Blogs I Love

Long before I launched Bringing Up Brittany I was an avid blog reader. And it’s safe to say that it was the many blogs that I read that inspired me to start my own. Bringing Up Brittany turns 6 months old next month, so I thought it’d be great to send some blog-love to some of the blogs that have inspired me and that I can’t live without.

How Sweet It Is

Ok, so I’m not a cook by any means. I can probably count the number of times I’ve cooked a meal on my fingers, but I’m always in awe of people who can cook, like Jessica. Her blog has a bit of everything—cocktails, desserts, healthy meals, and comfort foods. All of her posts have the most beautiful food photos, and you feel like you’re sitting at your best friend’s kitchen table while reading her posts. She also has a gorgeous cookbook that you can buy now.

Paris in Four Months

Paris in Four Months was one of the first blogs I ever started reading, and I’ve been hooked from day one. Carin originally moved to Paris in 2012 for four months, I think to learn French, but has since relocated there long-term. I was always drawn to Carin’s story because of how brave a person has to be to make such a life change, but it seems to have worked out for her! She has worked as a photographer for some major clients (Christian Dior, anyone?). She’s an incredible photographer, and I can only hope to be half as good as her someday. #lifegoals

Hello October

I was a bit late to the party when it came to discovering Suzie’s blog, but better late than never, right? Suzie’s been running her blog for a few years now and features a lot of fashion and beauty with a bit of lifestyle and travel thrown into the mix. She is my liquid liner spirit animal (it is always on point)! Her blog is breathtaking as is Suzie. Check out her Youtube channel too, which she updates regularly.

Gh0stparties

Kate is a beauty and lifestyle blogger with a stunning site. What I love about Gh0stparties is that there is such a diversity of posts and yet they all stay true to Kate’s voice. I love her posts about home and interior design, something that I don’t often see done on the lifestyle blogs that I read. She is a successful full-time blogger who deserves every bit of praise for the work she puts into her blog.

Carrie Brighton

I know, I know, I’ve said that all these blogs are beautiful in one way or another, but they are! And Carrie’s site is no exception. I look forward to her “Lovely Things” posts and the brightness of her photographs. You’ll get a variety of posts from Carrie, which is right up my alley, and her social media platforms (Twitter and Instagram) are fantastic to boot.

Liebster Award!

I received a Liebster Award nomination last week and have finally gotten around to doing my part (curse you, other responsibilities!).  I was so touched to receive the nomination since I’ve only been blogging since January, and I’ve been a bit MIA the last few weeks because of work and life and all that jazz.   In case you didn't know (I didn't), the Liebster Award is a way for bloggers to show a bit of love for each other, and help others get a bit more exposure.

The rules are as follows:

1. Thank and link the person who nominated you.
2. Answer the questions given by the nominator.
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers, who have less than 200 followers on twitter and link them. (I may have cheated a little.  Some bloggers have a few more than 200 followers.)
4. Create 11 new questions for the nominees to answer.
5. Notify all nominees via social media/blogs.

So, without further ado, thank you so much to the wonderful Random Musings for the nomination!

1. If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?  I still have Avengers: Age of Ultron on the brain, so I think I’ll say telekinesis like Scarlet Witch. 
2. If you could interview anyone, alive or dead, for your blog who would it be and why?  Gah!  There are way too many interesting people in the world to choose from.  Maybe Emma Watson or Angelina Jolie?  I find both of them incredibly inspiring, and the humanitarian work they do really interests me.
3.  What are your 3 handbag (or pocket) essentials?  My iPhone, a good book, and a lipstick.
4. If your house was on fire and you could only save one thing (not including people and pets) what would it be and why?  An heirloom pendant that has been in my family for nearly 200 years.  It’s given to the eldest daughter on her eighteenth birthday, so it’s been in my possession for 7 years now.   There is a great deal of history to that piece of jewelry, and I feel as though I’m its guardian until there is another generation to pass it on to.
5. If someone offered you £1 million to be filmed 24/7 for a month (including bathing, toilet, sex, the works) and be put on YouTube would you do it?   I don't know! 
6. True love or unlimited money?  True love.  Even if I’m determinedly single I’m still a bit of a romantic.
7. If you go time travel 10 years into your future and see yourself, but be unable to change the outcome, would you do it and why?  Nope.  Then I’d have to live the next ten years knowing the good, the bad, and the ugly of what will happen to me without having any sense of control.  It seems like a miserable existence.  People aren’t meant to have that sort of knowledge.
8. At what age would you say you were happiest?  I was pretty happy at 21-22, my last year at Cornell.  I was surrounded by my incredibly brilliant group of friends, doing the stuff I loved.
9.  If you could change 1 thing about your life what would it be and why?  I would have dropped pre-med sooner.  I stuck it out for my entire freshman year at Cornell, but I already knew around that October that pre-med wasn’t for me.  That year was one of the most stressful of my life and my GPA never quite bounced back from those classes.
10. What is your all time favorite post you've written on your blog?  I think my post on being determinedly single is my favorite.  It was great to sit down and try to really articulate why I feel the way I feel.  I also got some terrific and supportive reaction to it.
11. Sweet or savory?  Sweet!

