Creating the Ultimate Girl Squad

Blogmas - Day 3

Squads are the new hit thing among the millennial. Being a child of the 90's I did not get the whole squad trend or maybe I could just be weird (LOL). Seriously though, I have analysed the concept and now I can see the merit in having a squad.

Now, let me break it down for you. A squad is a group of common friends that you have, that you hang out together at the same time. Now I think about it, I remember Carrie and the girls from Sex and the City. Those girls would be the ultimate 90’s girl squad.

With that in mind, girl squads can be great if you have the right type of squad. So, today I am going to lay the ground work of how to create the ultimate girl squad.

In creating my Ultimate Girl Squad I have painstakingly compiled five types of girls who would comprise the squad.


These girls are (but are limited to):

Xena Warrior Princess

At the top of the list, I have Xena Warrior Princess type of girl. This girl is a bad*ss. 

She is strong, fierce and downright brave. 

She is also the explorer who just gets up and goes.

Charlotte

Then, you have the cheerful cheerleader. She is the positive point of the group. She is also supportive and kind. Just think of Charlotte from Sex and the City.

The Planner Girl

You cannot forget your planner girl. She is systematic, organised and efficient. You aspire to be like her because she amazes you with her creativity. 

You are amazed at how on point she is and so you are motivated to get you sh*t together.

Posh Spice

Three words: prissy, pretty and posh. This is the lady of the group. Her hair, nails, clothes and speech is always on ‘fleek’.

                             

The Ride or Die Chick

This type of girl is LOYAL. Notice that the word loyal is in all caps. This is because this friend can be your vault. She is also the one that you can call at a moment’s notice and she will be there. She is the type of friend that will be there though the ups and downs.

                                                            

Please offer your own girls' squad suggestions. Also, tell me which one of these type of girls you are?

Finally, remember to share your thoughts in the comments and stop by tomorrow for another Blogmas post.

Three Tips to Staying Positive throughout the Day

Have you ever noticed that when you start your day on a positive note there is always something or someone who tries to suck your positive energy from you? I guess it is the nature of life. However, it is important to note that positive energy attracts positive energy. Therefore, as we countdown to Christmas and then the new year we have to allow good things to come into our lives. Additionally, I am learning that staying positive is an important practice that one needs to engage in on the road to happiness. 

Here are three tricks you can use to stay positive throughout the day:

Music

Did you know that music can influence your mood and attitude? With this in mind,  you can create playlists of your favourite feel-good songs that you can play throughout the day. I love YouTube and I am always using my laptop so I have created a number of playlists for my different moods and I find that often it takes just popping in my headphones to put a positive spin on my mood.

Free Playlist Makers

http://neverendingplaylist.com/

http://www.listube.com/

Meme Me

A few months I started to follow some positive thinking posters on the gram and can I tell you that they have worked wonders for my mindset. 

In the mornings while I scroll through my posts I see all the funny memes that crack me up along with the positive ones. 

I in turn share them and spread the positive vibes. This makes me feel great and I am also encouraging the group of people that I surround myself with to be positive by sharing with them. 

Walking Away

What?!! Walking away? 

Yes, I said it. Sometimes you have to walk away from a negative situation or person to maintain your positive mindset. 

Case in point, I woke up feeling like crap; so I decided to change my mood. I was off to a great start with positive memes and thoughts. I was thankful and expressed gratitude through prayer. 

I was off to work bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with my positive mindset. Then, wave after wave of negative people and situations came rolling in. 

On a side note, have you ever realized that the moment you choice to be positive it is the moment crap starts to rain on your parade. 

Anyways, I just started walking. I walked away and it worked. The long and short of it is that in all situations you need to preserve your peace, joy, happiness and positive mindset.  

Stop by tomorrow for another post in this journey. Also, please remember to live a comment and sign up posts to be emailed to you. 

Blogmas Begins......

Blogmas- Day  1

For the first time this year I will be doing Blogmas on Lioness Rebirth. Heeeeyyyy!!! 

Can you check out the Lioness Rebirth Blogmas poster? Can you say fierce?!!! I usually go girl and cute. However, I love it! Tell me what you think about it in the comments below.

What is blog? You might ask. Well, Blogmas is basically a bloggers way of counting down the days to Christmas by posting a new blog every day. 

Guys, this is going to be a serious challenge for me; nevertheless I am excited to share all of what I have planned for you. This Blogmas celebration is my way of giving the blog a new birth.  So, stop by everyday with a cup of tea or coffee and celebrate Blogmas with. I am so excited to take this journey with you. 

The Countdown Begins...........

How to Eat Healthy Fast Food this Summer

Summer is a time for fun, sun relaxation and eating anything we see without thinking about the consequences for our bodies. 

Am I the only one who does this?

