In a Blogger's Utility Belt

Happy Friday Everyone. Friday is the best day. I have a week left here at work and it is definitely bitter-sweet. I can't wait to get back to Auburn, but I am going to miss everyone here. Work also means a lot to me because it has helped develop my consistency with my blog. Before this summer, I had maybe four posts from three months. Now I have over 43 and it only took two months. And in these two months I have learned a little about what being a blogger means, but of course I am still learning every day as well.
As many bloggers can attest, writing a blog requires unique ideas, motivation, and organization. There are a lot of tools that help a blogger keep their put togetherness. Well, I have decided that today I would narrow it down to what almost all blogger have in their utility belt.

A blogger always has a planner to make sure our blogs are all planned out and to keep them organized. Get whatever works for you. I usually make mine and it always turns out good, because it is personalized just for me and my life, but if I were to buy one I would definitely get a cute one.

A blogger needs Coffee because who doesn't need their pick me up in the morning. Sometimes this can mean Diet Coke for me or even just food.

A blogger needs their computers. This one really doesn't need explaining. No computer, no writing the blog.

A blogger always has their phone to A) Promote the blog and B) Take pictures for the blog. This is required for Instagram, Pinterest, and even Facebook.

A blogger needs a work space. It is very important to  sit down in an inspiring area of work to write all your awesome posts. This can mean your amazingly, comfy bed or you beautifully decorated desk. It can also mean the floor. It's just wherever you do your best work.

Bonus: I use Letter Glow to make those awesome title photos you see everyday! I love it. It is so easy to use and it looks great!
These are my utilities as a blogger. What are yours? Let me know in the comments below. I think there are a lot more that a blogger needs, but a lot of it is mentality and that has to be its own post. This is just My Blogger Style and I want to know yours. Like I said I am still learning about the blogging world every day. Two months does not a blogger make. So let me see what you have learned as a blogger. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and I will see ya soon.

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How you Know when Someone is Trying to Impress you!

Hey, everyone! Today's post is based on a funny story. I will let you know which story is the one that happened to me, but it is pretty unbelievable. Though I do have my roommate as a witness. Girls, we have all been there. You know, when that guy is trying to impress you or vice versa. Most of these are just stories from other people, but there are the occasional few that I have actually witnessed. Here are a few things that show when someone is trying to impress you.



Me Too!
When someone agrees with you a lot that means he is trying to impress you. I know of one time where a guy agreed to have a stomach ache just to have more in common with the girl.

Compliments.
This one is self-explanatory. When you receive a lot of compliments, you are supposed to be impressed. Take it from this camel.

Un-Be-Liev-Able
The unbelievable story. This one reminds me of friends when Joey has this magical story that always helps him get the girl.

Bragging
There is the unbelievable story, and then there is just plain bragging. This is where everything that is said is a reminder of some awesome accomplishment, or even if nothing is being said this is an opportunity to share. I am all for talking yourself up, but don't be arrogant.

Change of Self
This is a true story. I was walking with my roommate and we saw this guy I swore I recognized. I stopped him and said "Don't I know you? " and blah blah blah. Well, we are talking and half way through the conversation he became British. True story. Me and my roommate walked away and she was like "Was he always British?" Indeed he was not because at this point I had remembered where I knew him from and he was definitely American last time I met him.

^

Not Quite....

Creepy Smile
Then there is the stare hold/creepy smile. Everyone, please beware of your face when you are looking at someone you find attractive. It is easy to forget and it may come across, well, creepy. We have all been there where all of a sudden we are like, "Oh dang! I am staring.....And drooling.......Oh, Gosh!"

So there are just a few of funny stories that I have either heard or been a part of myself. Hope you enjoyed. Tell me your favorite moment when there was someone trying to impress someone else. I would love to hear it.

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Priorities of a College Student!

It is almost time for the new semester and I am taking on way more than I normally do. I am exchanging my simple two organizations, 18 hours, and church for a five organizations, 15 hours, and church. Right now I actually have 18 hours down, but I am pretty sure I am going to drop one of the classes, and I may not do one of the organizations but I mean that is still a lot. So this semester I have had to really think about what my priorities are when I go back to college. I like to make lists and this way I can look back at this post when I get off track. So here they are.
My priorities:

1. God- God is my number one priority always. I always read my bible, or go to church as often as I can. He is the most important thing.
2. School- School has to be next because I need to get my grades up and keep them there. I plan to study three hours a day every day on the material we went over that day. That sounds confusing, but basically what that means is, Library=Home. I also have a PE class that will give me an easy A to help with my GPA. 
3. Sorority- My sorority is so important to me. I have made a lot of friends and love having a place where I belong. I wouldn't give it up for the world, but I know they are very understanding if I can't make something because of school.
4. Organizations- Now my sorority is also an organization, but this refers to all the rest of them. The Hostess organizations, as well as the Theater organization on campus, and I plan to be a part of Her Campus also. These don't require as much time as you would think, but I will have to plan accordingly. They are also really fun and will give me an escape when needed.
5. Blog-Blogging is one of my favorite things in the world. If I couldn't blog I would be a little less pleasant. I like to share personal things, funny things, and all my random thoughts with y'all. I have made a commitment to my blog every week and I totally plan to keep it up during the school year. During any breaks I can spare I will be typing away for y'all, and myself.
6. Me- I really need to remember that even though I plan to make a commitment to all of these things, I need time for myself. If you don't have a chance to relax and unwind, that's when all of this stuff gets to you brain and can be the cause of a breakdown. This also means taking care of yourself. Eat right and exercise. When I am at school I go to the gym three times a week at 6 AM. It wakes me up for the day ahead.

All of these things mean a lot to me, but it is really easy to take on too much. Make plans ahead of time for all the activities you plan to partake in. Take in consideration what needs to be done first and how long it might take you. Include interruptions when you are time managing and don't forget why you are really in school. It's easier than you would think.

A lot of my posts coming up are college organization tips for getting back to school. You will get to see my study schedule, "me day" ideas, packing lists, and much, much more. Keep a look out for it all. I hope you enjoyed learning my priorities and maybe helped you realize yours a little bit. Let me know how your list differs in the comments below.

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Make Your Own Blogging Calendar

So I hope you enjoyed getting to know me yesterday. Today I am going to share with y'all how I keep up with all these lovely blog posts I have published. basically, I made a book. You can modify this any way you see that is better, just be sure to let me know what you do differently. Here are my steps:

Step #1: 
For any calendar, you need the actual 7x5 grid with Monday-Tuesday on it. You need the actual calendars. These are easy to find. I literally just googled it. I found June-December and then I will make a new one for 2016. That's not that far away when you think about it. This year is flying by. I would copy the picture into a word document and doctor it the way I wanted it. If I could do it over, I would have made the paper landscape, but then the book might have been too big. 

Step #2:
Because I didn't do it landscape, I had to modify the paper to match the calendar and the paper. So I folded it each equally. That wasn't as tricky as it sounds either. It was fairly easy.

Step #3:

When they all matched I put them in order for the book. However, I needed a cover. So I found a really cute background online and basically did the same thing with all the calendars. Then I added the title to match it, printed it out, and folded it like usual. 

Step #4: 
After all the pages were together, I stapled them all together. I may not be able to do that with a January-December calendar, but the pages also won't be folded next time either, so it might work.

Step #5: 
Once the book was assembled, I went in and wrote all the posts I had already done on the day that I had done them. Each has a little design on them to let me know which TAB on Moonie-Mag they were under. Squiggles in the corner are College Life. Squiggly underlined is Get Creative. Squiggles on either side are My Style. Two straight lines to the left are What's New. Pen dots are This Month. Straight underline is I Know. 

Step #6:
Then on the back of each month that hadn't happened yet I wrote out my future posts. Or what could be my future posts. I have up til November all planned. Some may be switched though and that's why they aren't on the calendar itself. I keep track of all the ones I do and then if one differs from the plan, I can use the one I didn't use for a day that needs a slot filled. 

This really helps me keep everything in one place so I am not trying to find the last piece of loose leaf paper I wrote all those ideas down on. I am sure you all have some modifications and I would love to hear them in the comments below. Please don't be shy, I love new ideas. I hope you enjoyed reading how to organize your blog's calendar and have a wonderful rest of the week.

Don't forget to follow Mooniemag on Instagram and go like us on Facebook. If you prefer Pinterest find Malan Lynn (<<<<<That's Me!) and then go follow my Moonie-Mag Board.

About Me: My Brothers

Happy Monday Everyone!

Today's post is just an "about me" post. I want y'all to know a little more about the writer of Moonie-Mag so maybe you can relate to me more. Or you can just laugh a lot. Today's post is about my brothers. I have mentioned them a lot before and here is my introduction of them.

Firstly, I have three of them. I am the baby and yes the only girl. In other words, my parents are way more protective of me than anything else. The oldest brother is William Lionel McCracken, but we just call him Lee. The second is Robert Edward McCracken, and we call him Robbie. The last one is Brian Novak McCracken. We call him Brian.

