Observing a busy day in Florida

This morning I begrudgingly woke up to my blaring alarm clock before hitting the snooze button again. I got dressed and skipped breakfast as I waited for my dad to greet me at the car door. We had a lot to do today and he didn't want to miss a moment of it. 

Little did I know that dad would challenge me to write my observations for the day. He praises me for being a great writer in his eyes and encourages me to write every moment that I get.

Well, as we sped down the road to stop at the pharmacy to get my medication, dad began to tell me many anecdotes about life. One of them being about a sermon he professes usually reminding us of the Lord's suffering and his return. As I sit in the car listening to dad, I think about how my own life's suffering has brought me to where I am in life and where I want to be in eternity. I want to be ready for the Lord's return and yet I still have so much to learn; I'm not a perfect Christian. 

After we picked up my anxiety and depression medication, we stopped at the bank. This was when dad told me of a surprise trip he wants to take for ten days this summer if we don't get to go to Costa Rica. I sat imagining what his friends' beach houses are like in comparison to my aunt's old beach house. I love the little crags in the rocks that are carved away leading a way down into the ocean. The water is my favorite place to be.

From the bank, we went to the church temple to pick up a block of cheese. On Wednesdays dad feeds the homeless, prays with them and gives a sermon at the park that he broadcasts live on Facebook. He was telling me about the meal he was going to prepare for tomorrow so we had to stop by. As dad cut the block of cheese, i stayed staring at the cross propped up in the garage with a crown of thorns and whip at the table. I imagined what it would have been like to visit Jesus the day of calvary on a hike with my dad. I imagined dad with a cloak taking me under his arm staring up at our Lord and I felt sorry in my heart for my sins and wondered about mom but kept it to myself as I time traveled for thirty seconds to that day of calvary. Dad was busy getting the preparations and I redirected my attention to helping dad put some glass coke bottles in the refrigerator. 

After dad cut the block of cheese, we went back home real quick to make a quick stop and sped off to Walmart. Surprisingly there were a lot of people there and they were wearing their masks. I weaved through the crowd to go to the counter to cash my check then met up with dad again in the grocery section. We stocked up on food and other essentials before making it back to the line. 

After looking at a magazine of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the counter dad asked me if I saw the interview with Oprah. It's the latest interview everyone's been talking about and it seems like the prince and his family are in a lot of drama at the moment due to their small family. 

After I helped dad pay at the counter, we went through the parking lot to go home. Before we made it back we stopped at the computer store to pick up my laptop. It needed a fine tuning and it's running faster than ever before. The people at the computer repair shop are very nice people because the treat us fairly and always give us a fair price on our computer repairs. 

Finally we made it back home and I got to work on my blog. I still need microsoft powerpoint for a few things but I made do with Canva for the moment. I'm fixing up my blog to build traffic and build up my email list in the future. That's a work in progress but hopefully my writing proposals on Medium come through.

I skipped breakfast and lunch for the day so I had a late lunch of ramen noodles. They weren't the best tasting maybe because I under seasoned them but I think I will be sticking with Maruchan from now on because it is fairly seasoned.

Finally, my day was over after I ate a late dinner of Macaroni and cheese with a side of vegetables and fish. I lay here in my little corner of the world-- in a cozy nook where my bed is hidden from the world and write many articles from the day. 

This was my writing challenge for the day. I mostly did it for dad since he is the one who mostly encourages me to keep on writing. It was a very busy day but full of family warmth and anecdotes. I hope you enjoyed reading it if you have gotten this far. And if you have gotten this far you should sign up for my newsletter for more anecdotes and updates about this blog. 

I hope you have a good day.

Best,

Candidly Rose 🌹

8 ways to make extra money online

There are countless ways to help you make money online. You can try them out to see what works for you. Keep reading to find out more. 

1. Freelancing 

Freelancing is a great way to make money online because you can go at your own pace. Websites like Upwork, Freelancer, and people per hour are good websites to help you get started. You will need to make an account and fill out the profile before you get started. You can easily make $5 or $100 on these websites. 

2. Teach English online 

There are various websites you can sign up to to begin teaching online. Some of these websites let you teach children and others let you teach business English. Try going to VIP Kid, Magic Ears, and iTalki to apply to begin teaching online. 

