Every Monday we bring you a new blogger who inspires us. This week we are featuring Caroline from Love and Loathing Los Angeles. Her unique style, hilarious voice, and love for our favorite city in the world makes her a stand out from the crowd and a blogger to watch.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
Oh boy this is one of those questions where the probability of rambling is high, so I’ll go with the short(ish) version synopsis of my 25 years of life. I grew up in Northern California (Easy Bay Area to be exact), moved down to Orange County when I was 18 to attend Chapman University where I studied one of the most taxing and grueling of curriculums: Art. Kidding it was a blast, I sometimes wish I was still painting on a regular basis like that, but here I am now living in Los Angeles, making the most out of being a resident in this weird yet charming city. My latest creative outlet has been through writing and about a year ago Love & Loathing LA was born – it has been nothing short of incredibly fun and rewarding building up this little business this past year.
What 3 words would you use to describe yourself?
Lively. Happy. Sassy. (with a smile of course)
What Profession other than yours would you love to attempt?
With a degree in Art, and an emphasis on Painting, I shoulda/coulda/woulda been a professional painter.
What is your favorite quote?
“Life is short. Eat dessert first.”
What inspired your blog?
David Lebovitz’s book “The Sweet Life In Paris” – in short it’s a collection of short chapters, each with a focus on different Parisian nuances and how they were perceived through (his) American/foreign eyes. I loved the way he portrayed a semi misunderstood aspect of life in Paris and broke down stereotypes and made these nuances charming; it made me want to go back to Paris and try all the things he had. I thought to myself, well, I live in a city with a similar kind of misunderstanding (Los Angeles of course) I’d love to give something like writing a book in a similar manner a shot! But my wise mother of mine, thrilled as she was, advised I start with a blog first, so here we are.
What is your favorite social media platform and why?
I’m a visual person with a bit of a background in photography so I find myself very partial to Instagram. I love to be updated by way of singular photo, and the especially great thing about Instagram is that no one tends to post anything negative (they seem to save that crap for Facebook instead). Instagram is a happy place to share your happy moments, and I can completely get on board with that.
Where do you find inspiration for blog posts?
Anything and everything pertaining to Los Angeles is inspiration. The topics, places, people, activities, brands, etc are endless here! We’re a city teeming with creativity, so turns out I selected an excellent overarching subject for my blog.
What do you think it is about your blog that keeps people coming back for more?
It’s a curated, personal blog to an extent but my goal is to make readers feel as if they know me – as if I were speaking to them they way I would a close friend. It’s honest, it’s positive, and it’s simple (it’s a lot less cluttered and overwhelming like I find many a blogs/media outlet sites to be). I am all over this town writing about a variety of focus driven topics, so Angelenos and travelers alike curious to read about any and all awesome Angeleno stuff will (hopefully) come back for more. And then of course there’s quite a few pretty pictures. If you don’t feel like reading at least there’s some bonus interesting stuff to look at. How does a brand get your attention for a feature? I wish I had a more exciting answer like they write me a sky message but, most if not all cases, they just email me. I wish I’d get a sky message?
What do you love most about blogging?
Having the opportunity to meet so many incredible and inspiring people and being able to discover and experience so many things particularly in LA that I’m not sure I would have been aware of if I were without a real purpose like writing for a blog. Writing also completely fills my creative void, so I’m grateful to have the blog as a way to express myself. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I still see myself in Los Angeles, painting, writing, and overseeing Love & Loathing LA… Love & Loathing NY… Love & Loathing SF… you see where I’m going with that.
In your opinion, what separates a great blog from an unsuccessful blog?
Time, effort, consistency, belief, love, a little bit of luck, and a brilliant purpose – that’s what the great blogs look like.