Introducing: Wander(lost) Blog!

Since I will be travelling for the next year, I decided to document my travels, adventures and all kinds of tips and tricks along the way. I wanted to dedicate an entire blog of its own to my travels. Of course, so of the posts will be published on here as well, but not all. There will be maps, advice, a mascot, and all kinds of pictures as I make my way around the UK and in Germany, as well as anywhere else I end up visiting in the next year, and beyond. I will also include tips and tricks from previous travels, so look out for all that!

Without further ado.... may I introduce my new blog: Wander(lost)!

The title comes from the word "wanderlust" and the famous Tolkien quote: "Not all those who wander are lost." The german line underneath means "You are crazy, my child! You must go to Berlin!" It's a quote from Austrian composer Franz von Suppé, and it seems to work so well with my travel plans!

I've added the direct link in the menu bar of this blog, to make it easier to access and will keep posting updates on Facebook, so make sure to like the Wander(lost) page on Facebook!

Wanderlost

How I Blog

I blog because I love it. I love writing and talking and sharing random bits of my life that I'm sure no one really cares about, but that's not what matters. I don't blog for attention, or write what people want me to write, I write what I want to write.

Coming up with ideas of what to write about is easy for me. Finding a way to organize those ideas and actually turn them into blog posts is a whole different ball game. First, I start by making a list of all my different ideas in my notebook. Each page is a different category; daily, style, food, running/fitness, travel. After that, I write down the dates Monday-Friday for the whole page (usually about two months). I start by writing down posts for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, then fill out the rest with whatever else I forgot or leave some blanks for the impromptu posts.

What I love about Blogger is that I can schedule posts. So if I'm feeling particularly efficient one day, I can write 3-4 blog posts at once and schedule them, then like magic, they are published without me having to do a single thing! I also discovered how to do that on Facebook and Twitter, that way if I'm at work when I want a post to be published, it will do it automatically for me.

Right now I have about 16 blog posts drafted from my makeshift calendar, most of which I only need to add pictures. It definitely helps having this little schedule, that way I don't have to think too hard about what to write if I'm in a rut, and don't stress if I'm working 15 hours that day and don't have access to my computer to write or publish a post. Of course, nothing is set in stone, but it does give me a good guideline.

There you go! Not a very long post, but if you ever have questions about how I blog, feel free to ask!

200th post!

I can't believe I have posted 200 posts already! I started this blog in 2013 and in 2 years, a lot has happened. I have learned so much from blogging, I have grown as a write and all these memories, these silly little things I wrote about are things I can look back on and remember. I'm so glad I started this blog, and I can't wait to keep on writing! I have so many exciting things happening in my life right now that I want to share, and so many things coming up that I will definitely keep blogging for a while still. Now here are some of my favourite posts!

University

Graduation

Fishing Poem

Ode to a Sugar Cube

Study Time

90 to 50

Travel

Deutschland

Wanderlust

Thailand Part 1: Bangkok

Thailand Part 2: Koh Phangan

Thailand Part 3: Koh Phi Phi

Thailand Part 4: Chiang Mai

Thailand Part 5: Khao Sok
Deutschland Part 1: Munich
Deutschland Part 2: Berlin and Leipzig

Running

WFPS Half-Marathon

Manitoba Marathon

WPS Half-Marathon 2015

Berlin Half-Marathon

WPS Half-Marathon 2014

Filmmaking

Half-Marathon Time Lapse

Night Run Time Lapse

PARTY!

Gerald Laroche documentary

Donuts!

The Silly Little Things

Horrible Bosses

Tinder Conversations

Wait, this is Harry Potter!

A Splash of Colour

Photography

Brand New Design!

I just changed my entire blog design! I've been wanting to change up my design for quite a while now and finally took the plunge! The design was made by Bella Lulu Ink and it was a very easy template to install with really great instructions. I'm still working out the kinks and figuring out how some of the aspects work, so bear with me! It may be a little less colourful, but it looks cleaner and my writing will be the colourful part!

Some of the new features on the blog:

• Brand new header
• Instagram grid at the bottom
• New "Share to" buttons
• New profile picture

On the sidebar:

• Categories
• Facebook Like Page
• Instagram Slideshow
• Grab a Button

Here's a before and after, just to see the evolution of the blog:

Let me know what you think!

Would You Rather: Travel Edition

Shane, over at Sea Salt Secrets has posted a couple of "Would You Rather: Travel Edition"s and I decided to try it out! I'm about to go on a pretty incredible trip (more on that later), so it seemed appropriate to do a travel quiz! I'm taking her question from her fourth edition and you're welcome to try it out as well!

Would you rather...
Visit Hogwarts OR Narnia?
Hogwarts. No hesitation. I mean, Narnia is cool and all.... but I'm way too much of a Harry Potter fan to not go to Hogwarts, even if it's just for an hour!

