Its been a year since my first post! I recently paid for another year of keeping this thing running, so here’s to another year! 🙂 Blogging is something I thought about for a long time, and it has felt really good to jump in and go for it. That’s not typically my personality. I’m probably cautious to a fault. It feels good to do something a little out of the ordinary. My favorite part has been learning something new, and the satisfaction that comes with figuring out how to do things on my own. I’m not the most tech savvy person, so there’s definitely been some frustrations and a learning curve. But I’ve yet to run into a problem that I didn’t figure out how to fix one way or another (hopefully this doesn’t jinx me!). I also love the creative outlet. While I love math and teaching, I have an artistic side that really feels satisfied through the blog.  Thank you to those of you who like following along and engage with me through comments or social media! That’s the best part!

My goal this year was to post twice a week. However, this is only post 58, so I’m just slightly over a one-per-week average. I’ll still count that as a win. I try not to force posts. There have been weeks where I wanted to post something but nothing felt natural. So I refrained. You’re welcome. The main hurdle is just finding time between my real job, grading papers on top of that, and trying to be a good mom at the same time! I also have grand ideas sometimes, but we are working with a budget here. Another big hurdle is trying to find time to take pictures during daylight. Oh, and even if I’m home and there’s good lighting, I usually need to pick up a mess before I can take any pictures!

Let’s not forget that this blog would be impossible without Parker! Not only are most of our decisions a collaboration, but he does ALL OF THE WORK behind the scenes. I just think up ideas and share his work on the blog 🙂

We have some big plans coming up this year. We plan to install hardwoods. This will also create the need (or desire…hate saying need) for changes to our fireplace and stairs. It also opens the door for us to do some moldings on the first floor that we’ve been thinking about. I think installing the hardwoods and the subsequent projects will really change the feel of our house. I also think these projects are investments that will allow us to ask more for our house when we sell some day. In addition to the hardwoods, we will also be doing some minor things to our little boy’s room. And two projects that we HAVE to get done are staining our deck and cleaning our garage. Those two projects aren’t exciting, but our garage is a wreck. If we actually had a clean garage (I joke that I’d like the kids to be able to lick the floor and me not care), I would be ecstatic. I haven’t even walked through our garage in months. I pretend its not there 🙂

In honor of our 1st blog anniversary, I’d like to share some things that might serve as inspiration if you are currently toying with taking a risk on something yourself.

• This is a kid’s book that I saw right when I was actually trying to start up the blog. I bought it for the kids last Christmas, and I love it. It really did serve as inspiration for me.

• Another source of recent inspiration has been another blog The Leslie Style. I love The Leslie Style’s….well, style. On top of that, she recently posted some advice on sharing your passion. So much good advice! I can’t wait to check out some of the books and videos she suggested. I might become a reader this coming summer (let’s believe it when we see it). I found her post really inspirational….as long as I can get over feeling inadequate that she’s only been blogging about 4 months longer than me and has 30,000 instagram followers. I’m well on my way to 200 🙂 Here is a link to her post about how she motivated herself to share her passion. She’s also a teacher like me, so she is a new favorite of mine. Here is a sample of her house. I love the balance between modern and traditional.

• While I have no plans or even the slightest expectation of making blogging a career, I do find this advice helpful, nonetheless. If you are thinking about starting a business or pursuing a passion of any kind, this is great advice!

Thanks again for following along! I hope to share some more excitement in the next year, and I hope you will keep checking it out. I’d also love for you to follow me on instagram/facebook/twitter. I do share things there that I don’t share here (not so much twitter but facebook and instagram). You can follow me on any of those by clicking on the hexagons on the sidebar. Cheers to another year!

Jalene