Link parties

I know we are not all here to write blog posts to reach the masses, some of us are just here to let loose, write for therapy. But whatever your motives are Link ups and link parties are a great way to get your blog posts out to a wider readership but also to find a more diverse selection of blogs to read. I try and participate in a wide range of link ups to build up the readership of my blog. It really works. When I make an effort to link up I can see the difference in my stats.

Now, what is a link party I hear you ask. Imagine this.

Day to day, we all go about our own business, but once in a while we go to a party and meet up with friends. Imagine now going to a party where you don’t know anyone, you chat to new people and make some new friends. This is a link up. You go to a blog and know no one, but leave your blog link and maybe visit a few new blogs and find some great new content to read.

To help you link up there is a wide range of link ups depending on what type of blog niche you have. Here are some that I have found.

My favourite is over at Dream big, Dream often there is a weekly chance to leave a link and either have it reblogged or just linked up with everyone else in the comments.

A lot of sites will have a directory of link ups they have found or use. Many will have a variety of different link up themes. So there should be one for your blog’s niche and every day of the week.

Here are some that I try and use.

Sunday – niftythriftythings

Monday – Newman’s Corner

Wednesday – Chaotic bliss

Thursday – for the love to

Friday – My Creative Scoop

Go on, put on your dancing shoes and go link up with some new friends to be. If you find any new Link ups come back and share them with us. 

Alex

 

 

Photography Spotlight #9 – what’s in my bag

This is the 9th Photography spotlight, This week’s theme is What’s in my bag.

If you’d like to join in, all you have to do is create a post titled “Photography Spotlight #9 what’s in my bag” then post the link to your blog in the comment section on my page.

 I’ll share my favourites so let’s get snap happy!!!

For more ideas, posts and sites to follow head over to my Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages. Don’t forget to follow my blog so you don’t miss out on the weekly  photo post.

Past Photography Spotlights

Photography spotlight Round up

Photography Spotlight #6 Butterflies 

Photography Spotlight #5 A day in the life

Photography Spotlight #4 Doors

Street Art around the world

Art or destruction of property? Graffiti can be seen as a negative thing but i find it beautiful in the right places. After reading the wonderful blog post about graffiti over at 30 summers i wanted to share some of the other street art that i have found in and around Melbourne and other places i have visited in the world. So here are some of my discoveries….. enjoy.

Melbourne, Australia (2013)

Pen graffiti on bench

Auckland

Prague

Venice

Postcards from Wellington …. Part 4

Kapiti Island

Kapiti Island is a small island just 5km off the coast of Wellington. It is roughly rectangular being 8km long and 2km wide.

The island is home to a number of native birds, mostly re-introduced. These include takahe, North Island kōkako, brown teal, stitchbird(hihi), North Island saddleback (tieke), tomtit (miromiro), fantail (piwakawaka), morepork (ruru), weka and North Island robin (toutouwai). The brown kiwi and little spotted kiwi were released on the island between 1890 and 1910, and the island is now the stronghold for the latter species. Rat eradication has led to increases in red-fronted parakeets, North Island robin, bellbirds, and saddlebacks, and the island is considered one of New Zealand‘s most important sites for bird recovery, as well as a major breeding site for sea birds. In April 2005, the critically endangered short-tailed bat was introduced to the island from a threatened population in the Tararuas, providing them with a separate, safer habitat. – Wikipedia

Postcards from …… Wellington part 3

We took a trip up on the Wellington Cable Car. A trip on the Cable Car cost only $7.50 return each and took about 5 minutes to get to the top, including a trip through 2 100m tunnels each with a light show. 

Postcards from Wellington Part 2

Te Papa

So on our first full day in Wellington we decided to visit Te papa. This is the national museum of New Zealand it covers a wide range of areas from the natural world and local environment to history of the Maori and New Zealand.  We spent most of the day here as there is much to see, The most amount of time was spent in the newest exhibition Gallipoli: the scale of our war. We did queue for about 45 mins to get in but it was well worth it.

Postcards from ……. Wellington Part 1

This week i really wanted to share the photos i have taken from my most recent trip.  We will take a break from our normal scheduling to bring you The Postcards from Wellington Series (I felt a bit like a tv announcer announcing an important news bulletin lol). – Alex

Wellington

I’m off for a long weekend in Wellington, enjoy your weekends!
Alex

A Wandering Woman’s Travels

Great ideas this week

Some Great ideas I have seen in the classroom this week are:

Writing task sheet

The children keep it in their book and if there is a reliever or they have finished early they can use this to choose an activity off. It encourages them to keep practising different writing styles.

In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit

“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.’
I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Arriving in the land of the Hobbits, the one thing i could not do was leave without a visit to the famous Hobbiton. My birthday was a month after i landed and what better present to myself than to have a trip to visit the film set of one of my favourite books of all time, the book i reread every few years.