Hi. My name is Carmella. I’m excited to represent my favorite group of women bloggers this month. Thank you to Julie at EGGS & HERBS for extending me the opportunity and for keeping me and all the other gals corralled.

I started blogging in 2008. I was in a transition phase. I had recently gone from busy, corporate mom to instant stay-at-home mom to better meet my son’s needs. I enjoyed being able to have that time with my sweet boy and I will forever cherish that time with him. However, I would be fibbing if I didn’t admit that I missed having a keyboard at my fingertips, being able to creatively solve problems and connecting with other adults.

As the boy napped each afternoon I jumped online to search for fun projects we could do together, new recipes and whatever else I was obsessing over that day (diy projects, bug bites, fashion trends, etc.). These searches led me to blogs – a new concept for me. I bookmarked a few favorites. Bookmarking turned to lurking. Lurking turned to engaging and before I knew it I had connected with several new friends across the country. This filled my need to exercise my brain and to connect.

But something was still missing.

Due to the loss of income from leaving my career, I needed a way to supplement our income. I had previously joined a home décor and entertainment company as a consultant to have one girls-night-out a month and score a few free products for my home. I enjoyed leading the parties, connecting with other women and sharing easy ideas for home décor and entertaining. Their reactions of awe and delight as I shared what I found to be simple ideas became addictive. Hosting more parties was not a practical option. I needed to find a way to share my creativity and reap the reward of inspiring others.

Enter Southern Fried Dreams.

In fall 2008 I decided to get outside my comfort zone and launch a blog initially titled Southern Fried Dreams which was later changed to Southern Fried Gal. I’ve been reaping the rewards since day one. In the early days it provided an outlet to meet my disparate needs as my identity was morphing. It provided a platform to creatively grow my at home business from in person and local to online and nationwide which led to a little more income and a lot more self-confidence. It provided a hands-on education that extended my credibility when I decided to re-enter the workforce years later. Even more importantly, it connected me to really cool people, like the women in this group, that I now call friends.

My journey has changed.

In December 2014 I decided to say goodbye to Southern Fried Gal. I didn’t have the same amount of time to contribute as I did in the past. My journey had changed and I no longer identified as strongly with that brand. It was a hard decision to say goodbye.

Still needing a place to connect, I launched Uncommonly Connected, a little knockabout place to bring together people and ideas. It serves some of the same needs as before and a few new ones. I have a vision to grow this little corner of the digital world when the time is right. For now it’s a place for me to slow down, a place to reflect and share, and most importantly a place to continually connect.

Speaking of connecting, besides my blog here are a few other places I like to hang out, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and sometimes Twitter. If we haven’t already, let’s connect!