Where I’ve been, this blog, the Future

I just realized yesterday that it has been exactly one month since I posted a blog post.

In that time, the contest I posted about has obviously ended (I did not win, and it’s ok!), and a few less-than-pleasant things happened, but also some great things. First of all, I cracked the screen of my phone and have yet to get it fixed. This is a mere annoyance, but if affects how much I use my phone.

Second, and greater, my computer randomly finally decided to die. I had been expecting it for a while, as the screen was partly falling off and had to be held on with a clip, and the battery did not hold any charge at all. But it went suddenly and quietly, while I was in another room. My nephew valiantly made all sorts of efforts (and is still making efforts) to regain use of the computer. In the process he was able to save about 1/8th of the photos I had stored on my computer. But as of right now, most of the photos I have taken in the last 5 years may have been permanently lost. All of my kids’ lives in photographs, every photoshoot I’ve done from 2013 to  now, every blog photo set, all my videos, everything except, for some reason, iphone photos and a few random DSLR photos throughout… gone.

This is still honestly kicking me in the gut. I have a somewhat fuzzy long term memory, and while I CAN remember things, having photos of events and little moments and random times greatly assists in my remembering what things were like. Thankfully, over the years I uploaded a lot of my photos to Facebook albums, to my blog, to Instagram, etc. So, while I’ve lost the bulk of photos I’ve taken of my kids and our lives, the best ones I likely shared on social media and are up somewhere, even if only privately.

Through this I’ve learned two great lessons: one, buy an external hard drive to store second copies of EVERYTHING. And two, Amazon Prime offers free, unlimited photo storage. I wish I had known this a year ago, I would have taken advantage immediately. But, now I know, and now I will use it copiously.

The good things, though, are that someone in my life was kind enough to give me a really fantastic used laptop and a printer! I have wanted a new laptop and a printer for a year or two, but those two things are considered nonessential things for us. So, we never saved the money to get them. Then, with the reopening of  my Etsy shop I realized that having a printer would make shipping things out SO much easier (print, tape to package, put in mailbox!) and for the most part completely remove the need to go to the post office. Which, when you have only one car and two toddlers, and your husband drives said car to work, makes it hard to ship things quickly.

And, the lack of a working computer has made me focus more on life and given me time to truly evaluate what I want to spend my time doing. For a while, I’m sure you could all tell, I was wondering whether, after nine years of blogging, I should really continue. Mom life takes up a lot of time, which is obvious. I went back and forth between wanting to do elaborate photoshoots, and just wanting to do shoots in my yard. I couldn’t decide what I wanted, what I was doing, what I should post, if I should keep going, when I should post… the list is endless.

But a month gave me lots of time to think, and I now know that I definitely want to continue blogging. I’ve missed it! I miss the daily outfit sharing, and I miss some of the older aspects of my blog, when I first began, that I somehow phased out as I blogged more and more. I won’t announce any changes or new schedules, because I’m not going to set myself up to a standard I can’t keep. But, I am possibly going to be sharing more of home life. Kids, cooking, crafting, who knows what. Whatever my heart fancies. Or maybe none of it, if I try it out and find it’s just too time consuming.

Ultimately this blog had (and has) always been a way for me to just share what I enjoyed most. First, it was writing. Then  for a very short period of time, lifestyle. Then, most permanently, fashion. In the future, whatever I enjoy I want to share here. Likely it will be dominated by fashion posts, because that is what I love and know. But… maybe someday I’ll share vintage recipes, vintage home tips and tricks, writing progress, motherhood, makeup, hair, sewing… the possibilities are endless.

If you’ve been wondering where I’m at and keeping up with me on Facebook and Instagram, thank you. I feel like I have dropped off social media considerably, and I appreciate you for still chatting with me and taking the time to see how I’m doing!

So, until my  next post (which hopefully will not be a month from now, ha!), I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and a wonderful day!

xo

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