I am a big believer in doing your best- being yourself- going forward with your life with the best intentions and that the right opportunities, experiences and most of all... people.. will follow.
When I first moved to Chicago in January of 2006, I knew one person here. A sorority sister from college who I had not seen in years. I remember looking out the window of the plane and seeing the little houses with the lights on below as we slowly ascended towards O'Hare. I was so afraid it was a mistake to leave behind a lifetime of friends on the East Coast and a job that I loved to move with my then husband to Chicago for his job.
As I looked out the window with one part fear, one part excitement...I thought to myself- there are people out there who will change my life, and maybe I will change theirs. New, future life long friends. Chicago is a whole new book in my series- it was going to be so much more than a chapter. I had no idea that it was going to be the trajectory that changed my life forever.
In my first Chicago life- I was married and expecting a baby in the Fall of 2006. Walking my Golden Retriever Brennan to the beach and meeting people in my neighborhood. I was contemplating writing a Preppy Cookbook. I thought this would fill my time with food styling and writing and testing recipes. I began googling for other such books out there....
Interestingly enough the first thing that came up was a blog called Tres Poshe Preppy. Immediately intrigued, I went right over... It was the first blog I had ever seen, and my mind started reeling. She was at the Crosstown Classic for the weekend watching the Cubs play the Sox at Wrigley and I thought... this girl... she lives in Chicago! She's Amazing..after drooling and laughing through the "100 things she wanted most", and her all time 80's favorite movies and a boatload of preppy posts.... I started cruising her blog roll and found what I will go on a limb and call
"The Original Preppy Bloggers". And that basically filled my entire pregnant Memorial Day Weekend reading these pinch me cute, fun!, blogs written by adorable cheerful fun girls- all so different and all so similar. It was before blogs had custom banners...( mostly), and before ads, and even yes- before everyone was on Facebook!
I was immediately hooked and started Hemstitch and Hydrangea that weekend. And as I slowly became friends with these girls I began finding so many great women all across the WORLD! It was my daily tea party... in fact Lisagh at Grosgrain Garage wrote the most creative, lovely post about this once using so many of our blogs... I wish I had saved it.
I blogged until my marriage fell apart and found it almost impossible to muster up an idea for a post. But I had so much constant support and cheer from "friends" out there and I just could not believe what a gift blogging had been from when I started it- to when I stopped- I was still left with this world that I felt like I had abandoned. I thought about everyone...and missed it terribly.
Now so many people are gone, and the world of blogging is sooooo very different. I had to write how I started and give a bit of a "shout out" to my blogging past. I wanted to come back with a much cleaner more stylized approach to blogging. I wanted categories and topics and decided I would even throw in spell check. ( for those of you who used to read through my late night ramblings in the past).
Now I have saved the best for last... so I hope you are still with me...
I was so excited about returning to blogging for ALL of the reasons I just explained... I wanted to find someone perfect for design my new blog look. Someone who would take the time to understand my story, and past, and the changes I wanted to make for taking blogging forward. I looked around and emailed and got everything from a wait list til fall- $2,000 starting price- closed for summer- morning sickness- no reply- you name it.
I kept trying to remember the name of a girl who I had heard in the past... who designs adorable blogs.. and could not. Finally, I came across her logo on a blog she designed! It was the middle of the night... I saw that she takes deposits through paypal and puts you on her waiting list right away. Her Portfolio and Scrapbook Line were A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E. I thought thats it The Design Girl is getting my money tonight! I wrote that I was doing a blog makeover for Hemstitch and Hydrangea.
The next morning- I woke up to an email thanking me for my payment and letting me know I was in the cue! I was so excited. Then I saw that there was a second email from her.
I still have the email from her. To recap it she wrote Dear Anne- ... ( THIS PERSON KNOWS ME! I thought)... I am really so happy to see you are coming back to blogging and that my story had inspired her! She went on to tell me about her personal story and that should be be thrilled to design H&H and bring it current.
She then closed it with and by the way... I'm moving to Chicago on August 1st! I hope you will write back telling me how AMAZING it is! Prayers answered! I guess the blog was in the right hands now!
Well OF course I shed a tear, could not believe this fate and connection. We emailed until we met here in Chicago and just hit it off so incredibly well. From late night talks, to exploring neighborhoods, street Markets, decorating her apartment, going to Farmers Markets, training for runs, and planning all kinds of adventures! Danielle is here! She is my amazing new dear friend- she designed my new look on my blog and I could not LOVE it MORE- she writes the cutest blog from here in Chicago called Breakfast At Toast.
She is also going to contribute to this blog! I cant wait for all of the new blogging adventures! new friends, inspirations, stories and seeing how we inspire each other to bring our lives to the next level!
So thank you to all of those that inspired me to do this the first time, it was so great I wanted to do it the second time, and for D who brought me out of the old and into the new!
You never know when your plane lands, or you leave that next comment where that new friendship or adventure will begin!
Thanks to you all for the inspiration and making this such a rewarding joy.
Love,
Anne