Things are Happening and it's Somewhat Crazy - Kathleen

Hey guys! This is just a quick-ish post to update you on things. I'm going to try and keep this pretty simple and not confusing.

So a few weeks ago I wrote a post about blogging and how I get my inspiration. I mentioned a bit about how blogger is an amazing way to start blogging and get a basic idea for how you want to go about it (what you want to post, who you are targeting, etc.) I talked a little about how Blogger does have a limited amount of freedom for the administrator to design. Emma and I want something that we have more freedom with. We also want to take a the next step for our blog to have more responsibility with it and also, hopefully, reach more readers.

Because of this we are changing platforms. We will be switching over to WordPress. We are having a blog planning "meeting" (I say that so I can sound fancy) this weekend to set up the new site and finalize Christmas designs. If we can't transfer posts from this site to the new site, there will be a link to quickly access all the old posts here, on this site. The link to the new site is in the signature, go check it out. Emma did a little editing and it looks great already! There are, however, no posts up yet.

If you have any questions, leave a comment!! Thank you so much and I really hope you like the new site!!!

Kathleen

twodorkswithablog.blogspot.com

twodorkswithablog.wordpress.com

Mental Health - Kathleen

Thanksgiving Break is started!!

Hi everyone! It's Kathleen here, and because I live in America, Thanksgiving is this Thursday! I'm so excited, it's one of my favorite holidays. We always have the most delicious array of food; Turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows, green mountain fluff (sprite, marshmallows, pineapple, walnuts) gravy, fresh bread, cranberry sauce, apple stuffing, pumpkin pie, chocolate cream pie, pecan pie, and coconut cream pie. It's a bit much but it's delicious.

Pretty much all year round I'm stressed. This lessens during the summer and heightens right around this time of year. I don't really know why I get more stressed this time of year, but it probably has to do something with school and less time for me to pay attention to my mental state. So I'm going to share a few of my tips for combating stress and improving my daily mental health.

To start out, whenever I'm feeling down, I like to read a few quotes that help me re-focus and evaluate what I need to do to get back to myself.

"Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more." Mother Teresa

It's okay if every weekend doesn't lead to big moments and campfires and laughter that carries on for hours and hours. Some weekends might be quite, still, with plenty of room to contemplate. And in that contemplation room, there is room to grow. So hold those weekends dear. Don't see them as less or as threats to the more exciting times. There is beauty and truth even in the seemingly mundane." -Morgan Harper Nichols

"I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. They way you drink your drinks, How you decorate your home. Or party. The way your write your grocery list. The food you make. How your handwriting looks. And the way you feel." - Unkown (via awwyeahquotes)

"We rise by lifting others." - Unknown to me (hunting louise)

"Don't forget to love the way you want to be loved, listen the way you want to be heard, speak the way you want to be spoken to, give the way you hope others will give, care the way you want others to care because change doesn't start with them. It stars right here." - Madalyn Beck

"You think attention is love, and that's why you suffer so deeply." - The Better Man Project

First up: Self-esteem, because belief it or not, your self-esteem/body-image affects your mental health insanely. If I'm not feeling confident in my body, I think of one thing. If I'm not doing anything to change the way I feel about my body, then I can't complain, because complaining isn't going to do anything. Whenever I'm in a funk, I go on a run. I do try to go to the gym, or even just do a bedroom workout. Besides doing something about the way you feel about your body, exercising gets your endorphins going and that also makes you happier.

My surroundings also change the way I feel. I try and keep my room clean. Usually my to duvet makes me super warm at night, so I've started taking it off before I go to sleep and draping it over my desk chair. I still have 3 layers of blankets so I'm plenty warm. Then when I wake up in the morning, I have to make my bed because I literally can't do anything with this humongous blanket draped over my chair. Then once my bed is made I have to clean everything else up because otherwise everything looks out of place.

The next thing is so important, in fact, my mental state relies on this almost 100%. When I do my school, I make sure that I'm doing what needs to be done that day, and then working on anything extra. When I have a paper due and I would much rather procrastinate, I get to it and completely ignore the fact that I would much rather be on Pinterest. Then when I'm done, I feel so much better and my assignment is turned in. This honestly cures so much stress because the longer you procrastinate on anything, the more stressed you feel. That being said, another rule I have is that I never work past 8 P.M. This prevents me from working too late and getting a headache.

My last important mental health/stress-relief tip is to pamper yourself a little bit. I always take my time to wash my face with a scrub, cleanser, and moisturizer. I always do a lip scrub and swipe on so much chap stick. I use a homemade lip scrub; I made it a really long time ago, but I think it is coconut oil, sugar, and peppermint oil. I then use some Burt's Bees ( Beeswax Lip Balm with Vitamin E and Peppermint) then I use my Body Shop (Born Lippy, Strawberry) Lip Balm. If I have any chill time, I will light a candle and do a facemask. Sometimes I write a blog post, others I just lay down and not do anything. I love using the Yes To Tomatoes Charcoal Sheet Mask. It literally clears my skin SOOO well. It's also very refreshing.

That's it for my relaxing/Mental Health tips. Obviously this wasn't intended to help with anything serious; it's just how I keep my life relatively stress-free.

Tell me what your plans are for Thanksgiving this year, and I will see you next week!

Kathleen

twodorkswithablog.blogspot.com 

Fall Favorites and College Visit - Kathleen

OMG I saw Thor: Ragnarok on Friday and it was amazing!!!

Hola my lovely readers!

Fall is in full swing now and I'm definitely feeling the cold! Coats are a necessity now in most of Illinois and I absolutely love it. I pulled my leather boots out and I'm wearing sweaters pretty much all the time now and it's soooo cozy!

As you may know, I visited Benedictine College last weekend. It was amazing, to say the least. We left at 6 AM on Friday morning, which was excruciating because I had to get up at 5 AM. I was going to try and drive all the way to the college in Atchison, Kansas which is about 5 hours away. We met lots of students and took a tour of the campus. I got to meet with the chairman of the Journalism/Mass Communications major I'm interested in, and he really helped me feel better about what I want to major in. The girl who took me to the building was so sweet; she offered to show me her freshman dorm! It was so cute and cozy, and both her and her roommate had their own walk-in-closet. My closet isn't that big, so I could literally bring my whole wardrobe! Later on, I met with my confirmation sponsor over lunch and she took me to see her art studio on campus. I attached some pictures below.

The older half of campus.

Atchison is a tiny town in Kansas, this is about 10 minutes out of downtown.

Earlier, I was talking about how cold it is here. Because of that, I'm going to do my fall favorites now instead of later because fall is very quickly turning into winter. I only have two things so it should be super quick!

First thing is the Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub. It "targets what clogs pores and clears away impurities leaving you with a healthy-looking complexion and noticeably softer, smoother skin after just one use." This does exactly what it says it does. I swear, this has saved my skin. During the summer, my skin is clearer. This could be because of a few reasons: I am working out more, spending more time outside, and less stressing out because of school. During the school year, my skin is usually much more spotty. Right now, my skin is just as clear as it is during the summer. I feel 100% confident going somewhere without makeup. I HIGHLY recommend this.

Last is the Makeup Revolution Flawless 3 Resurrection palette. Oh ma goodness. This palette has the prettiest nude colors. I think my favorite shades are Castle, Sublime, and New Dawn. The colors are very pigmented and there is soo little fall out. For $15, it's an amazing palette.

Thank you so much for reading! Comment down below any of your college plans or what you want to major in!

Kathleen

twodorkswithablog.blogspot.com

Why I Had to Rehome my Puppy -Emma

Phewwww this a hard post to write...

Hello hello hello everyone! Today I am coming with some sad news, and I'm sure I will get some more hate about it.

I felt like I had to post this, because I didn't want anyone wondering "Where did Sadie go?" "Did she die?" Well I'm here to tell you that she is perfectly fine, and I am perfectly fine too.

I adopted Sadie in May 2017, when she was just a tiny puppy. I loved (and still do love) this dog with all my heart. This past month or so, I started noticing that I was constantly sick with a cold/allergies any time I spent a lot of time with Sadie in one day.

Some days were worse than others, but if I was to play with her for a long time or let her sleep in my bed, I would just feel miserable.

I am allergic to dogs.

I know this not only because of my experience with Sadie, but because of having allergies after going over to friends houses who had multiple dogs.

This came as very saddening news to me and my family of course, because we all loved Sadie.

But I believe my health is much more important than an animal.

I ended up finding the PERFECT home for Sadie, and I mean it, this lady was sent from God. Sadie now lives in a home with a wonderful 28 year old woman and her husband. They live over in Missouri. The woman runs marathons, which is perfect because Sadie LOVED to run. They also have a fenced in yard and Sadie gets to sleep in bed with them at night.

She even texted me and told me that Sadie went on a 4 mile run last weekend, and still had energy so they went on 2 more walks that day.

So bottom line, she is much happier there than she was at my home.

I have received so much hate these past couple of weeks, but I'm not listening to it anymore. I did what was right not only for me but also for Sadie.

I raised her from a puppy, took care of her when she was spayed, and taught her proper behavior and trained her. I am not guilty for my decision.

I hope you all understand and can support me in my choice.

Thank you!! *hugs*

-Emma

How to Make Money at Home as a Teen -Emma

Hey everyone! I am here with a new post!

Today I will be mostly talking about my online business, how you can start one of your own, and tips for teens wanting to start their own business.

Most of my friends don't know this yet, but this past August I started my own Etsy shop selling bandanas and bow ties for dogs and cats. And let me tell you, it was not easy.

