This Stories Just 6 Words Long: a story contest

Hey everyone! I have a super super super exciting post for you guys today! A contest! Yes! It is so exciting. I might be just a tiny bit excited. I have actually wanted to do a contest or something like this for a long time. And so when my awesome friend Rukiya (who is amazing and you can find her blog here) told me I should hold a contest I decided to to go ahead and do it. I will hopefully having more contests in the future *hits myself on the head*. Just one step at a time Nabila, just one step at a time. Ok so for like my first ever contest on my blog I am having a 6 words story contest with some sentence props you can find down below and I am calling it This Stories Just 6 Words Long: a story contest. Do you like the name?  My dad (who also has a blog which you can here) and one of Wird All's songs called "This Song's just 6 words long" helped me come up with it. 

How to enter:

1. Pick one of the 4 sentence props which you can find down below. 

2. Write 6 words based of of the sentence prop. Really you can do anything. But it has to be somehow related to the prompt and has to be 6 words long. 

 3. You either send me the 6 words by email (my email is nabilaeve@gmail.com), comment your 6 words down below in the comments, or do a post on your blog about it. When you are entering though make sure to include what sentence prompt you used. 

The prompts:

You can choose one of these sentence prompts to base your 6 words on.

1. I didn't even want to go.

2. The breeze was in my hair and the sun was in my eyes and I was happy.

3. How in the world could he do that to me?

4. When I got home the door was already open. 

The prize:

No there is not going going to be a physical or money prize but I am planning to make some buttons for the winners that they can show to everybody.

How many people can win?

Really it all depends on how many people submit entries. I will proably have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place though. 

Who can enter? 

Absolutely anyone! You can be a kid an adult or even a baby. I mean why not. 

When does the contest end?

It ends on August 20th (so make sure to enter before that) and I will announce the winner on August 21th. But I can and might change these dates at anytime. 

Why should I enter?

Thank you for asking! There are actually many reasons. Here a couple of them.

-Because you want to make me happy

-Because you want to win

-Because you enjoy writing

-Because you are amazing

-Because you want to try something new

-Because you think it will be fun (which it will be)

So did that make you want to enter?

Now go! 

Now go my writers and readers and enter! I wish you good luck! By the way I would love if you could share this contest with your friends and on social media so that this contest can be a success. 

Also if Mrs. Addie is reading this right now I think you are kind of awesome. 

So are you going to enter? Maybe? Possibly? Hopefully? You so should! Should I do more contests? Do you like 6 word story contests? Do you like writing?

That One Book Tag

I'm doing a tag today! Yes it is pretty exciting and awesome. This tag is called That One Book Tag and I was tagged to do it by the wonderful Edie (who I actually interviewed here) so thanks Edie.  Alright so let's get started!

The Rules:

1.Pick one book that really got you into reading

2.Answer the questions

3.Tag at least 3 bloggers to do this tag

The Questions:

1.What book did you choose?

I chose the book The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I of course read before reading this book but this book really started by love for books and helped me find the books I liked.

via

2. What time has passed since you read this book?

Well I read this book in 3rd grade so since I am now going into 6th grade I guess about 2 to 2 and a half years have passed. Wow. It really seems like longer.

3. How did you get to this book? How did you discover it?

I had actually been kind of wanting to read the series for a while and all of my friends said it was so amazing. So when I found it on the shelf of books in one of my teachers classrooms I picked it up and read.

4. What is the name of the main character(s) in the book? 

That would be Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, and Grover Underwood.

via

5. What is this book about?

This book is about Percy Jackson and how he finds out he is a demigod and his quest he goes on with his friends to prevent a war.

6. Can you remember at least 2 side characters?

The 2 I mostly remember would be Chiron and Thalia. Why I remember these 2 more clearly then some others I have no idea.

via

7. Did you like this book or did it disappoint you?

I mean I didn't love the book but I definitely didn't hate it. I think the other books in the series are better though. 

8. Do you want to re-read the book? Would you re-read it?

I mean I would re-read it but there are just so many other books I want to read so I proably won't re-read the book anytime soon.

9. Have you read anything else by this author?

Ummm Yes! Of course I have. Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors of all time. He is amazing. I have read pretty much all of his books except for his new Apollo series.

10. Would you recommend this book?

Totally! I definitely would!

I tag:

Dani

Noor

Rose

Elsie

Nomi

What was the first book you read that really got you into reading? Have you read The Lightning Thief? Do you like it? Do you want to read the Lightning Thief? Did you like this post? Should I do more tags? Do you like tags?

