Ten Reasons Why I Haven't Been Blogging (Much).

1. I'm reading.

2. I'm battling Seasonal Affect Disorder (aka Longest Winter EVER).

3. I'm enjoying the new basement.

4. I'm asleep somewhere. (I can't seem to get enough lately!)

5. I'm focusing on Project 52.

6. I'm blending a green smoothie.

7. I'm watching Downton. (No spoilers! I'm only through Season 2.)

8. I'm doing my best to be present.

9. I'm potty training the littlest Terp.

10. I'm learning how to renew.

This has been a season of slowing down, filling up, doing less, experiencing more, and banishing "should" from my vocabulary. I'm grateful for this time and content to sit in the open space. What's been keeping you busy (or not) lately?

365 blog-iversary! + Keepin' It Real

Next week marks my 2nd anniversary of our 365 picture blog {1st anniversary post here}. My first ever entry was posted August 15, 2010.

I remember being inspired by my friend Theresa's fabulous picture blog, and I decided there was no time like the present to get busy snapping, sorting, uploading, captioning, and sharing my pics.

I'm a pretty devoted picture taker and scrapbooker, but I was nowhere near the picture-a-day mark required for picture blogging. It didn't take me long to find my stride.

I'm not the most adept photographer (I'm a work in progress) but I LOVE capturing our families little moments that together make up one big life.

If you're interested in getting started picture blogging, here's a great post Theresa wrote a while back on the Top Ten Reasons to Start a Picture Blog.

If you're a few months, or a few years, down the picture blogging path, here are a few tips to help motivate you to keep on keeping on.

I definitely hit a slump as I rounded the corner into Year Two, and I needed all the encouragement I could get to keep going.

Looking back at Year Two's 365, I am so glad I did!

365: Keeping it fresh & real in Year Two (& beyond)

1. Don't pick the obvious photo choice. I'm guessing you did that during Year One. Year Two (and beyond) is all about thinking outside the box. Pick the one that tells the story. Look at the situation from a new angle and tell it from a fresh point of view. Get creative. Take risks.

2. Take some Year Two liberties. These include the proverbial repeat shot from exactly one year ago (complete with a link back), the screen shot shot, and the I-got-the-flu-so-all-you-get-are-Instagrams mini-series.

3. Try to stay on top of it. I try to update my blog every 4-6 days. It's a good balance between downloading pictures every day and letting it go for months at a time. When it starts to feel overwhelming, it stops being fun, so my advice is not to let it get to that point in the first place!

4. Extend yourself grace. If you do find yourself weeks (or months) behind, I say pick up where you're at and let bygones be bygones. This is a no guilt zone, after all. It's also OK to "fake" a picture now and then...sometimes a picture I use isn't really from that actual day. I know. Scandalous!

5. Invest in new equipment. I bought a new camera this year just as I found myself in a picture slump and it breathed new life into my picture blog. I know this isn't always possible for everyone, but if you've been thinking about a new camera, go ahead and take the leap.

6. Educate yourself. My friend Mindy came over a few weeks ago for an informal workshop and taught some of my gal pals and me the in's and out's of beginner photography. Get yourself to some sort of a class (there are on-line courses available these days too). Never stop learning.

7. Find a community. I love my fellow 365 picture bloggers on my sidebar. These are girls I know and love and when they update their picture blogs, I feel inspired to update mine. If you don't know anyone personally who picture blogs, it's easy enough to find yourself a community on the worldwide web.

8. Seek out inspiration. If you often find yourself stumped or if you love lists, there are all sorts of picture-a-day lists floating around on blogs and Pinterest. I especially love the Instagram challenge hosted by Fat Mum Slim (by the way, if fancy shmancy cameras aren't your thing, I say you rebel and source your entire picture blog with camera phone pics! Revolutionary!)

9. Streamline the process. I try to edit my pictures just about the same way each day...this saves me time and lends my picture blog some consistency. Another great way to do this is to shoot for a picture a week, rather than a picture a day. Still a great blog, just simplified a little.

10. Remember why you do it. I first started picture blogging because I wanted to capture the little moment's in my family's life. Any time I feel discouraged or behind, it helps me to remember that I'm preserving priceless memories in a fun format that we'll all be able to look back on someday. Picture blog are definitely not about huge followings or making money...they're for you, for your family, for your someday.

On Saying No: A Bloggy Confessional

Printable Credit: Shaun Groves

About two months ago, sort of on a whim, I decided try a few new things with my blog.

I created a Facebook page, added sponsor spots, launched a new monthly link party, won some sweet ad space on a couple of other blogs, hosted my first giveaway, and put together a cool printables partnership.

