Uncategorized

Leave a comment Posted on fatherhood, parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Holly: You Now Love Mac and Cheese!

1 year, 11 months.

Dear Holly,

It was just a few weeks ago when Nonna came up for a week to take care of you while I was on my Toyota trip in Atlanta, that you began eating Ramen noodles.

Well, it’s no surprise to me that you now eat mac and cheese too.

Last week you overheard your brother tell Mommy that’s what he wanted for dinner.

You repeated, “Chee?”

(Each week, we’ve kept a little snack-size block of cheese for you in the fridge; as you occasionally ask for it. You’ve treated it more like a teething toy more than food, though.)

I then asked you, “Holly, cheese noodles?”

“Yeah, chee!”

So Mommy brought you your own dish of mac and cheese, along with your brother’s. You went to work right away.

Though you had never eaten it before, you instantly loved it.

My favorite part about this story is that you took it upon yourself to request mac and cheese and try it for the first time.

As you are now less than a month away from your 2nd birthday, I am starting to see you naturally transition into your upcoming age.

You’ve mainly been eating snack-type foods until recently. Now that you’re actually asking for and eating pasta, it shows me that you are growing up.

And while I am very particular about letting my kids have “screen time” before their 2nd birthday, I have been letting you watch Elmo a little bit most days.

So yes, you love mac and cheese. You ask for it. Granted, they are currently being referred to as “cheese noodles” for now, but that’s okay.

I just love being able to see you eating something besides fruit-&-veggie pouches and Cheerios.

My little girl is starting to eat real food now!

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on People, Storytelling, Uncategorized, Writing

Behind the Music: My New Original Song about Emotional Intelligence, “Maybe It’s a Dream” by Nick Shell

It might be easy to forget at this point in my life, but when I moved to Nashville back on September 11th, 2005, it was because I wanted to build a career in music; as I have been singing, writing songs, and playing the guitar for over two decades.

However, my focus changed about a year and a half after I moved to Nashville, when I met my wife. Two kids and a decade later, the music thing has been on hiatus.

But this week, I decided to finally record a song I’ve been working on for four years.

It’s called “Maybe It’s a Dream”. The song is about the journey of emotionally intelligence; what it’s like living in the paradox of now understanding how it’s a conscious decision to realize that other people only affect my emotions if I give them permission; and that once I began taking control over that part of my life and I unplugged from that master of puppets system, it made me feel both more alive, yet more isolated from the world.

When I started writing the song, I was 32 years old; I just beginning to learn about emotional intelligence. Now, less than a month away from turning 37, I feel like I am becoming on expert on focusing on what I can control, not on what I can not: including other people.

The opening line of the song, “I am a skeleton with meat on my bones”, is my way of acknowledging the ability to separate others’ perception of who they think I am, versus my own perception of who I think I am. In reality, my identity is somewhere in between.

Later on in the song, I admit, “My perspective of reality will die with me.”

We live in somewhat of an illusion of who we think we are, and we struggle to not worry about what other people think about us; yet in reality, how others collectively perceive us ultimately is part of who we actually are.

So it’s even more groundbreaking of a concept when a person chooses to control their own emotions exclusively; not giving permission to others to “hurt” their feelings or offend them.

This leads to a sense of a confused state of being for a guy like me: “Maybe it’s a dream. Is this even real?”

In other words, if I can control so much of my life now that I understand only I control the breaker switch of my own emotions, life starts to feel a little bit like I’m part of some grand scheme of a social experiment. Maybe this is my version of The Truman Show.

I hope you enjoy my song and I hope you can personally relate to it in some way. It is truly an extension of my identity. To understand who I am (or at least who I think I am) is to understand this song.

1 Comment Posted on Health, parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized, vegan

Dear Jack: You Took Care of Your Sister While I Was Sick This Week

7 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

I don’t get sick… especially ever since I became a vegan over 5 years ago, when even most of my allergy and sinus problems went away. However, this week has been the exception to the rule.

Exactly a week ago, right as the dogwood trees turned from white to pink, it was like I was overtaken by the flu. (I can’t be sure what it’s like to have the flu, since I’ve never had the flu before; nor have I ever had a flu shot.)

My body began aching all over. My throat swelled up. My appetite went away.

And when Mommy checked my temperature, it was 103!

Last Friday, especially, was just a blur to me. I remember Mommy had to stay home because I pretty much just stayed in bed all day and slept. I really couldn’t do anything else anyway; I couldn’t even stand up straight or walk, without falling over.

