the millennial who's good at nothing: blogger

OCTOBER GOALS

October 08, 2015

I always use these goals posts as a way to rant about the month. Lately, with all of my commitments between clubs and classes, the word I would us to describe how I feel is "drowning." However, I'm not drowning in a sea of bad things or things that scare me, it's in a sea of good things. The radio station on-campus, that I'm involved in, wants to put on a lot of good shows and events. PRSSA wants to raise money for conference and hold fun and enriching events. Running club wants to run as many races as possible and stay in shape. The Women's center wants to promote good causes and campaigns. My classes are teaching me skills I will use in the future. These are all good things, however it's the hard work and logistics that are leaving me with this drowning feeling. I know once I see these events and campaigns come to fruition, I will feel proud and accomplished.

September Goals

Complete all paperwork so running club can run our first race (and second)

Get back to two blog posts a week

Decorate living room in suite

Get accustomed to chores/food shopping/cleaning in the suite

Set goals in executive board position for WMWM and PRSSA

Accomplished goals are green and unaccomplished (yet in the works) are in red.

October Goals

Take time to put meetings and events in planner on Sundays
Work on resume and e-portfolio
Look at classes to take next semester
Look for spring internship
Keep up 2 blog posts a week
Take time to relax every day and not work on something
Keep up with American Horror Story
Have an unforgettable Halloween

Let's hope October is as promising as September was!

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blog help

TALK SHOP: SPONSORED POSTS

August 21, 2015

Last up on the "Talk Shop" series was blogger networks. I was very impressed with the amount of data I gathered and the opinions I got. I'm hoping to get the same amount this time! So, what's next for my number-crunching laboratory? "Dee Dee, get OUT of my LABORATORYYY"

No, not Dexters's Laboratory, but it's sponsored posts! I want to find out what us bloggers are getting paid or if, how their relationships with brands are, and more. I asked how often they do sponsored posts, if they only do monetary compensations, how their experience with brands has been and what their favorite brands to work with were.

I've been paid to do sidebar advertisements and social media posts (instagram/pinterest), but not a blog post. I have two other jobs, so my main income isn't blogging. However, If I could make blogging my main income one day that would be absolutely fabulous. I'm very happy, and blessed, to have been granted the gift of receiving product compensation. I've received clothes, makeup, a Keurig, and more. I've also gotten to try two teatoxes.

My goal is to get a big fan base so I can create a big-time media kit with prices. Maybe I should just make one so it looks legit, right? That's for another talk shop.

For a reference for these results, my small but sturdy sample was 6 bloggers.

Three bloggers do sponsored posts every two months, three of them do them more than twice a month. This could average out to once a month. This can depend on many things including how often bloggers reach out to brands, how often brands reach out to bloggers, and how picky bloggers are. As for me, I'm definitely on the every two months scale. It;s safe to say that bloggers with bigger fan bases do more sponsored posts, simply because there's more people to be exposed to the product and that's what outreach employees like to see.

It appears that my sample had bloggers with differing readership numbers! This shows, just like the one above, that more influential bloggers not only do more sponsored posts, but get paid. Turnigngyour blog into a business is NO easy feat. Props to those that have!

I dream of the day that I only do paid opportunities. However, you have to do some freebies here and there to build trust and relationships. It seems here that the majority of the bloggers surveyed only did paid sponsorships.

It looks like there aren't any bad experiences here!

Thanks to all my lovely participants!

Adriana Renee http://alaskarenee.com

Lena www.lenatalksbeauty.com

Brittany www.southernsoulblog.com

http://thewhisperbox.com

Becky Winkler http://www.acalculatedwhisk.com/

Morgan Timm http://www.mostlymorgan.com

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blogger

MONTHLY LINK-UP: JULY GOALS

July 01, 2015

This is part of the monthly link-up at mysocalledchaos.com

The word I would use to describe this summer is balance. I feel a good balance between time with friends, work, internship, running, family, adventures, and relaxing. The improvement on my life as a whole compared from last summer to this one is like night and day. However, even though things are going swimmingly, I'm also looking to improve. I'm always looking for my next adventure to conquer. That's why I keep myself accountable for the steps!

How This works:

Follow your hosts My So-Called Chaos and A Peek at Karen's World to keep up with this link-up.
Write up a post recapping last month's goals and setting goals for next month.
Make sure to include the button in your post by grabbing the code above.
Link up your goals post with the monthly linky which goes live on the first Thursday of the month.
Visit other links in the party to show support and offer advice for other goal setters.
Have fun and make some new friends!

May Goals

Get up to 35 mile weeks of running 31....

Decorate the walls of my room - inspiration board - fail

Work with a brand - Success

Go into my internship twice a week - Success

Post on here twice a week - Success

Get under 24 in the 5K 26:36

Instead of smooth green sailing, May had some flashes of yellow and red. However, most things are a work in progress. 35 is so so close to 31. 2 minutes of a 5K in a hot, hot day is alright. I still got third in my age group and team roger, and supported a great cause. Months like these can teach us to spin our perceived losses in a positive light.

