Today’s Homemaker

Meet Annika (isn’t that a glorious name?). You may remember her for that fabulous diapering post that was featured in the Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling. She is quite fabulous. Quite. I love her sense of humor and original style. She blogs over at Through the Looking Glass where she utterly amazes us all with her crafty, witty self. I asked her to give us a little blurb about herself, and here’s what she sent:

I’m a pioneer girl in the big city. I live in a three room apartment in Los Angeles where I cook, bake, knit, sew, and container garden while raising my toddler son and dreaming of building a ranch in the high desert. I am married to the love of my life who is also my writing partner and the father of my child. When we are not planning the ranch we write screenplays and pulp fiction.

Doesn’t she absolutely rock? And I’ll let you in on a secret. Annika is an incredible visionary, and she has come up with a load of fabulous ideas for Today’s Homemaker. Her passion for all things cool and domestic is a perfect fit for what I originally intended this place to be, and I know you’ll love her. We haven’t made any solid decisions yet, but we will be sure to keep you posted when we do. In the meantime, she’s going to be blogging here, and she has some wonderful plans lined up.

And the first cool thing? She has created a flickr group just for us! (Wait a minute…I don’t know if I was supposed to spill the beans yet. But I just thought you’d be as excited as I am!) So head on over and post and chat and do whatever people do in flickr groups! You see, because I am not quite cool enough to know exactly what goes on in such places. But she totally is.

You’ll be hearing more from Annika in the next couple of days, so be sure to give her a warm welcome! (You see, we’re both southern at heart and we like that sort of thing.)

Finding my voice out here in the blog world has been a difficult thing. A really, really difficult thing. I’ve had a lot of success with this blog over the past year, and I’ve both delighted in it and despised it at different times.

Delighted because I get to write, which is truly what I love to do and will be doing forever and ever. Despised because at times, I feel like such a hypocrite. Who am I to write about homemaking when my own time is filled up with so many other things that I enjoy so much more?

When I first started this blog, I did love my home and aspired to share with you my journey from the bottom up. But then I got bitten by the bug that is “the business.” More recently, I’ve been bitten by the homeschooling bug. So my house is not exactly the first thing I think about when I get up in the morning.

I finally realized that my home comes in about number 50 on the “Things I think about when I get up in the morning” list. More importantly, it comes in about the same on the “Things I WANT to think about when I get up in the morning” list. So what do I do?

I’ve been praying about it ever since the day after I posted about the second carnival I was planning (and by the way, the winners should be receiving their prize packages in about two weeks.) For the first time I was struck by the thought, “My home isn’t a meaningful subject for me anymore.” At first, it startled me. I didn’t want to think it at all. And then I realized that it has been in the back of my mind for so long, and I just refused to acknowledge it.

After all, I finally have YOU to write for! What more could I want? It took me a year to build this blog up to what it is now, and it is so incredibly difficult to consider parting from it. I have been getting exciting opportunities thrown my way lately, and I’ve made a handful of very good friends. Every day, more than 500 people stop by just to read what I have to say. I am so honored and floored by all of the support. How could I possibly stop this ride?

But friends, I am. I really really am. I know it may come as a shock, and if you’ve read this far, then I am so grateful that you let me get all of that out without screaming, “Get to the POINT already!”

I KNOW I’ve barely even begun with all of the projects and plans I’ve had. I know there is so much more to be said about the home, so much more inspiration I could draw from and send your way. But I am not the one to say it. Whew. I cannot even believe that I am saying that.

But.

(There is always a “But.”)

I still must write. There is no denying that. So I have been brainstorming what to do. There has always been this tiny voice inside of me that has wanted to write fiction. In fact, I often write about characters and stories in the quiet corner of my bedroom after everyone is asleep. Places, people, and events that I have yet to show to a single soul. And now I’m going to share them with you.

It is such a scary thing to do — it takes a level of vulnerability that I’m not quite comfortable with yet. But I have recently decided to stop pouring myself into so many different vessels. I need to choose one outlet for my writing, and it needs to be something I can put my heart and soul into. And I think (I hope!) this is it. I hope you’ll come visit Mary Lee Owens, a character who is not much like me, but who I adore nonetheless. And I hope you’ll keep in touch with me. You can now contact me at sarahjbray AT gmail DOT com.

In case you’re wondering, I am not going to be blogging for our web design studio anymore (still designing of course…just not blogging about it.) I am also not going to be blogging on the local restaurant blog that I began. Mary Lee Owens is now the sole beneficiary of my writing attention, and I think it will be that much better for it.

Farewell, and hello!
Sarah Bray