Tag: blogiversary

New Year!.. Now What?
Ok, ok I’ll say it. I’ve been slacking mucho.

I haven’t written a new post in months.
I didn’t get to my annual ‘New year, New goals’ post.
And I missed my 3rd year blogiversary!

I know, how could I? Ok let’s pretend I celebrated…
*And cue cute, disco background photo of me below* 😉

There have been an interesting turn of events, to say the least, in the past months and I’ve just been feeling bleh.

A new temporary, opportunity came up at work. And because of that, all my creative energy has been geared towards something else. And I’ve been drained when I come home. And I just want to be lazy on the weekends.

Is this really the 9-5 life? I don’t know how people keep up. Especially with no windows in the work environment. Should be illegal.

Then of course Black Friday and the Holidays come around and that’s always a busy time in retail. And just when I thought I could breathe come January, my contract at work is up in the air and I got sick with the flu.

I never get sick with the flu! I can handle a cold, but this flu hit hard and bae got it too, so for the second week of 2020 we were feverish and cold sweating it up in bed – yuck!

Next thing you know, I’m stuck with a stupid, dry cough and January has flown by and there are eleven months left to 2020. Eleven! I haven’t even made my vision board!

So what are we gonna do?

We are going to hustle.

I’m trying to do this for realsies this time where I focus on me. What’s best for me. And I’m not going to worry about explaining or apologizing for the decisions I make that better my life for me.

📷 taken at Shiseido’s #ShareBeautyon7 campaign at Hudson’s Bay on Queen.

I think the reoccurring theme is me here, and not to be selfish, but I think I’ve put myself on the back burner long enough. And I’m bored of listening to other people’s goals and plans for me because the only person that knows what I want is… you guessed it… my chinchilla – jk, it’s obviously me.

That being said. I’m going to put more effort into my blog posts. I’ve seen a major spike in views last year, thanks to a UK company with the same name – hello to my UK friends! I know you may be coming for another reason, but I hope you stay for me 🙂

So with more views, I need more content.
More importantly, more consistency.
I need to get my creative juices flowing once again because L&L is in its third year! We’re in a fully committed relationship now.

Plus, third time’s a charm, right?

Source: Pinterest

Thus, to tie in my regular January posts,

Happy New Year & Happy 3rd Year Blogiversary!

Thanks for sticking around.

If you’re new, welcome to Luxe & Loaded.

I’ll be writing soon.

xo

Stephanie

Subscribe to Luxe & Loaded to stay updated with my latest posts!

For more pictures, follow me on Instagram @s_pasquali!
January 28, 2020
Two Year Blogiversary!
This past week marked my second year since Luxe & Loaded went live!

So…

Happy Blogiversary to me! 🎉

Luxe & Loaded 2 Year Blogiversary
Shot + Edit: Me 🙂 | Music: bensounds

Cookie Monster: Kaws x Sesame Street | Sign: My Cinemalightbox
T-shirt: Barbie x Missguided

A two year commitment is a lot in a relationship. Could be make or break point for some. A big milestone. The deciding factor year to whether something is magical and turning into real love. Or, realizing you’ve developed different interests and don’t love it as much as you did in the beginning.

For me, it’s the first part.

I’m super excited about this blog and I can’t wait to continue to try new things and watch it flourish!

I took some time to read my 1st year post and see what goals I had set for myself to accomplish for this blog. And let me tell you, I pretty much accomplished none of them.

Yes. I suck.

It’s not that they were hard goals or tasks I had set for Luxe & Loaded. Turns out 2018 was a very draining year and I was not prepared to balance work, life, wedding and blog.

Something had to give.

I wanted to write more blog posts than I did the year before. I wanted to introduce more videos to my posts and Instagram. I wanted to start a Youtube channel. I even had plans to do a whole wedding series!

It started out that way… but then I slacked and none of that happened.

Though, surprisingly my numbers were up!

Even with less posts, I actually got slightly more views and visitors than I had the previous year – woo hoo!

And that goes to show me I’m headed in the right direction with L&L. So I’m allowing myself a do-over for my blog goals – No shame.

So once again – Let’s get it done!

What’s gonna be different this year?
For one, I don’t have a wedding to plan in another country.
Secondly, I don’t have a wedding to plan in another country – yes I said that twice because you don’t know until you do it! And I had no professional help, but I digress.
Thirdly, I’m being selfish and putting myself first this year… scratch that.

I’m putting my creative self first.

I miss creative Steph. For a while, I lost touch with that aspect of me. So I’m going to make an effort to pay more attention to that side of me. Plus, I have to be, because I’m broke af this year so not as many shopping hauls or travels – womp womp.

Source: Pinterest

Though I’m feeling good about blogging in 2019.

