What I've learned in 10 years of blogging

As I said previously, I've been blogging for 10 years. Mostly in Czech and on different blogs. I've learned many things through all these years and now, I'm going to share them with you.

• It's a bad idea to move your blog all the time
  When I was a teenager I was searching for the best blog name that would fit my complicated soul. Never happend, obviously. My personal blog beinblack.blogpost.cz where I post in Czech is the address where I've blogged the longest.
  
• Posting regularly helps
  The most common advice for blogger is to post regularly and quite often. Sure, posting once a month is regular but also pointless. Noone will read your blog, noone will subscribe cause your blog looks abandoned and neglected. Personally, I think posting twice a week is perfect. Of course, posting even more often is great but I wouldn't recommend posting daily because it unfortunately usually means some blog posts are a mess and not as good as they could be. Plus, it can be annoying.
  
• I never went with the flow
  That is probably the main reason why my blogs are never popular. Here in Czech republic we had a huge boom of fashion blogs, after that beauty ones and after that recipe ones and so on. To be honest, I see it as a huge plus because I wouldn't enjoy about those things. But then again, sometimes it's tough to see ugly blogs with horribly made posts that have no information value that have considerably more readers than I do.
  
• I learned Photoshop
  I'm no master in it but it's been a huge contribution to my life. Now I use it every single day and I can't stress enough how useful it's been.
  
• I learned some CSS and HTML basics
  I don't need it daily and I really do not need it to do my job. But if it wasn't for blogging, I would never feel the frustration and tremendous joy that coding has.
  
• Digital marketing, SEO and stuff
  I've read so many articles, posts and websites about the matter. I tought it would help my blogging a bit but at the end I got a job because of it and I use it every day. Great, huh? 

Busy bee

Oh gosh.
Whenever I try to be responsible about my blogging, I end up with no time to blog at all.

Shortly after my last post I've learned my collegue is leaving and my boss is very happy with me and stuff I do. That all meant I got a raise (yay!!) and more responsibilities. It took a lot of effort and time right from the moment I was told all that.

I still love blogging, I do. But when oppurtunity came I chose to put it away and be the best employee I could be.

I realize I need to organize my time better. I wish I was organized person naturally but I'm not. I'm chaotic, confused and pathologic procrastinator. ¨
That's why I didn't blog. And also that's why I don't want to stop blogging. I've been blogging since I was 13 that means ten years of putting my thoughts online and loving it.

So please bare with me while I'm trying to be more organized employee, girlfriend, friend, dog owner, blogger and housekeeper.

Difference between being ill in childhood and now

As a little kid I was poorly all the time. As a grown-up I am much better but than again, I prefer not being around people.
I used to be a little rascal and was hoping to get ill all the time. I meant I could stay at home (with or without my mom), be in bed, watch movies, be lazy and everything was server right under my nose. So where are the main changes? 

I can stay at home! × I can stay at home but I have to show up at work from time to time.
As a child the outside world was not so much fun and I loved not having to attend school.
As a adult I work from home which is lucky. But I have to show up at the office from time to time to make my boss sure I'm still (barely) alive. Plus, my brain is so full of cold-slime, my IQ has dropped all the way down to the cellar. Not fun working with that. Bleh.

I have all the time in the world. × Work, work, work.
Movies, games and books for my little past self.
Current self has to work. Very unfortunate considering the fact the simpliest tasks take much more time to do because my cold makes me stupid and numb and attention-less. 

Everybody cares and loves me. × I don't want to ask M. to make me a tea several times a day.
Oh, jolly times. My mum used to make me a tea, put everything I might need near the bed and everybody felt sorry for this sickly little girl.
Now I'm an adult still little by size but not so little in years. The only care a got was a call from my mum to ask how I am and to inform me I have a phone bill to pay, and an occaisonal sorry looks and teas from M.

I could lie in bed whole day. × I would lie in bed but I have to be where my laptop is. And my laptop is where a power socket is.
I used to hate my bed as my illness was finishing. I don't undestand it now. Bed is bliss. Bed is love. Bed is everything.

No need to do anything. × The mess grows with every minute.
Blissful laziness and tissues all around, just laying in bed with no worries. Ah, the kid I used to be...
Right now I'm watching the pile of dirty laundry grow a few centimetres every time I look. The kitchen is so cluttered I can't see the desk. The floor is full of hair, I could swear it's carpet.

I don't want to get better. × Please, please let me be healthy!
I wanted to be sick as long as possible cause it meant I could be home. 
Now my life sucks. My work is shitty, my friends are out partying without me and the only beings I can talk to are our dogs, who don't reply with wise looks, and M. who sticks to one word replies. With tired look.

