Where Do We Go From Here?

(me - happy, having fun, feeling good)

It hit me last night that this really is the last pregnancy for me, the last time I'll have a 10 week countdown to my due date.  And it makes me horribly sad and want to stop time.  I never say that, but right now it is so true.  I want to linger in the baby kicks and the belly rubs each night and dressing this pregnant belly of mine.  I feel amazing and I want to cherish and bottle up these feelings because in 10 weeks I'll just be another mommy of 3.    

This pregnancy has changed me.  While I of course have my bouts of craziness, I also haven't been this happy in at least 2-3 years.  I finally feel at peace that I'm no longer working full time and don't have a career.  I struggled with that for months after quitting and I confess that I almost called up my old boss a few times asking if I could work part time.  I feel at peace that this is the house God placed us in, and I'm going to make the most of it.  I feel settled here, even when the freeway noise is loud and crazy parents from the school across the street are blocking my driveway.  I finally feel fully at peace with the fact that my husband owns his own business and yes, it's scary at times, but I have faith that we can ride through anything and he will figure out a way to provide for us.

I was sad a lot the last couple of years, whether it was justifiable or not, I let things effect me too much.  I'm finally learning to brush things off, give it over to God and just have faith.  It's not to say that in the last 2-3 years I wasn't ever happy, I of course was, but I also had some dark moments where I hardly recognized myself, ruled by emotions.  I looked at my life list the other day, and the top 5 things I chose to try and accomplish this year, and you know what, I haven't accomplished a single one of them.  There's a group board for all of us that went to Camp Mighty and several times a week someone will post an update, an item "checked off the list", and we all rally around them and tell them good job and congratulations.  Last week someone got a book deal, a really, really good book deal.  I think a year ago it would have really bothered me that people were accomplishing things and I wasn't.  But right now, all I care about is the 5 people in this house, and how we're all doing (of course my friends and family too).  It's a good feeling to be at peace.

Sometimes I think it's effected my writing a bit here.  Some of the best posts I ever wrote were written when I was feeling sad or reflective.  But now that I've flushed a lot of those feelings away, I almost feel a little directionless.  And then I started For the Love Of and pretty much eliminated my style posts here.  So in just a few months I eliminated sad posts and style posts, and some DIY posts, leaving me feeling a little lost on what else you'd like me to write about.  Of course I can and will always continue to write about the kids, and zombies and preppers.  But this is where I'd love to defer to you friends.

For you to continue reading, what topics would you like me to write about?  Kids, kids crafts, home projects, home DIY's, pregnancy, life with newborn, journey with faith, recipes.  These are just a few things off the top of my head.  Do you guys want me to still post some style stuff over here?  How many of you actually read both blogs and want to see completely different topics?  Do you like it when I do the weekend recaps of what I wrote about over on For the Love Of?  What are some of your favorite posts of mine?  What do you want to see more of?

I know these are a lot of questions and I don't expect you to answer all of them ;)  If you have any advice or feedback to give though, it would be greatly appreciated.  There was a very very brief moment where I thought about shutting this place down, but I really don't want to.  I'd like to keep it going, but in a meaningful way that works for both you and me.  I don't want to just post and write for the sake of posting.  I want every single one of these posts to be intentionally published with some sort of purpose behind it.  I think when bloggers just start writing posts that don't serve an end purpose, they lose their way.  I don't want that to happen here, so I'm doing a little premature intervention here.  I'd just love a little help with it ;)    Thanks in advance guys.  You are the best!

And P.S. I wouldn't trade no amount of great blog posts for the feelings of peace I have right now...

Favorites of 2011

("Tinsel" Happy New Year made using Pugly Pixel's Photoshop tinsel brush)

Greetings from Sedona Arizona friends!  We're currently on a road trip visiting the Grand Canyon, Sedona and finishing off in Scottsdale.  As a parent you sometimes think these trips you take are for the kids; to give them new experiences, open up their eyes to sights they've never seen.  But after visiting the Grand Canyon I can tell you with 100% certainty that trips like these are for us adults.  As I viewed the Grand Canyon at sunset for the first time in 17 years, tears filled my eyes and I knew that I never ever appreciated the beauty of it when I was a teenager like I did that night.  We've taken over 500 pictures in just 2 days but I don't think any of them will give me that same feeling I had seeing it again in person the other night. 

So while we're road tripping I thought I'd take a look back on the last year of the blog and share some of my favorite posts of 2011.  I feel like I came a long way this year in my blog; starting a whole DIY and Recipes section, opening up a lot more about myself, improving my photography skills, and overall just having more fun.  There were times when I was definitely discouraged about the growth of the blog, but even when I was discouraged I continued to write and post, which tells me that I'm blogging for the right reasons, because I love it.  So here we go...

