Mingle Monday: Wanderlust

Time to mingle! Welcome this sweet blogger from Wanderlust.  ********************************************************************************      1.What got you into blogging and how long have you been at it?

I started my blog at late 2010 out of curiosity. I wonder what it's like to share thoughts with others and how wonderful it is to get love from readers.

I named my blog wanderlust because my dream is to be an author/poet who travel the world.

I've shared so many things on my blog and I have learnt so many things since I first blogging. As I kept writing, I found out that this is super fun, to help each other, inspire people, spread love and also beauty.

2. What does blogging mean to you? Business or pleasure?

It's a pleasure to blog. Seeing that there are other people than me on my blog makes me so happy. When someone leave a comment and send me a cute message, I get the biggest smile ever. I love my readers.

3. What do you mostly blog about?

I mostly blog about my daily life (and its crafty adventure), simple do-it-yourself, psd tutorials, recipes, digital&film photography, and some creative writing.

4. What do you do besides blogging? What’s a normal day like in the life of Ann?

Well, I go to school every weekdays, I take science and art class, I'm part of the school choir and I think I'm the only one who hate the uniform. I love eating chocolatte bread + nutella like it's the first time the sweetness touched my tounge. At weekends, I spend my days reading, knitting/crafting, doodling or hanging out with my lovely soul-sisters.

5. Do you plan out your posts or just kind of wing it? Strict schedule blogger or go with the flow blogger?

I am go with the flow blogger, I write whatever I have in mind. But I save some posts in draft so I won't run out of post hehe.

6. Are you a daytime blogger or night owl blogger?

Night owl blogger! Night is the best time to write what's in my mind. And by the way have I mention how much I love owl? This is out of the question but you have to know that I love, love owls so much! They are very cute and looks like cats with wings + feather ;)

7. Name a few of your favorite blogs and why?

the secret life of bee - She inspires me a lot, with her words and I also love her style, her photography and her design!

lazy explorers - I love both her blog and herself, she's a very nice human being.

crafty girl & in whirl of inspiration - They are super hilarious and fun! Take a look at their blog and you know what I mean :)

blythe ponytail parades - One word: amazing!

my latest obsession - Sam is the most kind-hearted girl I've ever met in the blog world, and to say thanks to her, I want to offer a 10% discount code to spend at my handmade shop! My shop name is craftings, it's a little online shop that sell handcrafted jewellery, clothing, and gifts for your beloved one from a smoke free and pet free home (I actually have a cat but he lives in the garden so he won't touch my crafts!). I run craftings since 10th of march and now I'm offering a 10% off for every sales over $10 at craftings with code "10forSam". 

Thanks Sam for having me today. Nice to meet you all and happy shopping! ;)
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Aw, thanks so much! Happy Monday Ya'll!

A Day On The Strand

A Few Things: For Brandon

**Away at my market, chasing my dream. I thought this would be appropriate. I wrote this almost a week ago**

The last week and a half has been a whirlwind. We went on vacation together, I went on a vacation without him and then I got back and we spent the whole weekend seeing each other only a few times. In that time I have missed him a lot. But I think it does us a lot of good to have time apart because it makes everything better when we are finally together again.

I love that guy with all my heart. We’ve grown so much since we first started dating and it’s amazing to be able to do it together and learn more about each other and life in general as we go along. He is so strong, and honest, and beautiful inside and out. He’s got a really good heart and a lot of passion. He pushes me to work harder and brings me back to reality when I get carried away. We don’t have a lot of really deep conversations but when we do, they’re really good. And today was one of them. He told me that he had a self-realization about his fears in life and thinking about his future. Basically that he wants to find passion in something and not be afraid to go for it but it’s not as easy said as done. And it was something I can really relate to a lot with my business and trying to make it work. I absolutely love what I do. “Fashion” to me is an art. It can be so beautiful. But making art is scary. It’s vulnerable. You’re prone to failures and it can be disheartening. I’ve always tried to be a positive person. I always try and try and try. Yes, it’s scary but it’s passion that compels me and the thrill of creating and the excitement when you finally make something you can be proud of that keeps me going.

