Insta Fame

Last Summer I changed the way I Instagram. Not a lot... because I always like taking pictures of natures beauty... but I decided to make that the theme of my Instagram, and target a certain audience. I also learned to true purpose of hashtags and how to help others find my photography.

People make fun of people like me who do this... using all the hashtags (which I don't love and I like that I can now hide them) and caring about the content about which I Instagram. However... I entered a pretty awesome community when I decided to do this. There are a lot of really cool people in Utah. A lot of people who love to explore Utah's great outdoors and share it with others. I now have Instagram friends that I have never met, but I feel like they are my friends because of the way we have supported each other on Instagram. Maybe that sounds weird to you... but since my following has grown and I have made more Instagram friends, I have discovered lots of cool places in Utah I didn't know about, I have gotten a free me (for me and Stacey), gotten free hammocks, was invited to Havasupai this summer when I couldn't get through to reserve myself and all the spots were reserved for the entire season, and discovered some great new products... like my hammock and my new rumpl.  It has been awesome and continued to surprise me in a great way. I can't wait to see what other opportunities come my way as I continue to get more followers.

Another cool thing is being recognized for your great photography. I always feel so honored when my picture is picked out of the many to be featured on different accounts.

Here are some of the accounts that I have been featured on. The more likes I have on the picture... that shows how big their following is on their account.

I didn't even think this one was that great, but I was still happy to be featured.

Then you can tell which of your pictures are REALLY good when multiple accounts feature the same picture.

The winner of most popular photo (for others to feature) is my hammock at Burney Falls.

Even though Stacey is my friend and my photo's are not being "featured" on his account. Whenever he tags me in pictures... which has been a handful of times, I always get a bunch of new followers. Why? Because he is a mini celebrity. So people stalk me by association. I mean... I must be cool if I'm friends with him right? I think that is what his followers think.

April Fools

I guess I should have posted this yesterday.... oh well.

I have never been one that cares about April Fools. I have had prank wars in the past, but nothing that I have ever done specifically on April Fools.  Facebook is the place the I see the most "April Fools" jokes. Mostly people pretending they are engaged or something stupid like that. Actually one time I had a friend post they were engaged on April Fools and I thought it was a joke and it wasn't... but every other time it is a joke.

My friend Mike, he is hilarious. He is the one that wrote the funny comment about our poke war. I posted this yesterday and I thought it was so funny. Best thing I saw on Facebook all day.

Spring Cleaning

It's that time of year where I start feeling the need to go through my stuff and get rid of my crap. A big pile for D.I. and a big pile that goes to the trash. I feel so much better after I do this. It feels clean and less cluttered and there is something that feels good about freeing up space and letting go of things that you have been holding on to for whatever reason.

Speaking of that. It amazes me that I go through this phase once a year or more and I still have stuff to get rid of. I know I buy more stuff... but... there are also things that for some reason I wasn't ready to get rid of before, but now for some reason, I'm fine with it. I wish I could understand my mental process of letting things go. The older I get, the easier it is for me to let things go. For some reason, when I was younger... I held on to everything and I couldn't get rid of it because it had sentimental value. I still am sentimental about a lot of things... but my love for clean and non-cluttered spaces overrules my sentimental value over silly things. Now I just take a picture and get rid of it. It doesn't even need to have sentimental value per say... I always think... well, what if I want to use that again? Even though I haven't touched it in years. This is why I worry that sometimes I have hoarder tendencies... but I think I'm ok. ha ha.

While going through my stuff this time.... I found this. A Ninja Turtle kite that I bought in 2005 for 97 cents. No doubt a 97 cents well spent. I flew that kite a lot while I first bought it and it is actually a great kite. Always flies awesome. However, I don't fly kites often. The last time I flew this kite was in 2013 when John and I first started dating, we flew it for one of our early dates. Since then it hasn't been touched. It's awkward to store and it is cheap! I bought it for 97 cents! ha ha. Why did I feel the need to keep it for 11 years? Well... it's gone now. I don't think I will miss it either.  Getting rid of stuff feels so good. SO good. I struggle with it for a min, but never miss the stuff once it's gone.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 317

It's still cold. It's colder this month than it was last month. I'm hoping starting next week it will start to warm up and I will want to spend some time outside. The last couple of weeks I have been locked up in my basement.

I won another Amazon gift card at work! I won the health challenge. For two weeks you had to get your full servings of fruits and vegetables and cut out sugar and drink a certain amount of water every day. Anyway... it was pretty easy to accomplish with the diet I was already doing, so I totally won which is great because I got a $25 Amazon gift card and I have already used it and bought a Ukulele! I found a nice one for $50 and so the gift card paid for half of it. Not too shabby. I have been wanting to learn to play for a little while and it's been on my list for a while, so I am excited to get it.

