It’s that time of year again and I have some new tech wallpapers for you! This Summer Fun edition is dedicated to my mantra for the summer months, “Work Hard, Play Hard” and I designed these with some fun summer colors, neon pink and gold glitter! Hope you enjoy them and feel free to leave me any ideas for future tech wallpapers down in the comments! I love hearing your feedback and getting new inspiration from you so that I make these wallpapers as custom as possible for you!
I recently had a conversation with a friend and former colleague about the importance of knowing “what I want to be when I grow up.” She and I were discussing career paths and what sort of job she would like to have next within her company, but she was unsure which path to take. Should she look for a promotion, should she move to another company, where was her life and relationship with her boyfriend headed? In the midst of our conversation, I asked her “well, what do you want to be when you grow up?” She thought the question was funny, “obviously, we are grown up, but what was it that you always thought you would do with your life and do you still want to do it,” I asked.
She really didn’t have to think about it because she immediately knew the answer, she wanted to work for the company she had spent a year interning for after college. She knew it was the time of her life and although she knew she would want to go back in a different role and work in a different side of the business, she at least was able to articulate it.
“Okay, so go work for them,” I said, very matter of fact. “I can’t do that,” she replied, “[my boyfriend] owns a home here and he would never move.” The conversation went on from there and we discussed that ever confusing ambiguity of life where women are expected to manage their personal life and their career, and how to know if you are with “the one” or not. Clearly, neither of us are experts on the subject so I’m not sure the conversation ended with any sort of resolution to her issues, although I like to hope she was at least able to frame herself and her situation in new light.
The reason I am sharing this story here on my blog, is because I feel like for so many women out there, we struggle to find a career and a life that is fulfilling, but then we openly reject what it is we know we want because it may require our lives to change. My friend was probably right, her boyfriend probably won’t want to move to allow her to pursue her dream career, but does that mean that the career is wrong or the boyfriend is wrong? I think pragmatists would say, leave the boyfriend and pursue the career you want, romantics would say, find another career and keep the man. Who is right? Who is wrong? It doesn’t actually matter. The opinions of others don’t really matter when it comes to our own life choices. People will always have an opinion one way or the other, but we have to find the courage to make the choices that bring us happiness and fulfillment. The issue isn’t about choosing career or choosing love, the issue is choice itself and understanding that you do, indeed, have a choice in how to live your life. You can choose to be a passive participant in your life or you can choose to have the courage to be an active one!
On my iPhone is a new monthly feature on Strange & Charmed where I give you a peak into what I have been loving on my iPhone for the month! Covering topics like apps, games, podcasts, music, websites, books and more, I hope this series helps you all discover new and exciting content out there that can be enjoyed from your iPhone! To stay up to date with this series, make sure to follow the On my iPhone tag!
To kick off this new series, I have a bunch of wonderful content to share from my iPhone to yours! I have spent a lot of time this month focusing on inspiration for my business and consuming as much fresh, new content as I can!
Currently Playing, Lost Yeti: This adorable 32-bit puzzle game is all about helping your little Yeti friend navigate his way to a delicious frozen dessert while dodging obstacles like ice and enemies. I actually got this game for free from the Starbucks Pick of the Week in-store promotion cards, so if you are stopping by a Starbucks, take a look and see if you can grab this cute but casual game for free, or download it from the app store for $1.99!
Currently Reading, #GIRLBOSS: There has been a lot of hype about this book around the internet lately, so I decided to download the sample from the iBooks Store and see what it was all about. This frank, funny and admittedly vulgar memoir is a must read for any female online entrepreneurs and internet lovers alike. Although I download and read the sample on iBooks, I already went ahead and bought the hardcover of the book to own, if only for the awesomely empowering cover!
Currently Watching, Emma Approved: If you enjoyed the incredibly popular YouTube series, The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, you will love Emma Approved. Another timeless Austen tale told via the modern medium of internet and video, Emma Approved is a fashionable, technologically clever web series based off Emma, aka Clueless for those of you who are more familiar with film titles than paper ones! And if for some reason you missed Lizzie Bennett back in the fall when I told you to watch it, you seriously need to catch up on both of these series asap- seriously better than anything else on TV!
