Trying Again

I have decided to try this whole blog thing again. I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure it will stick, but here we are. 

I'm going to attempt to be organized, I've pinned some blog planner printables and I already have some ideas for posts. I like having a space to share things, and I think as we get further into our adoption journey I'm definitely going to want to have a space to share my feelings. I'm hoping that in the coming months you'll see this space filled not only with updates on our adoption journey but with book reviews, recipe reviews, the odd DIY project, and with a spattering of my random thoughts thrown in.

Welcome to Duchess Diaries - here we go! 

xo,

Sara

Sharing our Journey

I think it's fair to say that I'm going to be talking a fair bit about our adoption journey in this space. Where before my blog was a jumble of all kinds of things, I think it's probably going to be a lot about this new chapter in our lives. (And I'm probably going to blog more regularly, at least during the times there is something going on!)

J and I talked a lot about whether or not I would use this space to talk about our adoption journey. The final verdict was yes (obviously) but I will only be talking about our journey. I think Emily at ember grey said it best, I don't want to share a story that isn't mine to share. I will talk about how we got where we got, and I will talk about the process (in part because I found it extremely hard to find blogs/resources for Canadians adopting within Canada and in part because I have a feeling there are going to be times I just need to do that!), but our child will have their own story and how they share it ~ or don't share it ~ with the world will be their choice.  

Please don't think that the only thing I'm ever going to talk about is our adoption journey though! Once I get my blogging groove back I am hoping to also continue sharing book reviews, recipe reviews, and bits and pieces of my life and experiences. This is still my space, and I am still hoping to grow it.

Let's try this again!

I feel like life is finally starting to get back to normal so I'm going to try to carve out a little bit of "me" time each day for my blog. I had all kinds of ideas of the past two months so I'm hoping that a) I remember some of them since I didn't write anything down and b) I'm able to execute them the way I envisioned them while I was laying in bed, or in the shower, or on my commute to work. (The shower tends to be where I do my best thinking...)

One of the things that I'm really excited about is monthly guest posts I have lined up. Lauren, my best friend since forever has (finally!) started a blog. Lauren and I have been best friends since grade seven, despite being complete opposites in many ways. The biggest difference is that she's healthy. No, really. Lauren is a real inspiration when it comes to being active and eating properly. She is extremely passionate when it comes to fitness and eating properly and she's going to be sharing some of that passion over here once a month. I can't wait! (If you can't wait either you can check her out over at The Golden Graham Girl for now.)

 

Here's a quick snap shot of my week taken from my phone... 

1. The shower I was planning for my brother-in-law's fiancee finally happened on Saturday. Everything went really well, I was super pleased with how everything turned out. I'm actually planning a post about it because I stole a lot of great ideas off Pinterest that I want to share. 

2. It's finally barbecue season! We've had the longest winter ever but it's finally nice enough to barbecue. J made supper Saturday night as part of my early birthday present. 

3. I found a new summer-y "adult" beverage that I really enjoy. It's white peach and it's delicious. (PS: Doesn't my jamicure look fabulous? I recently started selling Jamberry and I love it!) 

4. Daisy has completely destroyed the back of our loveseat so this past week we finally went out to buy some new furniture. It's not being delivered until May 28th but I am so excited! I can't wait to actually be able to have company over again. 

5. My brother popped in for a visit and Daisy got so freaking excited. Uncle Jon is definitely her favourite human. 

6. Our passports arrived! J and I are leaving for our first big trip together in 28 days. We're heading to Washington, DC and West Virginia. I'm so excited! 

Hopefully you'll be hearing more from me soon. :-)

Return of the Blogger (And an Introduction)

My desire to return to blogging was prompted by a couple different things. One was a Christmas present from an old friend. When it comes to my writing she's always been my biggest fan. (And she's one of the few people I know "in real life" who ever read this blog.) She gave me a book of writing prompts for Christmas, for when writer's block hits. She lives in South Korea currently but I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with her and her son on Friday. We talked about blogging a little bit, and while I still think she should start her own blog, the discussion made me realize I miss this.

A Thirty-One Day Blog Challenge graphic popped up in my news feed on Pinterest recently as well and it seemed like a good way to start getting back in to the habit of blogging. I'm a few days late, and I'm not sure I'll use all the prompts, but it's nice to have lots of options.

I am going to use the day 1 prompt today, even though it's already the fifth of January, and give you a quick introduction.

