The Honeybee's Lifestyle

Tag: Empowerment

  • Blogger XPO 2019

    Hello Honeybees,

    August was a crazy busy month. It started with a focus on family and ended with a focus on me. I spent a weekend in Nashville at the 2nd annual Blogger Xchange XPO.

    The Blogger Xchange was founded by Leigh Love & Kay Elle. Both are Nashville natives that grew up together. They saw a need to bring the growing Nashville blogger community together and thus their first event was created. Leigh is a music, travel & events blogger. Kay Elle is a beauty, fashion and lifestyle blogger. The two together make a very dynamic team.

    Fortunately for our local blogger community, they do come to Memphis to host classes which have been very helpful. So when I got the chance to attend this years XPO I jumped at it. My blogger boo Mocha_Divas and I hit the highway headed east ready to learn and grow.

    Thursday night was VIP night. Once there we checked in to our hotel and got ready for a walking photo tour with Photo Walk Tour the Gulch. So many Instagramable spaces. Christy & Abbey did an great job especially working with all of us bloggers. We finished the tour at Winky Lux by making flower crowns. We didn’t make the kick off party that night because after the drive up and the photo walk we were tired but I heard that the guys from Slim & Husky’s shared some great advice.

    Saturday was the big day. After a healthy breakfast from Rush Bowls and Box Water we headed into hear Memphis’ own Paris Chanel give the keynote speech. My takeaway from Paris was to pursue your passion. Blogging is a passion project for me so this was confirmation that I was in the right place. The rest of the day was filled with very informative sessions. My notebook is full of gems and action plans.

    One of the speakers in my first session “Writing with Soul” was Brittney Oliver. When Brittney started to share her story I thought to myself, this sounds so familiar. Turns out I heard Brittney on one of my favorite podcast Switch,Pivot or Quit. A few of my other sessions included Perfecting the Feed and The Business of Blogging. The Business of Blogging helped us to understand some of the legal aspects of blogging. You know all those FTC rules and regulations.

    Sunday Brunch fed my soul. The food provided by Chef Batts was delicious and the adult beverages were plentiful. But our brunch speaker Kenya Raymer of @Halfietruth was REAL. She  talked about setting boundaries in these internet streets and if you follow Kenya then you know that she doesn’t play about this and I so admire that. She also talked about being authentic, something that she does so well. It’s always interesting to me to meet people that I follow in person. I’m not always sure how to approach them but Kenya put me at ease.

    I have my blog to do list and I have already tackled the first item. Yea me!!!! I also won a $150 gift card to Macy’s. I feel a haute fall wardrobe in my future.

    I can not express the impact from the Blogger XPO weekend. Not just for the blog but for my life. I am already looking forward to next years XPO but in the meantime I’ll be ready for the next blogger class in Memphis.

    Thanks Leigh & Kay for an awesome weekend. See you next year.

     

    Beewisdom- “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

     

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  • Seasons Change

    Hello Honeybees,

    I wrote this post seating on the couch in an Airbnb in New Orleans. I was in NOLA to take my youngest son to college. My smallest birdie is learning to fly, but that’s another post for another day once I get all of these emotions together.

    One thing on this journey that I have come to embrace is that my season is about to change. I have spent the last 20 years of my life making sure that the two humans that I delivered into this world had everything that they needed. For most of their life it has been just me. But the time has come where they are no longer my day to day responsibility. No, I’m not just throwing in the towel on them, quite the opposite. It’s just that my level of involvement is shifting gears.

    I no longer have to attend back to school activities, PTA meetings, school programs and parent teacher conferences. I no longer have to find child care for the breaks (this time has long since passed but stay with me here) or for those last minute snow days. I use to hold on to vacation and sick days just in case one of the boys got sick so I would have the time to take off.

    Well those days are no more. My season has changed. My new season is all about moi. I can now move about life on my terms and let me tell you it feels wonderful already. Just the thought of it makes me do a happy dance. It makes me excited for what is to come.

    Big changes are headed my way and I am ready.

    So if you see me out in these streets just know that I am enjoying my new season.

     

    Beewisdom- To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1

  • Digit

    Hello Honeybees,

    One influencer that moved me to action was Memphis blogger Andrea Fenise. Andrea started a series of post about her savings journey. It’s a VERY personal account of how she is saving. She shares the ups & the downs. This got me to thinking more about my saving habits & how I could make them better.

     

    One way for me to save is if I never see the money and I can’t have easy access to it. I have $50 automatically go into an account that is managed by my Ameriprise financial adviser. It’s a slow and steady way for me to build. I don’t see it & in order for me to access it I have to call him. I know if I call him he’s going to ask me all kinds of questions like; Why do I need the money? Saying I want to buy a pair of shoes or a purse is not gonna cut it. It’s his job to help me not make dumb financial decisions. He keeps me accountable and I’m okay with that.

     

     

    Another way that I’m saving is by using the Digit app. Y’all this has been a game changer for me. Digit takes money out of your linked account and puts it into a rainy day account. I also set up another account for an August trip. So it pulls money daily and puts into each account. Now I was scared to have money automatically come out of my account like this and daily at that! Whew chile the anxiety!! Remember that other $50, yeah I can’t have too many things on auto. But the beauty of this is that Digit “learns” your spending habits. It also lets you set a pause limit. So if your linked account falls below a certain amount Digit won’t transfer any money.

     

    If your account gets to a threshold that you set, Digit will transfer money from your Rainy Day account back to your linked account. Another of my things about the app is that it lets you know you balance on your linked account and it tells you why. I get a text that says MLGW cleared today for $100 and your balance is now $1,010. You also have the flexibility to move money back into your account when needed.

     

     

    I will say that having Digit is helping me to stay on my spending toes. Having a constant reminder of how & where I’m spending just what I needed.

     

    If you want to try Digit use my link for the referral. They will give you $5 for signing up. https://digit.co/r/bJBn40_g9V?ad&twb=true

     

    No this is not sponsored. Just like Andrea got me to thinking about my savings, I want you to do the same. Let’s all save, build and grow together.

     

     

    Beewisdom- Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are. –James W. Frick