Episode 525: Stay True to Who You Are and Focus on What Lights You Up with Nicole Winegardner

EBT525 – Nicole Winegardner

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

Megan Porta  00:38

Food bloggers as you know, food blogging can be overwhelming. It can bring those challenges of burnout or feelings of near burnout, it can be a lot at times, there’s a lot coming at us. Platforms emerge all the time, new strategies, new people, new voices to focus on. I mean, I could go on and on. Something that really helps to deal with all of the stuff in our world is staying on top of your mindset. You all know how much I love this topic. It’s a near and dear one to me. So I love that Nicole Winegardner from Simply Scrumptious Eats brought this topic to the table to talk about here in this interview. We talk about mindset quite a bit here on Eat Blog Talk. But some of these topics that Nicole talks about are things that we have not touched on before so be sure to tune into this. Even if you’ve listened to all the mindset stuff here on the podcast, you will get new things from this episode. Nicole talks about focus, what are you actually focused on stopping to remind yourself and give conscious thought to this is really important. Staying true to who you are making sure you’re on top of your goal setting and she talks through some strategies with that. Not spreading yourself too thin and a bunch of other stuff that is really valuable. This is episode number 525 And it is sponsored by RankIQ.

Sponsor  02:05

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Megan Porta  03:35

Nicole blogs with her bestie Andrea, who lives in Washington and you’ll find Nicole in Virginia. Together they have a food blog where they specialize in simple delicious recipes for busy families. Nicole is the one to do the recipe development and food photography and keyword research. Andrea takes care of the writing and Pinterest, web stories, social media and is currently learning video editing. Their blog was founded in 2021. Good morning, Nicole. How are you today? Welcome to the podcast. 

Nicole Winegardner  04:04

Thank you. Good morning. I’m doing great. How are you doing? 

Megan Porta  04:08

I’m doing good to you are my first interview of the day. So excited to start with mindset with you today.

Nicole Winegardner  04:14

Yeah, it’ll be fun.

Megan Porta  04:15

Yeah. Before we get into that, do you have a fun fact to share with us?

Nicole Winegardner  04:19

Yeah, so a few years ago, I lived on a remote tropical island in the Pacific with my family for a few years. It was really fun. 

Megan Porta  04:29

Oh, okay. Backup. How did you get to a remote tropical island and a few years? What? 

Megan Porta  04:36

Yeah, so we my husband finished grad school and he so he’s a PA and we are actually all set up to go do like a residency thing in Houston, but we’re not really city people. And so I was kind of looking around like what else could we do and looking at some loan repayment things and I checked the box that said like islands and he got this recruitment email. And I was really excited about it because I had all these pictures of like, beautiful, pretty blue water and white sandy beaches. And so I marked it in his email as unread so that he would see it. Because we were kind of both doing this job search and together and a couple days later, I was like, Hey, did you see that email from Saitan? And he’s like, you mean the scam? And I was like, Wait, but what if it’s not a scam, like we have to find out. And so it just sounded really fun. And we were at a good a place of transition already, because he had just finished grad school. And so we just decided to go and we fell in love with it. And we were there a little over three years. It was it was really magical.

Megan Porta  05:41

Oh my gosh, I’m so jealous. I too, would choose that way over being in the city. Oh, my goodness. Do you have any? I don’t know, like, extra fond memories, like anything that stands out during those three years? 

Nicole Winegardner  05:56

Yeah. So obviously connecting with other people. While we were there was a big part of that. And I just have all these memories of we had a couple of beaches that we love to go to in the evenings. And you know, and it was, it was always warm. And so we’d swim and then we’d get out. Or sometimes we wouldn’t swim. And we’d have a big bonfire and like, watch the sun go down. And then just, you know, look at the stars and talk and connect and just have these really beautiful moments. Those are probably my favorite memories. 

Megan Porta  06:25

Oh, this is so wonderful. I’m like now in this mindset, the chill mindset. Oh, I’m glad you started with that. Thank you for framing this talk that way, because it’s perfect for talking about mindset and going to that place that makes you cozy. Okay, so to start, just this talk about mindset, would you tell us a little bit about your blog, which I love the name of it. So talk about when you started, who you started it with? And anything else you want to mention?

