Introducing Myself (and to 2020) - Plus 5 Thoughts on Squarespace for Beginner Bloggers

It’s interesting what finally motivates us to make the changes necessary to achieve our dreams, big and small, in life. Whether it’s moving to another country, starting a new job, creating a blog, or anything else that takes some amount of effort and bravery, the catalyst sometimes comes from the most unexpected of places.

So, if you’ve recently started something new, or are looking for the courage to do so, I’m rooting for you. (and if you’re only reading this for the Squarespace part, go ahead and skip to the bottom)

With that being said,  welcome, bienvenido, hoşgeldiniz, I’m happy you’re here. This is the first ‘real’ post here (we’ll call the older ones practice, but do feel free to take a look at them as well!) - because this will be the one where introductions are made and expectations are set. 

My name is Francesca and I’m a British / American writer and marketing professional based in San Diego, California. When I’m not working, you can find me traveling, running (marathon training), reading,  and trying out new recipes (some of which turn out nicely). I’ll be documenting some of these things, with honesty, minimal photo editing, and humor (mostly). 

Some topics you can expect to find from here on out include:

• Nutrition and some variety of cooking / baking {the latter could be more entertaining than valuable to start}

• Languages - tips for learning them, interesting tools etc

• Marketing - particularly content marketing and real estate marketing as these are the areas I feel I can best expand on

• ½ and full marathon training tips 

• Book reviews! Yay :) 

I imagine over time I’ll whittle these down to a focus, but let’s start broad and narrow down. In the meantime, back to the topic of the day: this blog and what I’d like to achieve with it.

Writing a blog has been something that I’ve considered (and attempted) to do on a number of occasions. For whatever reason, I did not pursue it - I think primarily because I hadn’t found the right motivation to continue. And I look back on those days and do think it would have been nice to have a written account of the travels and experiences that I had previously. 

So there’s goal number one: to consistently keep track of the days and experiences, while hopefully finding patterns to things to improve from.

As for goal number two, I’m also hoping that keeping this record could help others who are trying to find their own inspiration. Or could even benefit from some of the things that I’ve learned along the way. It’s worth a try at least. :) 

And that catalyst I mentioned at the beginning? This time it was found in a moment of quiet and balance at a yoga studio in Purcellville, Virginia. Maybe one day I’ll write a post about that by itself. Though I built this blog in September, I would say this moment was the one that actually sealed my commitment to it for at least a year. Here we go! {Did you recently start a blog? Are you considering starting one? Let’s connect: hello@fjcelik.com) 

But enough about me and this blog, how about something slightly more useful? I promised some notes on Squarespace for beginner bloggers, who like myself, have a reasonable understanding of how websites should look, usability, marketing, and how to use Google to fill in the blanks. 

Without further ado, here are four things you should know about using Squarespace to build your first blog: 

1. It’s easy to make your site look good.

It took me about an afternoon to create this site from zero. Of course, I’ve since then made some changes to the structure and copy, but the overall site was quick and easy to get up and looking nice (in my opinion). On a scale of 1-10, I would rate my  ‘techyness” at around say 4. Which means if I can build a half decent site in that much time, it’s worth the effort.

There are certainly some things that still need to be done for me to get the site where I want it to be, but I would say it’s overall quite intuitive and easy to use. 

One other major bonus? The site goes mobile with literally no extra steps on my behalf - something that isn’t always the case with other site builders that don’t require coding.  

2. It’s not as customizable as say, Wix (but this is for the best).

Last year I built a site for our video production brand on Wix, and while the site turned out quite well, it was not an easy process. It took a few weeks and because unlike Squarespace, where the templates are quite a bit more constrained in what can be done, everything can be moved. In other words: you have literally an entirely blank slate in front of you.

Now, if you’re ready to spend some time learning a new software and you have a clear vision of what you want, this is fantastic. You can build (almost) anything that your mind can create, without having to do any coding. 

But there are some drawbacks to this:

• It’s very easy to get ‘lost’ in the site and overwhelmed by choices

• The site can get very heavy and slow down, quickly

• It does not always translate to mobile well, and oftentimes you have to rebuild the mobile version yourself 

Here are a few screenshots from that website:

To sum it up: if you want something that is quick, easy, and straightforward, Squarespace is the way to go. If you want to get fancy and build the site of your dreams, you may want to give Wix another look.

