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be-better-writing · 4 years

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Daily Writing Day 9 - 1/6/2020

What brings a tear to the eye? (It could be happy tears!)

This prompt is fitting for today as it is the 12th anniversary of my uncle being tragically from this world. I wrote a little fictional tale based on his memory that caused my little sister to break down and cry this morning. Between my little story and my sister being two states away crying over essentially my creative expression. Today has been rough. Today 12 years ago brings tears to my eyes, and so does this little story.

"The Tape-Man and The TapeMonster" An original story written by Brittany Lyn on December 29, 2019. Part two written on January 6, 2020. Dedicated to the man who taught me what tape was, how to pull it from the dispenser, and how to stick it to everyone and everything in sight. The man who created the TapeMonster. The Tape-Man. Uncle Jody Becknell. May he Rest In Peace while hunting and fishing every day in Heaven. You are so dearly loved and dearly missed each and every day, sir. Thank you for blessing my life, my heart, and my soul with your everlasting memory. One day, a little young lady was strolling along. Bobbing and weaving between the trees, skipping over roots, and jumping on stumps. Off in the distance, an alarm rang out calling for the hero that hides within. She ducked behind a tree within the blink of an eye, but what came back was quite the sight. No longer was visible her pink dress and boots, but her face covered in tape, her whole outfit, too. Out from the trees the TapeMonster leapt, and down the road it tumbled down to land on it's rear at the sound of that ferocious alarm. *~WEEEEEEEEEEWOOOOOOO~* that horrendous contraption screeched, but that wouldn't stop this little TapeMonster now. It burst through the door, spun the thieves up tight with a roll of simple Scotch tape. Just in time, the police arrive to find the crooks bound by simple Scotch tape, with a note slapped right on their face. "Never fear, the TapeMonster was here!" the note read. Puzzled and shook, the police are confused! The only thing here was the menaces bound by simple Scotch tape. "Where did this TapeMonster hide?" they questioned, but it had seemingly vanished, leaving only the tape bounds holding the robbers in place. But, just out the door, across the street, the tape covered monster was bounding away, off to the man who supplied her with tape rolls. Peeling the tape, piece by piece. The little girl laughed and laughed and laughed some more. She was back on the counter in Mr. Jody's pawn shop. He kept sticking her with tape while her imagination ran free. The TapeMonster rests having saved the day. The thieves were locked away in Imagination's Jail, and the police of Imagination Town went about their way, questioning the identity of this brave creature armed with Scotch tape. The little girl laughed and sat on the counter, and played more games of TapeMonster with Mr. Jody, her very best and dearest friend, who would stick her with tape, supplying the TapeMonster again. He stuck the tape on her again, and again, and again before the little girl's parents joined their fun. "Time to go, punkin'. Give Jody bye-bye sugars," her mother said softly, as the little one jumped into her very best and dearest friend's hug, and kissed him on the cheek, and saying "bye-bye." "Until next time, punkin'," Mr. Jody said with a squeeze. "I hope you bring the TapeMonster back to play next time." "I will, Mr. Jody!" the little girl exclaimed as she hugged her friend again. "The TapeMonster will always come to play!" she sang out with glee, as she stuck one small strip of Scotch tape to Mr. Jody's t-shirt. Jody walked his little friend around the counter to her mom and dad for their journey back home, and all 4 embraced in the strongest and warmest group hug. Farewells were said, and the little one strapped into her seat, as she clutched the surprise Mr. Jody gave to her; the little roll of Scotch tape that was just bigger than her hands. A token for the TapeMonster whenever she needs. "Never fear!" she shouted gleefully from the car. "The TapeMonster is here!" the two friends called out as they waved good-bye. "Until next time, punkin'," he said to himself, as his little friend and her parents drove off in the distance. "The Tape-Man will always have sugars, and hugs, and always an extra roll of tape for whenever a criminal causes chaos up in Imagination Town," he finished just as the tail lights faded off over a hill. He stepped inside the shop while peeling the tiny tape strip off his t-shirt. he taped it to a small piece of paper he scribbled on, and slid it in his wallet; a memory of a little friend with a wild imagination stored away for safe keeping. A little strip of Scotch tape on a small slip of paper that read, "Never fear, the TapeMonster is here!" A memory so pure that no one else could create but Mr. Jody, the one and only Tape-Man to see the real TapeMonster with his own two eyes... ~

Part 2~

The little three year old TapeMonster continued to grow and play and save the days for the next eight years, while getting the occasional grand visits from Mr. Jody, the almost elusive Tape-Man. Until one dark winter night, tragedy struck. Mr. Jody had left this beautiful life on Earth to spend eternity with God in Heaven. The now eleven year old TapeMonster was lost, clutching in her hand the gifted roll of magic Scotch tape with tears streaming down her face.

Days went by, and she placed a roll of her own magic Scotch tape under his carefully folded hands for burial with a note that read "Use in case of bad guys; a piece of the TapeMonster's bravery to keep you safe. Till we meet again, Tape-Man. Your spirit lives on."

Life went on with an overwhelming feeling of emptiness. The TapeMonster couldn't find any Scotch tape and Imagination Town was overtaken by the very many evil doers that she couldn't put away without the Tape-Man's supply.

Six years flew by before she realized, and she was more lost than the years before. Mr. Jody was in Heaven guiding his family through their lives, but it just wasn't the same.

Another six years go by in the blink of an eye. I'm 23 now, turning 24 in 6 months and 2 days. Today marks twelve years that Mr. Jody, who truly was more like an uncle than a friend, was taken tragically from this Earth, leaving our lives better for knowing him in his life, but also leaving the world a darker place without his love and charisma. If I drank, I'd have two mini bottles of Grey Goose and a roll of that simple Scotch tape sitting on the step beside me. One mini bottle to pour to the ground for tribute to Jody, and the other to enjoy myself before wrapping a small piece of Scotch tape around and hiding it and the roll in my hope chest to look back on and smile as time continues to pass us by.

Those twelve years really flew by, but when I stop and look back, it seems more like a lifetime had passed.

Jody, the TapeMonster is so very lost on her journey of life hunting for tape to stop the bad guys from taking over the world. God knows just how lucky I truly am, though. I am blessed to have known and loved you while you were here. I am blessed to have gained through you an adopted mom, an older brother, and a little sister that I have also made great memories with. God also knows it still hurts like hell to experience life without you here, too.

This story is a wild piece fiction based off of my memory of Jody. Memories from 20 years ago are fuzzy as all hell, but the feelings in my heart are just as they were upon experiencing them. I posted the first part the other day while hoping it wouldn't produce the same massive amounts of crocodile tears for Dana, Taylor, and Randy as it did for me. I haven't gotten any feedback from them yet, so I hope part two doesn't make them cry like I am while typing this. I just truly hope that the wild fictional adventure of the TapeMonster combined with the memory of Jody warms their heart knowing that we all still have memories of him to pick us up when we are down, and to carry in our hearts so his spirit lives on each day that lies ahead.

