Life Update: Slow Blogging

Hello strangers! It does actually feel a little strange to be back in this space after a 3+ month break, but also super exciting! Many of you followed our Summer road trip last year as we relocated from Nashville to Denver & man the process of moving was so super fun, but the reality of moving away from the city we had LOVED for 7 years didn't sink in until we had been here for a couple of weeks, and it was a feeling I just couldn't shake. Below is something that I wrote back in September, but wasn't brave enough to share - it is a small snippet of what I was feeling when I realized we had landed in a foreign town, with no friends, and that the dream job I thought I had landed wasn't quite the dream I thought it to be…

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As my 5 year blog anniversary approaches this Fall, I have been putting much thought into what I want out of this space.

When I initially started Here&Now, it was out of a desire to spend more time in pursuit of creative endeavors. In 2011, I was attending graduate school at Vanderbilt University, working towards a PhD in Biomedical Research. Grad school was not a great fit for me - I had a less than supportive mentor who did his best to remind me that research science is a male dominated field; I worked in a toxic environment where co-workers regularly yelled at each other, and I went to the bathroom to cry at least once a week; and I ultimately didn't even know what I would use my PhD for, it more felt like the next required step in the education/career path I had started in college.

Fast forward to today: I am in my 3rd year of a teaching career that I LOVE, my husband and I celebrated two years of marriage this year, I am living in a new city that I can't wait to explore corner to corner, & life is pretty dang good.

I started Here&Now because I hated grad school & wanted to find my own personal style, but now I am in a career that fulfills me and challenges me in ways that I couldn't have ever imagined, and do truly feel like I have grown into my own body/mind/spirit/style over the last 5 years.

In a time when many bloggers are quitting their day jobs to become full-time online, I am headed in the opposite direction. I am not 100% going to quit blogging here, but I am going to take a step back to focus on my teaching job, relationships, and exploring Denver.

My priorities have shifted, but I cannot imagine a time where I do not seek creative fulfillment through blogging. I am increasingly craving a "less is more" lifestyle, especially as my husband and I dream of buying a house and starting a family (he says the pugs don't count as actual children) one day very soon.

I am going to call this new chapter of my life "slow blogging". I will blog when inspiration strikes, & I will continue to post outfits, murals, Denver explorations, & the pugs on Instagram & more everyday life stuff on Snapchat.

When I think about leaving the blog world for good, it is the connections with people I have met online that make it beyond my ability to commit at this point. I want to be better about connecting & hopefully with less posting, I will have more time to visit other blogs and social media accounts.

Please do not be a stranger! Let me know what you think in the comments. Is blogging on its way out? Is the future of blogland going to be taken over by the mega-blogger? What is your favorite way to connect online?

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So while my thoughts about being a "blogger" continue to be conflicted, I am back and ready to share some great experiences here in Denver, brands that matter to me, and my personal style journey as I get shockingly close to 30! Please let me know what you want to see on this site, and know that I am going to continue to be ME… as I work to figure out what exactly that means.