4 Blogging Groups to Join On Facebook

July 14, 2016 22 Comments

4 Blogging Facebook Groups To Join

Facebook groups for bloggers have become so large lately! It can be hard to find a good blogging group, that is fair fun, and that actually helps you grow your blog! I found my 4 favorite blogging groups, and I thought I would share them with you! Once you find a good blogging group, you must participate and follow the rules! So let me show you all my favorite groups! Most of these groups, you have a request to be accepted into, and sometimes that takes time, so be patient!

The Blogger Life – Has to be my favorite (But, I might be biased, because I am the admin and the creator of this group.) This group is wonderful. The members of this group are wonderful! There are daily threads (Comment threads & Social Media threads.) There are open threads, so everyone is allowed to ask questions, meet new bloggers or whatever you want! I would love for you all to join this group, so we can all get to know each other better! This group is something that I spend a lot of time on, and really love!

Blog Passion Project This group is wonderful! The admins are amazing, and are always there for the bloggers! They have a consistent schedule they follow, so you know exactly what to expect. Everyone truly follows through, and this is a great group to join and meet other bloggers. This group has around 500 members, so it is still small enough to truly get to know everyone!

I’m So Blogging This This group is just started out! They just started threads, and truly expects its members to allow through on their own, without having to remind them! This blogging Facebook group has an open dialogue, which is nice because not make blogging grounds do that. The admin is laid back, and also enjoys getting to know everyone as well!

Instagram Marketing Mastermind This group is purely for Instagram and is very large. There are close to 10,000 members in this group. Honestly, I don’t post in this group a lot, I am more of a bystander, but I really do like this group. There are a lot of great tips and insights of how to grow your Instagram! I know people are always looking into ways to growing your Instagram, & if you are this group is a “must check out” group!

@theknightsplace is telling her 4 favorite Facebok Groups for bloggers!

Click To Tweet

Blogging Groups On A Rise

Bloggers + Giveaways & Pin for Pin Also check out these two Facebook groups that are on a rise! A Pinterest group and a group to show off your giveaways and/or start a giveaway!

What facebook groups do you use for blogging? Do you have any to add?

Police Family

I am A Police Wife

July 7, 2016 4 Comments

I am a police wife.

That is not a simple statement. If you never been to my blog before you can read here, here, and here. I have written about this topic a lot, because liked I said; I am a police wife is not a simple statement.

If you have seen the news, been on facebook, or really talked to anyone I am sure that you’ve heard about the two shootings that occurred in the past couple days. Let’s just say that I am shocked about the things people say. Every police officer spends countless amount of months in the academy, many hours in extra classes and there is that support thin blue line chance every day that they could make a mistake in that decision they make in a split second. But, I am sure you never made a mistake in your job right?

Now I preference this writing with, there are good cops and there are bad cops. There are over 1.1 million police officers in the United States, so we all know there will be some bad cops in that group. But that does not mean all cops are bad cops. To the people who jump to conclusions about all cops are bad, or racist. Have you ever really thought about those words you say? Do you know who these cops are? They are husbands, fathers, sons, wives, mothers, parents, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles. They are real people. They are not out there to ruin your life. Those men and women are sworn in to protect the law, even if that means sacrificing their lives for you.

Fifty-Three men and women have died protecting you this year. Fifty-Three. Where are all those wives and husbands who lost their loved ones on facebook, ranting and yelling? How come when a police officer dies, that doesn’t make the top news? Well, I think it should. But no, those loved ones lay their officer down to rest, knowing they will never get another conversation with them again. Did you know 21 police officers died of gunfire? That means 21 people killed 21 police officers. How the hell does that not make the news? That doesn’t make sense.

I guess, that I am so upset that we all jump to conclusions. NONE of us know what happened in those videos. You have no right blasting police officers on social media or anything for that matter. Every story you read is one sided. Every single one. No one talks about how you didn’t do something right at your job? I don’t think either of those officers went into work today and said: “I hope I have to pull my gun today.” Actually, that is probably a cops worst nightmare is having to pull their gun.