Rest In Peace to one of the greatest life influences to ever be a part of my world. We love and miss you so much. ~

My dates of writing this piece are written at the top with my little dedication, but the end is where it really tore my sister apart. I should have thought before posting it, or I should have read it to her myself. I'm not sure. Today has been a train wreck. Jody is watching us from the Gates of Heaven, though. I felt his presence today. Especially after I reminded my father of the anniversary. He actually brought home a moderate size bottle of Grey Goose without me asking. I haven't had a sip of that vodka, and I won't. Jody set something up for tomorrow for me, or at least that's the way it seems. I plan not to mess that up by being hungover.

Between this date, and the anniversary of my best friend committing suicide, I don't know which one kills me more.

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perfectirishgifts · 3 years

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Sing Along Forever: The Bouncing Souls Enter Their Fifties And Fatherhood—Together

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/sing-along-forever-the-bouncing-souls-enter-their-fifties-and-fatherhood-together/

Sing Along Forever: The Bouncing Souls Enter Their Fifties And Fatherhood—Together

The Bouncing Souls, 2020—COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Bryan Kienlen and his wife, Nicole, have a new routine. When they first wake up, they give bottles to their babies, Cora and Layla. And before taking on their daily tasks, they dedicate quality time for cuddling, crawling and playing.

“All four of us have this really beautiful morning,” 51-year-old Kienlen says. “It’s how I start every day. It’s the coolest thing.”

Twenty years ago, The Bouncing Souls bassist often spent his golden hour stumbling home from a night of partying in New York City, groggy and regretful as commuters drank coffee and made their way to work.

Bryan Kienlen walks on the boardwalk with his family. New Jersey, November, 2020

But decades removed from his period of downtown debauchery, the domesticated punk has found stability and serenity through his 30-year musical journey, as a successful tattoo shop owner and as a family man. He says being a father and “giver” is the greatest thing he’s ever done.

“You find how rewarding it is,” Kienlen explains. “There’s such a stark difference from being a ‘band guy.’ When I was a young, single maniac writing songs and touring—I didn’t realize until I could see things from my current perspective—but I was more self-centered. Everything revolved around me. Now, that stage of my life is over and I’m here to serve and take care of my kids and my wife. And I’m so happy with that. It’s not all about me anymore, in a good way.”

A lot has changed for The Bouncing Souls, the cult-followed New Jersey punk band which formed when Kienlen, vocalist Greg Attonito and guitarist Pete Steinkopf were high schoolers in Basking Ridge, NJ.

In the 90s, the band lived in chaos at a series of “punk houses,” each complete with a revolving door of ill-behaved 20-somethings, drunks and miscreants.

The Bouncing Souls, 2001 (Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns)

Today, Kienlen and Steinkopf have settled down in New Jersey, whereas Attonito set up shop in small-town Idaho. And miraculously—as all three musicians have entered their fifties—they’ve all, almost simultaneously, become fathers.

But much has stayed the same, too. Last year, the band celebrated its 30th anniversary by touring North America and England, performing songs from the guys’ 10 full-length albums and newest EP Crucial Moments. Three of the four original members remain, save for the role of drummer. George Rebelo, from popular Florida rock band Hot Water Music, joined in 2013.

And 2020, with its own unique set of circumstances, has encouraged the Souls to appreciate the past while embracing the new in both their musical and personal lives.

In October, the band released Volume 2, a record of reimagined songs ranging from the group’s newest single, appropriately titled “World on Fire,” back to fan-favorite “Gone,” from the 2001 album How I Spent My Summer Vacation. And on Saturday, December 12, the band will be hosting a livestream performance of the album in a digital concert called Live at Studio 4.

While the group didn’t expect an internet broadcast to replace its annual Asbury Park Home For The Holidays residency, Volume 2 itself was born under precarious timing.

Bouncing Souls, Live At Studio 4, Saturday December 12, 8PM ET

Recorded in March during two one-week sessions in Philadelphia, the band completed the record just as America was blindsided by COVID-19. As time passed in the studio, the threat of the oncoming pandemic quickly went from negligible to worrisome.

“When we first went in the studio, I’d just heard the murmurings of coronavirus,” 50-year-old Steinkopf says. “I was like, ‘What the f*** is that?’”

“The second week was more intense,” 50-year-old Attonito adds. “The restaurant above the studio closed on our last day. The crazy thing about it was, we were having such a positive experience. We were joking about how we were spontaneously creating from our old songs that we love and the world simultaneously was cinching in with dark gloom. Those last couple of days, we didn’t want to leave our bubble of happiness. We knew we were walking into this chaos of the unknown.”

The Bouncing Souls with producer Will Yip, March 2020, Philadelphia

“Even the week that things were getting really weird, we were hyper-focused and trying to stay off our phones,” Steinkopf says. “But every now and then, someone would be like, ‘Did you see this!?’ What the f*** is happening?!’”

Despite the impending doom, the Souls found the studio sessions to be fruitful. The band was able to recompose classic tracks, breathing new and unexpected life into staples and providing previously underappreciated songs with a second chance.

Attonito was able to sing from a more mature and controlled vocal perspective—leaving the guttural belting for the next fast-paced punk record—allowing him to put a new spin on songs he’s chanted thousands of times.

Steinkopf was able to give a nod to the 80s tunes that inspire him, drawing energy from bands like The Cure, rather than focusing on a checklist of sing-a-longs and “woah-oh-ohs.”

The band was even able to squeeze in some silly instrumentation, using a “cheesy” 80s Casio keyboard and toy instruments on the song “Hopeless Romantic.” At Kienlen’s burning request, they even incorporated a french horn into “Favorite Everything.”

But as the recording sessions wrapped up, the band scrambled to make travel arrangements to get home to their families.

“Everybody said goodbye,” Kienlen says. “And the world was never the same.”

The guys returned to their homes in New Jersey, Idaho and Florida. They kept in touch, but were just as anxious as the rest of the country.

Steinkopf and Kienlen, Anchors Aweigh Tattoo Studio

Kienlen, like many other Americans, was forced to close his tattoo shop in Bradley Beach, NJ, Anchors Aweigh Tattoo Studio, for three months as the battle against COVID-19 took a stranglehold of the Northeast.

In the mountains 100 miles north of Boise, Attonito’s small resort town felt seemingly unchanged at the onset of the pandemic. But in the red state of Idaho, many remained resistant to masks, even as a surge of tourists in RVs flooded the area and caused a spike of positive cases.

Early on, Attonito felt depressed that band-life was on hold. Eventually, he started becoming conscious of mask-wearing in his dreams. And Steinkopf began to realize how much he missed the things he used to take for granted.

“Someone sent me a Souls show from a long time ago,” Steinkopf says. “I was watching it and I got real emo about it. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t go out and do as much these days, and now I’m like, ‘Man, I’m gonna go do everything when I can again!’”

