Link Love

I know I promised "The Parable of Jurassic Park". I'll work on it while I'm at the airport today. That's right, folks! I get to leave behind the 90˚ weather and head back to my hometown in sunny, 70˚ San Diego. I get to visit my parents (always a delight) and play with my nieces and nephews (and hopefully brainwash prove to them that I'm the best aunt ever) and visit with family.

So, this morning, I'd like to send you to a few places that I think you should check out:

Lynn & Lou are not just amazingly inspiring and beautiful, but they're my favorite sister team. Fashion. Design. Fitness. Recipes. They do it all. Check them out!




 A Little Sussy. I love her blog. I love her photography. I actually have her photo 101 book and highly recommend it if you're planning on purchasing (or have purchased) a DSLR. Makes me feel like a pro.

 

[source]

I maybe laughed and then pinned this. It's so true. I'm overweight. I know it. But I suck it up, get up earlier than normal, and get to work. That's who I am, that's what I want. So I do it. 

[Make Up Withdrawal: Tutorial: Easy Sponge Gradient]

Perfect summer look for your nails. Unfortunately, my nails are so brittle and not healthy look at all. But be assured that after San Diego, I want to do this, with these exact colors.

Happy weekend reading! I'll hopefully have a parable for you tonight! If not... I've got a story for tomorrow!

 

Wednesday Letters: Other Girls

Dear Other girls,

Can't we all just get along? 

Why do we have to fight over boys? 

We're fine until some cute boy enters the room and then suddenly it's like we descend to animal instinct. We no longer can be ourselves, but spend our time trying to keep his attention on ourselves. No matter how stupid that is. 

And it doesn't matter how many times we look at each other and in our normal, non-boy interrupted time and make promises to not get in each other's way. It always happens. And then one or both of us will back away from him and everybody loses.

Let's take a moment and realize that while I totally agree with "sisters before misters", I also believe that my friends deserve to find happiness. And if that's with a guy I'm interested (who is obviously not interested in me), that's okay too. You move on. Maybe you take a step away from that guy and give him space. 

But surely, keeping another girl from a guy that could have interest in them because you like him? That's low.

So, let's be classy, girls. Let's work together. And let's not be dinosaurs in the game of dating (to be explained in a post probably tomorrow... The Parable of Jurassic Park as my roommate calls it).

Love,

Emery

Tech Tuesday: 8 Seconds

First impressions are a big deal.

Trust me. I've done speed dating three times. And speed dating is all about first impressions. You have maybe two minutes to charm someone enough to convince the guy that he does want to ask you out on a real date. So you try to find the most exotic or unique answers to the most over asked questions while still trying to sound genuine.

Sound about right? 

Well, for those who haven't experienced it—that's the honest to goodness truth of how those things go. It's not like Hitch made it seem.

Today, I read an interesting statement. It said that reports show that you have 8 seconds to wow a visitor to your website to get them to stay or they're going to be gone. 

Eight seconds?!

I thought a minute was useless. But eight seconds?!

It took you 3 seconds to read the last three sentences, right?

So what do you do?

Well, I can tell you what not to do. 

Don't go overboard!

Your webpage doesn't need to be brimming with logos, animations, videos, and whatever else you think would be cool to have on there. 

Remember the whole "speed dating" analogy. Still works here. Draw them in, show them your uniqueness while still being genuine to you, your company, and your brand.

I don't know what will get visitors to stay. I'm still trying to read and figure out this whole social media business. But you do know what will get your real visitors to stay. 

Because you know who they are. They look like you. You have a specific demographic you're trying to reach. Speak to them. Ask them what they like and what they don't like. And tailor the website to meet their needs. I promise you that it will be worth it.

Maybe speed dating hasn't yielded much success for me. But first impressions are still the best way to find new people.

PS: You should totally go check out my friend, Bethany's blog post at Jibe Media. She says that I inspired her, but... I have a hard time believing that!

Auditions...

I always had a dream that one day... one day I would be in a play. And not the school play like I did in fifth grade (Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan) or The Under-the-sea Princess in Three Tales in Japan. But there were a lot of reasons why I never tried out in high school for a play.

Saturday found me in a theater, supporting my friend who had made a promise to audition. The play had limited women roles (6, in fact) and no ensemble. Odds are good that I won't be called back. But I decided, why not audition as well? It couldn't hurt.

I may be musical, but I seem to have a fear of people. 

I could barely sing. My throat was so tight. 

But the monologue is where I nailed it. I made on of the casting directors tear up as I "acted" teared up. (Except... I was really starting to cry. I was so scared.).

I watched the three other girls audition from my group and then we were able to exit. I was grateful—so grateful when my friend met me outside (she had been assigned to the previous group) with my purse and said, "Let's go."

This has caused me to rethink my future plans and note that above all—I don't perform very well.

