Dustin texted me a few days ago and asked if I still needed my Vimeo subscription. I said no as I was only using it last year to house my videos so they wouldn't be on YouTube. This was before Cinnamon videos could be embedded into Coil posts which is why I chose that route.

Turns out the last few months I've been getting charged $12 a month just to STORE my videos... no thanks. Now I get it, if you don't have ads like YouTube, you have to make money some way and subscription models are great. I mean hey, I haven't even been using Vimeo for the past 6 months but they made $72 off of me anyways. At least with YouTube, you have the chance at making money, if you're eligible for monetization and your videos meet all of their (ridiculous) rules AND you don't say anything in your videos that goes against their political agenda. Not worth it.

Enter: Cinnamon. My favorite video platform I've ever used. They do not censor. They store my videos and I'm making passive income simply by uploading them. It's great. The more I share, the more people who watch and the more money I make. It's also a gateway introduction to web monetization and I get to control how I monetize my work which gives me an automatic VIP section for my subscribers, it's pretty amazing.

I obviously canceled my subscription immediately and it informed me that I have 30 days to download my videos off of Vimeo before they're gone forever. 🙃 How kind.

I promptly downloaded them and then uploaded them all to Cinnamon. All of those videos are embedded in my old Coil posts and I didn't want them to completely go away, hello backlog!

This post is in part to gush over how much I love Cinnamon and how they stand up immensely in comparison to other platforms and also to let ya'll know that a bunch of my old videos will be posted on Cinnamon over the coming weeks. This isn't to necessarily recycle old content, but to ensure that the videos in my old Coil posts don't disappear and to make better use of them!

I know that Cinnamon is still a baby in the sense that it hasn't been around a long time and it doesn't have features such as a creator studio, the ability to download your videos, or even an app yet (YET), but it's getting there. They've made leaps and bounds in progress over the past year and for such a small team, they have incredible creator support and they're trying to be as hands on as possible. I can tell you that I have never once received personal support from YouTube, but I've had an amazing experience with the folks at Cinnamon both face to face over video, through Twitter and via email. I seriously love them and I can tell you that they're working incredibly hard to make Cinnamon an amazing platform and to provide all of the bells and whistles that we need as creators. But their unique twist is that they recognize that a platform is nothing without the creators and so they're prioritizing taking care of us and hearing what we want and need alongside building the platform, which is why it takes a bit of time. YouTube wasn't built over night and Cinnamon won't be either, but the more support they receive, the more creators who are hopping on board and the more we share about web-monetization and the work being done through blockchain technology, the faster they're going to excel!

So thank goodness for Cinnamon, I love ya'll and I'm proud to host my content on your platform.

I encourage you to give it a try, you won't regret it.

xoxo – Ry

Tell me your favorite thing about Cinnamon on today's tweet!

Haven't used it yet? If you have a Coil account, it's a breeze, just head to www.cinnamon.video and get started.

Young love- it's tragic really. You think you're in love only to find out later what true love really is.

I was reflecting on this when I was home (in Michigan) and all of the things I would've done differently if I had known what true love really was and what was in store for me. That being said, if I hadn't had those experiences, I wouldn't be where I am today with Dustin.

On the drive back to Tennessee this song came to me with the relieving thought that I was really glad I hadn't said “I love you” to the first guy I thought it about. I went down the rabbit hole of “what ifs?” and this song is what came out of that.

I finished it yesterday and immediately recorded it. I hope you enjoy it and can smile at all of the things you had to go through to get to where you are now.

xoxo – Ry

https://www.cinnamon.video/watch?v=389300742483084824

Didn't Love You – Riley Q – 08/18/2020

I almost said I love you

But I’m really glad I didn’t

Cuz if life is up to fate babe

I’d rather that stay hidden

And if you knew how I felt then

He wouldn’t be here now

And I really didn’t love you

No I really didn’t love you

You were something special

I’ll give you that

You taught me how to smile

And you made me laugh

But God brings people into lives

That shouldn’t stick around

We were just not meant to be

That’s why we’re in different towns

And it’s hard when I drive past our place

Ya know I'm over you, but there’s always going to be a part of me

that wonders if you ever loved me- the way I thought I loved you

As of yesterday I am now 27 weeks pregnant which is insane. This means that I am either in my last week of my 2nd trimester or my first week of my 3rd, depending on how you look at it. It's surreal truly, even though the days feel long, the weeks are flying by and before I know it baby boy will be here!

For those of you who either weren't around or don't remember, a few months ago I did a first trimester recap and I wanted to carry that on for this trimester!

In today's video I'm covering the highlights of this trimester, how I felt physically, some of the things I struggled with, my cravings and what I'm nervous for in my 3rd trimester!

I will warn you, my sassy, less-than-filtered pregnant self comes out near the end.. 😅, but it's for a good reason! (I'm all about protecting the birth process and treating birth as a natural instinct instead of a medical event.)

I hope you enjoy this update and let me know if there's any other baby related content you'd like to see!

