SOCIAL MEDIA

Keeping Your Online Presence Protected

Jul 27, 2015



This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Reputation Rhino for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
As a blogger, one thing that I really have to be careful about is my online reputation. Not only for myself but also my brand. Being careful about what I post, mention and am associated with is an intergral part of managing my online reputation because I want this blog to grow into something that companies won't be afraid to work with. What I say and post on the internet never goes away, so keeping that in mind helps me keep things on the safe side.
If you're someone looking for a high profile job, or one that demands a level or morality and have had a wild side that you were more than free about sharing, Reputation Rhino is a company that is willing to help. They say that they can remove negative content from search results, online complaints, and any negative press that was libelous. 
If you need to find out if a company like Reputation Rhino is what you need, check out this article from Business.com.  This is something that can be helpful for both you are your company. As of now, if I Google My Fascination Street or my name, I’m the first ones that pop up. One, because my blog name, while it’s derived from a song, has an extra word that isn’t associated with it. And my name pops up first because it’s very uncommon. But as the article states, it’s important to have an online presence, know what the competition is, and be ready to tackle any issues to become the first thing that pops up on a search. You also want to see what negative things are being said about you/your company because that way you can tackle those things head on. 
As a brand that offers products or services, reviews are everything and people are not afraid to give them. Negative reviews are more prominent than positive ones and need to be addressed as quickly as they are discovered. These Forbes.com  and CIO.com articles says it all when they wrote that reputation is everything. There are tons of places in my neighborhood that I won’t frequent because of the bad reviews. I know some people can be a bit sensitive and some situations weren’t that bad, but when a company doesn’t address them, or comments on them in an attempt to make it right, it gives me the impression that they don’t care.
Again, just like in high school, reputation is everything and in the online world, it’s all we have. Protecting it, and making sure that your brand or yourself has a positive online presence is the key to getting ahead. So put down those selfies, don’t post controversial things on public forums and make use of Reputation Rhino if you want to ensure that negative things don’t start popping up!
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Creating an Editorial Calendar

Jul 24, 2015

gotta love my Refinery29 calendar

Makeup, clean eating, fashion, skincare, decor, travel...mostly all bloggers are cursed with the same thing:un-writers block. We have so much that we want to write about that we end up writing about nothing. While I was away for a few weeks I was able to squeeze out just a handful of posts instead of the one a day that I promised myself I would push for. I really did want to write everyday and I would get up at 10am and sit in front of my laptop waiting for the words to pour out of my fingertips but I instead spent that time on Gchat and Facebook. Whoops!

That's when I realized that I'm not a freestyle writer and need guidance. I love all things related to beauty but without having some thing to sit down and write about I get totally lost and very easily distracted. Plus, I need time to get things ready for a post. I need to take nice pics, think about what direction I want the post to be in, etc. I follow so many blogs that have a great flow and consistency and one of the things I started to notice was that they find good ways to mix up their favorite topics so a reader won't see three straight pages of workout tips if that's not the sole focus of the blog.

So towards the end of my trip I  spoke to Jenniffer about this dilemma and we decided that a posting schedule was in order. We really want to push My Fascination Street into something that people are eager to check constantly because they like the updated (and super cool posts) so we came up with an insane posting schedule. With her taking time off from work to apply to med schools and me planning to take off work in a few weeks we figured this would be a great time to start. We sat down, came up with a plan and are pretty confident that we can make it work. 

The first thing we had to do was figure out how much time we were actually able to commit to the site per day. It takes me about 1-2 hours to write a great post, pics included, so we couldn't commit to writing 5-7 posts a day each. We settled on 3-6 in total. Starting low, but not too low, seemed doable with our schedules. 

The next thing we did was figure out what topics we wanted to cover, and were able to cover well. We don't want content on this blog, we want engaging content that's written well, so we had to stay within our specialties. Settling on beauty, cooking, decor and travel works for us because we both travel and cook extensively and while she's great at decorating my expertise is beauty. 

My favorite part came next. Creating an excel sheet! I adore spreadsheets and if I could make one for every aspect of my life, I totally would! What we did here was color code the dates (oh yea, we went there!) and then wrote down whatever topic we felt we could cover on a given day along with a little summary of what the post would actually be about.

A snippet of our brainstorming idea

After 3-4 days of going back and forth and figuring out what went when and who would write what we finally came up with something that we think we can work with. I plan on spending this coming weekend getting a head start so that by the time August 1st comes I'll be a few days, or at least one day, ahead of schedule. It's wishful thinking, but we're really on a roll so we want to keep riding that momentum and I'm pretty sure we can!


