Where Have the Bloggers Gone?

Where are the blogs? Have they died? Are they lost to podcasts and Instagram? And, most importantly, where have the bloggers gone? You know, the people we used to keep up with just like neighbors; the friends made online that just made life a bit more bearable. Oh, I am guilty of dropping the blogging ball myself. I am sure I had a hand in losing track of the wonderful souls that became part of my life online and even some who became IRL friends (and still are). 

When my divorce happened several years ago, I stopped writing. The words literally dried up. Not only did I stop writing but I know I stopped interacting in blogland. My attention span was so short and shallow that I moved to less deep forms of mindless entertainment, such as Instagram and Pinterest. My emotional place only allowed for so much and since the words were gone, scrolling through pretty pictures became my “social media”, even though there was very little social involved. Just a click of a heart and scroll away. It wasn’t like leaving a comment on something someone wrote or responding to the same. 

I work in communications, and by all my research it says blogging is long from having the coffin closed on its existence and its viability. But, when I look at links of those blogs I used to love to read, most haven’t been updated in years...literally…years! So, either everyone has created a new blog or become addicted to Pinterest and the Tik Toc or it is just me? 

If anyone out there reads this, drop a word or two in the comment section and let me know your thoughts as I would like to revive my blog, it truly was the best therapy! Let me know where you are. Let’s catch up like old friends because, with the time that has passed, I am sure we could share for months without breaking a stride.

Now and Then

 

             Now...                                                                      Then...

What a journey! I’m getting real and showing you a snapshot of my life now (2022) versus back then (2013 - the worst time in my life). There’s so much more of me NOW: more curves, more brunette, more wrinkles, and more health—physical, spiritual, and mental. I’ve gained more strength, more boundaries, more confidence, more love, more laughs, and more grace. But there were some definite “mores” back THEN too: more blonde, more sickness, more tears, more pain, more loss, more fear, and more thigh gap. 

Sure, maybe I’d take back a bit of that thigh gap and trade a curve or two, but honestly, I’m pretty amazed at who I’ve become. I try not to dwell  too much on the past and the time lost due to those events, but something about these two photos—taken in the same place, during the same holiday week 11 years apart—made me reflect.

The blonde woman on the right was gearing up for the fight of her life, unaware that within weeks, everything she knew would be gone. She had no idea her health was failing, leading to a medical crisis that would last three years. She didn’t know she’d become a single parent, starting a new life on her own. She was holding onto hope, believing in commitments and promises. Her ability to comprehend loss was limited… but she learned.

Since those days, that skinny blonde went back to her roots—quite literally (brunette joke!). She learned a lot, though it wasn’t quick or easy. I never want to repeat those life lessons, and no one understands the price I paid more than I do. I didn’t deserve what happened, but when I look at the plump brunette on the left, I see strength earned through battles fought. Not all battles were won, and scars still show from time to time. The victories often look different than I imagined. I lost a lot but gained a life I could never have dreamed of. Some of it is a trade-off, and I know nothing is ever an even trade. Mostly, though, I am MORE! I am EXTRA and proud of it. Ultimately, I have the best win: knowing that those who couldn’t handle the “then girl” could never handle or be worthy of the “now girl.”

My Big Adventure

Hi long, lost, friends!

I sat down to write (after about 6 months of being out of the word zone) because I feel kind of excited today, maybe like Pee Wee, without the pervy connotations?  Tomorrow, I start my BIG adventure!  It is probably my most exciting, unexpected, opportunity yet, career wise.  Thinking about it makes me smile and a little scared all at once; isn't that the sign of a good choice?  

You see the last 6 months I have been working in a position that didn't turn out to be a good fit for me.  It wasn't my gig.  I am grateful for the really wonderful people I met and things I learned; but for me it created a level of stress in my life that just wasn't what I needed.   I also was traveling constantly and that was something, that although I have done in the past, not while being married...so there's that.  

My new opportunity will give me new challenges and should allow me tap into the things I do best. There is an energy and what feels like "providence"  in this career move. It has been forever since I have looked forward to going to work and it seems like time has been crawling up to tomorrow!!!  I am, of course obsessing over "what should I wear on my first day?"  It feels like the night before the first day of school.  Please send good wishes and prayers my way!

It is almost here and it is time to take charge of you!

 

We are just a few days from the turning of a calendar page that will mark the beginning of another New Year. I thought when the calendar turned last year that maybe, just maybe we could breathe a sigh of relief.  I was wrong. I didn't think 2021 could outdo 2020 in shear stress, loss, fear, and plain out jumbling of life - but I was wrong.  I could write a post singularly on the things that went south in my life personally, not to mention so many people I care about, but I am not going to do that.

2022 is my year of hope, celebration, surpassing goals, and seeing personal success.  I am going to focus on what wonderful things I have.  This doesn't mean my life is perfect but it means I am going to find the perfection between the thorns. God has been so very good to me and I often forget that fact,  I am excited about what is to come.

