Biannual Blogathon Bash

This weekend I have the opportunity to dedicate my time and energy to something that is dear to my heart-Splendid Chronicles.  While doing my daily reads I came across the Biannual Blogathon Bash.  I barely made it in but I am ready to go and excited to get focused work in and several essential goals meet.  

The Biannual Blogathon is hosted by Kathleen Bailey a season blogger and a very helpful individual.  I’ve had to restrain myself from going through all of the Resources on her site that can help me move closer to my goals as a full-time blogger.   The event includes 6 different Twitter Chats on various subjects.    In addition there are Mini- Challenges, a PhotoFun Challenge, a Facebook Group and several wonderful Prizes that include webinars on blogging, VA Services and Blogging Printables. 

So what next?

This weekend I decided to create a working list of things to do during the Biannual Blogathon anything left undone will be completed by the end of January. 

My To-Do List: (No particular Order)

1. Re-Do Hello Bar and link to Mail Chimp Properly.
2. Finish Opt-In Freebie.
3. Research key Word Search and Google Analytics then create a plan to implement.
4. Create a Social Media Icons and Blog Category Graphics to add to sidebar.
5. Change Author Box.
6. Complete February Editorial Calendar
7. Content Creation (Goal 5 Posts)
8. Brain Storm Product Idea List
9. Create To-Do –List for my Blogger Mastermind Group for next week
10. Work on Blog Business Plan

As you can see my plate will be full.  However full of wonderful ways to make Splendid chronicles a great place to visit.  So if you don’t see me on Social Media…..besides Twitter. Don’t be in shock.  I’m out here working on a master plan! 

If you’re a Blogger it’s not too late to joinin the fun and get some checks on your blog to-do list! 

Have a great weekend.  

Disclosures:  

The image of desk is from Jill Levenhagen Collection of stock photos.

Present - Are You Really Present?

I am linking up to Five Minute Friday writing prompt. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung on her blog Heading Home.

Today's five minute writing prompt is "PRESENT."

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Are we really present anymore?  With the constant need to check our phones for text messages.  The debilitating desire to slide through the photos on Instagram one more time.  The habitual Facebook glance or the pain staking task of getting the tweet down to 140 characters.

How can one truly be present?

I make it my business to never have a phone on the table while eating with others.  It is such a rude gestures and it signals that “Hey I am listening to you…until I get a notification”.  It shows that the person can’t disconnect themselves from a device long enough to eat a meal and have a conversation.

So again I ask are we really present? 

My hopes is that someone gains an understanding that social media, the internet and text messaging are truly a wonderful tool to use to communicate on a world wide scale, and I get that.  However what about the people who are right there next to you.  The people you can feel, touch smell and see their every move.  Are you really as present with them as you are to your device? 

So the next time you want to pull that device out and sit it on the table remember your sending the message that you can’t part with the rest of the world to share a moment with the person(s) who are presently with you.

Stop

Being Authentic: You Must be You

Being Authentic is key in getting others to invest time, money and energy into you.  However you can't let the noise of the world distract you from being you.

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When navigating the web Branding and Marketing are the topics that pop up on many online communities. From Facebook ads, tweets and pins branding and marketing are constantly trending.  If you seek to be seen and want to be considered relevant, you must create a brand for yourself .  This brand is for you personally and whatever business you wish to market.  Are you familiar with this ideology?  I get engulfed with YOU MUST BRAND, YOU MUST MARKET….  What about YOU MUST BE YOU?What if everyone just decided I am going to be the most authentic me that I can be? Wouldn’t that be refreshing. 

As a blog addict ( I read, review and follow blogs daily...I love blogging) I have come across all types of blogs and I can tell as soon as I hit the front page who has bought into the marketing and branding but left the most important ingredient - the author (you).

 

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are”. (Brene Brown)  In order to embrace your true purpose and authentic self you must let go of many things.  You must let go of the image that others have embedded in you.  These images may include how your parents view you and the expectations that they have placed on you.  They may also include the past decisions and actions that have followed you like a dark cloud.  Let go of everything that hinders you from what God has purposed you to be, gain understanding of this and walk in your purpose. “The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out”. Proverbs 20:5 ESV.

Being you is at the heart of being successful.  It is hard trying to be someone or something that you are not.  My goal is to be a person that lives life pursuing the best version of me. 

Here's some more inspiring quotes on Being Authentic:

How do you balance Branding and Marketing while remaining authentic?  Please share in the comments.

9 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Activities

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day I have compiled some activities for kids that are quick and easy with little to no prep time. What ever you choose to do just make sure that you take a moment to remind the children that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was a history maker.

Fun Educational Activities

Martin Luther King, Jr. Timeline Activities

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This freebie has the child cut out and paste the events of Dr. Martin Luther king on a timeline. There is also questions to answer that will address comprehension.  This activity is geared toward grades 2nd-5th.  It can be download for free from Kennedy’s Korner on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Martin Luther King Jr.  Day Activities

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These activities are geared towards K-12.  The activities include MLK Label the Picture, Martin Luther King, Jr. ABC Order, Dr. King writing printable, MARTIN acrostic poem and Build the Sentence.  This is made free and available by Sheila Melton on Teachers Pay Teacher

Martin Luther King Jr. Poster Activity 

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This is a fun activity to have the kids to illustrate their understanding of the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Life. This activity is geared towards Grades K-2.  This free download is a one page “All About” the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at  Curriculum Castle on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Speech & Activities

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This activity is for older students who want to take time to learn really why “I have a Dream Speech” is so important in our country's history.  It is geared towards grades 8th-12th.  It is found at Tracee Orman on Teachers Pay Teachers for free.

