Bit of Randomness

Hello my dear readers, how are you all today? It is Monday night as I type this, and usually that would mean that I'd be writing up a Bachelor recap. However, tonight's episode is the "reality television" must-have recap episode prior to the finale. In Bachelor terms, this means a reunion of the girls who have been sent home for a "tell all". So, yes, I'm watching, but not much to recap here, so come on back next week for the recap of the finale.

In the meantime, I thought I'd take this opportunity to do a bit of housecleaning and talk to all of you a bit. It's been a little while since I've posted anything but Bachelor or American Idol recaps, and I feel like we just haven't "talked" in so long. Don't you?

As life will happen, things get busy and blogging seems to get left behind a bit. Still, I love this blogging community and don't think I'll ever stop blogging, because I'd miss you all too much. I'd miss the writing too much as well.

My decision at the beginning of this year was to stop trying so hard to be in control of everything, and just blog as I can...so yes, it means I'm posting less often, but hopefully it just means I'm being more honest with myself and writing only what I feel like writing, be it "fluff" about television shows, or more personal content.

SO, anyway, with that being said, let's talk about the personal stuff.

Dating: Yeah...not really much to report on this front. I took a big step a few weeks ago with the whole "asking GQ out on a date" thing, but he never followed through, so nothing ever happened there. And Coach? He's still adorable, and I totally still have a crush on him, but it's just eye candy at the gym. He's too young for me, and besides, it really is just harmless flirting between the two of us. At the moment, there are no other prospects, but don't count me out just yet, I'm just getting started.

Speaking of the gym, let's talk about that and my weight loss challenge. Because, I don't think I've quite reported back yet to tell you that I DID IT. Did what? I reached my goal. For a few weeks in a row now I've been able to step on a scale and have it read under 125lbs. Since my goal is to maintain between 120 and 125, I'm there! I can't even begin to tell you how absolutely exciting and amazing this trip has been for me. I have lost over 25 pounds since August 27, 2008. When I began this journey, I honestly did not think I'd make it here. I thought maybe I'd lose 10 pounds or so, and hey, that would be good, right? But to have gotten back to my college body? It's a dream, and I'm so thrilled to have done it. Now, of course, the challenge is to maintain it. So, even though I've made it, it's not over yet, in fact, this is just the beginning, isn't it? The beginning of my new lifestyle. So, although I'm back to eating a little less "strictly", I'm still (and forever) going to watch what I eat, and I'm definitely still hitting the gym, and making that a routine part of life. Right now I'm on a 26 day mission to work on my abs. Why 26 days?

WELL, I'm going on a cruise at the end of March, and I have 26 days to get this new "lighter" body to also be a little more toned, so that I can wear a bikini. This will be the first time since I was probably 12 years old that I'll be in a bikini, so I am on a serious mission to get some more definition in my abs. I'm not expecting miracles, just a little more tone. I'll let you know how that all works out. ;-)

Oh, you want to know about the cruise? My friend Traveller and I are taking a Caribbean cruise to San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, St. Thomas and Turks and Caicos. I am insanely excited to be taking this trip, and can't wait to be lounging poolside on a cruise ship. It's been 7 years since the last time I took a cruise, and it was honestly one of my favorite vacations ever, so i can't wait. Of course, I will take lots of pictures, and lots of notes, so that I can come back and tell you all about it and share it all.

What else has been going on? Oh, I'm loving my new car. I've decided I'm definitely a "car" girl, not an "SUV" girl. Not much more to say about that except that yes, I do love it.

Everything else in life is good. Work is busier than normal, but this is a good thing, I like busy. My friends, my family, the church and the youth group keep me busy and happy and satisfied.

And then there's my writing. I'm still not writing at the level that I wanted to be at this point but I'm working toward it. And on that note, I have a new post up at Inspired Bliss today, and I'd love you to go check it out, if you would?

There you have it, a bit of what's going on in the life of Candid Karina. What's going on with you?

Combined Forces

I love blogging.  Love everything about it.  Meeting new people, having an outlet to share my thoughts, feelings, and trivial tidbits with all of you, love the comments (few and far between that I receive, they are still always appreciated and valued), love the relationships that are formed, and the way it allows me to be creative.

I love blogging so much that at one point I realized having just one blog wasn't going to suit me any longer, because I wanted to be able to spread my wings a bit.  

Candid Karina has always been my main blog, the one I use for my personal tales of woe or funny circumstance.  Here at Candid Karina is where you get to know the real me.  

But the real me is a writer, a poet, and at times a photographer, so I branched out and started posting at Creative Karina as well.  There I would share with you my prose, my photography, and other muse inspired works.

The real me is also a bit of a pop culture junkie, so I opened up Cafe Karina, and served up a weekly fare of television show recaps, book and movie reviews, and other random fare.

This was all working beautifully, until suddenly my real life caught up to me, and blogging time was cut shorter, and shorter and shorter.

Suddenly, I could barely keep up with one blog, never mind three.  Not even mentioning my guest writing appearances on blogs such as SheWhoBlogs and Inspired Bliss.  

