Tag: Lifestyle Blog

A Letter to my Readers and Some Life Updates

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Hello Friends!

It has been…quite some time since I last wrote a blog post! I’m so sorry. Fall 2020 was my wildest semester yet. I gravely underestimated my ability to balance every obligation I had and because of this, all of my creative outlets suffered. It made me really sad and this semester I’m making a promise to myself that I will create more often. Not because I have to (I could easily never blog again and the world would keep spinning) but because I want to and need to for my own well-being. Blogging makes me so happy and I need to start doing more things that make me happy. I’m extremely happy to be writing this post right now.

I figured I should use this post to give some life updates because like I said…it’s been quite some time since my last post and A LOT HAS CHANGED. First thing that changed was I got a Peloton Bike! Y’all the Peloton Bike+ has been a game changer for my fitness, my mental health, and my life overall. I was struggling with staying consistent with my home workouts and there would be months where I was killing it and months where I could barely get myself to workout at all. Ever since I got my Peloton, all of that has changed. I workout at least 4x a week and I feel so good about that aspect of my life. I highly recommend anyone who can afford it (they have payment plans) and loves fitness to get one! Use my code: RTWNHY for $100 worth of free accessories.

The rest of the Fall semester consisted of me balancing my law school clinic work with being the Managing Editor of the Gaming Law Journal and my class work and just mentally preparing for hours of Zoom every week. It was quite draining. I honestly wasn’t sure how my finals season was going to go as I felt like I was scrambling through the entire semester, blinked, and then it was over. However, I’m happy to report that for the FIRST TIME EVER, I made the Dean’s List in law school! If you would have told liddle 1L me that one day I’d make the Dean’s List I’d tell you that you were trippin’. I still check read the e-mail to make sure it actually happened and that I didn’t dream it haha.

Sometimes law school can make us doubt our intelligence and greatness but last semester (as hard as it was) was really affirming for me. My friend and I were in the same clinic and we helped our client get their case dismissed with our work. I was so proud and for one of the few times in my law school career, I felt like I could actually BE a lawyer. It was great. I even decided to return to clinic this semester and see who else I could help with my legal knowledge.

There were many other events like me taking driving classes (I still don’t have my license y’all), WRBLSA’s 53rd Annual Convention and Gala (that I was blessed to MC), having a few amazing guests on my podcast, and much more. The last few months have been A LOT. However, I feel like I’m coming into myself and even though we are still in a panera bread (pandemic), I’m grateful for where I’m at in life right now. IT’S MY LAST SEMESTER OF LAW SCHOOL (I’ll have a whole other post about this later). I’m alive and healthy. My family is alive and healthy. My mom is almost completely vaccinated. Everything is as good as it could be.

All of that being said, I’m still planning, working on executing, and doing more things that I ENJOY, starting with this blog, working towards my podcast, and just creating content that feels more me. A rebrand might be on the horizon but I’m still thinking about it haha. IT’S BLACK HISTORY MONTH so I got some wonderful BLACK CONTENT up my sleeve for the blog and Instagram. Stay Tuned.

If you’re still reading I love you and appreciate you. Thank you for all your support.

With Love,

Mara

3 Tips for Getting Out of a Creative Funk

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I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I can’t remember the last time I left my house or what but the last few weeks I have been struggling with deciding what content to put out on both my blog and my Instagram. My podcast has been a tad bit easier just because I usually do interviews and for my solo episodes, I always have something that’s easier to talk about than to write about for a blog or put in an Instagram caption. Whatever the case may be, I have definitely been going through my own version of writer’s block…taken a step further and an overall creatives block. As I mentioned on the most recent episode of my podcast (listen here), I started Mattie James’ #ConsistencyChallenge for my Instagram feed. Long story short the challenge consists of posting a picture on your Instagram feed every day, preferably ones that represent your brand and such. I have actually enjoyed it and will probably write more about it at some point in the future. However, after a few perfectly planned pictures and captions, I started to draw a blank. That carried over into my blog and finals season being in full effect didn’t help me. This led to me not having much to blog about and having to figure that out and how the hell I was going to post for the rest of the month. I would like to say I somewhat figured it out and decided that I should share this process with all of you.

