Posted on | August 23, 2011 | 12 Comments
it’s been ages since i did a Week in Vignette post (i seriously don’t think i can keep up with any link ups. SOS is the only one i’ve consistently been victorious at), so i thought i’d share some from the past month or so.
i’m still loving vignette the most for android. any other awesome droid photo apps you’ve been loving lately?
Posted on | August 22, 2011 | 1 Comment
here are some lovely places to peruse this monday morning!
shop // blog // twitter // facebook
shop // facebook // look books // outfit algorithms
blog // shop // facebook // twitter
thank you to all my amazing sponsors this month! loverly bunch of people if i do say so myself. and i do. i just did.
if you’d like to see your shining face here next month, just shoot me an email to reserve your spot as a sponsor on the Haps! all the numeros are here and i’d be happy to have you! this coming friday will be the last day i’ll be accepting sponsors for September, so holler at me at team.mandy@gmail.com if you’re so inclined.
it’s monday – go buy yourself something pretty! yeah, you. you deserve it.
Posted on | August 21, 2011 | 23 Comments
Mandy:
tank: nordstrom
shorts: f21
flip flops: target
watch: modify watches
Harper:
dress: target
shoes: famous footwear
keeping the summer streak going – shorts and a tank top! get down with your bad self pacific northwest. last night we stepped out for a family date – mexican food and a trip to target (you fancy huh?). the weather was perfect, the kind where you come outside and it’s dark and you expect a chill but it still feels like the sun is out. soaking up every last second of our pretend summer, thankyouverymuch.
Harper looks like a little kid in these pictures, it really freaked me out when i first saw them. she starts preschool in less than a month! let’s change the subject so i don’t cry.
i got this awesome watch at the Clever Girls party at BlogHer from Modify Watches. i’m totally not a watch girl and cannot even remember the last time i owned a watch. but i’m pretty much in love with this one – i love how big it is and you can switch out the bands! i’ve been wearing it non stop since i got back from san diego. the Haps stamp of approval fo sho!
we’re watching pre-season football (hold me you guys. HOLD ME) and eating doughnuts. i see some serious car washing in our future, too. what did you guys do this weekend?
Posted on | August 19, 2011 | 123 Comments
this happened to me last year right before BlogHer, too. i started questioning blogging, feeling like i didn’t want to do it anymore, didn’t feel inspired, etc. after i returned i had a new love of blogging, having met tons of women who were full of the asskickery and friends i had made because of the blog. i felt refreshed and renewed. i was reminded of why i do this. i suppose it’s only natural to go through these ebbs and flows in blogging. i suppose it’s called finding your voice?
i feel like this time around, it’s not that i’m uninspired or tired of blogging. it’s that i feel like i’m too inspired and have no real direction. the part of me who started this blog with no intentions whatsoever tells me i need no direction. it’s my space, i can do what i want and all that jazz. this blog started the way thousands of other blogs do – to keep family and friends up to date on the monkey who expelled itself from my nether regions (good morning!). it’s been over 2 years since i started it and things have really changed. as much as i love sharing stories about Harper and being a mom, she’s getting to the age where i personally don’t feel comfortable talking about her as much. someday, sooner rather than later, i probably won’t talk about her at all. what will i talk about? how will Harper’s Happenings keep going? these are questions i ask myself, too.
i enjoy playing around with my style, um finding my style, and trying to inspire others to get dressed in things they like. but it’s not like i want to have a full on fashion blog. at the end of the day (lets be real for a second) the majority of my wardrobe is from target and goodwill. i have no idea WHAT i’m doing. i simply get dressed and hope it looks good. i really enjoy reading style blogs (a lot a lot a lot) but i personally could never have one for the simple fact i just wouldn’t feel right doling out advice about fashion. however, i couldn’t be more stoked about SOS and what it’s done for both how i feel about clothes and, if i may be so bold, the way it’s made other women feel about clothes. i love that i have a style “segment” if you will, but changing the Haps to a style blog is not something i would ever want to do (or could do in good conscience. hello.)
