Blogging

Where in the world are you?

/ edebock / 17 Comments

When it comes to the blog, I’m a bit of a stats junkie. Every 30 minutes WordPress provides updated statistics showing how many readers have visited my site and which posts they’ve read. I especially enjoy looking at the map and the list that tells me where those readers are located. It always amazes me that the words that I type reach such far reaching points on the globe!

 

This map represents the last seven days with the darker shades of blue indicating where the most readers are located. Over time, the majority of my readers have been in the United States and Canada, but the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Germany are also well represented.

While WordPress provides me with lots of interesting information, your identity is protected. It doesn’t tell me who the individuals are who read my posts. Unless you leave a comment either on the blog or on Facebook, I don’t actually know that you’ve been here.

One of the things that I enjoy most about blogging is connecting with people in many different places from different walks of life. I live my life out loud here on the blog. I share everything from my thoughts on fashion to my faith to my life with cancer. Today, I’d like to know more about you. I’d love it if you would tell me where you’re reading this from. It can be as simple as a one word answer, but if you’re comfortable doing so, why not tell me a little more about yourself. If you’re a regular reader, I’d also love to know what kind of posts you enjoy the most, what you’d like to see more of on the blog, and what doesn’t interest you at all.

Today I’m hoping that you’ll step out of that patch of blue on the WordPress map and say hello!

Not really a fashion post

/ edebock / 7 Comments

logo-by-samI expected the blog to be quieter than usual over the summer months. In fact, I warned you about that at the end of this post back in June. I didn’t expect it to be totally silent for the past three weeks though! The fact that we’ve only been home for a total of six days during that time has had much to do with that, but there’s also been the thought that I don’t want to write and post simply for the sake of writing and posting. I don’t want to contribute to the “noise” of social media unless I actually have something worth saying.

When I introduced Fashion Friday back in March of 2016, I wondered how long I’d be able to keep it going. How soon would I run out of things to write about? More than eight years later, I’m actually surprised that it’s lasted this long! While I’m not ready to retire the topic yet, I do admit that I’m finding it more and more difficult to come up with new and interesting content. This might mean some changes to the blog in coming months, but at the moment that’s just something I’m mulling over. In the meantime, there will be a real Fashion Friday post next week that will look at some trends for fall.

One thing I tend to steer away from on the blog is politics. As a Canadian, I’m watching from the sidelines as the campaign south of our border unfolds, but I realize that its outcome affects all of us. We’re part of a global community.

I was especially inspired by former first lady Michelle Obama’s emotional, but fiery speech at the DNC in Chicago on Tuesday. If you haven’t watched her speech, it’s well worth tuning in for the entire 20 minutes here. Hope is indeed making a comeback! Hope is my one word for 2024 and for me it has been an especially meaningful one.

While this isn’t really a fashion post, I must make mention of the stunning outfit that Michelle Obama chose for her speech. There was clearly symbolism in the futuristic design of the midnight blue MONSE Resort 2025 Crisscross Jacket and Tuxedo Pant as she spoke about hope for the future of her nation.  “In 77 days, we have the power to turn our country away from the fear, division, and smallness of the past. We have the power to marry our hope with our action.”

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Why I write about fashion

/ edebock / 7 Comments

logo-by-samLately, especially on weeks like this one when writer’s block seems to have set in and I have a hard time thinking of a topic for Friday’s post, I’ve been pondering why it is that I choose to write about fashion. After all, I was the awkward teen with zero fashion sense who, even when I stretched my babysitting and allowance dollars to buy what the “in” girls were wearing, felt self-consciously out of place and wanted to fade into the background. Fashion just wasn’t my thing and I certainly had no idea back then that there was such a thing as personal style or style adjectives. 

It wasn’t until about 15 years ago when fashion blogging became popular, that I began to take an interest in the topic. In those days, it was mainly seen as a hobby, a way for fashion enthusiasts to share their thoughts and ideas with the world. Eventually, after following several of these blogs for awhile, I found myself looking for a topic that would keep my blog active when I didn’t have anything more exciting (aka travel) to write about. Why not try my hand at fashion, I thought, and Fashion Friday was born!

