And this was November

November 30, 2017 - Tobia 2 Comments

Wow… November is gone. NaBloPoMo is over and I blogged everyday until last night. That’s when real life finally caught up with me. Long work hours, some personal stuff and after sitting 30 minutes in front of a blank screen I just decided why force it. I don’t have to prove anything. Just writing 29 days in a row is such an achievement that there is nothing to be ashamed of to finish off a day early.

Look at all the posts I wrote:

#1: Trying something New – NaBloPoMo
#2: Snack Time – The Egg Sandwich or Eierbrötchen
#3: Park Life #11 – 2017 Photo Project
#4: Instagram Accounts I Like Scrolling
#5: Weekend in Lviv, Ukraine
#6: Kale Pie – Because Pie is always a good idea
#7: Blend in Wrapping Paper Storage – Tutorial
#8: My 10 Most Beloved Blog Posts
#9: Morning Thoughts
#10: 10 Things you don’t know about me – Part III
#11: My Favorite Books 2017 – Part I
#12: Creative Weekend :: 12 von 12
#13: Empty Mind going Crazy
#14: Homemade vegan bath bombs – Tutorial
#15: My Favorite Podcast to Listen To
#16: Apple Yogurt Cake with Maple Butter Glaze
#17: My Favorite Books 2017 – Part II
#18: Wochen(Glück)Rückblick :: My Happiness Review #25
#19: Pine Needle Advent Wreath 2017 – Tutorial
#20: One of those days…
#21: Little Beech Nut Bells in Red and White – Tutorial
#22: Sleep Envy – Sleep Habits and such
#23: Best Traditions I grew up with
#24: Every day Life on a random day in 2017
#25: Saturday Morning Coffee Thoughts
#26: Things I learnt from Grandparents
#27: Winter Bucket List 2017
#28: Fruit Warm Breakfast Oats – 6 variations

There were days I found it difficult to write specially when it was late. But only because all the post I had planned or in my mind were requiring a bit more time or some photos I didn’t yet have and light was gone. So I have a long list of posts I wanted to share that didn’t see daylight yet. But I will share them eventually. The Egg Sandwich post was an idea from 2 or 3 years ago…

Would I do it again. I wouldn’t say no to it. It was fun. But it is time consuming and I also have to admit that my plate was/is a bit too full currently. So I am glad that I can take a breath and don’t need to show up here daily. But maybe I will. Definitely more often. *fingerscrossed*

For now I will enjoy my couch and relax a bit.

Happy evening,

Tobia

Creative Weekend :: 12 von 12

November 12, 2017 - Tobia 2 Comments

Good evening you all,

I have spent this weekend in a little bubble. The blogst bubble. When in January boldly deciding and announcing that November would be my blogging months I only half hoped to snatch another ticket for the blogst conference. However I was lucky and so I was able to attend the conference this weekend here in Berlin for the second year in a row.

I share this Sunday with you in photos as it is the 12th of the months and Caro is collecting day recaps.

Last night was long so it all starts with coffee.

On my way through Berlin. Of course I see lines, structures and patterns again. The station of the color fits my outfit. Photo didn’t turn out to good though.

While getting right into chatting lets have a bit of breakfast. “glück” was one of the sponsors and I can really recommend their jams. And I am usually no big fan of store bought ones. But the black current one… really good.

Than we start the sessions. I found them all even better then yesterday. We started of with “How private is private”. It seems like this topic is an evergreen. And while I often wonder just about that it was more entertaining because of Jette than the content itself – at least for me.

I really enjoyed the next session by Ricarda. In a way the things she said spoke to me. Not only did she say “who cares about having a niche, I have many interests and I want to explore them all” she also left us with some interesting questions to think about.

1. What is success for you? 2. What makes you happy? 3. How do this two connect? 4. What hinders you? 5. What is your fear?

After that a quick lunch break before heading for workshops.

We had the choice between Newsletter and SEO and I first stopped by the first one but soon switched to the latter. I guess I do know quite a bit about both already but SEO is always much more complicated.

Obvisiouly I had to take one of the obligatory photos of the blogst letters:

And then all the magic was over and I am on my way back home.

Back home I first needed a cup of tea. While I drank it I discussed SEO with Mr. ❤︎ and dived right into optimizing.

Then I remembered the goodie bag.

Now it is time to relax and couching just waiting for food to be delivered.

It was a wonderful weekend. But I am really tired, emotionally drained and my head is spinning with ideas, lists and to-dos. While I didn’t learn as much as on my first conference it is still as inspiring as ever. Treating myself to two days just thinking about blogging and allowing myself time to just dwell in what could be.

It’s me-time. And all worth it.

Happy Sunday,

Tobia

MerkenMerkenMerkenMerken

Trying something new – NaBloPoMo

November 1, 2017November 3, 2017 - Tobia 8 Comments

Hello There,

Remember my resolutions from January? I wanted to become more adventurous. One of my goals to do so was to try something new and participate in the NaBloPoMo. Ever since I started reading San’s blog I learned about this online community event and I was intrigued but never really committed.

Well, this year I will give it a try. Do I have a lot of time currently? Not at all. Maybe even less then the last years. So why, you wonder. Well, for one it is on my resolutions list and I tend to try to follow through. Second, you might have realized that not much time has spent on this blog lately. I am hoping by writing more and daily I will start getting into the groove again. Start working that creative muscle. Elise said in one of her podcast once: “Making breeds making.” So I am hoping once I committed to this project I will breed blog posts.

Now you might wonder what NaBloPoMo is. Maybe you have heard that November ist the month of writing, writing novels. Well, I don’t think I will ever do that. And so did other people and started writing blog posts instead. I think I can do that.

