Hello everyone! I’m Alicia, a student, social media addict and blogger at River City Chic. River City Chic is a personal style blog I started after moving to the lovely capital of the South over a year ago. I’m originally from Northern Virginia, and I went to school in Philadelphia for a couple years and interned for a couple fashion companies in New York City before relocating to Richmond in the fall of 2011.
One of my favorite things about Richmond is the unique fashion scene it has. After living up and down the Mid-Atlantic, I can honestly say that Richmond has it’s own sense of style like none other.
For the many RVA fashionistas out there, RVA Fashion Week is hosting A Winter Galaon December 13th from 7:30-9:30 PM at Flames 231. This unique event will feature a cocktail hour and fashion show, with a portion of ticket proceeds going to Dress for Success.
Dress for Success is an organization that strives to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.
The fashion show will showcase some of the hottest winter trends, with clothing from local boutiques Pink, Roan and Phoenix and designers Jennifer Carpenter & Brittany Covington. Still models will be a virtual display of amazing shoes, jewelry & hair provided by Champagne & Shoes, Random by Ciera and hair by VIP Salon & Salon Vivace.
There will be performances by Ameera & an afterparty with DJ M.A.S.S. Fx.
Tickets are available for purchase on the RVA Fashion Week website and include a complimentary drink and light hors d’oeuvres. You must purchase a ticket and have it with you to gain entry to the event.
I hope to see some of you there! This is a one of a kind event for a great cause. If you can’t make it out, make sure to check out River City Chic for a recap of this fashion packed evening.
Hello, blogging world. I am the proud contributor of grub like a girl.
Hello there
I’ve always cherished good food; the restaurants that serve it, the energy around enjoying it, and blogs dedicated to talking about it. In the past (pre-grub like a girl), I’d been blogaking (blog-stalking) other food critic articles and blogs and their take on dishes and restaurants. After moving to Richmond from Texas in 2011, I decided I’d give it my own whimsical shot. In June 2011, I went for brunch, came home, and wrote about my experience … in my own quirky way, of course.
The premise is a person (me) discovering the old and new restaurants, food trends, and quirks in Richmond. Although the name “grub like a girl” may come off sweet and appealing only to female readers, I assure you my blog is gender-less and can charm any type of reader…unless people who don’t like food, then we have a problem.
On a personal side, my real name is Bethany. Besides keeping my blog stayin’ strong, I’m take up residence with my partner and two pups in the West End suburbia (we’re actually looking to move to downtown or Lakeside area in the next year…I couldn’t be any happier). I work full time, dabble in painting, keep healthy by running, and discover new indie music that eventually goes mainstream (sigh).
Although I may not be grammatically correct (I prefer it that way actually) or post sporadically (schedule-less) my blog is my baby, with nourishment and balanced attention I’ve created something that people actually read… unless my stats are playing tricks on me.
My blog is predominantly restaurant reviews but on occasion I’ll post about other foodie related things, like my recent trip to Carter Mountain…
Heaven.
This has become my Fall Sanctuary.
Virginians flock every Autumn weekend to this mini-mountain. By afternoon, Carter Mountain swarms with hip locals and awkward [overexcited] suburbanites; a hodgepodge of personalities that could easily inspire a SNL skit.
The joy of picking apples is like finding gold. Children run through the orchards grabbing un-ripe green apples and yanking them from trees. Little do they know the apples they’ve picked will make their little mouths pucker with overwhelming bitterness. Their jaded joy and silliness makes it A-ok.
Adults elicit more excitement and determination than the kids. Personally, I can’t resist smiling when I’ve found a perfect red, ripe apple. I even adore the sound of the snap when it’s plucked from a branch. Simple sounds like this can make the soul satisfied.
My lady and I failed to remember that trudging through the orchard is comparable to a mini-hike. We were quickly reminded when her Toms and my un-broken-in cowboy boots became uncomfortable.
I spy something red.