With the passage of time, fashion blogging has changed. Some of the blogs that I originally followed eventually disappeared, but as others became more visible and gained a greater following, opportunities to monetize arose. Advertisers and brands began to recognize the value of these voices and reached out to engage with them. At first, popular bloggers were offered free merchandise in exchange for positive reviews, but as time went by they started to earn commission on items that were purchased through links on their blogs. Some even saw this as an opportunity to make fashion blogging a full-time career.  

I’ve never had any desire to move in that direction. I’m still very firmly in the blogging as a hobby camp and the more I see, the happier I am to stay there. One of the bloggers that I’ve been following for many years recently wrote about the fact that she never buys any clothing for herself that she can’t link to on her blog. As a result, her personal style has taken a hit and where she once found joy in fashion, she no longer does. On a recent trip, she visited several local boutiques and had the opportunity to buy some unique pieces, but didn’t because she couldn’t earn income from them. How sad! Others lament the fact that they no longer feel free to be their authentic selves. Instead they’ve created an image that they need to keep up and, in some cases, it’s taking a toll on their mental and emotional health. 

So why do I continue to write about fashion? I sometimes wonder if it isn’t a bit narcissistic, but I try to avoid too many “look at me” posts by also delving into a variety of fashion related topics like sustainability and shopping ethically. I’ve learned a lot about the fashion industry, but also about myself. I’ve figured out what my personal style is. I know what I want my clothing to say about me and I’ve chosen the appropriate adjectives to help me build the right wardrobe. These are the kinds of things that I want to share with you, my readers. After all, connecting with other women with a common interest and being part of this community has been the best part of writing about fashion! That’s really what keeps me doing this. 

Throughout the summer, however, I will be indulging some of my other passions… camping, hiking, kayaking, and visiting with family. I have no more medical appointments until the middle of August and I intend to take full advantage of that! For significant periods of time, I will be without internet access. I’ll blog when and where I’m able, but it will be sporadic and there will be some weeks when Fashion Friday doesn’t appear. Don’t go away though. It will be back!   

 

You aren’t just “Someone”

/ edebock / 2 Comments

For the past while, almost everyone who has left a comment on my blog has been identified as either “Someone” or “Anonymous”. This bothered me because each and every one of you is important to me. I want to know who you are and I want to be able to address you by name when I reply.

It took me longer than it should have to figure out what the problem was, but I think (I hope) that it’s now been resolved. It appears that something in my settings had been inadvertently changed and commenters were no longer being asked to identify themselves by name and email address. Without that information, WordPress simply calls you “Someone” or “Anonymous”.

There are several valid reasons for asking commenters to identify themselves and leave their email addresses. The biggest concern is that requiring less information makes it extremely easy for spam bots to leave comments and almost impossible to filter them out. This can become a nightmare for a blogger.

I know that some of you might be hesitant about leaving your email addresses and given the number of cyber security issues that one hears about these days, I can hardly blame you. I want to assure you, however, that your email address will not be shared with anyone other than myself and that you will not receive any unsolicited emails. If you’re uncomfortable giving your full name, please feel free to use your first name only or even a nickname if you prefer.

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The top three

/ edebock / 2 Comments

LogoOne of the things that I enjoy about blogging with WordPress is the stats that they show me. While I can’t actually see who you are, at any given time I can see how many people have visited the blog on a particular day, week, month, or year as well as how many posts they’ve read and where the readers are from. It’s always fun to see different countries around the world light up on the little map on the stats page!

But what does this have to do with fashion, you ask! Out of curiosity and also to help me determine what most appeals to my readers, I recently checked to see which of my fashion posts have been the most popular. Since quite a few readers have joined us recently, I thought today I’d share the top three again. If you’re interested in looking back and reading any of these posts, simply click on the titles.

#1  How to shop like a celebrity

Helen Mirren thrifting

Published on August 2, 2019, this post about celebrities who shop thrift stores has been read a whopping 14 530 times! Of course, that probably has more to do with search engines picking up famous names like Helen Mirren and Julia Roberts than it does with my writing skills or my popularity as a blogger!