A lot of the stuff I first started sewing was really bad. And some of it now is still not AMAZING but I’ve gotten so much better and learned so much that I really can be proud of my work. And I try to put that same effort into blogging, photographing, and designing in general. I try to project my style into the “look” you see on here and on my store website.  I want it to represent my character, my beliefs, my attitude, as well as my mood. And that goes for everything I create, I try to materialize all of that, me basically, into my products.  Not exactly an easy thing to do, it just takes a lot of time, practice, and dedication.

This is a huge part of my life. Creating. Passion. The scary-ness of it all, trying to make a living out of it with no stability or reassurance of a solid monthly pay check. But it’s all worth it. My life is so much richer and I love it.

I’m so proud of Brandon. I’m so grateful that he gets up and goes to work at 3 in the morning so that we can live in our apartment. I’m so grateful that at the end of the month when I have hardly anything to contribute to rent that he still loves me and supports me. I appreciate it so much because all of his hard work allows me to have the opportunity to do what I love. I know he’s not happy with his job and he does it anyways. And for so long he’s been kind of wandering what he wants to do for the rest of his life and trying to find passion in something he can make a career out of. For a while he was kind of lost but I think he has finally found his way and is on a path that will get him there.  I want so much for him to be happy. I want him to be able feel the sheer happiness and sense of accomplishment that comes from creating.  I love to see him pour his heart into making something. It makes me so extremely happy. It’s something we can share. I can know what he’s feeling because I have felt it too. And that’s the best feeling to share. Whatever art form he may choose, it means so much to me that we can relate on something that is such a big part of my life. And I hope someday that he can follow his dreams and make it a big part of his as well.

On an ending note, here are a few words that are close to my heart. For my dear boy:

Believe in yourself. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face… You must do that which you think you cannot do… The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste, experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

I love you Brandon. 

Haley in Wonderland

I love blogging. I get to meet so many awesome people, including this gal that turns out to also be from Houston! Her name is Haley and she is an AMAZING photographer that is going to school in Montreal. So she asked me to feature her shop on the blog and once I saw her work, I was MORE than happy to oblige. Seriously, I may be a little obsessed. Here is a little sample of the photography you can find in her shop:     Store- Haley in Wonderland. Also, 15% of all profits go to an organization called children of promise which she volunteers at in Kenya. 
And if you'd like even MORE, you can visit her blog here: Haley in Wonderland

Good luck Haley, you got a good thing goin' there! (: 

Sponsors & Readers

Sponsors: I tried to email most of my "swapping" sponsors about expiring ads however most didn't respond. If your ad has expired and you would like to continue swapping, email me at samwish3@gmail.com! Oh, also, I have set the ads to rotate with every page load so that everyone has a chance to be seen!    And Readers: I have to apologize about my frequent changing the layout/header here. There's no real excuse, I just can't help it! I hope you can forgive me and I hope that you like this current one. Hopefully it'll be here to say a while. 
 That said, I'd like to share with you how I added the background image to my tabs! You can follow the link here to see the little tutorial.
Have a good weekend everyone!
 

Self Portrait

For some reason today I had the urge to create some self portraits. Nothing fancy, just me. The thing is, I took these pictures two days ago with the intention of them being "outfit" pictures. But they're more self portrait pictures than actual outfit pictures. So it kind of worked out and that's what I'm going with. So here are some self portraits. Just me.  And if you're interested ;) Top-forever 21, Necklace- DIY, Skirt-Thrifted, Shoes- Target
The past week I've been a busy little bee trying to prepare for a fashion market this Saturday. So I'll be closing shop tomorrow morning until Monday while I'm away. Can't wait for this weekend, it's going to be a fun one! 
Oh and P.S. I responded to all my awesomely, great, fantastic comments soooo if you wanted to go back and read them (:

It Gets Better

So I have this best friend that is an amazing singer. I've been wanting to share a video of him for a while but was waiting for the right one and the right time. 
His Grandmother died on Tuesday and his mom posted this video afterwards, It Gets Better, expressing that this song always lifts her spirits. It is an amazing song, I hope you will listen to it. Jackson is the first male singer, btw.
 
To my best friend Jackson, my heart is with you and your family. You are and will always be my best friend.