It’s time for some annual goal declaring (because nothing lights a terminate under your arse like a huge ol’ public proclamation). Let’s do this thang.
Goal #1: discover Balance- We pointed out that we were aiming for a lot more balance in our lives during this 2011 resolutions post. We generally stated that we’re going to try our darndest not to autumn into the trap of putting all of our time, money, as well as energy into the home to the point that we have no life, no savings, as well as Clara is trapped in our casa for her entire youth (we really haven’t been on a huge holiday considering that our honeymoon four as well as a half years back other than some low crucial road trips as well as household beach weeks). Well, we’re bringing it up once again since we requirement to be much better about it.
We’ve had a extremely hectic as well as interesting year (John came on full time, we moved, Clara is running as well as talking, we’re composing columns for BabyCenter as well as Do It yourself magazine together with a 260+ page book, we’ve dealt with tons of home projects, we redesigned the site, etc). however what has slipped to make space for all those incredible chances is recharging away-from-the-computer time. considering that the Web is 24/7, we’re still plugged in on nights as well as weekends as well as even on holidays as well as over the holidays. Heck I had a infant last year as well as didn’t even miss a post. So one reason that we started young home Life was to remind ourselves to take a minute to really online as well as have fun as well as be spontaneous as well as step.away.from.the.laptop.
Our preferred Videos
How To set up Board & Batten (Part 1)
Simple steps for producing a board-and-batten wainscot treatment to your wall for under $100.
More Videos
0 seconds of 2 minutes, 28 seconds
Next Up
Ikea wardrobe Tour
01:09
Live
00:25
02:03
06:46
Goal #2: Not drone on in every post. This really may be the crucial to accomplishing a lot more of the balance that we crave above. See, a few of our preferred articles don’t have 2,000 words as well as 20 pics. We even admit that we skim each other’s articles when they’re as well long. So we understand everybody at house most likely doesn’t checked out every word of every publish that we compose either. The point is that often short as well as wonderful is a-ok. as well as not every publish needs to be a novel. often an update is quick, or we get something basic that we want to share, or something funny occurs as well as we catch it on video as well as slap it up. That’s the happiness of blogging. Not whatever has to be incredibly polished as well as verbose. Ooh, I just utilized the word verbose. ten points? Anyone?
Goal #3: restore before & after inspiration. A year back we utilized to share visitor Redesigns twice a week together with two regular giveaway articles (one to reveal the giveaway as well as a second one to reveal the winner) as well as a bit poll publish on Fridays that we called a Burning concern (about something decor-related, like if you like painted cupboards or wood ones, or if you’re a wall-to-wall carpet person or into tile or hardwood floors). however at our last blogiversary we realized that five articles a week about not-our-house stuff was truly taking our blog away from the great ol’ diy diary feel (which is absolutely exactly how it started, as well as something that we wished to maintain).
So during our last blogiversary we made a decision to turn the focus back to our home (since we had a huge step ahead of us, as well as a great deal to talk about). We gotten rid of those Friday Burning Questions, together with our regular comply with up giveaway champion publish (we just publish that information as a p.s. at the bottom of one more post), as well as we quote a fond farewell to both of our regular visitor Redesigns (we invited people to share their before & afters on our Facebook page instead). We didn’t miss the giveaway champion publish or our regular Burning Question, however we absolutely mourned the loss of visitor Redesigns considering that they’re so inspiring as well as full of eye candy as well as ideas. So we’ve made a decision to bring them back. Not two a week, as well as perhaps not even when a week – however they’re going to be making routine appearances again. There’s just as well much incredible stuff that can leave us all inspired/encouraged. So if you have any type of incredible transformations to submit for consideration (like the sensational card-catalog-turned-buffet seen below), just send them to submission@younghouselove.com.
Goal #4: Be safe In Our own Bloghood. Sure, we’d like for each single person who drops by to like every single one of our 2,000+ posts, however we’d likewise like a goose chihuahua that lays golden eggs. The reality is that in putting our lives available for everybody to see, we have to be okay with not everybody loving everything,or even anything. as well as in turn they’ll ideally comprehend that projects, decoration choices, as well as post-writing is as subjective as preferred foods as well as hairstyles. So there’s not truly one ideal method to do it.
This is just our personal diy diary of sorts (the good, the bad, the ugly, as well as the blissfully mundane). someday we’re gutting a shower room & someday we’re organizing a junk drawer or even speaking about breastfeeding (tangents absolutely occur). Strangely enough, four years of that “blogging formula” is precisely what got us here. Over four million hits a month?! We’re humbled as well as so extremely thankful. My brain really threatens to blow up when I believe about it (I pretend I’m composing to ten people to battle blog stage fright). So sure, some people may do things in a different way if this were their blog, however that’s the appeal of blogging: everybody can do it in their own way.
