Blogging

Well, 2018 is about to become a thing of the past.  Now is the time to take a look back to see what posts from that past year have really connected with you, the readers.  

Stats are pretty neat.  I enjoy checking in to see what’s what and the end of the year is the perfect time to see which posts hit the highest numbers over the course of 2018.  And where my readers are from, I love seeing countries from around the globe show up – blows my mind – how do these people even find me way out here in the country!?!?!

So, let’s start there – where in the world are my viewers from??  No surprise that Canada takes a very strong lead, with the US coming in next.  Germany comes in third with the UK following in fourth place and fifth being filled by Australia.  France, India, Ireland, Brazil, China all find themselves in the stats, too.  Amazing to me, really.  But the world seems to shrink with the internet, don’t you think?

The top posts throughout the year are interesting, sometimes the top posts aren’t even from this year!  I have two posts that must be hitting Pinterest just right and even though they are a couple of years old, they still made the top stats for the year.  And, the ABOUT page made the list, too, so fellow bloggers or anyone with a website, make sure your About page is current, people are looking! But I want to focus on posts from 2018 only. So here we go!!

5th place goes to the post about how we turned our spare bedroom/office into a cozy sitting area we call the Pyjama Lounge. It’s a spot that still gets so much use, in fact, part of this post was even written there!  You can read it HERE.

4th place belongs to a fun and relaxed photo shoot by the wonderful Christine Whelan of our family in the middle of a field.  I have to stay that I’m surprised that this one hit the Top 5 list, just because it’s pictures of us – who wants to see our mugs?  Apparently you guys!  If you missed it, you can find it HERE.

3rd place goes to a post about why our family is involved in the local 4H program.  I love being involved with it and seeing what our kids are learning and how they are growing as people because of 4H.  You can find this post HERE.

2nd place belongs to our adventure to the Tattoo in Halifax this past summer.  I highly recommend this event to anyone with roots in Nova Scotia.  It is so well done and simply amazing.  Trust me, you won’t want to miss it!  My review of this past summer’s event is HERE.

1st place, by a landslide, goes to the post I wrote when I saw a few head shots Christine took of me and my initial reaction.  Apparently what I had to say resonated with many of you.  Mommas, ladies, don’t forget you ARE pretty, that you matter and what you offer the world isn’t tied to a number on the scale or how your jeans fit.  You can read it all HERE.  It has the ability to make me teary even still.

Since we’re reviewing 2018, here is my Best 9 collage from Instagram, too.  I love how it brings together so much of the love and fun that occurred over the course of the year.  Miracle { whose post came in 6th this year!! } is there, pictures of my family and home, some of our animals, and some styled pictures showcasing bright blooms.

Guys, 2018 had its highs and its lows but boy, it was a good year!  The nice thing about having a blog is that it is all documented and tracked so I can easily look back to see what we did, where we were when we started and where we are now.  I set some goals at the beginning of the year and even though I may not be able to truly check them off as completed, I am very satisfied with how hard I focused on them and the progress I did make.

I do want to take a moment to say a huge THANK YOU for your support through the past year.  It means so much to me when you comment, share and interact with me here at Farm Fresh Style, you are the reason why I keep writing and posting.

I’m excited to ring in the New Year tonight with family and friends.  I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store!!  And I can’t wait to share with you my Word of the Year for 2019 – it’s perfect!! 😉  But I’m going to leave you with this wise note from Jennifer Allwood, and I hope it resonates with you like it did me.

To be continued,

Lori

‘Tis the season of parties, parties at home, parties at work…parties here, there and everywhere.  So, what do you do when your side hustle is pretty much a solo gig?  You throw yourself a Christmas Party – Solo style!

Since my work for Farm Fresh tends to be mostly in the studio or on my laptop, it only seems fitting that my work party be held out in the studio.  I turned up the heat, cleaned of a spot to sit and settled in for a….quiet night in.  But don’t think I’m ALL alone, I have some blogger friends who are also solo partying, too!  Kerra and Heather both are all alone so together, we aren’t so alone, if that makes sense??  You can check out their party posts HERE and HERE!

