Q&A {blogging & random}

Today is the final Q&A post. It has been fun answering these questions and really just seeing what questions you guys had. I’ll have to do this again!

How did you come to start your blog? It was originally an extension of my photography website – a place to post sneak peeks for clients. I never set out to become a blogger. I was a photographer that had a little corner of my website with a blog. It always makes me smile when people ask for advice on how to start a blog or become a ‘professional’ blogger. I have no idea!

When did you realize that it had grown into such a wide audience?  Around the time of my oldest daughter’s birth I posted a tour of her bedroom. It was probably the response to that post that I realized, “wow, people actually read this!”

What visions do you have your blog/photography in the future? My biggest hope for this blog is that it would be a life-giving corner in the online world. Yesterday a comment was left that my blog is a “welcome oasis of common sense in the chaos of the internet.” That comment made me smile so big – I’m a fan of common sense, so that pretty much made my day. I hope that tangled up in my randomness and mess would be beauty that helps others see the beauty and gifts in their own lives. I hope that in some small way my feeble words and photography would impact the world in a positive way. I hope that one day my kids will be able to read my words here and get a small glimpse of who I was during the early years of my motherhood.

I’m wondering how you manage to write a blog post and edit daily pictures each day. Do you schedule your blog posts ahead of time (meaning topics) or just whatever moves you when you sit down to write? How often do you write each week? I don’t write daily very often. I usually try to write a couple of posts at a time and schedule those. For the most part my blog is just whatever is going on in my life and in my head. Every now and then I do a sponsored post or a collaboration and those have to be scheduled for certain days. It is hard for me to keep those time commitments, so I don’t do very many. I’m more of a free spirit blogger…just whatever is going on. I’m always jotting down ideas for posts or thinking about it as I go about my normal day. I might have several posts in my head, snap the pictures over a few days, and then sit down and write the posts at one time.

You do quite a few guests post did you search those out or did others randomly ask you? I have never searched out guest posts, but the ones I’ve done were requests. I typically only write guest posts for friends or Mpix.com. Early on when I began blogging I agreed to more requests. Over time I’ve realized I barely have the time to write on my own blog, so I don’t guest post much anymore (maybe once or twice a year).

Has the blog given you “celebrity status” around town, and if so, how does it feel? This one made me laugh. No, I don’t feel like the blog has give me ‘celebrity status’. Every now and then someone will stop and say, “hi” and I am grateful when they do. It doesn’t happen often – if I have celebrity status around town I must terrify people from saying “hi”! There have been a couple of times someone has said “hi” when I have a kid or two with me. It is really fun when that happens. Blogging is a common topic in our house. I share with my kids (esp. the older ones) about posts I am working on and I’ll read them comments from time to time. I also share with them the hard parts of blogging too – like when people say mean things to me or about me. It is good for them to see how I work through when someone doesn’t like me. It is even more fun when they get to meet someone in town that does like me! A couple years ago I was finger knitting a garland during my oldest son’s basketball practice. He came up to me with a smile and said, “This is why people like you. You do weird things just because you like them. I like that.” I like that I get to share blogging with them and every now and then they get to meet someone new that reads my blog.

Any tips on the business side of blogging/photography? Chris handles a big chunk of that for me. He has his MBA and all that is stuff he enjoys. So taxes, accounting, etc. – Chris has always managed that for me. I definitely recommend making sure you are educated on taxes and save accordingly all year. I’ve seen a lot of photographer friends face really difficult times due to the unexpected regarding taxes. I’m probably the last blogger to ask about regarding the business of blogging. I kind of just do my own thing. I’m slowly learning new things, but I’m about 5 years behind most bloggers. My friend Ruth is an expert on the business side of blogging, I would recommend checking out her blog products for tips on the business side of blogging.

If you could have a craft day, what would you want to make? Have you seen pictures of painted globes? I have a ton of globes and have been wanting to try my hand at painting one.

