Inside the Life of a Blogger – Sunday Morning Coffee

Volume 10

Today I am pleased to share with you Sunday Morning Coffee. This is where I share my weekly thoughts about entertaining, decor, crafts, and recipes. This is our place to share, learn, explain, dream, and have fun and today I am excited to share with you my version of “Inside the Life of a Blogger”.

A Little Bit About Me

Before I get started talking about the crazy life of a blogger, I wanted to wish you all a very happy Spring. I know some of you have terrible weather outside, but yesterday was officially the first day of spring so we can all say that spring is finally here! (Of course, I live in Southern California and spring has been here for months!)

I can’t wait until we all can enjoy warmer weather and beautiful flowers in our gardens.

The Inside Life of a Blogger

I have said many, many times that I have the best job in the world. Every single day I get to be creative, craft, cook, entertain, garden, and more. I pinch myself every day and wake up eager to be more creative than the day before.

But there is one thing I need to mention. I work really hard. Most of my blogger friends think that I am crazy to blog seven times a week and post on my Instagram 14 times a week. Sometimes I don’t, but most of the time I do. If I stand back and look at the big picture, I honestly don’t think it matters if I skip a day. Many of you probably wouldn’t even notice, would you?

I love everything I do. So anytime I can, I want to share what I love.

Also, our boys are grown so I am not nearly as busy with our kids as are many of you. So I have the time to do my job and I don’t mind the hours and commitment it takes.

Just over a year ago I was only blogging a few days a week. And I was fine with that. But then I set a goal to blog more and I quickly reached my goal. If you are blogging, I don’t want any of you to think you have to post on your blog seven days a week, this is what works for me, and I love it.

I know I work hard, probably too hard. But here’s the thing. I love what I do. I work for myself, I get to be creative, I am compensated very well, and I get to do what I love to do every single day.

I work with my best friend Mary Liz (she joined my team full-time in November) and a typical day for the two of us goes like this.

Oh wait. There is no such as a typical day in the life of a blogger.

So, let me share what I think a typical day should look like.

A Typical Day in the Life of a Blogger

The one thing that does happen at My 100 Year Old Home, regardless of where we are, is that we start every morning at 8:00 am with a morning meeting. This is where we look at what happened the previous day with engagement, ad revenue, affiliate marketing, collaborations, and more. We review the schedule for the current and next week and determine our tasks for the day.

We also spend a lot of time sharing ideas and inspirations and modifying the editorial calendar. We talk through post concepts, creation time, the balance of posts across the core areas of my blog and depending on time, we might add a bit of educational enrichment with videos and tutorials.

Our goal every single day is to “work ahead”. In a perfect world, all of the current week’s content would be photographed, written, and scheduled. That would allow us to work one week ahead. For some reason, we haven’t quite been able to figure out how to make this happen but we are trying very hard.

The rest of the day is spent creating content, which means setting up a dinner party, doing a craft, cooking, gardening, arranging flowers, decorating a room, commenting on the blog and social media comments, and more. And usually, these things happen simultaneously, not one at a time. For example, yesterday I was completing two crafts for next week while Mary Liz was setting up the scene to photograph the completed crafts.

“Creating content” is where the day can often get way off schedule. Sometimes a craft doesn’t work, or a recipe doesn’t taste good, so we have to start over. Earlier this week I had an idea for a collaboration. It was a great idea and I expected it would take an hour to complete. It ended up taking four! When this happens we often laugh and just roll with it. But sometimes it is stressful.

There is a lot of photography in my job and I am always chasing the light. We know exactly what time the light is best in each room, although this week it all changed with daylight savings time. The extra hour of sunlight this week has made photographing a lot easier. But on any given day I probably take about one hundred photographs and then have to edit at least half of them.

The one area where we get bogged down is the writing, I get asked all of the time how long it takes for me to write a blog post. If you don’t include creating the content, photography, and editing, it takes about three hours for keyword research and SEO, writing, editing, and scheduling. I also need to write my Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest posts plus create any Instagram Reels or videos for the post.

Since I post on my blog seven days a week and on Instagram fourteen times a week, this is a seven-day-a-week job. This is the tough part of the life of a blogger.

