Online Success

One step to becoming more positive and more bold is to put myself out there (on the web) and subject myself to public view and opinion. If I didn't do this, I would just be living in my own little bubble and no one would know how well or how poorly I was doing except me. What's the fun in that? So on my Cambodian Mom blog, I chronicled the past 5 weeks that I've been blogging and writing and publishing online articles. I note how I've made a few bucks (literally) through various ad programs and a few more bucks becoming an Amazon affiliate.

Honestly though, I'm doing all this to have an outlet for what I love to do - which is to write and read. And secondarily, to get validation. A pat on the back. An ego boost. Whatever you want to call it. It's so nice to write something and instantly get feedback and comments. It's even better when readers say they've learned something from your article. This is why I like Hubpages.com and think it's different from blogs or other sites. There are tons of writers (amateur and professional, new and veteran), from diverse backgrounds, that are writing informative, interesting articles, and a community of readers that encourage each other. To be recognized for my writing - that's such a new and awesome feeling.

My hub on traditional Cambodian wedding ceremonies has done especially well. Below are my achievements for this article.

February 29, 2012 - After a few days of "campaigning" my friends to vote for my article, I received this email from one of the awesome Hubpages Elite (a hub veteran who chose the Hubnugget nominees - who are new writers in various categories):

Hi sunbun143,
Congratulations! With 22 percent of the vote, your Hub was selected by the HubPages community as a winner! Excited? We are!
Your profile picture and an excerpt and link to your Hub will be included in today's weekly HubPages newsletter, which is sent to tens of thousands HubPages community members. You will also receive the HubNuggets Accolade, one of the rarest Accolades on HubPages.
Let me be the first to congratulate you and encourage you to continue to write such wonderful Hubs. You're an inspiration all Hubbers who are getting started and an encouragement to “veterans” as well.
We hope that you continue to enjoy writing at HubPages and participating in the community. We certainly enjoy your work.
Congratulations again, and we look forward to seeing you around.

March 5, 2012 - I received the accolade of "Hub of the Day" for this same article. It was promoted on the Hubpages homepage; I hope it was a good example for people curious about Hubpages and got more people interested in writing and sharing what they know. I'm very proud in particular that it shined a light on Cambodian culture and got a lot of people commenting on what a beautiful wedding it was (patting myself on the back). I think all the pictures pushed it over the top - we were all smiles on our wonderful wedding day (despite the 100+ temperature!). Below is the explanation of the "Hub of the Day" accolade:

The Hub of the Day is an exemplary Hub chosen by the HubPages Staff to be featured on the signed-in homepage for one day and in the carousel of the signed-out homepage for ten days. Staff are looking for Hubs that contain interesting and useful subject matter, high-quality and grammatically correct writing, and beautiful formatting. A Hub of the Day accolade will be displayed on the Hub itself, as well as in the Hubber’s accolade box. To see previous Hubs of the Day, we have archived them for you here. For more information on the Hub of the Day, check out our Blog post. {click HERE to check out the archives of Hub of the Day and enjoy reading other great articles!}

Additionally, over 70 wonderful people have made nice comments following the article. It's been viewed over 500 times this week and almost 1000 times total since I published it mid-February. And I've gained quite a following in the Hubpages world in just under 6 weeks with 5 articles published so far. You can always check out these articles and comment, even if you don't join (links to my articles are in the Hubpages box to the side of this post). Anyway, I wanted to share my achievements lately because that's what this blog is for - to outline my goals and challenges, to list my successes and setbacks. Two of my Dazzling goals were to learn how to praise myself for my successes and learn how to accept a compliment. So thanks for the compliment readers!

New year, New style

A couple weeks ago I attended the wedding of my husband's old med school friend. At first, I was apprehensive about going. We hadn't talked to this particular friend for over a year (maybe even two) and had never met his fiancee. And after a hearty holiday season and just having had a newborn and dealing with a wild toddler at home, I wasn't feeling particularly in the mood to emerge from my cocoon and party all night at a wedding. Especially not a fancy Beverly Hills wedding. But my husband had rsvp'ed us weeks before, so we were definitely going.