But, in the meantime, the band adapted and found creative outlets to keep the spirit of the Souls alive. They started holding weekly Zoom meetings to catch up and launched the Can You Remember? podcast via Patreon, an endeavor they wouldn’t have pursued otherwise.

And along with their new projects, the guys are beginning to see a tentative semblance of “new normalcy.” Steinkopf is back producing in the studio again and Kienlen is booked up with tattoo appointments well into 2021.

While the band is glad to feel productive and are eager to return to live music, they recognize what a unique opportunity the pandemic has offered them as new fathers.

Kienlen and his wife adopted their first baby, Cora, as a newborn in December of last year.

Bryan Kienlen with his wife, Nicole, and daughter, Cora — December 2019

“At the time, I had one new baby, whom I hadn’t had the chance to bond with because we adopted,” Kienlen explains. “One day, you go from no baby to baby in your house, real fast. I still had touring through the end of the year and was booked out with [tattoo] appointments every other day that I wasn’t on tour. We never had a paternal leave or hardly a maternal leave, either. It was pretty difficult. When the lockdown happened it was a blessing for us because we got to stay home with her and truly bond every day.”

Then Kienlen went from having one baby to two babies just as quickly. In October, less than a year from Cora’s adoption, the couple was contacted with the opportunity to adopt a second child: a seven-month-old who they named Layla.

Kienlen and his daughter, Layla — October 2020

“We got that call on a Wednesday afternoon out of the blue,” he explains. “We picked her up that Friday. Talk about no time to plan! We scrambled to play catch-up a little. But I think we’re finally settling into a groove.”

While the couple were definitely hoping to adopt a second child so Cora would have a sibling, they were pleasantly surprised by the timing.

“We expected to wait a year or two,” Kienlen says. “That’s generally how long it takes. But I’m glad that it happened this way because they’re gonna be in the same grade. It couldn’t be better.”

Attonito and Steinkopf have also enjoyed their time home with their children. At the end of their conference call interview with Forbes, Attonito was adorably approached by his son, asking to say hello to “Uncie Pete.”

“If you’re gonna be locked down in a pandemic,” Attonito says. “You may as well be in a period where your child is under two or three years old, the most valuable moments to be with them all the time. In that sense, the timing is pretty good for all of us.”

Uncle Bryan & Lux — 2019

Fortuitous timing is just one example of the kindred connection between the members of The Bouncing Souls. Not only did they all enter their fifties together—Attonito and Steinkopf just days apart—but fatherhood, too.

Around three years ago, Attonito and his wife, Shanti, welcomed their baby boy, Ever. A few months later, Steinkopf and his wife, Keira, birthed their son, Lux.

“Serendipitous is a good word,” Kienlen says. “It describes the entire existence of our band. None of us had brothers growing up. Maybe on some deep level we found each other and bonded into a family and stayed together for life as brothers.”

They’re already growing together as parents, too, both in their capacity to love and overcome their fears.

“You could say a million things about having a child,” Attonito says. “But it pushes your capacity to look outside yourself and take care of someone. It pushes you to those limits in a way that, I don’t think, you can possibly experience without having a child.”

Greg Attonito with his wife, Shanti, and son, Ever

He continues: “I’m so glad I waited until I was in my late forties. The idea of having a child terrified me to no end. I felt like I would never be there for them. I’d be on tour all the time, that would be the worst. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy one or the other. I’m so glad it worked out the way it did. The fact that we’re all sharing this at the same time has been super special.”

“I was always the most terrified to have a child,” Steinkopf agrees. “I don’t know if it was the people I was with, my relationships or just being a selfish young guy. I would’ve been a s*** dad [laughs]. At this point in my life it just felt totally right. You spend your whole life being introspective and learning about yourself, but as soon as you have a kid, that’s magnified by a thousand. You think about your past, how you don’t want to impose stuff on your kid. It’s heady, but your heart is so f***ing full all the time. The most frustrating day now is like the best day I’ve ever had.”

Shanti, Ever & Greg Attonito — Pete, Lux & Keira Steinkopf

And the punks are embracing full-blown adulthood with sarcastic charm. Steinkopf insists he’s never felt better, as he and the singer offer a collective tongue-in-cheek, “F*** you, I’m 50!”

It’s the same self-assured confidence that the band tapped into while reconstructing classic Souls songs. While many were picked fairly arbitrarily, the group did make an effort to develop tracks on the basis of lyrics they felt were overlooked.

Take “Argyle,” off the 1996 album Maniacal Laughter, which was written by Attonito, but admired by Kienlen for its words. While the singer calls it a personal song that was “definitely written from the perspective of a mid-20s-year-old person,” he’s glad his bassist pushed to include it.

Another throwback featured on Volume 2, “Say Anything,” dates back to the band’s 1997 self-titled record. The Bouncing Souls was released just as the band’s collective lifestyle of punk house squalor came to a close.

Attonito, 1995 (Photo Steve Eichner)

“It’s well romanticized because it had moments of glory and moments of pure annoyance,” Attonito says laughing. “There’s a motivation there that’s sort’ve unexplainable. Once you hit your forties, you’re like, ‘How did I hold up?’”

Steinkopf adds: “It’s just like chaos, but it was chaos in a way that we were so f***ing motivated to do everything. We were gonna print shirts. Do this, do that—all together. It was intoxicating.”

Looking back, Attonito sees the era as a wave of energy and focus that propelled the band into a lifetime of performing. The first decade of insanity and perseverance allowed for an actual career in music.

Bryan Kienlen (L), Greg Attonito (R) of The Bouncing Souls, 1995, Wetlands in New York City (Photo … [] by Steve Eichner)

While most of The Bouncing Souls may have taken a step back from the craziness in 1997, it took Kienlen a few more years. As all the members moved to New York, then moved on, their bassist remained and kept the “party” going the longest.

While recording Volume 2, he was able to revisit three songs he wrote during a tumultuous time, a rough patch that served as the blueprint to the band’s beloved 2003 release, Anchors Aweigh.

“Highway Kings,” “Kids and Heroes,” and “Simple Man,” all made the new record—and reignited feelings in the studio. They were also given a second chance musically.

“‘Simple Man’ was written in a pretty dark place for me,” Kienlen says. “It was a prayer to the universe for simplicity back in the middle of what was a bit of a storm in my personal life. To revisit some of those lyrics, I felt more like the returning conqueror. I’d survived. Now I can face these songs from a happier place.”

But when Kienlen first penned many of the songs to Anchors Aweigh, he wasn’t just experiencing love-life woes, but a “major life turn.”

“A whole reality was ending basically,” he says. “It wasn’t just a relationship, it was an entire reality that I had built around the relationship. It all just ended instantly and I was set free. But it was just me and my demons all of a sudden and no governing force.”

The bassist describes it as the perfect storm of a single guy who’s going through changes with nothing but time and cash in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He went out and partied every night until the following day. He’d get going around 10:00PM, then leave bars and afterparties as the sun came up, feeling like a “ghoul.”