Anyhow, I am hoping to get back into the blogging world. Start reading and commenting bit more. I will also spend a weekend at a blogging conference. So here we go, getting back to this little space in the internet. Hope you follow along and if you have time leave a comment. I will appreciate it.

Happy November,

Tobia

My Favorite Instagram Accounts

November 25, 2016November 25, 2016 - Tobia 2 Comments

Good Morning!
It’s Friday and the weekend almost upon us. Yeah! And you probably spent a ton of time on Instagram on your weekends, right? Please say yes and tell me I am not the only one scrolling my hours away…

Anyway during my 100 day challenge I found a ton of new Instagram Accounts to follow and figured why not make a post about the people/accounts I most like, the ones that inspire and the ones that make me miss adventure.

Denise Lomas – I am truly in love with Denise’s work. There is only one word describing her art for me: whimsical. I never understood why people would want to buy art but I would get a tiny piece of Denise in a heartbeat. It just makes me happy seeing it in my feed. And I am catching myself wondering how she manages to make those ink backgrounds. But see for yourself and follow her.

. For a star to be born. There is one thing that must happen. A gaseous nebula must collapse. . So collapse. Crumble. This is not your destruction. This is your birth. . [Zoe Skyler]. . #healingart #mymedativeart #drawing #stars #leaf #ink #indianink #indianinkdrawing #micron #micronpenart #drawing #blue #indigo #showmywork #exposeme #carveouttimeforart #creativelife #creativeprocess #illustration #modernart #contemporaryart ©merakimotif

A photo posted by @deniselomas on Nov 9, 2016 at 3:59am PST

Jen Lashek / willowmarkworks – Jen is another artist and painter. I love her delicate watery paintings of flowers and ferns. And she has gorgeous patterns too. And then it isn’t too bad that it is mainly blues and pinks and she lives in Vancouver.
https://www.instagram.com/willowmarkworks/
Emily Mann / inkindigo – This is the third account with blues. And gold. Emily paints on paper with rich blue ink and golden pens. But she also makes clay ornaments and frames. I love looking at them.
Alex Strohl – Beware of his account it my induce a huge wanderlust. Many of his pictures show the rough outdoor of the north west of the United States and I have lost my heart a bit there as you know. The beauty is just breathtaking.
Jenny / Jenn Adores – When I look at Jenny’s pictures it is always calming my mind. Her pictures are white and clean and beautiful. I could never have such a great apartment/house but I adore (pun intended) looking at them. But maybe the best part are her hashtags. They are hilarious and tell the real story.
I have this thing with floors – Well, I do too. So it’s fun to see what people find around this crazy planet.
Elise Cripe | Gettoworkbook – I love lists. I love planning. And I love sneaking a peak into other peoples planers. And Elise developed this amazing book and shares lots of fun pictures in use. Even though I don’t own one (yet) it is inspiring to look at.
Remy | ragdoodles – Some little fun in my feed. It just makes me smile and most the time it involves coffee. Can’t do anything wrong there…

Now it’s your turn. What is your favorite account to follow. Please let me know because you can never have enough inspiration and pretty pictures in your feed.

Happy scrolling,

Tobia

I submit this list to the Freutag and Fridays are for Friendships linkup.

WOCHEN(GLÜCK)-RÜCKBLICK :: MY HAPPINESS REVIEW #22

November 19, 2016November 19, 2016 - Tobia 8 Comments

Yeahh for the weekend. I really looked forward to this one. I need some couch time. The last week was so busy.

Lets see. It all started out with a trip to Hamburg for Blogst 2016. But first I spend 3 hours chatting away with a family friend before I made my way o the hotel.

It was my first Blogst conference and I wanted to go for the last years. 2016 I got lucky and managed to snag a ticket. And I was excited. And nervous. I don’t do really good in environments where I do not know a single soul. I tend to hide and read a book instead. That is what happened during the networking event Friday night. I showed up, I felt uncomfortable after a short while and so I disappeared and read in my room. But I was annoyed with myself because I did want to meet new people who share the love of blogging.

So next try on Saturday and I went down to breakfast even though I didn’t want to eat. And I met Dana who I already knew from a lettering workshop I attended in 2015. We ended up spending lot of time together and it was fun.

The conference itself was fun too. After my not so impressed experience in 2015 at Blogtacular I just had low expectations for the sessions. And being part of the online community (in my private and business life) I didn’t expect to be blown away with new knowledge. Still I learned a few things. But my main focus was to get back into the blogging habit, find new inspiration and meeting people. And I did talk to Lisa, Annalena, Nina, Sandra, Jessica, Julia and Sabine and a few others I am sure. Also I wanted to get a bit more insight on how cooperations work and how other bloggers are handling that.

So it was nice to have a few sponsors set up and getting to talk with them. I talked long with Schwartau. They also provided the most yummiest Gingerbread Cupcakes. Food and Beverages for pretty good in general. Lunch was mainly salad (sponsored by Bonduelle) and sandwiches which was fine by me but I didn’t get a sandwich the first day and didn’t have breakfast. Well I had a few cupcakes more. The plates and cups were sponsored by RICE and we could take ours at the end of the conference. I might keep my cup but will give my plate to my godchild for Christmas.

My main focuses for the conference have a big check mark. Monday I sat down and wrote a blogpost, I also had a major inspiration overload and scribbled down lots of ideas. Wednesday I made an editorial calendar for the rest of the year and took a bunch of pictures. I am so motivated. I will not meet my years goal but I am (hopefully) back.

However this was only the weekend. I also spent a lot of time with my photography courses. I decided to sign up for a 9 months long class and a couple of special topic classes. One is low light photography where those pictures where taken.

As you can see I have been busy. What have you been up too? I’ll be heading over to Denise and Andrea to see how your week was. Will I meet you there?

Happy weekend