Do you have any Oklahoma vacation blog posts you’re thinking about doing? About 10. I’d like to take my kids to the southern area of the state. We’ll wait until everyone else is back in school!

Favorite place to go in OK? I don’t have a favorite…too many places to choose from! Anywhere quiet, remote and in my trailer.

So, now that you’ve freed up some time, would you consider offering a wood shop class?  That has never once crossed my mind. Dad – want to teach a wood shop class with me?

I know you work by the example your family gave you in regards to working with children and power tools but what safety tips, lessons, etc. would you have to share? I need to think through this. I might try writing a blog post soon with more about wood working.

Any books, classes, sites tools to start with?  My favorite tools are my drill, saw and sander. You can build just about anything with those.

Any recommendations for someone starting off? What was the first thing you made? I would get those three tools and find a super simple DIY on pinterest with directions. Just start building. Don’t worry about it being perfect. Concern yourself more with learning the tools and feeling comfortable with them. Allow the imperfections to be part of the learning process. Just build.

Did you ever get your ring pullups? You had to ask. I can do ring pull-ups, but I have not got my ring muscle up. After an embarrassing 14 straight minutes of trying (and getting super close) in front of a crowd, I’ve let frustration win and kind of gave up. I need to try again. Don’t give up, right?

Where  did you get your outdoor string lights? I found them at Target on discount after the 4th of July. I’ve had some from Target before and the bulbs broke pretty easily. This were marked down so much, I thought I’d try again. I’ll probably take them down in the spring with Oklahoma has wild weather.

Can you please, please tell me where you found the great cards you use to help your daughter use sign language? My friend Cindy made them. I think she basically collected images online and added the words. She then laminated them for me.

Marvel or DC? Marvel

Batman or Superman? Captain America

Coffee or Tea? Coffee. With cream and sugar.

Mexican or Chinese food? Oh that is a hard one. I’m going to go with Mexican though. Chips & salsa. Cheese enchilada with a fried egg on top. Boom.

Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Wars…I mean Hans Solo and Indiana Jones are the same guy. Star Wars. Harrison Ford.

What are your current style (in the home) inspirations? Hmmm. Anything tidy and simple. My life feels loud all the time, the less ‘noise’ in my house inspires me. White. Wood. Green. Have you seen Heather Bullard’s studio kitchen? I want to move into that kitchen.

How did you decide the layout and plan of your garden and chicken coop? Any books or blogs you got inspiration and info from? The coop design was based off plans we purchased from Heather Bullard.

Here is a post with a tour and how we modified those plans: Chicken Coop Tour

Here is a post about how we set up our garden/coop plan and books we used: Gardening Set Up

What did you do on your last date? We ate at our favorite Thai restaurant (Lanna Thai – spring rolls & pad thai) then walked around downtown eating gelato. Our dates are wild!

What’s your next project to work on? Our kitchen. The kids have used the drawer pulls as ladder steps to get into the cabinets. As a result, they broke several and those pulls are no longer available. Our backsplash was a super low budget diy. It has worked great, but I am ready for tile that is easier to clean. We also have not kept up the butcher block countertops and need to re-finish those. Basically, we’ve been brutal to our kitchen and it needs some love.

Where do you get your inspiration? It might sound corny or maybe not even true, but I can find inspiration everywhere. It can be a pile of dirt if I look at it with the right perspective. A constant prayer of mine is that God would teach me to number my days that I might gain a heart of wisdom. I do feel like most days I am going through the day knowing my days are numbered. The reality of how my life will be just a breath does not depress me, it inspires me. It inspires me to linger with my kids, to soak up the moments, to search for beauty, to breathe in sights and smells, and to really KNOW those around me.

Thank you for asking so many different questions. It really was fun for me too…and I’ll be working on getting my son to write that guest post on his favorite books. I’ll also get together my thoughts for a wood working post. If there are any other posts you’d like to see me write (besides A Day In the Life! 🙂 ), I’d love to hear your ideas. Have a wonderful weekend!