I have been slacking on my duties as a content creator lately. So I need to at least do an update on this blog and other platforms (We will get to those later) I've been keeping busy with many different things and I'm obsessed with finding different skills for working at home.

In my spare time I like to work on new press on nail designs to put in my shops. The trend right now is glitter and deep french tips. I've also been experimenting with loose glitter.

And of course, I have to vlog! It's been part of my life for over 5 years so I must make videos to make myself laugh! New video coming soon. Welp that was my update and I will be getting more consistent with not only Melle Indie blog and YouTube but also throwing Medium and a brand new blog that will be self-hosted into the mix. Got to stay busy and keep grinding! I'll catch up with all of you in the next post! BYE!

BLOG: http://www.melleindie.com 

 

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/melleindie

 

MEDIUM:  https://medium.com/@mellejohnson84

 

TIK TOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@melleindie

 

DEPOP: https://www.depop.com/melleindie

 

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/melleindie/

 

MERCH: https://www.redbubble.com/people/MelleIndie/shop

 

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/indiemelle

 

MEDIUM:  https://medium.com/@mellejohnson84

 I've been asked repeatedly if my press-on nails are manufactured and the answer is no. The nail themselves may come from China but they are definitely designed by myself all by hand. From that point on (a couple years ago), I said I would make sure to also hand paint and hand write each and every Thank You card so when a customer gets their order off of whatever platform I sold it off of they would know it came from an indie operation. 

Water Colored Index Cards

I wasn't really looking for an online library but since we have to do many things we are used to in a different way, I start searching for various book titles online. We live in a new day in time and going to the library was out of the question two years ago (Y'all remember 2020) But did you know you can still borrow books for free online?! I know there are probably plenty of websites like this one but Internet Archive is my absolute favorite! I’ve been reading books everyday since I found this website! To a nerdy type of person like myself this is better than Netflix! (Which I canceled by the way)  There are not just books but articles and videos. It really feels like the library because you have an hour at a time to read and once the hour is up you have to borrow again for another hour to continue reading. I’ve sat on the Internet Archive for hours reading and giggling. It’s a must if you're on a strict budget like myself but want some free entertainment in the form of a book.

 Since the pandemic it's been a little harder to do the activities you're used to and to be around your family. It’s a chore just go outside you have to worry about germs, where you're putting your hands, making sure you are social distancing among many other things. As soon as things start to get serious and we started getting mask mandates, use hand sanitizer and wash our hands rigorously everyday. My immune system was not so good so I immediately started to develop a daily routine. In this daily routine I would consume the healthiest things I could get within my budget. Here are some of those things that I have to have every single day.

I'm not saying these are things that you need to have in your pantry but one or two of them a day may help with your overall immune system along with a little bit of exercise could help during these difficult times.

Organic Green Tea

I'm addicted to organic green tea in the morning. It's kind of like my must have when I first get up besides water. I used to get my organic green tea from a local Asian market but the brand I'm actually drinking till this day is Uncle Lee's Organic Green Tea. It can be found at Walmart and online on amazon.com it's one of the best tasting organic green teas I've ever had. Here are a couple reasons why it would be a good idea to consume Organic Green Tea everyday:

1. The ingredients in Organic green tea will increase fat burning

2. Organic green tea also has ingredients that can reduce bad breath

3. Organic green tea is also a great source of antioxidants

4. Organic green tea is extremely inexpensive

5. Organic green tea may also help boost brain function

These are just a couple of the benefits of drinking organic green tea every single day. It's a perfect addition to help with your health and immune system in these days and times.

Vitamin D3

If you're vitamin D deficient you may want to think about taking a supplement on a daily basis if you don't get around sun very often. Unfortunately I am vitamin D deficient. I found out through a doctor's visit and I hope when I go back I won't be deficient anymore hopefully. This supplement is also very inexpensive.

Organic Sea Moss Capsules

I tried to use the dried sea moss, soak it, put it in the blender and make drinks with it but dried sea moss just had a very “ocean'' type of smell and taste to it. It made my sink, my refrigerator, and different jars smell like the ocean (I nicknamed it Sebastian) . It wasn't a really bad smell but it was very potent. I liked the way I felt when I did drink it so I decided to look for organic sea moss capsules and started to take those daily instead. Irish sea moss capsules have a lot of nutrients in them. Try to get them one hundred percent organic and wildcrafted if you can. Check Amazon and Ebay.