I am going back to why I started blogging. I am going to celebrate life.  That includes my amazing, too good for me, husband. Why he loves me, I don't know but am so blessed he does.  Love after 50 is different and we are still technically newlyweds so I am sure I will share the struggles and triumphs of this season which includes blending families and lifestyles. My husband truly took a withered vine and nursed it back to health and continues to love me daily and helps me grow stronger.  He makes me feel like anything is possible. With him, by the way, his name is David, I have learned to dream and my creative spirit is being watered to life. Things I long had felt I lost the ability to do or the passion to pursue have bloomed and I am not afraid to share without shame. In a past life I was made to feel as if sharing the things that brought me joy was wrong and annoying, but the great thing I have learned is that it doesn't matter because it brings me pleasure.  I will be sharing the creation and evolving of our home and gardens, time with old and new friends, exploring food, entertaining and adventures...not to mention products I have tried, books I have read, life with children who are now young adults, and of course life with 3 big dogs.  Oh...and a liberal dose of fashion, shoes, and skincare/makeup just to round out life.

Transparency is a word I have often used in the blogging world but I am committed to it...the good, the bad, and the ugly - which, when you think about it is truly all part of the beautiful thing we call life.

Ultimately I have realized my greatest gift is that I am a Lifestyle Curator.  My greatest talent is helping to create lives that are not just beautiful on the outside but also the inside in the deepest part of one's heart.  We can have both and they can both be real and transparent.  You can be perfectly put together and have a day that is just off and that is okay. Tears are okay. A messy house is okay.  A beautiful life is one where you can be all those things and continue to strive for peace which is the basis of the ultimate beautiful life.

I love you for taking a few moments to read my words. Your comments mean more than you will ever know. I would very much like for you to leave a comment with your greatest hope for 2022. Let the best be yet to come!

5 months and here I am!

 Apparently, the foam shortage also left me with a shortage of words to share!  We now have taken delivery of the furniture we ordered back in April so I will give you a little sneak peek:

We are really excited to see another spot in the house coming together.  The rug was a local find, after looking online and at 5-6 six shops, we ended up circling back to the first stop! We are still looking for the perfect coffee table, have started planning a bit of additional cabinetry in the breakfast room, AND a whole house painting. My husband likes to get it all done in a snap. Yes, I am preaching patience to a man who lacks a bit of it.  I will praise him as he has been amazingly patient with my process!  Look for a better post with more details shortly.

I wish I could say that the Summer of 2021 was lacking the stress of Sumer 2020, but I can't.  I know most people seem to feel the same.  I could write a very long post on the stresses of this past summer (another thing that zapped my creative spirit.) I learned that I had to re-evaluate what and who I let into my inner circle, which is not something I expected to do at this point in life.  Overall, it came down to being the season of "knowing your circle."  It has not gone without a fair amount of wear and tear on my heart but life moves on.

The best I can share is my husband and I had some wonderful trips, which were great after the no travel of the months before!  I also have started developing what I should probably call dreams.  I realize that isn't very much information but they are in the baby steps and I hope to launch with all the fun and fanfare in the next few months formally.  If you are the praying kind, my new endeavor could use some positive support!

On to the next thing...It is September - officially FALL 2021!!! I love Fall and wish we had more of it (here in SC we still have 90 days!!!)  Either way, I am digging into Fall Fashions which means more than leggings and a sweatshirt ala' 2020!  I finally pulled out some Fall fashion this week and can't say enough how much I love the greens that have returned to the fashion palette this season.  

Thanks for coming back to read after all these months! I hope to keep in touch better in the future!

Keep an eye out for exciting things.

Who Knew?

 

Another shortage, the foam shortage, that is what!  Did you know there was a foam shortage?  Apparently, I missed this little nugget of 20/21 items to be scarce.  I suppose I was too busy hoarding ketchup packets.

Last weekend my sweet husband and I went on an exploratory (as in, we don’t know exactly what we want) furniture shopping trip.  Everywhere we went when we asked about sofas and upholstered pieces we were told that we had the choice to buy off the floor or if we ordered, it would be at least 30 weeks before delivery.  30 WEEKS, at LEAST? 

Well, that kind of put a kink in our plans.  Who knew… a foam shortage?  What is next in all this world gone mad? I wish it were paper straws.

New Steps, New Life...

 

2,557 days ago, exactly 7 years ago, I stepped out in faith and walked into a new life.  It would be wonderful to say I had a grand plan, direction, or purpose, but I did not.  Literally, I was walking blindly from the world’s and even my own perspective.  I  looked into the faces of my sons and said where do you want to live, and they chose to return to our previous town.  I had no where to live, no job …just a car full of stuff, 2 amazing boys, and a dog.  The only thing I knew is who we were spending the night with and where the boys were to report to school the next day.  It now, quite literally, seems insane.  But, like many things we think to be insane, God was at work.  Although I will never understand His tactics, I do trust His plan.  I know I have not always, I have doubted, I have denied, I have fought against, but ultimately it is all His plan and there is a peace in that.

Peace is something that does not come naturally to me.  I am an anxious person …a worrier, an over thinker, a mind racer, scenario creator, all dripping with a terribly wild imagination.  But, finally, there are things that I have peace about. Issues I never thought I would lay to rest because I did not understand them or didn’t know “why.”  Peace came when I realized it does not matter. I do not have to know “why” and there are things I will never understand.  God gets it – ALL.  He knows “why” and He understands.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33