Do a Brain Dump

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The first thing I do when I’m not sure what I want to create is to have a brain dump session. A brain dump session consists of me getting a blank piece of paper, setting a timer (usually for 5 mins or so), and just dumping all of my thought onto the page. The fact that I already know what the purpose for the brain dump is probably helps my mind focus on thinking about content, my assignment, or whatever it is I’m trying to garner creativity from. I feel that 5 mins in the perfect amount of time to force yourself to just get everything out and then figure out what to do with it later. After I brain dump, I sift through the words on the page and see if anything sounds like something I can expand on and usually I have at least 1 or 2 good ideas to run with.

Research What Other People in Your Niche are Creating

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I’m not saying that it’s entirely impossible to create never before thought of content or posts or whatever it is you need to create but let’s be real, many things have been talked about before and THAT IS OKAY. As a lifestyle blogger the topics aren’t necessarily what make me unique. What makes me unique is my perspective and experience with a topic. When I’m particularly stumped on what to create or write, I google “lifestyle blog ideas” or whatever topic I’m interested in writing about, whether that be “fitness blog posts”, “law school blog posts”, you get the idea. It’s okay to get inspo from other content creators. If the topic is entirely too specific, be sure to give that person credit and link back to their blog. The same goes for Instagram content as well. Creatives deserve credit, which I’ve made my thoughts on such known on my podcast as well (listen here).

Ask Your Audience What They Want to See

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Don’t get me wrong, this may not be the best approach depending on your audience and/or your relationship with them but it doesn’t hurt to try. I remember when I was not entirely new to blogging but also still figuring it out I used to come up with ideas and conduct polls on my Instagram stories to see what kind of content my audience wanted to see. After all, they are going to be the ones reading and/or engaging with it. You might as well see if they have any suggestions for topics they’d like your opinion or help with. Definitely don’t do this one too often or your audience will wonder why the hell are you a content creator if you can’t think of any content. I would say this is good to do once every few months or so. When done properly, it can be extremely help. The reason I even thought to write this blog was due to a suggestion from one of my mutuals on twitter. Thanks Della girl!

These are some of the ways that I deal when I can’t for the life of me think of what kind of content I want to create. Usually if I do one or all of these 3 things, I can get out of my creative funk and figure out what it is I want to write about or create. Hopefully these tips can help you if you are having a similar block.

Did I forget a suggestion that has helped you? How do you deal with writer’s block or get out of creative funk? Let me know in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this article and found it helpful, please share it on your social media or with a fellow creative!

Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging

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Ever since I started blogging, many of my friends have come to me for advice about starting their own blog. I love this because it means they notice that I’m doing things and as a blogger, recognition is good. However, having to give advice over Snapchat or Instagram messages is harder and time consuming than I have time for so I decided to write this post. These tips can also apply to anyone in an online creative type of work such as podcasting or running a specialized Instagram page. From one amateur blogger to the next, these are the things I wish I knew when I started blogging.

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  • Put aside a few consecutive hours a week to focus on blog related things. (Really focus!)

Honestly, if you can master this and make it a habit, the rest of these things will come pretty easily to you. My biggest struggle over the last year and half or so has been finding the time to just sit down and work on my blog for extended periods of time, without distractions. I read a post from Mattie James (mattiejames.com) that discusses the concept of batch work. Batch work is basically creating a bunch of content all at once. My effectiveness in this comes and goes but as of lately it’s been something I am aiming to make routine.

