January 25, 2015

Sunday Lately, 4

January 25, 2015

This week was kind of crazy. I had my first solo Local Levo event (if you’re in Pittsburgh, please join us in Feb at Wigle Whiskey!), I feel like I worked it really hard at work, and Jonathan and I are going on Day 2 of burger eating. Yesterday was Bubba’s after the Beer Blizzard and today is Steer and Wheel food truck during Weather Permitting. They have my absolute favoritest fries in the city.

Updating

Still updating this little bloggy space of mine. I love how these prompts let me remind you so much that things are still a-changing around here. I’m okay with that!

Reminding

..Myself not to get wrapped up in things I cannot control. So much of my job is apologizing to people because something didn’t work correctly. Not that I did anything wrong, but empathy is the first step in disarming an angry person. Mix that with my knee-jerk reaction of apologizing for stuff in my personal life and I’ve got a sure-fire way to think that everything is my fault.

Needing

Furniture! I have a bunch of hand-me-down stuff and it works but it is only comfortable really just for me. I can’t host people for long periods of time without being embarrassed that my living room furniture consists of an old armchair and ottoman slip-covered in sheets from Target and a papasan chair that really belongs outside.

Amusing

..Coworkers with my responses to emails we all get. For example: when someone sends a message in all caps, I’m that person emailing the department, “OKAY, I’LL ANSWER THIS ONE.” Always good for a chuckle.

Being

Just being. As in reminding, I just need to be and I’m not. I should schedule massages for myself more often so I can “just be.”

What are you up to lately?

January 23, 2015

Five things that need to stop in reality shows

January 23, 2015

I’m not a huge TV watcher. When I come home from work, I’m either working on freelance, developing things for this blog, ~~feeling guilty for not more frequently~~ guest posting for PghCBN, or trying to give my eyes a break from screens.

Long story short, when I do actually watch TV, it’s usually some dumb zone-out reality show. I know, they are total trash, but I really just want to not think about my job and responsibilities and get absorbed in someone else’s life for 45 minutes.

I fully buy in to competition reality shows. I love seeing deserving people win $10,000 for putting together an edible meal made with pickled chicken parts, gummy worms, and some weird looking squash. And then Vanderpump Rules because omg the drama. And the clothes. And the drama.

But I still love to make fun of this trash that advertisers support knowing that we’ll overlook some of these cliches.

Why are you crying?

If I were on a competition show, my nerves would be shot, too. When I’m maxed out, I tend to break down and have myself a good cry. But I prefer to do that alone. Sometimes Jonathan sees it.

I don’t want someone who is judging me to see me cry, though. If I can’t keep it together while I’m baking cupcakes or something, why would Gordon Ramsay trust me with his restaurant? Maybe going on a competition reality show isn’t the most mentally sound decision someone should make this week.

Via

We can tell he’s only dating you because you’re on TV, why can’t you?

So you’re sitting around, bummed that you can’t get a date. You’re pretty, intelligent, and miraculously into sports.

“I know!” you exclaim. “I’ll go on a reality show to find quality men and the prize will be a lifetime together with me!”

Oh sweetie, oh honey, no. What is wrong with you that you need to go on a reality show to find the love of your life? Haven’t you seen the tabloids?! The last 10 of you already tried that and the guy either cheated or they got divorced.

Maybe that was a little harsh, but really.

Yes, we all are here to win.

The cliches of, “I’m here to win!” and, “I know I rocked that round” are just obnoxious filler. Of course you’re here to win! No one says, “I’m here to lose. I’m just happy I made it here.”

You’re running around the world to win a million dollars. Of course you’re not putting yourself through that without the end goal of winning a million dollars!

Via

Plus, the people who say, “I made the best dish in that round” are clearly jinxing themselves.

We know you got that job because you’re on TV.

I’m sure you’re a great writer and you’re qualified to write a makeup series simply because your bathroom looks like a new Sephora location. But I know just as well as everyone else that the only reason why that blog will pay you to write is so you’ll talk about it on your cable TV show and drive traffic to their site.

Clever PR move. Kudos!

The really drunk girl.

I understand you need to drink to cope, but why oh why are you letting yourself get this horrifically, embarrassingly drunk? You are on national TV!

Not only are you glorifying black-out-drunk drinking, you’re making yourself look really stupid. I’m sure your new blog contact is so thrilled that you’re representing them.

Via

What reality show cliches would you add to this list?

January 21, 2015

Why customer service matters as a blogger

January 21, 2015

Don’t underestimate good customer service. I am always on the phone with Tubu.net, my hosting tech support, a lot. As someone who “does” customer service for a day job, I get it from both sides of the coin.

A little bit ago, I had a stupid problem, but it seemed like a not-stupid problem. I was trying to upload pictures to WordPress and it wouldn’t let me. It kept saying that the file wasn’t permitted for security reasons and I’m all like, “What’s such a security threat? It’s just a picture of my outfit.”

I thought it was because I updated my theme. The last time I added a new theme, WordPress freaked out. I was panicked, so I called Tubu support and had such a great experience last time that I figured I would call again sooner this time.

Let’s be honest, I’d just try to keep doing the same thing over and over expecting it to work. I guess I’m growing up when I recognize that I can’t fix this one myself.

Here’s the crazy thing: I talked to the same guy I talked to last time. It’s been a few months, sure, so it wasn’t an immediate recognition on his end, but it was the same guy as before.

It was so reassuring that I 1) was talking to someone in America who I could understand and 2) had a positive experience with this person in the past.

It ended up being a really stupid-easy fix. We tried using Chrome, removing spaces from my file name, he did some tech voodoo over in Back-end Webroot PHP-land…nada. Turns out my genius self didn’t end the file in .jpg.

