Happy Birthday To Me!

I'm taking a day off from my usual shop feature today to take a moment and breathe since it was my birthday last week!  It was a fun birthday and I took a study break, plus I didn't want to spend time on the computer writing today's post.  :)

Next week will be back to a normal post.  Until then I'll be enjoying some leftover birthday cake.  Yay!

Have a lovely Saturday!

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Blogging 101: How to Write a Better "About Me" Page

*Update*  Check out the latest Blogging 101 posts here:

• Blogging 101: Intro
• Why I am a Shy Blogger
• Tips for Starting Your Blog

• How to Write a Better "About Me" Page (this post!)
• Getting Started with Social Media in 8 Simple Steps

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Writing an "About Me" page is extremely daunting to most folks.  Blogging is writing all about your passion, your likes, your dislikes, your life, your family, and everything else, but when it comes down to giving readers a snapshot of just you, it is super tough to know where to start.  Add to that the pressure that it is consistently one of a blog's highest viewed pages, and it can go untouched for months.  (No judgement from me, because that's what I did.  Eek!)


I suggest to new bloggers that you write your "About Me" page before even hitting Publish on your first post.  I mean, if a stranger burst through your door announcing, "It's me!  I have so much to tell you about my day, an awesome recipe I made, and some of my travel tips!", you would probably call the cops.  If that same person introduced themselves as your neighbor who moved from California and tells you about their family and a few other tidbits, you might strike up a friendship.  The more info you share about yourself, the more likely someone is to connect with you and want to hang around with you!


That's what the "About Me" page is, in blogging terms.  Someone stumbles on to your blog through a specific post, and to find out more about you, they click on your page.  If they like what you have to say, they decide to start up a "virtual" friendship by subscribing, and you just gained a new follower and friend!

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For this Blogging 101 post, I include a few sections that every page would benefit from having.  Then, I go into a few general tips for writing your page.  If you take a peek at my "About Me" page, I write a lot.  I am wordy, and I own that, but if you want to shorten it up because you are a person of few words, that's perfectly fine!  Feel free to switch up the order so your story flows better, or omit sections that don't apply to you.

Are you ready?  Here are a few tips to putting together an even better "About Me" page for every blogger, not just newbies!

Sections to include

Intro

This is the speed-dating version of how you would present to someone in 10 seconds.  In a few sentences welcome your reader, say thank you, and introduce yourself.  Easy!

All About you

This is the hard part, right?  Wrong!  You know all the answers, so here are a few pieces of information that you might want to include:

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Why I am a Shy Blogger...

I promise that every Thursday from now on, I will have a useful tip for my Blogging 101 series.  Before we get into it, I have a confession to make.  So please excuse the interruption before we start off, because I have something that I have been meaning to explain to you all for a long time.

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Some of you have been loyal readers of mine since the beginning, others are newer friends, and some of you might be reading this post as the very first time on my blog.  Here are a few numbers that may (or may not) interest you:

I have been blogging for 491 days, published 561 blog posts on Vintage Zest & The Episodic Eater, and shared a whole slew of photos and more on my Instagram, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook accounts.

And how many of those posts and social media shares have included a picture of my face?

A big, fat ZERO.

Why?  Because I am a shy blogger.

I get asked a lot why I don't have a picture up on my website, and I figured that I should explain it with a bit of thought behind my answer.  If you are wondering why I am addressing it now, here is the reason.  As both Vintage Zest and The Episodic Eater grow, I have been attending more events.  As I meet more bloggers, shop owners, and PR peeps, I have to explain that I would rather not be photographed.  Sometimes I feel bad about it because to fully explain why,  I would have to give the whole explanation below.  Not time efficient when someone wants to snap a quick Instagram pic!

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What is Your Fitness Age? & My Health Story

I love quizzes!  Not those pop quizzes in history class, but those fun questionnaires where you add up your answers to find out about yourself.  I take them all the time, just because.  FYI, now I know that the Disney princess I am most like is Princess Aurora, I should live in Cape Town, and my superhero-self is Spiderman.  :)

But going back to the story, I resolved to be healthier in 2014 and not just with my food choices.  Since I'm a quiz lover, I just re-took the Fitness Calculator test that took the internet by storm a few months ago.  Being the sharer that I am, I thought that you would all want to see how you stack up!

And after the results of my fitness age, you can read up on the (probably definitely too-long) story on all of the ups and downs of my journey to health, and what I am doing new for 2014.

My Fitness Age!

To calculate your fitness age, here are just a few short questions, that you have to answer.  You will need to know your current weight and waistline measurement, so grab those measurements first.

I plugged it all in, and this was my fitness age!  

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My Advertisement Policy (and why I won't accept that pest control offer)

So, this is a post that I am really happy to write (and is long past due) but may not be particularly interesting for you to read.  :)  Then again, if you are interested in some of the behind-the-scenes of blogging or are a newbie blogger yourself, maybe this will give you a bit of insight to my experience so far with advertising and why my readers will always come first!