Things To Do In Houston: Watch Thousands of Bats Fly Around at The Waugh Drive Bridge

Can you guess what I did yesterday? I went to see bats! It was a super amazing experience that recommend you do too. I have seen bats before at the zoo and around my house at night but nothing like this before. Today I am starting a new series called Things To Do In Houston (where I live). I will have posts with (as the title says) fun things to do in Houston. Today I am telling you guys about the amazing bats I saw! These bats are so cool.

By the way all of the pictures in this post are mine and I apologize for them being so horrible. The bats were very hard to take photos of.

What will I actually see?

Hundreds and thousands of bats flying in the sky and all around you and under the bridge.

Where are they? 

The bats are under the Waugh Drive Bridge which is in The Buffalo Bayou Park. 

When should I go?

 The bats emerge from their bridge at dusk and around sunset so you should be there about 15-30 minutes before that. The thing is there is not a specific time that they come out so you need to get there a little early so that you are sure you can see the bats. The bats are there all year and don't migrate like a lot of other bats do. 

Those are all bats.

Does it cost money?

It does not cost any money to see the bats. It is completely free.

Do you see that big line of black dots? That is bats.

Is there any parking?

There are a couple parking spots near the bridge but if you go on a weekend they will proably be full so chances are you will have to park on the street.

Is it family friendly?

Definitely! When I went the whole family came with me including my grandparents who moved to Houston a couple days ago. The bats are interesting for all ages. 

  Should I bring anything?

  Nothing is mandatory but I recommend bringing binoculars and wearing shoes and an outfit that is comfy.  

  But remember:

  -Don't throw anything at the bats

  -When the bats are emerging don't stand under the bridge

  -Don't touch the bats

Have you seen bats before? Where was it? Do you want to see bats? Do you think bats are scary? Do you like this post? Should I do more posts like this and continue the series?

Weird Things I Do all the Time

I have noticed that there hasn't been many stuff about me lately on my blog . And so I had to do a post focused on me. Haha.

So many people do many weird things. They could have weird habits or just think other things are fun that some other people do not. I do many many weird things. So I am going to tell you guys the weird things I do. This list has actually been piling in my head for a long time. I hope that this is relatable and fun for you to read. :)

-I watch DIY tutorial videos and then never make the stuff in the video

-I watch hair tutorial videos and then never make the hairstyle

-Sometimes even if I have stuff to do I am to lazy to do it so I end up getting bored

-At restaurants or really any place that I have to sit for a long time and do nothing I look around and try to figure out who everyone is

-If I am reading something really exciting sometimes my eyes will skip over parts and then I will get confused so I have to go back and read it again

-When I am nervous I talk a lot a lot a lot

-All of my food on my plate must be separate and I eat them one by one

-I sit on my hand a lot

-I have an exact certain order I follow in the morning when I am getting ready

-When I am scared to say something I will play the conversation in my head a million times before actually saying it

-I right my posts in a certain order

-When I talk on the phone I move around a lot 

-When people are walking their dogs a lot of times I will say hi to the dogs and not the owners. I don't even like dogs that much!

-When I am happy I will randomly say "yay" really loudly

-I only put ketchup on stuff I don't like

-I hate soggy bread and will not eat it

-I hate chocolate ice-cream but I love most other kinds of chocolate

-When my hair is wet or just really smooth and I touch it a lot

-I talk with my stuffed animals (as if they can here me) with my mind

-I can't sleep on my back

-When I can't sleep I will imagine monsters lurking in the dark corners of my room

-I hum or sing random notes when I either in the car, doing dishes, or just if I am doing work that I find boring and don't want to do

-I chew on random things sometimes

-I never wear socks when I sleep. My feet have to be free!

-At night I plan what I want to get done the next day

-I can not have any part of my body of the bed or else I can't sleep

-I usually just sleep in my cloths that I wore that day and I never wear pajamas

-Whenever there is a mirror around I have to look at myself

-I can't play by myself

-If there is something edible on the counter that I like every time I go by it I take some and eat it

-I wear all of my bracelets on one wrist at all times (you can find out the bracelets that I wear all the time here)

-I move my toes a lot

-I love contests

-A lot of noises like flour against a surface really hurts my ears and I will have to leave the room when I hear them

-I like chewing on straws

-I ask questions when I have nothing to talk about

-If something is supposed to be hot I can't eat them cold and vice versa

-I always have to know what I am eating before I eat it

-Whenever I am listening to something the volume has to be on an even number

-I search my name (and my blogs name) a lot on google

-If I spell a word wrong one time I  always spell it that way without even thinking and I have to retrain my brain to spell it the right way

So did you get weirded out by my list of weird things I do? Maybe? Yes? Possibly?  Haha ok. Also I have decided to turn this into a tag! Yep very exciting. Here are the rules. 

