Thursday, December 24, 2020

Merry Christmas Eve! Hope you are ready to go and not too frazzled. I also hope you are taking some quiet morning time to read my blog with your coffee – ha, ha! If not, this will be here for you later. Also, today’s post may be as exciting as watching paint dry. I will totally understand if you want to click away. We can still be friends.

Last Friday I posted a short survey asking what type of blog posts you enjoy the most and what you would like to see. Thank you, thank you, thank you for responding and also thank you for alerting me that it was messed up at first! I was able to figure out what I did wrong and edited it to make it work around 6:30 a.m.

I always like to know survey results from ones that I fill out, so I thought you might, too.

I asked you to rank what type of blog posts you prefer and the choices were food posts, cocktail posts, fashion/what I wore posts, Friday favorites/product recommendations, Hello Monday/weekend recap posts, or other.

#1 – Friday Favorites and product recommendations. I love writing my Friday posts and find them fairly easy to do. I snap photos all through the week of things that bring me joy. Even if you don’t have a blog this might be a joyful thing to do. I also like sitting down to write Friday Favorites on Thursdays because I reflect on my week and I just think it’s good to be reflective about life. I love recommending things, too. If I love something I want the whole world to know and agree with me! Just kidding – you don’t have to agree with me. Some asked for more links to products and I will try to work on that. That would be helpful, I know. Also, I don’t want all of my favorites to be materialistic things; I like to also include favorites that are moments of the week or good things that happened.

#2 – Hello Monday/Weekend Recaps. This kind of surprised me because I have found myself thinking how many photos of my patio can I show these people? How many photos of my coffee cup do people want to see? I guess it is nice for me to have a digital scrapbook of my weekends, though. I feel like sometimes my weekends don’t have any big events or outings. But, you know what, that is life – especially right now. And, sometimes the joy is not in the big events, but in the ordinary days – oooooh, so deep, right?

#3 – Food Recipes. I love these on other blogs, so I was glad these came in third place. I also like some suggestions to do more about food shopping and meal planning. I have some other ideas in regards to food posts, too! One suggestion was easy dinners and that is my jam.

#4 – What I Wore Wednesday/Fashion Posts. I really enjoy fashion and putting outfits together. I love shoes and accessories. I think it can be a challenge to find your style when you are 40-50. I need to work on my photos and figure out a routine for getting a daily outfit shot. I want to focus more on what we have in our closets than on buying new stuff. I have some ideas for these. You all really liked my faux leather leggings review where I compared 3 brands. Let me know if there is another category I can review that you would be interested in.

#5 – Cocktail Recipes. These are fun but I feel like I have used up all of my recipes! I should do a post with all of them grouped together. I also don’t want to give the impression that I am a heavy drinker. I drink more in the summer than in the winter. I like to drink on patios. I probably drink one-two times a week. I am kinda weird in that I don’t like alcohol with food very much. I want a drink before dinner or a happy hour drink. A morning mimosa is a rare treat. Water is my dinner drink of choice. Anyone else like that? I guess an exception would be wine with cheese.

Other-Anything that includes Ernie (awww!), movie, book, t.v. show reviews, everyday life, home tours, renovation, home decor, everyday life.

Suggestions from you all:

More book reviews with a rating system – I love this idea! I used to record every book I read in a year and I will bring that back along with a rating system. I am thinking of a coffee cup rating system – 5 cups – you must read, 1 cup – go mate your socks instead of reading this book, etc.

Keep sharing home improvement/renovation. I will, but my plumber got Covid the week of Thanksgiving and that was our next step. He is fully recovered, thankfully, and is coming soon. This is just the way of renovating. Things get going, then stall. I like to think it’s God’s way of helping me appreciate what I have and learning patience.

Teacher posts – I can do this. I am not always sure how many this would appeal to/I like the break from school talk here in this space!

Parenting college kids – I have had this on my mind lately. I am respectful of their privacy and am careful not to talk to much about their lives. I can do more of a my perspective type of thing on this topic.

More Product Comparisons – I need ideas! I think we are talking mainly clothing items?

Tourist Attractions Nearby – I can do this. I also have ideas for activities for young kids and teens.

Day in the Life – I have not done this in a while. I have tried and forgotten to take the photos during the day!

Favorite Stores – I have thought I need to do this again soon!

If you are still here, I just want to thank you for all the additional nice things you said to me. I teared up while reading them. Never underestimate the power of saying something nice to someone – whether it be a family member, a friend, an internet stranger – ha! I was feeling down and these comments boosted my spirits.

I hope you find joy in whatever your Christmas Eve plan looks like this year!

Amy