Saturday Stories: Blinded by...

I always appreciate when my friends try to play matchmaker and set me up with someone.

It's a rare occurrence. 

If I'm honest, I'm sometimes jealous when my friends set each other up on dates because I wonder if I'm really so quirky that there is NO one that my friends know that might enjoy being out on a date with yours truly.

Yes, it's a self-centered thing to think.

But one time, in my last year of college, my friend decided that she would set me up. I hadn't been on a date in two years. I had lived abroad and so was very nervous. He had driven from out of state on Friday night and the plan was for us to go to a musical performance in Salt Lake City, about an hour drive from where we were.

I left the college football game I was attending early (which you should know was a large sacrifice as I am a die hard college football fan—thank you to my brothers for that) to go home and get ready.

He (we shall call him Will) arrived home with my roommate but as time passed, I realized that with traffic and travel time, we would not be making it to the musical performance. On top of which, we didn't really have tickets. Will was a reporter for his college newspaper and had planned to get me in on his press pass.

Instead, we took my roommate and Will's friends to the mall. I felt like I was sixteen again as we wandered around the mall and met up with other friends of my roommate and my date. Dinner was going to be at the food court.

Will did pay for dinner. But we sat at one of the long tables, and I was at the very end. My date was more interested in talking to his friends than to me. And as a naturally shy person to begin with, I was miserable because I didn't know what to ask or say.

One of the friends had brought his friend along. We'll call this new boy, Mark. Mark started actually talking to me. Asking me questions. We engaged in conversation. Will noticed this and tried to pull his attention away to our conversation, but the truth was—he wanted to be with his friends.

When everyone had finished dinner, we started to walk back to the car. Will, Mark, and myself were the last in the group. Will and Mark began discussing country dancing and Mark tried to explain a new move to Will. He then turned to me and asked if he could demonstrate with me. I gladly accepted (even though my dancing skills are nil). As soon as we were done, Will grabbed me and tried to show off a move too. 

Mark and his friend had to leave, and unfortunately, I couldn't give him my phone number as I was on a date. My roommate decided that she might need a ride home, but had to run a couple of errands in the mall. 

Will and I sat for another 45 minutes on one of the couches in the mall and just talked. It was forced conversation. And soon, my roommate returned to say that she didn't need a ride. 

We walked to the car and Will asked what my recommendations were for how to spend the rest of the evening. My creativity is low when it comes to last minute planning. I told him that we could go bowling or to a movie. Will honestly answered that he was tired from having arrived in town at 2 AM and would we mind if we cut the date short (it was 10 PM). I certainly didn't. 

He took me home, came inside, asked if he could call me when he came back into town. I smiled and nodded, though secretly wishing that he would never call (he didn't). And then laid on the couch and cried. 

Dating sucked. And so I was bound and determined to never go on another date. Ever. 

That had to be the low point, right?

Wednesday Letters: Puppy

Dear Future Puppy,

I can't wait to meet you. Of course, you are coming home to a loud, ridiculous family. I couldn't get a puppy when I was single. It wouldn't have been fair to leave you locked up all day while I was out at work. 

And so, my reward for having a family is getting you.

Oh the things we are going to do together. We're going to play with the frisbee. You're going to love swimming. And when you get big, the kids are going to use you as a pillow while we have family movie night. 

You will be their best friend. You're going to sleep at the foot of someone's bed every night and I'm sure you and I will have plenty of time to talk. 

I'm so glad we got you and brought you home. I hope you're glad too.

Love,

Emery 

Tech Tuesday: Content

Content is king.

I feel like I hear this every time I'm in meeting to discuss social media or the web. Everyone is worried about creating the BEST content, content that will bring more people to their website. 

So maybe I haven't been blogging for awhile, but something that I've come to realized based on the blogs I read (because I read a fair number of blogs): I'm drawn to stories.

I think it's inherent to anyone. We love stories. Who doesn't love a good story?

When I was back East, I visited one of my brothers. He has a two and a half year old son. And I entertained said child by making up a couple of ridiculously cheesy stories. One about a little boy who pretended to be all these different animals and one about a little boy big rig (the kid is obsessed with his big rigs). After he had hear the stories repeated maybe twice, he started to be able to tell the stories back to me.

Why do we love fairy tales? Or fables? We love that they teach us some sort of moral, maybe? Or maybe we really do love a good story.

Stories connect us. It's the details that make things real to use. My favorite times with my family are when we sit around and tell stories. Stories have shaped who I am. They don't define me, they're a part of me.

The blogs I read, they tell me a story. Sure, sometimes that story is about a product or an idea. A story invites you in, allows you to decide where you fit and what side you're going to take. It's persuasive in a subtle way.

So, maybe this week look into your story-telling skills and see what stories you can tell.