I'm Sara and I'm 32-years-old. I've been married for about five and half years to an amazing guy. (Jonathan, or J here.) We live just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia with our two furbabies. We have a beagle named Daisy and a beautiful cat named Sydney. They were both adopted from the SPCA and the expression "who rescued who?" is very fitting in my case. I work as a department manager at a grocery store. I'm in charge of the cashiers and customer service staff and I'm one of those rare breed of people who actually really enjoy what I do. (Not every day, but most of them.) I'm an avid reader, and my favourite way to spend my down time is curled up on the couch with a book or watching Netflix with my husband.

Five months later...

I'm coming back.

I know, I've said it before. But this time I mean it.

See you soon!

The Other Side of Blogging

One of the things I struggle with in the blogosphere is comparing myself to other bloggers. I find that sometimes I get into a bit of a 'funk' (for lack of a better word) and start comparing my life to the lives of the bloggers I read about.

There are people taking exciting vacations, people getting married or engaged, people having babies... Plus everyone seems to take beautiful pictures with beautiful cameras of beautiful places (including beautiful homes) wearing beautiful clothes.

I can't afford an exciting vacation, I'm already married and can't even really be considered a "newly wed" any more, and the fact that I don't currently have children will be a topic for another time. I am not at all fashionable, and the clothing I do like looks out of place on my figure. And even if that wasn't the case, there's still the cost factor.

But I realized two things this weekend...

One, not everything on the internet is true. Not that I think bloggers are lying about their lifestyles, but I do think a lot of bloggers focus and post about the good stuff. (And that's not necessarily a bad thing.) All of my weekend updates have been about fun adventures that I've had with J, but we didn't do anything this weekend so I probably won't bother posting a weekend update. So to the casual observer it looks like my weekends are all day trips to the Atlantic when the truth is most of my weekends are spent quietly at home curled up on the couch watching Netflix. (Although we did try out a great new restaurant this weekend...)

Two, I still love being part of the blogosphere. Yes, sometimes it may make me feel slightly inadequate, but it also challenges me. It challenges me to write better, and to come up with creative ideas for posts. It gets me off my butt - I want to do things so I have stuff to blog about. I want to go places, I want to try out new recipes, and I want to take lots of pictures. (Even if I am just using my little Sony Cybershot!)

Happy blogging!

My New Obsession

I have a confession.

I have really developed an obsession. With my blog.

J called earlier to see what I was up to, and when he was met by silence his reply was, "Never mind. It's bloggy stuff, isn't it?"

It is one of the first things I think about when I get up, and one of the last things I think about when I'm going to bed. I'm at work and I'm thinking about future blog posts. Is this normal? Is it just because it's new and shiny?

Today was my first day off in a week and I had lots of plans to get some housework done, some spring cleaning, and spending some quality time with Daisy. Daisy did get an extra walk, and I managed to do two loads of laundry, but other than that my entire day was spent on the laptop. Is that sad or what?

I'm really hoping someone will tell me I'm normal, instead of crazy, but I'm pretty confident that anybody who's reading this is saying to themselves that I'm weird. And sort of sad. And that they probably don't need to come back to this blog again.

Please don't be scared away by this post! I promise I'm almost normal!

Did your blog take a lot of your time when you were getting started? Does it still?

My Favourites

I thought that I would take a minute today to share some of my favourite blogs with you. Some of these ladies I have known for years, others I just discovered very recently. I've been reading a lot of blogs lately as I try to figure out what exactly I want my blog to be, and I just realized I'm now following over 100 blogs on Bloglovin'. I'm definitely not going to tell you about every single blog I read, but I thought I'd pick a few that I really enjoy.

Margaret (aka Sidny) @ Feels Like Home;

First of all, Margaret will always be Sidny to me but that's a long story that you probably don't need to know. We go way back. When I had my own domain I hosted her personal site along with a fan site for a country singer named Memarie. Now we're both blogging again and I love it. Margaret blogs about her life with her pups and her room mate and about her weight loss journey. She's very friendly and open and I definitely think you should check out her blog.

Brittany @ A Coffee Break with Brittany;


I had to include the picture of Brittany & I
with Ryan Malcolm!

Brittany and I met years ago through a Ryan Malcom forum. (Ryan won the first season of Canadian Idol, many years ago!) She actually only lives a few hours away from where I live and we recently saw the Backstreet Boys together in concert. Brittany is a fountain of information when it comes to fashion and beauty products, she also blogs about recipes she's tried and her life in general. She's very laid-back and very open on her blog.

Melanie @ Mellie Anne;
Melanie is someone else I've known since my previous adventures in blogging. She posts about recipes, beauty, music, her life in Philly and her adorable cat, Charlie. She's also super talented and if you're looking for a customer blog design for either WordPress or Blogger you should definitely check her out @ Adorability Designs.

