By Jamie Smith, Miss April 2015

In our blogger world we talk about a specific kind of renewal and that’s rebranding or resetting our blogs. When I talk to business clients about their brand, I usually encourage them to examine their brand at least every three years to make sure that it still fits, is still fresh, and is still identifiable. But also to remember that they need to re-examine their branding if they have any major shifts or changes in the company. 

I think the same should be true for our blogs, even if we aren’t doing sponsored posts. Even if your blog is solely for personal expression, it’s still something you invest time, probably money, and definitely energy into doing. It only makes sense for it to fit, right? 

My blog has gone through multiple transitions and some of what I would call outright, total rebranding. I see it as part of my own personal renewal and how I’ve renewed and refreshed my personal brand.

The early years

My first blog was on Xanga and was designed to keep family and friends apprised of my progress towards and after gastric bypass surgery. I called that blog Gingerbreadnewslady because it joined together people who knew me online as GingerbreadBBW and the people who I knew in real life knew the online moniker Newslady72712. My tagline (I had no idea that’s what it was at the time) was “where Gingerbread meets Newslady.” 

Eventually, I joined MySpace and started blogging there a little bit. It was my “other stuff” blog where I talked about all things not gastric bypass related. I kept the two blogging worlds very separate and private from each other. 

I decided it was time to join the worlds and for several years blogged on a subdomain of my business website (before I knew that was bad for SEO and branding). My blog didn’t really have a name.

Then a couple of years ago, I realized the importance of having a blog with its own name, its own URL and its own identity. During this time I was going through that identity crisis and I didn’t want to be known by a strange name or by my roles. I wanted to just be Jamie. 

Creating a blog home

It was during this time that I was also creating different Twitter accounts for my business followers and for my own ramblings. I changed my main account to @JamiesNotebook for my business since that was already established. I then created a personal account that was supposed to just reflect my own thoughts. At the time, I couldn’t get @JamiesThoughts because it was too long. I decided on @JamiesThots and that brand was born. 

 I eventually purchased the JamiesThots.com URL and transferred all my blogs there. I created an About Jamie page like we’re supposed to do but also created a page for About Jamie’s Thots where I explain that the blog name is where I express myself on my own terms and it’s a place where I can feel comfortable. Jamie’s Notebook is my collection of writing services where I give others a voice with the written word. Jamie’s Thots is where I express my voice. 

I’ve learned to never say never but I have a hard time imagining me going away from my Jamie’s Thots blog. It’s purposefully designed to morph as I change and that feels empowering to me. 

What’s your story? 

I’ve shared my thought processes in renewing my blog and would love to know your story. I recently asked my friends in the Arkansas Women Bloggers group to share how and why they rebranded. I loved their stories and wanted to share a snippet here. What I found fantastic is how they have found a way to stay true to their personal stories and use that to inspire others. 

Tiffany had this to say: 

“What I really wanted was for my readers to feel about my blog the way that I feel about my favorite blogs. My favorite blogs make me feel like they GET ME. They make me feel like they get in my head and that they are intent on providing me with content that I will not only love, but get some use from. And even if they are not the ones who provide useful content, I felt like I could relate to them. I could relate to their goals, the things they go through, and the things that they talk about. Now I have given a lot more thought to my ideal reader and what would keep her coming back to my blog. 

I feel like I finally have a REAL mission and vision for my blog and that I am actually working towards it.”

Sarah had this to say: 

“I rebranded to focus my blog and give it a theme.  I rebranded as Love Letter to Adventure after Alison Chino‘s talk in storyliving for storytelling. I blog mostly about the same things, but frame it all as adventure now. It’s also inspired some new ideas like my free Adventure Generator printable and the Weekly Venture challenge. Really loving my new direction!  

Now I’m focused on inspiring readers to put more adventure into their lives”

So I ask you again, what’s your story? Do you need to renew your blog, your focus?

How many of you remember your first career day at school? I do. It was second grade and I went as a reporter. My mom put a “press” label in the rim of a hat and I wore a button-down shirt with jeans. I was a pretty darn cute 7 or 8 year old!

Fast forward 25 years and I had a journalism degree under my belt with more than 10 years of reporting experience. Then the economy hit and I was laid off. It wasn’t until the lay-off happened that I realized I let my job become my identity. Now that the job was gone, I didn’t recognize myself. Ouch. That’s still hard for me to admit.

It took several years, but I came to realize two things. One, my identity is in my faith and my Creator, and second, that I am enough. Being enough means not being too much or too little. As long as I am living the life I’m created to live, I am enough.

This revolutionized both how I thought of myself, and how I live out my various life roles. Instead of having my identity fueled by my various my various life roles, my identity—my core values fuel how I live out these life roles.  

What are these roles?

Each person has many roles. We like to talk about them like hats but really, do we ever stop being part of who we are just because another part is getting more attention at the time?

Here are the roles I consider most important in my life right now.

Wife-John and I were married September 21, 2008 in our favorite park in Springdale. We met 18 months earlier on MySpace after he commented on one of my blogs. So yes, I have blogging to thank for connecting me with the man who I would later marry!

