Hi, everyone! It’s been a while since I dropped in and shared a bit about myself. Sometimes things get so busy that I forget if I don’t do that regularly all of the new faces around here might not know who I am! The above photo was taken on a fun family photoshoot last summer. This is me with my husband of 16+ years, Andrew. We live in the greater Miami metro area with our two sons. Andrew is an electrical engineer in telecommunications for a major corporation. We homeschool, and usually have all kinds of basketball stuff going on as a family – whether watching in, playing it, or getting the boys to practices, games or camps. This photo is just from last summer, and they’ve grown so much, I’m not sure they even look anything like this anymore! (Goes to show you how important it is to get those family photos every year!) They’re pretty cool, normal kids – love video games, basketball, and computer programming.
Owning Bluebird Chic has meant so much more to me than just the extra income that helps pay for the boys’ sports, homeschooling, etc – it’s made it possible for me to be home with them, have a creative outlet and business of my own, pay for my art classes and supplies, practice my art, and very soon, launch my art career as a part of it. It’s such a tough, exciting journey to be on, and for all of it’s craziness, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’ve started sharing more of my journey here in my personal journal At Home with Bluebird. One of the reasons I’ve become so passionate about sharing my journey and helping other women build their own businesses (and art practices!) is because of how much having mine has impacted my life, and the life of our family!
A few fun facts about me:
- I’m pretty nerdy. I read a lot. In fact, you’ll almost always see me with a book in my bag or arms to grab a moment reading while waiting for drop off/pickups, in line, at sports practices, or waiting for appointments. I’ve been able to read a lot of books by giving up my “scrolling habit”. It was hard. But worth it. I talked about it a bit here.
- I’ve loved photography for a long time, but when I upgraded to a full frame fancy dslr camera a couple of years ago, I did a faceplant. This month I’ve been tackling studying my camera, getting back to basics with a fundamentals of photography class, and taking a creative editing course with Sarah Cornish of My Four Hens Photography. I’ve taken a few good photos with my new camera, but hope to be doing so much more with it soon.
- I love flowers. All shapes and sizes and colors. And geometrics. And paints. And textures. Sometimes it’s tough to pull a collection together because I want to include ALL THE THINGS. But I know I have to create a cohesive collection, so I have to say no to some things.
- I love sports. I grew up in a home where our mom was a big of a sports fan as our dad (maybe more?), so my sisters and I don’t feel any kind of way about our love of sports. We all keep tabs on football, basketball, baseball – and even though I went through a period of time when I didn’t play myself, I’m happy to say I’m back at it, and we have a strong tradition of sports with our own family.
- Another favorite thing of mine? Decorating, renovating, and creating our home space. I haven’t shared a lot because I found that it was too stressful to renovate and document the process at the same time (I tip my hat to you home reno and DIY bloggers!), but I have chosen every piece of furniture, wall hanging, tile, rug – you name it – in our home and I love it. I always confer with my husband as to our wants and needs, but he’s commented that he’s never disliked a piece I’ve chosen when it comes down to the final choices. If I can’t decide, he’ll weigh in and usually choose what I was leaning toward anyway! I’m grateful we have similar tastes. It makes the process so much easier.
- Oh, and one last thing. I love cooking and baking. I almost went to school for it after spending a number of years in the hospitality industry, but ultimately decided that I didn’t care for the schedule – always working when everyone else was off to enjoy a lovely meal. So now, I mostly cook for friends and family and sometimes share the recipes that I create here, with you!
Here are a few of my favorite recent photos (edits only done to resize):
[sunset on our balcony while we grilled in the evening last fall]
[rose from the English garden section of the Arboretum in Dubuque, Iowa]
[some of our favorite cocktails around Christmas]
[a giant mum that was the size of my hand in the Arboretum]
[my yummy pumpkin swirl cheesecake]
I’m still working up my courage and skill to get back to taking photos of people! And if you’re interested in taking a peek at my recent artwork, you can see it on my Instagram. Looking forward to chatting with you here for regularly!
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