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  • Figure out your main topics/focus aka niche (Keep this list small)

When I first started blogging I wanted to talk about everything under the sun: health and fitness, pop culture, social justice issues, self-growth and development, mental health, anything and everything. It wasn’t until after I tried writing about all of these topics and realized that I was headed nowhere fast that I decide to dial back on the topics I was going to focus on for my blog. Now I focus on self-reflection, self-growth/self-development, and goal-setting with a sprinkle of health and fitness and travel thrown in every so often. Keeping your list of topics small is key to avoiding being overwhelmed as a blogger. Even the person who loves writing more than life CAN’T write about everything. I know that once I establish myself as a blogger with a brand, other opportunities to talk about my various interests will present themselves.

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  • Consistently creating content (and posting it) is the hardest thing to master.

It’s so funny because whenever people ask me what advice I have about blogging I tell them “don’t underestimate how hard it is to consistently write and create content.” Many of the time they tell me they’re not worried about that because they have so many things to write about that creating content won’t be hard for them. Fast forward a few weeks later and either 1. They haven’t started their blog because they’re busy or 2. They have started it but only post once in a blue moon (like myself, guilty as charged haha). The thing people don’t understand is that writing a blog post isn’t hard (per say) but what is hard is writing a blog post worth reading. There have been many times I have written a post, read it back, tried to edit it, and just realized it wasn’t even worth reading for me, much less to put out. Creating consistent and worthy content is hard. Don’t underestimate it.

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  • Friends =/= Supporters and that’s okay! (Don’t take it personal)

Just because you are friends with someone does not mean they are obligated to support your blog. I know. That sounds insane. Why wouldn’t your friends support you? They’re your friends! That’s what friends do for each other. I know that’s what we’re taught to believe but the fact of the matter is that friends =/= supporters and that doesn’t make them bad people. Maybe your niche is just not FOR THEM. When I first started blogging I was sad that all of my friends weren’t reading my blog (the clicks don’t lie!) but then I realized that doesn’t matter. I love all of my friends and our differences in interests and hobbies. That being said if one of my friends started a horseback riding podcast I can’t necessarily say I would be tuning in every week to hear about life at the stables. I probably would retweet all of their new episodes but that’s as far as that would go. That doesn’t make me a bad person. Some people won’t even retweet you, and that’s fine too. We are all inclined to support things that interest us. I know my content isn’t for everybody, I focus on writing for the people who it’s intended for.

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  • Reading other bloggers, watching blogging webinars, and whatever else is useless if you don’t apply the knowledge! (Seriously, don’t waste your time)

I tried to read every blog post and watch every webinar I could about blogging when I first started. There where countless Google searches for content about blogging from my phone and laptop. If it was free, it was for me! After reading and watching all of this stuff I can say I have maybe applied 1 or 2 things out of the 25 I’ve learned. That’s because I was more focused on indulging in information to try to imitate the greats instead of reading/learning some and then applying it, reading/learning something else and applying, and so on and so on. I’m sure I would have gotten way farther in a quicker time if I took it one step at time. This whole blogger life is a learning process though and Mara went through it so you don’t have to!

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  • This shit is not cheap/free (If you want to be next level)

Okay so I never knew that I was going to have to spend so much money JUST to make blog appear legit. Between having my own domain, needing a PO Box for my newsletter, paying for stock photos, and eventually attending blogging conventions, this blogging life gets REAL costly REAL quick! If blogging is just a hobby for you it’s not something you have to worry about but I eventually want to take my blog to another level as a source of income like many of the women I admire. If you have similar ambitions as me, it’s going to cost you before it pays you. Don’t get discouraged and make sure you can finance your dreams.

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  • Engagement is a major key.

Okay so something I’ve recently learned is blogging doesn’t stop at the blog posts. In order to have people actually give a damn about what you have to say, you have to engage with your social media followers. I know that is so obvious…how didn’t realize it before? I don’t know, honestly. Even after reading it from many people who blog it never clicked until recently.

This is just a little bit of what I wosh I knew when I started blogging. Even with utilizing these tips there are still so many things left for bloggers to learn. The best thing is to do your research! Here are some of my favorite blogging resources where I read up on blogging tips and sometimes even score a free webinar or two.

