Freshman Year Recap

Dear Friends,
   Today is an exciting day!  William & Kate’s wedding?  Sure that is pretty exciting.  But it is also my first blogiversary! My very first post was one year ago today.  So much has happened in a year.  In honor of my blogiversary I have my very first giveaway on Monday.  Woo to the hoo!  Today though I’m talking about blogging now that I am 186 posts in.

Blogging Hobby-Style 
     I have learned so much about blogging, blogworld, and myself during the last year.  Going into blogging I had a 4 year plan.  This year was freshman year.  Just like any freshman I experienced a wealth of emotions ranging from uncertainty and wide-eyed excitement to inadequacy, angst,  joy and contentment.   I have my feet under me now and I know where I’m going. Well, which direction I’m headed anyway.  I have slowed down and I’m not looking to hang with the seniors just yet.  There is a reason that the senior lounge is for those with some experience.


     My goal for my first year of blogging?  100 followers.  I am really humbled by the 250 I have.  Like any blogger I do the happy dance every time someone joins but I also am no longer too worried about numbers.  I did not plan on doing any ads or making my blog a business when I started out.  I really just wanted to join in the fun.  I did start adsense through Google and I may contemplate the ad thing further during my sophomore year.  


I want people to know that it is possible to blog as a hobby. You can choose to do that and not have it take all your time & energy.  I am only posting three times a week (average) right now.  I just can’t churn out projects as fast as many home bloggers out there.   When I first started blogging Reid was almost two months old.   I was housebound and looking for naptime projects.  Now he is a super busy one year old who has to be watched every second.  There are different seasons of life and right now mine is in a crazy phase.  I also know though that in no time flat I’ll have two kids in preschool (sniff) and more time for projects, etc.

What a difference a year makes!

Know yourself.  I am person who really likes a balanced scale.  I have a passion for decorating but I also love to read and work-out.  I realized over the winter that I missed reading and working out so I made the decision to put the blog back in the hobby category.  After Blissdom, I really wanted to apply all the things that I learned but I just wasn’t in a place where I could take the time to do a lot of those things.  I am the tortoise and slow & steady seems to be working okay for me.  


I’d love to create more blogging relationships and really hone the ones I do have.  I hope to continue to do so but this is another area that will take time.   Multitasking is not my forte so things like Twitter and Facebook have to be pretty limited for me to stay sane.   I was SO impressed by some of the ladies at Blissdom who are able to get the most out of every second of the day.  I feel stressed by chaos and immobilized by too many tasks so I am definitely not in that category!  However, I am work in progress  and I will hopefully get better in this area.

Goals for the next year
*Learn more about photography.  I do edit most of my photos now with Picasa but I have a lot of learning to do about Photoshop, etc.  I still have a point & shoot but I’m hoping to change that one of these days.
*More giveaways (maybe once a month?)
*Improve my blog design.
*Comment more on other blogs.  
*Let my guard down a little more so you can get to know me a little better.  This is a hard one!  I’m a private person so I get nervous about putting myself out there.

I’d love to do a little more DIY and I have some furniture makeovers in mind.  I have my playroom to share with you as well… I hope we can be friends sophomore year!  I’m not a real decorator.  I’m just a mom who is a designer wannabe.  I hope you’ll stick with me as I continue on this journey…

P.S.  If you’d sign my yearbook below I’d be so honored.  :)  (You know- the comments section).