misty

I remember back when I had a LiveJournal… I almost wish I had archived all my old posts, if only to go back and remember how I was feeling, who I was friends with, and what I cared about at that time in my life. I never kept handwritten journals – the few times I tried, it was during a particularly difficult time (aka when I was being particularly dramatic), and I ended up ripping out the pages and throwing them away once I turned things around.

Recently, I was reading one of my favorite blogs and thought – wow, it’s amazing that I’ve been following this woman from her engagement to her new home to her new baby (in addition to the multitude of DIY projects, recipes and new art she introduced to me). Wouldn’t it be great if I had a space to capture all the beautiful things in my life… and maybe inspire others along the way?

I hope this becomes a space to not only share personal stories and archive the beautiful things, tips/tricks, projects, and recipes I’ve tried, but also make new friends and use these experiences to inspire my creative business.

I am 29 years old… for the next three months. I don’t feel like I thought I would at 30 – I know the best life has to offer is still ahead of me and I’m excited for what is next.

My wonderful husband, Alex, has been my partner for 9 years. I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing, supportive person to share my life with – he’s hilarious, witty, handsome, super charming, and happens to be the smartest person I know. I’m a lucky girl.

Family and friendships are very important to me – I’ve even asked my sister Crystle and BFF Ashley to share some posts here, too! I also have another sister, Ashley, who shares my passion for all things Disney.

I have a great full time gig as a marketing manager for a health care company. I love my boss and team plus I get to travel around the country to attend conferences and events!

I also like to spend my free time doing one (or more – I like to multitask) of the following things:

Perusing Feedly posts and Pinterest pins
Going to see a movie with Alex (usually horror, his favorite)
Reading a new book (currently reading The Kite Runner)
Spending time with my friends on the weekend playing board games, hanging out at karaoke, or going on an adventure
Watching a reality show (especially competition-based – singing, dancing, cooking, I love them all!)
Cooking a good meal with my BFF
Playing a good game of Dr. Mario or Tetris
Binge-watching great TV, old and new (right now, I’m most looking forward to the upcoming last season of Sons of Anarchy)
Looking at pictures and videos of my beautiful niece, Sophie and wishing I was in Michigan to see her every day
Planning trips with friends (Alex and I are visiting friends and celebrating our anniversary in Fort Lauderdale this weekend!)

Life is good. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my bad days (or weeks, sometimes), but I want to focus on sharing goodness here. Besides, I’d probably just delete all the negative posts after I’ve turned things around 🙂

You can read hundreds of books and articles, attend conferences, pay for workshops, or hire a consultant to teach you how to blog. I’ve tried a number of those things over the years and, even though I’d make a good run of it for six months or so, I always hit a wall – my blog starts to become more of a chore than something I am passionate about and love to do. It wasn’t until I started to make some changes in my personal life that I realized what I wanted out of my business and this blog.

As I approach my 30th birthday, I have found myself thinking more about my place in the world. I try to be more open-minded, more forgiving, more curious, and more creative while trying to be less hurtful, less stressed, and less “perfect.” Perfect is a funny concept, because my version of my perfect self is different for different people. If I’m trying to make my boss happy by being the Perfect Employee, I might have to work late and cancel my plans with a friend and I’m no longer the Perfect Friend.

My blog also fueled this insane need to be perfect. The Perfect Blogger in me needed to be the prettiest blog on the block, so I was always comparing myself to others and getting discouraged when I couldn’t pick up on coding quickly enough. The Perfect Blogger in me needed to add more followers, so I started posting more about topics that would increase site visits and less about what I found interesting. My style and my voice are unique to me, and I was hiding that to try and “make it” within the blogging community. By letting go of the Perfect, I’m able to be a Blogger. And a Business Owner. And just Me.

I want to treat this space, my little corner of the internet, as an active memory of my journey. I want to build a business, a home, a family, and a happy life full of pretty things while documenting all of it here for others be inspired by.

And here we are. Fresh. Start. My new mantra and something I’ll be exploring over the next few months as I write, curate, and create.

Fresh: new, clean, different (content and perspective)
Start: a beginning, acting on an idea or task (doing)