If you are standing with a person and they threaten you, what are you going to do? Stand there, and maybe let them kill you? But, what if they didn’t have a gun and they were just saying they did. You can see how things get very grey very quickly. You know, if you never break the law most likely you will never have to deal with a cop ever? Maybe we should all focus on behaving instead of going against cops. Don’t like cops? Well then, don’t break the law. Don’t hang out with people who break the law. It could be as simple as that.

My husband is a police officer. I am a police wife. He is not racist. He does not judge. He has a kind soul, and would do anything for anyone. He works hard. He writes you a ticket if your speeding. He stops that drunk driver, that might have killed you on the road. He deals with the people you don’t want to deal with in the public. He deals with your problems. He stays awake at night so you can sleep. He is protecting you and your family. He is my family. He is the love of my life. He is a police officer.

I am a police wife.

Life

Don’t Feel Guilty About A Blogging Break

July 4, 2016 17 Comments

dont feel guilty taking a blogging break Do you know when bloggers just drop off the edge of the world for a couple months?
No posting, no nothing. Well, yep- that’s me! There are so many reasons why bloggers take breaks, and most of the time I think they feel guilty when they do take a break from their blog. I did until I thought about why I took a break. Bloggers are real people with real problems. Their lives are not always sunshine and rainbows, and I think that is a very important thing to remember!

Do you feel guilty taking a Blogging Break? Remember a bloggers life is not always sunshine and…

Click To Tweet

3 Reasons- Why you should not feel guilty taking a blogging break

It is your Blog: You own it. You run it. You make it what it is. It will still be there when you come back from your break, I promise. Your readers will know if you’re just blogging to put a post up for the week. Now that is a fast way to lose some followers. Maybe instead of posting three times a week, you post once a week until you feel it again. Take a step back and think about why you aren’t enjoying your blogging time. For me, it was getting stressful, I felt like there were so many other things that I should have been doing. So I did those, and well my blog fell off the top list.

It will only get better So you take a couple weeks or months off, your mind will be at ease. I know I have more ideas about blog posts than I have had in such a long time! I am changing my header, starting to have a new idea of blogging. I have more passion for blogging than I have had in a long time! I want to write blog posts, I want to put myself out there in the blogging world again! Taking time off can do good for your blogging soul. I am so glad that I let myself take a break from blogging instead of forcing out posts that would not have been worthy to read.

Life Happens Remember what I said before? Bloggers are real people & shit happens. We get busy with children, work, family, housekeeping and everything else! We all put so much time in our blogs, we have to make sure that we don’t spend too much time on our blog and social media! Or life will forget about us, and time will go by too fast. Summers get busy for everyone & it is good to take a step back and re-evaluate your blog.

Looking back I am okay with taking a blogging break. No, this break was not planned at all, but I am happy I did what was best for me at that time.

@theknightsplace is back in the blogging game, come over and check it out!

Click To Tweet

Have you ever taken a blogging break? How did you bounce back from your break?

Life

When Life Gets In The Way

April 18, 2016 21 Comments

What do you do when life gets in the way?

life quotes

So my goals for April have gone a little haywire. You know why? Life got in the way!

When Life Gets In The Way…

So, at the beginning of the month, I thought about all the goals I wanted to achieve this month. Cleaning, bringing up my blogging stats & so much more! But life got in the way. Justin had a three day weekend (so I slacked off on my house duties to spend time with him), I had to work all weekend. We decided to start some major yard work. I think it is okay when life gets in the way. Trust me, I am a huge fan of schedules, and I like to know when things will be done. But to be honest, I was nice walking away from life quotes 1 the blog for a week. Sometimes we just need breaks to focus on yourself.

Why It Is Okay To Take A Break

I think we all have to remember to take breaks, to take a step back in life, and relax. We all go a hundred miles an hour all the time, and it is okay to slow down! It is okay for the house to be messy for a couple hours, or the grass to be a little long. It is okay to stay in yoga pants all Sunday, or not to wear makeup. It is so important to take time for yourself and relax.

I think we are always comparing ourselves to others and we put too much pressure on ourselves! Take a step back, enjoy time by yourself, enjoy time with your significant other or like me, enjoy time with your pups!.