“It was the darkest I’ve ever felt,” Kienlen explains. “I was the most depressed I’ve ever felt in my life. Then, the following night it would just start again. Any happiness was produced by substances and all the other shallow crap that goes with that life. Night after night. You’d get so high and so happy, but not really. Not real happiness. When you heard that first bird chirping, that’s when you realized you f***ed up again.”

Bryan Kienlen of The Bouncing Souls plays before several thousand at the Vans Warped Tour, 2001, … [] Ventura, CA (Photo by Carlos Chavez/Los Angeles Times)

He continues: “And the things I was doing were definitely gonna get me killed. I was riding my motorcycle up the FDR [Parkway] going 120 miles per hour—that f***ing high—in the middle of the night with whoever on the back that I could’ve killed. It was just insane.”

Kienlen frequently hosted afterparties at his own apartment, too. As cliché as it sounds, he usually felt alone in a room full of people.

“All the good stuff was gone,” he explains. “All my friends were just fellow ghouls—nightlife people. I felt pretty alone. Being apart from Greg and Pete during this was also part of the despair that I was feeling. That’s when I wrote ‘Simple Man’—probably about six in the morning on a park bench. Just one of those nights.”

Bryan Kienlen, 2006 (Photo by John Shearer)

After 15 years of living in New York City, from squatting to a city-subsidized apartment in Alphabet City, Kienlen decided to abandon the F Train and return to New Jersey living.

He’d fallen out of love with his gentrifying neighborhood and was sick of his own behavior. He also mourned the loss of the Old New York punk scene he once so enjoyed. The days of brown-bagging beer on his BMX bike and bouncing from CBGBs to Coney Island High to The Continental were over.

For years, the Jersey-born transplant never imagined leaving New York City, but his Anchors Aweigh turning point was critical to an end-game he never imagined: a house, a wife, two kids, a dog and his own business. The album’s cover, as always designed by Kienlen, is symbolic: a ship sailing off into the dark distance, marking the end of a chapter.

In that regard, it’s suitable that so many tracks from the album populate the ranks of Volume 2. The band’s following release, The Gold Record, marked a new “golden” age for the Souls. The 2006 record also established that after years of noodling across the Hudson River, the band’s homebase would forever be the Jersey Shore.

Greg Attonito crowd surfs at Bamboozle Left, 2008, Irvine, CA (Photo by Noel Vasquez)

Despite Attonito’s choice to commute from the sticks—and a drummer change or two—the rest, as they say, is Jersey history. It may be generational, but there are few acts that evoke an association to New Jersey quite like The Bouncing Souls.

Bruce Springsteen requires no explanation. Bon Jovi isn’t far behind. The Misfits are, for some reason, inextricably connected to their hometown of Lodi. The New Brunswick boys in The Gaslight Anthem (with a co-sign from The Boss) have become hometown heroes. My Chemical Romance has immeasurably left its mark on the world, but somehow holds down its Garden State credibility.

But, for Gen X and Millennials, only The Bouncing Souls—with tracks as indicative as “East Coast, F*** You!” and the aptly-titled “So Jersey”—can conjure the feeling of the boardwalk under your feet, the smell of the Atlantic Ocean and the buzz of The Stone Pony.

The Bouncing Souls performs at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI, 2013 (Photo by Scott Legato)

In a year as uncertain as 2020, at least fans have the consistency and renewed spirit of The Bouncing Souls—31 years in—to distract them, if only for a few minutes.

“Call it naïve, but we committed to doing this for our whole lives,” Kienlen says. “I guess we took that commitment seriously. But we didn’t know what this meant, we didn’t have a picture in our head. I’m glad we made every decision from our hearts.”

Luckily, his bandmates are equally as enthused.

“It just gets better all the time,” Steinkopf says. “We have more fun as we get older. We’re in such a cool place. Turning 50 and feeling that way, I’m pretty f***ing stoked.”

Attonito adds: “Once you make it to 50, you can see the world and understand the value in having relationships that lasted this long—with each other and the audience. This is so incredible that we can do this. We love it. And because of the pandemic, when we get back, we’re all gonna appreciate things even more.”

Follow me on Twitter at @DerekUTG.

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alittleroseandhoneyblog-blog · 5 years

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Moving Mountains

This mama let loose this weekend and after fighting so many different emotions I had ranging from excitement to anxiety over what I was going to wear I am going to admit something- it was one of the most rewarding and fun nights that I’ve had in a really long time and so different then the bar nights I’ve had in the past, you know-before becoming a “wife” a “mom” and a “boss” before responsibilities and excuses -I feel like those three words have defined my very existence this past 7 years (which Ironically as I am writing this, is my 7 year anniversary being married) I mean let’s go back exactly 7 years today -I got Married and within 24 hours I was in early labour and days later Colton was born- 6 weeks early, but absolutely perfect and within a week of one another I not only became a wife, but I became a mother and to say I was not prepared was an understatement –I got used to having everyday with him, you spend every second of those 12 months off work catering to that child’s every need (just as you do becoming a wife, I think they call it the honeymoon stage) but when you’re a mom, your life becomes about changing diapers, freezing breast milk, rocking them to sleep (night after night), Multiple loads of laundry daily and if you’re lucky you get about 4 hours of broken sleep a night while your significant other sleeps soundly beside because you’ve been up nursing your baby back to sleep…(for the third time) But with that being said, it is one of the most amazing experiences and I am grateful for it. But at some point, life shifts- suddenly that 12 months is over, many of us forced back to work, our kids go to daycare for someone else to take care of and then you find yourself in this cycle where everything and everyone is on your plate, but you!

You don’t even realize the sacrifices you make –

I don’t know about you mama’s but I LOVE my kid – like over the moon, to the ends of the earth (watch him while he sleeps) I would do anything for him kind of love and I have never experienced that kind of “obsession” over someone before – but let me tell you that love is real, I mean how could it not be I carried the kid for 7 months- we went through hell together, we bonded for 12 months, 24 hours a day …for 365 days and then my time became limited with him and someone else got it – I want to selfishly spend every second with him I can- its totally unhealthy, I know-but a reality for me. I am a mom with anxiety, a mom who almost lost her baby, who cannot have another baby, and to be honest I kind of just wing it and now I am just a mom who never feels like she is doing enough – the pressure is as a real as the love is– obsessive. So when I tell you I went out, without guilt for the first time in probably 7 years you have to believe me when I say it was kind of a big deal- This mama took shots!....