Lauren @ Another Mom Another Blog;
Lauren's blog is a recent find. I connected with Lauren initially because she lives in Colorado and is a big Avalanche fan, like my husband. I've continued reading her blog because I find it so honest and open.

Jenni @ Flying on a Rainbow;
Jenni is another blogger I find to be very real. She's currently undergoing IVF and has been sharing her story. As someone who's struggling to come to terms with the idea of infertility and what it means to me I'm impressed by her willingness to put it all out there.

I think five is enough for today, maybe next month I'll share another five of my favourites! Enjoy your Wednesday. :-)

Getting Messy

Way back in the day I did all my own layouts for my blogs -- graphics and HTML.

When I got back into blogging I thought designing my own layouts for blogger would be a snap.

I was sadly mistaken. And the whole graphic design thing (and I use the term "graphic design" loosely because... well, just because I am not talented or educated in that department) is not at all like riding a bike. I've played around some, but then I get frustrated and I give up.

Then I go on the hunt for free pre-made templates that I like. And for a while I'm happy. But it's not mine. Does that even make any sense?

I decided I would save up all my pennies (well, nickels I guess, we don't have pennies in Canada anymore...) and splurge on a custom design. But then I started worrying that I'd pay $50 to $100 for something and end up tired of it in a month. Or that it still wouldn't feel like mine.

So, long story short, I've decided to try my hand at designing something myself again. Things might look a little wonky around here for the next day or so. But please don't let that scare you away!

EDIT: I think I'm done! Please let me know if you see anything that looks wonky. :-)

xo,
Sara

Going Green

I bet you thought this post was going to be about saving the environment, didn't you? Surprise - it's not. I'm actually going green for mental health awareness and participating in Ashley's "Go Green" accessories swap. This is my first swap since I've been blogging here and I'm pretty excited about it. I love green, I love accessories, and I think mental health is one of those topics that too many people consider to be taboo.

Ashley has posted some facts and statistics on her blog, but I thought I'd track down some Canadian numbers for any of my fellow Canadians who may be reading. (All information is from the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia website.)

- Mental illness indirectly affects all Canadians at some time through a family member, friend or colleague.
- Almost one half (49%) of those who feel they have suffered from depression or anxiety have never gone to see a doctor about this problem.
- Mental illness affects people of all ages, educational and income levels, and cultures.
- Approximately 8% of adults will experience major depression at some time in their lives.
- Anxiety disorders affect 5% of the household population, causing mild to severe impairment.
- Suicide is one of the leading causes of death from adolescence to middle age in both men and women.
- 20% of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime.

Big thanks to Ashley for setting up the swap, and for being my swap partner.

xo,
Sara

Imagine Whirled Peas

The first mark I made on the internet was geocities site I built back in grade ten as part of a project for my technology class. Gradually the site morphed into a Backstreet Boys fansite (I was so cool in high school!) and then morphed again into a personal site that included a blog. I was decent enough at HTML and created some layouts that I thought were pretty snazzy.

Eventually I decided that I would like to purchase my own domain. A friend and I decided to go splits on a domain that would house both of our personal sites. I'm not entirely sure where the name came from, but we decided on whirled-peas.org. (I told you I was cool in high school...) She didn't end up keeping her site for very long, but I did. I met some awesome people - I even hosted Melanie's site for a bit. Most of the people I met back then are no longer blogging. Or if they are, I can't find them. I'm really excited that another one of my old blogger friends is looking at making a come-back. (Yup, that's you Sid!)



It's a sign! This is my Jones Soda cap from last
Wednesday,  the same day I started this blog!

I had whirled-peas.org for years, I used it as a personal site/blog for a while that I got another domain name for that and used whirled-peas for fanlistings. (Does anyone else remember fanlistings? I was super into them for a while!) I also had a fansite for Ryan Malcolm... (I really was cool, I swear.) As I finished school and got married blogging sort of faded away. I've brought my blog back a couple times over the past few years. (Melanie was kind enough to host me during one of those revivals) but I never stuck with it.


I feel like blogging has changed a bit since I first got involved. Now there are link-ups and give-aways and "blates" and conferences and people with thousands of followers. Everyone seems to have a theme or a niche. I haven't totally decided where I belong yet, but I'm working on it. And I'm not going to give up this time. Once upon a time blogging gave me a lot of joy, and it's really nice to do something for myself. I'm not looking for thousands (or even hundreds) of followers, and I'm not looking to make money. I want to meet people, I want to learn things, and I want to have fun.

I'm glad you stumbled across my new blog. Feel free to come back. :-)

xo,
Sara