Update/Announcement post!

Hey gang!  Ugh, I need to come up with a good name for my followers. 

Anyway, I have a super exciting announcement to make!  I got an internship!!!!!  I will be interning for The Advocacy Project as a Social Media Assistant.  It's a really exciting position as I'll get to combine my social media skills that I've developed as a blogger with my film editing skills, all to help out an amazing human rights advocate!

Since this is my first job in two and a half years, it's definitely going to be a big change for me.  I'll be working 3 days a week, so I'll still have 4 days per week to myself, but for so long that number has been 7 days a week.  Time management is definitely going to be more important on my days off!  Since I'll be working only 3 days a week, I'm sure I'll still have plenty of time for my nail art and the blog.  I love this blog and my readers too much to give up on it/you guys just because I have slightly less time!

However, one really important factor in still enjoying the blog is fast approaching.  For the past two years, I've participated in a Halloween nail art challenge.  (2014: LPLGlamchouls | 2015: nailartoct)  Both years, keeping up with the amount of nail art and photo editing involved in the challenges has almost completely burned me out, to the point that I didn't really feel like doing so much as one post per week until after the New Year.  So, especially without constant free time, I don't think I'll be doing any organized Halloween challenges this year.  I will definitely still be doing Halloween nail art, don't get me wrong!  But I'm only planning on doing one design each week during the month of October.  Maybe I'll want/have time to do more, but we'll just have to see how things pan out.

Okay, well, that's all that I wanted to announce!  I will have a regular nail art post for you guys on Wednesday (or maybe later in the week. but I'm trying really hard to stick to a Wednesday posting schedule), so stay tuned!  In the meantime, don't forget to check out my nail polish destash sale.  There's still plenty of it available!

(yet another) Hiatus Announcement

Okay, I know I've only been blogging for a year and 3 months or so, and I've already gone on two or three hiatuses.  That seems like a lot of breaks in such a short amount of time, I know.  Most of those hiatuses (except for the one that I took this time last year, which was because I was on vacation for 9 days) have been because I burned out a little; keeping up with a regular schedule of doing my nails and blogging got too exhausting and I needed a break.  But this time, I'm taking a break to avoid the burnout, and to make sure I'm only blogging when it's because I want to, not because I need to.

As you may know if you follow me on Facebook, I've started a crochet business.  I started out selling to family and friends via a Facebook group, but I'm actually working on opening up a big-girl shop on Big Cartel!  I absolutely adore crocheting, and I'm super excited to be able to make money off of such an enjoyable hobby.  In the last week, I got four orders from friends - plus I've been neglecting a fifth order for my aunt, which she placed months ago.  On top of that, I want to make a Christmas-themed table runner, which I'm hoping to finish before my boyfriend's parents fly in from China in mid-December.  And, even though I was super productive and finished making ALL of the Christmas (and Christmastime birthday) presents for my family in Michigan, I still have three gifts to make for the people I'll be spending Christmas with.  To be honest, with all of that on my to-do list, I'm a little scared to open up my shop before Christmas!  I'm afraid that I simply won't have the time to make anything for anyone else in time, and I certainly don't want to start out my business with frustrated, giftless customers.

So, as you can see, I have a TON of crocheting to do.  Some of it has a pre-Christmas deadline, which is fast approaching.  With all of that going on, plus my normal life like looking for a full-time job and doing chores and not neglecting my boyfriend, and family staying with us for the entire second half of December, I fear that trying to keep up with blogging will absolutely break me.  So in order to prevent that from happening, in order to remember that I do my nails and blog because I like to, I'm going to put a hold on the blog for a few weeks.  I might do one or two posts in the coming weeks - I was hoping to do at least one Christmas nail art design like I did last year! - but I almost definitely won't be posting once a week.  I might end up skipping December's Do I Need Them All post as well.  We'll see.

As with my previous blogging breaks, I'll probably still be active on my various social media accounts!  Since Twitter and Instagram are also my personal accounts, you might get to see some of my crochet updates and pics of holiday celebrations.  And at the very least, I'll be around on Facebook to keep you in the loop for awesome nail polish sales and giveaways!

I just wanted to let you all know what's going on, because I know how sad it can be when a blogger just stops posting.  I will be back some time in January, I'm sure.  Hopefully I'll be able to stick to the same schedule that I've been doing since summer!

I want to wish you all Happy Holidays.  Whether you celebrate any of them or not, I hope that the next month is filled with joy, happiness, and love.

PS If you're interested in seeing what I crochet, feel free to visit (or join!) my Facebook group.  And check out my shop, http://katescrochets.bigcartel.com/!  It's now open and I'm even running a giveaway!

Temporary Blogging Break: I'm Moving!!!

Back in February, I decided to make it my goal to post once a week, every Wednesday.  Well, sometimes I forgot until Thursday or Friday, but for the most part I managed to keep that up for a while.  But lately, it's been a bit of a struggle, because...

Derek and I are moving!  Yes!  We're finally moving out of this crowded house full of discourteous housemates!  We found the place a month ago, and we're finally moving on May 15!

So, while I do have a few finished posts sitting around in my drafts section, I haven't been doing my nails as much over the last month.  Between preparing for the move and learning how to crochet (I could write another entire post about how much I love crocheting, omg), I've been lucky to paint my nails once per week.  And especially this week, with the move being so soon, I don't plan to do anything to my nails besides a layer of Nail Envy to keep them shielded.  I even cut them down to pre-Biotin lengths in order to avoid worrying about breaks and cracks on moving day!

My stash of ready-to-post drafts may end up lasting until I get settled in in the new apartment; it might not.  Neither Derek nor I has ever lived in a fully un-furnished place, so we have a lot of shopping to do!  It's exciting, but it definitely means that both my nails and the blog will have to take a back seat for at least a full week after we move.

I just wanted to post this announcement to let you all know that I'm taking a bit of a break, but I'll be back!  Whether it takes one week or three, I will eventually return to posting every Wednesday.  There are some really sad stories of nail bloggers who have built up a good following and then just stop blogging with no warning or explanation, and I want to make sure that nobody thinks that's happening here!

Definitely stick around on my social media pages - on Facebook I tend to focus only on nail- and blog-related stuff, but my Twitter and Instagram pages are also my personal accounts, so I'll probably still be fairly active over there.  (You might even get to see early pics of my new place on Instagram!)

One final thing: my reader survey is still active, and I'm still looking for more responses!  If you have about five minutes to spare, please click here to take the survey.  I really, really appreciate your feedback, and who knows - your feedback could lead to more of your favorite type of posts on the blog!