What did you do this weekend to take a break from life?

Fashion

My Go To Spring Outfits

April 6, 2016 7 Comments

So this is officially my first “Fashion Post.” I am excited to be able to expand my blog! For my first fashion post, I want to introduce you to a wonderful boutique. Earleigh Bird Boutique has the cutest clothes for great prices!

Top 3 Spring Outfits-

How perfect is this “springy” outfit! With the open toe flats and the skinny jeans, you can go anywhere and look amazing in this outfit!

Shirt // Shoes (Similar) // Skinny Jeans

I am all about flowy tops! Comfortable and cute… It does not get better than that! These Sperry shoes are to die for! Slip them right on with this flowy shirt & you are ready to go!

Green Shirt // Cropped Skinny Jeans // Sperry Shoes

Slouchy shirts & Booties. My go to! These shoes are so comfortable! I can wear them all day, and they don’t hurt my feet at all! This shirt is perfect for spring!

Shirt // Jeans // Shoes

I am so excited Earleigh Bird Boutique is teaming up with me on Instagram to host an wonderful gift card! Couldn’t you some new spring outfits? So make sure you go check out it! And lucky you, if you use code “KARA10” you will get a 10% discount!

Blogging

April Goals

April 4, 2016 4 Comments

Setting goals is so important. Sometimes I think of the goals in my head, but it is easy to let them go and forget about them. So this month I will be writing down my goals & keep you updated on all of them!

Blogging Goals

Blogging Goals:

Increase My Social Media Following by 5%- Numbers are super important for me. So I decided 5%. Right now I have 15,770 followers on social media (Instagram,Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & my blog.) So my goal is to grow that following by 5%. I will hopefully grow that number by working on my second goal. Post two times a week- I need work on being more consistent. My goal is blogging two times a week. Inside that goal, I want to start preparing content and make an editorial calendar, so I can produce more quality content. Increase my page views by 10% – Pageviews are something that I never really put much thought about it when I was on Goal qUOTES S blogger. I was just blogging for fun, but now I am taking everything a bit more serious I want to start working on gaining more page views! I am so ready to take this serious step for my blog! I can’t wait to see where all this hard work takes me!

Life Goals:

Walk the pups three times a week: Gotta get those steps… That’s the popular thing to say now! But for real, I am hoping to be able to walk to the pups three days a week. They love walks & its good for all of us, they can burn some of that crazy energy & I can get my steps in! Keep the house clean 24/7 – Now that our living room renovations are done, I want to keep our house spotless! Every night I just need to clean up a little! Once it’s spotless, it is much easier to keep it clean! Purge & Clean out Closets this is a MUST! I have so much old clothes that I need to get rid of! (Check out my post Making Money From Old Clothes.) But really- closets can keep so much stuff in them & once you go to clean them out you think how in the world was all this in here. Live Life- Right now everything is so perfect in life. I just want to be thankful for everything that happens. Life goes by so fast, but just want to remember how lucky I am to have so many great things happen!

Let me know what goals you have for this month!

Wedding

Bracelets For The Wedding Day

March 29, 2016 6 Comments

wedding bracelts1 — I was compensated with these bracelets in return for my honest review.

Thanking everyone who helped us on our wedding day was so important to me! I loved being able to thank my bridesmaids & my father. Today I am going to show you the bracelets that we gave our mothers and our program attendants. Thanks to LA Osborn & Pure Impressions for making the best bracelets for the special people in our wedding!

Best Bracelet Shops

LA Osborn has such an amazing Etsy shop. You have to go check it out right now (I mean when you are done reading this post.) I love all the dainty jewelry she has in her shop! Her Initial bracelet was perfect to thank our program attendants. LA Osborn was able to put their initials on each bracelet. Everything she has in her shop is amazing! You have to go check it out!

LA Osborn has bracelets, necklaces, rings and more! All for great prices! If you check out her shop, you might just fall in love with everything!

@theknightplace is talking about the shop LA Osborn today on the blog.