Rules:

Link back to the creator of the tag (me)

Thank the person who tagged you

List 10 weird things you do (you can also list more if you want)

Tag at least 5 other people 

So I tag:

Edie (I actually interviewed her here)

Noor

Dani

Lexie

Megan

Amy

Opal

Allie

Nicole

or anyone who tells me one things they do that's weird in the comments. 

Did you like this post? Should I do more posts about me? Should I do more tags? Do you like tags? Should I make more tags? What are some weird things you do? Do you do any of the weird things I do? What weird things that I do can you relate too? 

How to easily make online friends

Online friends internet friends whatever you want to call them. It does not matter. They are still magical! They are amazing. Friends are pretty much everything ( well exept for family and everything else in the world). Maybe you're saying that you don't need a friend. Wrong! You do!

Why you should have an online friend:

-They will proably get you more. Chances are you found them from a blog that you love or a site. And if they were there then they get it/love it/made it. So you can connect with them.

-You can do this without ever actually talking with someone. I know some people who are really shy or "peoplephobic". With online friends that is ok because you can just type a few words instead of overcoming your fear to talk.

-You won't have to leave your room to make a friend. Like what?? #TheBestThingEver.

-You can start talking and getting together with them easier then an irl friend. Why? You ask. Because with an online friend you can just send an email or a message and if they are on they are there. With an irl friend you can still do that but it is harder and you have to actually leave your room to go see them. #IAmFeelingVeryLazyRightNow.

Convinced yet??? Yes? Ok good. Now there are the 5 steps to easily make friends online.

1. Find the person

You can't just say hi to thin air. You must first find someone who you would like to be friends with. You can do this by browsing blogs and their owners. Or maybe your followers. Or just someone you find really interesting. Also no this would not be considered stalking. 

2. Say hi and approach them

Now to make a friend the person kind of needs to know you are there. After you have found someone just send then an email or message (I personally love and use email or google hangouts) like:

"Hi *inserts person name*! I love your blog and I was wondering if we could talk."

or

"Hey *persons name*! *Your name* here. I think you are just so awesome and I think we could be really awesome friends."

or

"Hi! I saw your post on *inserts post subject* and I thought it was super cool."

or something more simple like:

"Want to talk?"

3. Wait for them to respond

This is proably one of the hardest steps. Just plain waiting. It can get very boring at times. Sometimes people will respond right away (I like to think if they do it is a sign we were meant to be friends) but if they don't it is also ok. People have other things in there lives besides the internet. Also make sure not to get mad at the people if they take a while. I usually give the person around a week and then send another message.

4. Start a conversation

After they have responded (proably with a yes) you have to get a conversation going. Really good conversation starters are questions or just discussions. Here are a couple you can use:

1. "What are your favroite things to do?"
2. Talk about how you liked there latest post (if they are a blogger)

3. Say somethings you like to do.
4. You can talk about something you have been obsessed with lately.
5. Ask the friend advice about something.
6. Tell them something exciting that happened to you lately.

(If you want more conversation starters just tell me down below in comments)

5. Keep talking

After your first conversation you have to keep talking to really stay friends. So do just that. After you guys learn more about each other it will be a lot easier to start conversations. I promise. You can still use the starters above though as well. But if you feel weird or really awkward after talking a lot you guys might just not meant to be friends.

Here's an infographic to sum it all up.

So did you like this post? Do you have a lot of internet friends? Do you like online friends? What are some of your tips for getting friends online? Should I do more friend related posts? 

Interview with Edie from Minty Perfections

I have another interview for you guys today! The last time I did an interview (you can find the post here) I had so much fun I have decided to do it again. This time with the amazing Edie! Lets all welcome her to the stage.

*everyone claps*

Nabila: So Edie my first question for you is would you rathers stay in a hotel or go camping?

Edie: Camp! I love how magical it feels!

Nabila: Being out in nature can feel pretty magical. What are your favroite activities?

Edie: I love to read, write, and fangirl (fangirling is an activity right?)

Nabila: Fangirling is so an activity! What is one thing most people don't know about you?

Edie: I can actually play guitar.

Nabila: That is so cool! I tried learning but failed. What is your favorite book?

Edie: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare.

Nabila: That book sounds cool! Would you rather go back in time a 100 years or go forwards a 100 years?

Edie: Forwards! I really want to see how the world has developed.

Nabila: Haha. So do I. What is your favorite type of food?

Edie: I love pasta actually. I'm nearly a chocoholic!

