Mixed bag much? :)
To be honest, I didn't think I'd be penning a post towards the end of this very busy week, but I have a plethora of thoughts swirling around in my head like snowflakes lately (which – as a side note - have been rather MIA around these parts this Christmas) and wanted to get them down on virtual paper before the the year wrapped up.
For starters, I hope with all my heart that you each had a truly stellar, joyful start of your holiday season, including Christmas, if you observe it. Ours was thoroughly lovely and is by no means over. My family loves to keep the festivities going strong everyday until early January, still there's still lots of holiday meals, attire, music, get-togethers, and other delightful elements of the season to enjoy for a few days more.
As well, neither Tony or I have had our respective Vintage Secret Santa gifts arrive yet, so we have that to look forward to and as a means to keep the merriment of the season going strong a while longer, too. So many of you already have, and are continuing to, receive(d) your immensely lovely VSS gifts and I've truly adored seeing all the photos and blog posts you've been sharing about them lately. Thank you so much for doing so! (I'll be posting a big wrap up about this exciting VSS experience towards the end of January, once even more folks have received their presents.)
At the beginning of this month, I did something I've never done before and asked you to vote for me in the Unique Topic category of The Blogger's Lounge's 2014 Blogger of the Year Awards. Many of my awesome blog readers, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers did just that, and thanks to your awesome support, I'm delighted to say that while I didn't win in that category, I did come in second place (also known as “Highly Commended”). ‘
Chronically Vintage took the silver medal, so to speak, behind a thoroughly charming blog called Traveling Cats, which as the name implies is all about cats that the author (and I believe others as well) encounters on her (and their) travels around the world. Let's face it, on the internet, it's pretty darn hard to win out over cats and I'm not upset in the slightest that CV didn't take top place with such stiff – and adorable – competition. :D It was a massive honour to be nominated and very touching to receive so many votes from all of you. Thank you again everyone who gave my blog a fighting chance in this fun online award.
Throughout the course of my blog's life, I've often looked at the number of posts that I had prewritten in terms of a feast or famine sort of situation. It seemed I either had the bulk of my entries for a month or two ready to go, or was feverishly penning in the (last) moment.
From nearly the get-go I've utilized a blogging schedule and plan to always do so, but in the midst of this exceedingly busy year, where a substantial amount of my focus has been on my Etsy shop - as I know it will continue to be in 2015 and likely beyond, I began to find that - much like this very post itself - I was writing a lot more in either in the moment or at least "in the week" (that is to say, for example, penning a post on Monday that would go live on the Thursday of that same week).
{Life changes and so too can the the approach to blog writing that one takes. Never be afraid to mix things up, try to methods, use a schedule and/or list of ideas, and keep things fluid. One of the biggest keys to blogging success is to continually adapt and keep bettering your approach to this 21st century digital craft. Image source.}
As this is how many bloggers across the world operate, I'm certainly not hitting upon something novel, unique or perhaps even all that noteworthy here in the slightest, and yet for someone like me who generally feels a great degree of serenity and far less stress that more I have planned out and ready to go in advance, reverting in part to this way of operating could have been a potential midfield of anxiety and problems, and yet...
For the most part, it hasn't been at all. I still have try to write some of my posts in advance and very much continue to operate on a schedule of topics (something that I will likely never stop doing), but for most of 2014, I wrote considerably more in the moment/week/two weeks in advance enjoyed it a great deal. I found it let me talk about recent happenings all the more and to also quickly alter my blogging plans, if needed, to accommodate news, updates, on the fly reviews, and sometimes even to ditch ideas for posts that had seemed good when I conceived them, but which weren't really relevant any more when it came time to actually pen them.
As we head into 2015 in a matter of days, I plan to keep adhering to my blogging schedule, but to write a lot of my posts nearer to when they actually appear here. Much to the contrary of how I might have thought this would make me feel, I find it almost liberating and for the most part, enjoy it a lot. It works well for my current work schedule, lifestyle, and demands on my time, so it's a win-win all around at present. In the future I may revert to pre-writing and scheduling larger volumes of posts or I may write them all "in the moment", but again, for now, this is working so I'm more than content to stick with it.
Wayyyy back in 2012 (I know, that really isn't that long ago, but still :D), Tony gave me my first ever iPhone for Christmas, which I'm still using and am happy to say is holding up wonderfully. I'd wanted, no word of a lie, an iPhone for two primary reasons, both of which go hand-in-hand. Its great camera phone technology and the ability to join Instagram, which I did as soon I got my phone, posting my first ever Instagram photo on Boxing Day 2014 - which means that yesterday was my second anniversary of being on Instagram.
{A selection of some of my favourite Instagram snaps from 2014, brimming - as my photos tend to - with vintage, majestic landscapes, cute critters, and assorted images from our travels around Western Canada.}
Though I haven't had much time or been in good enough health to Instagram (in the case of the latter, to go out and take snaps of things to share there) very often in the past couple of months, I do hope to be more active on that fabulous site again in the new year.
Knowing my life and health as a I do, I won't make any grand plans like trying to post a new photo every day, but I will be aiming to share snaps more frequently and to expand further on the array of things that I cover there. I truly love Instragram (it is topped only by Pinterest as my favourite social media site ever) and adore connecting with so many of you there, my dear friends!
In the past two years, I've shared around 485 images and amassed over 2,500 followers, many of whom I follow back, as I so adore seeing (and liking!) the awesome, inspiring, cute, informative, clever, beautiful, and otherwise flat out cool things that you all share there, too. If we're not following one another, please feel free to leave your Instagram account in the comments before so that we can start doing so pronto!
There is just five short days left in this year and I hope that each one is even more enjoyable and fun filled than the last for each of you. Happiest ongoing holiday season wishes, everyone – and thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for another marvelous year spent together online!