It was decided that we'd leave Jake (our toddler) at home with his grandparents while we took Logan (4-mth old, still nursing) with us. Jake is familiar with his Korean grandparents, and sees them every other week or so, but besides a couple movie nights out, my husband and I had never left him in their care for very long. Four hours tops. And I thought about this....the most I had ever been away from my son during his entire TWO YEARS of life was...FOUR HOURS!? Okay, that settles it, we're going to this wedding and enjoying every minute of it.

I wore this dress everywhere. Jake is almost 4 months older in every picture!

I had to get a dress, since I'd worn the same (blue) dress to every function and wedding for the last 2 years. And I had to do something about my hair - it was long (almost to my butt), constantly got in my way, and was now shedding all over the place (it's normal to lose hair post-pregnancy). I thought I'd get it cut and styled in time to go to the wedding that evening.

So off we went to Macy's department store. After striking out on the juniors floor (I am SO not a juniors size or age anymore, I realize), I go to the Women's floor, but am disappointed in the styles (matronly) and selection (I needed a v-neck or something that I could still nurse in, is that too much to ask??). I tried on a few, and thankfully, one fit. It also didn't have any tags in it (weird), only a store-generated tag, so I don't actually know its size or designer name. I used this weirdness to get an additional 10% off, and used gift cards I had, so the dress was only $57. I wanted something sparkly, like a brooch or sash to add interest to the black lace dress. So the store staff pulled out a box of discarded belts (I don't know how or why they had this) and gave me a couple FOR FREE!! I ended up wearing a leather rope belt and I thought it contrasted nicely with the old-fashioned (but elegant) lace. Over it all, since it was a rare drizzly night in Los Angeles, I wore a black bolero-type jacket. And I had black shoes (never worn) at home that went with it all, so that was not an issue.

15 inches!

I went to a Korean hair salon nearby that I'd gone to before, this time with a stylist that I had yelp'ed (i.e. looked up on a review site) and made an appointment with (rather than just walking in and hoping for the best). He didn't understand much English, but the reviews had led me to believe he'd understand what I wanted (or needed) without much direction. So I put my hair in his hands. I also wanted to donate my hair to Locks of Love, so I asked him to put it in a ponytail before snipping (hacking) it off. He did so, but my asked-for 10 inches (the minimum required to donate) shoulder-length style turned into a whopping 15 inches cut off and chin-length! I told him how my hair tended to curl at the ends and I didn't want too much maintenance...in response, he gave me bangs! I've never had bangs! Luckily, they're long enough to tuck behind my ear but annoyingly, they're not long enough to tie back in a ponytail. Oh well. At least, the styling of loose waves/curls that I asked for was nice. I was just about ready to go to a wedding that night.

Makeup - I don't wear ANY on a day-to-day basis but I have a lot of bits I've collected over the years. Yes, I know makeup is not meant to be kept for years and years, barely being used, but it's what I got, so I use it. I used Benefit tinted moisturizer, Bare Minerals medium powder and mineral veil (click here to check it out), some brown eye shadow, and black mascara. I also used a rose cheek tint, and a dusty rose-colored lipstick. I painted my nails with a sheer shiny nail polish. I realized later that my "going-out" makeup was probably the same or less dramatic than most women's basic everyday makeup. Oh well...one step at a time for me.

BEFORE (Oct-Dec 2011)

AFTER (Jan 2012)

At the wedding...I drank a few cocktails that night...yippee!

So...what do you think? The wedding ended up being really fun, and I didn't feel out of place at all. I belonged among the young, fun, wear-makeup-every day crowd. I was Sunny and Dazzling and looked Beautiful, even though I was a mom of two under 3. It was funny actually that a lot of guests we talked to and who were at our table had kids also, and had left their toddler at home too. Logan, an itty bitty newborn (the youngest there) was oohed and aahed over because he was so well behaved and cute. It was a fun night, which, including commute from our house, ended up being about 7 hours. Now that's the new longest time I have ever been away from Jake. And when I came home, I gave him a big hug and a kiss and told him I missed him (I did, a little) and he was nonplussed, having had a great time with his grandparents. They were exhausted though. Ha!...welcome to my life.

Separated for so long but none the worse for wear.

Isn't Logan the cutest?? He was an angel for the whole wedding.