Favorite Recipe Post: Grandma Tita's Spanish Rice.  While this wasn't the most popular recipe post or the best photographed (my GAWD look at how orange the rice came out!), it was my favorite because of the story I wrote with it.  This post in a way embodies some of my most fond and most awkward memories of childhood; love of family and childhood insecurity.  We ate Mexican food last night here in Sedona and Art said to me "they've got nothing on your Spanish rice."  While this rice may not look 100% appetizing, trust me it is soo good.  Try it in 2012!


Post I'm Most Proud of Writing: Letting Go of Looking Good.  In 2010 I had briefly mentioned the death of my eldest brother in a post, but it was so brief you could have missed it.  In this post I finally opened up a bit about losing my brother, and walked that fine line a lot of bloggers struggle with; over-sharing.  Later as I was writing my life list I also touched on the subject in this post.  

Favorite Style Post: Dressing For You.  I love this post not so much because of the outfit but because it had a purpose other than just to show off a cute look.  In 2011 I'd like to try and do most of my outfit posts in this way; describe why I put the look together, the thought process and even tell a story.

Favorite DIY Post: Seed Bead Necklace.  My favorite and according to Pinterest, yours too!

Favorite Family Post: Kids In the City, recapping our very first NYC trip with the kids. 

Favorite Kid's Craft: Growing Your Own Grass Eggs which were later turned into grass egg centerpieces for Easter dinner.

Thanks so much guys for a great year and for all the support, encouragement and inspiration via emails, comments, Pins and your own personal blogs.  I love the community of blogging, and look forward to a wonderful 2012 with you all!

Lots and lots of love,
Andrea

Breaking Off

Thank you all so much for the beautiful and thoughtful comments on Friday's post.  It's so reassuring to know I can be myself here, and that you guys are willing to provide words of encouragement and love.  By the way, I called and apologized to my mamacita and we are all good.  I felt so much better after we spoke.

I've been a bit conflicted about the direction of this blog for a few months now.  I originally started this space as a family blog, then turned it into a life-style blog about a year ago.  I intentionally added the hyphen to the life-style part because I never saw this place as purely a lifestyle blog where I just focus on pretty things, but more of a blog about life + style.  It was a play on words that I'm sure no one ever got but me, and that's okay.  I figured it allowed me to blog about life, the good and bad which is so important to me, plus blog about style.

Since then though I've built a mixed audience, some that read just for the style posts and some that could care less, as well as plenty of you that read for both.  I've felt for a long time though that I've been holding back, not blogging too much about style in fear of turning off some readers, as well as because it just sometimes feels odd sharing so much about my life and kids one day and then the next day showing which outfit I'm wearing.  A little confusing, a little schizophrenic if you will.

(me, tristan and jules)

On Friday night I went to the Decor 8 book signing with Jules and met Tristan from Besotted Brand for the first time.  Afterwards we went to dinner with a few other bloggers including Alexandra, and Holly Becker herself, who is beyond sweet and down to earth.  At dinner I also sat next to stylist/photographer Leslie Shrewing from A Creative Mint.  I have to say considering my post on Friday about letting go of looking good, it was a bit ironic and overwhelming to be sitting at a table with such inspiring, talented and yes, stylish women.  Once I got over my discomfort of feeling like the odd one out who doesn't really read design blogs, I had a lovely time.  We ate French food outdoors, drank wine, laughed and shared a lot.  Nothing in particular was said that night to help me come to my decision, but it just occurred to me almost through inspiration osmosis somewhere between the steamed artichokes and the warm goat cheese salad that it was time to split off and start a style blog.

So as soon as I can finalize a name and design, I'll be blogging about all things style over at a new space.  I love reading so many style blogs and think they all have something worthwhile to contribute, but I've also felt that there is a bit of a void for women like me.  Women in their late 20's, 30's and beyond, whether you're a mom or not, who want real, practical and simple inspiration for creating your own personal style.  So I want to evolve Playgrounds & Lollipops once and for all and feature more personal outfits and give advice, inspiration and tips for what helps me get dressed every day.  I want to focus on women of all shapes, sizes and ages and want to feature friends and readers as well.  I want to find creative ways to shop your own closet and turn something old into something you love again.  And I don't want to create a space where I curate items that just leave you and me feeling like I want, NEED more stuff.  Unless it's to highlight fantastic, other-wordly items like the Missoni for Target line because hello, everyone needs to know about those gems!

So in a way I'm starting all over but I'm excited and you know what?  I'm not scared!  And that is such a relief.  I will continue to blog here at Four Flights of Fancy, but I'll leave this space as a place where I can blog about everything else that I cherish in my life; my family, my home, my food and my heart.  You don't have to read both, but I'd be tickled pink if you did :)

So guys, can you help me come up with a name for my new blog?  Here are some ideas I've been tossing around in my head.  I don't know if I LOVE any of them so I'm open to suggestions and honest opinions :)

Credible Style (not to be confused with incredible)

Seasoned Style (does this make you think of meat seasoning though?)