Get dumped and eat the cost of your ex's trip OR spend an entire 2-week vacation with someone you can't stand?
I would much, much rather spend the extra money than deal with someone for two weeks... Even if it means not having a single penny on my trip. Nothing can ruin a vacation more than a terrible travel-"buddy."

Live in Africa OR in Antartica for a year?
Africa! It's such a vast continent with amazing people and culture that I would love to discover and be a part of. Although.... I'm not sure if I would be able to deal with the lack of snow...

Be captured by a wild tribe in the jungle or by pirates at sea?
I would totally pull a Elizabeth Swan and get along with the pirates. Plus, pirates are usually found in some pretty gorgeous places of the world, so the landscape would be a big plus!

Live in extreme luxury for a bit with no freedom to do what you want OR on the lowest travel budget imaginable, with the freedom to travel anywhere you like?
Considering I survived perfectly fine with absolutely no money in Munich for about 4 days and still had a great time, I think I'll take freedom over money. That should be an automatic choice for everyone, anyway... but our society is a capitalist one, so it's not so obvious.

Attend the Royal Wedding OR the Olympic Games?
Hands down, the Olympics. Rio 2016? Pyeong Chang 2018? Tokyo 2020? Beijing 2022? All amazing places I would love to visit, let alone be part of this incredible sports event!

Dine at the hottest new restaurant before it gets big OR a hole in the wall ethnic restaurant with amazing food OR a familiar classic with grandma's comfort food?
The small ethnic restaurant. The best food I had in Thailand was the street food, which was not only extremely cheap, but unbeatable, and impossible to replicate.

Live one life that lasts 1,000 years OR live 10 lives that last 100 years each?
I would much rather live 10 completely different, full lives with amazing people around me than 1,000 years of roaming the world alone. I could be a travel photographer, an athlete, a doctor, a marine biologist, a musician, a pilot.... so many things I could be!

Wake up with a regrettable tattoo on your butt OR with a random stranger in your bed?
Hmm.... If it was a tasteful tattoo.... No. Scratch that. Tattoos are forever and there's no way I would go through the pain of laser removal on my butt. I'll take a stranger any day! Doesn't mean anything happened between us either!

Travel wide or travel deep?
That's a tough one. As much as I would love to see every corner of the world, I think that experiencing the culture and the people is more important to me. Living like a local, learning the language... That's what I want.

There it is! Of course, there isn't one "right" way to travel. Go out and explore the world! It's beautiful out there.

New Blog in the Works!

I just thought I would share this pretty exciting news! I will be launching a new blog pretty soon so keep an eye out for the announcement!

I've been using WordPress, which is totally new and alien to me since I'm so used to Blogger, but I've working really hard for it to be a beautiful blog that people will love to follow!

That's all I'm going to say about it for now, though!

:)

Confessions of a Blogger

Danielle at A Writer in Love tagged me in her "Confessions of a Blogger" post and I thought I would answer the questions as well!

1. When did you first start blogging and why?

I started blogging on a different platform in October 2012. I had read a couple of blogs and I wanted to do it too, so I started my own blog. Then, the site shut down, so I quit blogging for a few months, then picked it back up here!

2. Have you had any past online presence?

I had another blog in which I just wrote the most random things. One post was literally "I can't sleep." repeated over and over. I didn't show it to anyone, though, and now it's gone! I also blogged  for the CSSG program while I was in Germany.

3. When did you become serious about your blog?

When I started Daily Emilie. My first blog was more like a place to rant when I was bored in class, but I knew I wanted this to be different. I wanted to be able to meet people and have my thoughts out there, even if no one reads them.

4. What was your first blog post?

It was Summer Lovin', a post about the end of summer. I can't believe how much my writing has changed since then, but also how different life is!

5. What have been your biggest challenges blogging?

Actually having something to write. I don't have the most interesting life ever, and sometimes I feel like I have absolutely nothing interesting to say, and that because of this, readers won't take my blog seriously.

The other thing has been designing this blog. Blogger can be pretty finicky and I forgot all my HTML. (Good thing my friend Keira is designing a brand new look for me!)

6. What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

The people I've met. There are so many people out there that I would have never met or been able to reach out to if it weren't for blogging. Even if there's a chance I'll never meet them in person, it has still been my biggest surprise, but also the best part. It's things like the Secret Santa exchange that make you meet and discover to many bloggers that are so like-minded!

7. What is the most discouraging thing about blogging?

When I feel like no one is paying attention. Sometimes I write something I think people will or should read, and there's no response. Even if I blog for myself primarily, it's still nice to know you're heard.

8. What is your lasting inspiration or motivation?

The other blogs. I love reading other blogs and knowing that I can do that too, that I'm doing it.

9. What is your blogging dirty little secret?

I used to refresh the stats page over and over in hopes that the page views would go up. Also, I have to keep myself from going through my old posts and deleting them.

