Dreams + Plans + A Survey – Oh My!

If it’s okay with you, we’re going to start Monday off on a more serious (and longer) note. We’re going to have a chat about dreams and goals. Monday is the beginning of a new week, a fresh start and clean slate. So what better time to chat about the future of this little ol’ blog? Right off the bat, I want to say thank you so much to you for reading my piece of the great big Internet machine and for being a part of this journey with me. Your comments, emails, tweets mean the world to me and always put a big smile on my face. Thank you for being you and totally rocking at it. If you’re in a rush, here’s the link to my blog survey but I hope you’ll come back + finish reading about some ideas for DC Girl.

In 2011, I had time off between my junior year of college ending and a summer internship starting. I spent a month of downtime at home in upstate New York and realized I needed a creative outlet. While I love politics and am a total news junkie, I get a kick from cooking, putting outfits together, and DIYing the heck out of something. DC Girl in Pearls became that outlet and for the last three and a half years, the blog has grown up and evolved with me. It’s kinda mortifying looking back at some posts, think of the feeling you get when you look through your high school yearbook. Yikes!!

In the last year, I really started to buckle down. I read articles about SEO, tweaked my media kit and filled a legal pad with brainstorms of web design, branding and how I want my blog to feel and look in the coming years.

Now you’ve seen the glimpse into the thought process behind the blog, we can chat about my dreams and plans for DC Girl in Pearls.

Revamping The Blog Design

I’ve been brainstorming like ca-razy over here to make DC Girl look more polished and easy to navigate for you! I’m working my way through a coding class and WordPress design but I gave myself a deadline of end of November to have the major pieces of my web design come together. I’m writing this down so you (and I) can hold me accountable!

Constructive criticism + comments on blog design, layout are appreciated.

Stepping Up The Content

In the last few months, I’ve made a big push to plan and schedule my posts at least a couple days out. Planning out the content allows me to focus on the photography, another element I’m working to improve. Food styling is pretty darn intriguing, I gotta say. I also tossed the idea around of adding video into this little blog. What do you think?

Finding A Creative Space

Now, this is my pie-in-the-sky dream. I think it’s attainable but my other moving pieces and the stars and cosmos would all have to align for it to happen. In other words, I’m going to have to put in some serious hustle to “make it work,” to quote the warrior poet Tim Gunn.

So here’s my little secret dream: I want to have a studio just for DC Girl in Pearls. Right now I do my projects in my apartment and my dining table moonlights as a photo background. Having more space to play with backdrops and simply just spread out is very tempting.

But the big reason I want a physical creative space? To host classes! The idea of teaching people my Trader Joe’s hacks, DIYs, cocktails and maybe even subjects like personal branding IN PERSON makes my little heart soar. I’ve got a big cheesy grin on my face right now just thinking about it.

Okay if you’ve stuck through my rambling (Bless you), it’s your turn to take the wheel. I’ve loaded up a quick survey that won’t take more than 5 minutes. I pinky promise you. I want to know what YOU want to see on DC Girl, what do you like, what don’t you like and where you think this blog should go in 2014 and beyond!

Finally….what do you think about this potential new logo?

Thanks for sticking through this longer post and THANK YOU for taking the time to complete my survey. I want to make DC Girl as entertaining and enjoyable for you as possible and will be using the survey results to do just that!

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Let’s Chat!

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