Butterflies and Birds


New video, I hope you'll all enjoy! It's part vlog and part...nature documentary. I also talk about my new upload schedule and my new house...sort of. Share it if you want me to do a new house tour soon! (I really need to finish unpacking first, but we shall see...)







Wedding Rehearsal

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This was when things started feeling real. We met the judge who married us, everyone (for the most part) got together. We all had a very nice fancy dinner full of many many tear-filled toasts. It was all very overwhelming and truly amazing. Seeing our families together was just so beautiful and made me so happy and I have to stop now before I start crying over my laptop. Enjoy these photos of the day. The real photos are coming soon.

The bridal party (minus my sister who was at work preparing for Disneyland's 60th) IMG_7171 IMG_7173 IMG_7176

My rehearsal bouquet made from the bows from my bridal showers. IMG_7158

The presents I gave my bridesmaids. They each got a paper flower bouquet made from the craft we did at the Long Beach bridal shower, a leaf necklace which we all wore in the wedding, and they each got a unique gift that was just for them. IMG_7154







#HolmquistRoadTrip Days 3, 4, & 5


IMG_7225 The last three days of our road trip were different than the first two. The third day we were really really sick of the trip, but the fourth day saved us. We spend the day just exploring Chicago with my childhood best friend, Ming, and relaxing. It was so great to have a day where we were not spending the majority of it in the car. It helped our final day of driving happen with high spirits. Enjoy these photos from Chicago and my last three videos. What an adventure.
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#HolmquistRoadTrip - Days 1 & 2

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It was a long long week of traveling from the west coast to the east coast, but we did it.  We took our two cars, filled them with all our belongings, took Jim's brother Eric to help with the driving, and headed out...a mer five days after the wedding. I've compiled all the video, Snapchats, and Instagrams I took over the corse of the road trip and created five videos chronicling our journey. I'll share the first two today. (along with some photos from Utah.)

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Bachelorette Party

Okay, so I know you're not supposed to talk about your bachelorette party, so I'm not. I'm just going to leave these photos here and walk away. *Dances as she backs away singing 'Shake it Off' under her breath.*
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How To Sort Your Books | When Geeks Move


Would you know how to sort your books if you had to move far away?  I took a practical approach and also went through some of my childhood books (most of which were donated) in the process.

Episode 1
Episode 2

When geeks move there are a lot of books involved, unless like me, you store most of them. I hope you enjoyed this series that turned out to be more of a 'When Geeks Get Rid of Stuff' type of series. It's what had to happen. If you have any other geeky life series you'd like me to try, let me know!






How To Get Back Into Blogging After a Break

(via. deathtothestockphoto)

It's been a pretty rough period of time for my blog. In the last few months I've made only a few non-video related posts. So now that I'm married, moved in, and finding myself self-employed for the first time in years, I have the time for my blog again. It's just...tough getting started again. Here are a few things that I'm going to try to get back into the game.

Read Your Favorite Blogs This is the first thing I did. Not having time to blog also meant I did not have time to read blogs either. There's a lot to catch up on. I also find that reading my favorites blogs always inspires me. It will help you come up with ideas, see if there's anything new in the blogosphere, and get your passion back. Before you know it, you'll have to start blogging again.

Establish a New Routine I don't know about you but if I don't have a set time and plan for blogging, it tends to happen at some pretty odd times. My new schedule is every Monday morning I'll plan out the next week of blogging. I don't blog every day but I try and blog between 5 to 3 times a week. I try and get all posts outlined and make sure to have Tuesday's written and ready to go. (I make sure that on Friday, Monday's is ready to go or at least outlined.) This is my plan, I'm in the process of putting it into practice, and that's what you have to do. Trial and error. See what works for you but a routine can help keep things moving.

Set Some Goals These can be anything. Viewership numbers, post count, a new weekly series, anything. The idea behind having goals is to help your blog progress in the way you want it to. One thing I try to avoid is obsessing over numbers. It's hard, since I work with analytics in my day job, but even if it's a slow climb small victories are still victories. Make sure that you don't compromise the realness of your blog to reach your goals, stay true to who you are and you'll find people who want to read about your passions.

Above all make sure you really do want to get back to blogging in the first place. If it's still hard to get back into it, maybe it's time for a different hobby. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you just need a little push, I hope I've helped. Happy blogging!







Collecting vs. Minimalism | When Geeks Move


I've been struggling with both collecting and minimalism. I have many collections, too many to take with me on my move, so I've been trying to figure out how to become a better minimalist. (Or at least closer to one than currently.)
>>When Geeks Move Episode One<<


Book Review - Crossed by Ally Condie



How long has it been since I've posted a book review on this blog? I think I stepped out practice but for those of you who are interested, I've done a book review video for Crossed by Ally Condie. It's the second in a trilogy of dystopian set young adult books. I think this is the first book review that was not generally positive. Let me know if you've read this book or if you have any book recommendations for me!








Still making Nerdy Monsters

IMG_7242 Annnnd we're back! That's right, Nerdy Monsters, my collectable plushie and geeky accessory shop is back in business. (And by business I mean I've made one sale since re-opening officially on Wednesday, woohoo!) Yesterday I send out the word to the mailing list crew. (it's free if you want in) I have sold Nerdy Monsters at craft fairs and to friends and friends of friends in person, but in all honesty, I've only ever sold one online.

One of the things I'd like this blog to be about going forward is my personal Etsy (and online selling in general) journey. I want to be honest with you about my experience and even help others in the same boat. So since I'm being transparent about it all, my most popular item in 'Nerdy Monsters' is not a nerdy monster. It's a feminist button.  Which is fine, I made it because it's something I wanted to make for myself to wear and thought I'd see how it did online. (Turns out, it does well.) So I will make more, and Nerdy Monsters, as a shop, might morph into Nerdy Feminist Monsters. Which, honestly, is the next logical step for it.

I want to keep the dream alive about the little nerdy fluff balls though, and I think I will make more for different fandoms in the future...even if they don't sell as often. I also want to make other things out of fleece and felt and maybe even stickers soon. (Childhood dream!) So here's my piece of advice for aspiring Etsy sellers: Make what sells but also make what brings you the most joy. Bring on the monsters!

  Falling Nerdy Monsters







Moving Out | When Geeks Move

In the first episode of When Geeks Move, we are moving out of our Los Angeles apartment and finding it harder than expected. Packing up your life to fit into two cars is very hard...especially when you collect a lot of random things. And the craft supplies...oh the craft supplies. Next episode I'll talk about collecting things vs. living lightly. Check out the video in The Geeky Life playlist below:

 







Wedding Planning

The above photo is a small collection of name cards from just a handful of the wedding's I've attended in the last 7 years. I took them out in order to design my own. First I found a font called Bilbo and printed off everyone's name (using Facebook for spelling and surname conformations), then my dad hand wrote 'Table 1' and so on on the back of each card. That's just one of the many things we got to do since my wedding was very handmade. My dad made pie stands out of cut tree branches, did wood burning for the table numbers, collected brass items for the centerpieces, created a door-like 'photo backdrop', and my sister helped him come up with a lot of the ideas.



Here's my mom, my aunt, and my grandma potting the succulents for the tables (which doubled as wedding favors). I still can't believe how much people were willing to help make this wedding happen. It was everything I could have asked for and more, I'm so grateful.
Official wedding photos are coming soon, but until then there are a few more event photos on there way. Thank you so much for reading!