10. What is your current goal as a blogger?

Just to keep doing what I do and meet more people! I am thinking on starting another blog just for my writing, to keep myself on track.

11. Have you learned or become passionate about anything through blogging that caught you by surprise? 

Writing. I started writing again just around the same time as I started blogging and I met a lot of aspiring writers this way, and it just makes me want to write that much more! 

There you go!  I'm going to tag the following bloggers:

Sara from Sara Magdalena Ali from Happerly Ever After Julie from Silver Lining

Why I Blog.

Honestly, I started blogging because of Stumbleupon. I discovered the blog Bye Bye Beehive and I loved reading about this girl's 365 day challenge. Then, I started reading her daily blog, Aunie Sauce. Aunie has a way of telling her story, even when it's just talking about fashion that I really love and she's such a nice person! Go check her out!! :)

Slowly, I got more into the blogging community by clicking on bloggers' buttons on sidebars of other bloggers and subscribing to them. Then I decided that I wanted to do this too. I have something to say.

Last year in October, I started a blog on Xanga.com. I kept it a secret, because I was scared my friends would think it was stupid, so I blogged for me. It became like a diary. (Honestly, though, I also started because I was bored in class and I needed something to keep me busy, but that's another story).

I blogged almost every day until about February, when I drifted away and forgot about it. This summer, I blogged for the program and fell in love with blogging all over again. When I found out xanga shut down to update, I started this blog here (Blogger is solo much better, by the way).

So why do I blog? Well, the easy answer would be that I'm tired of Facebook, and Twitter doesn't give me enough space to write what I need to write. The truth is, I just have something to say. I'm proud of who I am and I want to share it with others. Maybe I will just be another voice on the internet. Maybe I will touch someone's life, help them in some way. Maybe I will make great blogger friends, and read/witness great things in their lives. All I know is that I have a story to tell. Mine.

I'm on Facebook!

I've always been on Facebook, but all my settings are on private. There were a few incidences with a creepy stalker of an ex-boyfriend and other weird people, so I made it that only friends could look at my profile and search me by name.
Then I started this blog and posted my updates on my profile (probably annoying all those people who just really don't care) and I felt kind of bad about it. Not only was I annoying my Facebook friends with my ramblings on their news feed, but others who might want to "friend" me wouldn't be able to find me!
Thus came the Facebook Like page! Daily Emilie is officially on Facebook as of... 30 minutes ago! You can like me on Facebook, or subscribe via email, follow me on bloglovin' or twitter... the possibilities are (almost) endless!

Liebster

Lauren over at Love is the Point just nominated me for the Liebster Award! This girl is absolutely amazing with her good deeds and everyone should go check her out and subscribe!

Here's how it works. I answer 10 questions from Lauren, then I nominate 10 other bloggers and ask them 10 questions!

1. Silver or gold? Hmm... Maybe silver? I think it's easier to match (and cheaper!)

2. Coffee or tea?  TEA! No doubt about it. I dislike coffee very very much.

3. Chocolate or fruity? 90% of the time fruity!

4. Pastels or bold & bright? I love bold and bright, though I tend to wear pastels.

5. Short or tall? (Could mean you, or your what you look for in a significant other, or both!)I love Alex's tallness and my sister's shortness (so I can bug her with it!)

6. Liquid eyeliner or pencil? Also – black mascara or something else? Pencil, because I don't know how to do liquid, and black mascara

7. Early riser or night owl? I'm a total night owl. Always have, always will!

8. Photographs or paintings? Photographs. I can't draw or paint worth crap, so I find photography more intriguing.

9. Long hair or short? (Again, tell us how you like your own hair, or how you like your significant other’s hair, or both!) I like having medium-length hair. Just below the shoulders. Any longer and it drives my crazy. And short hair on guys. Long hair just seems awkward to me (some can pull it off though!)

10. TV or Movies? Both!! I loooooove watching TV series, just like I love reading book series. And movies? Well considering I want to make a career out of them? I definitely have to love them too!

Now here are my nominees!!

Chloe Jacqueline from CJVZHeartsYou

Ali from Happerly Ever After

Juli from Juli Williams

Tina from Like Ordinary Life

Jena from Recently Roached

Sara from Sara Magdalena

Julie from Silver Lining

Mar from t.o. & fro

Autumn from The Unreal Life

Valerie from Valpo Studio

Here are my questions for you, ladies!

1. Are you a dog or a cat person?

2. What is your dream job (it can be totally invented!)?

3. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

4. What is your most attractive feature?

5. What is the one city you want to see before you die?

6. What was your worst subject in high school?

7. What is your favourite accessory?

8. What is your least favourite colour and why?

9. How would you describe your fashion style?

10. What is one thing you love about blogging?

There ya go! Have fun :)