Tag Archives: blogging

whoa! ten years as a blogger

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I have been blogging for almost ten years now! I began with Vox and then began posting on my own domain here at susanmagnolia.com! In the beginning I was going through a major life change. I moved to Berkeley with friends and became a student again. I studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and lived happily in my “Honey and Clover” style home full of creators. We were all taking classes, building websites, creating package design, drawing, painting, sculpting, making comics, animating, fine tuning typography and having fun messing about. I loved going into the city and it still gives me such a thrill to visit. I devoured everything and honed my sense of design.

Then I went back to work. I missed working with children and very much enjoyed doing freelance design work on the side. It was a nice balance for me. maiki and I moved into our cottage and soon decided to have a baby. Then again my life changed dramatically. I eventually stopped working and taking on any design work to take care of my own child full time. It is the best and hardest work of all. My design minded blog became a place to share Clover with faraway family and illustrate our Bay Area life. Now my baby is almost four years old and I know that this blog will continue to evolve as my life does. I want to home school and I constantly read about educational theories and practices ranging from the classical methods to the unschooling approach and everything in between and beyond. I want to travel and learn about the world by seeing more of it and experiencing different cultures and landscapes. I will learn as I teach and see everything with new eyes. I want to share as much as ever and I am happy that this space is already eclectic enough that I feel free to do that. This is my experience and I love my collections here. Thank you blog (maiki!), and readers for stopping by. ^_^

long time, no write

I was so happily taken aback when I read this post on EZ’s blog called “Things I’m Afraid To Tell You.” I just felt like finally I could withstand reading my long list of design blogs again because the writers were finally being honest. Bri from DesignLoveFest wrote a similar post and I really enjoy that she always shares her true self and not just the pretty pictures. I don’t have a lot of time for blogs these days and I have been personally feeling uninspired by everything that I was seeing in my reader (except maybe graphic design on DesignWorkLife). I had been thinking so much about the reasons why I blog as well so I decided to make a list so I could weigh its importance.

I like having a visual scrapbook.
I like sharing my life with friends that I have in real life since I rarely see them.
I like that I own this place (my domain).
I like that I can be myself and share any interest that I may have.
I like having a record of my days around the sun.

So blog wins. I still don’t make time for it very often though. ^_^

Now onto why being a mom is the best/hardest job that I have ever had. Working 40 hours a week with children is exhausting on its own but being a mom on top of that is crazy hard. Ha! I love every second of my life with Emma Clover. I feel that when I see her I want to give her the world and I have energy for the both of us! Hopefully I have eaten/drank water/slept because taking care of her becomes my priority. I rarely feel that I have any extra time for lame chores like cleaning the cottage. I still hold myself accountable for these tasks though so that is my biggest struggle. Trying to let it go. Being with maiki and Emma is more important to me than anything else.

About to embark on a little trip (okay BIG trip) to So Cal. Hope it goes swimmingly.