8 Years of Blogging
Eight years ago, I hit publish on my very first blog post. Here it is, in all of it’s glory and I’m not an ounce embarrassed by it.
A lot has changed (spoiler, I didn’t get a math degree), but here are eight random things worth noting about eight years of blogging:
- I’ve been introduced “This is Jacqueline, she has an awesome blog.” Love it as long as the person introducing also answers any follow up questions. HAHA!
- One time, an interviewer specifically asked me about my blog. Talk about caught off guard.
- I managed to temporarily lose over 100,000 photos.
- I realized I had over 100,000 photos.
- I’ve used my blog as an easy way to talk about God and all the amazing things He’s done in my life.
- I’ve realized that “no niche” is the perfect niche for me. I feel like the blog/pinterest world is really into the idea that you have to have a specific niche to have a successful blog. Success looks different to everyone, but limiting yourself certainly has the potential to hold you back. I know so many amazing blogs that talk about lots of topics. My current favorite is Em for Marvelous. (Also, jury’s still out on how to say niche properly…nitch or neesh, ya know?)
- The number of people who have asked me how to start a blog, but have never have is more than I can count on two hands. I’m not sure if I make it sound too complicated or if it’s just a conversation starter.
- JacquelineReape.com is my third blog site and the first one that’s self hosted. I’ve had this one for almost four years which comes out to over 300 posts.
Whether this is the first post you’ve read or you’ve been following along since day one, thank you so much for spending time with me on this corner of the internet.
Bible Journaling – Luke 18:1-8
A simple daily reminder based on Luke 18:1-8. (Also, I think tiny doilies are my favorite bible ephemera. 😍)
Weekend Wrap Up – Brittany’s Wedding Shower and Bachelorette Party
I had the best weekend in the Milwaukee area celebrating my sweet friend, and bride-to-be!
Currently
S T A R T I N G
I’m starting to look forward to fall. I really do love summer, but I almost always anticipate the change of seasons. Especially after how humid it’s been in the past couple weeks. Plus, fall clothes are so much cuter than summer ones.
B U Y I N G
I got an amazon gift card for my birthday and quickly snatched up a running armband I’ve been wanting. I’ve always just carried my phone in my hand, so I’m looking forward to going hands-free.
S H A R I N G
All the goodness that is my newly renovated bathroom.
R E A D I N G
I recently started reading the Harry Potter series over again. The first time I read them was as they were being released. There’s something so endearing about reading them for a second time and remembering how old I was when I read them first the first time.
R E C O R D I N G
I’ve been a hashtagging fool lately, coming up with all kinds of groupings for my photos. Particularly loving the feet photos and the ones of Chloe.
Today I’m joining Anne, at In Residence, for a ‘Currently’ linkup that she hosts on the first Wednesday of every month. Be sure to pop over and see what everyone else is up to!
Bathroom Before, During, + After
I’m so glad to be at this part of the project – basically done and feeling sane enough to write a blog post. To be honest, I almost didn’t even share this, however, God has been really working on my heart throughout what has been a big part of our year. The whole thing took almost six months from start to finish. A lot of the six months were spent doing research and finding a good solution to our obvious problem – the window. It took about three months to find window installers, decide, and get it installed. I was relieved that no one seemed to be worried about having a huge window in a shower. Of what was originally in the room, we kept only the tub, toilet, and tile floor.
Here are some of the progress photos throughout the process:
Here are the before (listing pictures from when we bought the house) and afters:
I’m so pleased with how it turned out and I love the color (Sherwin Williams Sea Salt) so much I’m trying to decide what to paint next. I’m leaning toward adding shelves over the toilet, baskets under the sink, and a towel rack/hook of sorts, but all that will come in time.
God taught me a lot in this process as I was reminded that sometimes everything has to get fully torn down in order for it to be better than it was before. As we were wrecking our bathroom without knowing the basics, God was breaking me down too. Taking the rubble and starting over fresh in me as only He can. He reminded me of not only His plan, but the people who are coming along side me and building me back up through it. It is not lost on me that the same people who helped, encouraged, and cheered us on throughout this project are the same ones God is using in the midst of this season. My gratitude goes beyond words for the people who spent lots of time in our little 7′ x 5′ bathroom, especially my Dad who drove up basically every weekend (and even some week days) for over two months. Truth be told, we couldn’t have (and wouldn’t have) done it otherwise.
Thanks so much for reading!