#2  A model who embraced her age

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Cindy Joseph on the front cover of Viv magazine – July 2007

This post, now read 9306 times, was written on July 27, 2018 to share the sad news of the untimely death of Cindy Joseph, model and founder of BOOM! by Cindy Joseph, a pro-age skin and cosmetics line. The company, now BOOM! Beauty, continues to honour Cindy’s legacy with their pro-age, as opposed to anti-age, philosophy. Amongst their products are the popular and easy to use multitasking “Boomsticks” that act as lipstick, blush, and eyeshadow all in one.

#3  50 characteristics of an elegant woman

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At 1809 reads, this post, published on September 11, 2020, is a distant third, but it seems to be gaining in popularity as it has been showing up in my stats almost daily lately. In fact, it was read over 200 times in the month of January alone. That makes me wonder if there’s a growing interest in elegance among today’s women. That’s food for thought and perhaps a topic for a future post!

On an entirely different note, for those who are interested, I’m still waiting for a date for the treatment that I’m to have to destroy the tumour on my liver. I would say waiting patiently, but that would be a lie and #51 on my list of characteristics of an elegant woman should probably be “Is a woman of integrity who always tells the truth!” 

Sixteen years of blogging!

/ edebock / 15 Comments

I published my very first blog post sixteen years ago today! It was also the shortest post I’ve ever written; a brief message announcing that hubby and I had just accepted positions teaching conversational English in Japan. The blog was meant to share that year-long adventure with friends, family and anyone else who might be interested. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that it would still be alive and well sixteen years later!

The title, Following Augustine, no longer fits the blog as well as it did in those early days, but since it’s what I’ve been known as in the blogosphere for more than a decade and a half, I hesitate to consider changing it. You can read about why I originally chose the title here.

Though I probably already had neuroendocrine cancer (NETS) when the blog was born, I didn’t know about it until several years later. When I finally received a correct diagnosis, blogging became a helpful way to process what was happening and to share the journey with friends and family. I also use the blog to raise awareness of NETS. I’m sure that this will continue to happen as I’ve recently become a member of a newly formed Advocacy Advisory Board that will report to the board of directors of the Canadian Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (CNETS).

When I started the blog, writing about fashion was the farthest thing from my mind. Several years ago, however, I starting following several fashion blogs and began to develop a greater interest in the topic. It was then that I decided to add the weekly Fashion Friday feature. At times, I find it a challenge to come up with a new fashion related topic every week, but it’s been a great way to connect with other women and to ensure that I post something at least once a week. Fashion Friday has a fairly small, but loyal following of interested readers, so I as long as I can continue to think of engaging content, I plan to keep the feature going.

As an avid reader, it was my passion for books that prompted me to add the latest feature to the blog, a monthly book review that first appeared at the beginning of February this year.

I refer to Following Augustine as a lifestyle, travel, and fashion blog, but in recent years, there hasn’t been as much travel content as I would have liked. First, the pandemic and then a number of other health issues, both mine and hubby’s, have limited our ability to spend as much time away from home as we would like, but our brand new ten year passports arrived in yesterday’s mail and we hope to be able to put them to good use in the future. If that happens, the blog will once again chronicle our wanderings.

Following Augustine will probably continue to undergo changes from time to time, but at this point, I don’t see it coming to an end anytime soon. Over the past sixteen years, I’ve published over 1400 posts and I expect that I’ll continue adding to that number until I’m no longer able!

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Living my cancer life out loud

/ edebock / 6 Comments

This post was inspired by an interesting discussion that took place awhile ago on one of the online neuroendocrine cancer patient groups that I’m a member of. It started with a younger patient asking for advice about when to tell the person she was going on a first date with about her cancer. I was surprised to learn that most of the patients who responded to her question had told very few people outside their immediate families about their diagnosis. I’m quite the opposite. Though I’m naturally an introvert, I’ve been living my cancer journey out loud since the very first day I heard that fateful C word!

