New Beginnings, New(-ish) Blog

I don't know if this is really a saying or not, but HAPPY LEAP DAY!! Originally, this was going to be a "Happy New Year" post, but I definitely missed the boat with that one.

There have been quite a few big events in my life since my last post, and while they have meant some exciting changes, they have unfortunately kept me away from the blog-o-sphere for quite some time. To make a long story short, after 7 months of intensive job searching I have now finally joined the world of the full-time employed. Yay! :] As a result, in the last couple months, my schedule has been pretty packed. Between apartment hunting, moving in, and adjusting to a new job, I guess I kinda sorta shirked my responsibility to my blog. Ooops... Now that I have a little more time though -- and a consistent internet connection (hooray!) I hope I won't be disappearing for so long again.

Although I have not been posting, this blog and the direction I would like to take with it has been something that I have done a lot of thinking about recently. When I started out last fall, I was hoping blogging would be another tool I could use to help me in my job search in addition to a place where I would write about topics I found interesting. As a result, I really struggled to develop a cohesive way to tie everything together. The intellectual side of me was telling me I should be talking about social media and interesting articles, while my creative side was wanting to complete DIY projects and share them. After a bit of soul searching, I think I will be heading back to my roots from here on out. What do I mean by that? Well back in the day when Xanga was cool, I didn't really worry about my intended purpose or who my audience was (aside from the fact that I wanted to impress my middle school friends). And although I did not consciously realize I was blogging at the time, essentially I was. But mostly, I was keeping an online journal and writing about whatever I wanted. Just being me. That is what I plan to do again.

So, who am I now? Well, now I am a young professional. I am out on my own for the first time, and I am learning the challenges that come with this new lifestyle. What I expect is that that means the content of this blog will shift. Not only will my future posts be more "journal-like" but they will also focus on topics such as apartment life and living on a budget.


I guess a good place to start would be to introduce you to my new place. At this point, it is far from perfect, but we're getting there. I still have boxes in the living room and in my bedroom, so to be honest, I am too embarrassed to post pictures of those spaces online. But we'll start with the kitchen. I have to admit that I do love my kitchen. I don't know many people my age who live in an apartment with granite counter-tops and literally brand new stainless steel appliances, but I do. I am a lucky girl. It was a pain that my first week here I had to wait for everything to be installed, but it was definitely worth the wait. The only thing I would change is the stove. If anyone ever tries to convince you to get one of those "easy to clean" stove tops that are basically a big plastic surface, don't listen. It is so much harder to control the temperature and I think it is actually harder to clean. Anytime any liquid spills, it instantly fuses to the top and leaves a permanent mark. Also, the black color shows every little bit of dust. I would much rather have a gas range. On a side note, if you noticed the glass jars on the counter-top, I picked those up from IKEA this past weekend and plan to turn those into one of my next projects, so keep an eye out for that blog post. But moving on...


We have the small dining area. I just bought the green place mats this past weekend, and I am even more happy with them than I thought I would be. They are pretty much perfect for this space because they really brighten up the room. Plus, you can't really tell from the picture, but they nicely tie in the bright green that is in both of the paintings I had already hung in the space.



Then last, but not least, we have the last room on our tour - the bathroom. There is really nothing too exciting about a bathroom. But, I do think I got extremely lucky when I found my bathmat. I knew I wanted to go with a white and light blue color scheme (I already had light blue towels and planned to get a white shower curtain) and then somehow I happened upon this rug that was not only the exact same hue of blue with white, but also tied in the tan tile on the floor and the counter top. That rug was meant for me. Which brings me to how I plan to wrap up this little (or I guess pretty long) entry.

I will be the first person to admit that since I got an account in the fall, I have been addicted to Pinterest. I love finding new projects, recipes, and inspiration for how I want to style my home (and I guess also parts of my life). But if there is anything I have learned in the past few weeks, it is that sometimes keeping it simple is best. I don't need every item in my apartment to become a DIY project. Although those doily light fixtures and wine racks turned towel holders are pretty awesome, taking on too many cutesy projects is enough to make you crazy (especially when the money it takes to purchase supplies often is much more expensive than you might initially think). That is not to say that I plan to cut out all of the DIY pins I have been planning to create, but I have a better sense of what is practical to accomplish over a period of time and on a budget.