Sleep. × Can't sleep. 
As a tiny little girl I hated sleep. Then I started attending school and changed my mind about sleeping. When puberty hit, my ability to sleep 20 hours hit with it. 
But now (please content yourselves, the surprise is coming) I have to work so I can't sleep. I can't even enjoy little half an hour afternoon snooze becase my bad conscience won't let me.

Can't wait to get better!


How do you survive this disgustingly cold and rainy weather? Is your poorly time any different from when it was? 

Long distance relationship advice

When I was in high school I was convinced I'll remain single until I die or at least until I finish school. The boys around me were either stupid dicks or nice but completely unattractive beings.
Then I traveled to England to learn English for a month and fell in love with a boy from Spain.
Long story short, we dated for a year and a half. 

Long distance relationship can work. It can also work out really well. But it has to meet some requirements... 

• You need to love each other a lot. Sure it goes without saying in every relationship but it's crucial for long distance ones.
• Effort to stay together must be there at all times and both of the couple should have it. If only one works hard to work it out, it all goes south.
• Also effort to meet must be on both sides. It requires a lot of money, time and planning. If one of the couple can't be bothered, it complicates things. 
• Do not be childish and give your other life reasons to get jealous. Some people do that to see if their partner still loves and cares. In long distance relationship the proof of love and care is the relationship itself. The spark of jealousy can ruin it because it all depends on mutual trust.
• Communicate. 
• Do not agree with something that might make you unhappy. Open relationship or polygamy is good as long as you both agree on that.
• You don't mind being alone. When you get home, nobody will be there. You have to rely on your friends a lot. And you're alone a lot. When I dated this Spanish guy, I didn't mind. I missed him a lot but I was living with my parents, had a best friend and smartphone so I was okay. I don't think I could do it now - I don't live with my parents anymore plus I've learned how great it is to be with someone all the time.
• You believe it can work out. If you don't see a future together, don't bother with it. All the goodbyes hurt, missing your partner hurts and you do those things a lot. If you don't have any hope of staying together, be sure you'll get tired of this painful circle really soon.

And what about you? Do you have any experience in this field?

Tip: I can build a blog

I can build a blog is a blog of a blogger and a designer Dana Fox. I won't introduce her too much, she has multiple activities and she's good at all of them. Here's her personal blog if you're interested.

This blog is full of tutorials. You can do whatever with your blog, the only thing you need is time and patience. Plus, if it doesn't work, Dana will help you in the comments which I find very nice.
Another amazing thing about Dana is she takes care of her older posts. If Blogger changed a few things, she usually updates or deletes her posts.

I also love her inspirational and motivational posts about organization, blogging and post ideas.

If you don't like to code or simply don't have the time or patience, Dana designs blogs too. Usually very spacey, feminine and minimalist. Of course you have to pay for them but trust me, they're worth every cent. 

New bill in Prague: Dogs on the leash at all times?

On the news appeared an article few weeks ago. It's about a new bill of Prague city that should 'adjust' the movement of dogs in the city.

Long story short, it's all about having a dog on the leash at all times. The main reason is safety of people and limitation at contamination of green areas.

It involves not only the Centre of city, which would be understandable (and quite useless because what kind of murderer would travel with a dog without a leash through masses of people and noisy trams I'll never know)

Of course I have several issues with it and I don't think they're all crazy dog lady based.

1.      Only a minimum of dogs is truly aggressive. Nobody wants an aggressive dog at their house as long as it's not their lifelong dream to end up in a hospital special care unit. 

2.      In Czech Republic, the majority of attacks of dogs towards humans happen at household environments and in rural areas.

3.      Dogs who need to be on a leash are already on a leash. That's only logical.

4.      Dogs need to move. It's in their nature to run around and sniff everything. Put them on a leash and they can't do it. And if an intelligent being can't do what's in its nature, it get angry, it gets hysterical, and it gets neurotic.

5.      People who don't clean up after their dogs won't start doing it just because of leash. I only can imagine more dog poop on sidewalks.

6.      Supporters say that it's a good thing because in London and Berlin already have that bill. I'd like them to remember this is Prague. Much smaller than Berlin and London, attitude towards dog is different here and, most importantly, outside of Centre there are calm areas with a lot of parks.

7.      Bill also says that city districts can but don't have to select unrestricted places where dog are allowed to be without a leash. Can but don't have to? Don't have to? Seriously??

If you agree with me, here's a petition to stop this madness or at least restrict it a little. Thanks. 

About school

It's September which only means one thing - a lot of videos and posts about school. Be positive because school is fun, school clothes hauls, stationery hauls, how to make your own stuff for school... blah blah blah.

Here's my take on school.

All I was promised my whole school attendance was that things will get better. In kindergarten they told me that I'll be a big girl when I go to school. In elementary school they told me that without high school diploma I'm shit and that high school will be full of intelligent people. In high school they told me I'll study what I want when I go to university and also even with high school diploma I'm shit because I need a degree.

