It's September!

I don't know about you but I am excited about that!

1. It's my birthday month!
2. August Break is over... *
3. I've been busy planning exciting things over August and now its time to impliment them!

* I enjoyed August Break - but I'm a talker and boy have I missed 'talking' to you guys!

Sponsor Changes!

Some of you may have realised that the sidebar on the right is now titled 'Etsy love'... unfortuntely sponsoring did not take off for me. However I didn't start sponsors for the money... I started it to help advertise etsy shops - so I have taken it upon myself to add some of my favourite shops onto my sidebar free of charge (don't they look pretty) and every month I'm going to feature a favourite of mine in a post.

I am all about the etsy and blog love - so I hope you all are too!

First up is Alyssa's new shop It's Olive!

Some of you may know Alyssa from her blog 'Just putting it out there' or her amazing project 'Project You' (which incidently is having a rather Spectacular September with an amazing giveaway - you should check it out!)

You may not have known that Alyssa is one creative lady and her shop is a collection of her hard work over the past few months. I love her work (I'm particularly fond of bows) and I really think that you will too!

{click on each photo for the listing on etsy and to discover their fun names!}

I hope you enjoy this monthly feature as much as I do and please check out the shops in the sidebar - they are my favourites!

p.s. Do you have an etsy shop? If so, why not send me an email with your link AND a paragraph introducing yourself with an explanation of why I (and my readers) will love your shop... I might even decide to feature you if you're lucky!

It's nearly August...

Which means it's nearly time for The August Break...

I missed a blog post yesterday - it shouldn't be a big deal but I am completely gutted with myself - I only had two days left for full posts this month and my life overwhelmed me - I'm busy at work, I'm busy planning our move (we found a house, it has a garden but I'm saving pictures for August!) I'm busy balancing my life around our families (which shouldn't really be so much hard work should it?) and my blog suffered.

I know its only one post I missed and I shouldn't be upset but now that amazing post (which is currently still amazing but only in my head) will have to wait until I have the time to do it which will probably be September... and I don't have the time to put together a great post today... The last thing I want to suffer is my blog - its my baby, my safe haven, my access to other blogs and amazing friends... My blog is one of the main things I want to thrive and grow and although I know I will be posting photos - taking this teeny step back right now feels like a leap away.

I know I need it - the fact I'm completely overwhelmed by everything and almost crying over a couple of missing posts (and the fact I can't decide on what to have for lunch...) means I need to break from one of the aspects of my life but now its come to it - I don't want to... I need to, I'm ready to, but I just don't want to...

I guess I'm posting this as a reminder to myself that my blog will still be there - you guys will still be there - I'm not leaving, just prioritising right now... and although prioritising sucks, I do aim to catch up on all your comments (you all leave the best comments!) and catch up on my reader (which is pretty shocking right now...)

So... happy weekend and happy August, I'll see you on Sunday with my first photo!!

Finally...

A post on blogging that I totally agree with... written by the lovely Christina at Down and Out Chic.

It's funny really as alot of people have been writing posts about blogging and some I have agreed with to a point and alot I have just been left feeling frustrated with... I haven't written anything before as I have been trying really hard to ignore the negativity but I have to be honest with you now...

I love blogging, I love my blog - I work incredibly hard on it - and I love the people who read my blog! I love the comments, I love the interaction, I love that I have made friends all around the world... and some close to home. I love that I made something from nothing and that I have found out more out about myself through blogging than I ever imagined I would.

Christina's post focused on being kind, working hard and measuring your success through your own happiness and right now its nice to love my blog without worrying that someone maybe be judging it negatively... or even feeling guilty about it's increased readership.
(I'm honestly still stunned you've all stuck around...)

Blogging is what you make it - there is always going to be negativity but personally I choose to ignore it - there is more positivity within me, my blog, my readers and the blogging world to concentrate on - so lets celebrate that instead!

It really is nice to be nice.

p.s. I hope this makes sense - I don't normally go for opinionated wordy posts.

Any questions..?

Last week, Mollyhill asked if I had any advice for new bloggers and Ruth said she would be interested in hearing how I built up my audience in one year.

So... I was wondering if anyone else had any questions about blogging (be it anything from giveaways to less pixely images) or if people would be interested in me writing a post with little bits of advice from my blogging experience so far?

I feel a little bit silly asking as I always forget that I have a bigger blog now - I still see myself as a fumbling blogger with perhaps 20 followers struggling to think of posts everyday - I obviously don't have all the blogging answers and I am sure some people's opinions would differ to mine but I would love to help people out if they need it...

So if you have a question then pop it into the comments on this post and I will put together an answers post next week.