Furbaby momma-Anyone who follows me on social media knows I pretty much adore my four pets. We rescued our two cats after they were abandoned and adopted our two dogs from the Fayetteville Animal Shelter. You can follow their hashtags #smithpuppies and #smithkitties! We’ve chosen to not have human children so these animals are, in a way, how I express my “Momness.”

Auntie- The other way I express my Momness is through being “Aunt Jamie.” My brother and his wife have twin girls (almost 4) and a boy (2 ½). They live in Denver so I only get to see them about once a year. I still get to have a relationship with them through Skype!  I love those three kids so much that it takes my breath away.

Person with a disability-It has always seemed that some people see my disability as my identity. But for me, being born with Spina Bifida is just another role I have. How I choose to live that role is up to me.

Writer-this role is how many of you at ARWB know me. As I mentioned before, I started out in the world of newspaper journalism. I now simply call myself a writer. I own a writing services business called Jamie’s Notebook. I write blogs, websites, and other miscellaneous writing projects for businesses and organizations. I still write some news and feature articles for various publications.

I’m also a blogger. My personal blog is Jamie’s Thots and it’s the latest version of a personal hobby I’ve had for 10 years. I started blogging to keep family and friends apprised of my progress towards and after gastric bypass surgery. It’s become an outlet for personal expression, encouragement for others, and even a means of earning income.

A few final thoughts

Our roles in life can change. That doesn’t mean the roles we invested in at the time were wrong, it just means that the roles change. What could have been a good fit at the time may not be a good fit later on.

What’s important is that any role, any major decision, pass through the test of meeting a person’s life mission and core values.

When that happens in my own life, I know I am enough.

I look forward to spending this month with you and am incredibly honored to serve as Blogger of the Month. I look forward to chatting with you and hope you’ll find me on social media:

 Facebook (you might need to tell me you know me from ARWB)
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest

By Michelle Shellabarger, Miss February 2015

I am a hoarder of books, memorabilia, and anything paper really. In this age where letters are seldom written, I’m grateful that I have never been able to bring myself to throw any out. I have letters that my great-grandmother wrote me, pen pal letters, and cards from special birthdays. On a quest to organize I discovered a musty box of love letters written between my husband and myself when we were dating. I had moved back to Panama to finish college so we had a long distance relationship for almost two years (meaning lots of letters, at least by me.)

There was a lot of hand painted stationary with some calligraphy. I had way too much time on my hands and was taking some art classes.) I re-read a few I’d written to him, and laughed at some of the mush and silliness of a twenty year old with time on her hands. Quotes of Shakespeare and lots of daily trivia and dreams of the future filled the pages.

If I was writing a love letter now, after over 22 years of real life, it would be so much different.
Maybe something special like:

“Babe, I love you because you unclogged that toilet last night in the boys’ bathroom and didn’t even complain.”
“Thank you for holding my hand at the funeral.”
“You are so sexy when you wash the dishes when you get home from work if I haven’t had time to get to them.”
“You are such a wonderful dad and example to our kids.”
“I still adore you.”

By Michelle Shellabarger, Miss February 2015

As writers we are natural observers.

Doesn’t people watching fascinate you too?

Smiles are something magical. They can transform a bad day into a good one.  A sad moment into one that bonds people together.  I’m always telling my kids that you can shape your happiness.  If you think positively you will see good outcomes.   Think sad thoughts and that’s what you’ll get.

In college my mom said she played a game where she would walk across campus seeing how many people would smile back if she smiled (and my mom has a great smile.) I tried the same game and found that a lot of people are surprised by a stranger smiling. 

So sad.  But I keep up the fight and still play. 

You never know what a smile can do.

Smile and see what happens.

By Michelle Shellabarger, Miss February 2015

My oldest daughter is a senior in high school.  The college journey is daunting to say the least.  The mail is filled with pamphlets and email is flooded too.    We are both feeling a bit sad and overwhelmed. I’m trying hard to remember how I felt at that scary time, when I was on the verge of womanhood trying to find my place in this world.

Talking over college forms the other day I brought up topic of doing what makes you happy.  How you should do what calls to your heart and makes it sing with joy.

I know I once read that whatever you enjoyed pretending to be when you were a child is probably what you were meant to do.  Maybe there is some truth there.

I liked to pretend that I was a ringmaster in a circus, a cake decorator, a poet or a playwright, a mommy, and a teacher. 

Guess what?

I have been a teacher and pastry chef.  Now I do have what some might call a small circus with my four kids and crazy pets.  I write and blog.  I am happy and, I’m still not finished. 

What I want her to know:

That just trying something is 99% of the battle (most people are too scared to even start)
Finding joy in the mundane
and being kind
are the most important lessons she will learn in this life.
That she can change her mind
That she can (and probably will) be LOTS of things
and
That life is surprising
and wonderful
if you allow it to be.

I’m excited to see what the future holds.  

What? Me, Miss February? 