3. Hosting, analytics, and email are incredibly easy to set up.  

With some platforms you have to take the time to go to different sites to set up hosting, domains, and email. Not with Squarespace. It was so nice to be able to pay once (though a monthly plan is available) and have everything be done for a year. The pricing is also quite competitive for what you get.

If you use Google Analytics or Ads, they are also easy to integrate with just a few clicks. 

4. It has the option to integrate shopping capacity.

Though this isn’t super valuable for me at the moment, I can definitely see the potential for many types of brands. I spent a little time setting up a shop as test; and comparatively speaking,  it did take a bit more effort to understand than the majority of Squarespace’s features. I was able to figure it out, but the first few steps were not super intuitive to me. Having said that, if I get to the point where I need to ever products, I’m confident that I’ll be able to figure it out without too much difficulty. 

Thoughts overall? If the reason why you’re not building a site is because you don’t think you can do it, Squarespace could be exactly what you’re looking for. I’m impressed with the value and ease of the platform so far and hope to remain this way (stay tuned for an update if that goes south, though). 

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope that you stick around and find some value (or at least entertainment) from the content that is here. And if not? I hope you find some content that does resonate with you, wherever that may be on the internet.

Wanna keep in touch and see when I write another equally as fun post as this one? (ha ha). Make sure to sign up for my newsletter or join me on Instagram. 

See you next time! 

How to Stay Motivated Over the Holiday Season

So it’s almost the holidays and you’re getting daily offers of eggnog and cookies. And if you’re somewhere that actually gets cold in the winter, it’s probably proper cold by this time of year. This means that every day it’s just a little bit more tempting to stay in bed with a hot drink and a bad movie instead of eating clean and running or exercising.

In San Diego, even though the temperatures don’t really drop, it doesn’t mean that I don’t have the temptation to slack off and otherwise derail from my standard routine. Somehow the slightly warmer temperatures do help with forcing yourself out the door in the dark evenings - though 40 degrees in the morning is still something of a shock to me. Our holiday trip to Virginia is sure to be a treat (with the temps getting into the low 20’s overnight). ☃️

In any case, if you’re struggling to find ways to stay motivated this winter, I hear you. And if you’re asking for ways to do so, hopefully the list below of 5 ways to stay motivated in the holiday season will help. 

1. Start your January New Year’s Resolutions early.

Why is December the best time to start a new resolution? Because it means when it’s actually the expected time to start your resolution, you’ve got a serious advantage. How? Well there’s a few reasons:

1. Whenever you start building a new habit (running, reading, eating cauliflower, whatever), the first few weeks are undoubtedly the hardest. Get these out of the way now, rather than saddling that extra responsibility later on.

2. Anticipation and disappointment. If you spend the month of December wishing for it to be January before you start your resolutions, you’re going to be disappointed on February 1st. And when anything goes wrong. 

3. It gives you a distraction and a goal to help keep you on track between parties, late nights, and cold morning.

No matter when you’re reading this, it’s never too late to start. And if your resolution has something to do with the gym, imagine being a ‘regular’ when all those people who waited till January first to let their new year’s resolutions begin.

2. Be easy on yourself.

Cliche but true. And something we all need to hear way more often than we do in our daily lives. If you’ve got a tendency to want to be superwoman (or, superman for the gentlemen out there), it can be easy to spread yourself thin. This leads to being tired and grumpy.

Guess who doesn’t want to go running and eat healthy when they are tired and grumpy? How about most of the population.

Avoid the hole of the holidays by stepping around them. Feel free to say no, and if something doesn’t go exactly as planned, don’t go so hard on yourself about it; as this is the fastest way to start a lovely little downward spiral that leads to all sorts of decisions that your calm and rational self likely wouldn’t even consider.

Once more, louder for those in the back: it’s OK to say no. 

3. Try a new exercise or fitness activity.

Preferably of the indoors variety, if you’re feeling a bit wimpy about going outside. The benefit of this is twofold:

1. You get to find a new activity that uses your muscles differently and doesn’t require you to go outside.

2. A change from the ordinary exercise routine can be super motivating when the alternative is to chill on the couch.

If you are an endurance runner, think of now as a time to hone your flexibility, reflexes, and muscle control. When the air outside is particularly frosty, you may even be doing yourself a favor by choosing to spend your exercise time in a temperature controlled environment. 

