Hey everyone! Thank you for reading–I’m so excited to be the ARWB’s Blogger of the Month! My lifestyle blog julianne {gray} is the place I share my family’s adventures around the Natural State and beyond. I’m still trying to convince the ARWB that this Miss April gig should come with a string of appearances out and about the state a la Miss Arkansas junkets (I prefer a headlamp and hiking boots to the sash and crown, please).

Where I’m from

I was born in Central Texas and lived there for the first eight years of my life until my family began moving around the South. We called North Carolina and Virginia home before we eventually settled in Mountain Home, AR. Moving to that small town was a culture shock in many ways, but it was also a familiar and safe place to land after visiting my grandparents there for so many years. Their cabin on a patch of land where the White & Buffalo Rivers meet was where we came year after year to swim in the cold, cold waters, fish with canned corn bait, paint rocks, catch crawdads, wander the expansive countryside, canoe and be wild & free. It was also the place we called home for many months after first moving to Arkansas.

I now live in Northwest Arkansas, and I still enjoy exploring all that the Natural State has to offer. My husband Jeremy, and our son Coen, are my constant adventure companions, but I also lead hikes for women in Arkansas as part of my capacities as a Trailblazer for the 10K Women Trail Project and an ambassador for Girls Who Hike AR.

My blog

I started my current blog (let’s all agree that we won’t discuss the one I started in 2006, okay?) when I was still living in Central Arkansas in 2011. I was working as a copywriter for Dillard’s and craved an outlet for my creative writing. I first thought it would be a fashion and lifestyle blog, but soon found out writing about fashion was a “conflict of interest” with my current employer. I’m such a rule follower that I passed up the opportunity to get a free pair of boots at the first Arkansas Women Bloggers’ conference I attended because writing a blog post about the boots and the outfitter was a requirement. (Psst, is there a statute of limitations on those boots? I will totally write a post all about them now!) I landed on the name julianne {gray} because there was time that my obsession with a particular shade of charcoal gray prompted others to begin calling it “Julianne gray.” It seemed to fit with my idea for a fashion blog, and I still find it fitting even if I have to repeatedly explain to readers and fellow bloggers that no, it is not actually my name.

A Few Fun Facts

I am a volunteer with the Central Arkansas Heifer Volunteers (even though I no longer live in Central AR) and we put on a 20K trail run benefiting Heifer International every April at Petit Jean State Park. This year our trail run is on April 14, and I’m hosting a hike along the Cedar Falls Trail the following morning.

I’m addicted to chips and salsa and coffee. I have tried to give up coffee on multiple occasions and even went four months without it once, and no, I don’t know what I was thinking either!

I was a theater major in school for a whole semester for before switching to Fashion & Apparel Merchandising. I still secretly wish I could be more involved in local theater and musicals.

I’m a passionate advocate for recycling, conservation and sustainability. My husband will attest (and also protests) to the fact that I squirrel away hard-to-recycle items in our home until I have enough to ship them to the appropriate recycling facility.

Where to meet up with me online:

Read my blog at http://juliannegray.com

Visit my social media hangouts:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julianne_gray_/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/juliannegrayblog
Twitter:https://twitter.com/jewlianne
Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/jewlianne

Facebook groups where I share my hiking events:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ozarkwomenblazingtrails/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/GirlsWhoHikeAR/