Currently Surfing, My Life as a Teacup: My good blogging buddy Kristin recently sat down for a Google Helpout session with me to help revamp her wonderful blog! Although Kristin has a lot going for her on her site currently, we were totally able to brainstorm some awesome new features and content for her site that is seriously going to bring so much more fun and whimsy to her corner of the internet. If you don’t already read Kristin’s awesome blog, I hereby give you permission to click out of this post and click onto her site, immediately! Oh, and if you have or are looking to start a blog but need some guidance from a blogging pro, head on over to my Empire Building coaching page and sign up today for one-to-one blog and business consulting with me!
Currently Listening, The Lively Show: I have been following Jess Lively for a few years now and I have loved her new podcast “The Lively Show!” Although it’s geared towards female bloggers and online entrepreneurs, I think it’s an inspiring Podcast for any woman who is looking to bring meaning and “intention” in their life! If you are a reader of my blog, you will most definitely love this podcast, so go ahead and subscribe to it now and hear the stories behind some of your favorite, and soon to be favorite, bloggers and business owners!
I hope you all truly enjoyed this first installment of my On my iPhone series! It will be a monthly feature posted the final Tuesday of each month, so make sure to keep you eye out for it! Also, let me know in the comments what you have been loving, content wise, on your iPhone this month! I love new content, so keep your recommendations rolling in!
I have been thinking a lot about happiness lately and happy people in general. The other week, when I stopped at the gas station, I was confronted with the notion that you really can’t predict who is going to be happy in life and who isn’t based on their situation in life. I was thinking about my regular gas station attendant and how he is always upbeat and happy despite having something of an undesirable career to most people. By all means, I am sure if I was in his position, I would certainly be miserable, and this is not meant to offend anyone who themselves works or know of someone who works in such a position, but for me the idea of standing outside, or sometimes sitting in a little glass box, at all hours of the day through extreme heat and bitter cold would be hell on earth. I’m not someone who could handle such a simple, repetitive task, even one as common as pumping gas for eight hours a day, in fact, I am sure I would botch it. Yet, the same gas station attendant is always there waiting for me, happy as can be, glad to be of service.
After that day, whenever I looked around, it was glaringly obvious to me, that many of the happy, outgoing people I would come across were found in the most unlikely places but they all had something in common, they were all making the choice to be happy, friendly, and genuinely nice people. This may not be news to any of you, the fact that we choose to make our own happiness certainly wasn’t news to me, but I find that whenever I am confronted with these sorts of situations it jolts me back into reality and forces me to look inward to my own feelings and why I make things harder on myself by not choosing happiness more often.
I challenge all of you to stop, take a look around you and search out the happiest people in your life. I bet that for the most part these folks aren’t necessarily always the most wealthy, attractive or even healthy people, but still they find happiness because they choose happiness. I hope for myself and for all of you reading this that we can make that choice for ourselves everyday and remember that it’s not our social status, job, friends or significant others that make us happy, but that it is we that make ourselves happy. Today, I am going to be happy, no matter what!
5 Quirky Uses is a new periodic feature for Strange & Charmed. For each post, I will select an everyday item and suggest five alternate uses or ways to upcycle the item in a fun or unusual way. Keep up with these posts with the Quirky Uses category!
True story, everyone! For some reason or another (all completely legitimate in my mind) I own four Filofax style planners. Two are actually Filofax brand name, one is my lovely Kikki K Time Planner (discontinued) and one is my personal sized Kate Spade! Now, the thing is, although I bought each planner with some grand idea of how I was going to use it in a slightly different way, I have recently woken up to the idea that these planners need to be repurposed or sold. Since, I like many other Filofax enthusiasts own more than one planner and refuse to sell any of them (are you kidding me, they are each beautiful and unique!) I have opted for repurposing the extra three I never use. So, I came up with a list of very useful ways to use a Filofax style planner, so we can all justify our obsessions and have them all!
1. A Home Binder: This would be perfect for any extra A5’s lying around because you can store documents folded in half and punched! A home binder is a place where you can keep all the important information for your home and items in it. Warranty information, insurance paperwork, schedules for regular maintenance and even home decor information (like the color paints and types of flooring used in case of repair). Anything that refers to your home (owned or rented) can be stored away inside in case it needs to be referenced.
2. A Dedicated Blog or Business Binder: If you run a side business or a blog from home, having an extra binder around that stores all your important information and schedules is a great way to repurpose a Filofax. Yes, some of your business information may also be important in your day-to-day planner, but having a dedicated place for business information, projects you are working on and specific business contacts means that you don’t have to cram it all in your daily carry and I think giving your blog or business its own binder that you leave at home and only take with you when needed is a great way to actually help you “switch gears” throughout the day.
