinky promise.
p.s. if anyone has tips about surviving online college classes as well as regular classes.... please let me know.
- nick & i got iPhones last weekend! yes folks, that means instagram.. woohoo! so if you have instagram, i want to follow you. okay? hit me up @mrsschammer. don't have instagram? okay, go here. i'll be on that a lot more now instead of on here. i'm sorry, but school takes lots of time i just don't have... it's sad, i know. you should see my planner.
- koda is great, just as cute as ever & we are trying to get her to stop chewing up the furniture.. literally. & she turned one. aw.
- nick got a job! he works on campus at the U & we get crazy discounts on everything in the bookstore... umm yes, it is awesome.
- there are lots of parties coming up that i'm super stoked for. i'll definitely be dedicating a post just to the awesome times i'm going to have very soon
- & just as a side note, if you haven't tried the SoBe Life Water Pacific Coconut w/ coconut water you're SO missing out on what may be my favorite drink of the summer. if you go to Target right now SoBe Life Waters are 10 for $10 and you get a $5 gift card right at the register... so they're only 50 cents each! you should go to there.
- this is the first time all week i've been on here and (although it goes without saying) my reader has so many unread posts that it's embarassing. but no need to fear! in 5 weeks' time i'll be back. pinky promise.
p.s. if anyone has tips about surviving online college classes as well as regular classes.... please let me know.
lessons i've learned in the blogosphere
as a normal human being you have to go with the flow of how the world works to fit in.
i'm not saying you have to be "of the world" but you do have to learn how to navigate around it to be successful "in their eyes."
though i personally refuse to comply to some of their unwritten rules of the internet, here are some things i've observed:
e-mail: my high school journalism teacher once said, "the world revolves around e-mail. you need to realize this and get on the bandwagon or you're going to be a nobody." i ignored her. but i've repented & am very slowly catching on. I'm sorry Mrs. LS. you were right. -- everyone has an email; not everyone has a facebook or a twitter account. (i am not familiar with foursquare, formspring, linkedin, bloglovin', or any of those networking sites. should i be?) if you can't grasp the "e-mail or die" concept, or can't handle this, then you're basically invisible. like me.
self-promotion & self-marketing: guess what? you could be the freaking coolest person on the planet and that wouldn't matter if you don't know how to present yourself & get yourself out there. very rarely does a site become popular based on content alone. there are plenty of blogs and websites i look at and i'm thinking, "how is this not world famous?" and others i look at and incredulously say, "what the heck? this has such a big following?" it's because either they did or didn't promote themselves well. now you're looking at me and you're all "wait a second, you only have like... less followers than a 'marketing guru' should have. what gives you the expertise to tell me how this works?"
please understand that though i am no expert i do know how this works. if i chose to i could get myself out there in more ways than there are ways to make a sandwich & my blog would explode (probably) but i hate self-promotion. i can barely handle talking about myself in other corners of the internet except for my own, or doing anything like "come check out my blog! if you do, i will give you a zillion ponies!" it's fine if other people do it for themselves, it's just not for me. i'd rather light myself on fire. "but stephanie, you have sponsors? isn't that self promotion?" well, yes. i decided i'd try it out for a little while. then i decided that what i like about "ad swapping" is the fact that i get to work closely with other people, however, most likely this will stop in the future because it makes me feel weird seeing my face on other people's blogs.
lighting: "a candle loses none of its light by lighting another candle." i like to consider myself a candle lighter of sorts. i love other people & highlighting others. i feel queasy when the favor is returned & i don't like being sung to on my birthday. but i will literally do anything for you & give you a ride to the mall with no expectations of a return "favor." i think this part of my personality scares people off; my favorite phrase is "if you need anything, please let me know and i'll do anything!" because this part of my personality so desperately needs someone to do something nice for. anyways, to the point. "share and share alike." that means following other blogs you like, commenting on things (nicely, please. promote what you love, don't put down things you don't appreciate), and "pinning pictures from whoever pinned it and not finding the actual source and claiming it as your own because you don't want people to think that you want to be like that person that you saw pinned it in the first place." yeah, i've done that.
