Pocket Wonders

Your Creative Sidekick | Crafts, Design, DIY

The List

thelist

If you’ve read about me, you’ll notice that I have a large variety of interests. I write about a lot of subjects, but the list is ever-growing and evolving. So here I present to you all of the blog and personal goals I have that I am actively working towards completing. You may recognize some of them from my old list.

Last updated: February 9, 2016

SKILLS

Read and understand a book in Romanian
Read 500 books (using Goodreads to track)
Learn how to ballroom dance
Learn how to Salsa dance
Learn how to properly use my DSLR
Learn how to watercolour paint
Crochet a Pusheen doll
Cook a dish from each of the following cuisines: Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French
Make macarons

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New Year, New Perspective

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When I came back to the world of blogging a couple of months ago, I had one thing in mind: I wanted to make money from doing something I loved.

Over the last few weeks however, I noticed myself becoming tired, and writing posts started to feel like “work”. Don’t get me wrong, blogging full-time is a lot of work. But by “work”, I’m talking about feeling like you don’t want to get up in the morning because you don’t like your job. I remember what that felt like. It was the whole reason I was pursuing this to begin with.

The issue was, I was approaching everything from a business perspective and it was making me unhappy. I was focused on monetizing instead of passion. So yesterday, I re-aligned my goals and expectations for Pocket Wonders. I want to write and share things with my readers that makes me smile.

Something you should know about me is that I have a very wide range of interests. So you’ll begin seeing a lot of different things on Pocket Wonders. This means that for the first time, I’m writing about my geeky side.

I hope that you enjoy reading them as much as I do writing them. 🙂

 

Review and How to Play: 7 Wonders Duel [2 player game]

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When I was looking for the best board games to purchase, the most frustrating thing for me was finding how-to-plays on them without watching an hour long play through or having to read the full instructions online. So I’ve taken it upon myself to summarize in text (and possibly in video in the future) to make it simple to read about and understand without having to spend too much time on it.

In our house, 7 Wonders is the most played game we own. So when I heard that 7 Wonders Duel was released, we jumped to buy it.

Number of Players: 2

Playing Time: 30-60 mins

Game type: Competitive/Strategy Game

How to win: Get the most victory points at game end*

*there are scenarios that end the game earlier but are difficult to achieve

If you’re familiar with the original 7 Wonders, this game is a breeze to pick up. Whether you’re playing it for the first time or are a 7 Wonders veteran, I’ve summarized how-to-plays for both scenarios.

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70+ Advent Calendar Ideas for the boyfriend or husband

70 Advent Calendar or Stocking Stuffer Ideas for the Boyfriend or Husband
Are you looking for advent calendar or stocking stuffer ideas for your boyfriend or husband?  You’ve come to the right place!

Update: The original advent calendar list was from 2015. I’ve recently updated this to include advent calendar ideas for 2020 and will be continuously adding as ideas come.

I have a tradition in my house. Every year, I do an advent calendar of small wrapped gifts for my boyfriend, now husband. Last year’s advent calendar was only “13 days of Christmas”. This year I did 25 days of Christmas. I thought I’d share what sort of things I’ve wrapped up (including ideas that I didn’t use). These would also make great stocking stuffers or Valentine’s Day gifts for him.

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10 Ways to Save Money on Groceries

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If you’re like me, you think that you spend too much money on groceries. Most of the time when I buy groceries, I find I’m the worst offender at over-buying which causes me to throw out a lot of food a week later. Over the years I’ve worked very hard at cutting my bad habits of over-buying and wasting food. Here’s a list that’s worked for me to cut my grocery bill by 20%.

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4 Days in Paris

paris

Ah Paris. You stole my heart years ago when I found out about macaroons, La vie en rose and you being the city of love. It was with complete joy that I was able to visit you in the Fall of 2015.

This article has the following:

  1. My 4 day trip to Paris including feedback on what I liked and didn’t like. Note: This was more of a 3 day Paris with 1 day of travel.
  2. Tips and tricks I learned while I was there (great info for anyone planning on visiting!)
  3. Lots of pictures

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How to make a Viral Website

Many of you might have noticed posts showing up on your Facebook from sites like ViralNova, BoredPanda or ViralThread. You may have also heard of ViralNova’s success.  You might be wondering how to repeat it. I tried it. And here are the findings.

First I did my research and came across Viperchill’s post about how to reach 100 million unique visitors in 6 months. The post was very insightful but I realized as indicated in the post, the information was very time sensitive.

Here’s the findings of ViralNova’s website:

  • All of the content was taken from other websites
  • The site was run on WordPress and had a paid WordPress theme (use our reader coupon code ThemeShopPW60 for 60% off)
  • Each post had a clickbait title
  • Targeted social media channels (primarily Facebook)

A look at ViralNova’s website in the early days:

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