We picked around 25 apples (Staymans and Winesaps), grabbed a few jars of apple butter, a dry apple crisp mix, and half a dozen apple cider donuts. We grabbed an early dinner in the downtown mall and headed home. After getting back to our casa, I immediately gravitated towards the kitchen to put my freshly picked apples to work. Apple Pie, baby.
Here’s the recipe I used, it was a little simple so I snazzed it up a little…
Ingredients:
Guilty…refrigerated pie crusts 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup unsalted buttah 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 tbsp Mexican Vanilla
1/2 cup white sugar 8 Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar 1 egg
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with other pie crust pinching the edges, if you’re feeling real fancy pants, try a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F, brush pie pastry with beaten egg (sometimes I mix with a little milk and sugar). Wrap foil around edges to prevent crumbly burnt outer crust. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.
4. Let sit and cool until you can’t take it anymore. Slice, share, and enjoy.
Today’s guest blogger, Keenya, from Keenya Kelly, is a blogger with a crazy about of energy, drive, an entrepreneurial spirit! Today, she wants to share a look at her journey to where she is today!
Nine months ago, I stepped out on FAITH and started my business Keenya Kelly LLC. I always knew that I would be a business owner one day, but was never 100% sure what that business would be and how I would actually get it started. 3 years ago this month I decided to stop chemically treating my hair and to see what my hair would look like as it grew, and of course with that came a set of problems that I wasn’t quite prepared for.
For most of my life I was taught to stay away from water, use this product and this blah blah blah, so when my new hair began to grow, I thought I could use the same methods and still obtain great results. WRONG!! And with learning how wrong I was birthed utter frustration. I had to call a few friends whom had previously undertaken the same process to get tips and tricks. There were so many supposed tips and tricks that it sorta paralyzed me for a little while and I just stuck with gels for about 6 months, Finally my old roommate recommended that I visit some sites on YouTube.com and really get a better understanding of the process I had embarked upon.
I must say that the videos were VERY helpful and kept me from chemically treating my hair again, as that was next on the agenda. I watched videos for over a year and really began to get a hold of the hair that was growing on my head…but then my sales/marketing background began to kick into gear. I realized I wasn’t the only woman who had undergone this journey, but that there were thousands of women on the same path and really confused as to what to do, so 2 1/2 years into my journey birthed Keenya Kelly LLC and Return of the Curls.
It has always been a true passion of mine to help women with overcoming self-esteem issues, feelings of self-doubt, unworthiness..starting with their appearance. I think a number of women are always in competition with other women, trying to look like the images we see on television, then trying to portray this image to their jobs/friends and trying to please some men who really have no idea what they want or need in a woman…so this breeds a lot of problems in the long run.
So as a result of having this beating passion and a need for caring for my own hair, I started my company and haven’t looked back sense. I knew starting, owning and running a business would be time consuming, but did I know HOW time consuming?? HECK NO!! Some days I wake up and after praying and reading the bible, its around 7:30 am and I work until at 12 am…yes you read it right AM!!! Now I do take a break for lunch and for dinner, but its been quite a little while since I’ve ate breakfast at breakfast time and really worked an 8 hour day. Am I mad about it? Not at all!!
I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world.
How do I balance my life with my company? I have a personal philosophy that if you work your business like a job for 5-7 years then you will never work that hard EVER again. Before leaving my job I woke up this early and headed to the office and didn’t arrive home until around 6pm, so I figured if I could do this for someone else, then I could definitely do it for myself. Now typically after each show I take a day or a few days off to recuperate and do NOTHING business related, but I end up doing work any way unless Ive planned an out of town trip.
Now this event we are having in a few days
wasn’t quite as labor intensive as my summer Expos, but right after this event is over, I will begin working on America’s Next Top Model with CW Richmond and all of my 2013 schedule. It seems like a lot, but its such a blessing to be able to do it from home, while watching Food Network or HG TV all at the same time.
