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About Nikki
    Our DIY Wedding
Nikki by example - Just a girl trying to lead by example
  • Home
  • Style
  • Health
  • Motherhood
  • Travel
  • Extras
    • DIY
    • Food
    • Music
  • About Nikki
    • Our DIY Wedding
Hobby•Life

5 of my Favorite Podcasts

January 4, 2019 by Nikki No Comments
  1. Battle Tactics for Your Sexist Workplace

“Yes, your workplace is sexist. If you’re interested in learning more about things like the gender pay gap and glass ceilings, then this podcast is for you. Jeannie Yandel and Eula Scott Bynoe break down how sexism works in the modern workplace. And with help from some badass experts, they bring you real tactics you can use to fight back.” I’ve been completely aware of some of these issues for quite some time but often I feel helpless to do anything about them. That’s where this podcast comes in, and is the reason I love it so much: they actually give you some solutions to these issues! And the solutions feel completely doable. This podcast might change your life and your world… or at the very least, your sexist workplace.

 

2. Lore

Lore is one of my never-miss shows. From the website: “Lore is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed podcast about true life scary stories. Lore exposes the darker side of history, exploring the creatures, people, and places of our wildest nightmares. Because sometimes the truth is more frightening than fiction. Each episode examines a new dark historical tale in a modern campfire experience. With more than 19,600 5-star reviews on Apple Podcasts and over 155-million listens, that’s clearly a good thing.” What I enjoy most about this show is the history it presents. That’s actually what I love about most ghost stories, ghost walks, etc.; I like learning about the thoughts, culture, and life during the times of these tales, and the host does a good job of weaving history within the macabre.

3. Spooked

Spooked is a production of WNYC’s Snap Judgement. If you like the sound and feel of Snap Judgement and want to hear some ghost stories, then Spooked is for you! This one is my all-time favorite but it’s only out for 13 weeks of the year – the weeks leading up to Halloween! It just finished its second season and if I’m being totally honest, the first season was much better. But it’s still worth listening to if you’re like me and can’t get enough of those spooky tales year round.

 

4. The Longest Shortest Time

 

 

 

This is “the parenting show for everyone with stories about the surprises and absurdities of raising other humans—and being raised by them. The Longest Shortest Time is an award-winning podcast about parenthood in all of its forms. But you don’t need to be a parent to listen.” As a new parent, I like hearing all of the stories of parenting fails and wins, and I take comfort in knowing that I’m not alone out there, trying to raise a little human.

5. Hidden Brain

 

 

Per the website, “Hidden Brain helps curious people understand the world – and themselves.Using science and storytelling, Hidden Brain reveals the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, and the biases that shape our choices.” I find the majority of these stories so fascinating. They touch on some topics that I’ve sometimes thought about and wondered why it is, and other topics that I never really thought about and didn’t know I was so interested in. For example, one episode explores the psychology of why we like surprise endings. I mean, how interesting is that?!

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Reading time: 2 min
Hobby•Life

Wordless Wednesday

October 17, 2018 by Nikki No Comments

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Reading time: 1 min
Hobby•Life

Leading an Exciting Life

September 25, 2018 by Nikki No Comments

I’ve been thinking about this here blog for the past few weeks. It seems I’ve developed a blogging pattern that consists of getting really energized and having a lot of ideas, and all I want to do is sit and write and share with you, but then I lose steam and feel like nothing I write about is very interesting or worth reading so I disappear for a week or two until I get energized again. I don’t like that pattern and I’m sure it certainly isn’t fun for my readers, but impostor syndrome and feeling like a fraud is really hard to shake. If you experience it, you know what I mean!

But I’ve really started to evaluate my role as a blogger — or, more accurately, my desire to be a blogger — because I was watching Instagram stories the other day and I found some of them to be riveting. And that made me wonder what it is about these stories that caught and held my attention, and I realized that it’s because I could relate to them in some way; my stories aren’t that much different from theirs. So maybe what I have to share really is *that* interesting… or maybe not since it’s already been done. Are you catching on to my thought process here? It’s exhausting to think this way all the time.

I’ve been thinking about the blog because I want to write more consistently. But blogging takes a lot of work and effort. Sometimes I feel that if I spend too much time blogging then I’m not being truly present in my life and I’m missing out on time with my son. But then I’m neglecting my blog and my passion. So how do I find that balance of being present in each moment but still devoted to blogging about those moments? How do you other bloggers do it? A few of the bloggers I really like have given birth recently and I love seeing stories about their beautiful new babies. I have a baby, and I’m sure that sharing stories about our day and the silly things he does would be pretty entertaining.

Anyway, this post has been a draft for a while now. Why? Because it wasn’t finished. It wasn’t perfect. It didn’t have the right pictures. I didn’t think anyone would care. Any maybe no one does care. Maybe I’m yelling out into the void. But if a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear, does it still make a sound? You betcha. So, I’m pressing publish and making my sound. I just hope there’s someone out there in the forest who wants to hear it.

 

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Reading time: 2 min
Hobby•Life

My 5 Favorite Parks & Recreation Episodes

August 20, 2018 by Nikki No Comments

When you ask someone who their heroes are, they’ll probably answer with super inspirational people who’ve done amazing things for humankind, like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mother Teresa. And, of course, those are awesome heroes to have and I’d jump on that train any day. But if you ask Nikki Crews who her heroes are, she answers with the two most awesome blonde women in the world: Shakira and Leslie Knope!

Listen, I will drop everything to sing and dance along to a Shakira song AND most of the time, I’m quoting the greatest show to have ever existed: Parks & Recreation.

via GIPHY

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Reading time: 6 min
Hobby•Life

February Goals

February 1, 2017 by Nikki 3 Comments

February Goals | NCsquared Life

Happy February, everyone! I can’t believe we’re already in the second month of 2017. At the beginning of the year, I set some pretty good goals both for my life and for the blog that I’m really excited about achieving. In order to hold myself accountable, I’m going to check in each month with how/what I did to accomplish them, as well as a plan of smaller goals for the following month to continue using/accomplishing them.

