The Start of Something Grand

Today was my final post as the Blogger of the Month at Arkansas Women Bloggers.

Hop on over to the site to check out why I'm going to have a GRAND year in 2014!

I'll leave you with this little hint...

Photo Credit: Grand Canyon National Park Service

What's new this January?

I feel bad that a few weeks have passed by this month and I haven't shared some exciting news with you all.  I have the great honor of serving this month as the Blogger of the Month for the Arkansas Women Bloggers.  I have belonged to this group for several years and really enjoyed getting to know other local bloggers through the organization.

Arkansas Women Bloggers is one of several state blogging groups founded by The Park Wife.  Some of the other states represented are:

Oklahoma
Texas
Kansas
Missouri
Alabama
Mississippi
Arkansas

The motto for all of the state blog groups is Gather, Grow, Connect.  One of the big ways that the Arkansas group has accomplished this is through the annual conference.  Some of last year's conference highlights for me were the sessions on building your brand, incorporating travel into your blog, and some foodie options like learning about a pressure cooker!

Here are some links to my guest posts for this month.  I hope you enjoy and if you live in one of the states mentioned please consider joining.

The Starting Line - my approach to New Year's resolutions...it's all about race planning!
Birthday Beginnings - the impact of turning 35 on my personal style!

Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged Conference

Three years ago I discovered a new tribe of women called the Arkansas Women Bloggers.  My friend Lyndi of NWAFoodie introduced me to the group and brought me into the folds of other bloggers in our state.  At first I didn't always feel connected since many of the bloggers wrote about being a mommy as opposed to my blog genre around fitness and running.  But I stuck with it and kept looking for connections with other bloggers in real life compared to just the virtual connections we normally find with other bloggers.  After getting to know some of the ladies better I was able to see that blog genre doesn't matter, friends can come across many different topics! 

Fast forward to this weekend and our annual gathering at the Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged conference.  After that first year, the conference name has been a misnomer since it hasn't actually been unplugged! Sometimes the wireless service was spotty but for the most part we were able to be connected the whole weekend...and tweeting during sessions was highly encouraged too! Got to show some sponsor love! (I even won a prize for tweeting during one session!) 

Chef Donnie Ferneau sharing his secrets for cooking success! Hint...it involves a 500 degree oven! 

This year there were 100 bloggers at the conference and a few guys were let in as speakers, sponsors, and conference friends! There were so many sessions to choose from that it was hard at times to decide which to attend.  Mixed in between the sessions were some great keynote speakers from P. Allen Smith and Sophie Hudson aka BooMama.  There were also fun activities like the New Balance of Arkansas 5K run...which I'll recap in another post.  

P. Allen Smith talking Arkansas, farming, and supporting Locally Grown / Made initiatives.

One of the messages that many of the speakers echoed was the trouble with comparison.  Comparing yourself to others doesn't serve you any purpose. (It's okay to know your blog statistics but only for a purpose...don't spend your time stressing over page views or comments!) The message was that only you can determine what is your measure of success and that is true in blogging just as in life.  The other thing that you have to remember is that blogging is the outside you that you choose to share with the world and it isn't fair for you to compare your inside self with the outside self that someone else has chosen to share.  It's highly likely that there is more beneath the surface that you can't see that would change your comparison.   

Sophie Hudson, aka BooMama, delivered one of the keynote addresses.  She based part of her speech on the lyrics of the Bruno Mars song Treasure.  
Give me your, give me your, give me your attention baby
I got to tell you a little something about yourselfYou're wonderful, flawless, ooh you're a sexy ladyBut you walk around here like you wanna be someone else



It's true...we all sometimes get caught up in comparing ourselves to someone else and forgetting what a treasure we are as the one and only unique you that we all are. There is only one you and there is a reason for that which translates back to your blog and that only you can determine your goal for your blog.

Blog branding - determining your blog brand attributes and brand promise to deliver to your readers.

Another thought that I took away from the conference was the notion that we have been blessed for one purpose...to bless other people.  So true...and such a simple yet powerful statement.  It was great to spend time learning and being inspired by the other members of the Arkansas Women Bloggers.  If you have the chance I highly encourage you to meet up with other bloggers in real life whether at a meet up or a blog conference.  I look forward to sharing more of my learning from the conference over the coming months and possibly even introducing you to some of the other ladies from Arkansas Women Bloggers! 