Nicole Winegardner  06:57

So I blog at Simply Scrumptious Eats I blog with my bestie Andrea, we used to live in the same town. I live in Virginia, but she moved to Washington State a few years ago. So we just have a food blog where we specialize in simple, delicious recipes for busy families. I do the recipe development and food photography and keyword research. And she does the writing and takes her Pinterest and web stories like her list is a lot longer. But you know, because it’s all the all the extra things. Yeah, we started in 2021. It actually we’ve been brainstorming different businesses, we could start together. And I absolutely love cooking and baking and creating recipes. And I would make these recipes. And my husband or my kids would say, Hey, make that again. I’d be like, I don’t know what I did. And because I wouldn’t write them down. And so one day, and Andrea is a fabulous cook, too. She’s amazing. And so I was like, I’m going to start a food blog. And then a few weeks into it, I realized how lonely I was. I was like, This is not a job for a person who loves people. And so I was like, Hey, do you want to do this with me? And she was just like, I thought you’d never ask. And so it was anyway, it’s been really fun to just have a partner in it and somebody that I can, who understands and who I can always, you know, just relate with and things. So, yeah. 

Megan Porta  08:17

Oh, I love that. So you’ve been going strong since 2021. So quite a few years. Any issues? Like? I don’t know, I always think starting a blog with a friend that just look risky, right? Yeah, it’s ever get to a point where you’re like, I just disagree with you or anything like that.

Nicole Winegardner  08:35

No, it’s so weird. We’re always like on the same page, or we’ll be like, you know, or maybe maybe one of us will kind of be like, oh, we need to pivot this way. And other person’s like, I’ve been feeling that way too. I don’t it’s really mind boggling how instinct we are with everything. We used to both actually do everything. Like we both did the recipe development and pictures, and you know, our own posts and the writing and stuff. And then last year, Andrea was like, I think if we divide, we can conquer a lot better. And yeah, so it’s, it’s interesting, you know, and then yeah, we’ve just always been on the same page. If there is a disagreement, it’s super minor. And it might just be you know how to execute some small thing. We have never had a big clash.

Megan Porta  09:21

Yeah, sounds like you guys are a good team. You get along well and get things done. Amazing. So at what point in your blogging journey did you realize how important mindset was and did you guys both realize this? Or is it something that came to you? 

Nicole Winegardner  09:36

So I guess it’s with the probably just a few months in as we’re trying to figure everything out. And you know, and we both have kids, we have families and for us part of the reason we love blogging together is because we both really value lifestyle and having a good high-quality life. And so we were busier than we wanted to be and felt like our families were suffering a little bit and though it really came like that, we have to have a good mindset, we have to be able to manage the stress, we have to be able to do things in a certain way. So that because for both of us, our families are more important than the blog, our ability to keep living a life is more important than the blog. So we just kind of had this Oh, the blog is taking up too much of my life, and how can I manage that in a way that’s healthy? So? 

Megan Porta  10:29

Oh, gosh, yeah, I think everyone listening can probably relate closely to what you just said, The blog is taking up all of my life and all of my Yes, it can, it can be all consuming. And it gets to the point where you just you either burn out or you realize you have got to make changes in order to sustain yourself. Right? So I love that you guys did that together. And you just realized that the blog was not your primary focus. It’s not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to be a happy human. 

Nicole Winegardner  11:02

Yes, absolutely. 

Megan Porta  11:03

Yeah. And to be healthy for your family, or whoever you need to show up for. So you have some mindset tips for us. Because like I said, we can all relate to this. So this is going to be super helpful for all of us. So what do you have? For just tips for keeping us mindset focused?

Nicole Winegardner  11:20

Yeah. So I would say one of my best tips is focus. And, you know, really evaluating, what are we focused on? And where is it taking us one of my friends shared a story of teaching her daughter how to ride a bike. And she and her daughter were teaching their oldest how to ride a bike without training wheels, and the street that they lived on at the time, had a parked car on it. And while they were teaching her, they kept telling her over and over again, don’t have the car, don’t get the car, or whatever you do like to not hit the car. And of course, the very first thing she did was bike straight into the car. And they’re like, why did you do this? What happened? And, you know, they were telling her to focus on the car. That’s what they told her to focus on. It was and so she went to the car. And so I think it’s really important to self evaluate, you know, every few months or so, and just kind of say, and be really honest with yourself and say, what, where am I focused? What am I focused on? And where is that focus taking me? Am I too focused on this negative thing? Am I really focused that Oh, like Q4 didn’t go as well. And who, or are my focus on like, Okay, I’m going to, you know, I’m, we’re going to do this one thing, and we’re going to change it and fix it and master it. And so I think, you know, really evaluating where our focus is, so that we can be taken in the right direction. 