along with that, it also means sharing your knowledge. did you make a cute skirt? share the tutorial. did you make a delicious batch of homemade cookies? share the recipe. i have SUCH a hard time with this because 1. i forget and 2. sometimes i don't feel like sharing how i did something. it goes all the way back to my childhood where i'd thought of something cool, shared it with my friend, she was in one of my classes at school, she used that idea in one of her projects and so did i, and then I was accused of copying and cheating. yeah, i'm never sharing anything with anyone ever again! i'm kidding-- someday i'll get around to sharing things. the site "a beautiful mess" is one of my favorites because they tell you everything. "wow, how'd she get that picture to look like that?" i'm thinking in my head... the next post is: "this is how you take a picture like this!" and i'm all, "thank you, Gods of the internet. go Elsie & Emma!" if people like you & like your site, they want to be like you- so let them & show them how.
personal touch & interaction: reply to your comments. i repeat: reply to the comments made on your site, whether it is on your own blog or on theirs, do it. i don't do it nearly enough because i'm still baffled that someone actually likes what i have to say and then they say something about it to me. baffled, people. and twitter. i don't like twitter very much, but if i ever got into it i'd be tweeting like nobody's business, gettin' all personal and whatnot. i follow people on it just to read cool day-to-day stuff that you don't get on their sites. it's nice. facebook is ALL personal, right? & i'd say it's pretty successful. also, DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. that is not a personal touch nor is it nice. if i find you plagiarizing anybody i will reprimand you & say not nice things about you to my husband. & that's all i have to say about that.
ease: people don't like to try very hard. they want their questions answered & they want to do it themselves- but with minimal effort. that's why "about" "contact" and "FAQ" links are so popular and oh so common on the front page of every site. did you know that "about" pages have a specific layout? you bet your face they do because it's that important. humans have fickle minds so make it easy for people to do what they want to on your site in little time or they will lose interest very quickly & leave. i can't tell you how many times i've gone to check out a website and just clicked out of it because it took too long to load. harsh, but true.
and, obviously, visual appeal: pinterest didn't get popular because of text & words. (check out Pictureless Pinterest on twitter. HUH-larious.) the way that it is arranged with primarily photos and some text is addicting & stimulating to the mind. (obviously, stephanie. obviously.) so it should also be when someone enters your site: pictures all over the place with color & style. pictures of your hair blowing in the wind. 6 billion blurry pictures of your dog. there is a physical & emotional connection made in your brain when you see a human's face. you think my large header of my hair is just to be cool? nay, it is my devious plan to get you into my site & never leave. look deep into my eyes....
stay tuned for more of my famous advice columns including, "10 steps to a FLAT belly" "how to use #YOLO and #swag #likeaboss" and "Instagram for the Incompetent."
</sarcasm>
i'm not saying you have to be "of the world" but you do have to learn how to navigate around it to be successful "in their eyes."
though i personally refuse to comply to some of their unwritten rules of the internet, here are some things i've observed:
e-mail: my high school journalism teacher once said, "the world revolves around e-mail. you need to realize this and get on the bandwagon or you're going to be a nobody." i ignored her. but i've repented & am very slowly catching on. I'm sorry Mrs. LS. you were right. -- everyone has an email; not everyone has a facebook or a twitter account. (i am not familiar with foursquare, formspring, linkedin, bloglovin', or any of those networking sites. should i be?) if you can't grasp the "e-mail or die" concept, or can't handle this, then you're basically invisible. like me.
self-promotion & self-marketing: guess what? you could be the freaking coolest person on the planet and that wouldn't matter if you don't know how to present yourself & get yourself out there. very rarely does a site become popular based on content alone. there are plenty of blogs and websites i look at and i'm thinking, "how is this not world famous?" and others i look at and incredulously say, "what the heck? this has such a big following?" it's because either they did or didn't promote themselves well. now you're looking at me and you're all "wait a second, you only have like... less followers than a 'marketing guru' should have. what gives you the expertise to tell me how this works?"
