Five on a Friday – The Blogging Edition

1. I’m having my very first giveaway on Monday and I’m super pumped about it! I’ve actually been planning this for a couple of weeks, but was struggling on writing the actual post. It ended up expressing my thoughts exactly how I wanted, so that makes it extra special to me. Plus, the prize is something near and dear to my heart. When I read the post to Justin, his response was “I can tell in your voice, how excited you are about this!” (Some of you may already know what it is, but I’d like to keep it a surprise for the others!) I’m using the Rafflecopter widget, also for the first time. I’ve seen it used a lot on some other blogs I follow, and it seems to be the easiest way to monitor a giveaway, so hopefully it works right! Be sure to check back and enter to win!!

2. Last night I started bringing some of my old content back to the site, though I still have a TON of stuff to sift through. I don’t want anyone new to come here, and think I’ve only been blogging since April, when it’s really been 4+ years! (I made sure to disable the Twitter plugin, so as not to bombard you this time!) It’s been really fun going through old posts and reading about how different my life was when I created this little space in 2009! I’m definitely much happier and healthier now, and I think I’ve made huge strides in improving my content and writing style. It makes me happy to see how far I’ve come!

3. But, I’ve still got a long way to go! I have so many blog ideas floating around in my head, but lately I’ve been having a hard time putting words to screen. I have grand plans on where I want this blog to go, I’m just not sure how to get it there. I feel very stagnant with it right now. The first step is to get back on track with my 52 weeks of blogging posts. I really feel like Doni’s prompts will guide me and  hopefully help me find a way to start moving forward.

4. Along those same lines, I’ve decided to participate in NaBloPoMo again this year! I think it’ll be good for me to write daily, and re-learn how to find fodder in the everyday. Hopefully I can come up with 31 posts to keep you interested!! A few things on the agenda include updating you on some house things, filling you in on how school has been going, and maybe posting my very first vlog. (I know I keep saying I’ll do this, and then never do. Maybe I’ll actually come through this time!)

5. Last night, I looked at my analytics for the first time in months. I try not to pay attention to it, because I used to get frustrated when I would see low numbers. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to see that in the last month, I’ve had 166 new visitors to Hey Smalls! This was about 50% of my total visitors for the month, which is awesome. I know that’s probably nothing at all, to what some bloggers get, but to me, that’s a really big deal! I’m excited to think that some new people are checking out my site, and hopefully returning for more! If you’re one of them, please introduce yourself in the comments!

As for this weekend, it should be mostly relaxing, with a little excitement thrown in. Tonight we’re celebrating Justin’s sister’s birthday, and tomorrow we have ticket to the Pitt game. Both events should be a good time, followed by no plans on Sunday. I’m looking forward to pancakes and naptime!

What are you up to this weekend? Anyone else participating in NaBloPoMo?