And besides, if you take a few days off from running, it gives you a little bit of a chance to start to miss it. :) 

4. Find a new signature recipe to try out on the family

Why is it that so many holiday dishes seem to be full of heavy fats, oils, sugar, and other things that generally make food tasty, but at the cost of your arteries? 2019 is the end of the decade and the perfect reason to create something new for your friends and family. 

Find a tasty food that can serve in the place of some of the most calorie dense options at the dinner or dessert table. Need ideas? Check out these delicious vegetarian appetizers and vegan desserts. 

5. Plan a springtime vacation somewhere tropical 

If you can’t escape from the chill physically, how about mentally? Booking a spring or summer vacation somewhere gorgeous can be incredibly motivating. Not because of restrictive diets to fit into bikinis, but rather because it can be seen as a reward.

Imagine - if you’ve got a nice holiday on the horizon, will it be so tempting to buy an extra gift for yourself as part of holiday shopping? Or when you’re stuck in line outside on the tarmac of a freezing airport, imagine how next time you’re in the same place, it could be on the way to the trip of your dreams.

In other words, it’s easier to stay happy, nice, and focused on what’s important to you if you’ve got something beyond the winter holidays to plan (and save) for. 

Staying healthy in both your body and your brain can be hard over Christmas and New Years - particularly if your family doesn’t follow your beliefs or otherwise isn’t in your life. As tempting as it may be to spend the evenings drinking and the days eating, it’ll just make January 1st that much rougher.

Having said that, total restriction is almost never the answer. Enjoy that glass of wine or tasty chocolate. And if you do go overboard, don’t beat yourself up. It’s so easy to get in the trap of self blame and fall off the wagon. If you have a day of delicious, but unhealthy foods, don’t stress. Start by drinking a glass of water and taking a deep breath. Every day is a new chance to get it right.

Got other tips that help you to stay on track during the coldest winter days? Tell me about them in the comments below!

A Vegetarian Thanksgiving in San Diego

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Chara and I made an extensive plan involving a trip to Potato Chip Rock to do a bit of exploring. Our logic was that over the holiday, many people would be at home with their families, eating lots of tasty food, so we would have the opportunity to make the hike in relative peace. Oh, and we were going to bring wine and cheese to make it a) a picnic and b) vegetarian. But then something happened, a major storm swept through the west coast, forcing us to abandon our plans of Potato Chip Rock domination (and sweet photos for IG) in exchange for a more at-home option.

Since we are vegetarians, the standard Turkey dinner isn’t an option. And since we aren’t incredible chefs (yet), something complicated and fancy wasn’t an option either. So together we came up with our Thanksgiving menu that we believe is the perfect option for the moderately adept vegetarian cook that wants a hearty meal that won’t take up the entire kitchen OR the entire day OR a huge amount of cash (AKA: me). 

Somehow in our search for the perfect recipes that would fit the above criteria, we fell across the food blog, Pinch of Yum. And from this blog, we were able to build our very own lazy vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner.

Here’s the menu:

STARTER:

No-Knead Cheese Bread

Çelik Salad: walnut, arugula, walnuts, red onion, black pepper, and balsamic vinaigrette 

MAIN:

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

DESSERT:

Blender Lemon Pie

And here’s a confession: I’ve never baked bread before. Ever. So when I found the recipe for no knead cheese bread, I was excited but skeptical. The recipe claimed that it was easy and with only a few ingredients necessary, I couldn’t help but give it a try.

We went to bed with the dough sitting on the counter, waiting for its fate the next day. When we went to complete the baking process, it rose plenty overnight. I added some flour to the exterior, Chara added a cut down the middle - as is traditional in Turkish baking, and onwards we went.

Check out the results:

And the bread was by far the star of the show. As for the rest of it?

Meh. I’ll spare you the details of a not-so-successful lemon pie or shepherd’s pie. But just know, it did somewhat inspire us to try new things.

It did have one more very valuable benefit: it helped us to realize the power of baking and that no, you don’t need to buy bread from the grocery store.

And so, moving forward, I will be attempting to bake at least one item per week. Usually bread, but we will see what happens.

Got suggestions or recipes? Leave them in the comments!