Megan Porta  12:39

And so if you like, here in 2024, it’s so easy to focus on the bad things, the wrong things, there’s so much going on in our space that, that can so easily grab our focus?

Nicole Winegardner  12:50

Absolutely. And, you know, there’s a lot of negative negativity we could focus on. And then also, there’s just a lot of distractions, too. I think sometimes, you know, we can say, oh, you know, I’m not focused on the negative, I’m doing really great. But maybe we just have a big distraction to this, maybe it’s something outside of our control a stressor, or maybe it’s, you know, Instagram and, or, you know, scrolling social media, just we have all these distractions and just remaining focused on like, Okay, this is where I want to go. So that’s what I’m going to look at.

Megan Porta  13:22

I love this point, I think this is probably the most important, I love that you mentioned it first, because we don’t always stop and think about what we’re focusing on. Like your example with the bike. That probably wasn’t like at the forefront of her mind. Like, I am focused on the bike. I’m focused on the bike, but she had heard it, she was, of course focused on the bike. So do you recommend like stopping once in a while throughout the day? And just asking yourself, like, where’s my focus? Or how do you recommend we realize what our focus is, I guess.

Nicole Winegardner  13:55

Yeah. So I think for me, part of my morning routine is kind of, I like to kind of like outline my day and how I want it to go I’m not really like a schedule, schedule person. So I kind of work made an outline, and I kind of tried to pick a focus. And you know, I usually have a general focus too. And so I think evaluating every day and then just if I’m feeling off throughout the day, like reevaluating what am I focused on, like, you know, maybe why am I not being productive? What’s, what’s going on? So yeah, in times if you feel stressed to reevaluate and then reevaluating, on a daily basis, and then also, you know, every few months or however often it is that you kind of reset your goals and do that like, Okay, where’s my focus?

Megan Porta  14:41

Yeah, yeah, that’s an important one. So put that on your list today. Everyone go see what you’re what you’re focused on today. And this month, and this week, okay. What other mindset tip do you have for us, Nicole?

Nicole Winegardner  14:53

My next tip would be to stay true to who you are. This is something that’s kind of come up for me more reason. Suddenly, I you know, to just don’t get so involved in yourself progress that you lose who you are at your core. So for example, I’m not actually a type A person. Growing up, my mom always called me her Hakuna Matata child, which obviously means no worries, I was very carefree and flighty, and just very uninhibited person. And I spent a lot of years trying to develop some of these type A characteristics, because I’ve been able to see the success in life that it can bring. And as I was wrapping up 2023 and doing my like self evaluations at the end of the year, I realize that some of these things that are part of who I am at my core that I value and love have weakened because I haven’t nurtured them. So you know, and I wasn’t as in touch with who I am in my heart and my soul. And so this year, I picked like a, you know, my word of the year and my personal development focus are actually about like amplifying some of my core characteristics. And you know, and I think to go along with that, stay true to who you are. When you’re, you have to get down to your why, why are you doing things, what makes you feel alive. So Andrea, the other half of a blog, she’s a runner, and I’m just going to brag on her really quick because I’m just so proud of her, but she like she’s run a mile in less than five minutes multiple times, like she’s legit. Crazy. And yeah, so she’s this elite Spartan racer. And as her best friend, I have the privilege that she when she’s done with a race, she will Marcopolo me a play by play of the race. And it is one of my favorite things to listen to. Because her voice like she is on fire. She is full of passion. She’s, it’s it’s amazing. Like she that is one of you know, and we all have many things that can light us up. And but that is one thing and to just watch her talk about it and see the joy that it brings her is beautiful. And so for all of us to find our, Why, is a big deal, right? Like, what lights you up? And are you staying true to that with your goals with your life plans? And if you’re not, how can you get there?

Megan Porta  17:15

Oh, this is such a good one. I love your example, too, of just using your co blogger and best friend and how like, it seems like one little thing like just running right like kind of insignificant. But for her that’s a really big deal. And we can all relate to those things in life that might seem little to everyone else. But us they’re really big deals and we feel so strongly about them. And just finding those and it really does carry over, don’t you agree into your blog. So even if it is running, or something completely outside of blogging, if you’re staying true to that, and really focusing on it and feeling the joy and passion from it, you’re going to be a better blogger.

