little white truths

I had meant to write this post yesterday, but life got in the way and both my daughter and I wound up in doctor's appointments for colds and the like, so the day just got away from me - as it does too often these days.

But the little one had a better night last night, which means the rest of us did too, so hopefully she'll wake up feeling much better and with less of a cough.

I was thinking about this post last night because I knew it would be the next one I wanted to write in my blogiversary series. Turns out I don't have a lot of resolutions, but the ones I have are quite concrete and will take some effort to enact, so perhaps a few is more than enough!

Buy some lighting and work out how to use it

This is my biggest resolution right now, and it's high time it happened. At the moment I use natural light and sunlight for my photos, which is all well and good when you actually have decent light and the sun's being cooperative, but let's face it, life doesn't make things that easy as a general rule. And then there's the matter of having my hands free of children when the sun chooses to appear...

But my birthday is coming up next week and I've asked my husband to investigate some lighting options, since he loves doing research and finding the best possible price for whatever he buys (he's Mexican, what can I say). 

So do watch this space because I'm hoping the lighting change will happen very soon, which will not only improve the quality of my shots, but will also possibly mean that my photos will take less time and effort because I'll be deleting less and doing less editing of the ones I do keep. Fingers crossed!

Tweak the template

I've been meaning to do this for ages. I need to upgrade my blogger template so I have a better version of the one I've got and more options at my disposal in terms of customisation etc. From memory it will only cost $7.95 to buy the upgraded version so it's something we can afford ; )

What's stopped me up until now is that I'm not great with technology and I'm worried not only about how I'll manage the installation process, but also what the change will do to the existing format of my posts. To explain: when I changed my template the first time, it altered the formatting of my posts and I've had to go back and edit them one by one so they look better. I'm really hoping that I won't need to do that again because the editing process is taking ages! But it must be done.

While it sounds like I've got heaps of time to do this, in practice I know just how long the editing process takes. Editing three posts a day is manageable on most days (certainly not all), and if I keep up the momentum, I may just get there by the end of the year - or I'll at least get to my more recent posts.

Just keep your fingers crossed for me that I won't need to go back to the start and deal with formatting issues if I do upgrade my template!

Expand the social media tree

I'm one of those people who shies away from social media and all the different platforms, but this will have to change - at least a little - if I want this blog to keep growing. You may remember that one of my resolutions last year was to get onto different platforms, and while I have managed to tackle Twitter and Instagram, I still need to move onto Pinterest and also Snapchat. 

I've tried Pinterest but it hasn't taken yet, and I haven't even attempted Snapchat because I've had so much else on my plate. My aim is to expand into both of those by this time next year. Wish me luck!

I hesitate to include this because time is scarce as it is, but I would like to make more connections with other bloggers and beauty lovers throughout the course of the coming year. 

While I do a bit of this daily, I'd love to do more. It's nice to talk beauty and blogging with others, and I look forward to a time when I'll be able to do a lot more of it. For now, I'll do as much as I can but I won't set specific goals because I'm not sure I'd be able to achieve them!

Keep up the momentum

As you may know, I have a toddler and I'm currently pregnant, so I don't know what my time will look like when the new bub arrives, universe willing, in October. I hope to keep writing at least a post each day, but I don't yet know what I'm in for so I can't see what life will look like then.

But I'll certainly try, and I'll make sure to have plenty of draft posts and photos ready to go to make things easier in the early months after childbirth.

In sum

That's it! 

Do let me know if you have any blogging resolutions for the year. I love to hear what goals people have and how they've gone about achieving them : )