please understand that though i am no expert i do know how this works. if i chose to i could get myself out there in more ways than there are ways to make a sandwich & my blog would explode (probably) but i hate self-promotion. i can barely handle talking about myself in other corners of the internet except for my own, or doing anything like "come check out my blog! if you do, i will give you a zillion ponies!" it's fine if other people do it for themselves, it's just not for me. i'd rather light myself on fire. "but stephanie, you have sponsors? isn't that self promotion?" well, yes. i decided i'd try it out for a little while. then i decided that what i like about "ad swapping" is the fact that i get to work closely with other people, however, most likely this will stop in the future because it makes me feel weird seeing my face on other people's blogs.
lighting: "a candle loses none of its light by lighting another candle." i like to consider myself a candle lighter of sorts. i love other people & highlighting others. i feel queasy when the favor is returned & i don't like being sung to on my birthday. but i will literally do anything for you & give you a ride to the mall with no expectations of a return "favor." i think this part of my personality scares people off; my favorite phrase is "if you need anything, please let me know and i'll do anything!" because this part of my personality so desperately needs someone to do something nice for. anyways, to the point. "share and share alike." that means following other blogs you like, commenting on things (nicely, please. promote what you love, don't put down things you don't appreciate), and "pinning pictures from whoever pinned it and not finding the actual source and claiming it as your own because you don't want people to think that you want to be like that person that you saw pinned it in the first place." yeah, i've done that.
along with that, it also means sharing your knowledge. did you make a cute skirt? share the tutorial. did you make a delicious batch of homemade cookies? share the recipe. i have SUCH a hard time with this because 1. i forget and 2. sometimes i don't feel like sharing how i did something. it goes all the way back to my childhood where i'd thought of something cool, shared it with my friend, she was in one of my classes at school, she used that idea in one of her projects and so did i, and then I was accused of copying and cheating. yeah, i'm never sharing anything with anyone ever again! i'm kidding-- someday i'll get around to sharing things. the site "a beautiful mess" is one of my favorites because they tell you everything. "wow, how'd she get that picture to look like that?" i'm thinking in my head... the next post is: "this is how you take a picture like this!" and i'm all, "thank you, Gods of the internet. go Elsie & Emma!" if people like you & like your site, they want to be like you- so let them & show them how.
on the same note: i see "tutorials" as good things.. kind of unnecessary sometimes.. kind of like art. people can come up to it and say, "PSHH i could do that. a kindygartener could do that." yeah, but did you? no, they did. & they get the international credit & recognition for it. i saw a step-by-step illustration about "how to paint your nails correctly" and someone commented with "why would anyone waste their time making this? painting your nails is not a science." like, duh. painting your nails is not hard. but there is a science to it, and that is it- people go to nail tech school to learn that, and now you have that knowledge. be grateful. it's also like learning about gravity. "gravity keeps you on the earth; gravity makes things fall." like, duh. why would someone waste their time writing that? i experience gravity every second; it's not a science. actually it is, pumpkin. MOVING ON.positivity, consistency, & salt: there are things in common with "popular" blogs and websites. one is the positive feeling that comes in, around, and from the site- it's addicting, people like it and they will come back for more. another is consistency: unchanging looks, unchanging layouts, repeats of popular posts or series & personal style. for some reason people like that. and also, salt. nobody likes to have rainbows and ponies shoved into their faces day in and day out because it's just not human. the salt is the "bad days" the "i'm swamped" and the "all of the colanders in the house are dirty so i tried draining pasta without one and now my hand is red and burned" things that happen once in a while. even chocolate chip cookies need salt to be sweet.
personal touch & interaction: reply to your comments. i repeat: reply to the comments made on your site, whether it is on your own blog or on theirs, do it. i don't do it nearly enough because i'm still baffled that someone actually likes what i have to say and then they say something about it to me. baffled, people. and twitter. i don't like twitter very much, but if i ever got into it i'd be tweeting like nobody's business, gettin' all personal and whatnot. i follow people on it just to read cool day-to-day stuff that you don't get on their sites. it's nice. facebook is ALL personal, right? & i'd say it's pretty successful. also, DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. that is not a personal touch nor is it nice. if i find you plagiarizing anybody i will reprimand you & say not nice things about you to my husband. & that's all i have to say about that.