Nicole Winegardner  17:58

Yes, absolutely. You’ll be a way better blogger. And yeah, I also think it’s important, like, you know, stay true to who you are like, do you actually care about your goal? Does that make sense? Like so maybe you have this goal, maybe you’re like, I really want to maybe you want to live in a big house. Or maybe you want to, I don’t know, help people in some big way. But maybe like after you do some self-reflection, maybe those things aren’t important to you. Maybe you saw that somewhere else. And that’s somebody else’s thing. And you’re like, oh, actually, maybe I don’t care about that. Maybe I want to do something else completely. So and like being in alignment and making sure that you’re on that path. And that the focus that we talked about before is getting you to where you want to be in a way that is true to who you are at your at your core. 

Megan Porta  18:48

Yeah. And this for me changes sometimes like I’ll, I’ll think I want something and then I’ll have it on my goal setting little sheet I open every morning for a while. And then I will like one morning, I’ll be like, Wait a second. Is this really what I want? I think it changed and it’s okay to change that. Right? 

Nicole Winegardner  19:07

Yeah, absolutely. Yes. And yeah, and sometimes there are things that you know, are true to who we are. But then yeah, it changes and it’s not there anymore. And that’s I think it’s great to move on and to have a variety and, and I think it’s also important, like you said to just evaluate and be able to say, Oh, that’s not for me anymore.

Megan Porta  19:24

And that’s okay. It doesn’t have to be written in stone all the time. It’s okay to start over. So I love that one. So great to keep in touch with that. And then what do you have next verse Nicole for mindset tips?

Nicole Winegardner  19:39

So I have some goal-setting tips so that you can do it in a way to be successful and not burnout or overwhelm yourself. You know, I’m really into personal development and constantly trying to like grow and change and evolve. And you know, I have goals, personal business, family, etc. And there was a time last Fall, I think it was it was sometime last year, summer fall. And I had all of these things that I was working on and striving towards. And a lot of them are, you know, when I’m goal setting, I try to work them into my routine. And so it’s, I didn’t have like a, I don’t always have like a specific list. It’s just kind of like I’m doing this. And I added in and doing this and added in. And so I was just feeling really stressed out and overwhelmed. And my husband’s like, I think you’re maybe doing a little too much. And we’re trying to try to do too much here. And so I wrote everything down that I was working on, and all my goals and all the things that I was trying to do. And I just had this huge aha moment, like the list was so long. And I was like, This is the list of a crazy person. And this is completely impossible. Like nobody could do this, what the heck, and I was trying so hard. And I wasn’t really having like feelings of failure. I was just like I was, you know, I wasn’t sleeping anymore. I’m like, stressed out, it was way too much. And so then I just did some internal work and really tried to listen to my heart to figure out which of those goals were the best for me. And which ones were just extra. Or that could, you know, which are the most important maybe, maybe I really do want that. But you know, I don’t need it this year. I can do it next year. It’s okay. So now I just try to have two to four goals that I’m working on at a time. 

Nicole Winegardner  21:24

And another thing with goal setting is I try to habit stack. So if I already in the habit of doing something I will just add it on. So maybe one of my goals is I’m working on some personal development thing and I’m reading a book to go with it. And I’ll just add on like 15 minutes of reading that book to my morning routine. So I just try to find ways to work them into my routines that I already have set.

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Megan Porta  23:19

Yeah, I think this is something that we dismissed too. We just go along like you were and then all of a sudden you’re like, holy crap, wait a second, this is way too much. And you’re probably feeling the overwhelm and maybe borderline burnout. And I love that your husband raised you into and he was like we might be doing too much. Because sometimes it does take a third party or another person to just be like, Wait, this is not a normal human thing to do. 

Nicole Winegardner  23:47

Right. 

Megan Porta  23:48

Yeah. So you said you have two to four goals at any given time? How do you plan that? So do you do this at the beginning of the year? Do you do this at the beginning of a quarter? Like how often do you sit down and actually think through those goals?

