Friday Favourites 2nd September 2016.
Friday Favourites 2nd September 2016.
Ahh soz and chips for the lateness of this post! I had scheduled it yesterday but it was only the photos and it was drafted half unfinished and I was like k this is cool I'll just finish writing it on Friday but then I got up and went for a run and thought I had bags of time and then we had some family down and well.....now it's 9pm and they're only just up. Life.
Also have been appalling at scheduling tweets lately, life is just running away with me so if you thought I didn't post the past few days I did and you can read them even if I didn't promo them on Twitter!
1. Beach For Days.
Last Friday evening me, Joss, his sister, his parents and the 4 dogs hopped in two cars and nipped down to a local beach for a walk and to take photos and it was GLORIOUS. It was evening time, probably about 6pm and we stayed for 2 hours and I wore a gilet and a 3/4 length top and was tip top toasty the whole time - it's like our Indian Summer has arrived. We went for a long old yomp down the beach and back again and the dogs played in the sea and chased seagulls and we had a really pleasant evening. Me and Joss don't actually get that much time to spend with his family anymore because of his work schedule so it was nice to catch up and do something together and I drove the humans (lol) in one car and Joss' parents drove the dogs in theirs so it was nice to finally give the family a lift somewhere after years of them ferrying me about! And if that wasn't enough on the way home my car went and got chips in our local town and it was legit the best end to a beach day.
1. Bank Holiday.
Yeah alright this photo was also from the beach but isn't my little baby of a car cute in the sunlight with that view? Best parking spot in the Vale. So yeah the Bank Holiday was sweet - there's just something about that 3 day weekend life that needs to happen more often in the year. I spent mine working and with family who we had staying from Manchester which was niiiiice. We didn't do anything particularly exciting, we went for a Frankie & Benny's, drank a lot of tea. ate a lot of sandwiches and just chilled and caught up and my niece came over too. Oh and they brought their 4 month old puppy along with them which was alllll the cuteness.
The beast.
3. Instagram Theme.
Ha remember when I wrote a blog post all about how I wouldn't have a theme on Instagram and then this past week I caved and made one? Lol funny story. No but really, it isn't a theme as such but it is an editing theme. 2 weeks ago in the #IGchat we were talking about that pesky algorithm that's ruining all our lives and there was a lot of discussion on how having a theme, utilising hashtags and having a posting schedule was the way forward to beat the feed. Now there's nothing unusual to this, there's nothing new I learned and nothing I hadn't heard before but this time people were giving stats, giving figures on what a difference it had made and I sat up and took notice. So I decided instead of posting what I wanted when I wanted with a few decent hashtags, I'd take it seriously and trial a proper posting schedule. So for the past 10 days or so I've upped my game. I reinstalled VSCO and UNUM and I started editing my photos in the same way. I still post what I want, I don't tailor my content but I copy and paste the VSCO edits so everything just fits and then I rearrange my grid in UNUM to make it the most pleasing grid I can. I started posting early morning (between 7am-9.30am) sometimes at lunchtime (infrequent), at home time (between 5pm-7pm) and late at night (anywhere after 10pm), it's flexible, it's interchangeable but it's a posting schedule and it's regular. And then I scoured Insta for some good hashtags and created several blocks of 30 for 'pretty things', 'blogging', 'illustration', 'travelling' and 'bullet journal' because they're the main themes I post on and I really put an effort into choosing the best ones.
And I am converted. It has made SUCH a difference to my engagement, to the aesthetic of my grid and to my following and I feel a little bit foolish I didn't listen to anyone sooner. Safe to say I'm going to stick to my very loose schedule and theme for the foreseeable future.
4. Greenhouse Of Dreams.
Last Wednesday yet again we took my niece to Dyffryn Gardens, our local National Trust property. I couldn't even tell you how often we go there but we're members so it's free for all of us, easy parking, space for a picnic and loads of space for her to run about safely and without getting hurt. It's ideal. However this week we particularly wanted to find the pigs so she could see them (she wasn't arsed and said goodbye to them within about 30 seconds which was appaz our cue to leave) and we stumbled upon this gem on our quest. In the walled garden of the property there's sculptures and water fountains and veggie plots and then there's this mother trucker of a greenhouse which is FULL of cacti. It's a bloggers dream I swear down.
5. Biebs.
Yesterday whilst driving home I stuck the radio on as I do every morning for Grimmy only to be met with a cute little surprise. I completely forgot it was September 1st and thus the start of Radio 1's Live Lounge which was being kicked off by the Biebs himself in his home in LA and it was GOOD. Like he's come out and apologised for such an awkward performance because he was nervous and yeah the chat wasn't great and the banter wasn't there but the songs themselves I loved. His cover of Tupac was -insert raised hands emoji here- and Love Yourself was gorgeous - like boy can actually sing not just create a banger. Now I just have to go find Usher on iPlayer cos I missed it this morning.....
Another week, another month down....see you on the flip side!