REALISTIC MORNING ROUTINE FOR SCHOOL

Image credit: Pink Pot, edited by me.

7:00 - my mom walks in my room and starts yelling. first attempt at getting up

7:05-7:10 - several more attempts until I actually sit up and put in my eye contacts

7:12 - go to the bathroom: pee, take out my retainer, brush teeth

7:15 - get dressed. Since I have school shirts I have to wear every day and a strict dress code about pants/skirts, this doesn't take much time. Plus, I already came to school in my pajamas a few times - so who cares what I wear.

7:20 - makeup & hair: I usually just fill in my eyebrows and either leave my hair alone or put it in a ponytail - depending when was the last time I washed it.

7:24 - breakfast: I usually eat a quick bowl of cereal with milk and take my medication with the milk that's left over.

7:30 - take the food my mom made me (and/or) money for the day and stuff it in my bag and leave to the bus station.

7:33 - get to the bus station. I usually wait a couple of minutes until it comes. While waiting, I start watching Snapchats that I missed last night (add me on Snapchat @zoeeozstar).

7:35 - get on the bus and sit down. I then finish checking my Snapchat, Instagram, and messages.

7:55 - this is when I get to school. My classroom is on the 3rd floor - which means A LOT of stairs. I walk quite slowly since I'm still checking my Instagram (I like getting to where I finished the night before).

8:04 - is when I usually get to my classroom. I drop my backpack and step outside to the lobby. I usually choose a table and lay on it (because it's morning and I'm tired) while I finish checking my social media. Sometimes my friends try to talk to me but I explain to them that it's morning and I need my 'Internet Time' so they leave me alone - unless they're in the mood to piss me off.

8:15 - the bell rings and my classes start. Here comes hell, how fun :)

*All of these times are approximate and change daily.

How long do you take to get ready in the morning? Which of these do you do?

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS 2016

 Photo credit: Pink Pot, edited by me

SCHOOL
-Get better grades
-Choose which high school I want to switch into. (I already am in high-school but have to switch schools)

-Get accepted to that school.

SOCIAL
-Make friends with people who already go to that school.
-Keep in touch with my friends who won't go to the same school as me.
-Make friends at whatever school I choose to go to before going there.

BLOGGING
-Keep blogging and stick to my blog
-Improve my photography
-Get a domain
-Start a newsletter

GOALS

-Go on a trip abroad with my friends.
-Take nice aesthetic pictures for my Instagram feed

-Snapchat everything fun I do to a new Snapchat account so at the end of the year I can look back at all the nice times I had. (you can add my personal Snapchat by snap-code now by scanning this or add @zoeeozstar):

What are your plans, goals and resolutions for 2016? 

WHY I LOVE VOLUNTEERING

As you may or may not know, I LOVE volunteering. I love making people feel better and helping them.

I started to fall in love with helping others in 7th grade when I had to volunteer somewhere for a school project (I had to write a journal of what it felt like and my experience). My school didn't give many options for 13-year-olds, so I ended up volunteering at a school for autistic kids once a week (for 3 hours).
I worked with a couple of my friends with the first graders, which was really hard. They were hard to communicate with. None of us liked it too much, but we didn't really have an option.
But I did like the idea of helping people who can't help themselves. When I told people about what I do they were proud of me and it made me feel good.

In 8th grade, I had more options of where I wanted to volunteer at, and I chose a home for abused families. A few of my friends (different ones, who I wasn't as close with) went with me on Fridays. This was no longer for a grade, although it would be mentioned on our report cards.
I really liked the place. The kids were really nice and I played with them. We'd jump on their trampoline until it broke (literally, that happened), filled in colouring pages when it was yucky (cold) outside, played hide and seek and even had water fights a few times. It was really fun.
I love that place, what they do and the people there. Unfortunately, I don't go there anymore since I flew to America this summer, and I never arranged to start going again, which is a shame.

This year, I'm not exactly volunteering. I'm taking a course by The Red Flag (MADA - Israel's main ambulance service) so I can volunteer with them starting next year. The course is on Sundays from 5-9PM and there's A LOT of learning done. I won't lie, it's hard, but I think the things I'm learning and will be very useful for my future.
Since I live in Israel, I will have to go to the army when I'm 18, and this MADA experience is going to help me become a paramedic/first aid person in the army. I've always said that I want to do something that makes a difference in the army, but I don't want to be out with a gun people trying to kill / kidnap me. I love my country, but there's a limit.

