It's Simply Lindsay

04/12/16

Simply Styled April Photo Challenge

If you follow my blog or Instagram, you’re probably familiar with the daily Instagram challenges I participate in, but this month is different. This month is better. I decided to take it up a notch and host my own photo challenge! Simply Styled April does not solely focus on fashion pictures – the prompts are open to interpretation, and I’ve loved seeing the participants’ creativity!

You can join in any time; just follow along the calendar and prompts and use the hashtag #simplystyledapril with your photo. Hop on the hashtag to see what others are up to and to get inspiration and even make some new friends.

There are fabulous prizes involved, too. If you follow all of the hosts (tagged in this photo), you’re eligible to win prizes – (see this post for more information on the prizes). There will be a random grand prize, a Simply Styled award to the most stylish participant, and a special birthday prize on April 28th, so be sure to join in on that date.

Check out my photos for the first week’s themes – hopefully you’ll feel inspired to join in.

04/8/16

How to Contact Huffington Post

Bloggers and writers like to connect with their readers as much as possible; that’s why most writers aspire to publish their work places outside their personal blog or website, such as on Huffington Post. Contributing to Huffington Post gives a great boost to your portfolio and adds credibility to your name as a writer, and on a personal level, it allows you to potentially reach an unlimited audience. People all around the world read HuffPost daily, and it’s a useful platform to expand your readership and get your message out there to the masses.

For instance, my post Why I Kept My Surname After Marriage, one of the earliest posts on my blog, received only 464 views. When I posted on Huffington Post, it went viral. While the metrics are difficult to track and are limited through HuffPost (you will never know your page views), you can measure the social shares and likes. Viral numbers are obviously subjective, but for me, 70,000 Facebook likes and thousands of social shares, not to mention the story being translated and published in Japan and France in a matter of three days was viral enough for little ole’ me!

04/4/16

The Biggest Relationship Myth

It’s hard to avoid it, the biggest relationship myth. Everyone tells it to us. Family, friends, chick flicks, books, magazines, music lyrics – heck, we even propagate this myth to ourselves.

Relationships are hard work.

Relationships aren’t supposed to be simple.

Relationships are messy.

Or, as Coldplay simply puts it, “Nobody said it was easy.”

Wait, you’re wondering, how is this a myth? Relationships are hard work. Good relationships aren’t supposed to be easy. My relationship is messy.

Before you angrily close the page or write me an irritated comment, hear me out.

03/31/16

April Instagram Photo Challenge Plus Giveaways

For the past seven months, I have participated in Instagram photo challenges and have shared the themes and my looks with you. In April, the month of my birthday, I decided, why not host my very own? So that’s exactly what I’m doing! I’m so excited to announce my April Instagram Photo Challenge, #simplystyledapril, with some amazing giveaways. Seriously, I wish I could participate for a chance to win, but ultimately I’m excited that some of YOU fabulous people will have a chance to enjoy them.

It’s simple to participate: follow the daily prompts from the calendar, interpret however you want, and share your photo on Instagram with #simplystyledapril. Participate every day starting April 1 or just whenever you feel like it, and be sure to follow the hostesses for a chance to win prizes. We are all mentioned in this link, so you can easily follow the hostesses from there. Photo challenges are a fun way to connect with your friends and find new ones, so be sure to tag friends and share the calendar so they can join in on the fun! Oh, and by sharing the calendar and tagging friends, you will get extra entries towards those oh-so-amazing prizes I was talking about.

03/29/16

An Open Letter to the Surly Grown Men Internet Bullies

Dear Surly Adult Male Internet Bullies,

Hi, I’m Lindsay, mom to sweet, funny little Ginny girl, dedicated high school English teacher, freelance writer, and blogger. I surround myself with a small group of close friends, am extremely close with my family, and am very protective of the ones I love. I believe in kindness, manners, forgiveness, and grammar. I’m a fervent learner and wish I could go to school forever. I have never had a brain freeze, believe in eating breakfast for dinner, and have strangely strong emotions about death. I strongly believe eating raw cookie dough is worth the risk of salmonella and have had a soft spot in my heart for the elderly and homeless ever since I was a kid.

Why am I telling you all of this, you ask? Because I want you to understand that I am a person, just like you.

03/27/16

March Fashion Challenge (part 3)

The end of March is nearing, and I have an exciting announcement for April’s challenge in a few days, so stay tuned! Here are the themes from part three of my March looks, and in case you missed parts one and two, you can check them out here and here:

• Cool, cropped, and collected: you’re not going to catch me ever wearing a cropped top, so my interpretation of this theme was to go off of ‘cool’ with a nice, breezy lace top.
• Spring in my step: the spring wasn’t in my step today, it was in my hair! I’ve been playing around with some new products for wavy, low-effort hairstyles (the best kind, am I right?).
• Feisty in florals
• Fine lines
• Sunnies for sure: My favorite sunglasses at the moment come from H&M.
• Sunday’s best: If you celebrate it, Happy Easter, and if not, happy Sunday everyone!