Nicole Winegardner  24:03

I actually have this really great planner that I use. It’s called the dream book planner, which sounds cheesy. And it’s actually if anybody’s interested in I believe the company that sells it, it’s called like Dragon Tree Apothecary, which is and it is a little bit hippy, the planner, because it’s you know, it’d be like light a candle and get into a good space and like so but I really love it because it takes you through like a lot of self evaluation and self reflection. And then you kind of do like your 10 year plans and your five year plans and your three year plan and your one year plan. And then it helps you break those down into quarterly goals and then monthly goals and weekly goals. So I use that. And so I do reevaluate. You know, each week I take a few minutes to kind of evaluate how things are going and how I can improve. And then quarterly I do work on new goals. So as far as goals go, I still like it’s two to four goals because sometimes they’re really big goals and they’re taking more time but sometimes I have smaller goals and so I can do a few over the amount of time, it just depends on what I’m working on. But I really like to make sure that I’m in alignment when I do that.

Megan Porta  25:08

I love that you evaluate each week too. So it’s not just like, cuz I used to do this, I would plan my goals and like, you know, every year every quarter, and then kind of just set them free and not really touch base with them. But then it was like you would lose sight of them. And then if you looked at them again, they were so far off that you just needed to start over. So yeah, going back to them every week, or every day or whatever you feel like you need just keeps it top of mind so that you know if it’s still relevant if you need to change it. But I do think this is such an important one, just keeping an eye on your goals.

Nicole Winegardner  25:46

Yeah, yeah, it’s been a big game changer for me to just end up planner that I have. It has some like self reflection questions that you do at the beginning of the week. So my Monday morning routine is a little bit longer. It doesn’t it’s really only I mean, if you think about it to go back and look at your goals, so it only takes five or 10 minutes to kind of reevaluate and be like, Okay, how can I tweak this? So this one kind of fell to the side? What can I do? What am I going to do next time? 

Megan Porta  26:12

Sounds great. Once they’re down, it really doesn’t take long to go back and just keep looking at them and re evaluating. But in our minds, I feel like we build it up so that it’s like this big thing. Like we have to spend an hour every time you look at it, but that’s not true. It can be a few minutes, right? Cool. Okay, that’s a great one. What else do you have for us, Nicole? What other tip,

Nicole Winegardner  26:36

So my next tip is to not spread yourself too thin, you know, just take like one thing at a time and delegate. So in 2021, when Andrea and I first started blogging, we did everything together, which worked okay, for that first year while we were figuring things out. But we were kind of both trying to do all the things and felt like both of us needed to know all of the things, learn all the things and do it together and not divide the work. And we were spread way too thin. And we weren’t really able to get particularly good at any one thing. And then in 2022, we decided that we needed to add a little focus. So we took a keyword research course, and got some much needed help with SEO. And we spent 2020, to really learning those things and mastering those things. And by Q4 of that year, we saw some really great results from it. And then last year, was the year that we decided to divide and conquer, where we kind of switch things up. And I went with the I do the keyword research and the recipe development and the photography. And then Andrea does the writing and everything in Pinterest Oh, and she and this enabled her enabled me to focus on and become better at food photography. And Andrea actually decided she’s like, I’m gonna learn Pinterest, I think it’d be really good for us. And I said, Great, do it. And she took a little course. And she was able to master Pinterest and increased our Pinterest traffic by over 10 times. Oh, yeah. And so and you know, and now food photography is really easy for me and Pinterest is easy for her. So we have these things that are now like, we just kind of automatically do. And so they don’t need a lot of time and attention. And so and we can move on. And so this year, we decided that we’re going to try to master video, and maybe some social media, and we’re thinking about trying to because we’re not really putting much effort into social media, but we are interested in that affiliate marketing and things. 

Megan Porta  28:31

So yeah, I think you guys have approached this in a really smart way. It’s so easy to get into blogging, and just be like, I want to do it all like Cookie Monster just shoving every cookie in his mouth. And yeah, I think that is it’s appealing. And it’s really tempting, but it’s not exactly, always the smartest thing to do. But I love that you guys have just kind of set aside a year for one focus at a time. And then you’ll do the next thing and then figure out the next thing. It’s it shows restraint. And it allows you guys time to really hone your skills and get good at what you’re doing. Because we don’t need to do it. All right, like, Oh, that is the message were delivered, like you need to do at all you need to be in all the places but you don’t you do not need to do that.