Throughout this whole experience, I've also been passively volunteering with Jeremy's Circle (which I will write a blog post about) but it's my moms organisation, but basically we help family's who have Cancer in the family be who they are (mostly let kids be kids). At Jeremy's Circle, I mostly play / talk to other kids and brighten up their days. I also hand out our T-Shirts, chocolate milk and lunch.

In conclusion, I think it's easy to say I like helping others, even if it's just a bit. If you currently need help with any mental issues or just having a bad time I recommend you check out this post or this Pinterest board.

What do you do to make others feel better? Do you volunteer anywhere?

Picture credit

IF YOU NEED MOTIVATION TO RECOVER

If you've been here for my old blog (Zoe's Secret Style), you probably know that I suffer from depression, and have gone through rough times.
I have started recovering almost two years ago, and I take medication on a daily basis. I will never forget what depression is like, but I am getting happier.
I have been absent from the blogging community part of the internet for a few months, and now that I'm back, I realize, not everyone is recovering. A lot of people are still suffering from mental illness, and a lot of those are in the exact same place they were X time back. 

And just to think that makes me sad. I remember what it's like. I remember hating myself. I remember crying myself to sleep every night, and I remember thinking that was normal. I remember hurting.

I just wanted to say, to whoever's struggling with an issue like depression / anxiety / etc., it can get better. A lot of people will tell you it will go away, it's just a phase. It might 'go away' by itself. But it probably won't.

Fight for it. Fight for your mental health. Fight for your happiness.

Click to Tweet: Fight for your mental health. Fight for your happiness. 

If you wait and cry, nothing's going to happen except you feeling sorry for yourself, and it will, most likely, just get worst.

If you want to feel better, which you do (don't give yourself that 'I deserve to suffer' crap because you don't and you deserve better), try talking about it. Family members, friends, psychologists, psychiatrists, or anyone else you feel comfortable talking to.

If you don't want to talk about it, or can't, there are other ways to get the terrible feelings out of you.

Some of you like looking for positive quotes on Pinterest, some of you like painting, or reading or writing or listening to music or watching TV and get yourself distracted.

Some of you like breaking things because it gets the stress out of you. Some of you like working out.

And some of you don't like any of these, and that's okay. Explore. Try new things until you find what makes you happy. 

Try to be happy.

Convince yourself you're happy. It might feel like you're lying to yourself, but lying becomes reality. Fake it until you make it.

You'll feel better faster if you start doing something about your condition.

I hope you all feel better, even if you aren't suffering from a mental illness.

I love you, and I care about you. I genuinely want you to feel better.

Picture credit - Pinterest

MY DEAD SEA / MASADA EXPERIENCE

My family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all came to a long weekend at the Dead Sea (Israel) to celebrate my cousin's Bat Mitzva. Some flew all the way from the New York area. Luckily, I only had to suffer of a two hour drive. I had a great time and decided to write about my experience.

FRIDAY

Most of us left at around 13:00 and rented a bus to take whoever was going there, from Tel Aviv (where I live) to the hotel. Since I had school and other appointments, my brother, stepdad and I only left at 15:00, and we got there around 17:30. 

The drive was beautiful. Even though we only drove for two and a half hours, the view and the sites we saw kept changing (big cities, farms, desert, etc.). 

We had some free time in our hotel until dinner. Since some of my cousins are very religious, we said some prayers before we started eating. After dinner, we (my siblings and non-religious cousin) went back to our room and watched Bob's Burgers on Netflix (very recommended), until we went to sleep.

SATURDAY 

On Saturday, we woke up early and went on Jeep tour around the area, and had a great time. If you have me on Snapchat (@zoeeozstar) you've probably seen my brothers and I making jokes and having fun.

We got back just in time for lunch. Since it was Saturday, none of the restaurants were open, so we ended up eating at McDonalds. We made fun of ourselves because we stayed at such a fancy hotel and ate food from McDonalds - who does that?!

Later on that day my mom and I went to a 'salt pool' in the hotel, that was like a heated version of the Dead Sea. It felt so good and calming! Since it was only open to people over the age of 16, there were no little annoying kids running around splashing and peeing in the water. It was very nice.