If you were to ask me how do you start a business my best advice is:
1. Find what you would do for the rest of your life if you never received any compensation for it
2. Find a TRUE need in the marketplace and research your audience to see if they would pay for what you are offering
3. If the time is right and God is telling you and giving you the grace to do so…then ladies & gentlemen start your engines.
I am so excited to have the opportunity to guest blog here at Virginia is for Bloggers today! If you are interested in my backstory, read a little more about me here. I had SO many ideas for this and had to narrow them down or we’d be here till Christmas! I finally decided to write something that would appeal to you all directly.
Being a fellow blogger, I know how important photos are to telling your story. With me, photos are the main attraction since my topic is photography. But no matter what your blogging topic is, photos are equally important. There is nothing better than using photos to tell a story or show an example of how to do something. But if that photo is not clear, fuzzy, or too dark, it will do more harm than good.
In addition to photography, I am also an upcycler. I am always perusing DIY or upcycling blogs for ideas and “how to” info. I find there is nothing more frustrating than looking at a photograph and having to spend time trying to decipher what is going on in that photo. If I can’t tell at first glance, it misses the mark.
Let me use ETSY.com as an example. When you log onto ETSY, you are filled with beautiful images that are amazingly staged and properly photographed. Even if the item is something I don’t have the least bit of interest in, I find myself wanting it because it just looks so amazing. The same should be true when you are blogging. You want to use your photographs as tools to help tell your story, but to also engage your readers to want to spend more time on your blog and to come back again and again.
Top Five Tips for Improving Photography in Your Blog
Tip #1 ~ Turn off that flash!! Get outdoors and photograph your item or use natural light, like from a window. If your flash is trying to kick on, you don’t have enough light. You don’t need a fancy camera ~ even a camera phone can take decent photos ~ just remember to turn off that flash!
United States Botanic Gardens, DC
ISO 100 ~ 60mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/125 sec
Tip #2 ~ Use an interesting perspective. Get lower than your item or maybe stand up on a chair or a ladder and get higher than your item. Maybe photograph part of the item rather than the whole thing to create interest.
Restoration Project, VA
ISO 100 ~ 41mm ~ f/5.0 ~ 1/60 sec
Tip #3 ~ Find your focal point. If you are using a DSLR, you can switch to manual focus to make sure your focal point is dead on. If you are using a point and shoot, typically it is set to focus on the middle of the photo. Most point and shoots )and DSLRs) have a focus lock. Press the shutter halfway with your focal point in the center and then re-frame your image to your liking. When you are happy with the composition, fully depress the shutter. When you do this your item should be in focus even if it is not in the center of the photo.
Belvedere Plantation, Fredericksburg, VA
ISO 100 ~ 60mm ~ f/3.5 ~ 1/1250 sec
Tip #4 ~ Use the rule of thirds. This is not something to follow exclusively, but a good guideline to keep in mind when composing your photo. It creates well balanced and visually pleasing photos that will have your reader coming back for more.
Empire State Building, New York, NY
ISO 100 ~ 28mm ~ f/11 ~ 1/50 sec
Tip #5 ~ Be creative and have FUN! Don’t be afraid to think out of the box. Find things around the house to use in your photos to create more interest to your item. If you are shooting outdoors, look for things to create a pop of color. Or maybe use a wide open aperture to isolate only a small part of the object (as pictured below). I usually have a stash of tricks in my camera bag to pull out when I want to add a little more to the photo such as a mirror or a brightly colored scarf ~ you never know when they will come in handy.
United States Botanic Garden, DC
ISO 100 ~ 60mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/1600 sec
If you improve your photos they will help your blog stand out above the rest!
If you are interested in following my blog click here or follow me on facebook. I also have a website and an ETSY store. And for those fellow instagrammers, follow me @travelingheartsphotography.
Valerie has just what your sweet-tooth has been asking for, with this recipe for that could be considered breakfast… or dessert. (Hey, nothing wrong with dessert for breakfast.)
