Happy Friday! I’m back with another update on my 50 guest posts goal. I’ve been slowly cracking away at my posts, but I still have a ways to go and I need to kick it into high gear if I want to meet my goal by the end of the year. I am up for posting on any blog with any topic you choose! Just fill out my form and we can chat!
26. Four Tips to Help You Reclaim Your Love of Reading (Steph the Bookworm)
Steph writes a book review blog so it was pretty easy to decide on a topic! I’ve wanted to write a post on this topic for a long, long time but was waiting on the right blog to write it on. Steph’s blog was the perfect one. This post was basically a how-to on learning to love reading again if you’ve lost that love. One of my worries when I was younger is that I would grow up and life would get busy and I would lose my love for reading. While there are times when my reading slows down, I’ve never actually lost that joy and pleasure from reading. When it’s something you love to do, you always make time for it.
“We deserve to get lost in a book, we deserve just 15 minutes to relax our minds and let go. Even if your to-do list is a mile long or you’re desperate to clear your inbox or you just don’t think you have time, you do.”
27. This Is Home (Beauty School Dropout)
This post has a lot of drama attached to it. Not with the blogger because Sarah is all sorts of awesome. But I wrote this post for another blogger and things didn’t work out and the way it happened left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s really sad when a blogger you used to admire turns out to be not as nice as you thought. But whatever. I moved on and sent this post to Sarah for her blog. It’s on the topic of home and what it has meant to me over the years, and how the meaning of the word has changed for me.
“When I was five, home was a small apartment with my parents and older brother. It was nightly Little Debbie snacks, breakfast eaten with eyes glued to the back of the cereal box, and watching my dad yell at the TV while watching sports.”
28. Tweaking New Year’s Resolutions (Anne Brannen Life Coaching Blog)
Anne contacted me for a guest post after I wrote about revamping my New Year’s Resolutions. She loved my take on what long-term goals mean and how they can change and I was more than happy to write more about my thoughts on New Year’s Resolutions. I love talking about goals so this was a fun post to write.
“I am a firm believer that no goal is set in stone. We are a people of fluidity, of changing habits and wants and needs. What we want at the beginning of the year doesn’t always hold true at the middle or end of it.”
29. Five Tips for Race Spectating (Everything Starts Here)
Emilie is an impossibly cute blogger who has recently connected with me and she filled out my form to let me post on her blog and I was more than happy to oblige! Emilie has started running and is currently training to run the Disney Wine & Dine Half-Marathon so I wanted to talk about something related to running and as someone who is Not A Runner but attends lots of races because my mom is Definitely A Runner, writing about race spectating was the perfect topic! There are some races that do a great job with spectating (Disney is amazing for spectators!) and some that make things incredibly difficult so this was just my take since I’ve been to… oh, over 25 races as a spectator, at least!
“Being a spectator at a race is a completely different experience than actually running the race. It’s inspiring, for sure. It’s fun to watch the front runners and cheer everyone on. I love being able to support my mom, whether she’s ‘just’ running a 5K or tackling a full marathon.”
30. On Living Alone (Lisa’s Yarns)
First, a few words about Lisa. She’s awesome… she’s awesome… and oh, did you hear? She’s awesome. I love Lisa. This year has been one shitty thing after another for her and I’m honestly praying my hardest that some really awesome things are headed her way or else God and I will be having words. I actually had a hard time thinking of what to write for Lisa because I had so many topic ideas floating around in my head. It took me a good 20-30 minutes to actually decide on my topic. But when I did, the words just flowed easily. This was a post I’ve been trying to write for my own blog for a while but the timing never felt right. It worked out and was really a great topic for her blog!
“There are many, many ways that I do feel like an adult – grown-up job, my own bills, my own car, etc. But then there’s telling people that yes, I do live with my mom and it feels like I’ve stunted myself.”
31. Singleness and Contentment in the Journey (Her Silent Musings)
Lauren and I share a lot of similarities. She is one of those people who absolutely get me on just about every level. She’s also a good friend to me and there have been many a venting email or text sent her way. Lauren wrote a post a few months ago about why she decided online dating is not for her. I do online date and though I have had very little success, I still keep my profile up and remain open to what could happen. This post was a little bit about online dating and a lot about being single and finding contentment in that. I really like writing about being single because I honestly never pictured being 25 and chronically single. But I am and that’s okay.
“I also want to be the girl who is fully, unapologetically in love with who she is, relationship or not. I want to be the girl who feels content in her singleness, knowing that one day love will happen for her but she’s not putting off what she wants in the meantime.”
Tell me: what does home mean to you?
Aw, thanks for the kind words about me. That is so sweet of you to say and I really appreciate all the prayers that you are sending my way. I think they are starting to work as I feel things shifting in my life, or maybe my perspective is shifting. I keep telling people that I *think* the worst is behind me. I hope that is the case.
Home to me means the midwest. It’s the smell of my mom’s stuffing cooking on Thanksgiving morning. It’s enjoying coffee on a Saturday morning while the sun is coming up over the lake. It’s hearing my nephews giggle over some silly joke (that probably involves bodily functions, they are boys after all). It’s hugs from my parents. It’s feeling like I am in the safest and most comforting place I’ll ever be. It’s all that and SO much more.
Home to me means wherever the people I love are. Right now I’m home – hanging out with Izzy and our boys and just being together. It’s nice.
Yay for guest blogging! I think it’s awesome that you set this goal for yourself. I’m so glad I could be a part of it 🙂
Home is my town. I’ve never really left, and have no desire to leave. Home is still my parent’s house, though my apartment feels like home too now that I’ve been here almost 2 years. Home is where my kitties are. Home is also my parent’s timeshare in Disney, just a different kind of home. I love reading about other people’s versions of home. I find it fascinating!
Hey Stephany! Did you complete the 50 in ’13 challenge? If so, CONGRATULATIONS and where can I find the whole list? If not, do you plan on carrying it over to 2014?