SEQUINS & SANDCASTLES

photo by Jenni Khoury

I don’t really even know what to call this post, but calling it the struggle is real is pretty spot on.  Long before I ever bought my domain or published the first post, I knew I wanted to blog.  At the time, I read very few blogs but my absolute favorite was a blog simply documenting life with their little boy with a few fashion or beauty posts thrown in and I loved it.  It was before Reward Style and before affiliate marketing was as big as it was today.  It was seemingly much more real.  I wanted to blog before Instagram was a ‘thing’, maybe even before there was an Instagram.

I’ve always struggled with how much to share.  Until recently, that first post didn’t even have Dylan’s real name in it.  I’ve heard enough horror stories in my day job to have just enough fear in what I put online.  I don’t want my kids looking back embarrassed by what’s in the pages of this blog but I want to be able to come back and have it take me right back to that place in time.  I want our out of state family to be able to stay connected if they choose to do so and I hope to inspire other moms along the way.  I love sharing cute kids clothes and accessories and practical things for myself in beauty and fashion.   Sometimes the journey of being a mom is long and lonely and I love having an outlet that is mine.

What exactly to post has been a struggle from the start and if you look at the history of posts, you can tell I will blog in bursts and then not again for quite some time.  This isn’t because I don’t want to blog, but because I struggle: Am I posting something too personal?  Will my kids be embarrassed?  Is the item I’m linking to too expensive?  I don’t have good enough photos to accompany the post.  The list of the struggles goes on, but at the end of the day, when I take a break, I find myself missing the blog.  Missing what I set out to do but didn’t do well.  I’m throwing it all out the window, well except I’m still not going to post things that will embarrass my kids.  You’ll see everyday life, even if it’s not Pinterest worthy, and collages will be a mix of things we love and own and also things I lust after.

I chose Sequins & Sandcastles as a name because I wanted this to be a place for me and all things girly – the sequins – and Dylan (at the time) and any future children we might have and all things related to their childhoods – the sandcastles.  I love creating the shopping collages.  It’s fun to sit in front of the TV in the evening and put them together or to share when I’m planning outfits for the kids (or myself), but I don’t want this to be a shopping blog or just about kids clothes.  They are easier posts for me to put together since I don’t have to have Pinterest worthy pictures of my kids and and by default, what I’ve turned to for the last little while.

It seems as though most of the “mommy” bloggers I follow are stay at home moms which leads to more time to get that picture perfect snapshot or that fun outing everyday.  Real life over here is the kids are out the door after I’ve already started working and (until recently) weren’t home until dinnertime during the week.  This makes it so much harder to get those great pictures you see all over Instagram.  When I think about the future of Sequins & Sandcastles, I go back to those roots of what I really wanted when I bought the domain and hit publish for the first time and that’s still what I want.  I want that place that documents my kids lives, shares cute kids clothes and a few mama things in there too.  I hope you find something inspiring and like getting a peek into our lives.