3. Tutoring

There are also other subjects that you can teach in like math, science or music. Do a quick Google search to find tutoring websites to help you find the right one that you can apply to. 

4. Blogging

Blogging is another great way of making money online. You can blog about anything as long as you provide valuable content to readers. After you build up traffic you can add ads and affiliate links to your website to help you make passive income. Check out this blog post I wrote for tips on blogging, here. 

5. YouTube 

People make money online from creating YouTube videos. There are countless topics that you can cover; just imagine. 

6. Steady 

There is an application that you can download to find jobs online and it's called Steady. Download the app and go to work from home. There you will find countless jobs like freelancing and voice acting to help you make money online.

7. Games

You can make money online from playing games on your phone. There are applications like Mistplay and Rewarded Play that lets you download and play games. You will earn points and when you redeem those points you can get gift cards like Amazon, pay pal or even Starbucks. 

8. Sell your photos

If you have a camera you can sell your pictures online to stock photography websites. Create a profile and add keywords to your images to help people find your photos. Websites like Alamy, Getty Images, and Bigstock photos are a good place to start. 

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8 websites to sell your photography

Photography is a great outlet for creativity. You can take lots of different photos in different genres like fine arts, commercial and editorial. Whenever you're inspired by a genre of choice you can sell your photos and make some profit off of your art 

One fun way of using your photography to help others is by selling your photos in stock agencies. You will help other creators inspired by your work while making some money off of something that inspired you. 

Here are some great stick photography websites to start out with. 

1. Alamy

2. Getty images

3. iStock photography 

4. Bogstock photography

5. Dreamstime

If you don't want to do stock photography you can also sell prints of your photographs online. These websites will print and ship for you.  There are so many more websites too. Just Google websites like Fine Art America to see what you will get. 

1. Fine art america

2. Red bubble

3. Society6

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7 ways how to deal with anxiety

 

When I picture myself in a room full of people and everyone staring at me waiting for me to say something, I get anxious. Like the walls of my mind start closing in and I need to find an escape. Quick.

 People have told me before, "Oh, but you're so pretty!" 

"You need to stop caring."

"You need closure about your mom."

Yes, probably. And I know that they say those things because they care. But I have to live with myself and it's not easy without direction. I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and PTSD after mom's disappearance. It's been five years. I've hired a private investigator to find her but this woman has no trace. I'm coming to the realization that maybe mom passed away and we just don't have the physical answers right now. But there's a God who loves her and she is somewhere in heaven with him if she's not walking this green earth.

So when I'm not pacing the walls of my mind waiting for an answer about mom, I pray. I pray for comfort to know about her and that she's ok. I pray for courage to face the day. And I try to remember I'm not the only one going through something no matter how easy it is to project the weight of one's problems as greater than another person's. I go through bouts of loneliness sometimes because I feel like I focus to much on what I don't know. I feel like I push people away. It's part of the greiving process, and you can read that here. 

Drink warm drinks. Another way, I try to cope with anxiety is I drink warm things. I like to drink coffee in the afternoon sometimes. I learned that people around the world drink coffee at different times during the day. Some have never even heard of drinking coffee in the morning until they have seen an American movie. I find holding a warm porcelain cup of joe between my chilly palms warms my heart as I slurp my coffee the way mom used to. Mom used to really love coffee.

Be grateful. I spend time thinking of things that I'm thankful for. I will search my heart and while I'm getting dressed, I think how thankful I am for my sweater. Its thick acrylic fibers against my skin keeping me warm. I'm thankful for the corner of my bed, where the sweet spot meets and craddles me at night providing a sanctuary for me. Most nights I can't sleep but its warm in my little corner of the world. I'm also thankful for my purse, because every girl needs one to accesorize with her shoes. Its brown and big and my camera fits snuggly as I pack my keys for a walk around the block.

Words of affirmation. Something my therapist told me to do is to try words of affirmation. Make a list of the things you're good at and tell yourself everyday that you're good at these things. 

• I am beautiful

• I am smart

• I am a good friend

• I am a good writer.