As I tackle this challenge of doing it on my own, one step at a time, my goal is that in the upcoming months, I will be able to show off a living room and a bedroom that I can be proud of. Then at that point, I will finally be able to have friends over and entertain. Yay! According to Cosmo, working towards a goal is often more fulfilling than achieving the goal itself... Well hopefully that is the case, because goodness knows, I have a lot of goals to accomplish to get this place in order!

I hope you'll check back later for more updates on my little journey of independence. Thanks for reading :]

Cheers!
Rachael-

What's With All the Pictures?

So you may have noticed that content on the internet seems to be changing. Websites in general are becoming less text based and more visual. I could go into some of the specifics about why humans react better to images than text, but I will save you the pain of reading through that.

Way back when I was a senior in high school and Facebook was becoming more popular, I was hesitant to use it more than Myspace (my previous social media platform of choice) because it seemed much more generic. I thought, why would anyone like this? It's so boring! Gone were the customized backgrounds and music playlists on each person's profile. What eventually changed my mind about Facebook were the pictures. Not only was the general community using Myspace changing, but Facebook made it much easier to share photos. It didn't take long for nearly my entire social network to join the site and since then, I have been hooked.

It is no secret that whenever Facebook makes noticeable changes to the platform, the users get mad. Just a few days or even hours later, no one can remember what the interface looked like before, but the initial changes are always quite irritating. Which is why I was a little concerned at first when I heard about the new "timeline" profile design Facebook planned to implement. After taking the steps to make the changes to my profile though, I wish that everyone would make the switch. The timeline is much more visual (and in my opinion, more fun and attractive as well).

This is a practice I will be incorporating into my own blog. If you read my last entry about how to knit an infinity scarf, I hope you also appreciated the number of pictures included with the entry. I wanted to add as many as possible, but I found that posting images with text can make an entry look very disjointed. What does this mean? Well, that there is a delicate balance between including visuals to enhance content and putting far too much into one entry. I am hoping that as I create more content, I will continue to strike a good balance between visuals and content.

If you are like me and appreciate images with your content, you should check out the site visual.ly. Be prepared to waste some time though because it is very easy to get hooked!

What are your thoughts on this topic? Are pictures really that important? Or would you rather get the content you want without the noise? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Hello world!

Welcome to my newest blog! :] Now, I have tried the blogging thing in the past, but aside from a Xanga I am embarrassed to say I kept up regularly in middle school, my previous attempts have not gone very far. So, I am hoping to have better luck this time.

The biggest issue I have had when it comes to blogging is finding my voice. My problem is that I studied social media in college, and what I have learned about using blogging as a tool tends to conflict with what I really want to write about. Currently, I am a recent graduate of Miami University with a degree in Marketing whom is looking for full-time employment. The articles I have read about "using social media to enhance your job search" (or something along those lines) would recommend that I use this blog as a platform to share my knowledge about digital marketing. To make it a place where I post interesting articles I find with a witty accompanying paragraph or two. Then, hopefully my established online personality will be attractive enough to a company/brand that it will recruit me to manage its online presence. Unfortunately, social media is not the only thing I am interested in writing about.

I have always been a very creative person, and to be honest, the times I am most likely to read a blog are when I am researching a new artsy project I want to start. Those are the blogs that make me attracted to the platform. They inspire me to want to join those communities and conversations. To start my own blog about painting, various craft projects, baking, fashion, etc. But seriously, how am I supposed to pick just one of those topics to be interested in?

Most blogs today are extremely specialized. Authors make money writing blogs because they become experts in one specific area. So, for example, if I am interested in baking and art, and I want to be credible in those respective communities, I need to start two different blogs. Oh, and in order to keep my audience engaged, I need to write posts on a regular basis with new content. Well that is a LOT of work... not to mention, I am also supposed to be writing about social media, right? Now because I am interested in three topics, I need three blogs?? Holy cow. This whole blogging thing is starting to make me feel schizophrenic. If the point of being a blogger is to manage an online personality, then why can't my blog be multifaceted like a REAL person? Well I am hoping that it can be. Which brings me to what I aspire to accomplish with this blog.

In nearly every interview, I have been asked by a recruiter where I want to be in the next 5-10 years as well as about what I like to do in my free time. Well, I hope that through this blog, I can work on getting to where I want to be in the future while enjoying what I like to do today. I plan to share and apply the principles I have learned about blogging and establishing a personal brand online while also writing about the art projects I like to take on in my spare time. A sort-of combination of "how to" and "DIY" material. I am not sure if I will be successful, but I am sure going to try.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing this small part of the journey with me! Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions, and come back to see where this goes in the future :]