ease: people don't like to try very hard. they want their questions answered & they want to do it themselves- but with minimal effort. that's why "about" "contact" and "FAQ" links are so popular and oh so common on the front page of every site. did you know that "about" pages have a specific layout? you bet your face they do because it's that important. humans have fickle minds so make it easy for people to do what they want to on your site in little time or they will lose interest very quickly & leave. i can't tell you how many times i've gone to check out a website and just clicked out of it because it took too long to load. harsh, but true.
and, obviously, visual appeal: pinterest didn't get popular because of text & words. (check out Pictureless Pinterest on twitter. HUH-larious.) the way that it is arranged with primarily photos and some text is addicting & stimulating to the mind. (obviously, stephanie. obviously.) so it should also be when someone enters your site: pictures all over the place with color & style. pictures of your hair blowing in the wind. 6 billion blurry pictures of your dog. there is a physical & emotional connection made in your brain when you see a human's face. you think my large header of my hair is just to be cool? nay, it is my devious plan to get you into my site & never leave. look deep into my eyes....
stay tuned for more of my famous advice columns including, "10 steps to a F
</sarcasm>
my turn: what i love most about summer
 |
| giant s'more - summer of '10 at Mirror Lake |
1. camping. i love the smell of campfire on my clothes, bundling up in a tent on a cold night, giant s'mores, peach cobbler in the dutch oven, big sweatshirts & singing songs around the fire.
2. the smell of a sprinkler on the grass at dusk. i don't know why, but it's like rain without having to get wet & i can run through them if i choose. it smells like pure summer.
3. carnivals. where my family lives each city does their own "carnival" for their "city days" celebration. that's at least 3 times in the summer! i love the rides & all the cute pictures i can take.
4. hiking. oh the memories. i love hiking up to stuart falls, the timpanogos cave, silver lake, battlecreek falls, and the alpine rock slide every summer. there's nothing like waking up bright and early and hitting the mountain-- i feel my adrenaline going just thinking about it! this year i hope to sunrise hike timpanogos herself. or maybe conquer king's peak. who wants to join?!
5. the fourth of july. it's always a big event for the summer, especially with all the delicious food we get to make. fudge covered cherries, homemade rootbeer and cream soda, tasty bbbq.. the list goes on and on! and who can deny fireworks? not i.
6. the seasonal food. i'm talkin watermelon, corn on the cob, cherries, berries, cantaloupes, grapes, apricots straight from the tree, fruit stands by the side of the road & farmer's markets!
7. water. i love spending time by a lake (tibble fork- i want to fish & go canooing & cook the fish!) going swimming, jumping on the trampoline with the hose, hot tubbing, water parks, etc. you just can't do that any other time of the year.
8. getting a tan. i love being outside in the summer because i get tan! one of my favorite things to do (and i know it's slightly selfish & vain) but i lay out with tanning lotion on, listen to music & sleep. then i wake up and i'm magically tan. it's my favorite way to do nothing in the summer time.
9. looking forward to summer night dates. i can't wait to take our longboards out to the park, go and get snowcones or ice cream, take our puppy on a walk, eat a romantic picnic, string up lights in the backyard & have late night movies outside, bbq's and good old fashioned night games.
10. and of course, SNOW CONES. my absolute favorite place to get snow cones in the summer is a little shack called "Snoasis" next to the junction in Alpine, Ut. seriously, people, if you live in utah and you haven't been there you are sorely missing out on one of the best experiences of your life. may i make a suggestion? get a medium with half peach and half raspberry with cream on top. i promise you will be so happy you might just burst.
i for one can't WAIT to start school this summer as well as host a tea party, work with some lovely ladies on photoshoots & get a little involved with my community. have a fantastic day & start your summers if you already haven't!
i'll be spending mine cleaning the house & figuring out which external hard drive to buy because darn it i've completely filled up my computer's again (for the 3rd time.) and i have no other options.
snowcones....
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