I blogged about the weekend, so you know Stacey and I went to the Holi Festival this weekend. Fun that it was his first time. One day I will need to go to India during Holi. That would be pretty awesome I would imagine.

I didn't weigh in this week. I didn't because I was so discouraged last week PLUS I had a cheat meal on Friday when Stacey and I ate at Spitz. So I didn't want to be disappointed again. I got right back on track with eating healthy though... so hopefully when I weigh in next Monday, I will see results. If I don't... I am going to have to change it up and try something different. I'm not giving up.

I haven't been doing a lot this week. There has been some amazing sunsets with all of the clouds... so at least there is that perk from all of the cloudy weather we have been getting.

I have basically just been in the basement watching TV everyday after work. So unlike me right? Work has been hard this week... so I have kind of hated people and locked myself away from everyone... which isn't good for me and just makes me depressed. I should know better than to do that. I have watched a lot of stuff. Ha ha. I have more and more shows that I have to keep up on every week now. New shows I have started... I tried to watch "Casual" but it was terrible so I dropped it. I started the new show "Little Big Shots" just talented kids showing off their skills. It's super cute. I think there are only 4 episodes so far. I watched the latest season of "Switched at Birth" sometimes I wonder why I still watch that... but it has it's really sweet moments. I watched all of "The People vs OJ Simpson". It is still going, but it has been interesting to watch because I remember when that was in the news all of the time, but I was too young to really care about it and never really ended up learning much about it in my adult years. Just last night I started "When Calls the Heart" and I am almost done with the first season. I know... that is a lot in one week. I'm out of control. I need warmer weather so that I can get out of the house.

I'm super excited that Stacey is doing dancing through Utah with me. I know it is going to be a long term project that is done over several months... but I think in the end it will be super awesome because we will have more time to put into it. I love dancing... and I love Utah and we picked a great song. Can't go wrong. Unless Stacey backs out because he is too busy. It's a possibility. But I don't think he would have committed if he were not excited about it and willing to make it happen. I will keep you updated on that.

Guess that is all. Let's hope this next week is better than this last one.

Photo of the Week 315

Just another evening at Utah Lake. You would think that I would get tired of watching the sunset there... but I don't. It's so close and always beautiful.

Holi - Festival of Colors - Take 9

This last weekend I was back at the Festival of Colors. Can you believe I have gone to the festival for almost a decade? I can't. I didn't go last year, otherwise this would be 10 years... but here is the post of the last one that I went to.

This time I went with Stacey. It was his first time. We didn't spend a ton of time there... we mostly just went with an agenda. I actually convinced Stacey to do dancing through Utah with me... and this was one of the places on my list of places I wanted to get in the video, so we went to one color throwing and then we danced and then we left. Still fun though, but it's always a fun time with Stacey. I'm just thrilled he agreed to do the video with me and that we have started!

I didn't take this picture... but I LOVE it. Great capture from someone else that took it at this years festival.

I didn't take a ton of pictures this year, but these ones are my favorite from this year. I have never gone in all white before, but Stacey and I both did for the video. People LOVED putting color on our all white clothes... people can't resist. We were all colored in no time. Stacey decorated my face. Ha!

Arches National Park

On our way back from Monument Valley last weekend, Amber and I decided to stop by Arches National Park. I have been several times, but there are still things that I have not explored there.

We didn't do a lot of hiking... mostly just driving around and stopping to get out and enjoy the view and take pictures. It was kind of crowded for being off season... and then it hit me why. Spring Break.  Oh well. We still found plenty of places away from the crowd. I love visiting Southern Utah in the Winter/Spring/Fall because it isn't HOT! ha ha.

It was a fun day of exploring. There were a lot of people, but at the end of the day, we did find a spot where there were no people... on a slanted rock that we could lay down on but still see the amazing view and we watched the sunset. It was such a great way to end the day. I love little weekend getaways. You don't have to be gone that long or drive more than a few hours to feel like you did so much with your weekend.  And Amber is a great road trip buddy... especially since she can do spontaneous trips.

*Story about the 3 guys in the picture above. I ran into them on their way up and on my way down. I said hi, and I only snapped this picture because I thought it was a cool shot and wished that I had one of myself up there. Anyway, I ended up seeing them again while we were watching the sunset and after they left, Amber told me I should have given them the picture... but it was too late. We ended up parking next to each other and leaving at the same time! So... I went up to them and showed them the picture and asked them if they wanted it. Of course they did. They had an iPhone, I told them to turn on their bluetooth and I airdropped it to them. I LOVE that feature. People don't use it enough. These guys didn't even know about it... but you don't have to exchange phone numbers and text it, you don't even need to have cell service. Their name shows up on your phone and you select the picture/s that you want to send and select their name and then BAM they have the picture. It's pretty awesome. And they were of course happy to have it. I would love it if someone did that for me*

You can see how big those arches are when you find me... tiny little me in the archway.