For the past week, I have been living off of allergy pills and smoothies. Each day, I have felt a little better. Finally, today, I feel mostly back to normal.

Yeah, apparently it was just a really bad reaction to the pollen. I wasn’t actually sick; in terms of needing to go to a doctor. I didn’t have the flu. At least I don’t think so.

I can easily imagine how much worse things would have been for me if I was still eating dairy. I would have ended up with a sinus infection. Instead, my sinuses were completely clear. I am a vegan out of necessity- and it’s times like these I am violently reminded of that.

During all of this, you have been a major help to me. You could see I wasn’t myself.

So you took it upon yourself to help your sister. You filled in for me.

You helped get her snacks. You helped entertain her by getting her craft supplies. You even helped her rest after she got tired of playing.

It’s been a rough week, but you made it a little better for me. Thank you!

Love,

Daddy

1 Comment Posted on fatherhood, parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Holly: Your 1st Harmonica Lesson

1 year, 10 months.

Dear Holly,

Now that I am basically building my own side business by writing articles with accompanying videos for companies to promote them in social media, you have seen me pull out my guitar a little bit more, as I craft and create unique music each for the videos.

As you were sitting at my feet while I played guitar a few days ago, you wandered over to my guitar case and found my harmonica. I actually had forgotten I left it there. So you did me a favor when you found it.

I immediately thanked you, “Oh Holly, good job! Now I can play my harmonica again!”

It had been several months since you saw me play it, but the moment I put the harmonica to my lips, your eyes lit up, knowing what you were about to hear.

Once you heard the first note, you were already reaching for the harmonica. I was caught off guard by eagerness to play the instrument.

So I let you have it.

This resulted in you basically biting the harmonica, but I can tell you were attempting to actually blow air into it, or breathe in; either of which would have resulted in musical sound.

Your first harmonica lesson was mainly just about you becoming familiar with holding the instrument and attempting to make any sound at all. I figure that’s typical for the first music lesson for most musical instruments.

We’ll see where this thing goes.

In my mind, it’s a given that I’ll be teaching your brother to play guitar.

But I admit, I would be equally honored to teach you the guitar as well. I can already imagine you as a teenager girl wearing a dress with cowboy boots, playing the guitar and singing; thanks to Daddy’s lessons.

Love,

Daddy

 

P.S. To see me playing harmonica, check out this video I made before you were born…

2 Comments Posted on car reviews, Uncategorized, Writing

Social Media Kit for Family Friendly Daddy Blog by Nick Shell

Here on Family Friendly Daddy Blog, I am in a very special niche that allows me to be easily visible from an SEO perspective.

As far as numbers that marketers would be interested in, here is the mid-March 2018 update. Just click on each link to go directly to each account.

Facebook Fan Page for This Blog: 1,110

Personal Facebook Page: 1,328

Twitter: 749

Instagram: 342

Blog YouTube Channel Subscribers: 667

Personal YouTube Channel Subscribers: 3,539

Blog Subscribers: 710

Average monthly: 14,000 views

Average daily: 500 views

While my numbers may not seem amazing, I have learned over the years, that ultimately, companies continue to reach out to me, on their end, to receive publicity from me anyway.

Again, it’s because I am in a niche, with a blog that’s updated weekly and has been around for nearly a decade. People find my blog very easily and very accidentally. That’s why marketers like me enough to reach out to me.

Here are a few examples of companies who reached out to me for publicity on my site:

Lexus (This is one of several examples where they sent a vehicle from Atlanta, to my home in Nashville, for a week, complete with a full tank of gas; so that I would model it with my family.)

Toyota (In addition to also sending me dozens of vehicles over the years, as Lexus has, Toyota recently flew me down to Florida for an all expense-paid road trip to drive their newest model cars to see the MLB Grapefruit League tournament.)

James Avery Artisan Jewelry (They paid me to feature their Valentine’s collection, in addition to giving my wife a gift card to buy their jewelry.)

Additionally, I am bombarded on a weekly basis by fellow bloggers who request to do a “guest blog post” on my site; to boost their own SEO. This happens so often, I had to create a page here on my blog, explaining I now have to charge for that service.

So for me, I am comfortable knowing my numbers aren’t the biggest, but that I am relevant enough as a daddy blogger, that well-known, reputable companies reach out to me, to serve as a social media influencer for them.

If you are interested in working with me, you can contact me at this email address:

nickshell1983@hotmail.com