  • MattieJames.com
  • Bloguettes.com
  • LostGenYGirl.com

If you are fellow blogger or have a postcast/website, I wish you luck and success! It’s not an easy task to be successful on these e-streets.

Are you a blogger? What is one thing you wish you knew when you started blogging? Let me know in the comments! 

The Best Way to Spend 24 Hours in LA

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A month or so ago (for the first time in a while) I decided to leave Vegas and bring in the New Year somewhere else. The first place I thought of was my second home, San Diego, CA. Before I made my way to SD, I decided that I wanted to make a stop in none other than Los Angeles. I had wanted to hike the Hollywood Sign all year and I hadn’t been to LA as an adult for non-sorority related things…ever. I messaged two of my line sisters and told them I was coming and I already had an itinerary in mind. I flew into LAX Friday night, my LS Adriana picked me up (bless her heart), and we went back to her house in Ventura County where we rested until the next day. Our Saturday was going to be full of activities. Here is what I recommend to make the most of a day trip to LA: a hike (or other physical acitivity), brunch, a nap, and a night out in downtown LA.

The first thing on my list of things to do was to take a picture in front of AND hike The Hollywood Sign. Stretch before you start your hike so you don’t pull your groin like I did. Finding the picture I wanted actually took much longer than any of us anticipated, only because I had forgotten the instructions of a Youtube video I watched telling me how to get the perfect picture. Luckily we weren’t too far off and we were able to make it to the actual location. The pictures came out super cute!

After we took these pictures, we kept going on the hike. However, we made wrong turn and came to a dead end. It worked out those because this is where I got my favorite set of pictures from the hike. After convincing my LSs not to abandon the hike for brunch, we finally made it in the right direction of the hike. Make sure you stretch afterwards to prevent injury.

After the hike, we checked into our hotel and made our way to brunch. After I did my research for Bottomless Mimosas for 40 mins the night before, I decided to have the girls and I check out Eat This Cafe. Our wait was very short and we were in the restaurant within 10 mins of getting there. (Pro Tip: go on Yelp and utilize their “wait in line” feature.)

The cafe was much smaller than I imagined but I liked it that way. Sometimes it’s better to have a more intimate setting when you know you’re going to be boozin’ it up with bottomless mimosas and catching up on our lives for the last few months. After we were seated, we looked over the menu and I couldn’t decide what to eat. At brunch, I usually order eggs benedict (my favorite) but I also had a sweet tooth so I compromised. I ordered crab cake eggs benedict and a mini cinnamon roll (really much of a compromise haha) and BOTH were delicious. I also appreciated that our waitress kept refilling our glasses with mimosas. I would definitely come back to Eat This Cafe and try some of their other items! Brunch came to an end and we went to the liquor store to grab some stuff to pregame before we were to go out later that night.

After a much needed nap back at our room, we woke up, showered, and got ready. My best friend Alex drove from Vegas and met us there. She brought us food so that we wouldn’t drink on an empty stomach before going out. Once we were dressed to the nines, fed, and tipsy, we ordered our lyft and headed out. Our next destination was The Continental Club.

I loved The Continental Club! I’m not sure if there was a theme night or what but the DJ was playing late 90s, early 2000s (my favorite type of music at a bar or club). There was an event of some sort so it was really crowded but once I went to the bathroom and collected myself, I got used to it. The drinks were made really well and like I said, the music was great. I’d love to go back another day and see if I feel the same way. I may have drunk a little bit too much because the next morning I had one of the worst hangovers of my mid-20s. Thankfully Alex drove to LA and she just had me in the backseat of her car as we made our way sunny San Diego.

Overall, I enjoyed my day trip to LA. While I do prefer longer trips for the most part, I believe my day trip to LA was perfect. The only thing I wish I could have added was another brunch for the road but being sick the next morning made that impossible. I do want to go back for a longer period of time but I have other cities I’d like to see before I do that.

