Welcome to the 20th edition of the Saturday Sit-Down! If you regularly follow my blog, I think you will definitely enjoy today’s featured blogger. I was telling a couple friends the other day that my favorite blogs are the ones written by people I can see getting along seamlessly with in real life. Lindsay is absolutely one of those girls. I love so many things about her, but at the top of that list is that she seems very authentic. She shares about her frustrations and her joys, her dreams and her current stage of life. I just really enjoy her and think she’s adorable. I hope you do too!
Q: In three sentences or less, tell us a little bit about who you are.
A: I’m Lindsay, wife to Brian of almost ten years, and Mommy to Jacob and Olivia. I work full-time outside the home in sales and marketing for a global corporation, but I dream every single day of eventually becoming a stay at home mom. In my free time (which is obviously very little) I love to date the hubs, snuggle my little babes, have margaritas with my girlfriends, decorate, shop, organize, plan parties, read, write, blog (of course), craft, and paint… basically I love to create!
Q: When and why did you start blogging?
A: I started blogging in March 2015. At that point in time, I had already been wanting to start a blog for a couple of years, but I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to find the time to figure out the technical side of it that I just kept putting it off forever. Once I decided that I was really going to do it, it took me months to settle on a name because that is such a critical decision! And then it took a few months to get it designed and running. Basically, it’s been a long time coming.
I have kept a diary/journal my entire life since the age of six. I literally wrote every single day for years, and fun fact, I still have every single one of them. There are so many that they take up an entire shelf on my book shelf in my home office/craft room. Once I discovered that blogs existed (and I was pretty late to the game), I thought to myself, “I should do that! It would be perfect for me!” and so Lindsay’s Sweet World was born. I have always had a passion for writing and also for scrapbooking, and blogging is basically just an online scrapbook, so it is right up my alley!
Q: What keeps you motivated to pour into your blog? What are some of your favorite things about blogging?
A: The moment I started my blog I felt like I was home. I felt like I had found my passion in life. I felt like I had found what I was born to do. I enjoy it so much that I just keep going. And I feel like I will never run out of ideas for posts either. I have an Excel spreadsheet broken down by category of all of the posts that I want to eventually write, and man, there are hundreds of ideas on that spreadsheet – home décor, recipes, organization, projects, how-to’s, fashion, past travels, bucket lists, past anniversaries, past milestones for the kiddos, you name it! I blog about a little bit of everything! And the tabs across the top of my blog are just dying to be filled with goodness.
To answer your other question about blogging, my very favorite thing about it was also the most unexpected of all – the relationships that I have formed with other bloggers. They are very real, very genuine friendships, and that alone has made it worth it. The other thing that I love is that my children will have the ultimate keepsake of their lives to look back on one day. Can you imagine having your entire childhood recorded like that? I would love to have something like that!
Q: I know you have a full-time job. When do you make time to create such great, detailed posts?
A: Making time to create the posts is by far the most challenging thing about blogging simply because I don’t have much of it. Fortunately Olivia is still small enough that she takes a long nap every day. While she naps, Jacob does quiet time, and that gives me a good two hour chunk every Saturday and Sunday to prep, take and edit pictures, and start preparing the posts for the coming week. Then each evening during the week while the hubs is bathing the kids, I format the posts for the next day and then after the kids go to bed I finish up the posts. This pretty much means that I’m always blogging in real time. I have never had time to blog in advance. If you are able to do that, then consider yourself lucky! If my internet ever goes down then I won’t have a post for the next day!
Q: What advice do you have for other people who work full time but are also interested in pursuing something on the side (like blogging, an Etsy shop, etc.)?
A: First of all, I would say this – only pursue it as long as you love it or you think you will love it! You don’t want to waste your very limited spare time doing something that you don’t enjoy… what would be the point? And second of all, don’t let thinking that you will not have the time to devote to it prevent you from starting in the first place… if it is your passion then you will make time for it no matter how busy you are. Don’t waste time worrying about it. If you want it then go get it! The only regret I have about blogging is not starting sooner.
Q: Some of my favorite pictures are the fashion ones you take with your daughter! How old is she? Does she enjoy picking out dresses and being a “girly girl”? Tell us a little bit about her.