I have gone through many different business plans, and still work out different problems and details everyday.

If you're creative and are interested in making things to sell online, keep reading.

The first step to starting your own Etsy shop is figuring out a product you can make to sell. You can research different DIYs on Pinterest that interest you, or maybe you already have something in mind that you have made before that you think you could sell.

Some things to think about when choosing a product to make and sell are:

-how long it takes you to make the product
-how much it costs to make the product
-if there are many starting costs you'd need to start your business
-if you can make the item in many different ways (the more items you have, the better your shop will do)
-if you can think of a select group of people who would be interested in buying your product

Some answers I had to these questions when starting my shop are:

-I can make 10 bow ties in 1 hour (pretty good efficiency rate)
-A half a yard of fabric is about $4, and I can make 8 bow ties with each half yard. I can also buy bulk supplies and packaging
-Business cards will cost around $20, but they will make my shop and packaging much more proffessional
-I can make bow ties in all kinds of different patterns and styles.
-I can contact people who have dogs or love animals to promote my shop.

Making an Etsy shop is pretty easy once you have a business plan, so I won't go into too much detail with this step.

Marketing is one of the most important parts of your new business. 95% of my sales have came just from Instagram. So, I highly recommend making an Instagram account for your new business, following hundreds of people who are in your "group" listed above, and hosting lots of giveaways and contests to make customers interested.

I have also started having brand representatives for my shop. I find these people on Instagram, they apply to be a model/brand rep, and their pets receive free bow ties to take photos in and promote my shop. I get to use these photos on my shop for marketing purposes too. So, it's a win win.

Having an Etsy shop while still in high school is NOT easy. But if you are looking for a fun way to be creative and make money from home on your own time, this is the perfect opportunity for you!

I know I didn't go into too much detail in this post, but I (might?) make this a series of posts for you all, and if you have any questions just let me know!

Also, be sure to check out Kathleen's new post talking about her inspiration for the blog and her posts. I really love her comments and she inspired me to write this post today!

Thanks for reading!

-Emma

Two Dorks with a Blog - Kathleen

Hi everyone!!

I have a bit of a different post today,  so I'm just going to start right away.

I had a friend email me this morning and she said that she started a blog back in like 2012 or something, but only posted 2 posts on it. She asked me what my inspiration comes from and what my view is for the blog. So I'm going to talk a little about how I write my posts, what the focus for my posts is, (grammar?) some tips, and what blogs I often read.

#1
How did I come up with the focus for my posts?

Honestly, I just write what I think is fun and I would enjoy reading. I write about what is interesting me in my life and what is happening in my life. Even for the small audience we reach, I'm astonished and honestly kind of weirded out by the fact that people are reading posts about my life and such. I try and incorporate a little of my deep inner thoughts into my posts as well. Honestly, as an INFJ, I have so many deep thoughts and it's hard for me to feel comfortable talking about them with everyone, even my parents. This is one of the few reasons why I can't wait to move out: because I can live a life that I want without being judged. And the life I want to lead isn't necessarily one of partying. Honestly, I want to stay as far away from that as physically possible. I can't wait to have kids and raise them, and make dinner for my family and just live my life as quietly and gracefully as possible. Grace and mercy is my motto. Sometimes I'm not so great at the grace part though...

#2
How do I come up with ideas on what to post?

This is my favorite part. Like I said above, I take a lot of my inspiration from my everyday life. Those posts, I like to call Vloggy-Bloggies. (I made the name up myself :P) I normally write about what interests me, or something that I think about a lot and want to share with people. The other thing I do somewhat often is take inspiration from Pinterest. The daily journaling prompts are a somewhat useful way to go, but the daily blog post/YouTube video lists are even better. My favorite prompts are those by Hello Neverland. (Link under my signature) These make some great inspiration for seasonal posts. After this I take inspiration from YouTubers. But it rarely ever gets to the point that I need that inspiration. Not that YouTubers aren't great.

#3
Blogger: My Opinions and Advice


 I love using Blogger. It's a very simple way to start a blog and get your mind wrapped around how this whole thing works. You can even start earning money using Blogger. However, if you plan on going big with your blog, I would recommend starting your own website using something more like Wix. While blogger is great, getting your own website gives you a little bit of a boost. In the future (after college) I plan on getting a site through Wix and using that.

My cons for using Blogger is that the designing options only go so far, and that videos don't post very well, if at all. Wix is better for posting videos I've heard.

I will be linking all the blogs mentioned in this post and some of my favorites below so you can access all of them.


On another note, I have questions about festive posts!! What kind of posts do you want to see coming from us this season? Also, how do you readers feel about Christmas music throughout late November and throughout December?

Thank you so much for reading and I will see you next week!!

Kathleen

twodorkswithablog.blogspot.com

Hello Neverland

Candidly Keri

Zoella