SUNDAY

Two of my brothers (Ido - 15, Iftach - 12) and I went to the pool and the Dead Sea. Later on, Iftach left us and Ido and I went to the salt pool and Jacuzzi (I didn't know it was spelled like that until now, it's so fancy and French).

Anyway, we took showers and left to a Bedouin village and learned about their way of living. We ate dinner there and it was amazing - SO MUCH FOOD.

Mine: Dress - H&M (similar)

His: Shirt, Shoes (both on sale)

MONDAY

Finally, the day of the Bat Mitzva. It was a busy day. 

6:00 - wake up, getting ready, dressing up, makeup

7:00 - breakfast

8:00 - we hired photographers who took photos of us in the morning and during that whole day.

8:40 - leaving for Masada

9:00 - we get there, take some more pictures

9:20 - more cousins come, they were late and it was annoying. We went on a cable railway that took us to the top of the mountain. There is also an option to hike up, but we were all wearing fancy dresses and shoes. Not a great idea.

9:40 - the service starts. My cousin lead the prayers and read from the Torah for the first time, very exciting! At the end, we threw candy at her (Jewish tradition).

11:00 - we had another activity where we made Chalas (special kind of Jewish bread, usually eaten Friday night).

13:00 - got back to the hotel. Packed up quickly and had a big lunch (they make a big meal - almost like a banquet - for people's last meals there). We ate SO MUCH! The food was so good, we asked them to pack it up for us (there was so much of it, we'd never be able to finish it)

15:00 - bus left from the hotel 

18:30 - My grandparents and I went with my cousin (the Bat Mitzva girl) and aunt back to their hotel in Herzliya. We walked around the Marina (port) until about 20:30 and drank hot chocolate. Then my grandparents (who are staying in my house) went back home.

The hotel also had a spa (that costs extra money) and a gym that I never got to try. This is the hotel and I recommend it a lot. This post isn't sponsored and I genuinly really liked the hotel.

Have you ever been to Israel / the Dead Sea? Tell me about your experiene! 

Made in the AM || OOTD

One Directions new album, Made in the AM is SO GOOD. It's been almost two weeks since its release and I still haven't stopped listening to it. my favorite songs are currently If I Could Fly and Long Way Down, but I love all of them. 

Have you listened to the album? Which are your favorite songs?

RELAUNCHING

Since May, I have been abandoning my blog. I don't know why, really. I knew I'd be away for the summer and I even created a form for guest bloggers to apply for guest posts. I never even looked if anyone applied. I'm so sorry and I feel so bad.

It's really a shame that I stopped blogging, I missed it. Looking back at my (old) blogging email, I've realized I missed out on quite a few opportunities. But that's okay, I've made great memories during the summer.

But I really have missed this. That's why I'm back. Hopefully, this blog will be less cringe-worthy. I'm so happy to be back.

This blog is going to be more focused on wearing things that make you feel confident and doing things that will make you feel better about yourself because I know we all suffer from a low self-esteem - at least every once in a while.

How to Come Up With New Blog Post Ideas

Follow my blog with Bloglovin Even though I've been on an on & off writers block, I still managed to post almost the same way I did before. So I decided to tell you my secret on how I find topics that I actually feel like writing. It might be quite obvious to some of you but, keeping lists is the best way to remember things.

I keep my 'blog posts to write' list on my phone since I always have it on me, whenever I have a new idea I just write it down. I also always read 'blog post idea' posts, because even though there might be a list of 50 post names, only a couple will fit my blog.

Whenever I feel like writing a post, but don't know what to write about I take a look at my list - I always find something that fits my mood or gives me inspiration for a similar post

If you feel like you really don't have anything to write about but still want to post, you can make a wish list, do a Q&A or make a list (example: books I want to read), etc.

How do you come up with blog post ideas?

Zoe xx


Image source

Books I Want To Read

These books are either fiction, about feminism or about blogging. Please let me know if you read any of these and what you thought - especially if any of them are not recommended (I've heard of most of them through blogs so I'd love to hear what you thought too)!