That makes a difference, folks.

But kudos to Rick who was probably sitting there going, “Wow, lady, that’s the first thing I would have checked.” I know he was thinking that because most of the time I’m sitting at work thinking, “Did you really just call me when you couldn’t post to Facebook but you didn’t check to see if you were still connected to Facebook first?”

Side note: can we strike “please advise” from all emails?

It’s so rewarding when people are genuinely excited and thankful for your help that it eases the sting that you just took 30 minutes to explain how to highlight text and change the font size. Or, in Rick’s case, to figure out that I needed the file extension.

He was laughing along at with me, making conversation while we waited, and just made the overall experience really pleasant.

Sometimes you just need that little reminder that there’s always someone on the flip side. I try really hard to be nice to customer service reps because I’ve been in those shoes; I don’t want someone yelling at me, so I don’t yell at them.

Also, when you lose your cool, it’s a one-way ticket to I’m Going To Do As Little As Possible To Help You-sville.

Moral of today’s story: good customer service is imperative.

As a blogger, it’s important to think about what customer service means to you. It can be responding to comments, reading other blogs, retweeting content to support the blogger, making sure what you’re repinning isn’t just a weird spam link, etc.

You are a brand, whether you think so or not. How you conduct yourself matters and reflects back on you. Good customer/reader service deepens your brand image in a meaningful way.

Write down a code of conduct for how you’ll approach situations. What would you say if someone wanted you to write a review for free? (Here’s a great response!)

How will you approach others about writing a guest blog for them? (Here are three ways to be a good guest poster and here are some tips for inviting guest posters.)

Or do you have a time frame of when you can realistically respond to comments? Write it all down and stick to it.

This will contribute to a strong, positive image for your blog. Your readers will know what to expect and you’ll be happy knowing that you have a plan for responding graciously to all kinds of situations.

What was your last good customer service experience like? How do you offer good customer service to your readers?

January 19, 2015

Review: Boots No7 Protect and Perfect

January 19, 2015

I am in my mid-twenties, but I’m conscious about what I put on my face to help slow down the aging process. I made a decision to invest on the things that go on my skin and get a little cheap on things like mascara and lipstick.

I usually use Philosophy skincare products and I haven’t purchased anything from the drugstore (aka the drugstore section of Ulta) in ages since I no longer work close to an Ulta.

So I am out of the loop when it comes to what brands are available. Thanks to Influenster, I know that a quality Boots No7 skincare line is available at Target. I just know them as color cosmetics, but I guess they’ve grown up.

I received the Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Serum to try out.

I was excited to get it because it is for the early signs of aging. I know my skin isn’t looking old, but now is a great time to start to ward off problems down the road.

Trying out the Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Serum

I liked the way it made my skin look and feel. It was light weight and left my skin feeling fresh and supple. It was almost like splashing water on my skin. This serum made it feel comfortable and I did see a bit of a glow on my skin when I used it.

I did see that after using it for a while, I had some pitting in areas I never did before. I don’t know if I had some problem areas from acne scarring that weren’t noticeable or this created some issues I’ve never had. Either way, it was unusual to look at my forehead and see dimples.

I haven’t seen them since the sample ran out, so who knows.

Serious drugstore skincare from Boots No7

My big problem is the sample. Boots No7 says that you’ll see first results in two weeks and full results after a month. Fantastic. Buuut…..

….C’mon now. This packet doesn’t have two weeks’ worth of product in it. I think I got a scant week out of it. Sadly, I don’t know if I’ll be purchasing more.

I know, the whole point of a sample is to give you a little taste, hook you, and make you buy the full size. It’ll start to work its magic and you’ll want to keep it going. I get that. I just wish I was able to get a little more of a well-rounded review out of this.

Overall: I like this serum, but with the imperfections that I noticed the longer I tried it and the short trial time, I don’t know if I’ll be picking it up.

Have you tried Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Serum? What do you think?

Disclaimer: I did receive this product from Influenster to review. As always, you’re getting my honest opinion. This post does contain a referral link to Influenster should you like to sign up!

January 18, 2015

Sunday Lately, 3

January 18, 2015

It has been a snotty week. Not that I was being a brat, but I couldn’t stop blowing my nose. I’m lucky that I get to work from home if I need to, and in the interest of not infecting others, I worked at home for most of the week. Side note: I think someone who came to work with a cold got me sick. Oh, sweet irony.

Dwelling

I compare myself to others very easily. At the end of the week, I was really focused on what I’m doing “wrong” because I’m not being accepted in to certain groups and I realized I need to stop that. It’s like high school; why am I worrying myself about being part of a group that clearly doesn’t care to include me? And that’s all I’m going to say about that right now.

Helping

My father’s fridge broke. The water intake hose thingy has been leaking for a while and it got under the floor and finally loosened the adhesive holding it down. Yesterday, Jonathan came over and helped us rip up the old floor. Then we realized when we tried to lay down other tiles that wouldn’t work that we’ll have to do this all over again in two weeks when the special order comes in. It’s like Money Pit. Two weeks.

Forgetting

To do something, I’m sure. If I knew what it was, I wouldn’t forget it.

Switching

Still working on getting things transferred over to Gardening in High Heels. I like where it’s going but I still want to change the appearance a little bit. I think because I’m using the old design I had on when it was SyntaxxErrorrr, it doesn’t feel “new,” yknow?

Relying

On no one! Kidding. I’m pretty self-sufficient, but I will be relying on Jonathan to help transport furniture from my aunts and move things around. So that’s what I’ll be relying on.

Gardening in High Heels

Sunday Lately, 4

Updating

Reminding

Needing

Amusing