being a mom is the biggest most prominent part of my life. what would i write about if not Harper? will people be interested in me? one of the first things i get when i show up to a places alone is “where is Harper?” (i love that people love my chitlin that much, makes me smile every time). would the online equivalent of that happen here? and moreso – would i care if it did? she is definitely my little muse – maybe if i take her out of the big picture, blogging just won’t seem as important anymore.
the days i want to close up shop here are the ones where i see the reality of people shine through and it’s not particularly pretty. i have felt lately like there are a lot of fake people, people pleasers, users, etc. there are days i get sick of trying to figure out who is who and what person is legit and real and cares. sometimes i think i have that figured out but then i’m proven wrong. it’s all a bit much sometimes, so those are the days i simply do not exist online. offline i know who is real and who matters and who cares and those are the only important ones.
the days i can’t believe i even think about quitting the internet are the ones where i read something so good i stand up and pump my fist because my brain is so happy to have read it. the days where i share parts of myself more than just photos and cute stories and someone can relate and tells me so. the days when i read someone’s post and i relate so much i have to tell them. the days where i get a text from someone i only know because of the internet and can’t imagine not knowing them. shutting this mother down could mean not meeting other people i know i’m supposed to meet. or do i already know enough people? maybe too many people?
i have gotten much better lately at simply removing people i don’t enjoy or who seem fake from my online life. unsubscribe, unfollow or just stop speaking to. who has the time? i would hope that if my readers stopped liking my content they would do the same (seriously, why torture yourself?) and not stick around because they felt they had to. but i was doing that on some blogs, etc. not anymore. if it’s not my cup of tea, i’m not drinking it. no need for anyone to get huffy puffy – people change and so do tastes. let’s just let people leave quietly without berating them. your number of followers has NOTHING to do with your worth as a person, a writer, a blogger, anything. blogs in general should be entertainment. if you’re not entertained, made to think, inspired, etc, then peace out and don’t feel the least bit bad about it. further more, it’s entirely possible to like someone and not like their blog. and vice versa! you may feel a connection with me (ooh lala) but come to find you can’t stand the fact that i don’t use capital letters. no hard feelings if you need to bounce. promise.
thinking about blogging and my place in it has been very humbling. i cringe when i think of my early reviews and giveaways, asking for votes in things that didn’t matter (but they did to me at the time), and other things i thought i was supposed to do. the thing about blogging and the reason it’s so great is there is no blueprint. but it’s easy to get caught up in what others are doing and feel you’re supposed to do it, too. looking back, i know my mistakes, but i’ve learned from them. i will continue to make mistakes because i’m human and this space is no different from my real life – i’m learning as i go.
(this massive word vomit post for example, maybe i will regret it later. learning and junk!)
the bottom line is i love blogging. i love the people i know because of it, the fun opportunities it has brought me. i love having a place i can be me and share my life – the good and the bad – and put my pent up creativity to use. i love that i have a baby book of sorts for the nugget. i love that it has helped me figure out who i am and what i should be doing, and i love that people can come here and relate, start conversations and find other people they may connect with. the bad times in blogging are still far outweighed by the good. so i can’t in good faith quit. i’d miss it all too much.
you know how sometimes you just need to get it all out into the universe? that is what this post has been for me. it’s been in my drafts half written, then 3/4′s written, and if all goes well, i will finally hit publish. who knows. maybe it’s one of those letters you write but never send. that would be ok, too. i just needed to acknowledge and throw out how i’ve been feeling. i hoped i’d come home from BlogHer feeling ZOMGINSPIRED! and delete this post draft, but that didn’t happen. BH did reiterate to me that i’m supposed to be here, but these feelings of confusion still lingered. hopefully vomiting all of this into the blogosphere will do the trick.
if not…life goes on, right?
here, enjoy this regardless:
p.s. thanks for being here. you’re cheaper, and sweeter, than therapy.
