The Conclusion of The Saturday Sit-Down

What a fun, fun ride!

Chelsea from Making Home Base was my last featured “Saturday Sit-Down” blogger, as I’ve decided to conclude the series. I’m really so happy about concluding this series on a high note and am generally just thrilled that this whole little series ACTUALLY WORKED. I dreamed it up during a two-week holiday blogging break in 2016, and I was so nervous to launch the idea. It was a lot of work, but I made so many new “internet friends”, and I know so many of you now all follow each other after finding each other here. Makes me so happy, as that was truly my goal. I wanted a way to connect people with similarities, and I think that mission was accomplished!

At the end of every “Saturday Sit-Down” post, I had a note that if you’d like to be featured, to please email me. Sure enough, I had enough interest to keep this series going for 68 weeks. Wow!

Once I ran out of bloggers who reached out to me with interest, I considered doing a little work myself by reaching out to a few blogging groups and sharing my series with hope that there would be some fresh interest in being involved. I ultimately decided not to reach out because I’m ready to focus the energy I put into “The Saturday Sit-Down” each week on other “behind the scenes” tasks (and boy oh boy, the back-end tasks have grown tremendously this year as I’ve learned so much about this industry!)

I have always been so completely enamored by story-telling, which is why I dreamed up this whole series to begin with. Everyone has a unique story to share with the world, and so many fascinating topics have been shared here. I’d love to highlight and summarize what a beautiful variety of bloggers that have been shared here.

(Note: A handful of these bloggers have changed their blog names since being featured. I’ll be referring to them by the name they went by when we did their feature since that’s what you may remember them by.)

Seven featured bloggers were sharing from countries outside of the U.S., including Little Whyte Book from Canada, Wanderlust and Mayhem from Bangkok, Life with the Lesniaks from Japan, Her Happy Heart from Australia, Jewels Wandering from Singapore, Larayeeb Ali from London, and two from Germany – Freeborboleta and Another Year Another City. Wow!

There were so many featured bloggers with past or present military affiliation. Here they are in categorized (I hope I got everyone!)

Navy – Countdowns and Cupcakes, Making Home Base, Another Year Another City

Army – Our Darling Adventure, For the Love of Gourmet, Oh Mom Gee, Marathons & Dog Tags, Finding My Yellow, Munchkins & the Military, Freeborboleta, Becoming Bailey, And Then We Laughed, Lost in the Right Direction, Amber in Progress, Adventures of a Young Wife, Life N Legos, For the Love of Gourmet, Communikait, Luke & Manda, Shallow Roots Living, Babies and Bathwater, Courtney at Home

Marines – Keating Bartlett, Martins & the Marines, Life with the Lesniaks

Air Force – Come Fly With Us, Grandma Becky L.

I featured a blogger (Coffee and Cookie Crumbs) who’s oldest daughter is also named Hadley and is very close in age to my Hadley.  🙂

A handful of bloggers shared about diving into home decor and/or renovations, including Making Home Base, Better With Beale, Everyday Counts, One Mile Home Style, and Crazy about Expresso.

Fitness is a popular topic on several featured blogger’s interviews, including Keating Bartlett, For the Love of Gourmet, Marathons & Dog Tags, The Lovely Latte, and Reaching Beyond Mediocrity.

There were two twin moms featured, Keep Up Kate and Party of Five!

Many featured bloggers were mothers, with some raising five children (Denise Renae) and others expecting their first child (Babies and Bathwater).

We even had the sweetest grandmother blogger from the blog Grandma Becky L.!

I also featured a teen, Larayeeb Ali!

We heard from a lot of women who are married to men with really neat careers, such as a scientist (Klein dot Co), a pastor (Kristin Milner and Days of a Wife), and a police officer (Finding My Yellow).

And speaking of careers, so many of the women featured in this series have incredibly impressive full-time jobs all over the country doing all kinds of things, such as Adventures of a Young Wife, The Good Stuff, Better with Beale, (Bee)autiful Blessings, Typically Jane, Blonde with Pearls, A Little Bit of Emily, Meet the Shaneyfelts, Finding My Yellow, Becoming Bailey, Lindsay’s Sweet World, Burke Does… just to name a few! Wow.

Many of these ladies also discussed side hustles that they impressively run from home, including Jenny Hale (military support), Mudpies and Pearls (Beautycounter), Dreams + Coffee (Rodan + Fields), Countdowns and Cupcakes (Etsy care packages), The Lovely Latte (Teachers Pay Teachers), Freeborboleta (website design), and Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust (event planning).

Oh, and we can’t forget our brilliant Ph.D. student from Luke & Manda!

There have been deep parenting stories told about topics such as infertility (Marathons and Dog Tags), adoption (Wanderlust and Mayhem), and infant hearing lost (Messy Buns and Baby Bums).

We’ve walked through stories of a blog who shares about her breast cancer journey (Party of Five) and another’s auto immune disease (Amber In Progress).

There were three featured sites that were actually written by two or more people, making them a collaborative effort. Thanks for sharing She Flew South, Mudpies and Pearls, and She the Fierce.

There have been talks about gluten-free food (Communikait), personal finances (Burke Does), fashion (Typically Jane), and a rainbow wedding (Beeautiful Blessings).

Don’t forget about homeschooling! We’ve covered that too, thanks to Courtney at Home, Denise Renae, and Growing Pains.

Did you know that a former actor was featured in this series? So fun to have you, Cupcake ‘N Dreams!

We’ve been around the world with several bloggers who write frequently about travel, including Communkait, Victoria Strader, Life Love and Reality, Jewels Wandering, and Cupcake N Dream.

Several featured bloggers shared faith-related topics, so thanks so much to Babies and Bathwater, Fanstasically Four, She the Fierce, Kristin Milner, and My Little Sunshines for sharing your hearts about your faith!

I thought it was so neat when Blonde with Pearls shared about her motives for moving back to her hometown.

My dear friend from The Girl Who Loved to Write shared about how pregnancy changed her.

And finally, one of the most clicked-over linked posts was to Meet the Shaneyfelt’s story about her weight loss journey.

Well holy macaroni. We’ve covered a lot of life.

Thank you thank you thank you for helping make this a success by visiting these bloggers’ pages each week and checking in with me each Saturday! I am starting a new series next Saturday, so don’t forget to head on back over to see what I’m launching.

Love love love you guys! <3