Any blogger out there reading that statement is surely nodding their head in agreement.

Yes, we love our jobs writing about whatever topic or niche we have chosen to share so passionately with the blogosphere…Day in and day out. The work involved behind the scenes is incredible. The (occasional….or maybe more than) pressure we feel to keep our game on point is immense. Behind the scenes includes everything from forecasting posts for upcoming holidays or events to working with sponsors to editing photos to blog maintenance or replying to reader’s comments and more. Even keeping up with other bloggers! Blogging is much more than what you see when you pull up our pretty home page.

Don’t even get me started on how little money most bloggers make.

I think I can speak on behalf of most of the blogging community when I say reader comments and e-mail’s rank pretty high in the payment and moral departments. We are here to write about topics we love in order to benefit you – our readers! Therefore, anytime we hear from you or you pin our projects on Pinterest or share our blog post with your friends, it makes us feel as if those hours (and hours!) put into that one little post about organizing the pantry was totally worth it.

Sometimes, we even receive recognition from companies when they reach out with an offer to do business with us. We love that too!

But sometimes – sometimes – you’re recognized or acknowledged by someone you have admired and idolized for years. Then….well, then it is really all worth the stress, agony and love put into that one little post.

2 weeks ago i whipped my home office into shape using Martha Stewart’s home office products. Martha’s company reached out with the offer to send me a big box of her home office supply products. My contact challenged me to put the products to good use, blog about it and share great photos. After the move, one of the first spaces I needed completely set up and functioning was my home office. You can imagine, their offer arrived at the perfect time.

full disclosure: I wasn’t paid for my time to write about her pretty home office products. The payment came in the form of product for me and a giveaway for my lovely readers. I was more than happy to do anything with Martha Stewart and her company because I adore everything she does and creates. I’ve admired her for years. Really, who hasn’t!? But they did say if Martha liked my ideas/space she would do something. I didn’t know what that “something” might be, but I worked my tail off to make this home office a lovely, Martha-worthy space. Didn’t create the space just for her…I really did want a pretty, bright home office for me too. 😉

To my surprise, one day into my Martha Stewart home office week I discovered this….

ummmm, say what?!

Martha herself pinned my home office ideas onto her organization pinterest board?!

That was enough payment for a full year, as far as I’m concerned. It’s the little things for this girl. Period. and that little thing, from my life-long homemaking idol, will give me the boost of confidence and motivation needed to continue blogging for another year (or more). I’m sharing this bit of recognition to have a record of my own for the blog. It truly meant the world to me and I view this as a milestone worth noting along my small business journey. Hopefully, I’ll be working with Martha and her company for a very long time. It’s too much fun!

That little confidence boost came at the right time too. As I continue settling in at the new house and finding my way in a new area with new routines (for example, 2 schools but 3 different drop-off and pick-up schedules), I have found my available blogging time decrease a bit. But today my littlest person started pre-school….

That means 5 glorious mornings of alone time to organize, project and share with you! Thank you for hanging around as the dust settles over here. You guys are the best!

xoxo,
sam