#GIRLBOSS // Sophia Amoruso

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be // Paul Arden

Not That Kind Of Girl // Lena Dunham 

Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite // Paul Arden

Get Rich Blogging // Zoe Griffin 

Yes Please // Amy Phoeler

Picture Perfect Social Media // Jennifer Young

Blogging For Creatives // Robin Houghton

Blog Inc. // Joy Deangdeelert Cho

To All The Boys I've Loved Before // Jenny Han

The Art Of Pretending to be A Grownup // Grace Helbig

How to be A Woman // Caitlin Moran

Zoe xx

Image source

Simple SEO For Beginners

During a #everyblogger Twitter chat a few weeks back, I realized how confusing SEO is for some bloggers, and while I explained it (partially, in 140 characters), a lot of bloggers remained very confused after the chat and asked me to write a post explaining SEO in depth. So here are the basics - let's go!

First of all, what exactly is SEO?

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization and it's basically the order the search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) show the posts / articles when searching for something. For example, if you search 'what is SEO', the first result on Google will be  searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo. I will mention some of the things the writer of that post did that you can too, to hopefully get your posts to the top, and what I did to the link to make it easier for anyone to pass them and be first (selfish much? probably). 

Key Words - Let's imagine the next situation together: you're trying to figure out what SEO is, so you open Google and search 'what is SEO'. Google will show you (the post above) by Search Engine Land because the words What and SEO probably repeat themselves a lot (without being spam-y, be careful with that). The biggest tip I could give you to improve your SEO is to include keywords in your post, first paragraph, title and headings ('mini titles').

Title - what do you think readers will search when looking for an article like yours? If you're writing a post explaining what SEO is - and dedicating your full blog post to that, call it What is SEO (that's what Search Engine Land did). Or, if it's easier for you to think this way, think of what you'd search to find the post you're looking for. If you're using Wordpress, there is a plugin that allows you to have the title on your website and on search engines look different (can't remember what it's called though).

Permalink - if you use Blogger, you'll automatically have a 'pretty' permalink for your post although you can still change it on the Post Settings sidebar (right) while writing/editing a post and then clicking Permalink. You will be able to edit your permalink on any platform you use.
   Permalinks should include your keywords/what readers might be looking for and be easy to remember, for example: use something like /guide/what-is-seo instead of /post/rgt784gtw47.
   When I mentioned earlier about 'passing' people on search engines, here's what I meant. When you link to someone on Blogger you can click the add 'rel=nofollow' attribute, which means the post you link to won't gain any 'popularity' points on search engines (the more people who link to the website the higher their 'popularity' is, and the higher they'll show on search engines - more details below). If you don't have blogger, add rel="nofollow" after the link (we're talking in HTML, of course), here's an example, you can copy paste it and change the highlighted link to whatever you'd like, if you want: 

<a href="http://zoessecretstyle.blogspot.co.il" rel="nofollow"

Photos - there are two rules you should be following when it comes to blog photos. The first, name your pictures. I may be looking for a banner that tells me what SEO is, or something like this, which is a more visual way to understand. The photo will mostly make sense by the end of the post, I'll cover the rest when I write a continuing post to this one.

I found this picture on the top row of Google Images by searching 'what's SEO'. When I downloaded the photo to my computer, I saw it was named seo.png, which has nothing wrong with it - actually, it's almost perfect. 
    Similar to the permalink concept, no one will search for 'image fg8fw478' when searching for images (to add to their blog posts, for example). Put something usable in your image name. After downloading the photo, I changed it's name to 'simple SEO for beginners Zoe's secret style', because there are two things potential readers might be looking for:

1. a post on simple SEO for bloggers, which is why I wrote the first part.
2. or, they're looking for images from my blog, Zoe's Secret Style, which is why I include my blog name in my image name so they are more likely to click on the post, and drive traffic to this specific post.

The other thing I wanted to tell you about photos is not to use them at the top of your posts, but after the first paragraph, at least. Search engines have a preference for text, so if you have some text before your photos you will probably be rated lower, which brings your whole posts 'popularity' down.

Link back - the more links you get back to your site, the higher ranking your post will get. Think about it this way, the more positive reviews you read about a product, the more you'd like to buy it, right? I have only recently realized this and need to do this more myself, but when you tweet about a new post - don't tweet the link to your blog, but to the post itself! 
   For example, instead of me tweeting 'Need help figuring out SEO? I found help at ZoesSecretStyle.blogspot.co.il'. I used to make this mistake when linking to my recent post. This won't help you at all - don't do it! Here is what I should've tweeted this whole time, and you can too by clicking the link.