Nabila: I like pasta too. I'm not sure what chocoholic means though. It sounds like it should be related to chocolate. How old are you?

Edie: I'm 11 years old!

Nabila: Then we are the same age! Yay! What is your dream job?

Edie: I want to be a writer I guess. Or maybe a director.

Nabila: Those both sound cool. What is your blog's name?

Edie: Minty Perfections.

Nabila: Awesome name! What is the meaning behind your blog name?

Edie:  There isn't really too much behind my blog name. I am a really random person.

Nabila: It's ok. There doesn't have to be a meaning. Your name's still awesome. What is your favorite movie?

Edie:  Maybe Allegiant.

Nabila: I haven't watched that but I want too. What is your favroite season?

Edie: Autumn! (fall) I guess that is what all autumn babies say though!

Nabila: Well that is proably true but fall is also an awesome season. What do you love most about blogging?

Edie: For me it just gets thing of my mind. Also, the friendships you make are priceless. I just feel that it's important to be wacky and fangirl.

Nabila: Friendships are amazing. And being wacky is also pretty cool. If you could have any pet (dead, alive, magical, anything), what would it be?

Edie: ummmm...... A pukwudgie! If you don't know what that is, it's this small pixie type animal.

Nabila: That sounds like a really cool pet. If you could talk to any one person (dead, alive) for 30 minutes, who would it be?

Edie: I would talk to Clary Fairchild. Yes I do know that she is a fictional character but we are quite similar.

Nabila: I guess I didn't say anything against fiction characters. So that is all the questions we have today Edie! Thank you so much for coming!

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So make sure to check out Edie's blog here . It is very cool. 

And before I leave I would also love for you guys to check out my new collab blog I am in called The Fangirl Blog.  It is all about fangirls and fangirling and stuff like that. I did my second post here with my favroite Emma Watson quotes. 

So do you know Edie? Have you looked at her blog before? Do you like interviews? Should I do more interviews? Do you want to be interviewed? You can find out how here.  What should I do to improve my interviews?

5 Beach Fashion Essentials for Girls + Checklist

Hey everyone! I have a super super super exciting post today! Actually something centered around the beach. Now since it's summer the beach is the ideal place to be. There is water, there is sand, and there is more water. Pretty much the best thing ever. If you have no idea what to do this summer I totally recomend you go to the beach! And since so many people are going to the beach I decided to do this post and show you guys my top 5 beach fashion essentials for girls. Hope you enjoy!

Flip Flops

Since the beach is usually wet and you're probably going to be walking around a lot you need a shoe that can get wet, doesn't really mean that much to you, you can get anywhere, doesn't cost that much money, and you can comfortably walk in. For me that shoe is definitely flip flops. I absolutely love my flip flops. They are like one of the only shoes I wear during the summer.  Plus if you get plain ones that you don't like as a cute summer project you can glue some jewels or designs on the flip flops and customize them (I would love to see some pictures of your cute new shoes if you do do this).

Beach hat

Now I relize for some people they think that those humongous hats that people wear at the beach are stupid (hint hint my friend) but they are actually very cool and useful. But for someone who is going to be moving around a lot I recommend a baseball cap instead. You can get these at a lot of places and chances are you already have one at home. Plus as I said above with the flip flops, you can easily customize your hat by drawing or painting or gluing stuff on it.

Summer Dress

What dress is lightweight, light colored, and super cute (most of the time)? The answer is a summer dress. You really need to bring a dress like this on your beach vacation. It could be used as a cover up on top of a bathing suit or as just a dress to stroll around in. Plus you would look super cute wearing it! It's a win win to me.

Bathing Suit

The beach means that there is ocean connected to it. And ocean means water. And water means simming and slashing. And swimming means wetness. And wetness means you need a bathing suit. Swimming in the beach water is one of the awesomest things to do at the beach. I love to swim so it's one of the only things I do when I go to the beach. Also if you don't like ocean water chances are that if you are staying at a resort or hotel or something like that they have a pool. Which is another reason to bring a bathing suit. In pretty much all beach cities (is beach cities a thing???) you can easily find swimsuits. It is usually super easy to find your size and even if you don't go in the water you will look super cute just sunbathing on your towel in the sand with your adorable bathing suit on.

Sunglasses

These are so in fashion right now and they are so useful. They keep the sun out of your eyes (mostly), they are easy to carry, and they look cute (if you get the right ones). But I would recommend you not bringing that pair that you spent 20$ on. Why? Because chances are after maybe a week long trip they are either going to be lost, broken, torn in half, drowned, or buried. So instead of bringing your expensive ones you just should get a less expensive pair (from places like the 99c store or walmart) to bring on your trip.

