Wunderlustblog: personal

Useful Apps I Use For Blogging & Instagram

Recently I saw a post from Beth Sandland a while ago about the apps she used for blogging and Instagram and I thought this was an amazing i...

Recently I saw a post from Beth Sandland a while ago about the apps she used for blogging and Instagram and I thought this was an amazing idea! When I started blogging there really wasn't many apps that you could use for things like planning blog posts,

PLANOLY
This is the app that I usually use for planning my Instagram feed. There are quite a few apps out there now for this kind of thing but this is the one I have found I prefer to use.

CANVA
I have been using Canva for a few years now and it is the software I use to edit and create my blog headers and my post headers. I will admit that I usually prefer to use the desktop version as I find it easier and I'm usually working on my laptop when I need it, however my highlight covers on my Instagram were created through the app.

PS EXPRESS
PS Express is the app I will use the most to edit my photos for any Instagram food posts and also for any photos I use on my blog. There are so many apps around for photo editing and it really is a case of just finding one you like to use. I'm probably one of the only bloggers not using Lightroom but it's just not a software I enjoy using.

VSCO
VSCO is another photo editing app and is easy to save filters used on previous photos which is great for keeping a more put together Instagram feed, however is also great for just simple photo edits too which is what I mostly use it for I have had themes on my Instagram a couple times now and am currently enjoying just uploading whatever I want without worrying if it suits a certain theme.

Unfold
Unfold is an app that allows you to plan Instagram stories, most of the time I like the natural look of uploading a story as and when I want to using the Instagram app itself, however I will use Unfold if I am going to an event or on a holiday that I'm able to take photos at but want the stories to look a bit more put together.

AIRBRUSH

Alot of my blog photos and Instagram photos are taken on either my Iphone or a camera I've had for years I will usually use airbrush to blur the background so that the focus is on one part of the image. This can help to make your photos look like they were taken with a more professional camera which can naturally do this. I will also occasionally edit out any blemishes I have with this app too.

How I Juggle Blogging Whilst Working

By Heather Rowe 12:00 personal

I've wanted to share a post like this for a while now and as I've been blogging on and off for 6 years I wanted to share some of th...

I've wanted to share a post like this for a while now and as I've been blogging on and off for 6 years I wanted to share some of the tips I've learned about juggling blogging whilst still working. It is 100% something that can be done but requires alot of dedication and time.

Plan Your Posts

Planning your content in advance is definitely the most important thing I'd recommend as this means that whenever you are able to find some time to blog you will have some idea of what it is you want to say and this will hopefully make it easier to write posts.

I'd also recommend bulk writing posts if you have the time as this means that in a week where you are busier and don't have as much time you will still have some content to post.

Take Photos In Bulk

Similar to above I definitely recommend taking any post photos in bulk. By having content planned already it should be easier to work out what you need photos of. Another option that I've found useful is taking photos regularly when I have time and working a post around the images I already have.

Write When You Can

As I only work evenings I have time during the day that I can dedicate to writing posts and taking photos however, I always find I am more inspired to write late at night when I get home from work and use the day time hours I have to take photos and make the most of the day time. The majority of my posts are usually written around 2am or 4am.

Work out when you are most inspired and are likely to be able to dedicate time to your blog and go from there.

Scheduling and Social Media

There are various apps out there that allow you to write social media posts in advance and schedule them to post at various times throughout the day. i find this incredibly useful for when I've scheduled a blog post to go up at a time where I am at work. This means that I don't have to worry about finding the time to promote my posts whilst at work as they are already written and scheduled to post.

Don't Feel Guilty If You Can't Post

The most important thing I can say is you and your mental health will always come first. Blogging can be great and some days you can want to dedicate every second you have to it but there will also be days where you just don't have the time or you want to spend time with people and not think about it. Both of these are completely okay!

I wrote a post a couple of years ago about how sticking to a blogging schedule was just not something that was working for me and how I was okay with that. You can read that post here if you are interested.

Let me know if you have any more tips you want to share!

Life After Lockdown

By Heather Rowe 12:00 2020, Lockdown, personal

If I'm being honest, I'm not usually the kind of person who makes yearly plans as I just prefer to go with the flow. That being...

life after lockdown header - blossom trees

If I'm being honest, I'm not usually the kind of person who makes yearly plans as I just prefer to go with the flow. That being said there is a couple of things that I've decided I want to once Lockdown is over.

Unlike alot of people I know I am still working, I currently work most evenings in one of my local takeaways so I haven't really experienced lockdown in the way that the majority have (although kinda wished I have more than once).