I have never really been a drinker, (and for those who have seen it, thankfully don’t have video proof lol) but I can remember in my 20’s I was never really into the whole bar scene, I had more guy friends then girl friends and spent more time playing pool and poker, because the guys I hung out with never really wanted to go out and “shake it” the same way girls do, I was just never one of those girls who grew up with a huge group of “girl” friends (I maybe had 2) and it wasn’t until my 20s that it started to change, but by then Matt and I were in a serious relationship and bar nights were becoming none existent without one another attached at the hip, but I think that is common– couples don’t do things separately, because it isn’t normalized – and I think as we get older the idea of actually going out to the bar sounds unrealistic and exhausting – I mean, we are too old for that shit right? The bars are full of 20 something year old’s who really only want to get drunk and go home with one another and to be honest the idea of having to stay up past 9pm on a Friday night is what sounds exhausting, and are you going to have fun if you don’t drink like you did in your 20s? and if you do, remember how much hangovers in your 20s sucked, think about how much worse they are now at 32 – so we don’t, we talk ourselves into staying in and we settle for wine tasting on our couches or pints at the local restaurant while we over eat and feel shitty after about 30 minutes of being there, when all we really want to do (and maybe I only speak for myself as an overworked wife and mama and boss) is to get out and let loose – without responsibilities!

A couple months ago my life changed, the table flipped and admittedly I was in a really bad place, I knew that the one thing I needed to keep in my life was fitness – whether it was weights or Zumba, so I joined Planet Fitness and I have to tell you how much I fell in love with the people (the members and the staff) – how comfortable they always made me feel, how clean it was- and well managed- it feels like home! But I want to talk about a few people specifically – the first person I met when I joined was this beautiful soul named Shanice (aka Sunshine/Baddie 1) she is the face I see every morning when I walk in after dropping Colton off at school –she is sweet and genuine-with a heart as big as the sun, she has such an old soul that I could listen to her tell me stories all day long, she has become apart of my mornings and it feels so weird to not see her – she’s all smiles, all the time and it’s contagious!

Then we have Jenny, oh sweet, funny Jenny (AKA, The GM lol, Baddie #1 lol) – just badass… you can jut say it like it is and she GETS it -all of it, there are so many similarities in our lives that I feel like I can tell her anything and she won’t judge me. I cannot even put into words how much she has contributed to the personal growth I have had or if she even knows how much she means to me!! What she thought was the littlest thing meant the world to me- for those who know me, know how much I love to dance, Zumba owns my heart and when I left my job I left any opportunity to dance – Jenny went out of her way to have the furniture moved around at the gym for me to dance so that I didn’t have to miss a beat – and she has talked me off some pretty tall ledges.

– and then Andrea (Baddie 3), I stalked her on Instagram for months before we finally got to meet (as every great relationship starts, right?) – it was one of those right places, right time kind of things where I fan girl’d a little, and when I realized how down to earth she is, we instantly clicked- she inspires me everyday to get moving to follow my heart– she is not just fitness goals she is life goals- she’s an entrepreneur, smart as hell and always in my corner-you can’t fake her kind of genuine.

How lucky am I that when I am at my worst I meet 3 powerful women with 3 powerful personalities and powerful stories that in return has made me feel powerful- I truly believe that your tribe will dictate how you view your days, how you set out to conquer your goals, how you own your mistakes, – the amount of laughs that have come from being around these 3 outweigh the universe – I can almost guarantee you that these girls have changed my life- and not that I didn’t have the support of some incredible women up until meeting them, My best friend, Kayla means the world to me, she has been my compass for the past 3 years, our boys met in Jr Kindergarten, they happen to be 5 days apart and best friends themselves–Kay is the girl (and I say girl not friend, because she would give the shirt off her back to a total stranger) but anyways she is the girl that would pick up the phone at 3am when you just cant sleep and need to talk or offer to sleep over when your husband is off working nights and you feel a little lonely – I could not do life without her, she has that whole beauty and brains thing going, sassy and incredibly confident in what she brings to the table - she actually made me realize (as she has said many times before) that a soul mate does not need to be a “relationship” – it can be the people that you surround yourself with on daily basis that fuel your fire- that make you feel that along side your tribe, you can climb any mountain- Kayla has been climbing them for years and the difference here is that her girl tribe is fierce and in return she is fierce, I envied that- I wanted that!

Imagine that though, women supporting women without expecting anything in return. These 4 women, among my mama, sister and mother in law (and many other strong ass women) have been without a doubt the most supportive people I’ve had in my life right from the day I’ve met them and supportive all for different reasons, but this week specifically I needed a night out and these girls delivered on a silver platter, short of dancing for 3 hours straight, friday night was about us girls it was about empowerment and letting loose and being the mama’s that we all are we had to adjust to not putting our babies to bed, or being in bed ourselves- we allowed ourselves to be “selfish” for one night and let me tell you, it was kind of badass Lol – and sweet little Shanice, wasn’t sweet little Shanice when bootylicious came on and Jenny needed to block baby gap from sneaking a peek! It wasn’t about going out and getting “lit” – it was just straight up fun and even though I wear a few different crowns I am still allowed to have a little fun without feeling guilty or like I am abandoning my job post and honestly what better day to do that then on International Women’s Day – where not only where we VIP but treated incredible by the staff, why you ask because we happen to know another badass woman whose son owned the bar, so let me tell you again how empowering that was – and completely the right women to spend my first “girls” night out in years with. I met these girls (and Miss Alexis Martha (baddie 4)) for a reason- my last post I mentioned that I always felt like I was putting this 1000-piece puzzle together and I am realizing now that they have been such a huge piece of it – of my healing… my personal growth, my strength … And suddenly these past few months I have felt like I am more then just a wife, mom or boss- I feel human and as important as everyone else is and what they have made me realize is that I can still be the best wife, mom and boss and still be a baddie (lol)

I am not saying that you should grab your closest girlfriends and spend every Friday night at the closest bar what I am saying is exactly what Kay has taught me, your soul mate doesn’t have to be a man – it can be your girl tribe- whether it’s a wine tasting on your couch, a slumber party, a movie or just Appys and sangria make the time! – go out and enjoy every second of it- it isn’t selfish to do things that make you happy with people who set your soul on fire- surround yourself with it, because in the end you will move mountains too!

#movingmountains

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joannrochaus · 6 years

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Fireman turned policeman dies at 29

Adam Jobbers-Miller grew up in Wayne, New Jersey, the son of a fireman. He served as a volunteer fireman with his father before he was hired as a police officer in Fort Myers, Florida.

Jobbers-Miller was shot in the head on July 21 while responding to a report of a gunman at a gas station. He underwent surgery but died of his injuries a week later.

It takes tremendous courage to risk one’s life as a firefighter or a police officer. Jobbers-Miller did both.

In other news, the remains of Capt. Lawrence Dickson have been identified. He was the first of more than two dozen black aviators known as Tuskegee Airmen who went missing in action during World War II. Dickson was twenty-four when he went down on a mission over Austria on December 23, 1944.

Meanwhile, remains believed to be those of fifty-five American servicemen were flown out of North Korea on Friday. “These incredible American heroes will soon lay at rest on sacred American soil,” President Trump said.

A fifty-fifty chance of survival

It takes courage to do a hard thing that others will not do. If it were easy, it would already be done.

