Hello friends! This week I am stepping away from fashion and styling (not completely) and sharing something more personal. I am talking about why I began blogging and how it evolved over the last year.
When I started a family, I was a working mom…an elementary school teacher to be exact. I loved teaching for so many reasons, but one of the most precious parts of it were the friendships that I had with my colleagues. We were there to support one another in our lesson planning and the day to day classroom activities and that was so special to me. More importantly, we were there for each other outside of school too. We journeyed through life together from our engagements and weddings to the births of our children, coffee dates turned to play dates, late afternoons in our classrooms turned to running out the door to pick up our little ones at day care or, in my case, rushing home to my mom who took care of my children. It was like having an extended family when you went to work each day and I cherished that.
And then my mom moved away and we decided, as a family, that I take the year off and devote myself completely to the kids as my oldest began Kindergarten. It was a huge change for all of us and I absolutely loved it. I was able to drive my children to school and pick them up, be there to volunteer at school when they needed me, and play the sole role of being Mommy. I have to admit, it was pretty awesome.
Well one year turned into two years and then we were surprised by the news of expecting our third child. Needless to say, I was not returning to the classroom anytime soon. While I was home, I started sharing outfits that I put together from affordable retailers and it seemed that people around me really enjoyed it. They would ask me to post more things and I felt so happy knowing that I could help others find clothing that they loved for an affordable price. It was a little outlet for me and I think it was what I needed. After all, I went from having so much interaction throughout the day with my students and colleagues to not having too much conversation outside of those with my children.
A little over a year ago I began taking my blog more seriously and was more consistent with my content and posts. Through social media, I have connected with so many amazing women who do what I do and we are somehow able to support one another even if we are thousands of miles from each other. Most recently, I have had the opportunity to meet up with fellow bloggers and share our journeys. I feel blessed to have met all of these girls and get to know them. A couple of months ago, a fellow blogger Simone (simplybysimone) created a group of local bloggers and titled them Westchester Blogger Babes and she invited several of us to join in. It has been so great finding opportunities to meet with them and learn from each and every one of these women. They each have something unique and interesting to offer, not to mention they are incredibly good hearted people. I felt once again that I had found a niche with wonderful women and it reminded me of that feeling I had with my teaching colleagues.
This is from our blogger brunch a couple of weeks ago…and it was so much fun! These girls are all so talented in their own ways and I encourage you to check out their pages. All of the girls pictured here are linked below…I know there are more whom I look forward to meeting soon!
I have learned so many lessons so far, but most importantly, I believe in the power of supporting others no matter how different they are from you. I am grateful to all of them, but especially to Simone for embracing a newish blogger such as myself. I am excited about what is to come next in my blogging journey and I thank you all for stopping by to say hello!
XO ~ Noreen
You’re amazing and this is much my journey as well over the past 4 years. I loved reading this!