Go For Lunch
This is probably the thing I am missing most. Me and my mum started a 'tradition' of every Friday going to our favourite local cafe for coffee and cake (tea for mum) and this is definitely something I have missed doing. I also would love to be able to support our local cafes and businesses more where I can.

Shopping
Considering everything going on I feel this may come across a bit vain however, as much as I love browsing shops online and seeing whats on offer nothing is better than actually going to shops in person. I'm the kind of person who has to try something on before I even think about buying it so that makes shopping online alot harder.

Go Fruit Picking
This is something that I really wanted to do last year however the weather really wasn't on our side and we never had the chance to go so this year (if we can) I definitely want to make the time to go as a family and maybe make some fruit inspired bakes?
Swimming
For a while now I've wanted to get back into swimming and to be honest it's something I actually find quite relaxing. I've never been and probably will never be someone who enjoys running or gym workouts so this year I want to find something that works for me.

Beach Trip
This may come across as a weird one for anyone who knows me and knows my dislike for sand! However considering I have lived within about 10 miles of a beach for most of my life I really don't find I make the time for it quite as much as I probably should.
Picnics
This one could probably tie in with the last one as funny story... the last time I tried to plan a beach picnic we sat down for enough time to lay the food out and had to pack it all up again and leave as it started raining!

Spend time with friends - celebrate birthdays
So far in lockdown I have only had 1 friend who has had a birthday (this could change depending how long it goes on for) and not being able to spend time with people I'd normally see at least once or twice a week as been hard.

As much as I'm the kind of person who enjoys their own space I am also very much missing socializing with people so I think this will definitely be the first thing I do when I am able.

Spend Time With My Sister
Before lockdown happened my sister was traveling around Asia for 4 months so it's been a while since I've spent much time with her. She got back just before lockdown started and we'd had plans to spend the day together whether that was shopping or getting our nails done so this is definitely something I want to do when I am able.

What is one thing you are most looking forward to after lockdown is over?

Im Back?

By Heather Rowe 12:00 personal

Taking Time Out & Not keeping to a Schedule

By Heather Rowe 16:00 personal

Autumn Essentials

By Heather Rowe 16:00 personal

Today's post is another Autumn inspired post and it's all about my Autumn essentials and everything I will be using/wearing this ...

Today's post is another Autumn inspired post and it's all about my Autumn essentials and everything I will be using/wearing this Autumn.

Fashion

Now were getting into the colder months it's important to stay warm so my 2 main essentials for keeping warm are jumpers or hoodies (I would honestly live in hoodies if I could!) and scarfs! I've built up a good collection of scarves over the past few years that I absolutely love but my all time favourites are my New Look scarf I purchased a few years ago (you may have seen it in a few of my previous Instagram photos!) and a grey H&M scarf that I included in my End Of Summer Haul.

Another Autumn fashion essential is ankle boots, my favourite pair have been worn pretty much to death and although I can't currently remember where I bought them from I know that they have lasted almost a year which for me is very important when it comes to purchasing shoes! I also have a dark red pair which I bought from Primark in Spain last year which I absolutely love wearing during the Autumn and Winter months as the colour goes well with most items I own.

Lifestyle

As you will know if you read my last post about the new Autumn fall Collection from Yankee Candle candles are definitely one of my top favourite things so of course they were going to be included in this post. I have recently been burning the Spiced Orange votive that I mentioned in the post and I have been absolutely loving it! Every time I leave the room and come back the whole room smells of oranges and it is the most refreshing yet Autumnal scent I've smelt recently.

Beauty

In terms of beauty essentials I always reach for in the Autumn months, I am always more drawn to orange & darker shades, this relates both to eye shadows and lip colours (although I don't tend to wear lip products very often as I don't feel the need to). I will be writing a more in depth post about my current Autumn everyday makeup soon so keep your eyes open for that post soon!

Blogger Recognition Award

By Heather Rowe 16:00 personal

A few weeks ago I was nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award by Esther from Things I Hear so thank you very much! You should defini...

A few weeks ago I was nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award by Esther from Things I Hear so thank you very much! You should definitely check out her blog!

Wunderlustblog was originally created in late 2014 where it consisted of mainly photo posts where I could share my love of photography. Almost a year later in June 2015 I decided to take a year out of education and it was then that I wrote my first ever post which can still be found here.