Lee is nine years older than me. He is our sibling "leader" so to speak. He was the mastermind behind all mischief us kids would get into until we could think for ourselves. Then we came up with our own mischief. That's okay, though, we usually all got in trouble the same anyway. No, I love my big brother, he was always very protective of us too. There is an old home movie of one of our Christmases. I was maybe two, maybe even one. Lee and the boys were already opening their toys and I was still asleep. Then Lee ran up to mom and said really excitedly "Can I go get the baby?" Mom said, "No, I'll go get her." So when she walked down the stairs holding me in her arms as I was rubbing my eyes with my toddler hands, he ran up and said "Merry Christmas Malan." I love that home video. Then I tried to take Brian's Buzz Lightyear and he wasn't happy. Hehe oops.
Lee is the only brother of the three that is married and he graduated from Auburn as an industrial designer like our dad. His wife is named Angela and they have two dogs, who are the cutest. Cash and Carter. Yes, they are named after June Carter and Johnny Cash. They don't match each other, but they are each others' partner in crime. We love the Memphis Music Royalty in my house and Lee can sing like all of them. He is even really good at Elvis, which is not an easy thing because it's Elvis.

Robbie and Lee looked like twins as kids. They had blonde hair a blue eyes. Brian and I are complete opposites. Robbie and I have a saying about our relationship as brother and sister. We love each other, but we are too much a like to like each other. We butt heads a lot, especially as children because we were both stubborn children. There was one time that the boys were playing video games and I wanted to play. I was about four. They wouldn't let me, and that meant an argument with Robbie and I. So I took my plastic toy broom (why anyone wants a toy cleaning utensil is beyond me) and I wacked Robbie right in the forehead. It was a pretty good shot. He was bleeding, but he was fine. It didn't even hurt him, he was just mad at me. We are good now by the way.

Robbie played football in college, but when he transferred he decided to major in Theatre. It's a funny story really. One of the theatre professors needed him to move sets, and when she asked what his major was he replied with, "I don't know, I played football." He started out moving sets and then decided to actually be in the plays. Now he is a professional actor in the Outer Banks. Hence the Indian costume in the picture to the side. Me and Robbie understand each other a lot better now, and we don't fight like that anymore.

Brian is the closest to me in age. He is the reason for my Faith. We are all Christians, but Brian was the closest to my age, so he was the one around for when I started to truly understand Faith. There are a few things in my life that I will attest to being the reason for my Faith, but really overall, it's Brian. When he was in High School and I in middle school, he used to take me to church. Brian is a brainiac. He is the smartest person I know, besides Sheldon Cooper. He has an amazing knowledge and insight into the Bible and it was him sharing with me his thoughts after church all those times, that made me believe so truly in God the Father. He never tried to portray himself as perfect and he was always very humble when we would discuss God and our Faith. I am really grateful for that. Whenever I would have a question after church, he would never hesitate and he would always have evidence.
Ironically Brian is in Law School, where he learning how to give evidence in the courtroom. Maybe one day he will be president. Brian was always the reader of the family and he himself has written a book. It is on iBooks and Smashwords and it is called, Proverb: A Story of the Second Civil War. It is very good.

I am extremely proud of all my brothers. I can never talk enough about them. And though I was the only girl, I wouldn't change that for the world. We are a team, me and my brothers. We complete each other. We all have the same sense of humor and can play off of each other really well. Whenever our friends meet the sibling they always say, "I see now". It is really funny.
So there is a little bit about me. I will write more posts about me and pretty soon you will know everything there is to know about me. My brothers are a big part of who I am. Until I went to real school, they were my only friends lol. I hope you enjoyed getting to know them and me a bit better. Have a wonderful Monday and a blessed Week.

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25 Best Cartoons From Our Generation!

So today I thought I would be a little goofier than normal and take it back a little bit. Remember on Saturday when you would wake up, have a bowl of cereal, and then watch cartoons. Well remember how great those cartoons were. I was on the tail end of the 90s, but I have three older brothers that raised me in terms of TV and Movies, so I know a few things about these awesome shows. Today I am going to name the best of our cartoons. See if you agree.


                                                          1.The Simpsons

2. Rugrats

 3. Rocket Power

4. Hey Arnold

5. Doug

6. Recess

 7. Ed, Edd, n 

Eddy

8. Fairly Odd Parents

9. Tiny Toons Adventures

10. Rescue Rangers

11. Pinky and the Brain

 12. Power Puff Girls

13. Tale Spin

14. Johnny Bravo

15. The Wild Thornberrys

16. Kids Next Door

17. Dexter's Lab

18. Scooby Doo

19. Totally Spies

20. Rocko's Modern Life

21. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

22. Kim Possible

23.Cat-Dog

24. Duck Tales

25. Goof Troop

 There it is. There was so many to think about and I almost forgot a few. That still isn't all of them, but it's a good start I think. I hope you enjoyed taking a trip back to our childhood with me. Now go watch some of these awesome shows!

Let me know what your favorite was in the comments below.

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