7 Things I Read Online This Month - October 2016.
Another month is nearly over and I for one am sad to see the back of October - it's just SUCH an Autumnal month isn't it? I want the fallen leaves and the sunshine and the crisp weather to last a bit longer and I'm not sure I'm ready for November and the clocks going back (tonight FYI) and the darkness it brings.
Anyway the point of this post is not to weep over a new month, it's as ever to share 7 of the tip top bestest posts I've read this month with all of ya'll.
As always this is just the tip of the iceberg of great blog posts so be sure to check out my Bloglovin loved and saved lists for even more fab work.
1. Why 'Hygge' is hype but you should embrace it anyway.
Ahhh this gal. I could've chosen about 24984783 different posts from her this month, she's been killing it obvs and I have loved seeing her all over my newsfeed. If you don't know Tina already she runs Late Night Bloggers on Twitter and they're the most hilarious chats ever, we've done Big Brother, we've done fancy dress, we've just done Halloween scenarios and honestly, it's the most fun. I have made my love of this girl no secret and you'll often see us chatting and fan girling online but her blog is pretty fab too. This post on hygge was my favourite this month because I can SO see where she's coming from. As bloggers we love all kinds of trends and hype and hygge has been no different, except me and Tina both believe we've been living the hygge life a lot longer than the past 2 months. Have a read, it's a real good one.
Why 'Hygge' is hype but you should embrace it anyway - Tea Is For Tina.
2. 4 Places bloggers have made me want to visit next year.
So Lauren is someone whose blog I found through the never ending wisdom of Hannah Gale when she did a round up of her fav blogs, maybe last year. I *think* Hannah and Lauren went to uni together but all I know is they're IRL friends and Lauren's blog is one of my firm favourites. I feel like I never see enough appreciation of her site online but I'm firmly in the 'SHE'S FLIPPIN GLORIOUS' let's all shout about it camp because her posts are so down to earth and the photography, often helped by her boyfriend, is beautiful. This post made me giggle because bloggers are the best enablers, from fashion to holidays and Lauren just adds to the affirmation that we need to all go on hols or summin? Like 2016 has been a bit of a shit storm shall we all just up and go to the palm trees? K. I have been to both Penzance and Yorkshire which make it to the list and I can confirm they're as gorgeous as bloggers make us think they are so yep, bookmark this post and add it to your travel bucket list.
4 Places Bloggers made me want to visit next year - Lauren Rellis.
3. Why I kept my maiden name.
Little side note, the photos in this post make me want to weep as any wedding does, they're bloody beautiful. Another girl I absolutely love, let's all praise the gods of Blogtober that Beth took up the challenge and has been on my newsfeed each and every day. I legit love seeing her posts pop up and they've all been soooooo different and I had to go back and read them to see which was my favourite. But this one won. Beth writes alot about her husband (the one about opposites attracting is hilarious) and this post is about why she didn't take her name. I have always thought I'll be really sad to see the surname Rees go because I'm pretty sure I would change my name and I loved reading about someone who didn't let it go, and for very personal reasons. I also think there must be a lot of pressure to change your name and it must be difficult to explain why you won't, particularly to your new husbands family I would imagine. 100% give a read. And then go read all her Blogtober posts whilst you're at it.
Why I kept my maiden name - Adventure & Anxiety.
4. Why Donald Trump's Misogyny Doesn't Shock Me.
Just look at that face. Look at it. Another blog another girl I love, my pal Hailey from The Undateable Girl's Diary (she sent me a surprise birthday present from Germany, I love her). I picked this post as one of my favourites because it's all kinds of topical with the US election coming up in just over a week because by some insanity that can only be described as 'it's 2016', this man might actually win. If you've been living under a rock for the last however months, give him a quick Google and you'll see some lovely comments about women and people of different culture and generally, he's an awful human being. But Hailey wrote this and I read it all HELLL YASSS because ya know what? There ARE a lot of men that think like this, and sadly Donald Trump just has a platform to speak it to the world. I absolutely condemn the idea that some of the things he says are 'locker room banter' because all men definitely DON'T all think and speak like that but some do and some of his opinions just aren't that shocking to women who've heard it all before. Such a good read.
Why Donald Trump's misogyny doesn't shock me - Hailey Jade Ryan.
5. The Basics: Google Analytics.
Let's just pause a moment to revel in the beauty of this photo shall we? We done? K. As a blogger, I have never been ashamed to say I DO care about my stats and I take an interest in reviewing them and seeing how I can improve on them. And what do I do to track this? Google Analytics, the babe that is. I *think* it's generally considered as the most accurate stat tracker but it can take a bit of time to get used to. There's a LOT of information to be gained from GA but there's also a lot of graphs and all manner of buttons and I think most of us had to google how to get it to work for us. I have been using GA for a while now so I like to think I know how to utilise it to the best of my ability for what I want but I SO wish I'd had a post like this to read when I started out. Charlotte basically explains what all the different terms mean which is a lifesaver when you don't have the foggiest what your bounce rate is vs acquisition. Definitely bookmark it, save it, pin it....do something with it so it's saved and you can refer back to it when you need to.
The Basics: Google Analytics - Charlotte Sophia Roberts.
6. How to survive a zombie apocalypse.
FYI the gun isn't real, like nobody report her, Sarah also received the same Talking Tables Halloween surprise box as me and didn't it arrive in perfect time for this post? I retweeted this when it went live because I plan to go straight to Sarah's when the zombie apocalypse inevitably makes it's way here because by the sounds of this post, she's obvs got it sorted. Sadly she lives about 3 hours down the M4 from me so here's hoping the zombies haven't quite made it to the motorway and all will be dandy. She has a 7 step plan on how to survive and not one of those steps includes going to the pub a la Sean of the dead but ya know, we can work on that one. Not your normal lifestyle blog post, this one is definitely worth a read this Halloween.
How to survive a zombie apocalypse - It's Sarah Ann.
7. Meeting Bloggers.
I should point out here I wish I could include a blog post written by EVERY member of the #BloggerPitP organising team but I feel like my readers might get wise to this..... So I chose this post by Mel not only because I love her and her blog and this post but because I feel like it's a big shout out to the whatsapp group we call Blog Baes. I don't think there is anything more nerve wracking about blogging than meeting bloggers in the flesh, you're legit meeting a group of strangers you talk to online, like it's actually what your parents and school told you NOT to do, but here you are, meeting about 40. You need to read this post because it truly sums up what making blog friends is all about and if you really want to know, we had a bit of mushy whatsapp sesh where we were all like 'GUYZ I LOVE YOU AND I'M SO GLAD WE MET AND I FEEL LIKE I'VE KNOWN YOU 4EVA'. I bloody love the bones off these girls and you should read this post by Mel then follow the links and read all of them because they're gorgeous human beings. <3 <3 <3
I deliberately left Mel's post to last because I feel like it's a really good place to end. If you read yesterday's Friday Favourites you'll know that was my last ever weekly FF and here I am to announce (love a bit of dramatics me) that this is my last 7 things post.
From November I am hosting 6 advertisers a month on my blog and I feel like it's a bit unfair to those paying for me to shout about how much I love them, to then have 7 bloggers I do it for free. Instead I am going to make a conscious decision and effort to tweet and retweet all the posts I love and save on Bloglovin because it's something I think is an important bit of Twitter and something I definitely don't do enough. So here we go, another end to a series, another change (hopefully for the better) in making my blog a bit more of what I want.