But here is the thing. I absolutely love it. I love working with my best friend. I love that every day I get to be creative and create new and fun things. And I love that I can share my experiences with all of you and that many of you then create a lot of our ideas.

Around Our Home

Spring is here and I think it has come with a feeling that we all want to GET OUT!

I have been spending a lot of time in our backyard gardening and making some improvements. I am eager to host another backyard party and I hope to plan one very soon for our family.

I am heading to our Waco Airbnb later this month. It is safe for me to travel and if you have been following me, you know it’s been over a year since I was there!

My best friend Mary Liz is coming with me and aside from relaxing and taking lots of photos of the Waco house, we have a lot planned!

We are going to visit Magnolia, the Silos, the Findery, the Magnolia Little Shop on Bosque, plus do some gardening, restyle the house, take lots of photographs, and a visit with a very special friend KariAnne from Thistlewood!

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We can’t stay over the weekend because the house is booked so we are going to go to Roundtop for a few days. I am so excited!

I never imagined in a million years that I would not visit our house for over a year. In 2019 I visited our home almost every month!

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A Tip For You

Learn Something New

You would have thought during the last twelve months when we were stuck at home, it might have occurred to me to learn something new.

I know I was really busy with my job (and now I think you understand why) but there are a few things on “my list” that I want to learn.

One of the items on “that list” is calligraphy.

I hand wrote the place cards seen above for Andrew and Charlotte’s Engagement Party. I wish I had know calligraphy then!

So, as part of our daily schedule, Mary Liz and I have added “calligraphy time” to our daily schedule. We signed up for an online class, bought a book and a workbook, and bought a set of really cool pens to use.

I promise I will share everything with you AFTER we get started. I just want to try it out first. And get really good at it.

Does anyone have any tips? Suggestions? Advice?

Is there anything on your list you want to learn? I would love to know.

And I am going to encourage you to pursue your dreams and learn something new!

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Reflections on the Week

Last week was a lot of fun. I shared the Macaron recipe that my friend Chef Monique Chan helped me make as well as my cranberry glass collection (which keeps growing every month!). I put together my five most important styling tips, some really fun DIY coasters, and the story of the wrap-around porch I built at our Waco Airbnb. Lastly, I made Focaccia Bread Art in my kitchen and had so much fun. If you didn’t see the post, you need to check it out!

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My Favorite Things

In the Craft Room

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Accounts I Love to Follow on Instagram

Lory @Designthusiasm

Sheila @Maisondecinq

Carissa @blessthisnest

Kelly @citygirlmeetsfarmboy

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Things I Love

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Good Things From Martha

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One Healthy Tip

Avoid Bright Lights Before You Sleep

Many of you know I am seeing a doctor that treats patients to help prevent or deter Alzheimers. My mom and her three sister’s all had alzheimers and I want to do everything to prevent this from happening to me.

One of the things my doctor told me was to limit your “screen time” after 8:00pm. He told me no screen time two hours before bed.

Ok, that’s a tough one for me. But here is the reason why. When you’re exposed to bright lights in the evening, it may disrupt your production of the sleep hormone melatonin.

He said I could read my Kindle at night, with the blacklight setting. This allows melatonin to be produced as if it were completely dark, helping you sleep better. (But my computer, iPhone, and TV are not a good idea).

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What’s Ahead

The week is all planned out and I am actually ahead of schedule! (See, maybe the life of a blogger does allow you to get ahead!) I have finished all of the projects for next week and I am just editing, writing, and putting on the finishing details. This doesn’t happen often and I sure am happy!

You will see a beautiful Easter Egg DIY, an amazing improvement in our backyard, some fun DIY wrapping paper, a new wreath, a fun breakfast and more!

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Catch up on Sunday Morning Coffee

• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 9 – Live Your Best Life
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 8 – Living Green
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 7 – Why I Love to Entertain
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 6 – February is All About Living Beautifully
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 5 – Our Beach House in Ventura, CA
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 4 – The Story of My 100 Year Old Home
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 3 – I Think I Might Be Martha’s Biggest Fan
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 2 – A Tribute to My Mom
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 1 – How Chip and Joanna Influenced My Life

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