Nicole Winegardner  29:17

Absolutely. And for us, when we were trying to do it all, we were just either bad or mediocre at everything. And so yeah, being able to take the time and really focus in on something has enabled us to, you know, master it or get very good at it.

Megan Porta  29:34

I’m really glad you covered this one because it’s just yeah, it’s something that we just dismiss and there’s too many things to do as you know, so much going on in our world. Like every week. I feel like there’s a new concern or a new potential platform or a new strategy and you you just don’t have to hear it all. You don’t need to so great messaging great, great tip there. What other tip do you have Nicole?

Nicole Winegardner  30:02

Okay, so my next tip is probably my biggest mindset hack that brings me the most bang for my buck. And that’s to prioritize fun. I heard a quote a few months ago that went, you’re not stressed, because you’re doing too much, but because you’re doing too little of what makes you feel alive. And I do want to throw in like, sometimes we are stressed, because we’re doing too much totally. But sometimes, like, in my experience, you know, when I think about times that we’re stressed, I’m stressed, because I’m doing too much. If I intentionally add in some fun, you know, whether it’s going on a hike, playing pickleball, having friends over doing something fun with my family, I feel much better. And I find that when I prioritize fun, I’m more productive, I’m more motivated, and focused, when I work, I find that I’m able to show up in a way with my work in a way that I like. And I can get things done more quickly and efficiently. And, you know, it can even be something as maybe I’m feeling a little bit like burnt out overwhelmed, maybe I’ve been putting in a lot of hours that week. And it can be something as simple as like taking a 10 minute break and watching Jimmy Fallon or puppy videos on YouTube and just like having a good laugh. And then like, you know, having that lightness and that feel good. And then returning and, and being able to be more productive.

Megan Porta  31:22

It’s hard to get out of the like, I picture this crazy, just like spin, like you almost get into a spin where you just are out of control and you’re working. And you know, you need to get out of it, and do the fun things. But it’s really hard to do that. So I love your idea of just doing something little like watching a funny video or, I mean, it could be like five to 10 minutes to start, right just to pull you out of that crazy spin that we can get into.

Nicole Winegardner  31:51

Yeah, absolutely. And it just it makes such a big difference. Because I do feel like when I’m in that spin, that I’m not as productive. And I’m not as you know, like, it’s like while I’m working and just kind of feeling like, blah, like, oh, like I just need to get through this. How do I get you know, and it’s more scattered, distracted working that I’m doing. I don’t know if other people do that. But I do. Yeah. And it just helps so much to rein it in. And oh, I feel good. Now now I can focus. Yes.

Megan Porta  32:18

Oh, gosh, it does feel so good. Have you gotten to the point where you kind of have that awareness like, Okay, I am not being productive because I used to, I used to kind of dismiss that. And I didn’t realize it and like a whole day would go by and I was like wait a second. I wasn’t super productive. I should probably shouldn’t have been working, I probably should have stopped. But now I can see it in the moment. Like, okay, here I am. I need to put this down even though it’s hard. And I don’t want to do you find that you’re more aware and that you’ve been able to teach yourself to just realize when you’re needing that fun time?

Nicole Winegardner  32:55

Yeah. And you know, I think that practicing is what makes it better I do sometimes I will still have a day where I look back and I’m like, I didn’t get anything done. And like, oh, yeah, I need to like just have some fun. Have some fun. And and there are many times where I’m able to incorporate it at the in the moment at the time. But yeah, so I’m still a work in progress, for sure. But it’s something that I’ve gotten a lot better at the more that I do it. 

Megan Porta  33:18

Yeah. What else do you do? That’s fun. So you mentioned like, you know, watching videos you mentioned pickleball give people some other ideas. If you have them at the top of your mind?

Nicole Winegardner  33:28

it could be something like having a fun chat. Maybe you have somebody in your life who’s kind of fun to talk to. I really love people and connecting with others. So that’s always something that I turned to. I’m also very physical. So like hiking or going for a bike ride. Those types of things were really fun for me, and I really just love to laugh. And so it can even be like watching a funny movie. Sorry, I’m saying I’m a lot off the top of my head though. It’s, you know, or maybe my neighbors outside and I go talk with her there or just sit down with my kids after school and play a game with them or goof off with them or have a little dance party in the kitchen. You know?

Megan Porta  34:05

Yeah, I’m fun. I love it. Where do you live? By the way? I don’t think I asked you that.

