Last month I did a Roxy Marj coloring contest over at my instagram page [@roxymarj] that lasted all of October. This idea was my husband's, basically I was to come up with a coloring page every day in October and we would put it in our shop roxymarj.com as a free download [we made them large enough to print poster size!] I would then post on instagram/fb the coloring page of the day, and you had only 1 day to download that page...after that, it was gone. To be entered into the contest you needed to download 10 coloring pages and have them colored...and take multiple photos or one big group photo.... and from all the entries [over 450] it looks lit it was well received!  This was a lot of fun because it helped in the spontaneity department for me, as well as I thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people on instagram and seeing how creative the entries were getting.  People were really going to town, and finding a creative bone in their body....such neat stuff! :-[) 

There were four winners in total. Two from Facebook and two from instagram. We chose a random winner from facebook and instagram using random.org and then we chose a "most creative" winner from Instagram and Facebook... Below are the 31 coloring pages from last month. 

Below are the Winners photos. L-R :

@katergil

@mamaofpenelope

@ambsstokes

@lanaechristi2

If you want to see more of the 450+ entries, type in the hashtag:

#rmcoloringcontest on instagram :)

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But then there was a downside to doing this contest.... Because it was a month long, I was on social media waaay more than normal, and way more than I like. It was starting to wear on me...and feeling down around the holidays is just a big fat no-no! I want to enjoy my holidays in peace and quiet.... 

So this morning, after a long discussion with Jesse [my husband] he suggested I give myself another challenge and take a month break from Instagram.  I'm hardly ever on fb, so going off social media for a month shouldn't be that hard. Anyways, this was music to my ears...why didn't I come up with this idea? :-p  

With that said, I'm going to work really hard on putting my efforts towards this neglected blog of mine, getting back to journaling for journaling's sake... and finding peace and quiet during the month of November. I have a feeling once this month is over...that I may not even want to get back on social media... it will be interesting, that is what happened at least after I deleted my fb account 4 years ago. 

 I long for the days when writing a letter to someone and putting it in the mailbox was the norm, or passing notes in highschool.... those days are almost extinct. Sad, huh! :( Jesse and I were discussing last week how all the junior high's and highschools should have a national "school only" holiday where you get to pass notes instead of texts...now that would be something to scrapbook. I really dislike this business of fb & instagram creating entitled viewership... i.e. sending someone direct messages and they can see if you looked at it. Think of all the pre-mediation that has caused in people all over the world... "they saw my message, how come they haven't responded?" "Is he or she mad at me? It's be 4 hrs, no response!" It's crazy this stuff can eat away at us and to think 10 years ago, it wasn't even an issue we got to worry about.... on the other hand,  this is just part of life and part of evolving, and the best thing to do is take it in strides.... try to find a balance, and what works for you. 

This November, i'm going in search of what works for me. :)