Hello, Summer (and Italy)

So this is exciting. This summer I will be studying abroad in Venice, Italy, land of the 20 million tourists. I don’t speak  a word of Italian (YET), but I’m looking forward to learning it. As fast as possible. Also on my to-do list: avoiding tourist rip offs, avoiding tourists (impossible, I know), and pretending I’m not a tourist. (You see, I loathe tourism.)

Anyways, given:

a) my propensity to sometimes neglect this blog (sorry)

b) the fact that Venice is gorgeous and full of history which is often overshadowed by its tourism industry, and

c) that Venice is probably on the eventual travel checklists of most normal individuals (if not — what’s wrong with you?),

I will be blogging about my experience at least once a week, posting photos and hopefully providing some tips on how to see the real Venice, not just the side reserved exclusively for unwitting, non-Italian-speaking Western tourists. (Disclaimer: this is contingent on whether or not I can convince anyone that I’m not a tourist…which is partially untrue, but I am there to study! So it’s, like, different, right?)

See you back here in a week or so. Ciao!

Year Two: A Reflection on Blogging

I definitely dropped the ball on this one, but Prada for Breakfast is two years old as of July 29th. It’s now almost December (so really it’s almost two and half years?)… and to be perfectly honest, I realize that I haven’t taken this blog as far as I could have in the time that I’ve been posting. I’m a bit sporadic, and if you’ve been reading long enough to notice, I am thoroughly impressed. I wish this is something I could change, but when blogging ends up feeling like a chore (which it inevitably does, from time to time), hiatuses abound. However, I do hope to post much more consistently in the future.

My blog is also a bit unfocused, which I’ve been told is bad for blogging and traffic, or whatever. I just can’t find it in myself to limit my blog to one avenue — be it travel, food, or style — because my own interests are scattered so far across the board. In many ways, this blog is a reflection of myself and what I find intriguing or beautiful — and it would almost seem like a false representation of who I am if I were to constrain Prada for Breakfast to one niche.

I’ve been fairly busy over these past months, from continuing to study Arabic abroad and keeping up with classes and extracurriculars. But although this blog has, admittedly, not been one of my top priorities at times, it has been something that I have loved doing. I plan on picking right back up where I left off, and you can expect more posts with a heavier emphasis on topics like travel, photography, and culture… I will still post about style, but those posts will probably be kept to a minimum. (NB: When I post about fashion, I like to keep things a little more substantive.)

Regardless, I won’t bore you with a long post. (And I would be surprised if anyone actually read through all that.) But this is just to let you know that I’m back, and am hoping to take this blog in a direction that will emphasis post quality over quantity, and supply you with interesting things to read and beautiful photographs to look at — hopefully provoking some thoughtful discussion along the way.

Thank you for reading; I truly appreciate the support of anyone who takes the time to click through my blog.

Notes From A Year of Blogging

{Chocolate Malted and Toasted Marshmallow Layer Cake | Semisweetie}

Today marks the one-year blog-versary of Prada for Breakfast! It’s been a fun, albeit sporadic, year, with lapses in posting that I’m sure have driven away readers and bugged the few of you who have come here consistently. But I want to humbly thank everyone who has taken the time out of their day to look through my little blog for a few minutes — it’s really an honor, and every single comment I get, whether negative or positive, truly makes my day.

I would like to share some highlights from this year of blogging at Prada for Breakfast.

• Getting featured on Freshly Pressed (WordPress.com’s daily selection of posts from WordPress blogs) for DIY: Bulletin Board Chic was such an honor! It was really a surreal experience for me.
• I received a couple blog awards that I didn’t quite get the chance to post on, so I’ll list them here! First of all, thank you to Nina at Through Tinted Glass for the Versatile Blogger Award. And, second, thank you to Hannah at Mademoiselle Hannah for the Stylish Blogger Award! I’m honored — these awards really mean so much to me.
• All the fantastic bloggers I’ve met during my time blogging at Prada for Breakfast — you guys are my biggest inspiration and are so supportive! (You know who you are.)
• Expanding my horizons. Posting in the blogosphere really opens your mind to different creative ideas and opinions. I’ve experienced this looking through other fantastic blogs, but also writing for my own and getting responses. Even the negative comments are great to get — I’m one of those people that likes to get critical and honest feedback, as it will help me grow in the long run.
• Baking more! As you probably know, I post primarily on Prada for Breakfast about fashion, art, and food. And writing here has also inspired me to try more recipes to share, so I’ve had plenty of goodies in the house the past year.
• Writing a couple opinions posts. I’ve had lots of fun writing for this blog, but these posts were by far my favorites to work on. I don’t think they tend to be as popular because people don’t like to read super long posts (so if you’re still with me, good for you!), and there is, I think, a general expectation that fashion-oriented blogs will have brief posts and lots of photos. But for those who did read my two opinions posts, I really thank you for your time. Even if I don’t always fall on the popular side of a debate, it always feels great to get my thoughts out there. If you’re interested, you can check out both the posts: The September Issue and America’s Cupcake Obsession.

I don’t want to ramble on forever, so I’ll cut this post short now. But please leave me feedback on how I did this year! I know I wasn’t totally consistent with posting, that’s for sure — but what else could I work on? What were your favorite and least favorite posts? What would you like to see more of? Leave me a report card!

P.S. Doesn’t that cake look fantastic? Hopefully I’ll be able to try this one out soon…

My New Year’s Resolution: Post at Least Once a Week

For 2011, WordPress has launched the Post Every Day Challenge to encourage bloggers to become more active in the blogosphere. They’re also supplying bloggers with daily inspiration and blogging tips at the new blog for the challenge, The DailyPost. Posting once every day is, well, impossible for me, but they also launched the Post A Week challenge, so I’ll be signing up for that! I think it’s a great way to get on a posting schedule and also get bloggers more involved with the community. You should consider the challenge, even if you’re not on WordPress!

Here’s my pledge.

I’ve decided I want to blog more. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now.  I will be posting on this blog once a week for all of 2011.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similiar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.

Signed,

Halie

What are your resolutions for 2011?

{Source: photobucket}