If you watch the whole thing you'll hear my exciting mention about our next big thing as a family and hopefully with the advancement of that I'll be able to create a lot more high quality content. You'll see what I mean. 😉

https://www.cinnamon.video/watch?v=388588089339020802

Here's to my 3rd trimester and (hopefully) less heartburn. 🥂

xoxo – Ry

Other articles/videos mentioned in the video:

First Trimester Recap

How To Deal With Gender Disappointment

Baby Shower

Remember how we were taught that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell? Remember how that was super vital info for us to know before leaving school and stepping out into the real world?

Well let me let you in on a little secret...

There are WAY more important things that we should've been taught in school and no, 4 years later, I still have never needed to know that “fun” science fact for any reason.

This topic of “adulting” and understanding why so many people struggle because of what we aren't taught has been very prevalent in my life lately.

For those of you who don't know, Dustin and I are trying to buy a house right now. At first we were just going to get an apartment and if all else fails, we will attempt to go back to that, but in the meantime we feel like God gave us the go ahead to try and buy. Interest rates are really low right now and although housing is in high demand, we believe that if we're supposed to get a house right now He will show us the “perfect” one.

But oh man were we SO not prepared for this process. Neither of us were ever taught about the basics of a mortgage, the process of getting pre-approved, the difference between that and a pre-qualification, the money you need to pay up front, closing costs, inspections, appraisers- none of it. Now obviously, if you had told me at 16 to ask my dad how all of this worked, I would've rolled my eyes and said “no, I'll find out later”. But boy am I finding out later.

Many of us are able to rely on our parents for such information, but what about those who don't have those role models? Isn't this information we should be taught in school?

Yes we're figuring it out, but we've made quite a few mistakes along the way and had a few “oh shit” moments, because honestly, we just didn't know- even with all the research Dustin did to try and prepare us.

It honestly makes me laugh because looking back at my “home & finance” class in high school, I learned about how to create a very basic budget, how to open a credit card (not how to manage it 😅) and how to keep my house clean- important things, but aren't we missing a lot?

What about how to do your taxes?

How to write a check and manage a bank account?

How to buy a house?

The difference between renting & buying?

Buying a car?

What it means to have credit and how to have GOOD credit?

The reality of student loans?

Personal loans?

Debt to income ratios and living within your means?

Saving and investing?

Managing your mental health?

Budgeting & grocery shopping?

Paying utilities?

Proper nutrition and how calories & carbs ACTUALLY work?

The importance and time and place for doctor visits & checks?

Healthy relationship building?

Identifying red flags?

Conscious decision making?

Vehicle maintenance & registration?

Health, home, auto & life insurance?

Now obviously this is a lot of information and we already put a lot on our schools, but c'mon people. Shouldn't the kids who need to know Calculus for their degrees take it in college? Why not spend that class time going over taxes, credit and investments?

Do I really need ANOTHER chemistry class that I will never use the information from when I could be learning about proper nutrition and how my body reacts to the foods I put in it? And how exercise plays a roll in that? Basically, health class should be just as much about fighting diet culture and mental health stigmas as it is fighting teen pregnancy.

My point is that I feel like, especially in high school, we spend a lot of time learning a lot of information that we will do absolutely nothing with but we get thrown out into the world and then we struggle to manage because we don't know basic life skills. And this isn't a crazy concept either, I mean they used to have these types of classes but they got rid of a lot of them! I find this to be very unfortunate because although google can do a lot, especially for those kids who don't have a positive and willing role model to help them, you still need instruction and a basic education of how these principles work.

We shouldn't be graduating college with loads of debt because we didn't know we could go to a community college for way cheaper and get scholarships or even get a job that would pay for our advanced degrees.

We shouldn't be getting ripped off by insurance companies because we're naive and don't know any better. (I got roped into whole life insurance and a complicated auto policy I didn't need because I was a naive 18 year old and the lady selling me both totally took advantage of me.)

We shouldn't have mounds of credit card debt because we didn't know how credit or interest actually works or to not let it cycle through.

We shouldn't be struggling just because “we have to learn” or because the generation before us didn't get the same help. Again, we have google, but we still need help and having a hard time shouldn't be a “rite of passage”, we should want to help empower the next generation.

I encourage you, if you have kids, teach them these things before they leave your house. Enable them at a young age by teaching them as you go and empowering them to take on tasks by themselves. The parents who set up secured credit cards in their kids name at 16 and teach them to use it as debit card are some of my favorite parents because it teaches such good habits and sets them up for success.

Debt especially is such a slippery slope and if we aren't being proactive in teaching our kids and those around us about how to manage their finances, they're going to slip into the “gimme” culture and find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

If you don't have kids but you know of a younger person in your life who is struggling, give them a helping hand. Take them to the grocery store and teach them how to meal prep and shop on a budget. Take them to the local auto shop and teach them how to check their tires or get their oil changed. Show them how the credit karma app works and teach them about how they can improve their credit score so that when they do go to buy a house, they're in good shape. Set examples and maybe, just maybe, they will follow.

My parents did truly teach me a lot and thankfully Dustin is VERY good at most of the things I listed and I was blessed enough to meet him before I got myself into too much trouble, but not everyone is as lucky as I am.

Look out for those around you and encourage your local schools to bring these types of classes back. Life skills, they're important. You don't know what you don't know.

Let me know on today's tweet what is one thing that you wish you would've learned about adulting before you left high school?

xoxo – Ry