5 Things You Need To Know Before You Go

I used to do a post inspired by my favorite radio show, Wake Up With Taylor, called the 5 Things You Need to Know Before You Go. Today, I'm bringing it back. The intention behind this post is to give you some "water-cooler" ammunition!

What does water-cooler talk mean? Well, when a bunch of guys grab a drink from the water cooler Monday morning, it is assumed they are all talkin' sports from the weekend before. So there ya go, I guess this post will really teach you 6 things.

1. The NFL may push the extra point kick attempt back to the 25-yard line. Which would make it a 43-yard attempt. Keep in mind, currently the ball is placed on the 2 yard line, making it just a 20-yard chip shot for the kicker. This would mean that many teams will end up going for 2 far more often. What do you think about all this?

2. It is almost March Madness time! Regular season play finishes up this weekend, and conference tournament play will commence next week. All conference tournament play will be complete by Selection Sunday, March 16th. Selection Sunday is also known as the day Sarah pees herself in hopes of the VOLS making the Big Dance. More on March Madness next Friday! 

3. LeBron No-Sleeves. 

Ok, so I don't hate LeBron... I mean his headband and I are BFFS, I totally respect his abilities. But last night Miami suffered their worst loss of the season and LeBron's performance was poopy, making only 6 of his 18 shot attempts. LeBron blamed the sleeved jerseys the Heat were forced to wear. 

“I’m not making excuses, but I’m not a big fan of the jerseys. Every time I shoot it feels like it’s just pulling right up underneath my arm. I already don’t have much room for error on my jump shot. It’s definitely not a good thing.” -- L to the eBron. 

Image via

Just for the record, as you can see above, both teams were wearing these new sleeved jerseys. Maybe San Antonio's tugged a little less, or maybe San Antonio's players have way more room for error in their jump shot?!? Calm down, L man.

4. One more reason to love Jim Harbaugh.



5. Holy crap.

Linking up with Whitney
Heard this one on the radio the other day for the first time since 2002, now this is a jam. 

<div align="center"> <a href="http://www.venustrappedinmars.com" title="Venus Trapped in Mars"><img src="http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae274/venustrappedinmars/fanfriday.jpg" alt="Venus Trapped in Mars" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

• Write a post about anything listed here
• Grab a button. (It's glittery, would you have expected anything less?)
• Link up EVERY FRIDAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
• Follow me so we can be friends
• Meet new friends who also like sports and being a fan
• Hop, hop, hop.... hop around

Growing Your Blog FAST

There are blogging conferences I want to go to, and blogging meetups I want to be a part of, and blogging happy hours I want to order a drink for, and blogging tutorials (hi, I already do those!) and there are blogging bloggings blog bloggings blogging. The ultimate destination is to arrive at a successful blog that grows FAST. 

Now, I'm not an expert, there is no such thing as a blogging expert. Even cupcakes and cashmere isn't a blogging expert. An expert is someone that has a comprehensive knowledge in their skill or field. To be a blogging expert you would need to have full knowledge on literally everything from design, to coding, to the entire adobe creative suite, to editing video (don't forget about vlogging), to style, to DIY, to cooking... and so on and so forth. I'm not sure but if I had to guess, Cupcakes and Cashmere didn't even code her own blog. I'm just speculating, of course. You can't major in blogging at any universities, so until you can, I'll continue to stand by my thought that no one is an expert. 

On an unrelated note, I made this background in 5 minutes and I'm actually quite proud of it! Proof that overthinking ruins things!  

This whole ramble is just to say that there isn't any mathematical formula or simple one-step secret for growing quickly. There just isn't. 

Think of blogging like a Rachel Ray recipe. Unlike most chefs, she doesn't use measuring cups. She just eyeballs it and throws it in the pot. If it works, she keeps it that way, if it doesn't she adds a bit more, or tries something else to cover the initial mistake. 

For example: Guess what, there are tons of bloggers out there that have 2,000+ followers on Bloglovin, but if you saw their page views per day, your jaw would drop. As in they entered a million giveaways and paid for all of their followers, but no one reads the blog daily. 

On the opposite side of things: there are fashion bloggers out there that have wayyyy less followers than I do, but have probably a thousand more daily page views each day than I do. People follow them via Pinterest and Instagram. 

Not even the most incredible content on the web can get you off the ground. Ok, so you have the best blog content ever, bustling with style and creativity, but you don't spend a dime on advertising. Do you really think blog readers will just stumble on your blog via google? Sure you can pin your pins, but if you don't have a Pinterest following, what good will that do you? You've got to advertise. 

My point is that no one can say, "Sarah... do this and this and this and this, and you'll grow to be big and strong." I don't know what the answer is. I spend an enormous amount of time on my blog. More than I really should admit, but it is fun for me. Maybe that is why I was able to grow, I don't know. On the flip side, maybe people don't read my blog because they think I try too hard. And they would be right! I do try really really hard. But I've got a lot of shit going on in my life and blogging is a major source and outlet of happiness for me. 

I'm rambling, but you could do everything by the book, do the giveaways, spend a lot of time, pimp your posts out via social media until you are blue in the face... it doesn't mean you'll be successful.

Or.... you could do none of that and be viral overnight. Who knows? Blogging is just weird.