It’s all about positive energy, perseverance and of course, having fun creating.

Once again, as they say on the Bachelor – we’re going to go on this an amazing journey together.
And I can’t wait to spend another year with you!

xo
Stephanie

Cookie Monster: Uniqlo
My Cinemalightbox: Indigo
Missguided T-shirt: Hudson’s Bay

Subscribe to Luxe & Loaded to stay updated with my latest posts!
For more pictures, follow me on Instagram @s_pasquali!

Check out my previous posts below
January 20, 2019
Happy 1 Year Anniversary to Me!

This January marked the 1 year anniversary of when I started my blog!
So I have to take a moment to give myself a little pat on the back because I’ve stuck to it and I actually love doing this!

Yay me! 🎉🎉🎉
Happy Blogiversary!

I tried blogging years ago, as it started out as an online travel diary so my friends knew what I was up to half way across the world – but it was short lived.

Then, after years of me contemplating actually starting a new blog, I finally did it. At first, I was worried the same thing would happen – that I’d lose interest quickly or it would be too much work to keep up with and maintain, but I made it through year one!

So I’ve decided to do a little reflection post on what I’ve learned during the past year since creating Luxe & Loaded.

– What I like –

I very much enjoy the photography aspect. I’ve always been a artsy person, but more so on the drawing and painting side. Never thought about getting into photography as vacation pics was as far as I went, but I realized that I actually really enjoy staging photos. Flatlays are my jam. I get super excited when I have a day off to take my photos. And I love shopping around for props and getting inspiration from the cute little knick knacks I find.

I also love the feeling of a new post going live and seeing it on the WordPress feed amongst the other blogs. It’s a tiny confidence boost that I’ve accomplished another post that I put my time and effort into. And seeing it there with other posts from people around the world who are doing the same thing is super exciting.

– What was hardest –

Starting the damn thing!
As mentioned before, writing a blog was something I’ve contemplated about for the longest time. And for the longest time I never did anything about it. It’s not like there was never a good time, because any time was a good time. There is no special day or month or season that’s ideal for jumping into something new. You just have to do it. And I finally did it. So as those bad tattoos say, ‘no regerts’!

What else?
Oh, my name!
I’ve always like creative writing and telling stories. So I knew I wouldn’t have any issues with that, but thinking of a name was probably the second hardest thing in the world! It couldn’t just be any name. It had to represent me. And I didn’t want a temporary name and then have to change it halfway through once I finally decided on one. It was many days and nights and weeks of brainstorming, going through the dictionary and thesaurus, looking up definitions, rhymes, wordplays, liking one then hating it… until I kept going back to one and repeating it over and writing it out and tah-dah! Luxe & Loaded was created.

– What surprised me –

This thing is world wide. I’ve had people from Netherlands to Brazil to Kuwait visit my blog. And even if it’s just the homepage, or they have no idea what I’m saying due to language and translation, it still surprised me that I had a reach to these people.

Before I started writing, I never imagined a target audience outside of North America. So to know that I have readers out in Germany or Ireland who stop by my blog second is amazing! It may have just been one person in a whole country, but to me that’s still one click of curiosity to my page that one person took the time to check out. And I appreciate it, so thank you and hello to my European friends!

– What to improve on –

I’m trying to step up my postings for 2018, so consistency is something I hope to focus on. I’ve had a steady run for my first year with 25 posts. I honestly didn’t have a number set in mind in terms of hitting any goals. And it averages to about 2 posts per month. Not bad for starters, but there were some months I’d only push out 1 post vs other months I’d push 3-4.

So I want to find a balance and possibly create a schedule. I’ll have to do some testing and see what works best. I’m still learning about my blog and statistics and what would be best for myself and readers. Seeing what topics do very well and what topics to scrap. I’m kind of getting a basic understanding, but I know I’m just at the surface and there’s so much more to dive into!

Cupcake: Le Dolci | Chocolates: Chocollata

– What’s next for Luxe & Loaded? –

More visuals! I was thinking of incorporating videos? Perhaps starting a youtube channel? The ideas are brewing!
Bae got me a major ring light for Christmas and I also got myself a new camera that I’m super excited to try out and start using for my pictures and filming. Plus, lately I’ve been sneaking some short video edits onto my insta feed to test out how I like doing them and audience response. And I can say – I ain’t mad. I actually loved editing and telling stories through video before I got into taking pictures and flatlays for instagram. So this is something I’m excited and hoping to add to Luxe & Loaded.

All in all, I’ve got high hopes for L&L this coming year.

I’m ready to go.

Let’s see what 2018 has in store!

xo
Stephanie

Subscribe to Luxe & Loaded to stay updated with my latest posts!
For more pictures, follow me on Instagram @s_pasquali!

January 31, 2018