It's time for camp!

Today is my Friday at work and I'm so excited since I'll be taking time off tomorrow to head off to camp.  It's time for the annual Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged blog conference!  The conference is in its 3rd year and it really is more comparable to camp than any of the large big name blog conferences.

This year about 100 bloggers from across the state will be meeting up at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center for a weekend of fun and blog learning.  The site offers either hotel style lodging or bunk style cabins but really the agenda is so full of fun that we'll probably only be in our rooms for a minimum amount of time.

This is my 3rd year to head off to #AWBU for camp.  The first year was at the Ozark Natural Science Center about 45 minutes from home.  Last year we headed to the Ozark Folk Center State Park which is a unique gem within our state located in Mountain View.  The organizers of #AWBU always pick a beautiful spot to gather and I'm sure this year will be the same.

The conference begins on Friday evening with a visit from P. Allen Smith. This reception will feature foods prepared by the Foodie Friday participants.  Foodie Friday is an optional add-on to the weekend that is a 1/2 day program of topics for those who write about food.  Every so often I share food on my blog and I think that is something that I could do more of so I have signed up to do the Foodie Friday program.  I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate foods and recipes into my blog more but it definitely interests me since it is so important to fuel your active lifestyle with good foods!

On Saturday, the conference kicks off with a full range of topics.  There are multiple sessions throughout the day and each time slot offers 3 different topics for you to choose from.  Some of the topics I'm really excited for are "Blogger to WordPress - Logan Lovelace"  and "Smart Phone Photography- Julie Kohl" and "SEO – What Does All That Data Mean?."  Last year at #AWBU was the first time I heard much about SEO and honestly I haven't done much to improve my blog's searchability since then so I'm looking forward to learning more during Jackie's talk.  I began my blog using the free service with Blogger and have wondered over the last year if I should make the move to WordPress but it terrifies me.  Logan's session is going to be a hands on demo taking one of the attendee's blog through the conversion.   Sprinkled throughout the sessions will be opportunities to network with other bloggers and also learn about some fabulous companies based out of Arkansas.  

Just hanging out with Smokey the Bear during a long run at #AWBU in 2012! 

Sunday morning there will be a 5K run sponsored by New Balance.  I'm looking to it because it can be very hard to get my workouts in during #AWBU.  Last year I went on a 6.5 miler during #AWBU and had fun goofing off on a short run the next day.  I also showcased some of the photography tips that I picked up at the conference in that post.  I think I'll have to get up again at o'dark hundred on Saturday to fit in a long run since this year #AWBU falls just 2 weeks prior to my half ironman.  I can't abandon all my fitness for the weekend...this is when you really have to plan out your workouts.  (I'll do my bike workout on Sunday night when I get home from the conference but will have to fit in my long run there.)  After the run, we'll have two more sessions with more great topics for both the technical side of blogging and the motivation/inspiration side of writing.  

Attending this conference is fun for me but also stressful since I'm an introvert in large social settings. Meeting new people is always intimidating to me so I'm glad that I know several attendees from the past two years.  I also discovered that my neighbor is going! I didn't even know that she had a blog and it's full of cute ideas.  I'll be sure to share some of the tips and things that I learn in upcoming posts but first I'm going to go knock this day out and be super productive at work so that I can relax and enjoy my vacation day at camp tomorrow! 

P.S. If you live in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Mississippi, or Alabama you should check out the Women Bloggers groups for your states.  I have enjoyed the mix of bloggers within our group since I primarily read sports/fitness blogs it is nice to network outside of that genre and learn about technical aspects as well.  These blog groups were founded by Stephanie The Park Wife and she is an amazing individual with a great idea to help women bloggers gather, connect, and grow with other bloggers in their state.  

Bloggy Spring Cleaning

The gals at Arkansas Women Bloggers are hosting a Bloggy Spring Cleaning this March.  As I was reading through some of the first round of tips, I got inspired to work on my blog header.  My header has been out of date for quite some time.  One of the previous pictures included the logo of a former employer and just needed to be a better reflection of me as I am now. 

I took a few minutes to review my pictures and select some that could be good candidates for the header.  Then I headed over to PicMonkey to build a collage.  I utilized the FB Header design options in order to get a collage that was a horizontal rectangle.  I added the pictures into my design choice and played around until I got the layout that I liked. 

