Behind the Blogger

Hey everyone! This week I’m going to be sharing a little bit more about daily life routines and more about myself behind the blog.  I’m teaming up with a couple other fabulous bloggers to share our lives with you “behind the blogger” in a 6 part series.  I have always loved reading blogs but I always love getting to know the blogger as a person and learning about their family and behind the scene information. Today the five of us are going to share about ourselves and our journey to blogging.

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I was born and raised in Northwest Iowa and decided to take a leap of faith and head to Colorado to go to school for music education.  Music has always been my main passion in life and I knew I wanted to pursue a career in it.  I graduated with my degree in vocal music education and got an elementary music teaching job right out of college. While in college I was introduced to Sweet Adeline International from one of my best friends.  I instantly was hooked and decided to go to a men’s competition in Nashville, TN.  Little did I know I would meet my husband….and the rest is history!

Paul and I got married in 2011 and Lucy joined us in 2013.  Two months after Lucy was born we packed up our things and moved halfway across the country from California to Minnesota.  We are loving our life in Minnesota and it’s a lot nicer on the pocketbook then California was.  We bought a house a year ago and that is when the thought of the blog was born!

Photo Courtesy of Quattlebaum Photography

Why did you start a blog?

I hemmed and hawed on whether to start a blog and I decided to take the plunge in November of 2014.  I didn’t really do any DIY posts until December.  I have always loved doing DIY projects and I thought,  “What better way to document it than start a blog?”  I never buy furniture brand new and I love the challenge of taking an old or not so cute piece of furniture and giving it new life!  I have always liked showing friends and family my projects but always felt silly constantly posting it on Facebook.  Now when I post it on Facebook at least it’s through my blog! 🙂

What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?

I hope to inspire others with my projects like others have inspired me!  I also love that having a blog motivates me to get more projects done in my home!  I’m probably getting more done in my home because of the blog than I would have if I didn’t have the blog!

What do you like about blogging?

When I started the blog I had NO idea how much work it actually would be.  Surprisingly enough I love the “business” side of the blog.  I love figuring out how to better my blog and how to be more successful.  I then love seeing how changes to my blog make a difference in my followers and overall view of my blog. I love researching different tactics and tools to make my blog better!

If you could go back is there anything you would change about your blog and why?

There is not much I would change but it would have been nice to have a clear step by step tutorial of making a blog from the beginning.   I absolutely love Building a Framework by Abby Lawson and I wish I would have had it from the start.  When I purchased the book I was able to skip a couple of chapters because it covered how to set your domain and lots of other starter information.  I found a lot of great articles online but it would have been nice to have everything in one place!

Do you have any advice to share with a newbie blogger?

My main advice would be to set up a self-hosted site/domain.  I set mine all up through Host Gator and I highly recommend them.  They have been extremely helpful and anytime I’ve had an issue they’ve been able to help.  They have a live chat online which I really like because I can continue working on things while I wait to talk to someone! 🙂

*Update: I have just recently switched over to BigScoots.  It is the best fully managed WordPress host with the fastest speeds.  Learn more about all they offer.*

I set a self-hosted site from the beginning and I’m so glad that I did.  I’ve heard from a lot of blogger friends that need to switch over and it sounds like a major pain in the butt and kind of scary.  Just for clarification, a self-hosted site is like mine www.ruthietabone.com and a non-self hosted site would be something like this: www.refashionablylate.wordpress.com.

I started my blog with a theme that was free on WordPress and shortly after I wanted to build my own look to my blog.  I searched online for different templates and then I started looking on Etsy. They are adorable AND affordable!

Also when it comes to advice please try to enjoy it all.  Try not to burn yourself out.  If at first you can only post once a week and get yourself into the swing of things then do it!  I know a lot of bloggers that post almost 5 times a week and that’s just not me.  I blog around 2-3 times a week.  I’m happy with that schedule and if I tried to do more I think I would end up not enjoying it as much.  I love having a blog and I don’t want it turning into “work.”

I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know me a little bit more and please head on over to these amazing ladies’ blogs to learn more about them!  I’m super lucky to have gotten to know these ladies and continue in our journey of blogging together!  They are such a great support system and inspiration!

Jess @ Domicile 37  |  Jen @ Fresh Crush

Stephanie @ Casa Watkins  |  Deb @ Seeking Lavender Lane