Life Lessons from a Blog Makeover: Be Yourself!

12 February, 2013 Leave a comment, you know you want to!
Be-Yourself

Hi guys! I hope you like the new look here on Tangerine Turtle. I've worked hard on it and am proud to say that all of the custom designing and graphics were done 100% by me! So I was sitting here this morning admiring it, (yes, really...lol) and had a few thoughts... I realised that redesigning the blog was much more than an exercise in making it look good. Why did I even feel I needed to change it? After all, it looked pretty good already. (Lots of people had told me so.) ;) Well, it turns out, that it's all part of a bigger picture. My blog is my window to the world, but it's also the world's window into me. The old design didn't really speak to my heart. I had designed it to try to appeal to as many people as possible. When I was choosing the colours, I kept asking myself questions ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]

I’m Taking My Blog Back!

22 January, 2013 9 interesting opinions, add yours.
My-Blogging-Goals-for-2013

Hi Everyone, Happy New Year and welcome 2013! A lot has been going on with me behind the scenes in the last few months and as you know, I haven't been posting much here on the blog. The reason is simple, but not easy to talk about. 2012 was a great year for me in many ways. I learned SO much- about writing, blogging, marketing, social media... I threw myself into using all of this information as much as I could. Then it happened. I lost my way. I lost my writing heart and soul. It happens to a lot of bloggers. I know. I've read their stories. I've read how they've had to regroup and either decide to throw in the towel or find a new way forward. I love writing. I love blogging. I can't quit. I don't want to quit. I won't quit. I'm finding a new way forward. It turns out that ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]

You’re Only as Old As You Feel: And I Feel About 55!

17 October, 2012 5 interesting opinions, add yours.
Birthday cupcake

"You're only as old as you feel." I don't know who said this originally, but I think it's true. A few weeks ago, my family and I went to a birthday party for one of my husband's friends. This is a friend from work and I had never met him or his wife before. One of my daughters had a birthday party to go to at the same time at which a parent was required to attend (swimming party), so Chris and the other two girls went to their party before us and we met up with them after the swimming party. I arrived with things in full swing, feeling exhausted and not a bit social. I had a brief introduction to Chris's friend and his (beautiful) wife and quickly found one of my good friends and promptly parked myself on the sofa next to her with the kids. I like to people-watch and ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]

Practise The Habit Of Excellence

24 September, 2012 Leave a comment, you know you want to!
Aristotle

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit". ~ Aristotle This is one of my favourite sayings. The first time I heard it, it really struck a chord with me. In our society excellence seems to be measured in all sorts of ways. 'Success' is a whole topic in itself, but the idea of excellence goes hand in hand. I will confess that sometimes I struggle with this topic. You see, I constantly analyse myself and my world.  I am prone to being self-critical to a fault. Like a lot of us, I get caught up in 'keeping up with the Joneses'...(who ARE the Joneses, anyway?!) In any case, when this happens, I typically find myself searching out inspiring people and studying how they do things. What are they doing differently to me? How can I be more like ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]

How to Derail Your Blog in Three Simple Steps

21 August, 2012 2 interesting opinions, add yours.
blog_traintracks

Hi guys, Did you know that you can totally ruin 8 years of hard work and derail your blog in only 3 simple steps? How do I know this? Because I managed to do this to myself this year. Step 1- Research Yourself Into Oblivion As most of you know, I LOVE to learn. I am not the kind of person who is content to say that I don't know how to do something. If it interests me, I will find a way to learn how to do it. I believe I am just as smart as the next person, I just might not have the information they have about a given subject. So I make it my business to find out. I'm a research-hound. If it was around when I was born, my parents would have made my middle name 'Google'. (As it happens, it's Magdalene...you know, like SAINT MARY MAGDALENE? Let's not go there right now...) Anyway, I ... [Click Here to Continue Reading]