My 11 questions are:

1. Why did you start blogging?
2. What is your favorite film of all-time?
3. What do you love most about yourself?
4. If you could invite three people (alive or dead) to a dinner party, who would it be and why?
5. Are you doing any traveling this summer?  If so, where are you going?
6.  Extrovert or introvert?
7. What’s your favorite beauty product?
8. Do you speak any foreign languages?
9. What’s your biggest pet peeve?
10. What are your three favorite blogs to follow?
11. What’s your favorite quote?

Now for the nominations!  I nominate the following bloggers to answer my questions and take part in the Liebster Award: @theshelfsociety @BlameRainBeauty @themiscmusings @mycupofbeautyuk @lovefromlucky @OlColBlog @haileysworkshop @AnnieMACBlog @katsyxo @melodyyannep @stylealfresco

Getting a Handle on Your Twitter Handle

Until I started Bringing Up Brittany, the appeal of Twitter was lost on me. I had created a Twitter account a couple years ago, but I’d tweeted maybe a couple dozen times since registering. To me, there was no point of tweeting when my Facebook statuses served a similar purpose. Besides that, I just couldn’t imagine who would want to read my tweets. It’s not like I’m a celebrity, not even a blogging celebrity to be honest.

It turns out that Twitter has been essential to the promotion of my blog, and I’ve become somewhat of a Twitter junkie. A lot of the traffic to Bringing Up Brittany comes from Twitter, and I feel as though Twitter has helped me to feel like a member of the blogging community. Because of this, I thought I’d share some Twitter hacks that have helped me in the first few months of blogging. So, here goes!

Tweet daily. It took a while for me to work this into my daily routine, but being active on Twitter is the only way to gain followers (and to keep them). Initially, I was just trying to tweet 2-3 times a day, but the more active I became in the blogging community, the easier it was for me to double, triple, and even quadruple that number. Don’t be afraid to tweet about what you’ve been doing throughout the day—no tweet is too small— or to tweet blog updates. Thanks to the Twitter app and Hootsuite, it’s easy to update even when life gets hectic.  I had about 60 followers before I started working on my Twitter activity, and not even three months later, I have over 170.

Don’t just tweet blog updates. I tweet blog updates a few times a day, but followers don’t want to just see post updates if they visit your page. I generally tweet once a new post is up, then alternate between tweets with links to the newest blog post and a link to my Bloglovin account. I try to tweet these shameless promotions once in the morning, then afternoon, and then later that night.

Use hashtags and RTs. To be honest, I am still getting the hang of this facet of Twitter, but it is crucial. When I’m tweeting about my blog, I always make sure to use #lbloggers (the hashtag for lifestyle bloggers since I'm, y'know, a lifestyle blogger). I also use, to a lesser extent, the #bbloggers, #fbloggers, #foodbloggers, and #travelbloggers hashtags depending on the latest update. And for that extra boost, I often mention @FemaleBloggerRT, @RT_Bloggers, and @TheBlogGuideRT when tweeting about a blog post in hopes that it'll get retweeted.

Participate in Blog Chats. I’ve already mentioned how fantastic blogger chats are here, but I can’t stress how great they’ve been to me. I’ve met some lovely people through them and my blog traffic shoots through the roof if I’m an active participant in any one of the numerous blogger chats that take place each day of the week.  I always give my link at the end and ask for other bloggers to send me theirs.  I make the effort to visit every blog I get a link for and either leave a comment on a post or on Twitter.  Share the love, right?

