This post was inspired and sponsored by Domain.ME, the provider of the personal domains that end in .ME. As a company, they aim to promote thought leadership to the tech world. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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As we near the end of another calendar year, I tend to get reflective on the past year and, well, life in general. And while this year has been extremely challenging in so many ways, this also has been one of the best years of my life. It’s strange, really. This year really is full of ups and downs and was basically one giant roller coaster.

This year also marks nearly 10 years of blogging. It’s CRAZY to me to think that 10 years ago, I was sitting in my on-campus apartment writing in my LiveJournal (so angsty. so emo.) and I was just using it as this weird creative outlet to put thoughts to “paper,” so to speak.

And here I am… a decade later, and this is my job. Like, this is how I pay my bills.

IS THIS REAL LIFE?!

With that being said, while I’ve shared bits and pieces of my blogging story and my “journey” along the way, I thought it might be fun to share a “THEN and NOW”-type blogging story with y’all…

I wasn’t always the refined fashion icon you see today. (please, hear my sarcasm… hahaha!) At one time, I was just a little girl with a unicorn face painting, a backwards cap covering my stellar mullet, and the coolest shorts the 90s ever made:

I was always a creative person. I did comedy. I was a singer. I was a writer. Fast forward many, many years and I was in college and while I initially went to college a musical theater major, I eventually transitioned over to English (with a concentration in creative writing) and found my calling.

I loved writing and I loved being creative. So, as another way to “express myself,” as it were, I started my LiveJournal and was oh-so-angsty and just kind of wrote whatever came to mind.

After college, I moved to Richmond, Virginia and went to work as a Governor’s Fellow for then-Virginia-Governor (and future candidate for VP) Tim Kaine.

After my fellowship was done, I became a high school English teacher… because, obviously.

While I loved my job(s), I still felt an innate drive and calling within me to write and just be “creative.” Whatever that meant.

In 2007, I eventually transitioned from my LiveJournal over to WordPress and started blogging regularly, writing parody pieces, satires, and just basically anything random that came to mind. My readers consisted of my dad, a couple friends, and this one dude named Jeff. I have no idea who Jeff was, but man, he loved my stuff and would email me all the time and comment on basically every post.

Jeff, if you’re still, somehow reading this blog all these years later… THANKS, DUDE!

Anyway, fast forward a few more years and I had left Virginia, moved to North Carolina, and my life was basically in shambles. You know, putting it lightly. I had four jobs, I was alone, I was broken. I was a BLAST to be around.

My blog was still very much my “outlet.” And more and more people loved reading it. I don’t know WHY… but they did. So my little “audience” grew.

Fast forward even more time and I started dating this guy named John (spoiler alert… he’s my husband now)… and RIGHT after we got engaged in July of 2011, I left and went on my first mission trip to Kenya. I blogged the whole experience and I had so many people following along… it kind of blew my mind!

While a lot of things happened to me on that trip, one of the things I realized most of all was that I was created to do more. That life was a whole lot bigger than my little “circle” in North Carolina. I realized that there were problems way bigger than my own and that ultimately, it wasn’t about me. At all. None of it is about me.

So I really started to rethink my blog and what my mission was. 

In any event, I came back and was knee deep in wedding planning and all the DIYs and everything and so the blog started to become more and more an extension of my own life. So, I got married, became debt free, and then all of a sudden I was like… well… what next?

I’ve always struggled with self-confidence (hence why I was a comedian… I mean, I used comedy as a defense mechanism), and so blogging became a way for me to work through whatever emotion(s) I was feeling, whatever problem(s) I was facing, and whatever project(s) were on the horizon.

Again, it was (and still very much is), my creative outlet.

And then I decided to start blogging stuff I was wearing. Because, naturally.

Then… I posted my first outfit post… seen here:

YOU GUYS. SO MUCH STYLE. BEST SELFIE. This was taken in an Old Navy dressing room. Because, why not!? Also, HEY THERE Hefe Instagram filter! 

And people liked reading my outfit posts. And so I started blogging more outfits… like this one: 

YOU GUYS. SO MUCH SELFIE FASHUN. (*eye roll*)

THEN, I went through a phase where I had a signature pose… the “THUMBS UP POSE.” I was literally crying laughing so hard going through some of these old blog photos. I can’t believe I used to post these on the internets. So. Embarrassing.

If you really wanna dig through my archives, most of these posts are still live because I had no shame. Or something. 

I mean, seriously… COULD I NOT HAVE MOVED THE DOG BOWL BEHIND ME? Why? WHY would I think that’s okay? I don’t know. So cool right now. So. So. Cool.

Despite my awful photos early on and despite me having absolutely NO clue what I was doing, I loved blogging. I looked forward to writing posts every night. I loved the community I was building. I loved meeting other bloggers. I loved it all. And I wanted to grow, but didn’t know what was next…

 

Then, all of a sudden, later on in 2012, a company approached me and wanted to collaborate. I was FLOORED. Someone wanted to PAY ME to do something I already loved doing anyway?

And that’s when I realized that suddenly this “hobby” could maybe become something more. BUT, before I ever pursued it any further, I stopped and I had a “heart-t0-heart” with myself and said that I would NEVER ever write something JUST for the sake of making money. Ever.

…and then there’s me today!

Things continued to grow and life continued to change. Lilly was born, life was happening, and I felt the calling and the desire to take the blog full time but I wasn’t sure it would ever actually happen.

I prayed, I went to workshops, I worked REALLY hard, really…. really… really hard… I talked with John, I rebranded, and I just did ALL THE THINGS I could to set myself up to be able to pursue this thing FOR REAL for real. Then, in 2014, I ACTUALLY was able to quit my “day job” and take the blog full time. Trust me when I say that that is something I will never take for granted. It was, and is, truly a dream.

Don’t get me wrong… this is WORK. A LOT of work. It’s not just sitting around at my computer and taking pretty pictures. It is WORK. But I love it. So much.

And I have Y’ALL to thank for it in so many ways!! If it weren’t for the awesome people in this community and those of you who come back to this blog on the daily to check in and leave encouraging comments or send me emails or connect with me in some way, I would not get to do what I do.

SO THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

Now, even as long as this post is, this is the SHORT version… haha!! But it’s really all to say that I’m thankful, I’m grateful, and I love what I do. My mission is to encourage YOU, who reads this blog, that you were created with a purpose for a purpose and that you are amazing!

I also love encouraging other bloggers who have a similar passion and similar goal – no matter what “niche” you fall into. When you’re in the blogging world, it can be isolating at times and sometimes you just want to know that someone else understands you and “gets” you and your passion.

That’s me! I totally get it!

I’d love to hear your story! Are you a blogger? What is your blogging story or blogging journey? 

Have you been thinking of starting a blog? Don’t know where to start? A great place to start is to just START! Open up a blog account on whatever platform you want to use, get a domain name (check out and try Domain.ME! a domain name provider that allows ANYONE, personal or business, to create a unique, safe identity online with a domain name ending in .ME.!), and just start writing. Tell your story. Be yourself. Stay true to who YOU are.

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This post was inspired and sponsored by Domain.ME, the provider of the personal domains that end in .ME. As a company, they aim to promote thought leadership to the tech world. All thoughts and opinions are my own.