Inspired By (I'll be writing a lot about inspiration)

Muted Style (I think my style is a bit toned-down & simple, Art loves this one but Miranda said no)

AV Style (my middle name is Victoria)

Newly Minted (does this make you think of coins/money though?)

In Step (does this make you think of dancing?)

Do you guys like any of these?  Please chime in.  In the meantime I'm also on the hunt for a blog designer that specializes in Wordpress because I'm switching over for the new blog.  Any suggestions, pretty please?

Thanks again guys!  I'm excited and I hope (some of) you are excited too!  Here's to fresh beginnings! 

Thoughts of the Week - What I've Learned

 

{this is what I wear when I'm blogging of course! Source}

In the last couple of weeks I've covered eating habits, drinking habits, kids, arm parties, DIY stuff and emotional stuff.  Why not round out the assortment and cover another one of my favorite topics; blogging?  I've been dedicated to blogging consistently for over a year or so now.  While I've learned a lot of different things about myself and others, here are some of the top bits of morsels I can walk away with...

* My favorite posts are not ones I planned out in my head for days, but come to me all of a sudden and are usually written in less than 15 minutes.   

* Food is the hardest thing to photograph.  Seriously, take a look at this rice, and this cantaloupe salad.  I'm no good at photographing food.

* Emotional, from the heart posts will ALWAYS get the most feedback, i.e., comments.  Emotional posts can never be forced though and have to actually come from the heart.  Readers know the difference ;)

* Tutorial posts usually get the least amount of feedback, but the most number of hits.  Go figure.

* If you can spare the dough, hire a blog designer to create your space.  A space you love is an inspiring one.

* The blogging world is an amazingly generous place.  Take a look at this giveaway that some friends of Lara are hosting.  To help her family with the costs of bringing their baby from Uganda home, they're hosting a virtual baby shower and giving away some pretty amazing prizes, including a Canon Rebel EOS camera and a 75-30MM auto focus lens.  With 4 adopted nieces and nephews of my own, adoption is a pretty spectacular thing here in my family so I was more than happy to spread the word about Lara's virtual shower.  Head on over for a chance to enter, but hurry because the giveaway ends this weekend.  

* Lastly on the list today is that I've learned when you don't feel like blogging, simply don't.  Feeling tired, uninspired, or simply unmotivated, just step away and do something that will recharge you and give you back your creativity and inspire you.  For me it's reading, watching movies at night with Art, going out with friends and going to the gym.  I've been doing a lot of all these things the last couple of weeks, which is why I've only been posting 3 times a week.

What have you learned from blogging?

I trust Annie's taste in books wholeheartedly and so when I finished Emily Giffin's series Something Borrowed & Something Blue, I asked her what she recommended.  She told me about Joshilyn Jackson and I started with Gods In Alabama and am now onto Backseat Saints.

Last weekend we watched Morning Glory, which I give two big thumbs up.  Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams are some of my favorites and this movie was just happy.  Happy is good after watching a string of downer or bad movies including True Grit and Dinner For Schmucks.  Anyhow, the lovely Natasha Bedingfiend, known best for Unwritten, sang the title song Strip Me.  It's been on auto play ever since.


And that folks is all I have for you today.  We're off to the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach, just Syd and I.  It should be fun.  Do you guys have any fun plans this weekend? 

Blog Sugar Part Deux & Why I Blog

I can't believe I'm having to hijack pictures from another blogger's site to post for Blog Sugar, but hey, I've been known to do worse things.  I did get permission :)  I guess I was too busy meeting and greeting to get any decent pictures.  Too bad so sad. 

Friday night was the second installment of Blog Sugar, and what a success it was.  I volunteered to help Rachel with some of the planning this time since fingers were crossed it was going to be much bigger this time around, and we were right!  Blog Sugar grew from 25 attendees back in February to 60 just 3 months later.  I want to congratulate Rachel for a wonderful night and for being the brain child behind such a fun and worthwhile event.  I had a great time being behind the scenes and Rachel's back-up door greeter.  I think I may have actually met 99% of the attendees.

One of the activities we did on Friday night was take a few minutes to reflect on the purpose of our blogs.  I had spent a lot of time thinking about this in the weeks leading up to the event (remember, I had some privileged information beforehand).  I thought I had it all figured out and even volunteered to speak up and share the purpose of my blog.  The next day though after I was thinking about all the fun happenings from that night, I realized that I had it all wrong.
Why you blog is totally different than the purpose of your blog.

