Wednesday, August 27, 2014

about me + how i started blogging. the crazy story.

i've seen this post floating around blogland and figured i'd share a little about me for those who just started reading and write about things some of you may not know who have been following this blog for years.
 
that's right. years. you'll see what i mean. it's actually kind of a crazy story.
 
name.age.location |
 
well this is pretty simple. i'm amanda crute & soon to be amanda walker next august! man. saying that outloud really is weird. i'll be 26 next month and still feel like i graduated college last year. i also sometimes still act like it {insert last night's wine-o sesh with a girlfriend that lasted until 10:30pm}. i live in the beautiful charlotte, nc & can spend a lifetime here. i love this city.




relationships |
 
i live with my fiance, lee. he and i got engaged a few weeks ago! my parents and brother live about 3 hours away in roxboro, nc. that town doesn't even have a chickfila. i don't know how they do it.




work | 
 
i work in the crazy world of meeting & event management; specifically corporate meetings in the united states. i love getting to come to uptown charlotte everyday. my heart thrives in the city. plus, there's always good food around for lunch.
 
hobbies |
 
dude, i like to eat. not only eat though, lee and i love to cook. blogging has become a huge hobby of mine, too. i recently joined a gym to prep myself for the wedding & think it's a stupid idea. i'm hoping working out becomes a hobby, but i'll need to cross fingers, toes and everything else on my body to get that to happen. i am an admitted shopaholic. and i love to drink some wine or bubbly. 




favorite food |
 
sheesh. mashed potatoes? no, spinach alfredo pizza. no. buffalo chicken dip. no. sweet potato fries. no. CARBS.
 
standard bar order |
 
usually i try and stick to wine with appetizers or drinks after work. if we're going out with a group of friends, i'll hang out with a beer too. i love craft beers. i recently tried a blueberry beer & it was amazing.
 

places i shop |
 
j. crew. nordstrom. target. forever 21. h&m. & local boutiques around charlotte such as vestique, apricot lane, petal, impeccable pig, francescas, etc. i have way too many clothes & never have anything to wear. it sucks.
 
bedtime & wake up time |
 
lee and i end the nights during the week with a movie in bed. typically i'm asleep by 11pm, but if i start to do this stupid, insane workouts in the AM, i can see this being earlier. right now, i can get up at 7:15am for work, but if i choose to go to the gym in the morning, that will change to 6:30.
 
on the weekends, this varies. sometimes we're up by 9am and other days we sleep until 11. i love that i'm not a "i have to be up by 7am person" on the weekends.
 
what i blog about |
 
good gracious. i'm everywhere. sometimes i post about fashion, & then food, and then the wedding, and then what we did over the weekend, and then funny life stories by francesca. i mean, it's definitely a variety.




how i started blogging |
 
so here's the story for you. back in 2011 i started an anonymous twitter account just for fun; i came up with the name @LifeofaPrincess & started posting funny things that happened to me, inspiration quotes that i loved, or just anything in general. the twitter went nuts. before i knew it, i had over 250,000 followers within less than a year or so.
 
after i moved to charlotte, i started a blog to go along with the twitter - Life of a Princess Blog. i started writing anonymously about things that i was feeling or completely fictional pieces of work that i had floating around in my mind. i would post the links to twitter & then the blog went crazy.
 
i was receiving emails after emails from young girls from the united states and even overseas about how the things i was writing helped them. i mean i was getting 20 or so emails a day! girls saying my blog posts were getting them over relationships or making them realize what ws important in their life - i can't make this up people. typically it was about some sort of guy article or ex-boyfriend advice or a girl empowering piece that just stated girls kick ass. i submitted one of them to thought catalog & they published it! i got an email the other day from a reader thanking me for this one. how nuts right?
 
so i started slowly saying who i was via the anonymous twitter & blog. on a few different occasions, i had girls come up to me in bars around charlotte exclaiming omg! you're 'life of a princess'! once it happened on a date. the guy was like ummm who am i here with? life of a what did she say?? it was cool & weird in the same way.
 
about a year ago, someone hacked the twitter, changed my email address associated with it, and completely changed all the pictures & how the twitter was ran. they started filling it with ads and typical tweets that all other anon accounts were doing. i couldn't get it back. whomever hacked the twitter has blocked my personal account from even viewing it. the account now has over 324,000 followers and it's info "claims" to be the original. i can't look at it without getting mad.
 
so because i didn't want to be associated with that dumb account or the way they portrayed what i created, i changed my blog name & url to as the wine cork turns and decided to do a new direction with my writing. some of the older inspirational posts are still there in my archives; back in the early 2013 and 2012 years & know many people still reference them. it was a crazy ride  then, but it brought me to what i have now in the crazy world of the internet & i've developed tons of relationships with other bloggers all over the place. i wouldn't change a thing. :)
 
what about you? why do you blog?
 
post signature
 
Because shanna said so for random wednesday & midweek muse