If you are like me or if you want to eat healthier this summer these tips will help to eat healthier fast food this summer: 

 Control Your Portions

Do not order extra large combos or go to those all you can eat buffets and try to eat everything in sight. Instead, select the smaller sandwiches and meals that contain less fats.  

Eat More Jerked or Grilled Meats

You can have jerk chickens, grilled vegetables, or seafood; instead of deep fried chicken or chips. Remember the goal is to eat less fatty foods without punishing yourself.

Check to Make Sure the Dish is Actually Healthy

Remember, not because a dish proclaims that it is a healthier choice that does not meant it is actually healthier. Find out about the nutrition facts of that smoothie or salad that you are about to consume. For example, many fast food salads are a diet minefield, smothered in unhealthy dressing and fried toppings. 

Don’t be afraid to special order. 

Finally, many menu items can be made healthier with a few tweaks and substitutions. For example, you can ask to hold the sauce or dressing or serve it on the side. Or you can request a wheat bun for your hamburger or whole-grain bread for your sandwich.



resource site: www.helpguide.org

How to Design Your Blog Yourself

It turns out that you can design your blog yourself without needing to have any expertise in blog design whatsoever. After paying to design this blog, I was faced with the challenge of having two other blogs with no way to formally pay to design them also; so I decided to do the job myself.  Let me just say I had no formal training or expertise in this area. However, I was able to transform these two blogs into a space that was uniquely what I wanted to present to my readers. 



Here are some tools that I use to help me:

Free Templates

It was important to me to have my blog design looking visually appealing. I found that there are blog designers that actually gave away free templates that were first rate quality. You can find great free templates on these sites:

• Blogger Candy
• Wordpress Templates
• Blogger Themes
• Free Templates

I have used Blogger Candy and I have found they offer a number of templates that are well designed and easy to change to suit my preferences. 

How to Install Templates in Blogger

Here’s how to install a Blogger template you’ve downloaded from another site:

1. Log in to Blogger, and on your Blogger Dashboard, click the Design link.

2. Click the Edit HTML tab.

3. Click the Download Full Template link and save it to your computer.

4. Make a note of the file name and where you saved it in case you need it later!

5. Unzip the template file you downloaded from another site.

6. Back on the Edit HTML page, click the Choose File button.

7. Navigate to where you saved the unzipped files on your computer, and double-click the one that ends in .xml.

8. Click the Upload button.

Creating Specialized Headers

Sometimes you find a great free blog design or a design on blogger that you love but you want to personalize it with your own unique blog header.  Canva is one of the websites I used to create my headers. I find that the website tools are easy to understand and very user friendly. Plus, I do not need to know anything about design to use it. I can upload my images/logos to the site and use them. You will however need to know the dimensions for your header so that you can have the right size and you will need to save the header you have created in Canva as a picture (jpeg/png format) .

How to Install a Header in Blogger

Go to the LAYOUT window and click on “EDIT” in the header widget (little blue link). The following pop-up will open:

Browse for the header image file on your computer and make sure you select “Instead of title and description” (also, do not select ‘shrink to fit’).

SAVE! ALL DONE!


 Sources:

 http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-install-a-google-blogger-template.html

http://www.bloggercandy.com/faqs-how-to/how-to-install-a-header-image/

How to Review a Poorly Written Book

source

You are excited because you have just received your first book to review. You quickly start reading the book with bated breath because you can barely contain your excited. Ten pages into the book you find that you are struggling to move on to the next page. With each page you become more disappointed with the writer's craft. You shake your head at the poorly written plot and the conflict that you are waiting to see develop but seems nonexistent.  Finally, at page 100 you give up. You just cannot keep going. You have 100 pages left and it is too painful to continue reading. Then, you remember that you have a write a review on the book. 

What then? 

How do you review a book that is poorly written? 

That is a dilemma that a number of bloggers face. Today I want to address that issue. Here are some tips on how to review a poorly written book:

 

Your Audience

 Always remember that your loyalty is to your audience; it is not any company, author, friend, etc. Bloggers tend to develop a relationship with their core followers; while your core followers depend on your honest points of view on the products, services that you review on your blog. So, your loyalty is to your audience. You must always remember that you should always the true to your readers.

Integrity

In business and in blogging integrity is everything. It is important that you state before accepting any product (book) or service to review that you will give your honest opinion (no matter what). By doing this, you are making it known that you will not write a great review of a book that is sub-standard because you are being paid or you are requested to do so.

Decline

After reading the book you can decline to review it. This is easier if the book was given to you by the author.  You should contact the author and explain your experience and decline to write the review or explain the type of review that you plan to write. I find that the author will understand because he/she does not want a bad review to be published.

Be Unbiased

 You can also publish the review with your honest opinion. You can state to your readers that although this is your experience it might not be the same for them. If the book is from an author they are familiar with you can suggests that they can read the book and share their own experiences.