Art Activities:

Peace Dove Garland

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This is a very fun and easy way to talk about peace which Martin Luther king represented.  All is needed is coffee filters (I know I have a full supply of those), string and a free printable from Inner Child Fun.

Nobel Peace Prize For Kids

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The Nobel Peace Prize was a awarded to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his work as a pursuer of equality and peace in the United states. This is a Fun activity for kids to create and discuss ways that they can contribute to society and seek a Noble Peace Prize Award. Instructions can be found at Education.com

Free Videos on Dr. Martin Luther King

Our Friend Martin

BrainPOP Martin Luther King Jr.

I hope you find these resources helpful!

Time {Five Minute Friday}

I am linking up for the Five Minute Friday. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung on her blog Heading Home.

Today's five minute writing prompt is "Time."

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Time essentially is all we have for sure and that even has an expiration date unknown to us.  Time is the most valuable asset in our possession that we can use in whatever way that we see fit.  Even prisoners can choose how they use the time while they are incarcerated.  A prisoner can be as miserable or as enlightened during this time of captivity.  Nelson Mandela was the greatest example that I have that can prove this point. 

When I think of time I think of those who have ended their time here in the living.  It gives me a profound understanding of the gift of time. Through all the struggles that I have faced in life Time gives me hope because I know that as long as there is time and I have breathe in my body I have another opportunity to succeed.

As human beings, we have something special we have the ability to choose.  Stephen Covey explains that “in between stimulus and response is the ability to choose”. We can choose to make the best of our time or we can let time pass us by and wonder-why?

Why did I let time get the best of me?

Why didn’t I master my time?

Why didn’t I choose to make time my best asset?

Time

Stop.

Five Minute Friday is a weekly challenge where bloggers write on a prompt for five solid minutes.  Check out Kate’s website for more details andthe link-up. 

First {Five Minute Friday}

I am linking up for the Five Minute Friday. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung on her blog Heading Home.

Today's five minute writing prompt is "FIRST."

Start.

When I think of the word first it makes me reminisce over all the firsts that I have encountered in my life.  Sometimes it’s exciting to have a first experience and sometimes it’s scary to have a first experience.  The most memorable first was 21 years ago when I gave birth to my first child.  It was a girl.  It was the year of a lot of first.  My first apartment, my first year at college and my first time realizing that in this world you have to be able to stand alone and that your parent’s protection and prayers can only go so far.  You have to be willing to take those first steps into your destiny. 

Twenty-one years later I’m still experiencing new first experiences and I have learned to embrace them as opportunities to learn and grow as an individual.  In November almost 21 years to be exact I experienced watching my first born give birth to her first born.  It was a boy!  It was also one of my greatest first moments.

I have always loved the beginning of the New Year because it has always represented a chance to start again to enter a year that has yet to begun. This year my one word is productivity.  I choose this word because I am in the producing mode.  I want to give birth to something great and share it with the world.  I’m currently working on my first book and it is a great first experience to be able to share with the world my creativity and insight. 

First can be scary and exciting but always worth the try!

Stop.

Five Minute Friday is a weekly challenge where bloggers write on a prompt for five solid minutes.  Check out Kate’s website for more details andthe link-up. le to

Meal Planning with Trello!

In my last post I shared that my 2016 one word theme was productivity.  Today I will share a new thing that I am using to make sure that I am being productive and accountable for the things that I’m doing. There is a great app that you can also assess from your desk top (what I prefer) called Trello.  Trello is a free online app that uses a digital form of Kanban.  Kanban is a productivity tool used to organize production into categories such as to do, doing and done.  Trello is Kanban on steroid it allows you to create as many boards as you like based on the projects that you are doing. (I assume there is no limit, I currently have about 18 boards actively using 12).

Above is how I organize my main Trello page that shows my various boards.  I have numbered them in rows based on the order I want them to appear.  Row 1 is 1.1 to 1.4 then row 2 is 2.1 to 2.4 and so forth.

Each board has the option to create as many list as necessary for you to complete a project or task oriented goal.  Today I want to share how I use Trello for Meal Planning.  I have tried several things but this seems to work wonderfully.  I created several cards within the Menu Planning Board.  There is a board that contains the recipes that I would like to try towards the end of the board.

The First set of cards is the week that is most current of the meals that I have scheduled.  I’m currently doing two weeks at a time and grocery shopping twice a month.  The third list is the grocery list for the month. My goal is to plan at least four weeks in advance so that I can watch for sales on the items needed during the following month.  I will let you know how that goes by March.

Each of the cards in the list contains a picture of the dish.  It will either contain a generic pic from the web or the actual picture from the recipe for which I would like to try.  For example the card for hamburgers and fries doesn’t have a recipe in it because I mastered how to produce the well desired hamburger and french fry deal. However I've scheduled to try the Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole this week so in the card is a copy of the recipe ad the source where I found the recipe. 

The thing that is most awesome is that you can create a calendar for your board and move the recipes around if you change your mind!

Now if having it on a calendar makes you feel warm and fuzzy you can go to calendar and the settings tool and get a iCalendar Feed link to add it to your google calendar (make sure it is marked private unless you want the work to know what you’re cooking and then you can add it to your google calendar.

Right click on Other Calendars then choose add by URL. The URL is unique to your board. Viola it’s on your google calendar with only a few steps.

Trello has become my greatest asset in planning out my year.  I’m using it for everything.  I will share more ways I’m using Trello to be productive in the coming weeks.

Trello is free and it is easy to use!  Let me know if you give it a try.  Also, let me know what meal planning tools that your using to keep the troops feed.

Disclosures:

The image of desk is from Jill Levenhagen Collection of stock photos