Category Archives: blogging

10 Year Blogiversary!

Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 All Rights Reserved

This month marks my 10 year milestone with my blog A Compass Rose (ACR).

I started it in 2005 days before my first born son came into this world. Now he is just days away from celebrating his first double digit birthday. I think of everything that has happened in the past ten years and wonder how it all fit into one decade. Some of it made it on my blog, others did not and happened during a period of downtime away from the blogosphere. I have taken a lot of my most favourite photographs specially for the blog and my self portrait series. I have blogged every day for the most part of a year, working on a consistant flow of posts that covered photography, travel, third culture kids, and expat life. I have made a lot of friends and kept in contact with those that are as close as family. While my level of activity has gone up and down it has always been there, like an old friend, ready to pick things up where we last left off. Thank you to everyone who has ever come here, for the comments, for the support, and most importantly all the love and friendship. Thank you.

Self Portrait: ‘Nominated’

Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 - 2014 All rights reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk

Self Portrait: ‘Nominated’ Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2014 All rights reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk

My self portrait ‘Nominate’ was taken today in response to being nominated for the MADS 2014 Blogger awards.  I was so excited to find out I have been nominated in the following categories: Blog of the Year, Photography blog, and Family Travel blog. Thank you everyone who suggested A Compass Rose for the MADS.

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London Bloggers Tea, Nov 2013

I mentioned that the London Bloggers Tea was a success and today I share with you the photographs to prove it! I have met other bloggers before with the Bristol Fashion Week and have been on a couple of ‘blates’, but this was my first time meeting a group of bloggers of which I had already been following along online.  To say I was a little excited would be quite an understatement as I had been talking and tweeting about it online in the days that led up to our London Blogger Tea.  Before I even say another word I have to say a big thank you to Selena for putting this all together and organizing this event.  Without her hard work none of this would have been possible.  
I took the National Express coach from Bath Spa that morning getting me to London Victoria station that afternoon.  The underground was quite crowded that day with various events going on in London, but I ended up making it to Covenant Garden with ten minutes to spare. It was in the Mercer Hotel lobby where I ran into Melanie (my lovely sponsor this month) and had my first ‘omg I know you’ moment. The rest all happened rather quickly when I entered the room and heard Selena say, ‘Bonnie’s here!’
It was such an unreal moment for the first twenty minutes as I looked around the table and was able to put faces to names and blogs that I follow. Someone said it best when they stated how surreal it was to know so much about someone from their blog and finally meet them for the first time in person. To finally beat the distance, meet your ‘friends’, and give them a hug was quite a blessing for me.  It only made me feel a bit bittersweet that I do not live in London like most of the ladies so this could happen more often.
The whole event went by quite quickly. A third of the bloggers I have had the opportunity to get to know in the blogging world and through social media and had a blast getting to connect face to face.  Another third were bloggers I had only just heard about through the organization of the blogging meet up and enjoyed getting to know them and their journey with blogging.  Sadly with the time allowances and all the in depth conversations going on there was another third I did not get to talk to very much at all. It left me wanting another blogger event to look forward to so we could all talk even more. 
I did not think I was that nervous but I must have been because the first bite I had to eat all day was one of the scones when I got to the blogger tea.  I ate a little bit but my appetite was still missing when I finally made it home that night.  It was just a lot happening at once and so much excitement.  Then some of us went out for drinks at a pub afterwards and the conversations continued.  If you have read My Night in An Italian Jail, you know I had my phone stolen. I still have not gotten that replaced and so I was a bit anxious about getting home safely to Bath that night. I really want to also thank Selena and Sarah for helping make sure I got back to the coach station safely. 
It was an awesome meet up with talks about it happening quarterly.  I also look forward to any future trips to London to reconnect and invite anyone down to Bath to come visit when you have the time.  I think my next Blate will be with Kate next month, and I cannot wait! Again thank you to everyone who came, you all made my day. I understand the importance of friendships in your current city with ‘locals’ but as a TCK, I really appreciate all my expat friends. Thank you also to all of you who read my blog and those who talk with me over social media. Though we have not met, I appreciate each and every one of you. 

The London Tea Attendees
Gina from Sweet Serenity
Mandy from Emm in London
Bonnie from A Compass Rose
Jacintha from Urban Pixxels
Anna from Eat, See, Do 
Shobha from NYLon Living
Annie at Sew Graceful
Melanie from Melanie Fontaine
Samantha from To the Days Like This
A Big Thank You Goes Out To:
* Photography belongs to Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 



London Blogger Tea a Success

Today I had the amazing opportunity to go to London for an awesome London Blogger Tea arranged by the beautiful Selena.  It was so great to meet so many of my blogger friends in person after following their blogs online.  I met and made new friends and the event flew by so fast.  I want to post on it properly in a few days once I get my photos online and share more about the event. Until then make sure to check out all the wonderful bloggers who attended and send them some encouraging shout outs. I know my life was made better having met each and every single person tonight.  Thank you for a perfect night out in London. 

