A new blog & new goals

I've had several goals on my mind for over a year now, but choosing not to find time & feeling a lack of creativity to get started, they've remained tiny ideas. I'm a wife & mom with two little girls, and getting much else accomplished some days can feel easier said than done.  I love learning new things, but I don't love being new at something. So I just don't start. It's not a stretch to say that I'm not a risk-taker. Case in point: When my sister-in-law Julia (seriously check out her blog, www.myrainbootsarered.blogspot.com, it's amazing!) encouraged me to try quilting last spring, I had the same thought I usually have with new things..."Um, I don't think that's my thing. I don't know how. And it sounds intimidating." And I didn't attempt it for a few months. But Julia is a fantastic encourager and took the time to walk me through getting started. I had no idea how many great resources & ideas are out there on quilting. It took several months, but I made a quilt. And I loved making it. And a year later, I can happily say quilting/sewing is my thing.

Blogging was another one that's been on the back burner. I figured the internet doesn't need countless pages of my kids' pictures. That's pretty much the only thing I post on social media. And then I'd feel guilty if I didn't keep up with it. Blogs I love to read have interesting topics, fun pictures, personal stories, and helpful info updated periodically. And they have cute names. I hadn't put in time & effort to come up with any of those categories, so no blog. Yet you're reading one now...I'm jumping in & we'll see how it goes. I can only post about what I know or have experienced, so I'm nixing the pressure to have the best, most successful blog ever written. And will probably be over-posting pics of my kids.

Back to goals...one of my goals in blogging is to document what I'm up to around here. It's fun to look back on chunks of time in your own life & see what you were learning, thinking about, doing with your family. 2014 is shaping up to be a busy year of "new things". Some are already in full swing actually. I hope it'll make me stop & appreciate those moments as I mention them here. I hope that some of what I share on here will encourage others to try something new & see that it may not be as intimidating as they thought. Sewing, blogging, homeschooling a kindergartner, painting rooms in my house, starting a business website (more on that later...it's an idea out of left field).

Now I'm going to figure out how to post pictures. And what to post next.    =)