Blogging 101: Why Blog? Topic 1

Why Blog?

If you are new to blogging and the concept of blogging, you may wonder Why Blog? In this post and attached video I share four main reasons that people may blog. The video is less than three minutes long and a quick summary of the reasons listed below. 

Why Blog? Four Main Reasons

• Express your thoughts and opinions
• Grow online followers
• Find business leads
• Connect with your audience on a personal level

Express your thoughts and opinions

Probably the most common reason that people blog is to express their thoughts and opinions. These are considered personal blogs and consist of a variety of topics. Think of it as reading someone else's journal online. This is the reason that this blog was started to express my random thoughts and opinions on a variety of topics.

Grow Online Followers

A second reason that people start blogs is to grow online followers. There can be a variety of reasons that people want to grow these followers but there is a reason that the person blogging wants to grow their follower list.

Find business leads

Another reason that people start blogs is to grow business leads. Most people are looking to gain customers using their blog, but network marketers and direct sales consultants may also be looking for people to join them in the company. 

Connect with the audience on a personal level

If you are blogging, chances are you are looking to connect with your audience on a personal level and a great way to do this is by your words. Reading someone's blog posts, especially personal narratives you can get to know the people you are following. It is part of the power of Social Media, Blogging, and Live Streaming. 

Follow me on Periscope @amandabeautytip for more on this series. Thanks for reading, following, and watching the video! 

Read and Watch Topic 2: Why Blog for Business? CLICK HERE

Memories of my Childhood and my Dad in Honor of Father's Day 2016

First of all I have to say, "How is it June already?" This year has truly flown by and I cannot believe we start July at the end of next week. Now onto the topic of this post. Father's Day was last Sunday. My family gathered at my parents house and we had a lovely late lunch/early dinner thanks to my mom. We spent quality time with my Dad and had a wonderful day. My Dad has always been there and I know that as long as he is living I can count on him and my mom. I could go on and on when it comes to memories but for this post I am going to share two videos from my Periscope account and briefly summarize those two memories for you. I hope everyone had a wonderful day with their own families and that you enjoy these stories from my childhood. 

My Dad and Hunting:

My dad took me hunting when I was younger. I never went deer hunting with a gun myself, but I did tag along many of times. My dad still enjoys bow hunting for deer and will probably hunt until the day he dies. Hunting is just something I have grown up around so I will never think it to be a bad thing, but I will say there is a difference in the hunter that hunts to eat and the hunter that hunts to kill. My dad enjoys fresh deer meat and when he kills something someone ends up eating it and it isn't just left or thrown away. In the following video I share a quick hunting story from one of my trips with my dad when he killed a 10 point Whitetail Deer. 

My Dad Rescues Us From a Snake:

Isn't that one thing men are for? To save us women from creepy crawlies? Lol. As I said in the video, most creepy crawlies I will take care of myself, but sometimes it is still nice to have help. In the following video I share a story about how my dad saved us from a Copperhead snake that had gotten into our house. Luckily nobody was harmed except the snake. 

Like I said above there are many memories of my dad that I could share but these were the two that came to mind for the Periscope PeriGirls PGHonor week honoring Dads and Grads. PeriGirls is a community of women that use the app Periscope that support each other on the app. If you are a woman on Periscope, you can join us at www.PeriGirls.com. My Periscope handle is @amandabeautytip. 

Thanks for reading and following me! I truly appreciate it! ~Amanda Davis

Teach Thursday: Teacher Appreciation Week and Teacher Gift Ideas

Last year I never got around to sharing my teacher appreciation haul and here it is that time of year again already. In this post I will share the gifts that I received and hopefully give you some ideas on how you can show appreciation to your teachers or your child's teachers. Usually, something small and inexpensive is the way to go and shows a great deal of appreciation. I know I enjoy the small things myself. 

Last year I received this flower with a ruler tucked inside with a note that said, "Thank you for helping <child's name> grow. It was super cute and a nice unique touch!

At my current school, we have a day where we receive a bouquet of flowers. The bouquet is formed by each child bringing in a flower or two of their choice and adding to an empty vase until the vase is full and there is a bouquet that the teacher gets to take home. 

On the left is my bouquet from last year and on the right is mine from this year. This year a student gave me a pipe cleaner flower that will last beyond the life of the real flowers and was a nice touch.

Something else my current school does is give the teachers gift cards. A gift card is always a nice touch and teachers usually appreciate them. Below is my gift card haul from last year.

This year we got two unique cute gifts. One of them was a bag of cookies with a cute message and the other was an adult coloring book with colored pencils and another cute message. The pictures are below.

We also were surprised with the parents decorating our classroom doors this year.

It truly is the small things that mean the most. Thanks for reading! 

Happy Easter 2016!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you enjoyed your time with friends and family and loved ones today. I had an early dinner with my mom and brother and spent some time with my dad as well. The food was wonderful as always since my mom cooked. We had turkey, stuffing/dressing, mac and cheese, green beans, and rolls. It was super yummy and of course I took leftovers. 

Growing up my brother and I always had an Easter basket like the one in the picture and this year we still had one to share at 26 (almost 27) and 24. We also usually did egg hunts and decorated eggs every year. 

I did go to church today as well. My family usually would go to church on Easter growing up too. I was raised in a Christian family and still identify with the faith so it is important to remember what Easter is really about the sacrifice. The main thing I have always enjoyed about Easter is the family time. 

I feel the most loved right now in my life...

Today's Periscope PeriGirls Daily Assignment was to answer a time in your life when you feel the most loved. I honestly have to say right now in my life. Between Periscope and PeriGirls and other groups on Periscope I feel super loved on Periscope and with my YouTube and Social Media following I feel like all of my hard work is starting to pay off. I have wonderful friends and family and some big personal things are happening for me. 

Join PeriGirls by going to www.PeriGirls.com (Must be on Periscope and must be a woman--no shared Facebook accounts)

Follow me on Periscope and Twitter @amandabeautytip 

Road Trip to celebrate VA History...

If you live in VA you may have noticed the historical marker signs around the state like the one pictured above. The one in this picture is actually for an ancestor of mine Mary Draper Ingles and is featured at the duck pond at VA Tech. Throughout the years, I have noticed other signs around the state as well including in my hometown just outside of Richmond. It has been my dream for awhile to take a road trip around the state stopping at as many of these signs as possible and taking a picture while visiting the area. I love to visit historical places and Virginia has a lot of these places to visit. In my 27 years (almost) I still have not seen even a quarter of what VA has to offer. Hopefully one day I will be able to take this road trip around my home state. 

Wrap-Up of the #PSLoveMe Challenge...What did I learn from doing the challenge...

By doing the #PsLoveMe Challenge I reinforced that I need to accept myself for who I am and love myself as I am as a person. We need to accept ourselves and appreciate ourselves for who we are and not dwell on the things we cannot change. I really enjoyed this challenge and I think that anyone could benefit from it to learn to appreciate themselves.