Welcome to my new blog!...and since I feel like celebrating the occassion...I am having my very first giveaway, too!
(If you would like the long-winded explanation of why I have made this nail-biting leap of faith and changed my blog and business name keep on reading...otherwise skip to the end of this post for the giveaway details!)
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I am so grateful to have found this world I call 'blogland'...
I am grateful for so many things it has brought to me in the short time I have been doing it. It has given me an outlet to share my little busniess with you and it offers endless inspiration for my life and home.
But most of all...I am eternally grateful for the new friends I have made. People I never knew existed, but yet somehow...some way...I was lucky enough to meet these wonderful girls and they have been just plain good to me for no reason at all. I feel so lucky.
I have been agonizing over the direction and "feel" of my little business for a couple of years now. I have such a secure audience, it was easy to get stuck in a rut. I felt like a machine...painting furniture day after day, always in the same style - never being able to afford the time to branch out and explore a slightly different style for my customers that I secretly had in my own home. I still love what got me here...but once in a while a girl needs to change, you know?
I have been agonizing over the direction and "feel" of my little business for a couple of years now. I have such a secure audience, it was easy to get stuck in a rut. I felt like a machine...painting furniture day after day, always in the same style - never being able to afford the time to branch out and explore a slightly different style for my customers that I secretly had in my own home. I still love what got me here...but once in a while a girl needs to change, you know?
That brings me to two fabulous girls that have been so supportive of me these last few months...Tara & Andrea. For these two girls especially today, I am grateful.
Tara is the girl behind the blog Blondiensc. It was the very first blog that I stumbled on during those early days of blogging when I was trying to figure out what this world was all about. The first post I read stopped me in my tracks and I knew this thing called a 'blog' was something I just had to be a part of. I love her incredibly decorated house, her love for life, her Little Punk and her Pool Man. Oh, and the fact that I covet her sweet life in a beach town and her way of picking the perfect music to match each post just sealed the deal that I was forever a follower.
Andrea totally turned me into a stalker of her blog, Faded Plains, when she introduced me to her vintage truck, Stella. Seriously, how can I not want to be the very best friend of a girl with a cool old truck like that?? We share the same style and love so many of the same things, one day we are going to turn the Midwest upside down...'picking' every barn down every gravel road we can find! I was so happy to find she lives rather close to me...did someone say roadtrip??
Both of these girls have been on the receiving end of more than a few of neurotic emails from me...constantly seeking reassurance of what I was doing. There were times I thought I was so insane for wanting to change me name...my identity 10 years into the sucessful little career I have built. But each and every email I sent to them was answered with a boost of confidence and enthusiasm no one I know more personally could have matched. And for that little gesture, I am grateful more than they know.
Tara is the girl behind the blog Blondiensc. It was the very first blog that I stumbled on during those early days of blogging when I was trying to figure out what this world was all about. The first post I read stopped me in my tracks and I knew this thing called a 'blog' was something I just had to be a part of. I love her incredibly decorated house, her love for life, her Little Punk and her Pool Man. Oh, and the fact that I covet her sweet life in a beach town and her way of picking the perfect music to match each post just sealed the deal that I was forever a follower.
Andrea totally turned me into a stalker of her blog, Faded Plains, when she introduced me to her vintage truck, Stella. Seriously, how can I not want to be the very best friend of a girl with a cool old truck like that?? We share the same style and love so many of the same things, one day we are going to turn the Midwest upside down...'picking' every barn down every gravel road we can find! I was so happy to find she lives rather close to me...did someone say roadtrip??
Both of these girls have been on the receiving end of more than a few of neurotic emails from me...constantly seeking reassurance of what I was doing. There were times I thought I was so insane for wanting to change me name...my identity 10 years into the sucessful little career I have built. But each and every email I sent to them was answered with a boost of confidence and enthusiasm no one I know more personally could have matched. And for that little gesture, I am grateful more than they know.
They have made me feel it is ok to start over. It is ok to finally stand up and say "hey...this is me" and be super excited to show the world what I have to offer. I remember my grandma watching a game show when I was little - at the end the announcer would ask something like "would the real Mary please stand up"...(no idea what that game show was)...but that useless bit of knowledge keep playing over and over in my mind the last 6 months. I feel like the real Mary has finally stood up.
I am an Urban Farmgirl.
So that long explanation brings me to the annoncement that this is officially my new home - my new blog, Urban Farmgirl. To welcome you, I am offering a giveaway to all of my blog friends that are willing to take the time to follow me to my new home. Now on the the details...
One lucky reader will get to adorn their table with one of Tara's gorgeous table burlap and linen table runners!
While I am in a celerating mood...my anniversary is Monday so I will be spreading the love by picking yet another reader to win one of these gorgeous pillow slips from Andrea's shop!
To be entered in the giveaway...
1. Become a follower of my new blog and leave me a comment letting me know you have become one!
2. If you blog about my giveaway in a post on your blog ~ I will enter your name twice, so be sure to leave me a comment to let me know if you mentioned it on your blog!
3. Add my new blog to your blogroll and I will put your name in a third time for an extra chance to win!
You have until midnight on Tuesday May 4th to enter ~ winners will be announced Wednesday morning!
I sincerely thank each and every one of you for coming over for a visit to my new home!