I BLOG BECAUSE:
I like to document our lives (not an original answer, I know)
I want to keep my mind and creative juices going while being a stay at home mom (okay that's a little better)
I want to promote my Etsy shop
I want to share things that inspire me, and maybe inspire others (that may be a bit presumptuous)
I like the community that blogging can create (this is the part I touched on a bit at Blog Sugar)

Who doesn't like to hear how awesome their craft project is, or how flipping cute their kids are, or how touched they feel by a post, or how they can relate to the struggles you're going through?  Like I said at BS, being a mother is often times a thankless job, so it's nice to get some affirmation that what you're doing is worthwhile, valued, admirable.   

So the above are all somewhat valid, if not completely unique reasons to blog.  But really, what am I trying to achieve through blogging?  What is the purpose of the 10 or so hours I commit to this thing each and every week?

And the only answer I can come up with is "I don't know."  I mean I sort of know, but not really.  I don't raise money for a charity, well not yet anyway.  I don't quite think my Playgrounds & Lollipops feature every week is going to change the world, and my day to day posts are not necessarily groundbreaking.

I'm not reinventing the wheel here in terms of mommy bloggers.  I know that, and I'm okay with that.
But for some reason, what I'm doing here in this little space of mine, just feels right.

-Blogging has inspired me to take up a hobby finally.  I now know how to sew because a blog inspired me to.  And it is now turning into a little side business for me, and that's something pretty purposeful right? 
-Blogging has pushed me to take a million pictures of my kidlets.  Before seriously blogging I was terrified to touch our Canon DSLR.  It was something only Art used, but now it is 10 times more likely to be found in my hands than his, and that makes me happy.
-Blogging has connected me to a small and amazing group of women right here in my own community that I would have probably never met if it weren't for blogging.  I look forward to getting to know them better.

So while I can't quite pinpoint the exact purpose of my blog right now, I'm sure that eventually it will reveal itself to me.  I will keep typing away, and wait.  I do know that when I am honest, or vulnerable, or maybe even a tad bit funny and insecure, people respond.  And I love that total strangers can relate and lift you up even when you didn't know you needed it.

So why do you blog?  Does your blog have a purpose, or a driving force behind it?  

Thanks again Rachel for an awesome night, and for giving us some food for thought.

A Sincere Thank You

Hey there.  I wanted to say Thank You.
Thank you for those that read and have left encouraging comments on my posts.
That have given me feedback on my layout.
That have sent me emails and/or Facebook messages telling me you enjoy what I've got going on here.

It truly means a lot.  I can't tell you.
To be honest, the whole blogging thing can sort of get me down at times.
I obsess over what I'm going to post, whether people will be interested in it, whether the pictures are good enough, the layout, etc.

I'm still not sure where I'm going with this thing, but I'll tell you one thing,
I appreciate you for taking the journey with me.

A few of you have asked questions about the layout, especially pertaining to my header and the size of my pictures, that is, how I get them so big.
So I thought I would share a few things that I've learned with you all.  And by all means if you have learned any snazzy tips, please share those as well in the Comments section.


Regarding my headers that I change each month.  I create them in Picasa, using a tutorial I found on Clover Lane.  She has a few useful tips on her sidebar, as well as some pretty steadfast views on mothering/parenting and running a household in general.  I appreciate her no-nonsense way of writing.  Her tutorial on creating a Picasa header is wonderful and perfectly accurate, so I'll just link up to hers because I couldn't do it much better than her!

Regarding the size of my pictures.  I used to do it the old-fashioned, changing-HTML-code way.  But then just last week I noticed that Blogger has updated their post editing software!  Here's what you do to change your post editing setting if you have a blog that you created at least several months ago:
     - Go To Settings Tab and scroll all the way down to Global Settings
     - Click Updated Post Editor button
     - Click on Save Settings
Now you will be able to easily drop in pictures in your post wherever you want to and easily change the size of your pictures to Large and Extra Large.  
If you are hesitant to change your Post Editor, then you can still enlarge your pictures the old edit HTML way.  Here is another Clover Lane tutorial on how to do that.

Regarding the Link Index Buttons I created on my sidebar.  This is where I got some help from another blogger and my geeky husband.  Rachel at Heart of Light was so nice to email me with the easy way she created hers.  Thank you thank you Rachel and Art!  Basically:
     - Art first created little pictures in Photoshop for me with the index title. 
     - I then added a picture widget on my sidebar and uploaded each index title picture.
     - When adding a picture widget, there is an option to have the picture link up somewhere.
     - I have each picture link up to a back-dated post that I created that would house all of my individual links
     - In that back-dated post I simply create a link for each separate post pertaining to that topic (i.e., all my
      recipes)
Does that make sense?  I hope it does.  It is time consuming to set up, but then once you do it's fairly easy to maintain.

I found another blog that I subscribe to called Sneaky Momma Blog Designs that has a ton of great tips.  Check out her site and you can find just about any topic you're interested in!

Alrighty then, I think that's enough out of me!  I sincerely wish everyone a happy hump day!