30 Day Challenges,  Fashion

Owl Always Love You

Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.comDressember DaysOwl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com Whenever my husband takes pictures with me, I inevitably get silly and forget how to pose. I think that even though I’ve been blogging for somewhere around four years now (well, fashion blogging; I blogged about other things long before that), I still feel awkward when people I know in real life know about it. Or talk to me about it. Or ask how many followers I have (no idea, honestly! I rarely look) or whether something I’m wearing is from a sponsor, or make a big deal out of a package I’ve gotten from someone because of blogging…

Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.comOwl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com It just feels odd. I think because my online presence — writing, blogging, youtube-ing — had been my little secret for years, and nobody outside of my parents and siblings had really known about my blog. And then I got brave and started posting outfit pictures to a personal Facebook album, and then people started telling me I should have a fashion blog and I had to respond “well… I already do…” and now everyone knows. But for quite a while, it was just my thing.

Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com I was shy to tell other people, because I’ve always felt  like an outsider a little bit. We moved around a lot when I was young, and I feel as though I grew up away from the social cliques that had formed by the time I moved back at thirteen. I was at the cusp of being aware that I did not really fit the mold of the people around me. I felt awkward and I talked too much; I was curvier than my friends;  I had chubby cheeks and small lips; I liked to act out scenes from my head in the woods, and write out stories that I was sure nobody would ever read. I didn’t care about cute boys or swoon over Orlando Bloom. I cared about Lord of the Rings and Gormenghast, library trips and climbing trees, and pretending to be a princess who could take care of herself or a weird pirate whose skin was green.

I only ever had a few close friends. I wasn’t like the other girls, who had their circle of friends, who linked arms in pictures and laughed with each other in their groups. And while I loved them, and still do, I just wasn’t… in. Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com And then I found this world of other girls like me online, who blogged about their lives and fashion and it didn’t matter what size they were or whether they had the perfect features or an immaculate life or a million friends; they were beautiful and fun and I’d finally found a place where I had a niche. But to tell people in real life about it? That was scary. I thought people would find my posing and posting my outfits to be vain, or weird, or stupid.

I’m still getting over that. People ask me to tell them about blogging, or to give them advice, or just in general what it’s all about, and I trip over myself. I don’t see myself as being a proficient or professional blogger. I’m just… me. I take pictures of my outfits because it’s fun and it’s part of creating beautiful things as an artist, and I write about my life because it’s my way of keeping a journal. Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com It still amazes me that companies or Etsy shop owners out there think that this thing I do is good enough to want to work with me. Not because I have some idea that my blog is just horrible, but because I never thought I’d be in a place where people were that interested. It’s crazy how far this blog has come in the last four years. It’s crazy how many people online and in my personal life are genuinely interested in what I wear and post and talk about.  Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com Because I’m just me. A girl who grew up on a farm and lives in the country, who does not possess a perfect figure or face, who lives a mundane (but beautiful) life with her husband and admittedly internet-worthy baby in a house they don’t even own. Every moment of my life is not photo-perfect. I don’t wear designer clothes. I don’t have amazing adventures.  Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com And perhaps that is part of the fascination of it: the voyeurism of peering into another person’s mundane, normal, beautiful, everyday moments. Of seeing how another person lives their life, as simple as it may be. Those are certainly  my favorite blogs to read.  Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.com So, thank you for reading about me and my life. Thank you for liking this blog, what I wear, what I say, whatever it is I do. I’ve grown so much as a person because of all of you, friends that I know because of this blog, all of whom I so wish I could meet someday! I’ve grown in confidence, in conviction, in ability… all because you support this blog with your comments and emails and clicks and love. You guys truly are wonderful!Owl Always Love You | www.eccentricowl.comDress c/o Oasap | boots, JC Penney | tights, Target | scarf, husband-made | brooch, gift | glasses c/o Firmoo

And I have no good transition into this but I wanted to share it: we finally got our Christmas tree yesterday, and Asa was pretty excited.I posted a short clip on Instagram, but I also took a video with my computer as we were setting it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtUZuFtW1EA&feature=youtu.be

He thinks it’s pretty great. I can already see we’re going to have a hard time keeping him from it! But y’know. It’s cute, so… oh well.

P.S. This outfit was from Saturday. And my hair is starting to fade and look like fire. I should probably fix it.

Happy Monday!

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8 Comments

  • Danie Williams-Rivera

    First of all… THAT DRESS!!!! Secondly – (I only know you from your blog, but I’ve been reading it for awhile- like 2ish years, and only recently ever commented) you are the bomb dot com, and while we don’t even live close or are the same age – you seem like one of the girls I would have wanted to hang out with growing up. Linking arms and skipping around the library whilst gabbing about LOTR or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe… just sayin’…

    Thank you for sharing your ordinary, mundane, beautiful life!

    XOXO,
    Danie
    http://www.letter2self.com

  • Novia

    Hey, Kristina. I stumbled upon your Instagram a few months ago, using hashtag chubbybaby and I saw pics of Asa and I was like, holy cow! this baby has impressive cheeks. Oh, man, I love your baby. Hope it doesn’t sound creepy.
    And then I started to read your blog. Most of the times, I am too lazy to read people’s blog, especially if it doesn’t provide an image or two or more. That’s why I love your blog. Pictures of your outfit and your rambling, now that’s interesting. Because, I admit, knowing about stranger’s life is more fascinating than my friend’s life. Huh.
    And apparently we have some things in common, I love fashion, artsy fartsy things, I don’t have many friends, I guess I am a nerdy geeks, and right now no one knows I have a blog, except the readers. Yes, it’s my secret and I don’t know what to do if my friends or family know about it. Awkward. Will they find me weirder?
    And also I don’t swoon over Orlando Bloom, I swoon over Christian Bale. *swoon*
    And I don’t know how to stop my rambling.

    Ciao!
    dailips.blogspot.com

  • Salazar

    Love that first photo of you and Mr. Owl. You guys are too adorable.

    And I totally hear you about what the blog means to you. Mine is pretty much an online journal as well, and I don’t care how mundane it is, I’m just happy that you guys are interested enough to keep me going. So thank you for sharing, Kristina. Keep up the great work!

  • Jamie Rose

    You two are so cute! That first picture is fantastic!
    Also I definitely understand the awkwardness of talking about blogging to real-life people who don’t blog. It’s hard for some people to understand it and even if they’re genuinely interested it can be weird.

    Also this yellow dress is gorgeous! I absolutely love the red tights paired with it too. You look wonderful.

    Jamie | http://www.petitepanoply.com

  • skye

    I was this girl too. I’m an only child who grew up in the woods and had a fair share of mental/emotional issues, so I was always out of step with social cues. I wore random thrift-store clothes and spent a lot of time in my head – I wrote two novels by the time I was 15, and hardly anybody knew. So I 100% understand what you get out of blogging.

    (I know it’s petty, but there’s almost a little “nyah-nyah” in there too – like, they never thought THIS girl would grow up to be a fashion blogger, did they? I sure showed them! A girl I idolized in high school recently told me she reads my blog every day, and that felt so good.)

    Here’s to all the weirdos in the biz.

    https://colormebrazen.wordpress.com/

  • Mariah Alysz

    I definitely start feeling beyond vein when people I know tell me they read my blog. My mind start reeling, “why would you read that when you actually see me?” “are you saying that because you think I’m self-centered?” “oh god now you’ll never look at me the same!” I get so up in my head even though no one has ever said anything negative to me! I feel you.
    <3 Mariah
    Rya Pie