Goal #5: Be Grateful. often the anxiety of a harder-than-we-thought job or 150 pending comments to respond to can make us momentarily fail to remember that this is a dream job. since as much as we like what we do, at the end of a day it’s still a job. We do it since we like it (heck, it was born from pure never-thought-we’d-make-a-dime passion), however we likewise currently depend on it to feed our household – so there’s absolutely pressure often (as any individual who runs their own service will tell ya). So this goal is a lot more of a mental shift than anything else. Whenever we’re feeling overwhelmed by looming jobs or installing comments or magazine assignments as well as book chapters to complete, we just want to keep in mind to stop, breathe, as well as remind ourselves that we’re living the dream (corny however true). So in those oh-crap-I’m-stressing moments we just have to believe about exactly how geeky giddy we are over this incredible chance that has somehow materialized (no one is a lot more shocked about where we have ended up than we are – as well as we lay awake in bed at night perma-smiling as well as excitedly chattering about our next project). Life is good. even when it’s hectic as well as full of chaos. We are oh so grateful.
Goal #6: try new Things. Whatever they are. perhaps it’s just having an open mind about some odd half-baked embellishing concept that pops into our heads. Or embarking on some other new experience like home Crashing or window buying (who the heck understands what that might be). With our book coming out next autumn we picture that will open up a ton of new (aka: potentially scary) experiences for us (starting with a lot of photoshoots in the next few months for numerous trick jobs that will be photographed). So we just want to be available to those new (aka: potentially scary) experiences. as well as try not to concern them or dread them or turn into a huge ol’ sphere of stress. I assumption this goes hand in hand with being grateful. We want to keep in mind to try new things as well as take possibilities as well as be spontaneous (all of which are what got us right here in the very first place).
So there they are. six probably-won’t-all-be-accomplished-but-we’ll-try-our-darndest goals for year five of blogging our pants off (figuratively speaking). While we’re on the goal tending topic, we likewise like to every year revisit the prior year’s goals to see exactly how we did.
You can checked out them a bit a lot more in depth ideal here, however we believed we’d just summarize the ones from last year in bullets to examine our progress:
Last Year’s goal #1: step On – This goal was all about moving into a new home as well as enjoying it as well as documenting our adventures as well as jobs as well as tribulations, which we absolutely did. Yay. The verdict: objective accomplished.
Last Year’s goal #2: chill out – This goal was about feeling less machine-like as well as blogging in a looser a lot more real-time style (we were doing jobs so far in development that things sat in the hopper for as much as two weeks before we might share them) so we might get back to publishing things as they happened. now things normally go up a day or two after they’re done (just since editing pics as well as publish composing takes some time). So we absolutely accomplished the less-lag-time thing. Score! however we likewise pointed out getting back to the balance of long meaty articles interspersed with quick updates as well as little real-life details that weren’t 2,000 words long (sometimes short as well as wonderful beats heavy as well as wordy, so we wished to get back to a great balance of both). The verdict: Still gotta work on that. for this reason goal #2 this year.
Last Year’s goal #3: get genuine – In the very first year of blogging we shared regular in-progress as well as spur-of-the-moment stuff all the time (like this, this, this, this as well as this), however somehow we fell off. So we couldn’t wait to get back to chronicling those genuine & random moments between before & after (you know, the stuff that you don’t get to see on 30 minute makeover shows). This year we absolutely kept it genuine (sharing untidy home tours, fridge before & afters, as well as even a fabric diaper update) however a great deal of the fun off-the-cuff articles that we linked to as motivation were quick as well as random (everything doesn’t have to be 20 pictures long as well as full of wordy breakdowns). The verdict: 50% accomplished. Still gotta work on tossing things up that are light as well as spur-of-the-moment like the great ol’ days.
Now we’re turning the like train in your direction. We appreciate you all so much as well as say thanks to you violently profusely for dropping in on us. Without you people our goal would be: get back into the marketing thing since we’d be out of a job. Haha. all in all we can’t believe where we are four years after starting a small blog for buddies as well as household members to enjoy our bit kitchen area makeover back in 2007. Life is crazy like that. however I much better stop waxing poetic about the whole who-woulda-thought-we’d-be-here thing. We might talk about exactly how shockingly random our bit blog’s development has been for days, however this publish is already 1,819 words. appears like we’ll have to keep working on the old “short as well as sweet” aspiration. Is any individual truly surprised?
Psst- very first picture discovered right here as well as last picture discovered right here (without our heads on them of course, we added those). Oh as well as that adorable picture of the bean was taken by Katie B.
Psssst- We revealed this week’s huge $500 West Elm gift card winner. Click right here to see if it’s you.
More articles from young home Love