Need help to figure out SEO? I found help at http://zoessecretstyle.blogspot.com/2015/03/simple-seo-for-beginners.html 

Of course, you can also use shortened links (such as bit.ly, or you can buy your own shortened custom domain from wherever your regular domain is from. The biggest advantage is that you can fit more in your tweets!

Google+ - has a ton of impact on a posts SEO. I am planning another post to elaborate on Google+ SEO alone, but just remember your ranking on Google will appear higher too, and often to whoever has your followers in their circles! Follow my Google+ traffic tips to learn more about increasing your traffic from the quite unpopular social media platform no one seems to like, with minimal effort.

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I hope this post helped! Please let me know if you'd like me to write more posts on this subject, and if you have any tips you want to share in the comments!

Zoe xx


Image 1, Image 2

Full Skin Care Routine

First of all, let me state that days where I complete this whole routine are pretty rare. My skin is usually pretty nice to me and I don't get too many spots. I have a combination skin, although that changes from time to time.

A.M.
Since I never have time to do anything most mornings, all I do is moisturize. I'm currently using Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel, which you can read my review of in my March Favorites. I don't normally wear makeup either.

P.M.
1) If I wore makeup that day (which only happens once/twice a week), I'll start with the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water (review here) to remove my makeup and refresh my skin a bit.

2) Then, I'll wash my face with the Garnier Wasabi Pure Active face wash, which, isn't as harsh as it sounds. It's smell is very refreshing, although a friend of mine who's accidentally tasted it said it tastes like wasabi. I also accidentally tasted it once, and it tasted like soap. Maybe this has to do with how long since it has come out of the bottle? I don't know.

3) Once every week or two, I'll also use this Careline Purifying Mask. It's amazing and I love it. Careline is an Israeli brand, and I'm not sure of it's availability abroad.

4) Lastly, if I have any big spots, I'll use my Dream Dots. I just ran out, I need to order some more!


And that's it: my full skin care routine! Just to clarify this again, I do not usually use all of these products each day. Depending on my mood, I'll choose which ones I'll use that day.

Are any of these in your skin care routine? What do you think of them?

Zoe xx

Hair Inspiration

// 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 //

Which is your favorite? 

Zoe xx

None of these pictures are mine and they were found via this hair inspiration Pinterest board.

4 Tips For Gaining Traffic With Google+ Without Regular Use

Somehow, our Google+ pages have about 37894572384 times more page views than our blogs. It's weird, but that's how Google works, it promotes its own products more than ours, and that's natural, I guess.

I personally, don't use Google+. It feels too... fake and unrealistic, to me. I know with every social media tips post, you see something like 'don't treat Google+ as a copy of Facebook', but what can I do? It's just the way it's caught in my head.

Even though I don't use it, a lot of people still do (obviously, look at your Google+ page views), so here are a few tips for getting more traffic, through Google+.

1) Header - the Google+ header size is very annoying (at least for me), and I couldn't just resize my header, I had to make a completely new one. I used PicMonkey to create a header that's 480x270px just to find out it should've been more background-y because the right side of it is blurry and grey. Make sure to save your picture as a .png file. If you need help creating a header, email zoeeozstar@gmail.com with any preferences (colors, fonts etc.) and I'll create a header for you with an affordable price!

2) Profile Picture - for my profile picture I used the same picture I use for every type of social media.

3) Link To Your Blog - make sure you have a link to your blog on your page. As I said before, your Google+ page (probably) has a lot more page views than our blogs, so if someone stumbles across your profile, they should have a way of reaching you, right?

4) +1 And Sharing - after publishing a post, the first thing I do is run down the post to the Blogger links for Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. and advertise my new post. I like to +1 my posts and share them on Google+ so they appear on my profile, too. The +1's will appear in a different page for everything you +1'd (unless you made that page private, which I do not recommend unless you have 1+ something private) and the posts you shared will be added to your profile/timeline. Even if you only share a link, it will show a thumbnail of the post (picture title and the first three lines of your post). Make sure everything your post is public, so everyone can access your blog. If you use Blogger you can choose in the Google+ settings to automatically synchronize it with your blog and your posts will automatically be published on Google+ too.

Don't forget to have a +1 widget on your sidebar, and add me to your Google+ circles. Who knows, I might add you back.

Did you find any of these tips helpful?