In the summer of 2013, when my doctor called and told me that I had cancer, I’m sure that I was in shock. One of the first things I did was sit down and make a list of who I needed to call and then I started. I called our pastor, several close friends, and of course, our family. Just three days later, I wrote the blog post that shared my diagnosis with the rest of the world. At that time, we didn’t even know what kind of cancer I had. I shared that news a couple of weeks later in this post.

Why? Why did I choose to share my diagnosis so openly?

Learning that you have cancer is overwhelming and I knew that this wasn’t something I could handle on my own. As a Christian, my first instinct was to call the people I knew would pray for me. Without realizing it, I was beginning to build an invaluable support system that would make the journey so much easier.

There were two reasons for sharing my diagnosis on the blog. Writing helps me process things and boy did I need to process! Since I’d already been blogging for several years, that seemed like the logical place to start writing about what I was going through. Secondly, posting updates on the blog was an easy way to communicate what was happening with our large extended family and with friends who are literally spread around the world. It meant that I didn’t have to repeat myself over and over again which would have been mentally and emotionally exhausting.

As time went by, however, sharing my journey openly and online also became a way to educate people about neuroendocrine cancer. Ten years ago, NETS was considered a rare cancer, but the number of people diagnosed with this type of tumour has been increasing over the years and it’s no longer fair to say that it’s rare. Sadly, however, it’s still not well-known, so education and advocacy are extremely important. Like any other cancer, early detection means more likelihood of successful treatment and long-term survival. Family doctors need to know that when a patient presents with symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, shortness of breath, wheezing, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, and/or flushing, neuroendocrine cancer is a possibility. Patients need to know that when their symptoms persist after a more common diagnosis is made, they need to persevere until they get a correct one. It could be NETS. Patients with neuroendocrine cancer, particularly the newly diagnosed, need to know that there is hope. More research is needed to find better treatments and ultimately a cure. Until these things happens, I’ll continue living my cancer life out loud!

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7 years of Fashion Friday!

/ edebock / 2 Comments

Logo by SamWhen I introduced this weekly feature to my blog seven years ago this week, I had no idea that it would last this long. I knew that I could keep it up for awhile, but I wondered how quickly I’d run out of ideas. More than 300 posts later, here we are! I have learned so much and I’ve connected with so many interesting women around the world. Sometimes I wonder what this 70-year-old woman with no formal fashion training has to offer, but your feedback definitely encourages me to keep going!

Today I thought it might be fun to look back at the very first photos of myself that I posted on Fashion Friday.

As I look at these photos, I notice several things:

  1. My style hasn’t changed much in seven years! Though I don’t have all of these pieces anymore, I’d still feel comfortable going out dressed like this because this outfit fits all five of my present style adjectives… classy, confident, comfortable, casual, and authentic.
  2. Seven years later, I still have the blazer and the shoes! The blazer is left over from my teaching days. Though I don’t wear it often anymore, it’s a classic piece that really doesn’t go out of style. The shoes are a comfy pair of flats that I last wore to the symphony in Xalapa, Mexico last month!
  3. My hair! After letting my thick, naturally curly hair grow out and wearing it considerably longer than this for the past several years, I had it cut short again a couple of weeks ago! It looks almost exactly like this except that it’s a bit greyer now!
  4. The lack of snow. If I was standing on the stairs that replaced those ones when we added a small deck to the front of our house and hubby was taking my picture today, he’d be up to his knees or more in snow! Though daytime temperatures are occasionally creeping up above the freezing point, it will likely be awhile before we see bare ground and start taking outdoor fashion photos again.

While preparing this post, I also decided to look at some stats and see which of my Fashion Friday posts have been the most popular. Far and away the winner, with over 12 000 views, is the post entitled How to shop like a celebrity published on August 2, 2019. It would appear that a lot of readers have found it on Pinterest. My second most popular Fashion Friday post, A model who embraced her age, announced the death of 67-year-old model, Cindy Joseph, in July 2018. That one has had more than 8000 hits. I guess it pays to mention celebrities!

And now, let’s see how many more fashion posts I can write before I run out of ideas!

