Accountability: August 2021

Goodbye what felt like the busiest month ever. We were getting our house ready to sell, moving, family wedding, birthdays and it felt like such a busy month. But, now it is time to get down to the business of the rest of life. And, for me, that means getting back into this whole blogging thing.

This blog has completely taken a backseat this past month. There were only two new blog posts (aside from last months accountability).

Here’s the ironic thing though – you know how some months I say things like, “I didn’t write many posts this month but I spent a lot of time working on SEO and other back end bloggy things”? Well, all of that has started to pay off. I have been less present and focused on my blog this summer but thanks to certain back-end bloggy things my blog has seen some massive growth. Here’s a snippet of a graph of users coming to my site just to give you an idea:

This isn’t nearly as big as some blogs out there so to some these numbers are likely unimpressive. But, as I am continuing to learn and relearn in life not everything has to be a competition. This particular situation is one of those. These numbers seem incredible to me – especially since I have been posting less often lately – and I am so proud of what my little blog is doing in the background while I work on other things in life.

Hopefully as I start posting more regularly again and continue to get better at SEO (Search Engine Optimization) my numbers will continue their growth trend. Yay!

Where Are We Going?:

Well, in just a few weeks my darling husband will be heading back to work onboard the ship. The three months that he is off the ship are always incredible. It’s so great to have the time to spend together. The three months he is on the ship is hard though. I have one friend that is in a similar life situation as me (her partner works on ships, she can’t currently visit him onboard, they somewhat split their lives between countries, etc) and I am trying to convince her to come live with me while our partners are at sea. Gotta support each other because it’s not easy.

Maybe this is an idea – I open up our house to spouses of seafarers. While the seafarer is gone the spouse can come to stay for a few days or a week and be surrounded by those who knows just how hard (but also how great) this life and lifestyle can be. Hmm. Things to think on.

Where Have We Been?:

Pretty much in Vermont just trying to get houses ready to sell and all of that jazz. I wish I could say that we have spent Stuart’s leave from the ship going on grand adventures and exploring the great outdoors, instead we have been working on creating our own grand adventures (I’ve heard that if you do it right, that’s called “life”).

Sometimes life isn’t made of the big adventures but instead it’s all the little trips to grandma’s house for dinner. I will never regret the time I spend traveling and I’m sure I will never regret those little trips, either.

Travel Hopes:

Aside from having my dear friend move in with me this fall (she is not convinced yet but I think it would be good for both of us), I am hoping to go on an adventure with my mom. We had an idea of going to sail on the ship that Stuart will be on once passengers come back, but it might turn into another trip of some sort. But, let’s just put it out in the universe that I think having a trip of some sort to look forward to would do us (mom and I) both good.

How’d I Do on My Goals For August?:

I know August is going to be a busy month of things but I don’t want to lose all momentum so, here it is:

• Film and post one YouTube video plus post one fun time-lapse video from years past.
  • The video is going to be about World Cruises 2023. My World Cruises 2022 video is at 6,600 views…so give the people what they want I guess?
  • Didn’t accomplish this one bit. But, guess what I am going to do this week?!
• Post 4 blog posts
  • We’re going to aim for once a week.
  • Yeah, we knocked this out of the park two weeks. Let’s aim for this again this month.
• Keep in touch with out of town friends
  • Did okay-ish? I think they might say otherwise.
• Walk with/make time for friends that are local
  • Sort of okay with this but seriously need to improve.
• Keep reading!
  • Working on it.

Goals for September:

• Post one YouTube Video
• Write a guest post befitting of the awesome-ness of my aunt-in-law’s blog.
• Four blog posts on my blog.
• Enjoy and appreciate the next few weeks with my husband without just lamenting the coming time apart.
• Spend time with family and friends.
• Read more. Dang it. Read more.