Exciting News from 11 Magnolia Lane

 

It seems that at this time each year we go through a period of regrouping regarding this blog. Christy and I have, for the last three years, met up at the Haven Conference when we get completely inundated with wonderful blog-related information and our wheels start turning at high-speed. It takes a few weeks {especially with a vacation after} to get home, regroup and sift through it all. The aftermath is always the same, we have all these new ideas we want to share, things to try and tweaks to make.  This year is no different, so here we go!

Before we get to things that are changing, first a quick look back. Last year was a really big year for us! We opened an ETSY store where you can find all things monogrammed HERE, and started some great brand relationships like Mohawk Flooring and HomeGoods {or as we like to call it– the mother ship of home decor! }. My head spins when I think back to almost five years ago–yes, we’re heading into 11 Magnolia Lane’s FIVE-year anniversary this Fall and that’s just craziness–from where we started and how far we’ve come. Last year we addressed our journey in this in our post HERE about turning our blogging hobby into a business. I recently rewrote the majority of that post it to keep up with all the changes in blog-land and to include new information so even if you’ve seen it you might want to check it out again.

 

 

So next up, as Christy mentioned in her Simply on Sunday post we’re gearing up for our Back To School Operation: Organization series. Beginning next week we’ll have a guest blogger each day sharing a favorite organizational trick to help back to school go smoothly.  Even if you don’t have kids there will be plenty of ideas to capitalize on that organizational urge that seems to hit at this time of year. We’re also going to be giving away a $250 Target gift card over on Instagram so be sure your following us there so you can enter to win that. I am sure that prize will help someone knock out quite a bit of back to school shopping!

 

 

Once the Back to School series ends we’ve been discussing trying something new with the way we post. While we’ve been known for being “random” in our posts and we do still want to cover a wide variety of topics, we thought we’d add a bit more organization to our schedule this fall. It occurred to us that our readers might like to know more what to expect from us and when.  Starting in September, our posts early in the week will focus on decor and ideally we’ll each share about a DIY/Decor project we’re working on. Mid-week we’ll be highlighting some projects relating to the products we make available to our readers {read down for more on that} and toward the end of the week, we’ll share recipe ideas to help with weekend or seasonal entertaining. As we were doing this spring, we’ll try to start the week with our Simply on Sunday post because it’s fun to share things from around the internet that we think you will like. One disclaimer: we often have BIG decor projects that sidetrack us, so know that this schedule will be very fluid.

We’re also going to be adding in some more posts about fashion and what we wear.  I promise you that most of my fashion inspiration comes from Christy {seriously–just check out her cute black and white shorts in the picture above!} so I have encouraged her to help those of us who are more fashion-challenged. Along those lines, we promise that we plan to remain primarily a DIY/Decor blog, but since we fall in the slightly “older” age bracket than many fashion bloggers so we thought like us, many of you probably like to see a few clothing ideas here and there that are affordable, wearable in real-life, and age-appropriate even if you aren’t a 20-something, size ZERO, because well, we can relate! And, seriously, Christy has a closet like this {below} so she must have some beautiful fashion in it–don’t you think?!?

 

 

Now, I have something really exciting to share with you all and thanks for continuing to read :). For the last several months I have been hard at work behind the scenes with a project near and dear to my heart. In a quick nutshell, I don’t think I have shared yet that I left my full-time job last Spring.  Despite my natural inclination to jump in to everything new thing I could with all my new-found free time, I felt God telling me to just rest and wait. It didn’t take too long until He inspired my next project in a big way–like in the eye-opening, perspective-changing way that only He can. I’ll be sharing more about managing time and what inspired this over the next month or so, AND…. next week I will be launching a line of organization/time-management products that I hope will help you prioritize, de-stress and live a happier, more-purposeful and less-frantic life.

 

 

Stay tuned for more information–I promise so much more will be coming out about these products over the next few weeks. Our lucky email subscribers will get all the information first, since we have access to their direct contact information so be sure to sign up HERE if you would like to be the first to know. My heart is pretty much pounding as I reveal my big ‘secret’ after all the work behind the scenes, so I am hopeful that you all will appreciate, enjoy and find the same meaning in these products that I have.

So, that’s what’s been going on AND what will be going on around here…as always friends, thanks for stopping by!

 

XO,