Post Comment Love and Blogger Showcase 12-14 May

Hello there and welcome back to Post Comment Love. If you were here last week, it was great to see you and if it's your first time with us this week then welcome, you'll find the #PoCoLo community a friendly bunch and every week there'll be some great posts for you to read. I'm flying solo again this week and I know you'll all join me sending Morgan our love.

This week I've managed a full week at work, I must have slipped up there somewhere but it's been good to get back into the routine and I've been enjoying spotting the rhododendrons or rosie-dendrons as MOH insists on calling them (I'll have to do a post of Steve-isms one day), come into flower. But my photo this week is from my own garden as all of a sudden, and without any intervention from me, my alliums have started to flower. 

And I think they're pretty stunning.

The BritMums Brilliance in Blogging awards opened this week in the blogging world, and if you'd consider my blog then I'd be very pleased and flattered. I don't expect to win, but a nomination is always welcome. Here's the categories, if you're stuck for which category I'd suggest Photo or perhaps Readers Choice, but who knows you might have different thoughts, and that's entirely fine.

Blogger Showcase Rachel from Rachel Bustin

1. Who are you?

Hello I'm Rachel, a 30-something first time mum to my gorgeous rainbow baby born in February 2016. I live with my husband and daughter in Cornwall, where we potter about enjoying life, working hard and eating lots of pasties.

2. How did you discover blogs/blogging?

I'd been entering hundreds of competitions every week for many years so always knew about blogs as this is where the best giveaways were! 

3. Why did you start blogging?

It was around March 2015 when my husband suggested I start my own blog, Rachel Bustin. Yes I'm afraid I have to give credit to him! We had just been through our 3rd miscarriage and I was feeling down so needed something to take my mind off things. It must have worked as a couple of months later I found out I was pregnant with our wonderful daughter.

4. What do you find most challenging?

The hardest thing and what I find most challenging is organising my time to blog. I'm back at work nearly full-time so juggling work, blogging and family is a killer. But as time goes on I'm finding it easier to get the right balance.

5. What is your favourite topic to write about?

I just love to write so the topic can be on anything really, but I adore writing about my daughter and her development.

6. Are you blogging for fun or do you have goals?

I have goals, but I do write book reviews for fun. Blogging is my side earner now so I do have monthly, quarterly and yearly targets I want to achieve. I'm not someone who does things half-heartedly so it's all or nothing for me. To earn a decent part-time wage from my blog regularly is my ultimate aim.

7. What is your favourite thing about blogging?

My favourite thing about blogging is having my own space to write about what I like and how I feel. The blogging community is amazing and so helpful if you ever need any advice so i just had to pop that in here as well.

8. Have you ever attended a blogging conference and if so, what did you think?

No unfortunately I have never attended any blogging events at all. Living down in Cornwall there aren't a huge amount going on here and it's very expensive to travel anywhere as it would need to include accommodation as well.

9. What are your 3 best posts?

  1. I wrote A letter to my Dear Baby Girl when I was half asleep. It's become one of my favourites

  2. How Hard is it to Breastfeed? 

  3. Will my daughter have a different childhood to me? 

10. Describe yourself in 3 words?

Booknerd, Redhead, Shy.

11. Are you a tea and biscuits or a coffee and cake person?

I actually don't drink tea or coffee, but I'm a huge cake lover!

12. What is your idea of a perfect night out?

These are rare at the moment, but my husband and I love to go out for a curry or chinese then see a great film at the cinema.

13. Your perfect night in?

These are the best. We love to cook up a mini-buffet with lots of picky bits, and then chill out watching a boxset with chocolate.

14. What would your best friend/OH/mum or kids say is your best quality?

Well, my friends and mum would say listener, but my OH would probably say I talk too much and never listen! 

Thanks Rachel, it's lovely to know more about you - please do grab your "I was featured" badge. If you're reading and wondering about taking part, then please do, we'd love to feature you in a future edition.

Connect with Rachel here:

Twitter  -  Facebook  -  Instagram  -  Pinterest

 

 

Post Comment Love and Blogger Showcase 5-7 May 2017

Hello there and welcome to another PoCoLo and yet another Friday. I'm pretty certain they're coming around much quicker at the moment, although perhaps it's all these short weeks. I seem to be having many more short weeks as earlier in the year I carefully planned some time off to make sure of that, but it's still taken me by surprise.

If you were here last week, thank you, it was great to see you; if you're new here then you're most welcome, I'm pretty sure that this week I can predict more great posts from our friendly PoCoLo community.  This week I'm hosting on my own, but let's get on with things.

Last week you'll remember it was a Le PoCoLo from me, I spent the day in France shopping and eating and had a great time. It was only yesterday that I went back to work, so it's been a bit full on here. There's been plenty of gardening, some more shopping - more on that soon, a visit to Grand Designs and an early celebratory meal at a posh restaurant.

And that's where this week's photo is from, after a lovely meal we headed out for a wander around the gardens, which were stunning.