Probiotic supplement

I came down with the stomach flu about 2 years ago. I went to a local clinic and I'm so glad I got a really good doctor who observed I was having repeated stomach problems and recommended that I take the Garden of Life Primal Defense Ultra Probiotic Formula capsules. His recommendation was a good one because I haven't had any stomach problems since I've been taking these probiotic capsules. These probiotics are very popular and sell out quickly. I was not aware how important your gut health was and how you need to protect your stomach to keep from getting sick from different foods.

Multi-Vitamin Gummies

These are my very favorite gummy vitamins. These gummy vitamins taste like candy. The gummies have a really fruity natural taste to them. These gummies are the Vita Fusion MultiVites. I take two of these Vita Fusion gummies per day. There's no gluten, no high fructose corn syrup, no dairy, no artificial sweeteners or flavors. I depend on these gummy vitamins daily for immune system support the same way as the probiotics, sea moss capsules, and vitamin d3.

I have incorporated organic green tea and multiple capsules into my daily routine in the morning and have felt very healthy throughout this whole time. For the organic green tea I make two bags with hot filtered water and agave sweetener in a big cup (it's good hot and cold), I take one of each for the sea moss, vitamin D3 and probiotics. For the Vita Fusion gummies I take two of those a day.

I am not a doctor so I cannot recommend any of these products all but I can say in my experience taking them on a daily basis I can say they have helped me feel great through all of 2020, 2021 and now 2022. Do not forget to add in some exercise to lower your stress and don’t forget to laugh (it's the best medicine ever). I'm glad to share this information and I hope it helps somebody out there. In the meantime eat healthy, keep your head up and stay positive.

 What is it like working for Shipt?  To be honest being a Shipt shopper a very good hustle especially for an introvert.  I'm not even big on driving but even I was able to do it.  Let's be honest I only did it for one day but in that one day of work I got to see how much potential this one side job could potentially bring in. 

I made sure I turned on my camera and vlogged my entire 1 hour shift basically just to show how easy it was.  I brought snacks from the dollar store and water so I didn't spend up the little bit of money I did make.  I actually had fun!

But let's also get to the parts that weren't so much fun.  It was really easy to see what was on the customer's list in the app but when I couldn't find an item it was kind of frustrating. When you can't find something you have to just tell them it wasn't found, see if they would like something else and keep going. 

This particular customer did not want to be called or messaged so you basically just skip over the item and mark "not found".  The checkout was also pretty easy but it's all so intricate because you have to make sure that your groceries are separated correctly (not piled on top of each other ) also at the register you need to scan a non tax exempt barcode on your phone and then you have to pray you're Shipt credit card works.  My order actually went through very well.

Now we're off to the customer's house I was at a Target in the Northlake area her house was in the Norcross, Georgia area wasn't too far I was familiar with the area which made it more comfortable.  I did get lost and the Shipt GPS directed me to a apartment complex instead of a house.  I don't recommend using their GPS I recommend using your own GPS like Waze.  The house was actually down the street I put on my mask drop the groceries on the doorstep took a picture (that I forgot to send in) and left.

So at first I was open to another order and I went to my favorite Wal mart parking lot. But by now it's approaching about 12:00 noon and there wasn't any other orders coming in so of course being lazy I picked up a couple things for my mother and proceeded to go home. For that little venture I was paid about $10.98  which I guess wasn't bad but then I saw why people keep driving for Shipt.  I was cooking myself some dinner in a couple hours later  I get a tip for $5.00 now that made my trip worth it so I see why people will continue to come out and drive for Shipt ,Uber, Instacart it's really a tip game because now that $10.98 turn into $15.98  I can now see how staying out delivering groceries for a half a day or a whole day can end up being a nice piece of change. 

I took a little break from the Shipt App. I expect to go back out soon but with gas soaring in price it's not an ideal thing for me to do right now especially when there's other ways to make side hustle money.  Overall I give it about four and a half stars. Shipt was something fun to do and you make money while doing it so why not.  Here's a video I've vlogged the day I did shipped for the first day:

Hope you enjoyed this blog and the video make sure to come back now ya hear!

