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.

Where In The World is Candid Karina?

So, here's the thing...there's A LOT going on my life right now, and I'm slightly over-extended, so the blogging has been the thing that has suffered. I've had a few people ask me if I was okay, where have I been hiding, etc., so I just wanted to pop and say thank you for your concern, but all is well in the world of Candid Karina, I'm just a little busy.

So, I'm taking a very short hiatus from this blog...VERY SHORT...I'll be back next week, with some changes. I'm in the process of decluttering and streamlining pretty much everything in my life, and my blogs are also going to get some cleaning up.

So, enjoy the rest of your week, and I promisse to be back with some goodies, some fun, and more regular posting next week!

Wanna be a Mobster?

Okay folks, it's the New Year and that means we're all heading to the gym and eating healthy. This week.

Everyone has these New Year's Resolutions and for a whole lot of people that means the good old "lose weight, eat healthy, go to the gym" thing. Right? Right.

Well, as you all know, last year I really did get serious about finally getting my body back. I started Jenny Craig with my mom on August 27th, and as of today, I've lost a little over 23 lbs. As my goal was initial 20,and then I added an additional 5, that means I'm less than 2 lbs. away from my goal. I'm playing with throwing another 5 lbs out there, mostly so I can have wiggle room to eat and not have to worry as much, but we'll just see how that goes. Since I plan on hitting the gym and toning and maybe adding some muscle, I may leave well enough alone.

That being said, maintenance is gong to be a big thing for me. Never again do I want to see that 25 lbs, therefore, this will be a lifelong lifestyle change for me. Also, my mother still has some weight to lose, and in the process of my own weight loss, I've inspired a few friends to do their own.

I will say right here that I loved doing Jenny Craig, however, the food was a bit on the pricey side (although delicious) and therefore I had to stop going last month. Mom also cannot afford to keep going, so we've decided to start our own "support group" if you will. A few of my friends, and a few of mom's friends are joining us.

Our first meeting is tomorrow. We'll get together, do some meal planning, weigh-ins, share ideas and recipes and other things. Mostly we'll motivate each other to stay and/or get in shape. I'm calling these meetings "Mind over Body"...or "Mob" meetings.

And I want you to join us virtually as well. What do you think? Are you in? Here's the plan, every Wednesday I'll post a Mobster post, and you check in with your results, your plan for the week, your challenges and wins for the prior week, etc. We motivate ourselves, each other, and possibly others as well. You can post your own post on your very own blog, and just link back here, or you can just post in comments, if you want to.

Let me know if you're in, and I'll make sure I have links to your blogs on Wednesday. I'm also working on a button for the posts...hopefully I'll have it by Wednesday.

So? Wanna be a Mobster?

Monday Musings

Today is the first Monday of 2009. Something about that jsut makes me want to get all organized and productive and stuff...don't you feel it? It's a new day, a new week, a new year...so much lies ahead of us just ready to be conquered.

Well, at least that's how I feel today.

So, I figured no time like the present to re-launch my Cafe Karina blog, which has been dormant for a few months now. I have lots of goodies in store for you this year over there, so I'm inviting you to take a quick gander over there and see what's on the menu.

I'll be back here at Candid Karina with a full post tomorrow though, so don't stray too far, okay?

Happy Monday!

Only The Good Friday - 2009 Edition

Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to 2009. It's time for Only the Good Friday, and I thought we'd start off the New Year with a bit of a celebration, because I don't know about you, but nothing makes me feel better than the idea of celebrating. So, in keeping with Shelley's plan for spreading good cheer on Fridays, here's mine for today.

How about a little video:

And here's one more:

And since today is January 2nd, that means that we're all just getting started on our New Year's Resolutions. Or, possibly some of ous have already given up on them? No, of course not.

Anyway, I found some celebrities' New Year's Resolutions, and I thought it would be fun to share them with you:

BRITNEY SPEARS:"I would like to stop worrying so much because I worry all the time. And to learn how to be happier, just in general. And to stop biting my nails!"

EVA LONGORIA PARKER"To give up meat."

FERGIE"It's always the same: to work out more and eat healthier. I'm trying to go organic, eat more raw."

ASHLEE SIMPSON"All my focus is on my son. Every day, being a better mom and learning with him. It's an incredible experience."

CARMEN ELECTRA"To have more fun! I was just with Jenny McCarthy not too long ago, and she said, 'Carmen, life is supposed to be fun.' And I remembered that, it stayed in my head. And that is my goal."

JAMIE FOXX:"I'm looking for the right woman. I need a magnifying glass! I'm trying to find that rare jewel."

KANYE WEST:"My resolution is to be as nice as possible to the press."

AISHA TYLER:"To be happier! I'm a pretty happy person, but I try to be as happy as I can."

BRIAN AUSTIN GREEN:"It seems to be to stop smoking every year. We'll see how it goes this time."

KATHY GRIFFIN:"To eat more carbs!"

CAMERON DIAZ:"I have always had the same New Year resolutions: to stop smoking, to start wearing a bra and to stop shopping."

See, celebrities are just like us...uh...sort of.

Well, I'm going to leave you with those thoughts for now, but if you're curious about my own resolutions, they can be found here.

Also, be sure to go visit Shelley to see what she's got in store for you for her own Only The Good Friday Post.

Happy New Year everyone!