Click To Tweet

Untitled design (10)

I knew that I wanted to give something special to our mom’s. I gave them their gift during our wedding shower. It should not have been better I know a ~~few~~ tears were shed. Pure Impressions made hand stamped customized cuffs for our moms! The cuff that I gave Justin’s mom said: “Thank you for raising the man of my dreams.” And the cuff that Justin gave my mom said: “I promise to always take care of her.”

Pure Impressions has so many different pieces to get customized! You have to check out her shop too! They are both different and amazing! I know that our mom’s absolutely loved these rings! I know it is something that they can cherish forever.

@theknightsplace has another great Etsy shop on the blog! Check out Pure Impressions.

Click To Tweet

It is so hard to believe that we have been married for over five months! Time flies by! I just want to give huge thanks to all the shops and people who made my wedding day so special and amazing.

Wedding

All About Bridesmaids

March 7, 2016 12 Comments

I was so lucky to have the best bridesmaids ever! I choose to only have family in my wedding party and looking back I am so glad that I did. It made everything for me so much easier! But, before we get into this, make sure you check out all the other post about our wedding!

Our Rustic Wedding Shower – Best Gifts For Father of The Bride – Finding The Perfect Photographer – Alternative Wedding Bands

Bridesmaids

Having helpful bridesmaids is the key to having a perfect wedding! So meet my bridesmaids! Kelly, Kristen & Kristy. Kelly and Kristen are my older sisters, they both helped out so much and made my vision come true for my wedding! Kristy is Justin’s sister (my new sister-in-law.) She lives in Tennessee, so she couldn’t be here a lot, but she helped out so much! Kelly kept me going, she would set deadlines for me and, make sure that they get done!

The Tips To Keeping Happy Bridesmaids

First, let them know what to expect. Are you wanting your bridesmaids to get together multiple times or just a couple? Will they be planning the bachelorette party or the bridal shower? What will they have to pay for? How much will their dresses be? There are so many answers you should give them when you first ask them to be in your wedding.

Check out how I asked my bridesmaids to be in my wedding – here.

The Bridesmaids Dresses

I knew I wanted all my bridesmaids to wear different dresses. So, I let them pick out their dresses. The only thing I knew I wanted was lace & either dark purple or navy. It was is easy on all of us. They were able to watch prices while looking at dresses! They actually found their dresses at JCrew. They ordered them online during their own time and it was the easiest thing! They found one collection that had six or seven different dresses, so they were all able to pick the exact one they wanted. Looking at their dresses, I don’t think that it could have gone any better!

Find out how to make your Bridesmaids Happy with @theknightsplace

Click To Tweet

Bridesmaids Gift Bags

Another way to keep your bridesmaids happy are gifts! Who doesn’t love gifts? I got the cutest bags monogrammed from Posh Princess Bowtique. I was able to put them together a goodie bag to thank all of them! I couldn’t have gotten so much more from Posh Princess Bowtique. You guys have to check out her shop! They have the cutest things ever! In the bag, I gave them the sweatshirts we wore on my wedding day. (Check them out here.) I also put a coffee mug & wine! You can never go wrong with wine!

Check out Posh Princess Bowtique on Facebook & Instagram!

Your Bridesmaids Time

Remember, it’s your wedding! You will tell so many people that during the planning process, but Posh Princess Bowtique sometimes I think you need to tell yourself that! You can’t make your bridesmaids put in all the time. If you are expecting them to put in massive amounts of time, fights are bound to happen! Luckily for me, my bridesmaids were family so they were able to put in massive amounts of time! I can never be thankful enough for all they did!

How did you make your bridesmaids happy?

Keeping Happy Bridesmaids (1)

Police Family

The Alternative Wedding Bands

March 2, 2016 7 Comments

Alternative wedding band police ring — I received these products in return for my opinions. All thoughts are my own.

So you all know my husband Justin is a Sheriff Deputy, if not, you can read about it here, here, and here. Police officers have a different view on wedding rings. The alternative wedding bands are becoming very popular.