All this going on and suddenly I found myself overwhelmed and practically ready to throw in the towel.  Was I ready to give up blogging forever?

The answer to that question is a resounding NO.  Of course not.  The thought of giving up blogging makes my heart beat fast and my palms get sweaty.  That is simply not an option.

But what was I to do?  Because although I blog for me, more so than for anyone else, I also realized that the quality of my blog posts were deteriorating.  I just wasn't feeling the love anymore, and therefore wasn't giving my all.  And because of this, I'm sure you, my dear readers, were also losing a bit of the love.  (It's okay, I get it, I wasn't really producing praiseworthy content here).

I want to keep doing this blogging thing, but I want to bring back the level of blogging I was proud to present to you during my "peak".  I want to look back on my blog posts and be able to think "Yes, that was worthy of pushing the "publish post" button".

So, what to do?

And then it hit me.  I'm going back to the beginning.  One blog.  One place where I share my thoughts, be they personal, creative, or pop culture related.  One single venue, all efforts combined.

As of this moment, Creative Karina and Cafe Karina are merging with this blog, Candid Karina.  They are not closed, they're simply moving in.  You can now find all your Karina content in one location, how handy is that?

Let's see how this works, but I for one am excited to be back to focusing on what's important, which is the writing, the sharing, and the relationships.  Hope you enjoy the changes as well.

As for Inspired Bliss and SheWhoBlogs?  I'll continue to post there as well...but I'll let you know here whenever any of those posts are up.

So, first up here at Candid Karina?  Come on back tomorrow night for the next installment of Cafe Karina's Bachelor Recap.

New Stuff, NEW STUFF!!!

My newest entry at Inspired Bliss is up and ready for your reading pleasure...won't you please stop by and read it? Click on the button above to be taken to the Inspired Bliss main page, or the button below to be taken directly to my newest post.

Thank you!

Half-Way to One Thousand!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to Candid Karina’s 5ooth Post Celebration.

This is an event of monumental proportions, so we couldn’t let it go by without throwing a grand Gala in its honor. There will be something for everyone here tonight, so please, check your coats, grab a drink and take your seats, the evening’s festivities are about to begin.

I’d like to welcome you all, and take a moment to thank you for coming by. I didn’t want to forget anyone or anything, so I wrote a little something, and hope you’ll bear with me while I go through my thank you’s. I’ve got it here somewhere…ah, yes, here we go.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank God, because how blessed am I to be able to share a piece of me with all of you and have you come back for more? Trully amazing, I think. Next, I want to thank Wil Wheaton, because it was through his blog that I was introduced to the world of blogging. He most definitely does not even have a clue who I am, but it’s all his fault I do what I do here, so a big fat thank you to him.

Next, I want to thank my loyal readers. I’ll start with the ones who have been with me for quite a while now, who’s names I know as well as the ones of my IRL friends, and who have become true friends, regardless of whether we’ve ever met in person. To my “She Who Blogs” buddies, especially our amazing leader Frances, HOLLA! You girls ROCK and gave me my first sense of “community” within the blogging world. I’m so proud to be a part of the gang. I’d also like to give a very special shout out to all the lurkers, you know you’re out there. I know you’re out there because even though I don’t average very many comments per posts, my stats tell me you’re out there, reading. So, thanks, I’m glad you’re here. And finally, a warm welcome to my new readers. I do hope you’ll be back.

I’d like to kick off the festivities with a bit of a look back, a retrospective if you will. It might be fun for those of you who’ve been around to relive some of our best times, and for the newbies, maybe it’ll help you get to know me a bit better.

A quick note to the first timers, anything you ever wanted to know about me can be found in any of these posts (which are also on my sidebar under Candid Close-Up).

Let’s take a look at the highlight reel, shall we?

• My first EVER post, which was actually brought over from my life on a previous blog.


• The 30 posts in 30 Days challenge that brought me to blogging more full-time.


• A bit of self-indulgence.


• Some of my ventures into photography.


• Love Stories


• And I grew into other blogs.

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? While I compose myself and wipe the tears from my eyes, let’s move on to the next part of the evening.

This is the part you’ve all been waiting for. It’s time for the games and prizes. I hope you will all play, it’s so much more fun when everyone participates. For you lurkers, this is your chance to come out of the woodwork, even if just for one night. And anyway, there will be prizes. Two of them to be exact. Here are the rules of the game:

For the first prize, a trio of Body Shop Lip Butters, in Mango, Grapeseed and Coconut, you simply have to leave a comment, letting me know you were here celebrating my 500th with me and answer me this question: How long have you been blogging? That’s it. I will pick a commenter using a randomizer, and they will be the prize winner.

