7 Links
PIN IT!I’m sort of excited to tackle this 7 links challenge! First off, thank you Gretchen for nominating me to do this! I’ve never been nominated to write a post so this feels special! Like Gretchen said, it’s MUCH harder to do than you think, but here’s my honest college try!
Most Beautiful
I interpreted this post a little differently. I took it to mean the most beautiful images, which to me, are the ones of an impending storm above. I absolutely love thunderstorms (if they are within reason, of course) and used to watch storms roll in with my family at our summer cottage. There is something so incredibly beautiful about mother nature and weather patterns. I love actually watching the dark clouds roll in, the lightning strike, the rain drops fall. Many people look to people, animals or places for beauty, I like to look to the sky 🙂
Most Popular Post
My salted chocolate cake bars post was BY FAR my most popular, ever, in the history of my blog. The reason it was so popular was because the amazing Jenna from Eat, Live, Run blogged about them on her site and Tasty Kitchen, which brought in more than 10,000 views that day, with a total of nearly 18,000 views that week! I was completely flabbergasted and excited. Honestly, the day I found out she blogged about them I was on the verge of quitting this blog. I wasn’t getting many views or comments and I just felt like it wasn’t reaching anyone. So thank you Jenna, for bringing my blog back to life! Plus, if you haven’t tried them, you have to make these. They are SO freakin’ good!
Most Controversial Post
I don’t really talk about super controversial issues and haven’t really stirred many pots with my posts, but the hardest post for me (because I was so scared of everyone’s feedback) was on my post about joining Weight Watchers. I haven’t joined yet, financial difficulties arose and I had to put it off. I have full intentions on joining it this month though. Anyway, it was such a hard post for me to do, internally, because in a way, it felt like I was admitting defeat. I live, breath and sleep nutrition and health. I like to say I’m a very healthy person with a healthy outlook on life. But I’m also a human being and I’ve experienced some hardships in my life, including significant weight gain. I was scared to write this because, as an aspiring nutritionist, joining something like Weight Watchers felt like I was telling everyone NOT to take advice from me or not to look at me as a healthy eating “expert.” It was very hard for me to hit publish. I was so scared everyone was going to look at me how I looked at myself, like a failture. The opposite happened, actually, and everyone had the kindest words to say and the most encouraging pieces of advice. Now I look back on that post and feel pride because I talked about something that was so personal and so scary for me.
My Most Helpful Post
I’d definitely say there was a tie on this one between two equally helpful posts.
How to Broil a Damn Good Steak
I was really surprised at how many emails I got after I posted the steak recipe thanking me for writing it. I know, seems REALLY random right? A lot of people have never broiled a steak before and in winter, you don’t really have any other option. So I’m really glad that my love for steak (that I can’t indulge much anymore) proved to be so helpful for other carnivores out there! The second post is one of the most helpful FOR ME to look back on. E & I travel a fair about by road and so we are constantly hitting the drive thru at least twice a month. I am constantly pulling up this post on my phone as a reminder that you can find healthier options at drive thru’s and which ones I should pick if I’m willing to indulge. I hope it’s as helpful for others as it is for me!
A Post Whose Success Surprised You
The best low fat chocolate chip cookie post has completely blown me away, view & impression wise. Going into it, I just posted this recipe because it’s my FAVORITE cookie recipe and it’s my go-to. When I’m craving a chocolate chip cookie, I always make this recipe because the end result is DELICIOUS and is very low calorie and low fat. This post now is the second highest ranking post EVER on my site, which is very surprising to me! There are so many chocolate chip cookie recipes out there and a lot of healthier version so I thought this post would get lost in the shuffle! Guess I was wrong!
The Post You Feel Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved
This was a hard one to pick because I don’t want to complain that some posts weren’t as popular as others. That’s just life. However, I am bummed that my low fat banana cheesecake didn’t get many hits in the foodie world,or in the food photography world. I worked my arse off on this recipe, making sure it looked AND tasted great. In addition, I spent about an hour setting up and styling the shoot so that it looked professional, like something I see on Tastespotting and Foodgawker. However, even after all this, it was still declined to be featured on their sites 🙁 They are professionals and know they have a very good reason for not publishing, it just bummed me out.
Post I’m Most Proud Of
Seriously, HOW CUTE IS THIS DOG! But no, the post doesn’t have to do with Oscar, directly. The post I’m most proud of is the one I recently wrote about losing my job. I’m proud of that post because it was HARD to write, emotionally. Losing my job was not only a big hit to my ego, but it was a big hit to me as a person & who I knew myself to be. I was miserable at that job, but it was a big part of my life for the past 2 years. I felt like a failure. Writing about that and voicing all of these concerns to the whole wide world was a very scary thing to do. But I couldn’t be happier that I did. Ya’ll were so nice in your comments and really offered me some incredible words of wisdom. I am, truly, proud of myself for doing that.
So there are my links! Do ya’ll agree with what I chose? Well, now it’s time to pass the torch to 5 other bloggers! Below are the ladies I’d love to see pick their links!
- Layla of Wish Fulfillment Everyday
- Stephanie of Steph’s Bite by Bite
- Jessica of Heart on Homestead
- Kelly of kjpugs
- Katie of Ruffles & Truffles
Claire
Tags:7 links, 7 popular links, honey i shrunk the gretch, my realistic life, unemployment
I know how happy it makes me to get comments so I've been trying to remember to do it more myself!
I don't know you, but I am proud of you for putting it all out there :)
P.S.
The banana cheesecake looks fantastic sorry no one accepted the photo.