Life Lately...

Finally went and checked out Mt. Bonnell a couple weeks ago. If you ever visit Austin this is a great spot to stop by for a beautiful sunset overlooking the lake.

Neon jeweled necklace and rings from H&M // Lion medallion chain is vintage (similar)

It's been so hot lately in Austin, like 106 degrees hot, so smoothies from Austin Java are necessary.

Ray-Ban mirrored sunnies are my summer go to shades // Dainty rings from H&M // Heart ring from Fortenal // Strappy heels from Zara // White nail polish is 'Blanc' by Essie

I love ATX. Pretty view of downtown from the top floor at the Hyatt Regency.

We both ordered these glasses from the Bonlook booth at the TxSC Prom night. Can't wait to get mine in the mail. I was in desperate need of new glasses!

Sooo, remember when I asked if I should color my hair white blonde?

Well, I went for it! What do you think??

Love my family! My brother finally graduate from college this past weekend. So proud.

My dress is by The Reformation.

So that's what's been up with me. What's been up with you? I hope you're having a great week so far!

All photos from my Instagram @pieceology

Reflections

Top- H&M / Vest- Urban Outfitters / Pants- found during TxSC swap night (similar) / Booties- Jeffrey Campbell / Bag- Rebecca Minkoff / Sunnies- Ray-Ban / Quartz Stone Necklace- gifted Moorea Seal / Rings- H&M

I got these pants during the TxSC swap night. And even though it was over 100 degrees outside it was SO cold in the Hyatt where we had all the classes that these were a life saver. I swear when I wore my overalls on Saturday my leg hairs grew about 5 inches. The pants are adorable and again I'm wearing my trusty denim vest. Literally the best purchase I've made this year so far. That and my mirrored Ray-Bans, of course. How cool are those reflections of all the buildings in downtown ATX?!

Anyway, now that I've come off my TxSC high and have had a couple days to "reflect" and look over my notes I wanted to share a few key tips I took away from the conference. These are the things I found most helpful and I hope you'll find them helpful too!

Lifestyle Blogging Locally:
- Don't be afraid to go to local businesses and take photos to feature on your blog. Most of the time they won't mind and would welcome the extra exposure.
- Share your posts with those businesses on their social media channels like Twitter and Facebook. They might retweet your post. So, then there's not only extra exposure for them but also for you too!

Media Kits:
- Check out other bloggers Sponsor pages. A lot of times they'll have their media kit on that page and it could help you with ideas if you're trying to create your own.
- Skyscraper is a great resource that will create a media kit for you (https://www.skyscraper.io/).

Sidebar Ads & Working with Brands:
- Contact your favorite brands; It's better than waiting for them to contact you.
- Passionfruit is an online ad marketplace specifically for bloggers. It helps you keep track of your ads and is only $9/month (https://app.passionfruitads.com/).
- When working with brands, base your prices for ads on how much you think you're worth. You can even base them on CPM.

Balancing Work, Life, and Blogging:
- Start a editorial/content calendar. This will help you keep up with posting and hopefully become more consistent. You don't have to stick to the schedule, it's just nice to have something in writing!
- Understand the difference between balance vs. fit. You may never find a perfect balance in your life, but you can find time to fit things into your life. (I'll be touching a little more on this topic in a future post.)

So, there you have it. A little recap. Let me know if you liked this post and if you'd like to see more of this kind of stuff on the blog. If so, what? Doesn't have to be about blogging. Could be anything- style, beauty, life in general, whatever! 

Photos by Caleb Kerr

Overall

Top- American Apparel / Overalls- Pixie Market (similar) / Booties- Jeffrey Campbell / Bag- Coach / Rings- Forternal, H&M (shop online now!) / Sunnies- American Apparel / Lips- Revlon 'Certainly Red'

Hi! How was your weekend? As you may know I spent mine volunteering/attending the Texas Style Council conference. I had a great time and met some really cool bloggers. Most exciting were all the Austin bloggers I got to meet. Didn't realize there were so many great bloggers in this city! I gained such invaluable information from so many really amazing speakers and left feeling super inspired to continue to make my blog the best it can be. Big props to Indiana and the rest of the staff for putting on an amazing weekend. You guys are rock stars.

This is what I wore Saturday. What better time to wear overalls then at a style conference! Overall the weekend was a huge success. Wow, sorry, that was corny...

More about my TxSC weekend and what I wore coming later this week :)

Photos by Caleb Kerr

My 1st Biz Cards!

I got my first set of business cards for the blog! As you may know I'm going to Texas Style Council this weekend here in Austin so I thought it'd be the perfect time to make this investment. I'm really excited to meet new friends and learn a thing or two from some of the pros in the blogging world. Maybe I'll see you there! Well, I gotta get back to preppin'. Lots of outfits to get together, nails to paint, maybe ONE more shopping trip... Gee, life's tough.

Thanks to Angela of Saffron Avenue for designing my cards. I love them!

Texas Style Council: Summer School 2013

Image via @txsc

Last year when I first started my blog the Texas Style Council conference was just about to happen in Austin. It was before I moved here and I didn't really know much about the blogging world yet. By the time I heard about it on Style and Pepper (Jessie is a speaker again this year!) tickets were sold out. BOO. So anyway, this year, I knew I had to be a part of it. I stalked Co-Founder Indiana's blog, and it finally came about a few months ago. 

I can't wait to go meet a bunch of other people who share my same interests and understand this whole fashion blogging thing. It'll be my first blogger conference and I'll also be a registration volunteer meaning I'll pretty much get to meet everyone as they walk in the door! 

Some of the amazing speakers include keynotes Elsie and Emma of A Beautiful Mess, Kendi of Kendi Everyday, Amber of rewardStyle and VENZedits, the aforementioned Jessie of Style and Pepper, and there will even be some local Austin bloggers like Jenni of Story of My Life, just to name a few!

Have I convinced you to come yet? OK well, there will also be a prom themed party, a clothing and book swap, several workshops led by the above and more, and lots of new friends to be made... And it's in Austin. The coolest city in Texas, and maybe America, in my opinion :)

Learn more about the conference here and register here. There are only a few spots left before it's full. I'd love to meet you. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments. I'd be happy to answer them!