Grown Your Instagram

Hey guys, I have started writing a series of posts with tips on social media in the areas I create content. I am sharing these posts on my personal website. You can check out the most recent post here with tips on how to grow your Instagram.  Be sure to subscribe to the news letter over there, so you can be the first to receive all the fun content and join the conversation.

Surfing The Net

I like to unwind by being lazy on the couch or in bed with my computer. My Netflix, couch, TV, chip eating marathons are not exactly like they were before we had Luke but we find time to chill out these days after he goes to bed. I love to spend time catching up with my fav bloggers and YouTubers and just spend time going down the rabbit hole that is the internet.

Here are some of my favourite online places to hang out:

The Girls With Glasses

If you want to smile, hang out with these ladies for a few minutes during one their videos and you will be feeling the good vibes. They just do fun stuff on their blog and you know they are having a good time.

Jen Loves Kev

She shares her adventures in fashion, cooking, family life and motherhood in such an honest way that it allows you to connect with her. I am always inspired by how other women do motherhood, its so neat to see how people do things differently and similarly.

Love Taza

She shares her adventures around New York City and the world with her family, in the most beautiful and energetic way. She inspires me to soak up all the moments of my day and see the joy in everything.

What are your favourite channels and blogs?

Social Media Tips For Businesses & Brands

I love social media and the opportunity it gives me to connect, discover and share. I spend a lot of time working on my social game and I am super excited to share some of the lessons I have learned over on Lambton Shield today. These strategies are specifically geared toward entrepreneurs and brands looking to create meaningful connections with their audience. Thanks for stopping by, checking out my post and if you would like to connect with me, here are the links to my socials:

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

SnapChat heatheraudreyl

Google+

YouTube

Happy Weekend!

Social Media Barriers

Do you follow a ton of people from your town on social media, scroll by their pics, like and comment on their posts but are unsure how to approach that, "social acquaintance" if you ran into them at a coffee shop?

Confession, I use to feel socially awkward about saying hi to someone I followed on social media and was only moderately connected to in, "the real world". 

Social media has made it very easy for us to see into the intimate lives of our acquaintance's, from a distance. Peering in through the images people choose to share and sometimes leaving the scene without a trace or "Like". 

When I would see these individuals, I knew they had just been married or remodelled their kitchen but I was afraid to say hi and ask for more details. Why was I so afraid? They were the ones putting that content out there, and they had accepted my friend request. They knew, I knew, what was going on in their lives. I felt as if there was a barrier that needed to be broken. 

I love social media and the potential it provides me to meet cool people, that I would not otherwise have the opportunity to meet. I love commenting on people's photos and I love it when people comment on my stuff. I not only love to share my story with others, I want to know your story too. People are cool!

I decided a few months ago, I was going to overcome my fear of crossing the social media barriers from online to real time, so I started sending personal emails to a few people. 

When I was pregnant with Luke, I connected with another pregnant mom on Instagram through a hashtag. We were at the same stage in our pregnancy and begun following each other, as we shared many similarities in preparing to be mothers and interests in general. After giving birth to our boys, one day a part, I decided I needed to know more about this girl so I invited her to email with me. Turns out, we have crazy amounts of things in common and now I have a wicked cool pen pal in California. 

I also decided to email a girl I kinda knew and had mutual friends with but had never officially met. We both tweeted and blogged and interacted online. From what I knew, Tara Jeffrey was a pretty cool chick, that I wanted to know more about. So I emailed and invited her for a visit. Since then, we have been in touch and had the opportunity to help each other out with a few things. She is a super cool mom, freelance writer and farm girl in training and I am so glad we have had the opportunity to connect real time. 

It's scary to put myself out there sometimes, but in my experience it's totally worth it. I want to get to know people for real, not just the version I see on their Instagram feed with perfectly filtered photos, the real people, because that's way better! 

If you have felt the same social anxiety that I have felt, I invite you to step out of your comfort zone and say hi to that person that you kinda know from Facebook, they could be your next, real friend.

xoxo
Audrey 

Easter Makeup Tutorial by H.A.L. Makeup Artistry

Easter Sunday we woke up to a little snow falling so I decided I would brighten up my day with spring colours on my skin. I shared my makeup application in my first makeup tutorial, check it out below. If you enjoyed my video, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel and stay tuned for more videos, I will post something new every Wednesday. 

Why I Blog

I have been blogging for about three years now and I love this creative outlet more today than I did when I started.  I find so much freedom in putting my thoughts down and sharing them with the world.  I have also discovered some amazing bloggers who tell stories about their own lives and experiences in a way that I can relate too, which makes me feel connected to these people that I otherwise may not have had the opportunity to meet.

I started blogging because I was trying to sort out the thoughts inside my head and writing them down really helped.  Then I decided to share these thoughts because of the positive experience I had when reading other blogs.  Having the ability to relate to a bloggers situation gave me comfort knowing I wasn't alone in my feelings and opinions.  So I thought, maybe I can offer someone else this same comfort by sharing my story.

I believe that we have the ability to create amazing connections with others if we simply remove the fear that they may judge us.  Life is not a stream of perfect instagram photos, its messy, disappointing, exciting, hopeful and so much more and for me to feel truly connected with someone, I want to see all of their sides, not just the pretty ones.  And for me to acquire the trust of someone else, I also need to be willing to show all my sides, to me this is the equation to a real relationship.

Social media presents us with the opportunity to connect with people all over the world who share similar interests as we do.  By using social media as a two way communication tool, I have connected with graphic designers in LA, Yoga Teachers that travel the world and regular girls like me who have the same interests as I do.

I blog because it provides me with a creative outlet and a way to share my life with anyone who is interested in taking part in the conversation because I want to connect with people.