Sometimes I just have to write

/ edebock / 6 Comments

Sometimes I just have to write. I don’t know why, but something in me tells me that I need to. My fingers hover over the keyboard wondering how to begin. Sometimes the words flow and other times, my mind is blank. What could I possibly have to say that anyone would want to read? At times like those, I usually resist the urge and try to find something else to do, but this time I decided to simply start. Where this is going, I really don’t know!

Although I love to lose myself in a good novel, I’m  not a writer of fiction. I never have been. I’ve tried dabbling in it once or twice, but it clearly wasn’t my forte. Neither am I a poet. No, though nonfiction seems somehow less exciting, it’s what I do.

Scripture tells us that we’re made in the image of a creative God. As such, I believe that we all have the innate ability to be creative. I create with words. What do you create with?

I have a friend who is an avid quilter. She creates works of art with fabric and many of her quilts bring comfort to people living with cancer. (see Victoria’s Quilts Canada or Victoria’s Quilts USA) Another friend is an artist in the kitchen creating culinary masterpieces and a cousin is a songwriter. My daughter knits and crochets everything from sweaters and slippers to teddy bears and stuffed animals. Some people are artists in the traditional sense creating drawings, paintings, or sculptures. Others design and build with wood. Still others create online games and programs.

Releasing creativity, whatever form it takes, can be therapeutic. It can help people resolve issues as well as develop and manage behaviours and feelings, reduce stress, and improve self-esteem and awareness. There are things that I can’t write about, or at least I can’t publish, because they would be hurtful to people that I care deeply about or because they’re not my stories to tell. Writing about my cancer, however, especially in the early days, helped me process and better accept and understand what was happening. Some cancer centres even offer art therapy classes to their patients.

We all have gifts and passions. I’m thankful that I found mine a long time ago. Even as a child, I enjoyed writing reports for school. As a university student, I much preferred essays to exams. By the time I graduated, I knew that even though teaching was my chosen profession, writing would also be part of my future. Of course, there was no internet back then. I did a bit of freelance writing, selling a few articles to small publications, but it was retirement and the advent of blogging that really opened the door to writing for sheer enjoyment. To date, I’ve published over 1300 posts. Together they’d equal the length of an average novel!

The only problem with not knowing where this post was going is not knowing how it should end, so I’ll simply finish with a couple of quotes from science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov.

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What do you want to read?

/ edebock / 9 Comments

Logo by SamA lot of the fashion blogs that I follow are writing about fall already and, of course, fall fashions have been in the stores for awhile, but I’m not quite ready for a change of seasons yet. Our summers are much too short and our winters too long. I always like to hang onto the last days of summer for as long as I can before I think about making that inevitable seasonal switch.

I am, of course, thinking ahead to topics for future blog posts though and today I thought I’d ask for your input. When I introduced Fashion Friday back in the spring of 2016, I wanted it to be more than just a “look at what I’m wearing today” feature. That seems terribly superficial and my closet wouldn’t sustain something like that for very long anyway. I wanted to present content with a little more substance than that. Many fashion blogs have become what might better be referred to as “shopping blogs”, but I have never been interested in encouraging that level of consumerism nor am I into blogging as a source of income. My intention was to be inspiring and to explore various aspects of personal appearance and how what we wear affects our daily lives. As time went by, I also became interested in topics related to ethics and sustainability in the fashion industry and have written a number of posts along those lines.

Those are some of my guiding ideas, but I’m also interested in knowing what you, my readers, would like to read. Do you want to know what’s on trend? Do you prefer instructional “how to” posts… how to put together outfits in new and interesting ways, how to dress different body types, how to dress on a budget? Are you interested in what’s going on in the fashion industry? Are there specific fashion related questions that you’d like me to try to answer. I have no formal fashion training, but I’ll do my best to search out answers. Where else do you look for fashion inspiration? Do you read other fashion blogs? If so, which ones are your favourites? Why? What do you like about them?

Of course, Following Augustine is more than just a fashion blog, so in addition to your thoughts and ideas about what I might write about on Fridays, I’m open to suggestions for the rest of the week as well. Whether you respond directly on the blog or prefer to comment on Facebook, whether you’ve ever left a comment before or not, please let me know your thoughts. A blog is nothing without its readers!

template, mockup, fall, blank, screen happy thanksgiving