The second prize, a nice gift set from Yankee Candle (with a Gingerbrad and a Christmas Cookie candle...yes, it's a Christmas set, you can start your shopping early), will be yours with a little more work on your part. Now, don’t get nervous, it’s easy enough. Leave a comment, letting me know you were here, celebrating with me, and then let me know what it is you like about my blog. This is important, because I’m fine tuning the way things work around here, so your input will help me tremendously. So, in your comment, I need some positive feedback about your favorite types of posts I do, or even a particularly favorite post, or I will take constructive criticism about posts I may do that just don’t strike your fancy. Tell me what you would like me to write more about, something you would like to know about me, or what makes you come back, or would make you come back more often. Give me ideas, suggestions, and friendly criticism, it’ll all be taken into account. For each “individual” piece of feedback you give me you get ONE entry into the drawing(meaning that if in your comment you give me three suggestions, etc. then you would get three entries. Get it?).

So there you have it…fun and games.

What a fun time we’re having tonight, I sure hope you’re enjoying yourself as much as I am.

Unfortunately, the evening is getting late, and soon it’ll be time to say good night and go our separate ways. But before we do that, it’s time to look to the future. I mean, 500 posts is incredible, no doubt, and throw in two other blogs, with Creative Karina, and Café Karina, and guests appearances at SheWhoBlogs here and there, and wow, I really do have a reason to celebrate. My career as a blogger has been blossoming rather well. I’m very happy with my limited success thus far, and just glad I’ve been able to share myself with you.

BUT, things are getting bigger by the moment. There are grand things on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share them all with you. So, I thought tonight’s celebration was the perfect moment to do so.

First up, a new meme is launching at Creative Karina next week. I’ve been neglecting that blog, so I thought I needed a little something to get the creative juices flowing. More info. will follow, but I hope you’ll join me, because I think it could be a whole lot of fun. It will be a photo and poetry meme all rolled into one. Click here for all the details.

Next, because Café Karina is also being neglected lately, starting next week I will be featuring more book reviews, movie reviews and now that the new television season has kicked off, you can bet there will be some tv show reviews as well for your reading pleasure.

And finally, the most exciting of all new ventures, is my involvement with Inspired Bliss. You can read all about that in this post, and click on the pretty little "Inspired Bliss" button on my sidebar to be taken to that site. My first post wil be up on Friday!

Sadly, we’ve come to the end of our program. The hour is late, and it is time to shut the lights. I do hope you’ve enjoyed yourself, and please, don’t be a stranger, the door is always open, and we are always happy to see you here. No invitation required. Bt wait, before you got...we have fireworks...

Okay, have a good night, drive safely...Until the next 500th, stay Candid!

Extra, Extra Read All About It!!!

I've got news. I've teased the news a bit here and there, but now I'm ready to tell you all about it. Are you ready?

I'm branching out. I'm taking what I started here at Candid Karina on the road. More specifically, I've become a contributing writer at Blissfully Domestic's brand spankin' new faith channel Inspired Bliss.

When I started blogging a few years ago, I did it because I love to write, and I'd discovered this wonderful new method of getting my written word "out there" for the masses to see. (Okay, in reality its not so much "masses" as it is a handful of you, but whatever...let it slide, won't ya?). The idea that I could do my favorite thing in the world, string words together, and try to make a point, and have complete strangers read it, was irresistible to me.

Over the years I've had great fun blogging, getting to know you all, and expanding my circle in the blogosphere.

Here at Candid Karina, I speak, what else, candidly, about the daily grind, the ups, the downs, the fun, the mundane, my history, and my future.

With Creative Karina I grew a little, creating a space where I could share with you my poetry, fiction and other artistic endeavors.

And then, more recently, with Cafe Karina, I gave myself permission to indulge in my love of all things pop culture.

Although recently life has made regular posting a bit more difficult, I still consider all three of these blogs my home, and my babies, and have great plans to nurture them and help them to grow to their full potential.

But I was recently presented with an opportunity to take what I do here, and combine it with my recent renewal of faith, and join a fantastic group of ladies in launching a new venture. How could I pass this up? I couldn't. While here at Candid Karina I'll continue to post about a variety of topics, at Inspired Bliss I'll be digging my heels a little bit deeper into the faith realm. My new "column" "God and the Single Girl" will be a bit of a departure for me from my usual sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. It'll be a little more raw...naked if you will. I'll be a little more free to say things there that I might hold back on over here, because well...I just don't get that serious over here, you know?

So, our official "Launch" is this Monday, September 22nd. Robin (of the wonderful Pensieve) is our editor, and along with a wonderful group of ladies, who I'm just getting to know, we are all super excited to share with you what we've got going on over there. I invite you to please click on the badge in this post, or any of the links throughout, and check out our new digs. Add us to your reader (pretty please) so that you can keep up with us, because there will be lots and lots going on. My first post goes up next Friday. I'll remind you when it does, but I really hope you'll support the rest of the fantastic contributors as well. We are all very nervous (on top of the excitement) as this is a brand new thing for all of us, and can use all the support you can offer.

Blissfully Domestic is a wonderful site with ALL sorts of information and fun stuff for the ladies. Inspired Bliss is just one of the channels over there. You honestly could get lost for hours exploring the whole site (I know I have) and I invite you to do so, because it's well worth it. But, before you get too lost, please be sure to stop by Inspired Bliss first, won't you?

I can't wait to start sharing with you. I do hope you'll visit me (US).