Melanie from Melanie Fontaine
Gina from Sweet Serenity
Mandy from Emm in London
Sarah from The Wanderblogger
Tina from Girl Meets Globe
Jacintha from Urban Pixxels
Anna from Eat, See, Do 
Janelle from The Halfpenny Diaries
Shobha from NYLon Living
Annie at Sew Graceful
Samantha from To the Days Like This

*photo belongs to Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 


Thank You & Your Feedback

Dear Readers: Our week is coming to an end and I wanted to take this time to say ‘Thank you’.  You mean so much to me and I continue to blog every day because of your encouragement, your support, and most importantly your friendship.  I do not know how you stumbled upon my blog but I am so thankful our paths crossed.  Thank you for returning time and time again and thank you for every single comment, each tweet, and every thoughtful email.  Thank you for not only being my friend but for loving on all my sponsors and those who have guest posted here at ACR.  I may not say it enough but your kindness and love mean so much to me and I appreciate everyone one of you. 

C h e e r s .   G r a z i e .   M e r c i .   D a n k e .   T h a n k   Y o u ! 



May I ask a favour? I have been posting on this blog off and on since 2005 and I do not even begin to think that I know everything there is about blogging.  Just this morning I was reading blog advice from my friend Lauren and found that her tips were still quite relevant to me.  My aim is to continue adding quality blog content with both words and photographs as ACR keeps on growing.  Being the nomadic free spirit I am I sometimes feel I have a hard to defining my ‘niche’.  From talking with my other Third Culture Kid friends I know I am not alone. So I wanted to ask you for your advice. 
  • What are your favourite blog posts on ACR?
  • Which series have been your favourite?
  • Do you like guest posts?
  • Which guest posts have been your favourite? 
  • Do you like the link ups and which link ups would you participate in?
  • Do you like occasional giveaways?
  • I notice many bloggers share new photos of themselves in every new post. This is not something I necessarily do. Do you feel like not having that aspect makes it harder to connect to me?
  • What do you not see that you wish I had more of on ACR?
  • Are their things you love on other blogs that I do not do here?
  • Are there things you think I could do better at?
  • Would you like to see something changed?
  • How do you read ACR? On your smart phone or on the computer?
  • Do you like following me on other social media sites?
  • Which social media sites to you like following me on? (twitter/pinterest/facebook/instagram/etc)
  • Do you like the photography portions to ACR?
  • What makes you excited about returning to this blog?
  • You love coming here…what would be your dream posts to read here?
  • What would you love me to blog about?

Answer one, answer all it is up to you. I just started typing questions as they came to me.  I really appreciate your feedback as I just to make ACR better for you.  I love writing and sharing my photographs which is why I enjoy blogging so much.  However I want to break down that ‘fourth wall’ and really hear from you so that I can connect my blog further to my readers. No two blogs can be the same which is why comparing can lead to ruin. Help me instead continue to evolve ACR into what it should become. I appreciate any feedback you can give me.

You do not have to comment on this post with your feedback.  

* Bridal photo up top: Photography © Miriam Pinkston Visual Artist, 2009-2013 All Rights reserved.www.miriampinkstonphotography.com
** Custom graphics original to A Compass Rose by Bonnie Rose © 2005 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnieroseblog.co.uk

Blogging: Social Media & Your Brand

Today’s prompt for Blogtember states, “Discuss ways that blogging or social media has changed you.” 
When I started this blog back in January of 2005 I did not have the social media outlets that I do today, mainly because many of them did not exist yet.  Aside from message forums, chat rooms, and texting blogging became my first step into the social media scene.  I began my blog to share photos of my newborn son as we embarked on the new life as a military family far away from family.  Within that year I created accounts with Livejournal and Myspace. My world was finding it’s way online but behind the protection of passwords.  I even stopped blogging for a while because I was scared about sharing photos of my son online.  
Eight years down the road and things have really changed in the way social media impacts my life.  I was at a job interview where I had previously turned in my CV containing links to my various social media platforms and was greeted with, ‘I feel like I already know everything about you.” I google myself and am greeted with much of my photography portfolio and images from my blog.  Being in the creative scene I realised that my name and my presence online is my brand. Anything I share online now is married to the fact that once it is out there, it is out there. 
As of today my whole family’s life is impacted by social media.  I am constantly documenting our life on camera and sharing online.  My husband uses social media to talk about foreign policy and his football club, Arsenal. My kids now will come up to me and ask me to take a photo of something and share it on facebook. Anytime we are out and have to wait on something, more than likely my husband and I will have our phones out.  The digital age of constantly checking, sharing, or reading something online. With the world of smart phones I can be out of the house and publish a blog post.  Furthermore I can share a photo from the post on Instagram, which automatically gets shared to my twitter feed, which can then be shared to my facebook wall.  Within seconds I have shared a piece of my life with over a thousand people in my personal network alone. 
I believe with all things there is a learning curve with social media and making sure it does not take over your life.  However used well and it can really benefit your business, your brand, and your blog. I have put together a Social Media & Your Brand infographic for this purpose.
Feel free to pin this to your Pinterest board and follow me on Pinterest.
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Also remember about the Giveaway!

*infographic orginal to ACR made by Bonnie Rose © 2007 – 2013 | All Rights Reserved – http://www.bonnieroseblog.co.uk