What’s your favorite city to take a day trip to and what do you like to do there? Leave a comment and let me know!

My Trip to Punta Cana (and a funny story)

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So about a month ago I left for my Summer 2018 Vacation to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. I originally was only going to write about the 5 Things I Learned Traveling to the Dominican Republic but a few people have asked me to just write about my general trip. It’s been a little close to three weeks since I left Punta Cana but everyone who knows me knows I have not stopped thinking, talking, and dreaming about it since I got back so maybe once I write about it in detail I will get over this spell (doubt it but it’s worth a shot! Haha).

  • What airline did we fly?

We flew on Delta Airlines and this had been my first time flying Delta as an adult. I enjoyed how much stuff there was to do on the plan. There was a wide selection of movies (I watched Black Panther) and games on a monitor on the back of the seat. The roundtrip ticket came out to $800 once we added insurance for our luggage.

  • What resort did we stay at?

We stayed at Breathless Punta Cana. The story of how we chose our resort is funny. We both were doing our research looking for the best all-inclusive resort we could find. I came across Breathless and they only bad review I saw said it was too much of a party resort. Sounds like a good problem to me. I texted Lizeth and told her I liked Breathless and she said she was sold when she read the same review saying it was too much of a party resort. I knew we were going to have a good time! For 9 nights and 8 days we paid around $3,200 all together which came out to around $1,600 each which honestly for all you can eat and drink, a gym, and everything else the resort has to offer, it was worth it and more.

We arrived late at night on Wednesday July 18th. When we got in our arranged transportation he handed us a can of El Presidente (DR’s local beer) and we drank as we took in the fact that we were actually in the Dominican Republic. We finally got to the hotel and we could hear the party going already. We checked in, got our keys, hurried to our room, showered, got ready, and went to see what was happening. The first thing we did when we left the room was go to the lobby bar and order some drinks while there was some karaoke night type thing going on. I tried to order a Paloma (tequila and squirt) and learned quickly that that’s not a thing in the DR. I got tequila and sprite instead and it tasted like shit! Haha I literally almost spit it out. Maybe I would just have to stick to drinking tequila sunrises. Finally we made our way to the bar upstairs. The vibe was great. I loved the variety of music they played. From Top 40 hits, to old school rap, to Bachata and Reggaeton, I was definitely feeling the vibes. After a whole day of traveling and a night of dancing and drinking, we went back to our room to rest.

What did a typical day at the Resort look like:

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Up until Tuesday when we went to Saona, our days were pretty standard assuming neither of us had a hangover and needed to rest a bit. We always missed breakfast until a few days before we left because we could never find ourselves ready to go by 10am and they stopped letting people in the breakfast buffet at 10:45ish. Our first day we went to eat lunch, chilled at the beach for a little bit. I enjoyed reading on the beach, writing a little bit, standing in the water and checking in with myself, saying some affirmations, and meditating. Finally, we went to the freestyle pool which had music playing and the party we had been looking for. Within a few hours I knew this was where we would be spending most of our days at the resort. We quickly befriended the bartenders (always a good thing to do no matter where you find yourself) and they told us there would be a foam party later that night that they would be back for after the pool closed to be cleaned/set-up and they went to get food. We threw on our cover-ups over our swimsuits, ate at some fancy French restaurant (in retrospect this was a horrible idea because the portions were small and we had been drinking all day and planned to keep going), and freshened up a little bit, and headed back to the pool. The foam party was a blast! Unfortunately there was only one the whole time we were there because I loved it. We definitely didn’t make it out for the night time activities because we were both exhausted and drunk as hell.

What was the funniest thing that happened on our trip?

