late night ramblings on blogging.

So it is late right now and I can't sleep. I guess that's what happens when you take naps at five in the evening. Well since I can't sleep I've been doing a lot of blog-browsing for the last two hours. And it got me thinking (well, I've been thinking about it for a long time, but it got me re-thinking) about my blog. Why do I even have it? There are SO many blogs out there- style blogs, life style blogs, design blogs, cooking blogs, kid's blogs, family blogs, interior design blogs... and those are just the kind that I read. 

And my blog is just kind of a catch-all. I guess it really started just as a way for my parents to see pictures of what I was up to or things I wanted that I was trying to describe to them. And then because I was looking at so many design blogs I started re-posting things that I liked as a way to (kind of) keep track of them. And then Rob encouraged me to open the etsy shop and we tried to think of any way possible to market our headbands, and blogging is a great marketing tool for people who know how to do it right. I, however, did not really do it right. My blog really wasn't worth putting on my business card. Oh, and somewhere along the way I started posting youtube videos of songs I liked... most of them are on there because I'm too cheap to just pay the $1 for the song on itunes, so if I ever want to listen to it I just go to my blog and play the video. 

Well, now I don't need to re-post design things that I like because I finally discovered Pinterest (thank goodness), and I'm not really trying to promote Wendy and Peter because I'd like to phase out of the whole headband thing soon (that's a whole other too-long entry). And blogging takes time, so if I'm going to have one, I want it to have a purpose/direction. 

I know I don't want a design blog. There are already SO MANY great ones out there, and I don't want to compete with that. I'm kind of a "I want to be one of the best at what I do" person, so if I were to have that kind of a blog I would want it to be a really good one with lots of followers and stuff. And while doing that would be really fun and a great creative outlet (cause really, running a design blog is like editing your own little magazine), it would also require A LOT of time and blog browsing, which I am trying to steer away from. So that's just not what I want right now. 

I know I don't want a style blog. Mostly because taking pictures of myself all posey-posey with a tri-pod in the snow in my parking lot in the middle of a college town does not sound fun to me. We live right across from the grocery store. There would be a lot of staring. 

I know I don't want a really personal "these are all of my thoughts and personal experiences and struggles" blog because A) I've already been doing a pretty good job of keeping a private, personal journal here and B) I just don't want to share those things when people may or may not be reading them and I may or may not know these people. 

Like I said, originally I started my blog as a "hey mom look at this cute thing I'm thinking about buying/bought/made/pictures of that fun thing I just did". That's kind of what I'd like. Like a photo journal with words. Part what I'm wearing, part what I'm listening to, part what I made, part what I did. I either want a good, visually pleasing, meaningful blog (even if it's just me and mom and dad and Naomi reading it, cause then I have an awesome day to day visual journal), or no blog at all. 

And quite honestly, there's not a lot going on in my life right now, so there might not be a lot of blogging. But we'll see. Also, one day maybe I will want to make it more of a design or style based thing (like if I do end up quitting Wendy and Peter for good and need some kind of creative outlet), but right now I think I'll just stick with the photo journal thing.

And although this is already probably the longest post I've ever posted, there's more. The other aspect of blogging I've been thinking a lot about for quite a while is the sheer amount of time that I waste reading blogs. Seriously, there are a million interesting/pretty/inspiring ones out there that I could (and have) just get lost for hours bouncing from blog to blog to blog. And while being inspired and up-lifted by sweet people and pretty things is good, too much of anything is bad. And when it comes down to it, I'd rather be living life than watching other people live it. So I'm working to have more control over how much time I spend reading and or writing blogs. It's pretty darn hard for me to do right now just cause of where my life is at (i.e. nowhere... I'm trying to decide the next step to take) and I'm still waiting to hear from some jobs, so I'm at home alone for most of the day. And there are good, productive things that I could and should be doing, but with no set schedule it's SO easy to just waste time on-line. I am trying, I am doing other things, it's just a battle with my self discipline. My best idea so far is to pick the amount of time I'm aloud to browse and then set a timer. I'm serious. I bought one for this purpose. I'm just still not in the habit of using it. Yet.

And now it's almost an hour later and maybe I should try to fall asleep again. I'm going to be a zombie at church tomorrow... actually today I guess. And I'll break my "every post needs a picture" rule since this is already so long.