Rocket Men is Robert Kurson’s bestselling story of the Apollo 8 space mission. I was gripped by the book from start to finish. Kurson timed his narrative for the fiftieth anniversary of the first manned mission to leave Earth’s orbit, reach the Moon, orbit it, and return to Earth safely.

While I was vaguely familiar with Apollo 8 (I was ten years old at the time), I remember far better the Apollo 11 mission that placed the first man on the Moon six months later. What I didn’t realize was that, without Apollo 8, there would have been no Apollo 11. If NASA could not fly astronauts safely to and from the Moon, they obviously could not put them safely on it.

Nor did I realize the incredible courage of the three men who made the journey. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders flew on Saturn V, the most powerful machine that had ever been built. However, it had never been tested for manned space flight.

As one NASA executive stated, “Apollo 8 has 5,600,000 parts and 1,500,000 systems, subsystems and assemblies. Even if all functioned with 99.9 percent reliability, we could expect 5,600 defects.”

Would you want to drive a car built in 1968 across the country? What about traveling to the Moon and back in a spacecraft built fifty years ago?

The three astronauts flew faster and farther than humans had ever traveled before. Then there was the matter of their return. To arrive safely on Earth, they had to fly their spacecraft into an atmospheric window so small that their challenge was compared to throwing a paper airplane into a mailbox slot from a distance of four miles.

One NASA executive estimated Apollo 8’s odds of success at fifty-fifty. Anders thought he had a one in three chance of dying.

Nonetheless, the mission was a complete success. But without the astonishing courage of the three astronauts, their wives, and the entire NASA team, Apollo 8 would never have left the Earth.

“The most persecuted religious body on the planet”

Our culture pictures Christianity as a Sunday hobby, a tranquil way to spend a few pleasant hours each week in the secure presence of like-minded friends. Our culture could not be more wrong.

When Jesus told us that a true disciple must “deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” he was talking about a willingness to die in the cruelest, most tortured way imaginable (Luke 9:23). And he meant his words.

His apostles were crucified, beheaded, impaled by spears, stabbed to death, stoned, burned, and otherwise martyred. An estimated two million Christians died for their faith at the hands of the Roman Empire.

In The Global War on Christians, John Allen, a respected international journalist, states that “Christians today indisputably are the most persecuted religious body on the planet.” (For more, see my Respected to Irrelevant to Dangerous: Does Religion Poison Everything?)

We should not be surprised that Christianity is inherently risky. We are called to oppose Satan, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and all the “cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12). Our fallen culture opposes all who expose its darkness to the light (Ephesians 5:11).

John Stott: “Insistence on security is incompatible with the way of the cross. What daring adventures the incarnation and the atonement were! What a breach of convention and decorum that Almighty God should renounce his privileges in order to take human flesh and bear human sin! Jesus had no security except in his Father. So to follow Jesus is always to accept at least a measure of uncertainty, danger and rejection for his sake.”

How to see God’s “wonders in the deep”

But here’s the good news: the greater our courage, the greater our reward.

First, our faith deepens in unprecedented, transforming ways. A lesson we can learn only in hard places is that we can trust God in hard places. A decision we can make only in tough times is to trust God in tough times.

Second, we experience God’s power in unique ways. Charles Spurgeon: “Those who navigate little streams and shallow creeks know but little of the God of tempests; but they who ‘do business in great waters,’ these see his ‘wonders in the deep.‘”

Third, our Lord uses our lives in ways that outlive us. In connection with the return of American soldiers’ remains from North Korea, a military veteran made this profound statement: “A soldier is never dead until he’s forgotten.”

If we serve Jesus with courage, we can know this: our service will never be forgotten. Your next act of obedient sacrifice will be rewarded forever (Revelation 7:13-17).

The higher the mountain, the harder the climb. What hard step of faith is your Lord asking you to take today?

The post Fireman turned policeman dies at 29 appeared first on Denison Forum.

source https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/fireman-turned-policeman-dies-29/ source https://denisonforum.tumblr.com/post/176440594597

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denisonforum · 6 years

Text

Fireman turned policeman dies at 29

Adam Jobbers-Miller grew up in Wayne, New Jersey, the son of a fireman. He served as a volunteer fireman with his father before he was hired as a police officer in Fort Myers, Florida.

Jobbers-Miller was shot in the head on July 21 while responding to a report of a gunman at a gas station. He underwent surgery but died of his injuries a week later.

It takes tremendous courage to risk one’s life as a firefighter or a police officer. Jobbers-Miller did both.

A fifty-fifty chance of survival

It takes courage to do a hard thing that others will not do. If it were easy, it would already be done.

As one NASA executive stated, “Apollo 8 has 5,600,000 parts and 1,500,000 systems, subsystems and assemblies. Even if all functioned with 99.9 percent reliability, we could expect 5,600 defects.”

Would you want to drive a car built in 1968 across the country? What about traveling to the Moon and back in a spacecraft built fifty years ago?

One NASA executive estimated Apollo 8’s odds of success at fifty-fifty. Anders thought he had a one in three chance of dying.

Nonetheless, the mission was a complete success. But without the astonishing courage of the three astronauts, their wives, and the entire NASA team, Apollo 8 would never have left the Earth.

“The most persecuted religious body on the planet”

Our culture pictures Christianity as a Sunday hobby, a tranquil way to spend a few pleasant hours each week in the secure presence of like-minded friends. Our culture could not be more wrong.

How to see God’s “wonders in the deep”

But here’s the good news: the greater our courage, the greater our reward.

If we serve Jesus with courage, we can know this: our service will never be forgotten. Your next act of obedient sacrifice will be rewarded forever (Revelation 7:13-17).

The higher the mountain, the harder the climb. What hard step of faith is your Lord asking you to take today?

The post Fireman turned policeman dies at 29 appeared first on Denison Forum.

source https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/fireman-turned-policeman-dies-29/

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papagabless1 · 6 years

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Actress Christabel Ekeh shows it all again in new photos

Christabel Ekeh is not backing down anytime soon in releasing nude photos just for some cheap attention.

In news photos on her Instagram page, the actress bares it all once again for free viewing.

Just some flowerlike pinkish and purple cloth covered those parts.

See photos below:

Leaked video: Christabel Ekeh and Jonny Bravo romancing

CelebritiesBuzz.co has chanced on a video of actress…

View On WordPress

#Christabel Ekeh

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midsummernightsread · 6 years

Text

2017 was a year to be reckon with. Beyond the obvious, political environment, on a personal level, on all levels, this year was one that I would prefer to use as a learning lesson. So, just as warning, this will be a long post.

BOOKS, BOOKS & MORE BOOKS

I reached my Goodreads goal of 200 books this year 😀 Super excited about that because not only did I not reach it last year but I hit constant book walls this year. Between books that couldn’t keep my interest, books that did not live up to the hype and my own expectations and finally books that were poorly written, my book year has been full of highs and lows.

However, I did hit some fantastic reads, some good reads and some pretty covers, that I want to share.