Now you try

Care less. I'm learning to care way less of what others think of me. This is really hard considering that's all I do. I assume people judge me because of my youth. And its true because I look ten years younger than my age. I'm tweny sometime and people never guess it. If I try to picture other's needs before mine and how I can help through my insecurities, then I just don't care. People are still going to do what they want to anyway. Might as well just let life run its course. 

I try to be happy. I still wake up in the morning -- or in the afternoon some days -- and take a shower, get dressed and put on perfume-- even if I'm not going anywhere. I like to feel fresh because I feel like I have been productive in some way. I clean my room and turn on music some days to set the mood. I look for funny memes on Facebook to make others laugh and try to find the bright side of life while I can.

I do something creative. I feel like doing creative activities because it destresses me and calms my PTSD. I like taking my mind off of work and just taking pictures. I try to look for a story in every picture I take, creating a narrative with a series of pictures. I like looking at other pictures that people take as well. I go on Twitter and Instagram and become inspired by the everyday pictures that people take. The soft pastel filters resemble film and like something eatheral. 

Another creative activity i like to do is blogging. There are so many helpful articles i could right in my niche. Plus, i enjoy writing the occasional personal journal to express myself creatively.

Watch a movie. Watching a movie is a great way of destressing. I like to stay I and watch movies at home. You can pop in your favorite genre and sit back and relax entertaining your mind. It's a good way of distracting yourself from other problems in life. 

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional doctor, these are just ways i deal with anxiety based on tips i got from my therapist. 

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11 Blogging Tips for Beginners

Starting a blog is a fun and exciting experience. Chances are you have a lot to say and you will need to build up your audience to get your message across to your readers. It doesn't matter what topic you have to blog about, here are just a few tips you can follow to help you become a better blogger if you're a beginner. 

1 Niche down 

There are so many great topics out there like blogs about blogging, fashion, food, travel, and your dog. However, it's not a great idea to talk about all of these things at once because it will ruin your SEO with Google. Choose a niche that you enjoy writing about and stick to that. This is a lifestyle and travel blog. I focus on looking for budget-friendly ways of living and traveling for the average person. 

2. Know your audience

Decide who your audience is early on because it will make it easier for you to write. Are you writing to college female students with a dog for companionship or are you writing to working adults who need quick and budget-friendly ideas for recipes? Once you figure out who you're writing to it will be easier to come up with ideas that target that audience and Google will reward you. 

3. Write great content 

Maybe you have heard the saying, "Content is King" and it's true because when you write great content your audience will come back for more. Blogging is all about helping the reader. Think of topics that will bring value to the reader and help them solve a problem. Maybe you can write a story for a college student who has a pet and needs to know the best chew toys and dog food for her small dog. Create a blog post that answers these questions and your readers will appreciate that. 

4. Write a long form 

Shoot for 800 - 1000 words blog post because blogging is meant to be read. Google will reward you in search ranking for long and detailed blog posts about a specific topic. 

5. Use keywords 

When stumped for thinking about great ideas to write about, use Google to find keywords to help you find topics that people usually search for. Use the recommended search results at the bottom of Google's page and input keywords into Google's keyword planner to help you target search terms that people are searching for SEO-friendly content. 

6. Write great headlines 

Write brief headlines that explain your article in concise words. Include the keywords in your headlines for SEO targeted search terms and Google will rank you for them. 

7. Use great images and Alt text

Studies show that people are more likely to read blog posts with images in them. Take your own pictures or find creative common images on websites like Unsplash or pixels for beautiful photographs that add a visual element to your blog. Adjust the alt text in your settings to make your post more discoverable on Google. 

8. Use good grammar and spelling 

Always be sure to use great grammar and spelling in your blog posts. No one likes to read poorly written blog posts and it's good for Google because it will recognize that your blog posts are professional and well written. I like to use Grammarly to help me proofread my blog posts. 

9. Create an email list early on

Creating an email list is a great way of building an audience that is your own. It's not like social media because even though social media's audience is more sporadic, you get to collect emails from people who want to hear from you. Give them something of value in return for their email, like a free ebook, a PDF, a checklist, or a course and when they sign up they permit you into their inbox and become your tribe. You might even be able to convert them into customers in the future. 