Blogger Showcase Mama B from Our Alternative Life

1. Who are you?

MAMA B

MAMA B

I am BloggingMama101. A happy, home educating Mum of two, both of whom have a diagnosis of autism, hypermobility & sensory processing disorder. Married 17 years to registered deaf hubby.

2. How did you discover blogs/blogging?

I started writing my blog - Our Alternative Life - in response to our total change in lifestyle. I didn't expect our lives to pan out the way they have but it's a glorious journey and I wanted to share that with others - particularly those who may be feeling daunted by life throwing them similar curve balls.

3. Why did you start blogging?

I started in January 2016 - about 6 months after we left the formal education sector, and 3 months after my son's diagnosis.  I also now have a book review blog too - Read All About It 101, and it'd be great to see you at either of my blogs.

4. What do you find most challenging?

I know not everyone will agree with my all my opinions all of the time, but my blog is my outlet, my place to be me. So I strive to keep it as real and true as I possibly can, without causing unnecessary offence to anyone.

5. What is your favourite topic to write about?

My favourite topic is my kids! Whether it's autism related, or Home Ed related.  I've just started to do book reviews though, and my first product review is in the pipeline so I'm excited about diversifying. I did my degree in English Literature so I feel like I'm going back to my roots. My greatest passion stalwarts be Autism Awareness and Acceptance, closely followed by the awesomeness that is Home Education.

6. Are you blogging for fun or do you have goals?

I blog for me. Being a Special Needs parent means I have had to resign an enormous amount of my sense of self, in order to parent and advocate for my children. Blogging gives me back something of me, a piece of my own identity again. 

7. What is your favourite thing about blogging?

My goal this year was to get 1.5k followers on Twitter (done - in under 2 months) and to increase my blog audience (currently 9.6k views - and I'm keen to get to 10k). My goal now is to increase the actual number of followers on my blog so I can start interacting more with my readers.

8. Have you ever attended a blogging conference?

I've never attended a blogging conference.

9. What are your 3 best posts?

My 3 best posts are undoubtedly What I Think About School, Busting 8 Home Education Myths and then a tough call between Friend or Fiend (How Autism presents differently in girls) and A New Dawn (which addresses the anti-climatic feelings experienced post-diagnosis).

10. Describe yourself in three words

Passionate, Honest, Caffeinated.

11. Are you a tea and biscuits or coffee and cake person?

Both, simultaneously.

12. What's your idea of a perfect night out?

A night out would be perfect.

13. Your perfect night in?

Wine, friends, friends with wine, friendly wine, whiney friends.

14. What would your best friend/OH/mum or kids say is your best quality?

My best friend would say I am the funniest person alive. 

My kids would say my hugs. 

I probably couldn't repeat what my OH would say & it's best for everyone if we don't ask my Mum.

Thanks Mama B, anyone that opts for all options in question eleven has to be onto a good thing, I'm sure.  Please do grab your "I was featured" badge.

Le Post Comment Love 28-30 April 2017

Hello there and welcome to another #PoCoLo where you can link any post you've shared in the last week. That makes for lots of good reads for everyone, so if you're new here welcome and if you were here last week, welcome back - it's great to have you here.

I've had a fun week this week, lots of things going on as usual and cramming work into three days so I can enjoy an extra-long weekend with some time off this week and next too. There's been new stuff: I received and cooked my first ever Gousto box and I'll share more here over the weekend and some new storage for our spare bedroom, old stuff: we've been taking more things to the charity shop and finally found somewhere to recycle small electrical items after a bit of a wild goose chase. I mean it's easy to see why so much stuff gets dumped if it's that hard to get rid of things isn't it?

There's been more gardening, I finally got to potter in my greenhouse and we're making real headway adding edges to our circles, which is just as well really as the date for our 110th party is looming, and I'm hoping we'll be spending the day celebrating in the garden especially after all the work we've put in.

I've been in my element there too, with lots of planning and even some doing going on. We're in France today - hence Le Post Comment Love - so if you tweet me today my retweets might be a little slower than normal. We've lots planned for our time off, but I'm also hoping that before I go back to work next Thursday, there'll have been some crafting too. 

My picture this week is another from Greenwich Park, and looking at it now, it looks as if it should have been taken on a warm sunny day. Now doesn't that just go to show how pictures can lie? The sun probably was out, but this week has been far from warm. There was thunder and hail one afternoon, and as I'm typing this the heating is on. Let's hope the weather remembers it's the end of April soon and sorts itself out!

ACID GREEN EUPHORBIAS IN GREENWICH PARK

ACID GREEN EUPHORBIAS IN GREENWICH PARK

Blogger Showcase: Natalie from UpYourVlog

Natalie's UpYourVlog blog covers beauty, fashion and fitness, and was something she started to appease her parents and explain to them what she got up to! And a perfect night out would be cocktails, and more cocktails - or prosecco - and lots of dancing. You'll have to pop over to Morgan's blog to find out more though, and be sure to check out Natalie's best posts. I'll tell you now one of them's about fly fishing, which Natalie says "I know, fly fishing. But it was such a great experience!"

Connect with Natalie here

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