So I went to university and was frustrated once again. Bureaucracy, absurd rules and professors with so many degrees they forgot how to be human. Endless stream of information that was useless. And at the end of all of this bullshit awaits the holy gold degree. After that you learn you're shit even with a degree because you're too young, don't speak at least three languages, don't have any experience, don't know Photoshop and you have a drunken photo of yourself on Facebook. Congratulations. 

So I decided to fuck all this. I'm shit with high school diploma without a degree. My way of life might seem not very wise but I wouldn't change a thing. I'm happier than I've ever been.

Moral of the story?

Don't let anyone tell you what to do. Do what you feel is right and be happy.

YouTuber: Bart Baker

Bart Baker says he is the king of video parody.
Not very modest but truth.



To be perfectly honest, I don't follow mainstream music. I like some mainstream artist but I no longer need mainstream radios and Pop charts to find new ones or to listen to music. 
Bart usually finds a very popular song, copies every little detail and makes his own song funny as hell. To be honest, when I hear those songs somewhere afterwards, all I can here are Bart's lyrics.



Follow him, trust me, you won't be sorry. It's fun and he deserves it cause it's almost unbelieveable what came from this little weird channel full of weird people dancing in front of greenscreen while doing rude and disgusting things

But mom said I'm clever! I.

I believe everybody fails at life a little bit every day. Or at least I do and quite often.

What am I talking about?
This little bathroom rack.

 Zdroj http://www.kasa.cz/koupelnova-police-hart-holm-87839//caption

This rack was lying on the ground for quite a while because Michael just didn't bother attach it to the wall. I didn't know what it was, seemed kind of weird so I decided to use it as a shoe shelf. Then I had to hide my hurt deep down when Michael ignored our new fancy-schmancy shoe self and continue put his shoes wherever he wanted.

Then one day he got this sudden goodwill attack and attached my shoe shelf to the wall in the bathroom.
I reacted: "Woooow, it's so clever to use it like that..!"
All I got back was a weird face. "But that' what it's for..."

Ummm....

How clever are you?

Things to understand before getting a dog

I love me some dogs. Give me attention and space and I will talk about them 24/7. 

Well, I can't cause my friends and boyfriend are getting kind of bored of this subject. Ts, so what!

I've decided to write this post because I see a lot of people being irresponsible to their dogs. They seem to see it as buying a toy that's warm and fun and needs to be taken outside a few times a day. That's pure bullshit, pardon my French.

So if you're considering buying/adopting a dog, this article is for you.

Get a dog if...

... you have free time you're willing to give.

I can't stress this enough - DOGS NEED TO MOVE. Of course, it differs from breed to breed but the concept stays the same. Dogs need their exercise.

Obesity is a huge problem among dogs and it cuts a lot from their lives - they live shorter and risk of some kind of serious illness is much more relevant.

Not to mention, even the tiniest dogs with heads as big as golf balls are intelligent creatures. 

Give them what they need - your attention not only to their exercise, but also to their learning. Untrained, frustrated dogs usually act crazy and that's just not fun for anyone.

... you have money to spend.
Dogs don't usually cost you fortune, especially if you rescue them from shelter as I did. But bear in mind, accidents happen. And it’s not fair to put down your dog because you can't afford to pay the treatment for bad but not so serious injury. 

... you understand the dog soul.

Don't hit and scream at your dog because he did something wrong. Reward him when he does it right.

Don't be aggressive towards him, he gets aggressive too and trust me, you don't want that dog at your house.

Remember to set him free from his leash from time to time and let him run. Let him socialize. Let him sniff other dog's butt.

... you get the kind of commitment.

Sometimes, you just have to let go of stuff. Like your brand new shoes that now smell like dog shelter because your wet dog decides they make a great pillow. Like staying over at your friend’s house. Like going away for two days.

6 the most common mistakes in blog design (and how to correct them)

It doesn't matter what your blog is about and what you say. The most important thing in blogging are readers. That's why you should care for content as much as for appearance. Your post might be the most interesting reading in the world but if the reading is difficult, nobody would know. 
So, what to be aware of?

1. Bad font
It has been said multiple times not to over do it in font department. The ideal number of various fonts is three. Alright, that's true. The more fonts you have, the more you have to work to put it all together nicely.
Be sure to remember all the nice fonts that look hand-written are super but not advised to use as a main font. Use something easy to read, your readers will be grateful.
Also if your language contains more letters than English alphabet, make sure your chosen fonts supports it. Otherwise, it looks flakey and ugly, trust me.
Don't forget about size of the font. Just use your head and your eyes and keep in mind the rule about easy to read-ness,

2. Crazy colors
Again, many articles say that the best color scheme for blog should contain 3 to 5 colors. I agree with that. I'm a lover of minimalism in design and I also know nobody likes to read messy, chaotic, way too colorful blogs.
Remember, the best colors are the soft and pastel ones. Bright colors on screen feel like they're making the reader blind and it's very unpleasant to look at them so most people just don't.
If you're hopeless in this department, see Colour lovers. I'm sure this site will help you. 

