Central Coast Archives - Page 2 of 2 - The Atlas Heart

A photo essay through Santa Cruz

June 30, 2021June 20, 2015 by Mimi McFadden

It’s no surprise that I love a little beachside town called Santa Cruz. First of all, it’s where I grew up. Secondly, it’s a super laid back, chilled out, and beautiful place to explore – could it fit my personality any better? A couple of years ago I wrote this post on 6 free things to … Read more

Alright, I’m calling it. I’m proud that I made

Alright, I’m calling it. I’m proud that I made it to 13 posts in a row, about two months of content whittled down to two weeks, but I told myself as soon as I started feeling even an ounce of burnout that I would put my challenge on hold and resume my regular posting schedule.

Here are a few things that I took away from it:

1. I thrive (and write best) when I have balance in my life. When I was doing my challenge, I’d work late, feel guilty for having a social life, and I stopped doing my morning routine for a week because I felt like I didn’t have the time. I started feeling off-balance and overworked, which is exactly what I don't want to feel.

2. My most profitable content is my super detailed posts that are usually around 5,000-9,000 words. Those just aren’t feasible when I’m trying to get out content every day and I missed the dedication that I put into each one of those posts. I’d still like to test out a mix of shorter and longer posts, but my long-form content has consistently been my most profitable so I don’t want to lose sight of that.

3. With that said, I think I could do these content sprints better in the future and I look forward to trying them out now and then when I feel like doing a content push and I have the capacity to do so.

4. I realized that one of the reasons I started this challenge was because I missed sharing my progress and having that accountability. It’s made me realize that I want to start doing income recaps from time to time again to update you on my progress and to share the ups and downs of running my own website and trying to make a living from it. These might not be full blog posts but instead quick recaps on Instagram to update you as I go.

5. This challenge only helped improve my writing habit - I’m now writing anywhere from 2,000-3,000 words per day. Every day. It was also a good reminder that consistency is better than perfection.

And on a positive note to round out this challenge, a quick update on my progress: I’m on track to have my best month ever in June in terms of page views and revenue (I'll be hitting over 80,000 page views and making over $5,000 from my blog this month). 🥳🎉Onwards!

As of May 1st, I finally took the leap and ended a

As of May 1st, I finally took the leap and ended all client work to start running The Atlas Heart full-time. I've had a month to get a taste of how I might be able to grow my business in the way I want with more time and space to devote to it full-time. And I'm excited to finally be diving all in after running my website part-time for close to a decade.

So, in the spirit of this big change as well as to have more accountability and transparency, I've decided to create a challenge for myself.

The goal? To write and publish a piece of content on my site (either new or updated old content) every single day. I have no idea how long I'll be able to keep this up (and I want to be mindful of not burning out), but I thought it would be a fun way to see how much I might be able to grow with consistent action every day.

Here's the baseline of where I'm currently at:

Total Pageviews in the last 30 days: 69,685
Blog revenue from the past 30 days: $3,261

I actually started this challenge 3 days ago, so I'm currently on day 4.

Here are the first 3 posts I've published in the last 3 days:
1. 6/4/21 - https://theatlasheart.com/pacific-coast-highway-road-trip/
2. 6/5/21 -https://theatlasheart.com/things-to-do-in-julian/
3. 6/6/21 - https://theatlasheart.com/california-state-parks-list/

I'll be posting on here every day that I have content (on stories) until I break the chain. Wish me luck! <3

5 days, 38.5 miles, 17,230 feet total elevation ch

5 days, 38.5 miles, 17,230 feet total elevation change, 77 lizards, 5 foxes, 2 bison on the trail, 7 blisters, 4 campsites, 3 bonfires, 2 buffalo milks.

We finished the Trans-Catalina Trail today, just in time for my 31st birthday. We spent the last 5 days taking in panoramic coastal views, discovering hidden coves and beaches, and feeling our legs and feet burn with each of those Catalina hills climbed. Hiking this trail was all about early mornings and nights, appreciating the simple but beautiful parts of our days, and disconnecting from technology and the need to always be “doing” things. It felt rejuvenating to only focus on one big goal each day - to make it to our campsite and enjoy the journey on the way there. Here’s to 31 and to focusing on goals that are just as much about the journey as they are about the outcome. ✨💫

Anyone else ready for endless summer days and road

Anyone else ready for endless summer days and road trips? #vaxxedgirlsummer 🌻🚗☀️
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Found this gem when I was doing a Big Sur road trip a few months ago - Gibson Beach at Point Lobos. I’m putting together a bunch of road trip guides on the blog this month, very excited to share them with you soon! And there are many more travels coming this summer, including backpacking the Trans-Catalina Trail over 5-days for my 31st bday, another island getaway exploring the Channel Islands in August, and many more fun little trips in between. Letzzz go!

Last year, Suneel invited me to hangout on Valenti

Last year, Suneel invited me to hangout on Valentine’s Day. I turned him down to spend time with a cute puppy instead.

Luckily, he didn’t take it too personally...we celebrated our one year anniversary together last weekend.  And what a year it has been.

We only had a month of normal dating before the pandemic hit. We had short spurts of not living together (but pretty much living together) in San Francisco, Tahoe, and Berkeley, and we finally moved in together (for real) in Berkeley last December. Over the past year, we’ve taken 303970 day trips to explore more of the Bay Area, had creative quarantine date nights like blow up beach ball soccer, DIY wine & paint nights, karaoke, and legacy board game nights. We’ve had hours and hours of conversations about every subject under the sun (and there was plenty to talk about in 2020). We’ve had so much quality time together since we’re lucky enough to both work from home. It feels more like five years of dating instead of one (in the best way possible).

It’s hard to believe that just over a year ago this person wasn’t in my life, he’s become such a good part of it.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone who is celebrating today, hope you get to spend today with your person - whether that’s a romantic partner, best friend, or puppy. ❤️

I've been to quite a few national parks in Califor

I've been to quite a few national parks in California, but there's one that I ignored for years...

Pinnacles!

I thought it would be a dry, almost desert-like landscape with spiraling red-tan pinnacles.

Maybe it would be a mini Joshua Tree with, you know, less desert.

I couldn’t have been more wrong with what I was imagining.

From the first trail we hiked...

We came across lush Jurassic Park ferns, stepping stones of falling water, and damp piles of orange leaves in every direction.

Eventually, as we hiked to a higher elevation we came across the park's famous pinnacles and a drier landscape, but one that was still lush in its own way.

Some rocks looked like they could’ve been a Jackson Pollock masterpiece with their dotted multi-color lichen across their face.

I couldn’t help but think how underrated this California national park was as I walked its trails, oohed and ahhed at its viewpoints, and was scared silly when a huge condor flew overhead out of nowhere.

So I put together a comprehensive guide for you so you can enjoy the best of what this park has to offer too.

Head to the link in my bio for the full post! (Right now and the spring are the best times to go).
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#pinnaclesnationalpark #pinnacles #pinnaclesnps @pinnaclesnps

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