And to make it easier for you guys when you are going on a trip I have a super awesome infographic checklist. Here it is!

Isn't it cute?

I like really really really want to go to the beach and have a vacation right now. This post just got me in the mood. One place I really want to go to is the Florida beach. The sand is supposed to be amazing. If you want to go on an amazing vacation of your own I totally recommend you check out this awesome list of cool vacation spot ideas. 

So did you like my post? Have you ever gone to a beach before? Are you planning on going this summer? Where are you going to go? What do you bring with you to the beach? What are some beach essentials that I missed? Do you like the beach? What do you like about the beach? 

How to use pinterest to dramatically grow your blog

Do you have a pinterest account? If so I would absolutely love to follow you so just drop your name down below in the comments (mine is Nabila9123). But also if you do have a pinterest account you should be using it to promote your blog, It is an amazing platform to use that seriously works. I personally love it. In this post I am going to show you how to use pinterest to grow and promote your blog.

Pin a lot a lot a lot

If you want to get more pinterest followers you have to pin a lot of stuff. And you need more pinterest followers so that more people can go to your blog through pinterest. Do you get my logic? I recommend 15-30 pins per day. I know this can be hard sometimes but if you set aside about 5 minutes every day to pin stuff on pinterest you can get it done easily.  

Set up Rich Pins for your blog

Once you set up rich pins under every pin that you pin from your site will have your url and icon under it. This makes it a lot easier for people to go to your blog from the pin. Still confused? You can go to my Hot Town Cool Girl board to see what I mean. I don't think I am going to tell you how to set it up on this post but if you want another post on how to set up rich pins feel free to tell me in a comment down below. You can go to here to find out how. 

Make your images pinnable

What I mean by this is make your images on your blog pinnable. This mean they should be going up, be good quality, and have text. I try to do this in at least one of my images per post in something I like to call the title image. Here are some examples:

 I recommend you doing this in your posts because it makes you look more professional and if you pin the images people are more likely to go back to your post then if you just pinned an image with no text.

Verify your blog

This is something that is absolutely a must and it is super easy. All you have to do is go to your profile and then press the edit button. Then at the bottom of the edit profile pop up there should be a place where you can put your blog url. Do that and then press the confirm website button. Then it should tell you to add something to your blog. After you add it just press finish and then your blog url will show up in your profile.

Add the pin it button to your blog 

If you have a pin it button that means that whenever someone puts their mouse over an image on your blog a button will come up that they can press that pins the image. It is a super awesome way to get your followers to pin stuff for you. Then if they do pin stuff there will be more of your pins floating around pinterest.

All you have to do is go to your profile then press the button with the metal looking thing with should bring down a drop-down menu with "make a widget" as one of the options. Just press that button and then it should bring you to another screen. After that it is exactly like adding a profile widget which I showed you guys how to do here.  

Pretty much just press the save button button and then copy the text it tells you to copy and put it into a html gadget on your blog.

If you want a full post on this just tell me in the comments. 

Create a board specifically for your blog 

Every time you have a post you should pin it to this board first. It would be called your blog name. This helps people find your blog specifically.

Use a lot of good images in your blog posts

This helps people have more stuff to pin which = more pins from your blog to pinterest = more people from pinterest to your blog . If you don't like taking photos yourself though that is fine. I actually did a whole post I recommend you read listing a bunch of different sites that have free images which you can find here. 

Include a call to action at the end of your pin descriptions 

For all pins you pin from your site you should add a call to action at the end of the description. Here are some things you could say:

"Do you want to find out more? Then go to *inserts website url*" 

"Go to *insert website url* to find out more!"

Here is a little infographic to sum it all up:

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Again as always I would love for you to pin and share my post with your friends. It really makes my day when you do and it helps me grow my blog. 

But before I leave I have two pretty special announcements. My first announcement is that I got tied with two other people for the original content award in the blogger choice awards. Yes it is pretty exciting! But since I was tied there is a poll going on to see who actually wins the award. I would absolutely love if you could vote for me you guys! The poll is on the sidebar of this blog. Also while I am on the subject a shoutout to my awesome friend Dani Jones (she's awesome) for winning the The Best Choice Newbie Blogger!

And my second announcement is that I am at 49 followers! Which is like so amazing! 49 is only one away from 50 and when I get 50 followers I might have a humongous surprise for you guys (like hopefully a giveaway hint hint). So if I get just one more follower it will happen (maybe).

So did this post help you? What are your other tips for using pinterest to grow your blog? Did you find this post helpful? Do you have a pinterest account? If so I would love for you to leave your name down below in the comments.