10. Write lists 

Google loves lists. Write a list like this blog post and expand your readers' knowledge with valuable content. Google will reward you for the SEO-driven list article with more traffic to your blog. 

11. Have fun

Write about topics that are meaningful to you. When you write about things that you care about people will notice the passion in your tone and appreciate your writing all the more. Be sure to be friendly and conversational in your blogs because this isn't a professional setting it's just a place for you to build your audience around a topic that you love. So go and have fun following these tips for beginner blogs. 

If you liked this blog post and you thought it was helpful try signing up to my email list at the top of this blog. You will get a 100 FREE lifestyle blog post ideas to start your blog in 2021. 

8 Tips for House Sitters

House sitting is a great way of traveling on your own time. You get to see the sites at your own pace while traveling like a local. Here are some tips to follow for new house sitters who are interested in this traveling experience. 

1. Treat your profile like your resume 

Your profile is the first thing homeowners see when they are looking for new house sitters. Be sure to use your profile to talk about all the good qualifications that make your experience shine as a house sitter. 

2  House sit for friends and family 

If you don't have experience as a house sitter, you can start off by house sitting for friends and family. The next time one of your friends goes off for a trip, ask them if they need someone to watch their home for them. Chances are they will need someone to pick up the mail for them, walk their dog and water their plants while they are away. When the house sit is over ask for their written recommendation to help you stand out as a house sitter to potential homeowners. 

3. Visit early 

Arrange a time with the homeowner to visit the home early to get a feel for how things work around the house. They can show you dog walking schedules, times when to water the plants and how to shimmy that finicky lock at the gate. You will feel more aware of how things work and more confident in your house sitting abilities. 

4. Don't be afraid to ask questions 

It's a good idea to set up an interview with the house sitter, whether in person or over video call to talk about details that go into caring for the house while they are away. If there is anything you don't understand be sure to ask them to help you better understand how things work. Maybe you want to know if you can have friends over, you can talk about policies for visitors, where you sleep in the home, and a dog walking schedules for their pets. 

5. Meet the neighbors

If you'll be staying for a while, be sure to ask the homeowner to introduce you to the neighbors. You and the homeowners will feel better knowing that the neighbors know how and why you are there and you will gain new friends in the area in case you need help about anything. 

6. Visit the local tourism office 

By visiting the local tourism office you will get to learn about the town you are staying in. Chances are you might find a good museum or an event to visit and try new experiences like a local would do. 

7. Be safe 

Especially if you're traveling alone, don't tell people your exact address and don't bring strangers back to your place. Be safe about the information you give people while you're traveling. 

8. Have fun

This is a new experience and you have never been to this town before. Try the local cuisine, go for bike ride in a park and make friends with locals. You get to travel at your own pace and make new memories that will last a lifetime. So make the best of it. 

What is WWOOFing

Imagine traveling at your own pace while working on a farm. You can certainly do that with WWOOFing. WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. And volunteers, or WWOOFers, spend time working on farms in exchange for accomodations and food by their hosts. 

It is all about learning how to farm, taking part in the organic agriculture program and learning the culture. WWOOFing is a worldwide movement,

Adults 18 yeàrs and older can WOOF and in some countries volunteers younger than 18 can visit farms when accompanied by an adult. 

Some of the things you'll discover while WWOOFing are making wine, beekeeping, creating straw houses, growing vegetables and more. There's nothing like getting your hands dirty and experiencing this lifestyle for yourself. 

Today the WWOOFing organization is available in more than 50 countries and is available as independents in over 40 more.WWOOF-USA® Host Farm Directory has more than 2,000 organic farms all over the nation. 

It's really easy to sign up. All you have to do is sign up with your host country and apply for membership. Once you have applied for membership, you gain access to that country’s list of smallholdings, gardens and organic farms. Here the WWOOFer can contact a host farm and arrange for their stay and the type of volunteer work the will do. In exchange for the farm work you do, your host will take care of your lodging and food.

Your length of stay really depends on you the travelor. You will negotiate your time on the farm with the owner and it can be fir as long as you want. It doesn't matter because you can spend 2 days, 2 weeks or 6 months.