Next I added a swatch to the layout of the collage so that I would have someplace to put the words on my header.  I also moved onto the Background tab and made changes to the background color, spacing between elements, and added rounded corners.  That completed my collage so I saved a copy of the picture using one of the best picture quality options. 

Step two was to add the text to the photo.  For this, I chose the edit a photo option and selected the Text tab to add text to the photo.  I ended up using multiple text boxes so that I could play with different fonts and colors within my header text.  There are lots of other editing features that you can play with but all I needed to do was add text for this particular project. 

Here's the comparison of my old header with the new one beneath it.  I updated the color scheme of my background to better match the header.  My next update will be choosing a background that isn't quite as busy.  I've always loved Argyle but I want something a little more understated now. 

What do you think?  I'll gladly take any tips or tricks that you have for keeping your blog site design fresh and fun.  It's hard to believe that I've been blogging for three years already!

If you want more detailed instructions on developing a custom blog header, visit DetroitRunner for this great tutorial.

Thanks Blogging - Day 4

One of the things that I love about the Arkansas Women Bloggers group is that they help promote ways to improve your blog through content, marketing, and other technical design aspects.  During the current blog challenge, not only are they providing me with topics to write about but they are also encouraging me to develop my blog through better photos and use of social media sites to promote my content.  This brings me to today's topic for the Thanks Blogging challenge which is all about promoting your blog's Facebook fan page and highlighting at least two fellow bloggers fan pages. 

Before the Unplugged conference this year I hadn't given any thought to developing a Facebook fan page.  I was very surprised that leaving the conference my main takeaway was the need to promote my blog via Facebook fan pages.  I followed some tips from the other ladies and developed my page and then began working to build my fan base.  One of the things that I like about the Facebook page is that it helps me reach readers who are not bloggers.  I'm definitely still working on my Facebook strategy and one way that I am learning is by watching how the other ladies utilize it to promote their blogs. 

Here is a link up to my Facebook fan page.  Won't you consider joining it!

Some of the ladies who I am learning from include:

Lela Davidson, author of Who Peed on My Yoga Mat? and Blacklisted from the PTA


Lela has utilized Facebook to promote her books and her writing in various magazines across the country.  I love that she shares fun sound bites from her writing for her status updates.  What a clever way to lure readers into the story. 

Another great blogger on Facebook is Evolved Mommy...Stephanie McCratic.  She does a really great job separating her personal and blog identity.  I follow her blog page and am also one of her friends and I really like that she is able to distinguish between both identities and post unique content under both feeds. 

Another feature that Stephanie has done that I want to try out is polling her followers via her Facebook page.  She usually does this when new tech gadgets are coming out and she asks what do people want to know about it!

And the final Facebook page that I want to share with you is from Ceri for her blog called Recipe Doodle.  Ceri does a fantastic job of drawing you into her content with photos of her food creations.  The photos are always beautifully staged and draw you in with interesting recipe titles. 

I hope you have a chance to visit these ladies and their Facebook fan pages for their blogs.  If you have any tips or tricks you would like to share with me for my fan page please do so on my page wall or via the comments section below.  Thanks!

Thanks Bloggin - Day 3

Today the Arkansas Women Bloggers Thanks Blogging challenge is all about sharing the things that I am thankful for this year.  It's hard to narrow that down to just one of two things. 

You see, for the past year I have walked past this sign each and every day as I go in and out of my house. (Believe me...it's real and I really wish my hand writing on the plate was way cuter but it isn't!)

This plate provides me with the visual cue to Give Thanks for all that my life contains.  It's not any one thing but rather all the unique aspects that make my life so much fun.

I give thanks for all the beautiful sunrises that I never knew I was missing out on. How lucky am I to see this everyday!  

I give thanks that I am able to find more laughter and joy than pain and tears in my life.  I give thanks for my health and having a strong body that allows me to be an everyday athlete.  I give thanks that I have a job that affords me the comforts of food and shelter and provides me with plenty of challenge and inspiration.  Most of all though, I'm thankful that I have wonderful family and friends who are beside me through the good and bad.

I hope you remember to give thanks for all the joys that life has brought to you.  Happy early Thanksgiving!