There are certain occupations where traditional wedding rings don’t always work. A police officer, firefighter, paramedics, doctor, nurse, contractors & so many more other occupations where tradition wedding rings just don’t work. So that is where the Fit Ring comes in!

Fit Ring is perfect for any male or female who wants to show their love to their significate other without being flashy, or wearing a traditional wedding band. For police officers, there are so many views from each side. Some police wives say that they don’t want their husband wearing a ring at all while on duty. They don’t anyone on the outside to know that they have a family. It sounds odd, I know. But trust me, being a police wife myself that sounds completely normal. Others don’t wear a traditional for the safety reasons. If for some reason they were injured you can’t easily cut it off. A traditional wedding band can get stuck and cause injury. The Fit Ring is safe, simple, convenient and very inexpensive.

Fit Ring Alternative Wedding Band

@theknightsplace is talking about the alternative wedding band on the blog today!

Click To Tweet

One t Alternative Wedding Bands police officer he best things about Fit Ring is their commitment to first responders. The Arthletic Family has chosen to support our troops and law enforcement by donating a percentage of the proceeds from all thing blue line Fit Ring purchases to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. This in itself makes me love this brand!

Alternative Wedding Bands Are Not Only For Men

If you know me at all, I love my wedding
rings! More like obsessed with them! But I am always nervous to get it dirty, or ruin it somehow. Fit Ring is perfect for females as well! When working outside, or doing my DIY projects I always worry about The alternative wedding bands for women getting my ring dirty. But, now I just switch rings and all my worries are gone! They come in so many different colors and size, I know you can find one that is perfect for you or your significant other!

alternative wedding band uniform

Wedding

Tips to Find The Perfect Wedding Photographer

March 1, 2016 8 Comments

Another Wedding Talk Tuesday is here again, and I’ll tell you my five tips to find the best wedding photographer. Check out the past couple weeks Our wedding shower and Gifts for the father of the bride. One thing I took very serious for my wedding was finding the right photographer for my wedding. Pictures are something that you can not get back, so it is important to find the right wedding photographer.

Tips On Finding The Perfect Wedding Photographer

Decide One or Two

I knew from the beginning that I wanted two photographers on my wedding day. I just felt more comfortable knowing that there were
going to be two people taking pictures! I am so glad that I went with my thoughts! With having two photographers one was able to be with the men while getting ready and one was with me! It made everything seamlessly.

@theknightsplace is giving 5 tips to find the best wedding photographer on the blog today!

Click To Tweet

Know Your Style

What kind of photos do you want? Elaborate, simple, clean? I knew that I wanted simple photos that didn’t look edited. It took a lot of Simple Rustic Wedding Theme looking through wedding photographers portfolios to find exactly what I was looking for. If you don’t like the style of photos in their portfolio, most likely you will not like your wedding photos.

Do you want a wedding video too?

I knew that I wanted a wedding video. But I also knew how expensive they were. It just wasn’t something that was in my budget. So, I asked my photographer if they knew any videographers. That was the best thing I did, they replied that they just started doing wedding videos! I was in luck, it was in my budget since I would be doing both photography & videography with them. So if you know that you want a wedding video, you might want to try a photographer who does both. I just might save you money in the long run!

Want to see my wedding video- Check it out here.

Prices + Packages

Set a round about price. Make sure you look into everything. What does the package include? 8 Hours of photography? Or only 6 hours? Does it include 100 edits, or only 5? Do you get the digital release to all the prints, or do you have to buy all the prints from your wedding photographer? A couples weeks after our wedding we had a five-minute wedding video and over 900 amazing wedding photos! I was able to print any and all of the photos where ever I wanted to, and that I believe is the way to go! Simple Wedding Photos

Time Frame + Overtime

My wedding photographer helped me make a timeline, and that was so helpful! I knew exactly what was happening when! I knew that I wanted two photographers for 8 hours. That meant that we had to take pictures of hair and makeup because I had to figure out the right time that I needed my photographers. But, check with your wedding photographer to see if they will work over time? If you want them to stay an hour late, will they? The last thing you want is more pictures and no wedding photographer.

Simple Wedding photo

1 2 3 … 26 Next »