Instagram September & PUB 101

A lovely BBQ and games night for this lovely lady's birthday. Feels like you're 22!

Beat the rainy day blues away with this delicious New York cheesecake.

 Waterfront in downtown Vancouver back when it was still sunny.... 

This cutie pie (my tenant's cat) came into my life at the beginning of this month, aka #thecatdownstairs. 

For a Publishing 131, I was supposed to scout out a store for a project. Of course, I ended up buying some things for myself...

Also for my Publishing 131 project. Drawing for the first time in too long!

Just one part of our relaxing and very cheap IKEA lunch: meatballs!

I bought this strange novelty item from Chapters (a handholder for your phone) and this cute little umbrella from the Vancouver Art Gallery gift shop.

Lastly, I bought this camera pencil sharpener as a small farewell gift for one of my oldest friends who is leaving for Toronto. Unfortunately, she had already been given this exact item previously by a friend's mom! Not being one to waste, I promptly started using it as part of my own bedroom decor.

If you wish to read my post for my Publishing 101 class regarding my various gadgets and blog customizations, keep reading past the jump. 

If not, have a great week everyone!

In our increasingly technology-ridden world, getting your hands on the latest shiny toys and gadgets has become the standard status symbol for many of us over-privileged North Americans. Being a blogger who enjoys using a variety of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, I often draw back in alarm when I realize how addicted I am to accessing my accounts and newsfeeds. I'm sure that many of you can relate! However, when such media tools are used in moderation and effectively, they can be great ways with which to build both your own audience and expand your own arena of interests.

For my blog, I decided against overwhelming my audience with a cascade of sparkling, GIF-heavy gadgets as their presence would work against my goal of achieving a simple and elegant blog theme. Previously, I had gadgets that would show my last five tweets on the right-hand column of my blog; however, I eventually found the display of these tweets distracting and less than attractive. Instead, I tried to implement links to my various social media accounts in the most minimalist way I could: social media icons. These picture icons, which are linked to my social media platforms through HTML code that I copied from some helpful blogger, immediately cleaned up the overall look of my blog's homepage by condensing the links in such a neat and orderly fashion. As mentioned in my previous Publishing 101 post, I made an exception of the no-flashy-objects rule with the slideshow of my Instagram feed. Since of the rest of my blog's theme is quite minimalist, I thought it would be okay to add in one visually-stimulating element that would tie my blog to my Instagram account, which in turn reveals a lot more of my daily doings.

In terms of my profile located on the top right hand side of the blog page, I tried to make the blurb of text briefly describe myself and explain the purpose for the blog. Additionally, I used to have a picture on top of my profile picture until I realized that it took away more than gave to my blog's theme of simplicity. As a result, it just became a succinct and slightly vague descriptive blurb that would give first time visitors a general feeling of what my blog was all about.

 More recently, I added several tabs, visible on the right hand side of my blog page, which are labelled "About Me," "Contact," "Trendy Tuesdays," "Outfits," "Lifestyle," and "Travel Diary." For each, I either created a simple page of text and images or linked the tab to the appropriate content (ie. all posts labelled as "outfits," "lifestyle," or "travel diary"). For my "About Me" page, I wrote a simple introductory paragraph of myself and of my blog; this description included a brief overview of how my blog came to be and where I wished to take it in the future. For "Trendy Tuesdays," I linked my blog to every Trendy Tuesday online post that I have written for "AX3 Battery," which is an online Asian Lifestyle and Entertainment magazine that originally was begun by fellow intrepid SFU students.

I hope that this post gives my fellow PUB 101 classmates some inkling of how my blog is run and why it was created in this particular manner. Have a great rainy first week of October everyone!