June Goals

Run a 10 mile run
Finish the Sarah Dessen book
Make your inspiration board
Work with more brands
Make a bonus sale at work

Let's hope July is as promising as June was!

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black bean

RECIPE: SWEET POTATO BLACK BEAN BURRITOS

May 31, 2015

I may not "meal prep", however, I do sometimes make a big batch of something and have it multiple times throughout the week. That was my plan with these delicious sweet potato black bean burritos!

In my post about my vegan journey blog post, I mentioned that one day, the vegan gods of the dining hall shown down on me. Chartwells was serving sweet potato black bean burritos. I decided to make my own version with fresher, healthier, ingredients, of course. I basically put my Dollar Store Diva spin on them.

The dining hall has to feed a bunch of starving college students on a budgets, so they had to use white tortillas and other shortcuts, of course. However, I only had to feed one broke, starving college students. I in this recipe, I used whole wheat tortillas, Green Giant niblet corn, mozzarella, sweet potatoes, and Bush's low sodium black beans.

Oh, sweet potatoes, how I love you. However, you're just too hard. Could you maybe soften up a bit? Just for me?

Sweet potatoes, when you buy them fresh, are very hard. You can't just mash them right away. I cut them into small pieces and microwave them for 5-10 minutes until they're a bit more soft.

After they softened in the microwave, I sautéed them in a pan with some maple syrup to give them a maple flavor. I put this pan on medium heat and covered it to finish the "make sweet potatoes mushier" mission."

While that mission was in progress, I sliced my mozzarella.

After microwaving it according to the package instructions, I added the niblet corn along with the black beans. Time to mash this burrito filling together!

My mighty masher!

I'm many things, but not a great burrito artist. Chipotle would fire me ASAP. However, this is me trying to fill these puppies before letting them heat up in the oven. I also added the mozzarella, which will melt in the oven.

There they are in their glory!

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

Ingredients:

Whole grain tortillas
2 sweet potatoes
2 can of low sodium black beans
niblet corn
maple syrup
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Boil sweet potatoes to a soft consistency
Preheat the oven to 350
In a pan, sauté, sweet potatoes, maple syrup, niblet corn, band black beans
Mash the mixture with a masher or a fork
Spread the mixture in the tortillas and wrap them into burritos
Bake the burritos for 10 minutes
Let sit
Enjoy!

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agave nectar

Four Easy Ways to Kickstart Your Morning!

April 24, 2015

Not everyone is a morning person. I know most people feel like waking up at the last possible minute, throwing some clothes on, and running out the door, however that leads to irritability and unproductiveness. Waking up a tad bit earlier to dedicate some time to yourself and your physical and mental well-being would be a step in the right direction of starting your day off right. Not to sound like your mother, your mother's mother, and your mother's mother's mother, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day! If you skip breakfast, you'll only be focusing on how hungry you are during class, not the content. Here is what I do every morning to prepare myself for the day. If you don't do all of these, try implementing at least one!

1. Make yourself a nice breakfast

In the mornings, I like to treat myself to a wholesome breakfast of flaxseed waffles, greek yogurt with honey and fruit, or cereal. Treat yourself to whatever breakfast you like! If you're one of those people that can't eat too early and only grab a coffee, at least have a granola bar or a banana.. your potassium levels will thank you later!

2. Make yourself look great!

My roommate and I religiously follow the rule "dress well test well". I live and breathe by my mantra: if you're confident in your outfit, you're going to perform better in your classes, meetings, work, etc. "Look good, feel good" Either way you spin it, it's harder to fall asleep in dress pants and a button-down than in a sweatsuit.

3. Look up mood-boosting Spotify playlist!

This is a new ritual as of this semester. I've recently become acquainted with Spotify because I love "collecting" music. The bigger my music library the better. Some people make origami and cookies.. I make playlists. I digress. Spotify has playlists for every genre and mood every time of the day. Every morning they feature playlists such as "Mood Booster", "Feel Good", "Happy Hipster", and "Acoustic Morning". Listening to them not only inform me of top hits and new songs, but also boosts my mood in the morning.

4. Be a little productive

If I have time in the morning, I either do a little blogging, schedule out tweets, talk on blogger network pages, or maybe even do some homework. My favorite mornings are when I get a good run in, get a coffee, and do a few errands. I feel like a "real adult."

It can be hard to leave your comfy bed sometimes. How do you pump yourself up in the mornings?

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acropolis

Athens and Aegina, Greece Photo Diary

April 13, 2015

Finally, here are my pictures from my trip to Athens, Greece over spring break, not just pictures of me in my outfits. We all love me my and outfits (right?), however let's just take some times to enjoy the sights. These pictures aren't in order. Enjoy!