Lately, you might have noticed a bunch of sponsored posts.  While some of them are completely awesome recipes that you may have enjoyed or deals that you would totally appreciate knowing about, they are still sponsored.  What does that mean?  Here's the gist:

The first form of advertising I ever tried out was Adsense ads on my sidebar and header.  I did not feel like they were too overwhelming and I can always remove content that is offensive or out of the scope of my blog.  Also, the tiny bit of money I began to receive was just enough for me to buy the new domain name after a couple months!  Yes it took a couple of months because I really did mean tiny bit.  :)

The next thing I did was to offer advertising on my sidebar, which so far only a couple of Etsy shops and sewing companies have done.  I figured that it was a couple extra bucks that would cover fabric costs for my challenges!  Not lucrative at all, but that's fine by me.  :)

This skirt was brought to you by a sidebar ad.  Thanks!

Then, I noticed that other bloggers I followed had sponsored posts from lots of different companies.  I looked into it a bit, but since I am not a full-time blogger with huge traffic I did not qualify for many of the memberships or campaigns.

However, I was accepted to Social Fabric and with the holidays around the corner, there were many more opportunities.  So basically, that's why there have been weeks with multiple sponsored posts.  I would apply for a handful of campaigns, not knowing which would be accepted.  And holy smokes, all of a sudden I had a bunch of opportunities with overlapping dates.  Eek!  So yes, there have been a handful of sponsored ads on my blog lately.  They are always clearly marked, so you know which ones they are.

Yummy cookies for a campaign!

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I ❤ Fall! TAG

I'm it!

So, I was tagged over a month ago by Micaylah in her I ❤ Fall! TAG post, which I am finally getting to now.  Thanks girl!  It was a crazy month of November because I had my entire Thanksgiving Menu series and immediately afterwards, I started the "25 Days of Handmade Gifts" series.

Normally, I share a recipe on Mondays, a sewing project/tutorial/tip/WIP on Tuesdays, a weekly wrap-up on Wednesdays, mix it up on Thursdays & Fridays, and end it with a synopsis on Saturdays.  Well, there are some changes brewing here, which I can't wait to announce soon!  My content will basically be the same, but this fall I was inspired to change things up before my blog hits the 1 year mark.

And now on to the Fall questions...


P.S. - I checked and the first day of winter is December 21st, so we have almost 3 weeks of fall left!  Also, it was blazing hot yesterday in Santa Ana, so it barely feels like Fall anyways!

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I ♥ Fall Questions

1.  Favorite Fall lip product?

Honestly, Smith's Rosebud Salve is my favorite year-round lip product, but it's even better in the fall for chapped lips!

2.  Favorite Fall Nail Polish?

I love a deep wine or burgundy color, then later on towards wintertime, I'm all about the gold glitter!


3.  Favorite Starbucks Fall Drink?

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Me? A girly girl?

Today, an acquaintance said that I was a "girly girl."  Now, while I don't consider that an insult, I have absolutely no idea why he would say so!

First of all, you see all of the feminine things that I do, like sew, bake, and craft.  These are my private creative outlets at home, but I am much different in my professional life and otherwise.  I suppose it's the perception that I'm girly that mystifies me, because I don't see myself that way, even if I appreciate it in others.  When I was a child, I idolized feminine, elegant ladies like Grace Kelly, Ginger Rogers, and Jane Powell.  Definitely the best of of vintage "girly-ness."  :)

Being girly nowadays doesn't necessarily mean the same thing, although I don't see myself in this category either!  I even Googled "characteristics of a girly girl" just to make sure that I wasn't jumping to conclusions.  This may be a little rant-like, but here's a few reasons why I wholeheartedly disagree with Mr. Acquaintance.

Disclaimer: Some of my best friends are girly, so please don't take offense to this list.  They didn't!

1. I don't wear excessive amounts of pink.

The one and only garment with pink that I have sewed.  See here!

2. I could not care less about the Kardashians, The "Real" Housewives of anywhere, or the royal family.

3. I am anything but ladylike to bad drivers.

4. When I go to the gym, I actually work out.  I can even do real push-ups and pull-ups.

I lift a lot of weight!

5. I never liked playing with dolls, pretended to be a princess, or planned my future wedding when I was a kid.

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New Beginnings!

My first post of the year and ever!  Very exciting stuff.  :)

Not having kept a blog before, I'm not sure what the first post really should convey.  However, I'm sure there will be many growing pains before I get the hang of it.

Having googled the phrase "what to include in a first blog post," I was inundated with all kinds of advice from format, to content, and advertisement advice.  I'm pretty sure that this blog will be read by just a few close friends, so I've nixed the idea of the "perfect blog post."

So who am I?

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