Guest Poster: Emily | 5 Tips for Surviving Winter Running

Today we have another guest poster, Emily from Lynde Avenue. She's kindly offered to write a post while I've been too busy. So without farther ado, the post...

Hey, everyone! It's Emily from Lynde Avenue, and I'm very honored to be guest posting on my friend Kat's blog today. We're both runners, so I thought it might be cool to do a piece about winter running! (Ironic though, seeing as it's actually summer over there in Australia.) But enough chit-chat - let's get to it, shall we? Read on for my tips for surviving that 7 mile winter run.

1. Lay out your clothing the night before. No skipping out! It's easy to say that you're going to go for an early morning run now, but when tomorrow rolls around, you might find yourself feeling quite differently. Lay out your clothing and gear to remind yourself - no giving up before you've even started!

2. And while we're at it, have the right clothing! Are you really going to want to keep going when it's 30 degrees out and you're freezing your butt off in shorts and a T-shirt? Make sure you start out with the right clothing! When it's down in the 20's I usually wear yoga pants (or leggings if you prefer), cotton socks (I actually think this might be a no-no...), a T-shirt, and thin fleece jacket. I know that some runners get hot quickly and have to start shedding layers, but this ensemble actually works out quite comfortably for me!

3. Have a destination in mind. You know how hard it is to just run up and down your street? Or to the park and loop back around? (For me personally, anyway.) It helps to have a destination, so you have a concrete goal to strive for. Instead of doing loops, why don't you run to the Dunkin' downtown? And while you're at it, you might pick up breakfast for your little brother too. You'd be surprised by how much that solid layout of where you're going helps you actually get there!

4. Tell someone the route. And what time you anticipate getting back. It's pretty dark in the morning in the winter, making it more likely for accidents to happen by sleepy / tired drivers not seeing pedestrians. By telling someone the route and what time you plan to be back, they'll know your plan if anything happens.

5. Start out early. While on the topic of motivation, you'll also want to start out early so that you don't have time to think it through and say no. I usually head out at 7 or 8 - better to get it over with than drag it out! And, bonus - you'll feel great throughout the rest of the day knowing that you did it, and you might also surprise yourself by unconsciously making healthier food choices.

I'd like to thank the wonderful Kat again for letting me guest post - it's been awesome! If you guys want to see more of me every week, you can find me either chillin' on Lynde Avenue or redesigning at Twenty-One Designs. I'm also on Bloglovin, GFC, and Twitter - stop by and say hey! See you guys soon.

PS - Like this post and want to see more on athletics? Also check out...

+ The First Mile

+ An Interesting Kind of Breakfast

Emily is the 16-year-old blogger behind lifestyle blog Lynde Avenue. A lover of slippers, sheet music, and exotic tropical smoothies, she's never one to miss sleeping in on a snow day nor curling up with a good book! You can find her over at her blog, Lynde Avenue where she posts beauty tips, bucket lists, tags, tips and many other helpful things. Be sure to check it out, you won't regret it!

And before you all go, may I just wish that you're all having a wonderful start to your Christmas season. I sure know I am. I'm enjoying spending my time with my family, reading and drinking many cups of tea!

-Kat 

Change Is Hard

Does anyone else have a certain font for their blog? Like one they use all the time? Or is it just me?

You see, it all started a while ago, when I was scrolling through a font site (always a bad idea). Then one font caught my eye:

That gave me the idea of a signature font and so for a small while I've been using it in all my blogging graphics.

But then I came across a problem. I looked back through all those graphics the other day and...they're really hard to read! When small, Everything Holiday is harder than hard to read.

So now I have a choice, should I change this font and get a new one? Keep using this one because that's what I chose? Or just give up this signature idea because it's stupid.

I've made another voting box so that we can get results!
 

 

And now, just in case we decide to get a new font, let's go and show you the options I've come up with!

 

 

Now to end this very long and boring post, let's just have...ANOTHER POLL!

 

 

 

Want to guest post? I'm still taking people. Just leave me an email: almostcompletelymad@gmail.com. Also, if you want to interview me or have me guest post on your blog over the Christmas holidays, I'd be more than happy. Just leave me a email or comment!

 -Kat

Guest Poster: Vanshi | Christmas Joy

Today we have a guest poster, Vanshi from Upwardss! Enjoy her post.