3. Too much of everything
Blogs cluttered with ads, affiliate links and pics, colorful design and bright headings just don't look good. It somehow makes me think the blogger is either blind or a twelve year old girl.
My advice? Get rid of it. White space is not that empty as you might think.

4. Chaos
If your blog has too many categories, long, confusing articles and non-existant search, your reader will have a bad time. And probably leaves.
So please - Add a search bar. Reduce your categories or/and create sub-categories. Divide your articles in paragraphs.

5. Don't take pictures with your flatiron
Sure, posts are much more fun woth pictures attached, no doubt. The only problem is to make them pretty.
There are many tutorials on the internet on how to make your own pictures beautiful. But they all have one thing in common - a good camera. As long as you don't have one, you're screwed.
But guess what? It's easy to find the right and very beautiful pictures on the internet - without validating any rights. Just look for no licence photo stocks! Some of them are free and all of them guarantee no problem with copyrights.

6. Beautiful, but unsuitable
Keep in mind that content and design should go together hand in hand. They should cooperate, not fight over reader's attention.
That's why it's very important to choose your design carefully. Make sure it matches your content - if it deals with serious issues and problems, don't make it too cute and sweet. And if it deals with fun DIYs and cute home decor ideas, don't make it too cold and serious.

Tumblr: Facts about Feminism

I'm a feminist

This statement gets a fairly big amount of people upset. I find it absurd that there are people who still think feminism is all about men-hating and female domination - as if the internet wasn't full of correct definitions.

Without feminism women wouldn't work, study or vote. Just because they can do all that now, it doesn't mean the fight is over and everybody is equal.
Feminism is all about equality and respect and it doesn't evolve around gender only too. That's why I believe everybody should be feminist.

Tumblr http://factsaboutfeminism.tumblr.com/ is (surprisingly) full of facts about feminism. Some are interesting, some are disgusting, some are upsetting. I think this is a great web for people who know nothing about feminism and wish to learn. I found it not so long ago and I must say it's awesome. I'm thinking about making a page like that in Czech because Czech people are in desperate need to learn these things. 

But let's talk about feminism in CZ some other time, okay?

Kyra

I'd like to dedicate this post to our a little bit big fur-friend Kyra as we have to say good-bye soon.

We spend last week in a little village near Prague. Michael's dad owns a cottage there.
The weather was so damn hot all we could do is to go swimming to a near-by pond.
And one day, a german shepherd joined us. It was a young, little girl who, as we found out, was left there by her owner.
That upset me greatly. Just thinking about irresponsible owners who simply leave their dogs somewhere makes me sooo mad. So she stayed with us.

But as soon as we returned to Prague it became more and more clear that she can't stay with us. We have two dogs already (medium-sized), a little apartment and not so much free time to donate to Kyra's needs. She is a german shepherd after all, she needs to move and to learn. Even though we live next to a park, Kyra had to be on a leash all the time. The park was constantly full with tiny little neurotic dogs with hysteric owners who mistook her pleas to play for attempts to atack or even eat their dogs. And i was getting tired of yelling and reasoning.
Cause than again, I don't like people who buy a dog and don't bother learning about its needs. Dogs are intelligent creatures and they need to socialize as much as people do!

So I found a new family for Kyra and I'm enjoying last days together. I'm not going to lie, I cried about her leaving but it has to be done. She will be happier there - she's going to live in a house with a garden, the man who adopted her has a lot of experience with german shepherds and she will have a friend there who's eight months old mutt. Plus the man feeds his dog meat only. To be honest, her life will be better than mine.

And when I and Michael grow up, we will adopt a white shepherd puppy. And a wolfhound.

Etsy tip: Shade on Shape

I have to confess. This little Etsy shop had me the first time I've discovered it. It's all about home decoration, specifically vases made from wood or ceramic.
The owner and the designer in one Sonia Jaks studied graphic design in Germany. Now she lives in Poland and while on maternity leave she dedicates her free time to her little shop.

What really catches my eye is the color, which - as I later learned - is the designer's intention. On her profile she says she enjoys the colors and she loves to share her favourite combinations with the rest of the world. And the world is grateful cause her combinations rock.
Her designs are modern, light and feminine. And of course, Etsy-style, hand-made. I really admire her work with wood - the only thing I can do with it is to get a splinter.

If you have money to spend and you love these as much as I do, here is her Etsy page. Just don't forget to read her policies - her vases are truly hand-made so they may not look exactly as in the photos.

Do you like these? What's your favourite Etsy shop with home decor?