I am so not the pageant type of girl, but this is one honor I am super excited about!  Arkansas Women Bloggers is an awesome group of amazing women whom I ADORE (ya’ll are gonna make me cry!) 

So let me tell you about myself…

I grew up mainly in the former Canal Zone in the Republic of Panama.  When I was a senior in high school a little war called “Just Cause” put a crimp in my plans to stay home and be a surfer beach bum, so my mom dropped me off at U of A in Fayetteville.  (Now I can say “Thanks, mom!”)  In college I met my man and we’ve been married 22 years now.  We have four great kids, from a high school senior to a (surprise!) nine-month old baby.  Dog, parakeet, and chickens make up our menagerie.   A former nanny, teacher, translator, and pastry chef I now get to work from home as I stay home with my rowdy bunch. 

I started blogging at Tales from a Panama-Mama in 2007 (maybe before) because my mom, who was stationed in strange places overseas, wanted to see pictures and such of what we were up to.  It’s evolved and grown into an on-again, off-again addiction.  I write about my life, fixing up old houses, road trips with kids, and being a wannabe urban homesteader.  I had three blogs (one for cooking, one for life, one for books) and I’ve been trying to get them all combined in a way that makes sense.  Still working on that and any opinions would be appreciated.  But really, my blog is really my way of expressing myself so that I don’t go crazy.  And I know that ya’ll get that. 

Come visit me on the blog or Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, or Pinterest! 

By Rhonda Bramell, Miss January 2015

I spent the first Saturday of the new year organizing my son’s bedroom, which was no small feat. When I realized how much new stuff had come into his room during the holidays, I knew we needed to make some space or my little boy would be lost in the huge mountain of mess.  My son is four years old. You mamas of boys know what that means:  we are knee-deep in matchbox cars, Legos, action figures, superheroes and pirate ships.  

I had two main goals for the day: organize the bookshelf that had absolutely no order to it and find some inexpensive storage ideas for toys. 

Project #1

First, I tackled the bookshelf, which was suffering from an identity crisis. It was clearly being used for a place to stack things, and none of them were books. There is a second bookshelf in his room for books, so I knew I needed to turn this bookshelf into a viable system for storing toys.

I found some inexpensive plastic bins at Target and went to work finding new homes for all the little things.  I love how it turned out!

 Project #2

Next, I scrolled Pinterest for some ideas for storing toys that wouldn’t break the bank. Because his clothes are so small, we had a lot of unused room in the floor of the closet. Since his large wooden toy box was taking up so much play space in his room, I moved it into the closet and put only his dress up costumes in it. By doing so, that left me without a place to put the actual toys. I found a large box in the garage that had previously held bulk snacks. I enlisted the help of Big Sis and we got busy transforming that big box into a toy box—using nothing but colored duct tape (in super hero colors, of course)! We enjoyed this project so much that we even found a couple of shoe boxes to tape up and add to the bookshelf.

In addition to these projects, I also wanted to share a couple of other DIY shortcuts that I use in his room.  You know those clear plastic, zippered bags that sheets, blankets and curtains are sold in? I always save them—they are perfect for repurposing as storage! This one is holding all the little pieces that go with his toy pirate ship, and fits nicely into one of the new bins on the bookshelf.  I’ve also used the bags to store doll clothes and crayons in the past.

Another easy, inexpensive thing I do is use paper to create art for the wall. This time, I used some Spider-Man gift wrap that I already had and put it into a frame that was collecting dust in the garage. It made instant art to hang over his bed and didn’t cost a thing!

Just tackling these small projects made a big difference in my son’s bedroom. Suddenly, he has more floor space to play with toys and also has a designated place to put everything once he’s finished. Here’s to a new year with less clutter!

by Rhonda Bramell, Miss January 2015

Begin. What a tiny little word filled with so much hope; and what an appropriate theme for January’s posts.  For me personally, it means so many things in 2015.

This year, I want to make an effort to remember that I get to start over every single day. Sometimes I feel like I’m struggling as a parent, as a wife and even as an employee. We are so lucky that each day starts over and we can adjust, adapt and/or fix what went wrong the day before. So many times I forget that, which often leads to unnecessary self- doubt and guilt. Nobody has time for that.

I’m going to hit a milestone birthday this year, and I don’t mean 30. I’m not too worried about it, but there are some goals that I want to accomplish before the big day. I want to get back in shape, lose a few pounds and commit to completing a 5K before my big day. There, it is written. I guess I just made that commitment?

Later this year, my twin babies will start kindergarten. It hardly seems possible! I’m so excited for them to begin that journey, and I’m so thankful they have each other to share it with.  Luckily, they will also have Big Sister at school to show them the ropes—how to navigate the lunch line, riding the school bus and all those other scary school things.

Are you choosing a word theme for yourself and/or your blog this year? I’ve decided to go with motivation, which I desperately need.  I want to start the year motivated to be the best I can be, ready to accomplish all the things that I need to do.  OK, let’s be honest; maybe just begin all the things.  There’s one hefty thing in particular that I want to tackle, which I’ll shared in my recent post here on ARWB. Check it out!