Nicole Winegardner  34:10

Oh, yeah. I live in Virginia we live in it’s it’s a rural area in the Appalachians. Oh, yeah. Like in the foothills.

Megan Porta  34:18

Yeah. Okay, because we’re all like, we want to go over to Nicole’s house now.

Nicole Winegardner  34:22

And have a party. Yeah.

Megan Porta  34:25

I love that one. Okay, what else do you have Nicole for mindset tips.

Nicole Winegardner  34:30

Okay, so this is my last one. And it’s just kind of a quick one, I guess. So it’s don’t be afraid to take a break. Like your blog will always be there. And it’s okay to sit back. If you’re struggling to engage with producing your content. Just take a break. And maybe you need a break for a day. Maybe you need a break for a month. In the summer. I tend to be really busy with a lot of kids beings and a lot of like travel and I do work hard ahead of time to prepare for that but it even if I didn’t I still do it because it just makes all the difference. And you know, sometimes it does take a little bit to get back in the mindset like, okay, reentering work mode. But it’s just so important. It’s important for creativity, and your blog will always be there. 

Megan Porta  35:16

Yeah, that’s the good thing about blogs. They don’t fall away. They they stay there. Yep. Yeah, I take a lot of time in the summer off as well. And it’s so needed. I feel like after a winter and spring of just putting in the work and making sure everything’s good and solid, my mind my body, my family, we we all need that break. It is so yes. So unnecessary. Whether it’s a summer or like you said, it could be just a week where you’re feeling overwhelmed and burnt out and you need one week or a month, or I I know, bloggers who take six months off of their blogs and their blogs are still there when they get back, right? 

Nicole Winegardner  35:56

Yeah, absolutely. 

Megan Porta  35:58

Yeah. Oh, these are so good. Okay, if you had to pick a favorite tip of all the ones you just talked about, what would it be? 

Nicole Winegardner  36:05

I feel like probably staying true to who you are. Because I feel like that one makes all like, you know, it gives direction to the focus and the goal setting and helps you like just remember what’s important.

Megan Porta  36:21

this was amazing. Nicole, thank you. We all need mindset tips. As this is not I mean, it’s a no joke job, right? Whether it’s a hobby or a job, it is no joke, we need to stay on top of our mindset. So thank you for bringing this to the table. We really appreciate you. 

Nicole Winegardner  36:37

Yeah, thank you for having me. It’s been fun. 

Megan Porta  36:39

Yeah, this was so fun. right up my alley, my favorite topic, do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with?

Nicole Winegardner  36:46

Yes. So one of my very favorite quotes, and it’s actually our family motto. It comes from Eric and Emily Orton, who decided to get on a sailboat and sail with their family. And they’re, they’re married, and their five kids just to go sailing for a year. Anyway, they wrote a book called Seven at Sea. And it’s, there’s this quote that they had that’s called it goes, what could go right? And it’s not just, you know, thinking about the positive, like, that’s part of it. But part of it is also, you know, if you have this big goal, or this big dream, that’s scary, what you do is you go through and you write down or think about and really evaluate all of the things that could go right if you went for it, all of that. And then then you can and it really is kind of one of those things that helps you conquer any fears that you’re having over something. And it helps you see the true potential and you’re like, all these things could go right, like I’m gonna do it or maybe you’re not, you know, right. It’s just as a really great tool for evaluating that helps release the fear. 

Megan Porta  37:49

Oh, I love that. Because most people if you said you were taking your five kids on a sailing adventure, they would say they would tell you all the things that could go wrong, right? So yeah, that is like oh, that’s so powerful. And love it. What’s the name of the book did you say? 

Nicole Winegardner  38:05

Seven at Sea. 

Megan Porta  38:06

Seven at Sea? Okay, I have not heard of that. How cool though What a great story about we will put together show notes for you and Nicole so if you want to go look at those had to eatblogtalk.com/simplyscrumptiouseats? Tell everyone where to find you and your co blogger? 

Nicole Winegardner  38:23

Yeah, so we’re at SimplyScrumptiousEats.com and on Instagram we’re simplyscrumptiouseats_.

Megan Porta  38:30

Awesome, everyone go check Nicole and Andrea out. Thanks so much for being here, Nicole, and thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

Outro 38:44

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Please share this episode with a friend who would benefit from tuning in. I will see you next time.