If I could give any advice to someone who is thinking of starting a blog it would be -

Be consistent

The biggest piece of advice I would give anyone would be to try and be as consistent as you can, I will be the first to admit I'm not the most consistent blogger ever and believe me it sometimes shows

Engage!

The next most important piece of advice I would give is to engage with your audience, whether that's on Twitter, Instagram or through your blog directly.

My Nominations

Normally idea is to tag 15 blogs and I want to tag blogs who aren't necessarily considered larger blogs but that I feel 100% deserve ALOT more recognition!

All too often with these posts I always feel like a lot of blogs get tagged and people just ignore the TAG completely or people feel there's too many blogs to go through so I wanted to kinda change the rules a bit (not sure if this is allowed but it's definetly worth a try) So I've decided to tag the top 4 bloggers that in my opinion don't get half the recognition they deserve for the effort they constantly put into their blogs.

Tay - Taylor is a fairly new blogger in terms of the blogging world, having been only blogging since the end of 2015 however I love literally love every one of her posts! She posts about everything from beauty to lifestyle to mental health and you should definitely check out her blog! Seriously you won't regret it!

Rosie - absolutely love Rosie, her posts are always so amazingly written! (mostly mental health related but so so incredibly important!) Did I mention how much I love love her posts? No? Well maybe I should say it again?

Kathleen - Kathleen has been blogging since 2014 and the main thing I want to say is that I absolutely love her blog header! I have been absolutely loving her #MUSICMONDAY posts as they remind me of songs I used to love!

Lauren - I know this about blogging and trust me I'll get there, but if you're not following Lauren's Instagram then I'm sorry but where have you been? Lauren has been blogging since 2014 and although I've only recently found her blog and each one of her posts is so well thought out and her photography is actually incredible! I'm actually getting kinda jealous just thinking about it so I'm gonna stop! Just check out her blog is all I'm going to say!

If you've made it this far then well done to you!

To those who I've nominated it's now over to you! (If you wish to participate that is!)

The rules are as follows -

- Write a post showing that you've accepted the award and thank the blogger who nominated you providing a link to their blog

- give a brief story on how your blog started

- give 2 pieces of advice to new bloggers

- choose some other bloggers who you feel deserve more recognition and you want to give this award to

- comment or message each blogger to let them know you have nominated them and provide a link to the post created

Life Update & Taking An Unplanned Break

By Heather Rowe 17:00 personal

These past few weeks have been crazy! I was looking back on recent posts on here and realised that its been almost 4 months since I...

These past few weeks have been crazy! I was looking back on recent posts on here and realised that its been almost 4 months since I actually posted anything which is crazy and I think its been the longest amount of time I've ever not posted anything for.

I never actually planned to take a break from blogging however after doing so I realised I needed to, I felt like I wasn't putting my all into every post and I'd kinda lost my love for blogging and why I started in the first place.

After ending up with no phone about a month ago I also ended up taking a short break from Social Media which was ALOT harder than I ever thought it would be however during that time I found myself spending time doing other more active things and not having to worry about posting anything or sharing what I was doing.

After a long time thinking about where I want to go with Wunderlust and the kind of posts I want to post I am finally back! So this is where I want to share with you the most exciting parts of what I've been up to whilst I've been away!

RCS June 8-10

Anyone who's been following me for a while will know that I always post about the annual Royal Cornwall Show (2015 & 2016) and this year is of course no different! As with last year due to work commitments I was only able to go the 1 day (which ended up being the worst weather of all 3 days but that doesn't matter too much).

Changing Jobs

After a long amount of consideration I finally left my old job almost 2 weeks ago, I had spent just less than 3 years working there and I felt it was definitely time for a change! I've only been working in my new job just over 3 weeks but it's definitely a different environment to work in and its a welcoming change!

Looking to the future

Wunderlust has and always will be my own space on the internet and I have a lot of love for it and I want to keep that love moving forward. As I said in my previous post 5 Things Ive Learned From Blogging time away is important and it gives you time to reflect on everything and thats just what I've been able to do! As for when I'm going to be posting I honestly haven't decided on a schedule or anything like that at the moment, I just want to enjoy posting when and if I feel like it.

If you got this far.. well done to you and let me know in the comments.. What's the one thing you're most proud of??

5 Things I've Learned From Blogging

By Heather Rowe 17:00 personal

Although I first created my blog in August 2014, it wasn't until nearly a year later in July 2015 that I properly started blogging pa...

Although I first created my blog in August 2014, it wasn't until nearly a year later in July 2015 that I properly started blogging part-time. Since then I've learned quite a lot, not only about blogging in general but also about myself and it's this information I wanted to share with you today.