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Spoiling My Furry Little Friend

Jul 13, 2015
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #AmorBeneful #CollectiveBias

Molly getting spoiled in the west coast!

Even though I spend about 10 months out of the year in Los Angeles I like to think that I'm bicoastal. I spend a decent amount of time in NYC during the summer months and have been sent over to work on a few occasions. While I'm here in New York I not only spend time with my family and friends but I get to be with Molly, the adorable Maltese mix that I spoil rotten. Even though she obviously gets taken care of while I'm away I tend to treat her like royalty when I'm in town. I give her long, dreaded baths, I make sure she's played with, gets enough outdoor time and that she eats well. Blame the Latina nurturer in me! I seriously make sure that she's had her morning run before I even have coffee. If that's not love, I don't know what is!

As I do almost weekly when I'm in LA or NYC I went to Target to get things that I needed for myself and grabbed the Beneful Incredibites for Molly, along with some other awesome things for her. The timing couldn't be better because she was recently on somewhat of a hunger strike because she was just not into the last massive bag of food that was purchased for her and nothing in the world was making her gravitate towards her bowl unless I threw in some human food in there which she loves because I am such a sucker for her.

My prima hermana Jenniffer joining me at Target

Beneful Incredibites with Real Chicken

When I went to Target with my cousin Jenniffer I made sure to stop at the pet section to grab her some food, new shampoo and whatever extras I could find to spoil her. Along with getting her the Beneful Incredibites (which she loves the taste of), due to the fact that they're made with real meat, is healthy for her and are a good size for Molly's small mouth, I grabbed her Pet Head's Oatmeal Natural Shampoo and Oster's Cologne Spray which smells like heaven!

Sometimes you just have to have a spa day!


I seriously forget how much I love to spoil this pup and every time I have to head back to LA I want to bring her with me.  The only thing stopping me is that my apartments have never allowed pets. So in the meantime I'll just have to make sure that she gets all the loving that she can from her step mama by way of being pampered until I get back in a few months.
Queen Molly

Don't forget to use the Cartwheel app for this special offer from Target and Beneful:

And check out their In-Store Demo's at Targets around the LA area on August 22, 2015 from 11-4pm! They will be giving free samples as well as flyers with $2 coupons

Also, there will be special events around the LA area for your furry little friends! And the coolest thing is that there's going to be an Instagram vending machine there!



 Learn more about Beneful Incredibites on their Mobile Site on your smartphone or on their Desktop Site when using your home computer. You can also verify product availability at Target.com

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Making My Favorites Clothes Last with Shout!

Jul 10, 2015
Thank you Shout® for sponsoring this post. Have you experienced a new type of stain? Tell Shout® about it on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.



Ever since moving to Los Angeles and developing a new and healthy lifestyle, I find myself
dealing with a few things that I never had to before. One of those being new stains thanks to
using items that I've never thought to eat before like kale, chard, carrots (yes I know!), celery
and even beets. Needless to say I've had to find ways to keep my clothes from getting
permanent stains during the preparation process of my juicing when I had these at home or if I
ordered one from many of the juice bars located here in LA since it is the new “it” stain for me
and many people that I know.

Thankfully Shout® has come to my rescue! I can use these products to help me to treat stains
ASAP or whenever I go to do the washing a few days later.

Shout® has been a household name for years and has a reputation for working extremely well.
Their line of products not only help treat old familiar stains like mud  or grass but the newer “it”
stains that are popping up like kale and sriracha. As a Blogger that's trying to move her blog a
bit more towards food I have to make sure I cook a lot and also look really cute while doing so
for my photo ops but I can't risk permanent stains on some of my favorite clothes just to get a
nice picture. They give me me the freedom to dress as fashionable as I want to without fearing a
stain because fashionistas have trusted this brand for years to help them maintain some of their
favorite items stain- free.

Not only have they saved me in terms of getting rid of stains, but I’m the kind of person that was
never huge on separating my whites from my colors and I don’t really have tons of time to sit at
home doing laundry. Thankfully the Shout® Color Catcher® sheets were brought into my life in
order to help catch bleeding colors from my clothes and I’m not afraid to do one mixed load
anymore.



My all time favorite product from the entire Shout® line are the on-the-go Shout® Wipes. During
my day job I have a lot of client interaction and nothing would be more embarrassing or
detrimental than going into a meeting with a stain.



Having Shout® products on hand makes me less afraid of cooking, gardening or just eating in
outfits that I treasure because I know that I’ll be able to get rid of the stains without a problem!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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Being Prepared During Summer Travels

Jul 9, 2015





Oh summer. Even though I live in sunny SoCal and we have the luxury of the sun almost every single day I still get excited when the summer months kick in. To me that signifies the end of half of my family working and my yearly trips to see them and my friends. I normally take 3 weeks to a month off to go to New York City and/or Europe and always have the time of my life. 

