For those of you have known me for a while, you know I’ve blogged off and on for years. Writing is a passion, and I love sharing craft projects/party ideas. But over the past few years my posting has been, well, inconsistent.
Recently I’ve felt compelled to start blogging again. Rather than just start posting again, this time I took several months to put together a full editorial calendar and prepare content. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I want this blog to be and about and why I want to start it again.
In this blog post I will:
- Introduce myself and my family.
- Give a short history of this blog.
- Share the five reasons I am blogging again.
- Explain what type of content you can expect to find going forward.
Hi, I’m Kendall!
For those of you who are just checking out my blog for the first time, I wanted to introduce myself.
I am Kendall – a 35-year-old mother of two residing in Austin, Texas. By day I work in marketing for a local commercial real estate firm. When I’m not working, I love taking my kids to the pool and the park and spending time with family. I also volunteer with the Junior League of Austin, where I have served for over 10 years.
My many passions include decorating, crafting, travel, hosting parties, playing tennis, reading, baking, graphic design, watching chick-flicks and, of course, blogging!
My husband, Andrew, is an avid outdoorsman, bowhunter and golfer. He’s also in real estate, overseeing acquisitions, new site selection, and asset management for a self-storage developer and owner.
We had our daughter, Annabelle, in July of 2017, and our son, Callahan, in October of 2019. I absolutely love being a mom!
Family is very important to us, and we spend a lot of time with both of our families. My father passed away unexpectedly in December of 2019. These past few months I have been learning to deal with my grief, and every day I am sad. I mention this because it’s something I’m sure I’ll write about and discuss on my social media moving forward.
History of EntertainingLife.com
I founded this blog over 12 years ago, way back in December of 2008. My first post showed off a Christmas tablescape I designed and entered into a contest on HostesswiththeMostess.com. I ended up winning, and I was able to launch my blog with an audience far beyond just my mom. (Thanks for being my first and most loyal reader Mom!)
Over the past 12 years, I have gone through starts and stops of updating this blog regularly, most notably when I was super inspired by starting a new hobby such as embroidery, or when I had cool photos to show off, like after I gave birth to my daughter.
Blogging is something I love to do, but I also do for my day job, so there have been many seasons where I am just too burnt out from writing all day to come home and produce more content.
Getting a post from A to Z takes quite a bit of time, and by the time I get home and get the kids to bed, the last thing I’ve wanted to do is set up my laptop. Now, due to COVID-19, I am working from home and have my laptop and big screen set up in my bedroom. It’s easier to just pop to my desk and work for a few minutes in the evening writing and loading blog posts.
Why I’m Blogging Again
While starting to blog again seems like an easy decision – as I explained, I’ve started and stopped several times in the past. This time I wanted it to be more intentional. Before writing this post and the several others I have queued up, I thought long and hard about my motivation for restarting my blog.
I talked about it with my husband, prayed about it and considered the time it would take. Here are the five reasons I came up with for re-devoting myself to updating my blog:
Reason 1: I love to write.
After much prayer and reflection, I realized my main motivation is simple: I love to write. The truth is, I have never really stopped blogging. I am regularly writing content and taking photos for my blog, I just haven’t posted anything in a long time.
When I started blogging, it was mainly about writing and photos were secondary. In the instagram-driven, highly visual society we live in today, photography seems to be more important than words.
In the past, I have hesitated to post posts I’ve written because of my amateurish photography skills. Recently I took a photo course and have devoted myself to trying to learn to take better photos.
I also realized that I need to give myself more grace and that photos don’t have to be perfect for people to enjoy them and capture the spirit of a project.
I am excited about getting back into writing, and I can’t wait to share my thoughts, ideas and stories with my readers.
Reason 2: It keeps my skills sharp.
Earlier in my career I was very connected to writing, posting and sharing content. As my career has progressed, writing isn’t as much of a part of my day-to-day, and I’ve been focused on strategy and bigger picture projects.
Contributing to my personal blog allows me to keep my writing skills sharp. It also allows me to stay tuned into the changing social media and search engine optimization landscape. Since I’m not the one posting in our business accounts anymore, I feel a little disconnected. I love being on the leading edge of changes that are happening in social platforms, and blogging will help me to do this.
Lastly, my blog and Instagram have always been a great testing ground for ideas. I regularly take ideas from personal experiences and use them in my work, and this is a relevant way I can enhance that.
Reason 3: Sharing my projects and engaging with community brings me joy.
I love to craft, bake, decorate and entertain. I love creating, but I also love sharing these projects with my friends, family and community. I love it when friends message me and say they tried the same craft, recipe or copied an idea they saw from me for their next party.
While I’ve become accustomed to sharing my projects via Instagram stories, I love the idea of creating a more permanent resource for friends or followers who are looking to recreate a project.
Reason 4: It’s a fun time capsule.
Looking back at some of my earliest blog posts makes me cringe. The cheesy graphics and overuse of exclamation marks are hard for me to review. But I also love it. I love having a time machine back to different stages in my life. I love re-reading what I wrote and getting a feel for where I was at that point in my life.
Though blogging has changed a lot, the anecdotes shared really do make it sort of a diary. I love the idea of going back in 10 years and letting my kids read about what life was like when they were babies and toddlers.
Reason 5: Earning extra income.
My blog has long been a side income, generating ad revenue due to a few highly researched subjects and popular on Pinterest posts. In the past three years, I’ve also generated income from affiliate links. (For those who don’t know, affiliate links are where you link to a product and you get a small commission if someone buys something based on that link.)
While this money comes nowhere close to replacing my income, it does cover costs for my blog, such as hosting and domains, and gives me a little “fun money” to use to buy craft supplies or treats for my kids.
What Content To Expect On EntertainingLife.com
Along with why I want to start blogging again, I also spent a long time determining what I was going to blog about. Though this blog started by focusing on just entertaining, I have long shared projects outside of party planning.
If we’re friends on Instagram, you basically have a preview of the types of things I will share, as it’s mainly more of that.
Moving forward here is the type of content you can expect to read on EntertainingLife.com:
- Craft, silhouette, sewing and embroidery projects
- Holiday decor, traditions, crafts, gift guides and activities
- Home decor and furniture makeover projects
- Recipes and meals our family loves
- Our favorite kids activities, products/toys and clothing
- Plus, guest content from my husband Andrew
I am also planning a more personal series sharing our experience with recurring miscarriage, and on a happier note, birth stories for both kiddos.
As I’ve planned and started the relaunch of this blog yet again, I have been uplifted by the enthusiasm and support Andrew has shown me. He is constantly saying “you should blog about that” and even is planning to contribute some content from his perspective.
Well that’s it. If you’re still reading, bless you and thank you for going on this blogging journey with me. If you have any ideas for content or projects you’d like to see, feel free to share in the comments below.
Don’t forget to subscribe in the sidebar to get email updates whenever I share new content and follow me on Instagram at @KendallEntertains.
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