Fantastic Reads

Crown Books for Young Readers Published Sept. 12, 2017 384 Pages

Algonquin Young Readers Published Sept. 19, 2017 272 Pages

HarperCollins Published July 25, 2017 288 Pages

Why were these books fantastic reads? They were engaging, diverse, honest and creative. The plot kept me on my toes, the characters had development and growth. The world, in which the story is set, felt real like opening my front door. Some of these reads fed my love of history and mythology, while other fed my love for a sappy love story. Either way, my fantastic reads of 2017 are highly recommended.

Good Reads

Dutton Books for Young Readers Published Sept. 26, 2017

Kodansha Comics Published Oct. 25, 2016 304 Pages

Why were these books good reads? They didn’t hit all of my points previously mentioned in Fantastic reads. But they did keep me engaged for most of the book and I loved the character. Also these good reads, have a very strong foundation and although not 5 Pickles perfect, I am happy to have read them and read the next book in their series if it applies.

Pretty Covers

Algonquin Young Readers Published Sept. 19, 2017 272 Pages

Flatiron Books TBP Jan. 30, 2018 368 Pages

What’s a year in review, if I don’t display some gorgeous covers. Some of these books I have read, while others I have not been able to get to yet. But aren’t they just beautiful to look at!

WHAT TANYA HAS BEEN UP TO THIS YEAR

So as mentioned this year has been a unexpected force that put a lot of things in perspective. Firstly, I was able to visit my husband in Japan for two weeks and I was able to go to Dominican Republic this year as well. Both were amazing and it made me realize how attainable traveling can be, if you put your money in order. Because of these adventures, I have the wanderlust bug and actively planning a bunch of trips for 2018.

On a emotional level, I have been a mess. I have been missing my husband dearly and the toll of living on the other side of the world was heavy. It’s still heavy but it is much more manageable. We made celebrated two anniversaries this year. 6 years when we started dating or when I stopped being a butt and said sure (October 3rd) and 4 years when we said I do (December 6th). I tend to get a bit emotional when its comes to my Husband because when we met when I was emotionally and spiritually in bad shape. He stuck around even when I didn’t want him to. He means a lot to me and I can’t wait until his deployment is over and he is home for good.

On another note, school has been kicking my butt and the back and forth of if I should even keep going with my masters degree has been a unanswered question for months now. I am leaning towards banging out this final year (InshaAllah) but I am just not into this classes like I thought I would be. But I did better this semester, so hopefully I can keep that going.

I struggled a lot with past Tanya and current Tanya. Past Tanya was getting bored and tired of being in the past and wanted to explore some newfound freedoms, while current Tanya is not for that mess. But because of certain life changing decisions it was hard to stop those thoughts and move forward with the obvious right and better choice. Past Tanya has taken a step back and I pray that it will be for good. Because when I say she was a mess…smh just so messy.

I learned that self-care is needed not every once in a while but all the time and that it can take different forms. For me going to the library or bookstore, taking a bath and disconnecting from social media, have been the best methods I have learned and used a lot this year. I am still growing in this area because me and emotions aren’t the best of friends but I am proud of myself. I had less panic attacks than I did in 2016, so that counts right? Lol

On a second note, I saw my first ballet, went to a Harry Potter experience, watch old anime in a movie theater, met new people, started wearing lipstick, won a few arc giveaways and a bunch of other stuff. Although this year had some downs, the highs were highs but most importantly I lived and got to thank God for that everyday.

Social Media

As of today I have the following followers on each channel I run:

Instagram: viewsfromthe_desktop : 78 Followers

WordPress: motif by Tanya : 122 Subscribers

Twitter: @motifink 408 Followers

I have been participating in various twitter chats and hash tags. Social media is taking a lot of my time and I had made it my mission that every month, I will take a week vacation from it. However, despite the overload, I have been putting myself and Motif by Tanya out there and it is visible in the increase of followers. I even began writing monthly updates and topic specific blogs. During this year (2017) I forgot how much I enjoy writing and started making time for it despite my growing responsibilities. I love this renewal and in 2018, I tend to work on my writing more.

What Tanya Wants 2018

There are several goals I am reaching for this year, book related and in real life.

Book Goals:

Start posting regularly for Quick Five© interviews

Begin posting The Frustrated Reader© monthly

Clear out my arc queue on Netgalley

Attend book conventions and festivals

Book Con

Bronx Festival

Y’all Fest

Book Expo

Novateen Book Fest

Well Read Black Girl Fest

Begin posting on either Amazon or Goodreads

Start a YouTube channel

Travel Goals:

Baltimore

Bday Cruise

Seattle

Paris

Chicago

Personal Goals:

Pray 5 daily prayers on time

Quran reading

Learn Arabic

Start rockclimbing again

Learn to fence

Learn to bake bread and make a pie from scratch

Volunteer

Learn to drift & drive a stick

Professional Goals:

Begin freelance writing

Move up in my current company

Own a business

What Tanya Wants New Releases: January 2017

Now what can be a end of the year, beginning of the year wrap up without my anticipated reads for January 2017 🙂

I do plan on participating in #unreadshelfproject2018 but with so many new reads I am waiting for this year, I am going to modify my goal. For every 3 tbr books, physical and digital, that I have, I will read one of wants. Sounds fair right 🙂

In Conclusion:

I know that this was a long post and it could have been several posts spaced out during the week but it was great therapy. What is that saying, speak it into existence? Not only am I doing that but praying first and foremost. Is this considered a new year’s resolution? Naw not really. Motif by Tanya is a book review and author interview website but it is also my baby that I put a lot of time in. It’s time to make her stand out and if that means showing a little bit more of me every so so then so be it.

Peace and Blessings, Ya’ll ❤

Year in Review: 2017 2017 was a year to be reckon with. Beyond the obvious, political environment, on a personal level, on all levels, this year was one that I would prefer to use as a learning lesson.

#fantasy #favorite reads #festivals #holly black #instagram #New year #personal #twitter #what tanya wants #Wrap Up #YA books

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sinkin2heart · 6 years

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2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl

2017 will be another incredible year to remember. I felt like this was the year that we hit our stride and finally past the foundational part of growing our business. I can’t stress how long it takes to continue working on growing your brand and finding the right business model until things click like they did for us this year. There were so many days that I could have given up along the way and would never have gotten here. Other people make it look easy to grow a business but I am always asking myself, “Do I love what I am doing still?” If I don’t, I know something needs to change. This is why my business model has changed over the years and my focus this year changed a lot as well. I believe change is good and the self-reflection is important every single day you are running your business.

This year we didn’t change our business model or create any new products or services. Can you believe it? It felt amazing to just take the foundation we had built in 2016 and keep running with it. I’m an entrepreneur and I love creating new things. But, consistency is when the stress starts to decrease and you can start to get in a groove. That’s exactly how 2017 felt. We just did more of what worked. It took 6 years for us to figure out what works really well but when we found it, we just stayed there. This was the key to our success in 2017.

