31 Days: Friends Are Family Too

Part 1

My 31 Days posts will be focused on everything family.  What is important to us, how we enjoy spending our time together, and how we share our lives with those around us.

You'll be hearing from some very special people in my life.  Family members and friends.

You know, family is more than the people that you live with, or the family group you were born into.  

Our friends are truly part of our family, and we make sure to tell them that.  We need them to know how important they are to us. Our friends have journeyed with us through some pretty rough times in the past year and a half. They have truly mourned with us and rejoiced with us.  That's not something that is easy to do.

Love these people!

During our times of mourning, Romans 12 became very important in our lives.  It is a passage that tells us how we should live together, treat each other, and how to love one another. Verses 12-15 tell us to be joyful when we go through difficult time and to never neglect our prayer lives.  It, also, teaches us to mourn with one another in difficult times and then rejoice with one another in happy times.  Our friends were able to do that with us.

¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 

Romans 12:12-15

I was ultimately led to start this blog through our time of struggle.  

Creativity is an outlet for me and I wanted to share it. Also, I wanted to share how I work toward creating an environment that nurtures relationships.  It's all about being comfortable and relaxed.  Feeling that you are a part of "my family". 

I want a space to cherish family and friends in. To breathe in and out and be present in every moment that I can with them.

That's important to me. 

Pinterest Peeking: Blogging 101

I'm going to be starting a new weekly installment around here called, Pinterest Peeking.  

I will showcase one board from Pinterest in each post.

These won't be all of MY Pinterest Boards, I will be showing off some of my friends, followers, fellow bloggers, who knows! Anything that strikes my fancy.

If you have a board that you feel has some outstanding pins, let me know and I'll feature it!

Now, on with the show!

This is a board that is gaining followers really quickly!

I have been curating this board for a while, but now it is a group board
with a few of my blogging friends. You'll find pins from Stephanie from Simply Dream & Create; Megin from VMG 206, Rebecca from Living Better Together, Camila from TitiCrafty, and Dana from This Silly Girl's Life.

Here are a few of my favorite pins:

Pinterest and Blog Posts

This pin will take you to iFabbo (a blogging organization for beauty and style bloggers). The really important part of the post is about halfway through the short article, but it is great information to have when creating your posts and adding information to your images (screen licking may or may not be mentioned). This is something that every blogger should consider.

Media Kit tips from BlogMaven

If you are a blogger and don't know The BlogMaven, you must get to know her.  She gives great tips and tutorials about everything from starting your blog to optimizing your SEO.

The pin above guides you through creating your media kit in 10 easy steps.

Click here to see the Trip Worth Taking Media Kit.

BlogMaven takes all the guess work out of putting together your Media kit and you will have it done in no time!

Important Elements of Your Blog

Sarah over at Becoming Martha has some great tips for bloggers when designing the look and feel of you page.  There is so much to consider, but these elements are a must! 

How to Create Your images for your Facebook Page

Get some advice from the Holly Would Blog on creating your Facebook Fan Page!

This by far has been the hardest thing for me! Getting my FB page to look how I want it to look. This post takes a lot of the pain out of the process and you can really dress up your fan page.

I know you are ready to go over and follow this board, so head on over now! These pins are there, and so many more!

Shabby Creek Cottage House of Hepworths The 36th Avenue Design, Dining, and Diapers Funky Junk Interiors Tatertots and Jello Six Sisters Stuff Skip To My Lou Craft-O-Maniac That's What Che Said The DIY Showoff Under The Table And Dreaming Flamingo Toes Thrifty Decor Chick 
SNAP! Show & Tell Someday Crafts Somewhat Simple Todays Creative Home Stories AtoZ The Owl's Skull The "PIN IT" Party @ Creative Geekery

Automate Your Life!

Do you know IFTTT (IF This Then That)? If you don't then you totally should get to know it.  

I am a firm believer in working smarter, not harder, and IFTTT helps you do just that. 

IFTTT can help you automate many aspects of your life.  

Automate blog posts to Twitter and your Facebook Fan Page. 

Automate your Instagram photos to Evernote, Facebook, or email.

Set your lights to come on at home when the sunsets or if your favorite team wins their big game.

Want to save a link to a favorite Youtube video to Dropbox? Automate it.