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In November, my sister-in-law and I challenged each other to post an Instagram every day of the month...and we both did it! It was kind of tough some days when I totally forgot about it until late at night and had no idea what to post. But looking back, it's fun to see so many pictures from the month. I don't think I'll hold myself to one a day in December, but I do want to try to post more regularly than I used to. I have a tendency to think that I should only post on Instagram if I have something particularly special or noteworthy to share...but along the lines of the quote I posted on Thanksgiving, I want to try to think of every day as being special and noteworthy. I want to take time to appreciate what I have now in my normal, everyday life. I want to document the moments that are fun and memorable and real, even if they're not necessarily the prettiest.
I remember when I first got on Instagram, I thought it would be really great to see the casual, behind-the-scenes photos of some of my favorite bloggers--sort of like when you flip through a magazine to the "Celebrities--they're just like us!" page. But I feel like Instagram is now full of polished content--the same photos that people are posting on their blogs, taken on DSLRs, carefully edited and cropped into squares--instead of quick phone snaps. I totally understand why...I usually get a lot more "likes" when I post a photo that I took on my real camera rather than an iPhone one. And I think a lot of people use Instagram to keep up with blogs, instead of checking all the blogs they follow every day. But anyways, I've just been thinking about it a little. I know that social media is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things (like, at all), but I still think it's worth talking about. Because I'm guessing you've noticed some of the same things too, especially if you're also a blogger!
Sometimes I take a photo of something I want to remember, but then I decide not to post it because it's not pretty. So I guess that begs the question--what's Instagram for? Sharing the prettiest moments (even if they're a bit staged), or the memorable ones (even if they're a bit ugly)? Both are valid, and maybe the best answer is a healthy mix. I know that I, for one, love seeing the more imperfect and unstaged "real life" photos, because they're so relatable. But I definitely like the pretty stuff, too (who doesn't!?). Anyways, those are just a few of the things I've been thinking about around social media. I know, leave it to me to start try and turn Instagram into something deep, right? Ha! What this post was supposed to be was just a few of my Instagrams from November. So let's get on with that. If you want to see more, I'd love for you to follow me.
We went to a couple movies this month--Ben's pick was Interstellar and mine was St. Vincent. Both were good!
We found some fancy chocolates at a local store and had to give them a try. I mean, look at how pretty the packaging is--and the flavors?! So fun. To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of the bacon bits (too bad) but I did love the toffee brittle.
This month was really, reeeaaaallly cold so our evening activity of choice has been turning on the fire as soon as we get home and hanging out right by it for warmth. We've also been watching a lot of Gilmore Girls and drinking tons of hot apple cider.
This is my desk at work (see all the Julep polishes in the back?). The mug is from Ban.do and it's advice is very wise indeed--"but first, coffee."
These are a few of my other favorite desk accessories/essentials. I'm sure it's not obvious at all what my favorite color is.
I got many a red cup this month. There's just something about them that makes me want to order coffee more! Smart strategy, Starbucks...
This is a little corner of our living room. If you can read the spines of any of those design books, I recommend them all.
We hung up our new deer head from White Faux Taxidermy this month! The "Sweet Dreams" pillow cases are from Uncommon Goods.
The week of Thanksgiving, I got to play around with these adorable Trophy cupcakes at work. You can see the results here and here.
And this past weekend, we went shopping and I got inspired to decorate for winter! I still haven't done anything yet (whoops!) but hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to.
How was your month? I'd love to hear. And if you have any thoughts on the whole balance of real life/pretty stuff on social media, I'd love to hear that too!
P.S. Check out today's 24 Merry Days giveaway over on In Honor of Design! It's a super cute bar cart + $100 to accessorize it with. I totally want that!
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Love all your "staged" instagrams ;)! I love it as my kids are far away. It gives me a peek into their lives. Just a mommy-gramma thing. I just need a picture in any form.
Oh good! I'm glad to hear that :) And yes, I am SURE once I have kids that I will not be able to resist posting them all the time.
I have loved seeing your instagrams lately! I'm so glad you and Ellen post often. I prefer the iPhone photos but also like them a little staged! For instance when I get a cute photo of Lucy but the lighting is really off, I usually switch to b&w. Now that I'm a mom I don't have as many pretty things to photograph but I still love to post picture or daily life, even though kid photos are not that exciting. They are meaningful and fun!
Aww, thanks Jenn! I will try to keep posting more often. I always love seeing your photos too. Meaningful photos of daily life are great :) And I gotta say, they're more fun to look back on later. Especially the ones of kids, cuz you can see so many changes in just a short period of time!
I have said those same exact things before. In my head. I too at first thought IG would be spontaneous and casual content, but I've recognized almost everything in my feed is a staged latergram, which is fine, I love them! It just gets to me sometimes that it puts pressure on making everything pretty over anything else, but I do want to consider what people want to see, and more people always show up for the staged photos :P. I guess it also has to do with whether people treat their accounts as strictly business or personal, or both. Both sounds like a good balance to me as well!
You put it perfectly, Amy! I think it's true that a lot of bloggers treat their account as more of a business account, in which case the pretty latergrams make total sense (and who am I to judge them for that?! I choose to follow them!). I think what bothers me, like you said, is the fact that it makes me feel pressure to try to live up to that. Which is my own problem!