January: For the first time, we launched the Freedom Workshop. I put everything into this video series and worked for months preparing for it. I had never worked so hard on a launch in my life. This was a pivotal point for our brand because I felt like I created some of the best content I have ever made. And the best part of it was that it was completely free and it helped thousands of women start their businesses in 2017. If you missed it, we are doing it again in January 2018! You can register here.

February: We re-launched the Classy Career Girl podcast and started coming out with 2-3 episodes per week and received over 20 5 star reviews!

March: Classy Career Girl’s SEVEN Year Anniversary and 2,000 posts published.

April: We hit a big outrageous goal of 500 members in our membership sites. Love Your Career Formula and Corporate Rescue Plan. This was huge for us because just one year ago, we didn’t even have a membership site. There was definitely some celebrations at Team CCG this month!

May: This month we took a little break. We needed it. We stayed in Coronado for the month and this is when I really learned the value of new locations and the impact on my creativity and stress-level. It was so good to work from a different location than our home and the downtime really re-energized us for the next 6 months in our business and a really busy June launch of Corporate Rescue Plan.

June: This month was crazy busy! I realized I needed some help so I purposely went out and hired a meal prep service, a regular housekeeper and a personal assistant to help me get through the month.This was also a month we took my daughter out of daycare because we wanted to hangout with her more. It was kind of a trial month because I knew if I just had a little more time to focus on my launch and enjoy my daughter more, I would be happier, my business would grow and I would easily be able to afford these new expenses. All three I still have today and my personal assistant has now turned into a much bigger role at CCG. We love you Jenn. I learned that you can’t continue to grow and uplevel your business by doing everything yourself. June was also the month that John and I flew to Toronto to attend Stu McLaren’s TRIBE Live event. We learned a ton and I was featured as a success story on a panel of other membership site owners like Carrie Green and Susan Garrett which was a huge highlight of my year! We also held a meet up with our members which was so fun too!

July: Another month where we realized we needed a little family downtime. We headed to Minnesota for two weeks to spend time with family and get ready for another busy fall launch. This month we also changed up our brand on our CCG Instagram profile. We went from posting 4 times a day to just once a day but started putting a lot more care into the design and look of our feed and brand. We also started planning out our Instagram a month ahead. This made things so much easier because we weren’t scrambling last minute trying to figure out what to post each day.

August: We launched the third annual Fall in Love With Your Work and Life challenge which is always so much fun to do. When you can rinse and repeat stuff you know is good, that’s when you can really get confident in the growth of your business and the impact you can have. This month we worked crazy on our September re-launch of Love Your Career Formula. We didn’t originally plan to have a September launch because we were a little burnt out but we decided to put the hard work in now to re-create the videos so that in 2018 we can use them again and again. So August was a crazy month of content creation in prep for September. Another huge thing we did in August was we launched a Business Class to Build a Classroom in Kenya and raised over $4,000 for a new school in Kenya with World Teacher Aid. What an incredible things we did TOGETHER. This was a highlight of my year!

September: We came out with our brand new Get Unstuck Workshop which felt so good because again it was some of the best free content I had ever created. John and I recorded and edited all of the videos and there were many late nights. All the hard work is worth it when you start getting the feedback from others of how much it helped them with their career transitions. This is why we do what we do!

October: This month was a month of reaching goals on social media and our website. We reached 2 million unique visitors to this site since we started and 13,000 Instagram Followers! We also hit 10,000 members in the Classy Career Girl Network.

November: For months we had been working hard so that we could spend a month in New Zealand with my family. My original goal was to not work at all. I did pretty good and worked a lot less than I normally do but John and I still had work to do while we were there. One of my favorite memories was working in a coffee shop in Auckland with John while my mom watched Mila. Wifi was not as easy as we hoped so there was a little stress involved with trying to work but overall, it was such a great month of rest and creativity. I started working on my book proposal and made my blog editorial calendar for January. While looking at such beautiful scenery I got so many ideas of what I want my brand to look like in 2018. Another example of how taking time off can really help re-energize me for the coming months of my business. While in New Zealand we held #MyStartupStory in our Classy Career Girl Network and it was so fun to read about how brands grew just by posting 7 days with our writing prompts. I even joined in on my AnnaRunyan Instagram account too which I decided to keep posting on daily so I can build my personal brand into 2018 as well.

December: We are about to celebrate an updated version to our free 90-day planner (coming soon!) We also launched the Freedom Workshop that will start January 2nd, 2018 and we hit 26,000 followers on Pinterest!

We are beyond excited for what’s coming next in 2018. Thank you so much for all of your support. Classy Career Girl would not be here without you all! Stay tuned for a post soon about my social media plan for 2018!

Anna Runyan + TEAM Classy Career Girl

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shotbydalonewolf · 6 years

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2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl

February: We re-launched the Classy Career Girl podcast and started coming out with 2-3 episodes per week and received over 20 5 star reviews!

March: Classy Career Girl’s SEVEN Year Anniversary and 2,000 posts published.

Anna Runyan + TEAM Classy Career Girl

The post 2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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s-kinnyheaven · 6 years

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2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl

February: We re-launched the Classy Career Girl podcast and started coming out with 2-3 episodes per week and received over 20 5 star reviews!

March: Classy Career Girl’s SEVEN Year Anniversary and 2,000 posts published.

Anna Runyan + TEAM Classy Career Girl

The post 2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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shmow-zows · 6 years

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2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl

February: We re-launched the Classy Career Girl podcast and started coming out with 2-3 episodes per week and received over 20 5 star reviews!

March: Classy Career Girl’s SEVEN Year Anniversary and 2,000 posts published.

Anna Runyan + TEAM Classy Career Girl

The post 2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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trashbagtricks · 6 years

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2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl

February: We re-launched the Classy Career Girl podcast and started coming out with 2-3 episodes per week and received over 20 5 star reviews!

March: Classy Career Girl’s SEVEN Year Anniversary and 2,000 posts published.

Anna Runyan + TEAM Classy Career Girl

The post 2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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wanderingfound · 6 years

Text

2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl

February: We re-launched the Classy Career Girl podcast and started coming out with 2-3 episodes per week and received over 20 5 star reviews!

March: Classy Career Girl’s SEVEN Year Anniversary and 2,000 posts published.

Anna Runyan + TEAM Classy Career Girl

The post 2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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teamsterekpuppies · 6 years

Text

2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl

February: We re-launched the Classy Career Girl podcast and started coming out with 2-3 episodes per week and received over 20 5 star reviews!

March: Classy Career Girl’s SEVEN Year Anniversary and 2,000 posts published.

Anna Runyan + TEAM Classy Career Girl

The post 2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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willafigg · 6 years

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2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl

February: We re-launched the Classy Career Girl podcast and started coming out with 2-3 episodes per week and received over 20 5 star reviews!

March: Classy Career Girl’s SEVEN Year Anniversary and 2,000 posts published.

Anna Runyan + TEAM Classy Career Girl

The post 2017 Year in Review At Classy Career Girl appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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