Solo Christmas parties in the studio tend to be pretty quiet and laid back.  Tasty snacks, a thoughtful present and just a little time allllll to myself.  Well, Penny-dog for company but she’s pretty quiet, too.

What’s a party without some selfies?  And I’ve got the perfect backdrop for some selfies, now, too, with my Blogjam prize of the flower wall from Paper and Peony!!  Safety first, folks!

My favourite snack seemed fitting for the party, too.  Yummy brownies with candy cane ice cream – perfectly festive!!  And tasty, no picture except the empty plate – can I even call myself a blogger if I haven’t taken pictures of my food?  And the studio is a dusty mess, so I figured it would be a little more sanitary to eat at the table in the house….no one likes sawdust or paint in the coffee, right?

As the only employee of Farm Fresh Style, even though FB is always telling my to link my team members to the Farm Fresh page – clearly they have no idea…. But, anyway, as the sole employee, I wondered what award I should get at the staff party.  Most likely to nap in the janitor closet? Most likely to photocopy my face? Most valuable employee?  Most improved? Highest sales? Nothing suited so the awards fell by the wayside for the year. Maybe next year I’ll come home from the party with an award of some sort.

And of course I needed to gift myself something.  Last year, which you can read about HERE, I gave myself a book and that went over really well so I decided to do it again.  This time it was a book that I had heard about on a couple of podcasts called ‘The Cozy Minimalist’ by blogger Myquillyn Smith, aka The Nester.  Sounds like exactly what I need, something to help with the urge to purge but still have a beautiful home.  Merry Christmas to ME!!!

2018 was a fun year for Farm Fresh, all in all.  Connecting with new and old friends, following my heart to a path that was a little more suited for me, and being creative.  What is it about parties that turn me into a sap?? Who knows, all I can say is that I am thankful for the journey I am on, this road of creativity and design, intermingled out here in this studio space and this corner of the internets.

Cheers to all who have been a part of the past years of Farm Fresh, I’m glad you are here!!  And if you have popped over here from Kerra or Heather’s party, Welcome, I hope you’ll be back to visit often!!!

To be continued, or MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Lori

Blogjam 2018 didn’t disappoint.  Move it to another province, make it two days long, do whatever, I’m all in.  Add a bunch of UFC fighters into the mix, sure, why not.  

Myself and a hurting Chris Fishgold…

Ever since the very first Blogjam, when I presented, I’ve had a huge soft spot for this conference.  The organizers are a fierce team of ladies whom I greatly admire for their various skills, but mainly because they have become my friends.  They pull together a great line up of speakers year after year, that teach, inspire and motivate us to build our brands, tell our stories and engage our audience.  I always come home with great take aways and tips.  But, to be perfectly honest, I go for the people.  { Recap of 2017 HERE  where I basically said the same thing 😉 }

This is Renee, one of the fabulous organizers, clearly something is funny!

Here’s the thing.  I have fabulous friends around here that don’t blog or aren’t into social media.  And I love being with them, hanging out, living life, all that ordinary life stuff.  They fill my bucket, help me through the day to day stuff of life and offer so much support and encouragement.  But, I also have a circle of friends who do blog.  So they understand the need to stop and instastory something or snap pictures for a post and they fuel me in a different way.  We may all blog about a vast array of things, but we find the commonality in it and support each other.

Blogjam was instrumental in my finding those friends.  I had Christine all along, she understood that world, but Blogjam was my first introduction into the community of east coast bloggers.  And it was a huge eye opener for me into the world of blogging and what was possible.  Blogjam introduced me to ECM Media and that whole amazingly supportive group, too.  And these are the people that I turn to when I need advice on blogging, social media or writing a pitch.

And this year, Christine decided to come to Blogjam to see what it was all about.  Dave and the kids came along, which meant Izzy got to come to some of the sessions – and I got Izzy snuggles!!! She wasn’t the youngest baby there, either, Chris Cloney had his 8 week old son there!!

