June absolutely zipped by, didn't it? It was Memorial Day and now we're staring down July 4th. To keep up with everything that happened throughout these fast-moving times, I'm going to do an end of the month blog post roundup that may eventually transition its way into emails. I hear email lists are the hot new necessity in the blogging world, and I want to be keeping up with the latest and greatest. Email isn't going away, as they say. Can you believe we have all been emailing consistently over the past 20 years, at least?
Blogging
I blogged a LOT in June thanks to my desire to blog harder, blog better, and to serve more people with tasty recipes and news. I joined in on a seven-day post a day challenge from a Blogging Breakthroughs Facebook group I am in. You'll see the fruits of this from the beginning of June, where I actually worked ahead a lot and scheduled many of these posts to go live while I was frolicking around Savannah!
To start off the month, I shared blogging secrets I've learned, which is why I wanted to start the June recap with blogging, as it's been a huge part of my month.
I also started a new series, Buy Read Taste, that showcases one of each of those things on Fridays: something I think is worth purchasing, a great read from either an online source or a good book, and something tasty I've had and want to share. I will be creating a landing page for all of those BRTs, which is on my blogging to-do list ... one of them, I've got about five scattered around!
Just this weekend I upgraded my Tailwind account from monthly to yearly, so I am pinning my brains out! I've been sick this weekend with a sinus infection, and used that downtime to pin a lot, plus make a lot of pins. It's really cool seeing some of these concepts from pinning courses be put to use as I go through the motions of creating a legit pinning strategy.
A few new blog-centric podcasts I've added to my Overcast subscription are the Do it Scared podcast, Creatively Complicated (co-created by my friend Summer!), and the Goal Digger podcast. Can you tell I will take blogging motivation from anywhere I can get it? I really believe that these podcasts have keep me so juiced up to keep my blog moving forward. I hope you can get the same feeling from these!
Travel
Speaking of Savannah, my annual girls' trip was to this Southern charmer of a city for four days and three nights. We planned very little this go round and left plenty of time in our days for luxuriating in our posh penthouse apartment overlooking River Street.
Just last week I went to Charleston for the FLOCK Presents blogging conference to learn how to better partner with brands as a blogger. I went old school and took notes by hand because it's been shown to be a better method for retaining the information... plus no online distractions! I met a lot of lovely people at the conference and hope to be bringing great content by way of brand partnerships to this blog soon. No worries, that doesn't mean I'll be selling you useless junk, just all useful necessities!
The trip back was grueling, as I got stuck in traffic for five hours on the interstate. I've been travel-shy since then and have really only left the house to go to work lately. I was contemplating a trip to the mountains over the July 4th weekend but am thinking I might just stay close by and relax.
And a much shorter trip I took was to the BullStreet District at the beginning of June, to show how far the area has come since construction began. There's a lot that is there, and a lot that is coming to make Columbia even cooler.
Recipes
This is where my blogging explosion is most evident. I've been very inspired lately with recipe development and have been making so much food. Our fridge is constantly packed, and Patrick is getting a little over it, I can tell. He barely has room to store anything, sorry noodle!
Preserved Lemon Tabbouleh Made with Bulgur
Okra and Tomatoes with Riced Cauliflower
Nice N Natural Grilled Cheese and Fruit Salad
TK in July
TK for those who aren't in the journalism world, is short for "to come" as in, when you have an article ready to go and are waiting on one fact, figure, or link before it is completely read but can still be edited in the meantime.
I don't have a lot planned for July other than looking forward to a low-key 4th at home with these dogs who are scared of fireworks. I may plan a one night trip to Charleston to get in some beach time and check out new restaurants down there. Last year I did that and stayed at this cute little "hostel" right off of Upper King. This year, I won't take Meatloaf, as dogs and the dog days of summer don't mix down there. She hated the beach and it was hard not being able to go inside many places.
This is also the first time I'll mention an e-guide I am working on that celebrate's some of my favorite places in Columbia! I don't have an estimated publication date for it, but would like to release it by mid-September. Follow me on Instagram and you may get an idea of what the e-guide will be about sooner than anyone else!
Finally, I hope to get some things crossed off of my summer bucket list. What are you hoping to do in July?