Life Goals

1. Focus more on experiences and less on material things. For this goal, I simply want to get out and do more things so as to make this a habit for the little one on the way. I want him to experience the city in ways that will instill in him a love of community and adventure. He won’t be here until March/April but I figure if we start focusing on experiences now, it will come naturally when he gets here.

January Progress:
–Unfortunately, we didn’t do much in January that focused on experiences. We attended several baby showers (two of which were our own and one was for our dear friends who are due around the same time as me), and I had some job interviews so we’ve been pretty busy.

February Goals:
–I’ve signed up to recieve emails about events happening in and around my town from Get Offline, a company that curates experiences in your city for you to “keep your free time exciting.” I’m hoping that constantly seeing all of the fun things going on around me will remind and motivate me to get out and do more fun things!
–Visit the farmers’ market at least twice during the month, but ideally more if possible
–Have a fun Galentine’s and/or Valentine’s outing
–Try our hand at a DIY maternity photo shoot (I’m really excited about this one!)

2. Focus on my health and learning as much as I can about the rest of my pregnancy, labor & deliver, and being a good mother. Being and staying healthy, as well as being prepared for what is coming in the next few months and beyond, is really important to me.

January Progress:
–We attended a childbirth class and took a tour of the labor & delivery unit of our hospital. I made sure to ask as many questions as I could to understand the processes.
–To focus on my health, I’ve started taking Mia on longer walks.  Normally, she gets two to three 15-minute walks per day to do her business but since walking is good for both of us, I’ve tried to incorporate longer walks any time the weather is nice (e.g. sunny, not too cold, not raining, etc.)

February Goals:
–Prenatal yoga at least 3 times a week, with a focus on meditation and relaxation (to help me prepare for labor & delivery)
–Practice some breathing and relaxation techniques at least 3 times a week (also to help me prepare for L&D)
–More long walks with Mia as the weather permits

3. Read more books. For now, I’m sticking to my initial goal of one book per month, at least until the baby gets here when I might lower the number to 6 new books within the year.

January Progress:
–I finished Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick. It’s been one of the best celebrity autobiographies I’ve read so far. I was interested in it because I always thought she seems really cool and fun in real life and from what I’ve read, it does sound like she’s really cool and fun in real life, but she’s not without her hangups, which makes her feel all the more real to me. I would definitely recommend it.
Note: I’m continuing to choose and read books related to pregnancy, childbirth, parenting, etc. but I’m not including them in this goal.

February Goals:
–The next book on the list is Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. I only intermittently read her blog but I did read her first book and I loved it. I can’t wait to read this one.

4. Write more letters/send more cards to my friends and family. 

January Progress:
–Not so good with the progress on this one. With all that’s been going on, I haven’t had much time to think about letters and cards. I didn’t even send a birthday card this month because the one family birthday we had, we were able to have lunch with them so I gave them their card in person. I supposed that still counts, right?
–I did write and mail out some thank you cards from my first baby shower at the end of the month, so that counts, too!

February Goals:
–Continue to consult my calendar to send birthday cards
–Thank you notes for my second baby shower by the end of the month
–Choose at least two people to write a handwritten letter to by the end of the month

Blog Goals

5. Write more content. I used to write a lot. Somewhere along the line I stopped writing for fun and I want to get that back. So, along with journaling more and writing more stories for myself, I will focus on creating some original and fun content for the blog.

January Progress:
–I’ve included a few new features that aren’t just outfit related (e.g., NCsquared Conversations, my mini house tour post) so I think I’ve gotten a good start. I would still like to incorporate some of my personal views on things, but I have to figure out how to do that in a peaceful and non-divisive way.

February Goals:
–At least 3 Fashion Flashback posts where I compare my style over the past few years. It’s style related but at least I can incorporate some thoughts.
–Writing more stories about my childhood and incorporating more humor into the blog

6. Post more often. Writing more content should lead to posting more often. I’m still aiming for 3-4 posts per week.

January Progress:
–I’ve gotten off to a good start with posting at least three time a week

February Goals:
–Post at least three time per week
–Spend more time on the weekends planning and writing,
–Maybe even try to take photos in the morning when I first get dressed instead of waiting until the evening (when it’s much less likely to happen) or the weekend

7. Take better pictures. This year, I resolve to comprehend more about lighting, ISO, aperture, exposure, focus, how to take advantage of the features on my camera, as well as better editing so that my photos look better are more appealing.

January Progress:
–I read a few tutorials on how to improve my Instagram photos. That’s a start.

February Goals:
–Read as much as I can about lighting and aperture speed to figure out the f stop feature so I can take my camera off of its automatic mode!

8. Grow my readership.  I would like to create content that is fun and engaging for a lot of people and, therefore, gain more readers.

January Progress:
–I’ll admit I haven’t done much this month to grow my readership. I did start a Facebook Page for the blog and have done a decent job of keeping it updated.

February Goals:
–Read at least 2-3 blog posts from other bloggers that give advice on growing your readership and brainstorming how I can incorporate their advice into my blog
–Make a plan to incorporate at least 3 new ideas from these advice posts by the end of the month
–Participate in more link ups

The year is off to a great start. Here’s to hoping I can keep up the momentum, especially after the baby gets here in March!

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About Me

Hi, I’m Nikki. This is where I blog about my life and personal style. I’m a wife and mom, public health professional, sushi lover, wine enthusiast, and coffee snob. Welcome to my little corner of the world where I try to lead by example!

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