Merry Christmas to all of Kat's beautiful readers! I'm Vanshi, from Upwardss, a place for a crazy and loud optimist, me, to burst and write about the things I love. The lovely Kat has allowed me to guest post on her blog, and I'm so grateful to do so!

 

merry christmas, lovelies~


christmas brings irreplaceable cheer, something that I find no other holiday brings.

with christmas comes the mugs of hot chocolate, the christmas movie marathons, the classics- home alone, the polar express...

christmas brings the desire to surrender yourself to your pillow and mattress forever.

it cherishes memories fetched from the depths of your mind.

with christmas comes the warmth of not only the ongoing fire, but the warmth of the beautiful souls around you.

christmas brings family and friends from afar together, even for just a couple honored hours.

it brings hot cocoa to the lips and a smile to the soul.

with christmas comes the need of the white flakey things we tend to call snow.

i hope you and your loved ones have a very, very, merry christmas, truly, from the bottom of my heart. xx

 

 

 

 Vanshi is an Indian, blogger, chai drinker, dreamer and beautiful writer! She blogs over at Upwardss, where she posts about her life, photos and many other exciting thing. Please pop over and say 'hi!'.

 

 

 

 

Most importantly guys, MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope you all enjoy your Christmas day.

-Kat 

Let's Talk About Facebook, Is It Really All It's Made Out To Be?

I've been told by so many people to join this and join that, so today I thought I'd start a series of posts where I write about those sites I've joined and what I think of them. Every post in this series will highlight a different site.

Today's site is: Facebook! Yep, the classic. I know. This will be really interesting.

Firstly, let's talk about how I use it. When I first got Facebook, I decided to use it mainly for a blog page, but use my account for more personal things. Well, that's how I planned it.

Here's how everything turned out. I did create that page, but guess what?! I hardly ever post anything on it! It's really hard to remember to go on. The most I normally do is post my latest posts and nothing much extra. Though if I like something really well, I will share the link.

Even when posting my posts, it's really hard to remember to do it. It would be much easier if there was a way of doing it automatically, but there isn't for pages!

I never did end up using my personal timeline. Sometime I'll share something amazing from my feed, but that's like once in a million years!

Can I ask about the feed? This really annoys me. There doesn't seem to be any order to how it's laid out. It's just me or is it really badly laid out. It took me forever to work out how to change it from most popular posts up the top and make it most recent instead!

Another really annoying thing about the layout is that there are adds in the sidebar distracting you from the feed, like WHAT?! The add bar is nearly as thick as the post bar. That's crazy!

Is it really needed to get your blog out there? Where did this myth come from? I doubt that any of my views come from FB. In fact, hardly anyone even 'likes' my page.

I've found that's it's really hard to just get your page out there. Maybe it would help your blog, but only once you get the page itself noticed.

So it's another thing you have to keep advertising!

It sends a lot of emails. The default setting is to send you an email about just about everything! I don't even know if there is a way of changing this.

Most of the emails I get in my inbox are from FB, which is not the way I want it to be. I'd rather read about what's going on in the blogging world than who I might (or might not) know I FB.

This is a massive bugger, which I'm hoping to find a way of stopping. If you know how, please tell me!

There are plenty of cool things, though. Let's say that as a plus for FB, there are plenty of cool things on it. If you're following the right people and 'liking' the right pages, you can find helps of cool quotes, jokes and links.

But finding those people is just so hard! I don't know how I found the few people I did. Unless you know the name of who you want to find, then search isn't much good for you.

There are also a lot of games on FB, I've never played them personally, but I've got friends who've and they say that they're heaps of fun.

Let's finish this up. These are only a few things and they're all from just one girl, but I hope this helps you. If you have FB, feel free to send me a friend request!

Was it worth it? Honestly, no. I don't have much I do on FB, so it's honestly just a big waste of time for me, but who knows, it might be better than you.

What's my rating? 3 out of 5. I know it's low, but I was really disappointed with this one. If I'd known all about it earlier, I wouldn't have joined.

Maybe I'm doing thing wrong on FB, but I'm still learning. For the moment I'll keep using it, if you want to have the links to my blog posts in your feed and the occasional link, then please like my page!

Also, before you go, I still looking for guest posters. So if you're interested in writing a post for (Almost) Completely Mad, then feel free to send me an email: almostcompletelymad@gmail.com I'd also be willing to guest post on your blog as well. Just ask me and I'd be more than willing. Thanks for stopping by! 

 -Kat