In honor of yesterday’s 100th post (!!!), I thought it would be fitting to chat a bit about the blog, how it got started and where I see things going from here on out…
When John and I first started dating, we naturally gravitated towards activities that allowed us to stay busy and plan in advance. He and I are A-Type schedulers and looovvveee routine. Somehow, instead of spontaneous dinner-and-a-movie type dates (we still have only been to ONE movie at the theaters together), we ended up spending more time at Lowe’s wandering through the lighting and/or paint aisle. Now to some I know that must sound sooooo drab – But to us it was perfect! Projects around then-John’s house just seemed to fit our personalities and it actually brought us closer together! Now that it’s OUR house, we have so many memories and it truly is our home. Everything about this 1,000-some square foot townhouse is “us” and that’s something not everyone can say. I think we may even take some of our engagement photos (now scheduled for November – YAY!) inside our house because everything about it celebrates our relationship.
Now to the blog…
I started DreamGreenDIY back in March as a way to document our progress. When John and I started to really get into home improvement projects, I spent more and more time on the internet looking at what other people were doing. It was around this time that I was introduced to blogging – It looked like so much fun!!! As a freelance writer for two local magazines and an artist to boot, the idea of writing a daily rant complete with photos and suggestions that others could possibly (hopefully!) be inspired by was just too tempting for me NOT to try out. And so our little blog was born 🙂
I have loved every minute of it!!! Even though I ended up doing ALL of the writing, John has been an integral and irreplaceable part of this blog. Obviously, without him there would BE no blog.
We have grown to getting about 12 hits a day back in March and April, to at least 300 hits a day now (and over 1,000 hits when I post something on CraftGawker.com). That’s not a huge amount of readers – I know there are others out there who break the thousands mark every single day – But I have to keep reminding myself that our blog is one in a million, and it’s only been around for about five months!
I am proud of our website and look forward to blogging every day (well MOST days 🙂 ), but my relationship with John and the home that we have built together is the true star of this production.
Which brings me to the future…
Let me paint a picture for you of how it works now. Since getting my new job, I start work at 9am. That means that I need to get up at 6am, work out, shower, get dressed, make some breakfast and type up a blog post as I eat. I have it down to an absolute science…I must be in the shower after working out by 6:34am. I have until 7:30am at the MAX to get dressed, do make-up/hair and make breakfast. And then I have until 8:32am to finish the post in order to get out the door by 8:48am. (Can you tell that I like routine?) It’s not exactly easy and there’s no room for relaxation time.
But the morning isn’t the only problem – In order to have enough material to post five days a week, John and I are project hounds over the weekends…There’s really no way to get around it because the blog needs it to survive.
Are you catching on to the issue here? Projects used to be all about our relationship and getting closer to one another, but lately projects are all about the blog. We have officially entered into the negative realms of being a blogger…Let’s just say I have been so overwhelmed with trying to balance work, the blog and our relationship that planning our wedding has taken a back seat…That’s just not going to be tolerated.
This attitude is really quite new – Probably just in the past month. So after taking a quiet moment to myself recently to reevaluate things, I made a decision and chatted with John about it over dinner. He was the one in the very beginning of all this who said “As long as it doesn’t become ‘all about the blog’ I’m all for it.” My “Yoda” of a fiance hit the nail on the head. (did you like that renovation pun I threw in??)
So, solution? We are going to cut back. There is no way that we are going to quit entirely, I love to blog and truly hope to make it a profession someday. Plus, John and I STILL love working on projects around the house – That’s never going to change. But we think three posts a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) is much more feasible for our lifestyles. I lost sight of my priorities there for a second, but as SOON as I noticed it and could admit it to myself, I made the decision to do something about it. It’s time for me to focus on my fiance, our wedding and our life together – The blog will now be just another way to celebrate those #1 priorities.
I HOPE HOPE HOPE that all of our readers will stick around and continue to come back for inspiration and tips despite the reduction in posts. If you are a regular (no matter if you’re my mom or someone in another state or country) I appreciate your support and comments/suggestions – So keep ’em comin’!
Celebrating 100 posts strong and can’t wait to see how we grow from here 🙂
Have a great weekend!