One thing I was worried about during this trip though was getting sick. I can blame a pending milestone birthday for that or it can just be that my body is changing and is just more prone to things affecting it. Just this year alone I had a cold that lasted over a month and a weird nerve pain in one leg that required tons of checking out. So this has me wanting to be prepared for anything that can come up while I’m on vacation (and at home!). 



Having supplemental insurance for accidents is the way to go. My cousin has been touting Aflac for the past year and with good reason. She was focused on their maternity disability insurance but their individual accident insurance is a really great idea as well. In reality I don’t have a large cushion to help cover my expenses in case I get injured in any way and their accident insurance is pretty cool. It not only helps to cover medical expenses (hello crazy co-pays) but it can also assist with transportation and lodging. If something happens to me where I have to change my flight because I can’t travel I’ll be kind of screwed if I don’t have the extra money to change my flight or rebook all together. 



The most important reason to have this supplemental insurance though would be if anything happens to my mouth! The insurance supplied by my company (and any other that I’ve ever had through a job) doesn’t cover dental and ever since I had my Invisalign my teeth have never been the same. They’re really sensitive and I’m afraid any little thing, like biting into an apple straight on, will crack one, so it’s nice to know I’ll be covered for anything happening to my pretty little mouth thanks to Aflacs Accident Insurance.


I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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The Little Market Finds

Jul 2, 2015
The Little Market Finds



The Little Market came to my attention a few months ago thanks to my love of all things that have to do with my style icon, Lauren Conrad. I follow tons of home decor accounts on Instagram because I like to discover little pieces that will help me in my shabby chic obsession so when I started seeing things from The Little Market I had to find out all that I could about it.

According to their website, "The Little Market works with artisan groups around the world. We provide design insights, helping our artisan partners showcase their skills to a broader audience". That's a pretty cool thing. I love shopping at World Market for little home accents but as far as I know the only thing behind their products is that they're really cute and tend to match my style. I've recently started listening to podcasts about the laws of attraction, positivity, focusing on doing good, and stuff like that, and this site fits into that 100%. Not only does shopping here give me some really unique items for my apartment but I'm doing that doesn't just put money in a major companies pocket. I'm helping to support the talents and financial situation of women around the world in a way that works for me. By shopping!

 I know I'm not going to make an individual rich by purchasing a handmade iPad case or apron but I think every little bit helps and I need to start being more conscious of where my money is going when I choose to spend it. It's really nice to be at a place where I can buy whatever I want but that's nothing to rave about because so many people can do it. But not many people go out of their way to try to make an impact with what they buy. I certainly didn't and if it wasn't constantly on my Instagram feed I probably still wouldn't care today.

I'm really excited to get the candles and apron. I've been meaning to get an apron for months but never committed to one that I liked and this was is perfect. It's simple, I won't get sick of it and it lets me add a bit more pink into my life. The candle is exciting because I've been buying a lot of handmade soy candles lately because they last longer and have a stronger scent so I'm really curious to see what a good rose candle smells like. I'm hoping to get these in before I head out to NYC so be on the lookout for some IG worthy shots of my new gear in the next few weeks.




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I Heart Ban.do

Jul 1, 2015
Ban.do

ban.do love

I'm obsessed with ban.do. I am. I just am. My friend Jennifer introduced me to them via Instagram a few months ago and I instantly fell in love with their cute girlie products. I'm currently in the process of creating a workspace that will give me some motivation and inspiration and I'm going to get tons of their items. Their color scheme is really great and kinda fits the colors of my theme, which gives me more of an excuse to get as much as I can from them.

I really like their diamond wireless speakers. It looks really cute and I can have it multitask by being a paperweight. For the notes I am going to take with my new notebook. Or something like that. Whatever, I will find a reason to justify every item that I want/get from them. I've been really obsessed with their "I Am Very Busy" notebook for a while now and even though I can use my iPhone or iPad for my calendar there's something special about writing things down. They used to sell an iPad case with that on it but they stopped so I'll have to settle for the datebook.

My dream writing station includes a simple white desk, my Macbook Pro and tons of little pieces that will add a bit of fun and color to my mood. I'm trying not to buy too many things for this apartment since I'm sure I'll be moving once my lease is up but going on a mini ban.do spree won't be too much of a biggie since everything can fit in a box.

If you're a girlie girl that's not afraid to show it check out this brand. I apologize in advanced for the addiction.


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