Blogging and working part time is hard work!

I honestly don't think I'll ever find that there are enough hours in the day to fit in everything I want to do. So many times after coming home late afternoon the last thing I want to be doing is writing a blog post even though I know that I'll regret it later if I don't have anything to post that week. It's because of this that no matter how much planning ahead I could do I will probably never be someone who posts a new blog post every day. (apart from Blogmas.. but so far that's never ended well for me so who knows).

Hitting publish on a post may never not be terrifying

There are over 70 posts on my blog currently and the act of pressing publish still scares me to this day. Constant thoughts of 'Will anyone actually read this?' and 'Should I have written that?'. Anyone who knows me well will probably know that I overthink pretty much everything I do and blogging I can honestly say it's no different with blogging. I will say however is that post that you're most scared to post? Post it! Some may ignore it, some may hate it but there's always going to be a chance that someone will relate to it, and those people will become the readers that are most loyal to you.

Be Yourself

I can honestly say that this is the most important piece of advice that anyone could ever give you. ALWAYS be yourself, don't spend time posting about something just because it's popular if it's not what you want to write about. It's your own space to truly be yourself so do just that.

Time away is important

Just like any other job or hobby, time away is just as necessary and can help you to reflect on where it is you want to end up. So many times during the Summer and around Christmas when I was busiest with work I found myself staying up until the early hours to write a post that I wasn't fully into just to be able to post something. I decided after some consideration to take a short break from blogging so that I could really focus all of my energy into working out what I wanted from my blog and the kind of content I wanted to create. I normally find myself stepping back and taking time away during the busiest periods at work just to allow myself some down time.

It's one of the best things I've done

I've put so much time and effort into creating and upkeeping my blog and it's such a rewarding feeling to be able to look back at everything I've accomplished in the last year and a bit and just feel proud to call this my little space on the internet.

Instagram Round Up 2!

By Heather Rowe 17:00 personal

Recently after starting '12 Days of Blogmas' I ended up taking an unplanned break from blogging for personal reasons, however, ...

Recently after starting '12 Days of Blogmas' I ended up taking an unplanned break from blogging for personal reasons, however, I am back!

(the 2 Blogmas posts I did put up can be found here and here)

Whilst I haven't been blogging I have still been trying to post regularly on my Instagram account so here is a round-up of my Instagram life from early December to now!

- As some of you probably know by now as part of my Christmas/Birthday present I received money towards a trip to London. (Post to follow about this very soon!) This photo was taken out of my hotel window soon after I arrived.

- Anyone who has been to London around Christmas will probably have heard of/visited Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park! This selfie was taken at the hotel just after getting back from a slightly longer than planned tube journey from Hyde Park to Stratford.

- Whilst in London I took quite a few photos of the various Christmas decorations around the city and this was one of my favourite photos taken in the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford.

- Whenever I'm in London (sadly I don't visit as much as I'd like to) I always love to visit places such as Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and this was one of the many photos I took in the M&M World in Leicester Square

- This was another photo taken whilst I was in London, as it's actually one of my favourites because I loved all the decorations around the area

- This photo was taken on the evening of a recent staff Christmas party and I can't think of a better group of people to have spent the evening with this night was made even more memorable by the fact that it was my 21st birthday the day after and many of the staff stayed the night in the hotel.

- Christmas Eve! This photo was taken after reading a Christmas-themed bedtime story to my younger brother and sister.

- This selfie was posted as part of a 'Merry Christmas' post, however, it also doubled up as a London throwback photo as it was taken in the hotel on my last night there.

- Anyone who knows me will probably know of my dislike for Christmas related desserts.. (Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, mince pies etc..) so instead this was a photo of the very lovely homemade chocolate pudding!

- This is another of those generic 'pub selfies' which was taken with one of my closest friends during an evening out. If I'm completely honest I don't really remember this photo being taken..!

- I'm probably one of the only people who goes into work on their day off however this is a photo of the coffee I had when I decided to go to work on one of my days off for lunch.

- NEW YEARS DAY! It's become a tradition in our family to go out for lunch on New Years Day so this year we decided to go to a local restaurant where I ordered the vegetarian lasagne (exactly the same as I did the year before!)

- Who says Sunday lunch has to be a roast? As a family we don't really go out to eat too often, however, my sister had an appointment in town so last Sunday we decided to go out for lunch after and this is a photo of the Chicken Caesar salad I chose to order.