A: Aw, thank you! I started taking those pictures just after Olivia started walking on her own, and we now have a collection of several hundred. She just turned three and she is the epitome of a girly girl. Every single morning when I ask her what she wants to wear she responds with an emphatic, “A pretty PRETTY dress!” She has been picking out her own outfit each morning since she turned two and she would much prefer to wear a stylish swing dress than a character shirt. Girlfriend owns numerous shirts with Anna, Elsa, and Belle on them, but she never wants to wear them despite the fact that her love for princesses runs deep. If it’s not stylish (or a dress), then she doesn’t want it. She loves having her “shownails” (fingernails) painted, she loves makeup, and pink is her favorite color, but she also loves to run around barefoot outside, play in the dirt, and pick up bugs. She’s also not afraid to beat up on her older brother. Haha. She is a piece of work for sure – pure sass, that one – and our lives would be utterly boring without her.
Q: Tell us about your precious son too! How old is he, and what do you love about being a boy mom?
A: Jacob is our rainbow baby so he was the gift straight from heaven that I had prayed and begged for… he will always have a special place in my heart because of that. He is our cautious child, he is very shy around people he doesn’t know, and he is typically a rule follower until his little sister convinces him otherwise. J He is also wildly smart! He was able to say the entire alphabet just after he turned one and he has been reading full books since he was four. We have had moments during the last couple of years that have made us wonder if he could possibly even have a photographic memory. The things he remembers are incredible. He actually just graduated from Kindergarten this week, so we now have a first grader on our hands!
I adore being a boy mom because I grew up with two younger brothers… this means that I speak boy language. Hehe. My youngest brother and I are ten years apart so I practically helped raise him. Therefore, raising Jacob just came naturally to me. I have to admit, my eyes glaze over when Star Wars and Superheroes come up, but I can sure hold my own when it comes to Hot Wheels and football and building forts in the woods!
Q: I love that you and your husband seem to prioritize date nights. What are some of your favorite things to do together when it’s just the two of you?
A: Last year B and I decided that we wanted to try to go on at least one date night sans kiddos per month. We had so much success with it that we decided to do it again this year! He and I both adore music, so our ideal date would be dinner at a nice restaurant followed by some live music. We’ve actually already seen Dierks Bentley, Chris Stapleton, and The Lumineers this year and we have tickets to Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds next week as well as Ed Sheeran in the fall. I. Am. Ecstatic. Aside from live music, we love to try new restaurants, we love to sit and chat over a beer flight at a local pub, and we love to stroll around our city’s downtown area. We also love to travel, although, we have been doing a lot less of it since having kids. I truly enjoy his company… he is my best friend and I would be lost without him.
Q: You are one of my favorite “fashionistas” because I feel like your style is very attainable. What fashion trends are you loving right now?
A: Well this is such a wonderful compliment! Thank you so much! I love summer because fashion seems to be more fun during the warmer months. My favorite trends right now are off-the-shoulder and one-shoulder tops, pom poms, and tassels. Pom poms and tassels are just so much fun because they are so bright and cheerful! I have actually done posts on all three of these trends recently. You can search for them in my sidebar.
Q: Where should new readers start on your site?
Ten Things I Learned from Having a Miscarriage (and How That Knowledge Helped Me Weather the Storm)
How I Wore Something Different Every Single Day for an Entire Year
Home Tour Tuesday – A Tour of Our Entire House
And just for fun…
- Manicure or pedicure? Pedicure.
- Small, local boutique or large department store? Small, local boutiques as long as the prices are right. I’m a bargain shopper and fads change frequently so I don’t spend a lot of money on each piece. I do love supporting small businesses, though, and I also love that the pieces at boutiques are so unique, so I try to shop small as much as possible. When I’m not shopping small, you can find me at Old Navy and Target.
- Cake or pie? Caaaake! Cookie cake to be more specific.
- Ferris wheel or roller coaster? Eeks! Can I say neither?? I used to love thrill rides, but the older I get the more afraid I become of stuff like that. I don’t think you could pay me to go on a roller coaster now. Man, are my kids going to think I’m a boring mom! Ha!
You can find Lindsay on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and BlogLovin!
In case you’re new to Whimsical September…
Hi! I’m Erica! I created the Saturday Sit-Down series in January 2017 as a way to give back to the blogging community and link readers with new bloggers whom they may share similar interests with. Click here to discover more bloggers that have been featured in the Saturday Sit-Down.
Want to be featured in this series?
I have openings starting in late 2017 and would love to feature you! Email me at WHIMSICALSEPTEMBER@YAHOO.COM to get in touch.
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Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo