FIVE BLOGS I'M OBSESSED WITH
Anna Akana, an actress and YouTuber, posted a video four years ago call, "Yes, I'm Sexy." The video is a follow-up to an earlier video in which she discusses how she doesn't "feel sexy." This video gives a piece of advice that I've applied to a few different aspects of my life: Find someone you think is the bomb and do what they do. This feels like kind of weird advice but it's been a very valuable tip in my life: from finding hobbies I like and fashion styles that make me feel more confident, to ideas for my blog and website layout.
I consume a lot of blog content every week. I devour them the same way I would magazines when I was kid. I'm drawn to beautiful layouts, the photography, and quality editorial content. It's where I get my inspiration for my life. I study bloggers I like as if they are popular kids at school and I'm trying to puzzle out what aspect of their essence is so appealing. Now, I'm not advising becoming a psycho stalker and loose any sense of your own identity, but there's something nice in taking a concept you love from someone else and finding ways to apply it to your own work (in your own way). I also love sharing other blogger's work a lot (If I love them, I try to get all my friends to love them, too. I share other people's work every single week on my Twitter and my Facebook page, so if you follow those pages you'll get updates and links to article and content I love, in addition to my own content).
I first got into reading blogs when I was 23, I read mostly cooking blogs when I had downtime during my first post-college internship. Orangette was my first blog obsession. (She's based out of Seattle, has two books, a restaurant and a podcast. She no longer updates the blog as frequently but there is a beautiful archive of great recipes.) The very first time I considered blogging, I was planning on a cooking blog (but I'm glad I ended up starting my blog a little later and with a different focus). My next obsession was BURTON Girls. I credit this blog for so many of my healthy habits, my love of eating kale and coconut, and my love of the Coachella Music Festival (after reading their coverage of the music festival one year I because determined to attend it myself—I ended up VIP at Coachella the very next year). In these cases, emulating bloggers I thought were the bomb led to expanding my cooking habits, incredible memories from music festivals, and life-long friends.
{photos used to make this graphic can be found on the blogs they correspond to}
New Darlings— This is a husband/wife team based in Arizona with interior design, style, beauty and travel posts.
Design Love Fest—Bri is an LA-based designer. Her blog is full of beautiful inspiration for social media, style, food, and design. Her Instagram is also the bomb.
Half Baked Harvest—This is currently my favorite food blog. She recently released a cookbook you should also check out. This blog is personally responsible for my new love of dates.
Georgia Luisa Meramo—UK-based fashion and lifestyle blogger and YouTuber. I'm in love with her personal style.
Megan Taylor London—Also a UK-based fashion and lifestyle blogger and YouTuber. She also has fun recipe posts! Her photos are on point and I've discovered brands I now love through her.
If you'd like to support a blogger or creator you like
(you know, to help them continue creating that A+ content), here are my tips:
Comment, like, and repost! Nothing is more exciting than hearing from readers what they like and reposting links to blog posts and videos is one of the easiest ways to support a creator (and costs you nothing but an extra minute of your time). Subscribe to their newsletter if they have one.
Check if this creator has a Patreon page. You can directly support artist of all sorts and the work they are creating though this site. (You can see mine here. I give little kickbacks to all my supporters as a "Thank you" for all of their help.)
Use their associate links. If a blogger mentions a product that you want to check out and they already have a link within their post or a shopping section on their website, you can often indirectly help that writer out by using their usefully placed link instead of Googling the product or company later. This goes the same with Amazon. Many bloggers and YouTubers are also Amazon Associates, which means you can help them out while doing the same shopping for the same products you are already looking to buy! Easy right?