I jumped in with both feet into the big-ol'-blog-o-sphere partly out of curiosity, partly as a challenge, partly just for fun.

In the past two months, I have learned a ton about networking, growing, tweeting, sharing, and html-ing (i.e. cursing).

I have loved every minute.

But when I'm really honest with myself, I also know that a modern day around-the-clock blogging gig isn't for me.

I'm afraid that while I'm following everyone else's rules about what a blogger "should" do, I'm missing out on important moments that are right in front of me.

Following the lead of ladies like Angela @ Angela's Adventures, Ann Marie @ White House Black Shutters, and Diana @ The Girl Creative, I'm tossing it all out the window and making my own rules.

I'm learning to say no...in order to be able to say yes.

First, what I know to be true:

1) I love to blog.

2) My primary purpose for blogging is to celebrate my little family of five and record our adventures.

3) My secondary purpose for blogging is to encourage other women to live the full width of the life God has set before us.

4) A couple of not-even-close-to-being-purposes for blogging: to make money and to gain "clout". 

5) There are better uses of my time then spending endless amounts of time lost in the blog-o-sphere.

6) It's hard to be out there living the width when I'm staring at a computer screen all day.

7) I want my life to be fueled by freedom, not obligation.

Next, my plan going forward:

While the opportunities are seemingly endless in the blog-o-sphere, I am going to be more intentional and very selective in how I choose to spend my time in the future. I will continue to host link-ups, features, giveaways, special series, etc. but only as inspiration, opportunity, and free time arises and allows. My blog is a place of community and creativity and these types of posts help to foster those values, however, these posts will be fewer and farther between.

On saying yes...

I want my early am time to be spent immersed in my daily She Reads Truth reading. I want mornings around here to mean slowly drinking my coffee, meeting up with friends at the park, and creating space to live and breathe and slow down. I'd love to preserve my afternoons as a time for work (housework & "real" work) so that I can spend my evenings enjoying a family meal, playing in the yard, and not rushing through the bedtime routine. And my nights should be about relaxing with my husband, reflecting on the day, and preparing to do it all over again.

And if this means less time for other things, so be it. If it means saying no to good, but not-high-priority, opportunities, that's A-OK with me.

A few closing words: I want you to know that if you find yourself here, reading this blog, and you're not sure why you're here or how you go here or how to initiate a bloggy break-up, it's OK to go. No guilt. No worries. I promise not to be sad. I know what it's like to feel completely overwhelmed when you open up your Google Reader in the morning. Unsubscribe, un-follow, un-like. Please do what you need to do.

And just because I'm scaling back,  please don't think I'm going to fall off the face of the blog-o-sphere. I still have plenty of love to give, I'm just going to be a better steward of that love, and make sure that in all things (bloggy and otherwise), I am true, honest, and authentic.

I hope you stick around because I'm a community-oriented sort of girl, but if you don't that's OK too. We all have a limited amount of resources, especially in regards to time and energy, and I hope that we can all re-commit to using them well.

Learning to say no...in order to say yes.

Grace & peace, bloggy friends, grace & peace.

bloggy happenings

I'm excited to share the latest and the greatest @ The Terpblog:

#1: A new Terpblog Facebook page to Like. 

{at your leisure, of course}

This feels like a big step to me, but I'm ready to have a dedicated space to share new posts and link party features [see below!].

Facebook, love it or hate it, is a quick and easy place to connect with bloggy friends, both new and old.

For bonus points, if you're a regular reader, please show The Terpblog some love and follow via GFC on the sidebar. Thank you!

#2: Sponsor spots are now available!

And because it's all brand new to me, they're currently FREE.

Check out the details on the Sponsor tab or email me at katie.terpstra@gmail.com.

I'm learning as I go, so please bear with me!

#3: A new monthly link party called {Living the Width}.

Launching very soon! 

Here's a teaser for you:

Look for it later this week with features from YOU coming mid-month!

#4: We've got ad space!

And lastly, I won my very own, very first ad space on Elise's Pieces via a giveaway on Modern Modest Beauty over the weekend.

I contacted Elise to see if I could gift the large ad space to Theresa @ un.tied and Elise was sweet enough to say 'yes, of course,' and then she offered me another spot for The Terpblog too.

Click over and see if you can spot our new ads!

That's all for now! Thanks for your kind comments and encouraging words. I look forward to seeing what's ahead for us!

P.S. Here's a funny blogging first: I ran into a bloggy buddy in real life at the ice cream shop over the weekend. It was a fun surprise to hear someone ask, "Excuse me, do you write The Terpblog?"
Check out Heather's great blog, It's a Long Story!