Sonia Marsh - Gutsy Living

Life's too short to play it safe

You are here: Home / Archives for Getinthehotspot

Two women with passion: LadyFi and Annabel Candy

by

I like to think of my blog as a community of friends who care about one another, so before Christmas, I decided to offer support to two women who are passionate about what they do.

1). Fiona Hugosson-Miller or LadyFi, to those of you who are familiar with her beautiful photography. I purchased one of Fiona’s prints which is called: Soul Food. You can see Fiona’s matted print on my living room wall. To view her work, please click on Red Bubble button at the bottom of her blog.

Soul Food by Fiona Hugosson-Miller

I asked Fiona to describe “Soul Food.”

“It was taken on the evening of May 28 2010 at about 8.45 pm, so no doubt I ran out to take this shot in my dressing gown!

After a long winter, it was so lovely to see the sky in all its glory again. This jetty is just one minute from our house and I can peek out of the kitchen window or my daughter’s bedroom to see the lake. Naturally I saw the sky lit up like a stained glass window so ran outside and took a few shots of this miraculous sky. So, it was a spontaneous photo shoot if you like – as are most of my shots.

I used my Canon 500D for the shot and was shooting on a large aperture to let in the light: f/5.6 – the shutter speed was: 1/250.

I didn’t take that many pictures but stood gazing at the sunset for ages. I felt inspired and nourished, which is why I called the shot: Soul Food.”

2). Annabel Candy from GetintheHotSpot.

I mentioned Annabel Candy in one of my previous posts.

I’m wearing Getinthehotspot T-shirt to support Annabel Candy’s wonderful blog.

Annabel is a Gutsy business woman. As she puts it: “I delved into the sordid world of shameless self-promotion. Why? Mainly because I’m not good at it and it scares me. You see, I work hard to promote my blog and do stuff that scares me, so practicing the fine art of shameless self-promotion seemed like a good way to combine those two things.”

I found Annabel’s, “Successful Blogging in Twelve Simple Steps,” to be extremely helpful and am still learning as I read each chapter and case study. I decided to support her blog by wearing her logo for inspiration.

Here’s to a year full of passion and inspiration. What is yours?

Should you give presents at this time of year?

by

Pine tree from Flickr

In December last year, I wrote about my challenges of buying gifts for my husband. 

Now, only a week away from Christmas, I’d like to talk about the concept of buying Christmas presents.
With only five days left before Christmas, I have nothing to give my three sons, 23, 20 and 16. Clothes don’t interest them, or perhaps I should say, they don’t seem to appreciate clothes the way most women would.Whenever, I ask, “What would you like for Christmas?” they say, “Nothing.”

A few weeks ago, my oldest son mentioned a Kindle. He then ended up using his birthday money from Grandma, and bought his own.

My middle son ordered his own present on e-bay with money he’s been saving since Kindergarten, (yes, he’s great at saving money from Grandpa and Grandma since birth.)

My youngest son says he wants nothing more than for us to allow him to enlist in the Army and attend West Point.  (I’m not going to touch this subject right now.)

I know I should be grateful they don’t ask for presents, and part of me likes to believe that our year of frugal living in Belize shifted their attitudes towards acquiring less, however, this does bring out the “guilt factor” of having a tree with nothing underneath it.

Mega-blogger, in terms of having 200,000 subscribers, Leo Babauta has a blog post on, “The Case Against Buying Christmas Presents,”
When I read Leo’s comment, “I don’t love Christmas shopping, or the over consumption, frenzied malls, consumer debt, environmental waste, wasted time wrapping, and over-accumulation of needless stuff that goes with it,” I could relate. As Leo says, “Giving is great, but buying is not the solution.”
I sense a shift in the overall tone and message of the world economy. With a 14 trillion dollar debt in the U.S., people will have to keep working until they’re 69, before social security kicks in. I wonder how long before the population realizes we cannot keep living a “pretend” life of over-consumerism, and recognize the need to live more frugally, the way Leo Babauta, advocates.
So this Christmas I shall bake, cook, have parties, listen to my boys, give them hugs when they want them, and perhaps, if they’re lucky, knit a scarf they can use in the cold weather of Michigan, and New Mexico. I shall also buy a black T-shirt from a blogger I admire: Annabel Candy, “GetintheHotspot,” and some beautiful postcards based on the nature photography of my blogger friend LadyFi in Sweden. Finally I shall give a gift of sight to a child through the Fred Hollows Foundation.

What are you doing for your family, friends and the world this Christmas?

What is Panic-itis? I’m letting you in on my secret

by

 Woman's Thoughts Pictures, Images and Photos

Lately, I’ve been suffering from a case of panic-itis. Now there are two ways I can handle this topic: 

  1. The Professional Way, “Five Simple Ways to Fight off Panic-itis,” or
  2. The Gutsy Way, “Say it like it is.”

Which one would you like to hear? Well, tough! Today you won’t get the professional way. My head feels like taking the easy route. 

So what’s going on? What are the symptoms of panic-itis?

  • A night with blog topics floating around my mind. Which one to pick? Thankfully one popped out.
  • 684 e-mails in my inbox. (Oops. I should perhaps not have revealed this, but don’t worry, I’ve taken care of all of them.)
  • Researching improvements I would like to make with my blog in the future.
  • Panic-itis over perfecting my final query letter to submit to agents. It has to be ready before my kids come home in two weeks.
  • A book proposal? How about a business and marketing plan? That’s easier for me to write.
  • Wondering how I can get 2,000 subscribers so I can impress a future agent and publisher. Now wouldn’t that be super. I’d be grateful if you would like to subscribe thus helping me promote GutsyWriter.
  • Panic-itis on how to use Twitter effectively. Great advice from GetintheHotSpot.

Now it’s time for the sun to come out and shine on Miss Footloose for being the featured success story on the Expat blogger website. Many of my blogger friends know her blog: Life in the Expat Lane. She is a brilliant writer and her stories always make me laugh.This is where I go when I want to get rid of my panic-itis.


What about you? Are you suffering from panic-itis?

Latest from the blog

Top Posts