3. A Gratitude or Happiness Binder: I am a major proponent of the importance of gratitude journaling and I think that it’s an awesome idea to repurpose a beautiful planner or Filofax into a place where you can store and write about all the things that make you happy and thankful in your life. In a way it could be like an inspiration board but instead of posting things on a single surface you have pages and inserts to decorate and theme out for each element of your life that makes you happy and grateful. You can keep gratitude lists, lists of your favorite things like books, movies, people and places. You can include pictures, sketches, or collages; the possibilities are endless, and at the end of the day it can be your happy place to help you lift your spirit and find joy in your life!
4. A Personalized Devotional: No matter what your religion or spiritual status, many people like to find peace and solice in a daily devotional. You can use a Filofax style planner to create your own with your favorite verses, prayers and inspirational stories and create your own schedule for private study. There are so many people out there who are trying on a daily basis to create a closer bond with their religious or spiritual side and creating a personal devotional is a wonderful activity that would give you time to both create and reflect on the subject.
5. A Health & Wellness Binder: If you are struggling with a health issue, trying to lose weight, or just want to keep a closer eye on your health in general, having a dedicated binder for your Health & Wellness may be a great way for you to track your day-to-day condition, the foods you’re eating and even your mood. I think a Filofax would be a wonderful place to store information like healthy recipes, exercise routines and important information about your physical and mental health so that you have all that information with you when you visit your physician. I think even expectant mothers would find this sort of binder useful as they track and almost journal their experience of pregnancy into motherhood that can then be something of a keepsake for them and their family.
I hope you have enjoyed these tips and if you currently use a Filofax for any of these purposes, please let us know in the comments below and be sure to leave your tips on getting started or elements that would be helpful for others to include if they were to start one of these binders for themselves! As always, if you have any additional uses for a Filofax, please leave those below so we get even more inspiration from the community!
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I recently picked up a few new Kate Spade Tech items that I thought I would share with you all since I know many of you who read my blog also enjoy Kate Spade accessories and the like! I have actually purchased quite a few new items from Kate Spade in recent weeks and if you would like to see my entire Kate Spade Haul, click here! Now, of course, since I am tech obsessed, some of my favorite items are always technology related and I did pick up a few new cases and an absolutely adorable speaker as some new desk swag for myself.
If you are interested in more information about these items, feel free to click on the interactive image above for direct links to the products. As usual, links are affiliate, so if you make a purchase, you will be supporting the blog and I am very grateful for your support!
So, have you picked up any new tech gadgets or accessories lately? Let me know in the comments below!
I’m one of those people who starts reading more than one book at a time and then never seems to finish any. Lately, I have been “reading” a few books that just never seem to end because I can’t seem to focus enough on getting through them properly. Maybe its me, maybe its the book, but I don’t like when I don’t finish things, so I am making it my goal to get some of these in progress books off my book shelf by actually finishing them up!
Amazon Synapsis
1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.
At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most.
An emotionally charged coming-of-age novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a tender story of love lost and found, an unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again.
Amazon Synapsis
Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”
Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!
In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.
Amazon Synapsis
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.
A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.
Amazon Synapsis
New York Times bestselling author and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk shares hard-won advice on how to connect with customers and beat the competition. A mash-up of the best elements of Crush It! and The Thank You Economy with a fresh spin, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is a blueprint to social media marketing strategies that really works.
When managers and marketers outline their social media strategies, they plan for the “right hook”—their next sale or campaign that’s going to knock out the competition. Even companies committed to jabbing—patiently engaging with customers to build the relationships crucial to successful social media campaigns—want to land the punch that will take down their opponent or their customer’s resistance in one blow. Right hooks convert traffic to sales and easily show results. Except when they don’t.
Thanks to massive change and proliferation in social media platforms, the winning combination of jabs and right hooks is different now. Vaynerchuk shows that while communication is still key, context matters more than ever. It’s not just about developing high-quality content, but developing high-quality content perfectly adapted to specific social media platforms and mobile devices—content tailor-made for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr.
So, have you read any of these books yet? Let me know what you thought of these books and also let me know what’s on your In Progress list by leaving a comment below!
Hey Guys! Today’s post is something of a housekeeping update for you all! As you may have noticed if you follow me on multiple social media platforms, I have made quite a few changes over the past few weeks and I wanted to address these changes with you! If you enjoy reading my blog or want to follow more of my work and my life outside of the blog, I hope you find this post informative!
