The official ONE year anniversary of this blog has arrived! On May 29, 2017 I ‘penned’ my first blog entry – taking a step onto a path that I was unfamiliar with. Frankly, I wasn’t really sure where it would lead me.

My guiding force was to document life – the mundane and extra special moments alike. In addition, I wanted to chronicle the process of designing and building of our family’s ‘forever home’.

A couple of months into the journey I began to understand why the average lifespan of a blog is only 100 days. It’s work. A LOT of work. I will admit that during these past 365 days the idea of throwing in the towel crossed my mind more than once. When those thoughts crept in, I had to dig deep to continue. I’m glad that I did. Sitting on this side of a year, having not given up, makes me feel proud. I’ve learned a lot about blogging, and about myself, in the process.

I ENJOY WRITING AND DOCUMENTING

I have never been one to write in a journal, but am finding that I actually do enjoy keeping record of what our family has been up to. I take notes on the adventures our family has, and compile them into a monthly AROUND HERE posts. I also shoot plenty of photos and video to use in our WEEKLY TIMELINE VLOGS. These posts and vlogs have been so much fun for my family to look back on. On more than one occasion we have said out loud “When was it that (this or that) happened?” – and then realized that we could look at the documentation that I was careful to preserve, and find out. What a blessing!

RESEARCH IS TEACHING ME NEW THINGS

As it turns out, I enjoy researching topics for upcoming blog posts. I try to fact check all of the information that I put out, so that I’m not misguiding anyone. This fact checking often leads to more interesting information that I many times see as being valuable enough to include in the post as well. Even though I have a five year degree in my field of study (architecture), and have been practicing in that same field for many years, I am finding that there is always more to learn. Through blogging, I believe that my expertise on a subject that I already felt quite competent in, is improving.

THERE ARE PEOPLE FOLLOWING ALONG

At first, I was a bit dismayed that my family and close friends were the only people who were finding the blog. Slowly though, maybe around the six month mark, the site traffic began to pick up. I check analytics at the end of each month, and have found that the website steadily receives about 50% of it’s traffic from people who have never visited the site before. That means that somehow these people found the website – either through word of mouth, a google search, Pinterest, or social media – and thought it may have something to offer them. To me, that’s exciting news!

And for this reason, I have been trying to be more diligent about making sure the content of the website is consistent. If someone happens to stumble upon the blog and finds an article interesting and helpful, I want to make sure that there is even more for them to enjoy.

Our house designing process seems to be especially useful to readers, which I love. I enjoy following other blogs that document the house designing and building process, and am thankful that I can help to encourage others in that regard.

I CAN MAKE MONEY

Blogging is most definitely NOT a get rich quick scheme; But there is money to be made by doing it. I know that there are a lot of other venues I can consider in the future, but for now my primary income is from the advertisements that I put into my blog posts, and affiliate marketing posts.

Many bloggers are able to earn additional funds by offering courses or selling products. These are things that I will be thinking about as I move forward into year number two.

A YEAR ISN’T ALL THAT LONG

It is amazing to me how quickly this first year of blogging has gone. The saying ‘the days are long but the years are short’ is just as relevant to blogging as it is to raising children. Though the effort I put forth on a daily basis at times has felt overwhelming, the days have literally flown by. This mindset will help launch me into year number two – by realizing I only need to put one foot in front of the other, and be consistent, to make progress. The days are going to pass no matter what, so I may as well make use of them in some productive way.

If this first year has been one of learning, I am hoping for the second to be of growth and confidence. Soon, I hope to fine tune the website and blog so that it even further reflects the information I want to share with all of you.

As always, I appreciate each and every one of you who has chosen to hang out in this space with me. Let’s see what YEAR TWO will bring!