September Recap & Chit Chat

Good morning and happy Friday! I’m coming to you today from the lovely Orlando, Florida. I’m here for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, but I’ll get into that a bit later. Another month has passed which means it’s time for another monthly recap and chit chat post.

It’s hard to believe another month has gone by…. I feel like I say that every month, but it’s true. As I’ve gotten older, time just seems to fly by, and I don’t like it haha. September was definitely a month full of changes.

But let me get you all caught up on everything that’s been going on in my life since the last chit chat post:

• Currently I’m in Orlando, Florida, eating way too much food (I see a few cardio sessions in my future) and sleeping way too little. I’m trying my best to score an internship for next summer because this girl needs some real-world experience and something to do next summer.
• My parents are coming down to Columbia next weekend, and I’m excited to see them. They’re coming down for the UT vs. USC game even though it’s an away game for USC… I haven’t seen them since move-in so it’ll be nice to catch up with them.
• I went to Soda City (our local farmer’s market) last weekend, and I had a blast! It was supposed to be a community builder with my floor, but none of my residents showed up. I still used it as an excuse to get a delicious cup of coffee and enjoy the tiny taste of fall weather that showed up in Columbia.
• I’m not going to lie, these past two weeks since the last chit chat have been stressful. I’ve had a migraine at least once a week, and that’s not okay. I’ve been sleeping way more than I used to be, and I’ve been really unmotivated to do anything. I’m working hard to turn that around and not be as stressed, so wish me luck.
• I might have just found my new favorite band called The Front Bottoms. They came on my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist, and I’ve been hooked since, well, since Monday. Also, I didn’t realize for the longest time that the Discover Weekly playlist is personalized for each person so…
• I can’t go a single Chit Chat post without talking about the gym. I mean it is my life, right? The gym is going alright. I’m still trying to get used to the fluctuations in my body because my diet is definitely not on point right now. I’m not gaining weight, but I’m gaining and losing water weight and that is definitely messing with my head. But hey, enjoying food is important, too.

It’s weird to me that it’s almost midterms, and the semester is halfway over. I feel like the semester just started…

Academically, this semester has been rough. I think about my classes, and I just get overwhelmed by this one singular class. I’m practically having to teach myself all of the information, and that is very time-consuming. It sucks that one class makes all of the rest of my classes seem awful, but I guess that’s just the nature of the beast this semester.

Here’s what to look forward to in October:

• A collab between Caitlyn and I may or may not be happening
• My fall skincare routine is on its way
• I might actually be posting my dorm room tour

Monthly Stats

Okay, my stats were laughably low this past month. I don’t know if it was due to the back-to-school season being over and that caused a drastic decrease in traffic, if it was because of my lack of engagement on social media, or if it was tied to my lack of activity on Pinterest. Whatever it was, I’m not too stoked about it because I know I can do better.

Ideally, I would want that pageview number to be closer to 30,000, but I’ll take what I can get. I know that a decline in views is VERY common in the month of September, but I just wasn’t expecting that much of a decline in views. I may sound a bit frustrated with the situation, and that’s because I am, but I’m using that frustration to make October a better month for the blog.

Pageviews: 18,483

Unique Visitors: 13,885

What went right:

• My Instagram is slowly growing. I know Instagram is becoming a lost cause at this point, but I’m trying to not focus on the numbers and just post content because I want to post content.
• I published content I was very proud of, and for me, that’s almost just as important as views.

What went wrong:

• Took an unexpected week off.
• I wish I could be consistent with sending out my newsletter. It just becomes an afterthought by the time I need to send it out, and I don’t feel proud sending out something that I just threw together.
• Being completely inactive on Twitter and Instagram for a solid week.
• Not connect with and interacting with other blogs as much as I want.
• Didn’t reach out to any companies this month.

~abigail gray