Add photos. There’s some study somewhere that says that adding photos to tweets makes them more noticeable, and I can understand why from a logistical standpoint—the posts aren’t just boring text, the photos are eye-catching, and they take up a lot of visual space. So, I add a photo when I’m tweeting about my latest posts or giving a link to my Bloglovin account without fail.

Twitter has been good to me since I started Bringing Up Brittany, but it is a time commitment. Don’t start a Twitter account for your blog if you have no intention of updating it regularly. That’s bad JuJu right there. I hope that some of these tips are helpful!

Don’t forget to follow me @brittanyalana_!

So what Twitter tips are you willing to share?

5 Things I've Learned After 1 Month of Blogging

Bringing Up Brittany is one month old! Hurrah!

I was always one of those people who mocked anyone who celebrated a month-iversary but, I have to admit, I was pretty jazzed on February 12^th when I realized that my little patch of the internet turned a month old.  A lot of the blogs I read religiously have been around for years, but I couldn’t help but feel a little proud of my accomplishment.  It’s a small milestone but a milestone regardless. 

I have to say that I feel like I’ve learned a lot since this whole thing began—from when I was debating whether or not to start a blog last summer to creating the site to making sure I have content going up a few times a week.  I’m very new to this blogging thing, but I thought I’d share what I’ve learned in the last 4 weeks in case there’s anyone out there who is yes, no, and maybe so-ing creating their own blog.

1. Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. It’s so easy to get discouraged if you’re comparing your blog to those that have been around for years already.  I admit that there have been several moments when I’ve looked at my follower count on Bloglovin, Instagram, Twitter, or my page views on Blogger and heard that whiny voice in my head that kept saying “but so and so has thousands of followers!”  I’ve had to teach myself to not focus on someone else’s success but on my little victories.  The fact that I have people following my blog, reading and commenting on posts, and liking my photos on Instagram is a huge deal.  More readers will come in time if I keep creating content and stay true to myself.
2. An editorial calendar is a must. Since I work full-time and sometimes have to bring work (read: manuscripts) home with me, it’s really important that I think ahead.  I don’t have much time during the week to work on the blog since I get home at 8:00PM, so I schedule posts.  I’ve been trying to plan two weeks to month in advance for Bringing Up Brittany, and my editorial calendar has helped me to keep on top of when I need to write, shoot, or plan a post.  I like the fact that my editorial calendar is a visual aid, showing me when each post should be going live so that I’m not scrambling the night before or day of to get a post up.  I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it.
3. Blog chats are a terrific way to interact with the blogging community.   The idea of a blog chat intimidated me at the beginning, so I was a bit of a voyeur, watching as other bloggers took part.  I took the plunge eventually though and have now participated in a handful of chats.  I’ve learned quite a bit from the discussions, met some bloggers with similar interest, and have gotten a handful of followers from it.  At the end of each chat, there’s also the opportunity to share your link with others and ask people to share theirs.  It’s turned out to be a great way to get some blog traffic and I’ve unearthed some blog-gems that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
4. Blogging is a lot of work, if that wasn’t obvious. Some bloggers make their posts and photographs look so effortless, but I now have an even deeper respect for what bloggers do.  Blogging is a time commitment and a creative challenge, the latter of which I truly enjoy.  A post isn’t really something that you can just slap together in five minutes.  It takes time and energy to come up with a concept and execute it. 
5. White backgrounds and natural light are a blogger’s best friends. I guess I had never thought about it but most bloggers use white backgrounds (or very pale ones) when styling photos.  It does make the objects pop and makes editing a bit easier too.  Unfortunately for me, my house isn’t white surface friendly, so I’ve had to get a bit inventive to get that look.  I’ve been able to mimic a white background thanks to a white flat sheet draped over a table, and I’ve gotten into the habit of photographing multiple posts first thing on a Saturday morning for optimal light.  The photo quality is markedly improved if I’m shooting with morning light streaming through a window.  When days aren’t as bright as I’d like, I use my makeshift reflectors (cardboard covered in aluminum foil) and that seems to work well.

So with one month behind me and hopefully many more to go, I think I’m slowly but surely catching on.

What have you learned about the blogging process since you started your blog?