{liebster award}

My friend {& fellow blogger} Shelby nominated me for a Liebster award! Liebster Awards are given to bloggers by bloggers to get to know each other a little better.  I'm so touched she thought of me for this! I love having blog friends, but I love having friends who blog even more :) Thanks Shel!

Here are the questions Shelby asked me...& here are my answers:

1. How long have you been blogging and why did you decided to start?
Lively Liv started four years ago--January 2010. Crazy! I initially started this blog to share my experiences of living in college with celiac disease {newsflash: it was tough back then}, but it quickly went beyond that little gluten-free niche. It has since transformed into a lifestyle blog & it's here to stay. Quite honestly, I just needed an outlet to share photos, projects, & words.

2. Who is your style icon?
Michelle Williams.

3. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?
There's just something about mint chocolate chip ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. 

4. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I've been dying---DYING---to go back to Paris. 

5. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
I love the community of blogging. I love how it forces me to be creative. I love how it makes me to stop for a few minutes at night & reflect on what's going on in my life. I also really love the digital scrapbook aspect of it all. It has been such a gift being able to look back in my archives & re-live everything that's happened to me again & again.

6. Who was your first celebrity crush?
I think it was Adam Brody. I'm still crushin' on him.

7. If you could have lunch with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and where would you go to eat?
Right now? My mom. There's this little place on the beach in Positano that serves the best gluten-free pasta bolognese. We'd go there.** 

8. What are some of your favorite stores?
J.Crew, Anthro, DSW, Paper Source, West Elm, Boden, Home Depot {is that weird?}

9. Top three favorite songs?
I listen to these daily:
Comptine d'un autre été - L'après-midi - Yann Tiersen
Departures N1 - Dustin O'Halloran
The Scientist - Coldplay

10. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting (or who is thinking about starting) to blog?
1) Be yourself. 2) Be smart about what you write about. 3) Be ORIGINAL. 4) Invest in a good camera & learn how to use it. 5) Familiarize yourself with Photoshop or a similar design program. 6) Have fun.

11. Any blog goals for 2014?
I need to get better about planning & writing posts ahead of time. I go in waves of being good at this. Work can randomly get busy during the week & it's always nice to have a post in the queue ready to go.  I also want to form a relationship with another photographer in the city who can help take photos for some fashion posts {because tripod self-portraits = awkward Liv}. I'd also love to partner with some brands that I like. I'm wary of making this space too sponsor-heavy, but I think a partnership here & there could be a fun way to grow readership. & finally...blog more!

I nominate:
Kiera from Kier Royal
Sydney from Dainty Dwellings

I'm taking some of Shel's questions, because they're great ones {& I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm doing this right after I told you all to "be original"}, but adding new ones of my own!

1. When did you start your blog and why did you decide to start?
2. What is your favorite place that you've EVER visited?
3. What are your top 3 favorite blogs?
4. Describe your perfect Sunday.
5. What is your secret talent or skill? Spill!
6. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
7. What's the best meal you've ever had?
8. Fashion dos & don'ts?
9. What movie can you watch over and over again and not get sick of it?
10. What are your blogging goals for 2014?
11. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting (or who is thinking about starting) to blog?

**up for it, mom? :)

{little changes / goal update}

Happy Monday!

A few blog changes...

Most noticeably, I added that picture of me over on the right, which can bring you to the new "About" page. It was a bit outdated, so I took this rainy weekend as an opportunity to spruce it up a little. I also cleaned up the side a bit too.

I'm excited to announce a new affiliate! One King's Lane. Anyone ever shop there? It's my favorite. I literally have to stop myself from buying something from there every day--it's just that good. If you've never been, click that banner to the right & check it out. You will not regret it. Or maybe you will, if you spend a lot :)

Goal Update:

Nothing major, but as I'm working at my February goals, I'm trying to simplify my spending habits. Mainly my monthly bills. A few months ago I sat down & took the time to think of all the services I use that have automatic monthly charges. This is what it came down to:

- 3G for my iPad - $30/month
- Netflix - $15/month
- Adobe Photoshop CC - $20/month
- Google Storage - $2/month
- Vimeo Plus - $10/month
- Bluehost {domain for my photo site} - $9/month
- Amazon Prime - $79/year
- InStyle & People mag - $80/year

That's a LOT! {Did anyone's jaw drop? I'm still picking mine up from the floor.}  It actually made me quite nervous embarrassed.

The first to go were the magazines. I was signed up through my school, so it renewed automatically. They were also still going to my PA address, so it was really a waste.

The second thing to go was 3G for my iPad. I'm not traveling as much as I did in college, so I'm not on trains or airplanes every week anymore. I really only use my iPad at home or in the random cafe, which always has wifi. So that was stopped. I can always start it back up again, but for now…I'm sticking to wifi.

Vimeo Plus was an easy stop; I'd only been a member for 2 months, but since I rarely post videos, it was a waste of money. {And outside of the free membership, it really just allowed a bigger GB storage & processed my videos faster. But I can wait an extra 30 minutes for free, you know?}

Amazon Prime is addicting, but another big expense that wasn't really used.

All of that was cancelled months ago, but Bluehost was where I was stuck. I left it be for a while, but this weekend I really thought about it again. I was SO excited to start my photography business last May & the website was the product of days & days of work. I had a few clients here & there over the summer, but job hunting & other things soon took all my time. Now that I have a full time job, in a city where I don't know enough people to really network for clients, the time I originally thought I could commit to it just didn't work out. I'm not shutting down OAM Photo + Design, but I've decided to close the website. I really couldn't justify spending money each month on a site that wasn't getting regularly updated. Ya feel me? It really bums me out, but I know it's the right decision. I may open up a Facebook page for it--since it's free. ha.--but I'm going to wait a few weeks to do that. I really miss photographing clients, so I'm going to slowly bring it back into my daily life somehow.

So here's where I am now:

-- 3G for my iPad - $30/month
-- Netflix - $15/month
-- Adobe Photoshop CC - $20/month
-- Google Storage - $2/month
-- Vimeo Plus - $10/month
-- Bluehost {domain for my photo site} - $9/month
-- Amazon Prime - $79/year
-- InStyle & People mag - $80/year

I watch something on Netflix nearly every night, so every bit of that monthly charge is used. Could I go without it? Sure. But for now…it's staying. As for Google Storage, I need that to keep this ol' blog running :) Same goes for Photoshop, so they're both staying too. {The old versions were a one time fee, but Photoshop CC is a monthly subscription that covers all updates that may debut. I sweet-talked my way into the student price, so it's way more affordable that the regular fee of $50/month.}

After all that...I feel SO SO SO relieved. I honestly don't miss anything that I cancelled, which just goes to show that they were just draining away my savings for too long. I really encourage anyone to do this. The list was so much longer than I had in my mind, & it's really eye-opening to think about what you need vs. want.

{blogshop nyc | day 2}

Here are scenes from Day 2 of Blogshop NY...

^^our FAB gift bags 

^^Angela & Bri...the gals behind Blogshop!

I made this gif. 

aka I KNOW HOW TO DO THAT NOW.

I also made this corkboard...down to the tape & confetti!

I'll do one final write-up next week!

{blogshop nyc | day 1}

Here's some scenes from Day 1 of Blogshop...

 I will write more soon. 

But in short, it was 

simply

amazing.