I’m sort of shy, which you may or may not believe, and going that very first time ALONE was terrifying and empowering.  So, Amy, Virginia and Jennifer { who has become my Blogjam roomie, now } will always have a spot in my heart for making me feel important and included.  And now I’m a veteran Blogjammer so I know I have a responsibly to those other new people to make them feel welcome and included.  I hope I did that this weekend.  I made new friends so I think I must have!?!?!  I encourage you to check out these new friends of mine – Sarah, Margaret and Stephanie!!  They are doing some fun stuff!

There was lots of time to hang out and socialize during the course of the weekend – over mealtimes, Zumba, kombucha from Kissing Rocks and hotel lobby sitting at the Delta Beausejour, which I have to say, I really enjoyed – it’s a great place to people watch!  { Plus, it was super pretty with the glowing globe lights and wood wall. }  And as sessions switched throughout the day, you never knew who you may end up sitting by or walking to the next session with.

These people fill my bucket in a different way.  I left Blogjam feeling inspired and motivated to keep at what I’m doing over here at Farm Fresh in a way that suits me and my life.  Will you see big changes? Nope.  I feel like I’m on the right course.  And I think that was validated for me through several conversations this weekend.

I didn’t take my camera out of the bag all weekend, I wanted to be a little more relaxed so I just snapped a few pictures throughout the weekend on my phone.  So, if the quality of the pictures isn’t up to par, just know I was too busy having fun to worry about perfect pictures.

And here’s a prelude to more of my Blogjam story from this year….maybe you caught it in my Insta-stories?

The moral of this story? Find your people.  Get out of your comfort zone and connect with people who you can connect with.  And make sure that you fill the bucket of those around you and be sure your bucket is filled, too.  And if nothing else, find a circle of people that you can google the populations of the Atlantic provinces with in a well-lit room on a Saturday night.

To be continued,

Lori

Did you know we’re in this together?  You rely on me to tell a good story or take you along on an adventure.  But did you know I need you, too?  I do, I really do!!!

Here’s the thing.  I can write and post and yammer on on all my platforms but without you guys chatting back to me, I’m talking into the air.  Seemingly pointlessly, right?  No one likes talking without getting a response.  Down right irritating, right?  Spouses, you know what I’m talking about, right??

It’s the same on social media.  I’m sharing my life with the people who choose to follow along.   I’m talking to you!  I’m not just posting for the fun of it.  I am reaching out so we can chat.  I’m sharing things that I hope will speak to you and that it will spark a conversation.

Know what I enjoy? I love chatting about your plants, your children, your homes and your awesome thrift finds.  I want to hear about your animals and your latest painting project.  I sincerely want to create a space online that creates conversation about all the things.  Conversations that everyone feels welcome to join.

I had a friend tell me her sister wondered if I was still doing ‘Farm Fresh’ because she hadn’t seen any posts lately.  Well, here’s the deal.  If you aren’t interacting with any of the posts on Facebook or Instagram, that tells the powers that be that you don’t really care about the content and they stop showing it in your news feeds!!!  Did you know that?? So, some of your favourite pages and people will slowly slip off your radar and you won’t see the new posts!  We can try to blame the algorithms but truly, if we don’t interact with those pages, people and feeds, they will go away.

So – here’s what you need to do.  Like, comment, share – anything!! Interact with the pages and people that speak to your soul.  Those things that take but a second can really make a huge difference in what shows up in your feed.  But, to be perfectly honest, the people behind those pages benefit, too, when you interact with them.  When people are interacting with our content, FB and Instagram are willing to show our content to more people.  And more people means more new friends and followers.  And more opportunities.

A few fellow bloggers wrote about this, too.  Colleen of Curtains Are Open wrote THIS post and Laureen,  aka Peady,  of Tempered with Kindness wrote THIS one which sparked my writing the post you are reading.  I want my followers to understand that it takes two and that we are a team.  A team relies on each other.  So, as much as you rely on me to post, share and share some more, I rely on you for interaction.  And I’m going to start asking more, too….because, well, it just makes sense, right?

So, cheers to team work!  I like working along side you on the world wide web, people, I truly do!!!

To be continued,

Lori