Although I have been on Twitter & Instagram for a while now, I just recently set up a Facebook Group for this blog which you can access here. Please head on over to that page and give it a like if you enjoy reading my blog, but especially if you want to follow more of my work online because my Facebook page is going to be something of a hub for all my content!
As you may have noticed in my blog post last week, I am also active on the new Blogger based social media app, Pippit, and you can find me there on my usual handle, MissTrenchcoat!
I have been on YouTube since 2009 and I am still going strong! Recently, I made a major adjustment to my YouTube posting schedule and I am now uploading videos daily, Monday thru Friday! I have a general schedule that I am trying to stick to more or less according to the day of the week and that is as follows:
If you are not already subscribed to my YouTube Channel, please head over and subscribe so you can catch up on my recent videos and stay up to date with the plethora of new content I am posting daily!
If you follow my YouTube Channel or my Instagram Account, you may already know that I have officially launched a new coaching program for members of my community who are looking for guidance building their own business online. The program is called Empire Building, and it was designed by me using all the knowledge I have acquired over the past few years building my own online business from a simple blog and rarely updated YouTube channel to an online community of over 30,000 followers and another 50,000 individual users who visit my site on a monthly basis! So, if you would like to work directly with me on your blog or online business, sign up today or send me an email!
Have you guys submitted your #EVSelfie to Twitter or Facebook and tagged @ElecGen for a chance to win a $250 gift card? What are you waiting for? All you have to do is snap a photo or video of yourself with an Electric Vehicle or some symbol of EV Culture (a charging station or a sign)! Remember, you can use this website to find a local charging station or you can do what I did and take a test drive of one of the many EVs available on the market! Let me tell you, its an eye opening experience that will totally change the way you look at Electric Vehicles!
Last week, I went on my test drive of the Nissan Leaf and had a blast learning about and actually driving the vehicle! Of course, I made a video documenting my experience which I am going to go ahead and link below, but I also wanted to take some time to give you guys some interesting facts that I learned from my test drive!
I go into much more detail in my video, so if these fun facts are piquing your interest, I suggest checking it out! And don’t forget to take your #EVSelfie! I am telling you, once you open your eyes to the world of Electric Vehicles you begin to notice them everywhere! From charging stations at your local convenience store, to EVs parked in a neighboring driveway, they really are more prevalent than you think!
So, will I see your #EVSelfie before the June 26th deadline? Feel free to tag me @MissTrenchcoat as well in your entry so I can check out your pics and videos as well!
This week a very unique app with a very unique name made its debut on the iOS App Store. Pippit, the brainchild of the blogging superstars behind Oh Joy! and Love Taza, is an app created by bloggers for bloggers. Acting like a chimera between Instagram and Pinterest, Pippit allows bloggers to create a profile that automatically incorporates an RSS feed of their blog into their stream of images with direct links back to their sites. Users are able to follow their favorite bloggers and keep up to date with them, not only through their blog feed, but also through a “pip,” an image or video that users can upload to their stream. Users can then tag the image with “dots” of information in the form of a text tag or a direct link to a product or website. Aside from the user profile, the app provides a home stream of images based on the users you follow, as well as an explore feature that is like a master stream of activity happening through the app. While scrolling through these streams, you are able to give an “opinion” as it is called, on images by marking them with a “like,” “want” or “useful”.
Like I said, this is one unique app that is certainly multifaceted. As a blogger, I can see how the app acts like a one stop shop that could potentially take the place of apps like Pinterest, Instagram and even BlogLovin’, however, I don’t forsee Pippit forcing any of those into extinction. In fact, although I find Pippit to be a rather interesting concept, I am not precisely sure where it fits into the bigger picture along other social media apps. I keep asking myself if it’s trying to be an Instagram/Pinterest/BlogLovin’ replacement or an alternative.
It’s also worth mentioning that Pippit is not a free app, it retails for $2.59, however, in researching the app for this post, it seems as though the cost is a one time subscription fee for a year of service. The app creators say they are charging in order to prevent the need for ads, however, I am left wondering if I will need to either repurchase or resubscribe to the app after the first year is over. Time will tell if Pippit will find a permanent home on the iPhones of the social media obsessed, but for now, for me at least, it’s just one more app I need to manage in my quest to build and interact with my audience.
If you have Pippit, make sure to follow me @ MissTrenchcoat, and go ahead and leave me a comment letting me know what you think of the app! I would love to know your opinion and whether you think the app is worth the extra effort!