 I'm a total newbie beginner when it comes to the crypto space and crypto investing. I stumbled on it about October 2021 and it was an accident. I had about $17.00 in my Robinhood account and it wasn't much to buy stocks with so I played around and put some money on Dogecoin it was about .23 at the time and it went up to about .26 or .27 in a couple hours and my little bit of investment went up. After I saw the money go up I had to learn about this crypto thing I had been scared about investing in.

                                                    ROBINHOOD :Where it all started

COINBASE: One of the popular homes of Shiba Inu Coin

                                WEBULL: I have no idea why I have this exchange account

I tried the Trust wallets and buying over the blockchain and let me tell you IT'S EXPENSIVE! There is all these gas fees and mining fees. I wanted to spend like $10.00 and it cost $80 to complete the transaction. That was a complete NO! I saw that Dogelon Mars was on Kucoin and it was pretty easy to set up so I got my Dogelon Mars(ELON) coins from Kucoin. To me this is a good trading and buying platform for a more experienced crypto investor. I wouldn't start with Kucoin to get into crypto it would have been too confusing to me as a beginner who never bought or traded crypto.

I'm very excited to 2022! I want to let my investments grown and add to them at this time Shiba Inu price is at 0.00003402 (SHIB) and Dogelon Mars price is at 0.00000165 (ELON)

In my opinion I would start with Coinbase or WeBull they were more beginner friendly in my opinion. You will have to provide your government identification, take a photo, and verify email plus your phone number. This verification is with basically a process you have to do with all the exchanges.

It's 2022 and I your thinking about investing in crypto here are some referal links that can get you free stocks and crypto to start:

ROBINHOOD

COINBASE

WEBULL

 HAPPY NEW YEAR! It is about to be 2022 and I wanted to just make a post about how great 2021 went. It had some high and low points but over all I learned so much. I enjoyed myself this year and I really believe that that is because I learned so much about hustling, finances and myself.

 I wasn't to sure about getting this color of wig. It was a cross between a ash purplish pink. I was calling it and "ashy lilac" but if you look this color up it actually #612 the wig also has a gray type of look to it. At $9.99 on sale there was nothing to lose.

 I've had this little Imagic 12 flash color make up case/palette for years now. I know it has to be about 3-4 years I've been using this same make up case and it has been great for creating: eyebrows, eyeliner, lipstick colors, lipliner, and you can even combine colors to do your actual foundation.

 I'm all about some DIY projects. So when I was thinking about changing my video backdrop/ background in my recording room for YouTube I thought about the popular organic balloon garlands I keep seeing online and on Instagram. I used to work at a party store for years blowing up balloons on a daily so I thought this would be a fun DIY balloon project. I got a balloon pump from Ebay, table cloth from The Dollar Tree and the balloons are both from The Dollar Tree and Ebay.

 I did it again! I was able to scoop four colors of nail polish from The Dollar Tree all Sinful Colors brand! I'm super excited because its very rare to see Sinful Colors nail polish in The Dollar Tree. Sinful colors nail polish is usually in a store like Sally's or a higher priced beauty store. I was also impressed with the shades I picked up. Usualy the colors all look alike or they are dull and unwanted but these colors are POPULAR!.

 I’m literally typing this blog on my iPad right now! With all the technology and resources we have available there is no way everyone who wants a YouTube, blog or podcast shouldn’t have one or all. I make a lot of excuses but with the obstacles I got over these past couple days showed me that I’m pretty good at the things I do! I managed to turn mp4 files into a compressed mp3 from iMovie! I got all my audio projects in on time and why? Because I put pressure on myself to make sure I got it done correctly.

When you truly want something your going to make time for it. I really have grown to love blogging and video making. Even editing is quite fun. Audio is a whole other beast but that runs in my blood and with a good class and some practice I’m sure I’ll master it by next year. I’m seeing once the excuses stop and I call myself out the manager part of me comes out and starts to make a plan of action to push myself further. The excuses have to stop and action has to take place. Yes it’s rainy and chilly outside and usually I would turn on Netflix get under the covers and call it a day. But there is a lot that needs done. Written content, video content, press on nails and restock of merchandise all need to be done. So it’s up to me to push myself to make sure it gets done.

This was today’s Thursday motivation. I like to put some real time blogs in between the planned ones just in case somebody was looking for a pick me up! These are also similar to a diary entry and you can go back on specific dates to see where you were at that time. Let’s get off our butts and end this year right! We still have the rest of September, October, November and December to make a impact on our lives. Take it one day at a time and start now! Let’s do this!