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So Friday was very similar to Thursday but the only thing that differed the next day was that Lizeth had a paper to write on her study abroad trip and I resolved I was going to the gym at the resort while she finished writing her paper. The gym was actually a really nice fitness area. It had mostly everything I wanted (excluding a stairmaster) but honestly it was so humid in there I probably would have passed out if I even tried it (the only other day I worked out was the second to last day before we left). I got back to the room, showered, and waited as Lizeth finished up her paper and we left for the beach to repeat what we had done the day before. However this night ended differently because I got wayyy to fucking drunk because I thought the pool bar closed at 6pm and we didn’t make it out to the pool until 5pm. What was my solution for this? Taking 10 shots of tequila in an hour. No I’m not exaggerating. I counted them. The pool bar only closed at 6pm on nights they had pool parties, which they didn’t so it was actually open until 7pm. Long story short, we stayed until 7pm, only God knows how many more shots I took after that. I also had some shots called Scooby Doo (like the song, Scooby Do Pa Pa) and Pink Pussy. I couldn’t really tell you what is in either of them but they are both fruity and sweet. I’m pretty we also had some Mama Juana which is a local drink in the DR made with rum, red wine, honey, and bark. THAT is some dangerous stuff. Anyways, after all of this… it was a hot mess express. We went back to our hotel room and ate shit in front of our room door. The entire village (aka our floor) came out to help us up (after hearing the thuds of us falling down, I’m sure), and we couldn’t stop laughing. My drunk ass laid down on the shower floor and ended up flooding our room we knocked the power card out so there was no light in our room! I legit called it “Noah’s Arc.” The cleaning ladies noticed water coming out of our room and were talking to Lizeth in spanish trying to sweep the water out of the room with a broom! Finally Lizeth got them to leave and just threw all of our blankets on the floor to soak up the mess. We pissed somebody off because they didn’t give us blankets for the rest of our trip lmaooo. All of that

What Excursion(s) did we go on:

Saona Island

We didn’t leave the resort for an excursion until Tuesday when we decided to go to Saona Island. This was also the first day we made it to breakfast because they were picking us up at 7:25am and told us to eat beforehand because lunch was until 1pm. We picked up other people from their resorts and had an hour and half drive until we made it to where the boat was. I wish I had packed some snacks because a rushed breakfast, unlimited rum & coke on a boat, made me hungry and a little (a lot) drunk. I really didn’t think I was going to make it to the Island. For real for real, I thought I was going to be the drunk bitch throwing up in the Caribbean Sea, bringing dishonor to me and my family.  We first had snorkeling in the sea, then we went to the blue lagoon, and we finally made it to the Island. I loved Saona Island sooo much. The water was clear and beautiful (but salty, don’t open your eyes), the sands was so soft (I was playing in it for like 10 mins because drunk me couldn’t believe how soft it was!), and it was just incredible. In my 25 years of life it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The trip was quite a long one, we didn’t get back until 6:30pm that night but I’d do it again. I highly recommend going.

Overall Experience:

I really enjoyed my vacation in Punta Cana (if you couldn’t tell haha). I really feel like it is somewhere I can see myself going many more times in my life. I enjoyed staying at Breathless Resort very much and all of the staff there were amazing. Everyone was so kind to us and hospitable. I honestly wish I could move into the resort but unfortunately I’m still a broke-ish upcoming law student so that will have to wait. Maybe one day.

One thing I would change:

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I wish we had done more excursions. I’m definitely going to plan for that when I go back…probably sooner than later. I know I want to go to Hoyo Azul and a tour of Santo Domingo the next time I’m there. I also want to consider staying in an AIRBNB for a day or two just to see how it is to be off the resort, but we’ll see.

I would say if anybody is considering a vacation to somewhere beautiful with friendly locals and an overall great time, they have to go to Punta Cana and you should stay at Breathless because it is the best! However, even if you can’ t go to Punta Cana, taking a vacation for a few days is a good way to ground yourself and reconnect with yourself. In the moments I was on the beach or sober (shit, sometimes even drunk), I enjoyed checking it with myself, my emotions, and just being at peace.

Have you taken a trip somewhere recently that you fell in love with? It doesn’t have to be abroad. Let me know in the comments! I’m always looking for traveling suggestions.