{day TWENTY-NINE} BLOG nominations

I'm grateful today that my humble little blog was nominated over at At Peek at Karen's World.  This is the second time "someone" {I'm pretty sure I know who it is} has nominated by blog, and it sure is nice.

I'm nominated in three different categories:  Best Kept Secret, Most Inspiring Post and Most Thought-Provoking post.

Last year, this post won and I was so happy because it is something that is very dear to my heart and a major issue that people need to be more aware of.

Go ahead and check out Karen's blog and vote for your favorite blogs and posts.

WELCOME to my BLOG

Welcome, Everyone, to my Thought Blog.  I am the featured blogger on SITS today!

My name is Emily and I am a thirty-something wife and mother that began blogging back in 2007 to chronicle my family's life.

After a few years of documenting just my day to day activities, I felt the need to start another blog that focused on different aspects of my life.  It's been a struggle keeping my creative juices flowing, and I sometimes slack in posting on a regular basis, but overall it's been a great experience for me.

And I'm really happy you have taken the time to visit my little corner of the Internet.

I'd love to gain new readers as a result of being the featured blogger, so here's some ideas about what I blog about.

First, I love and adore music, so every Monday {except for today, of course} I feature a song, artist, album that I really like.  Or, it could be a song my daughter really likes.  Or, just something that revolves around music.

Second, I love to take pictures using the app Instagram; hence, INSTAGRAM wednesdays.  This is basically a way for me to get in a post without actually having to write anything.  I co-host this meme with my very good friend, Karen.

And last, I write a lot about my marriage and about being a mom.

I definitely don't think I write anything earth-shattering, but I try to be as raw and real as possible.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Please come again!

C is for CREATE

Next week is the two year anniversary of my thought blog.  To celebrate, I'm going to share the video that inspired me to start it in the first place.   I know I've posted it at least two other times, but I just love it and can't imagine anyone else not being inspired by it's simple, yet profound message.

This blog serves a great purpose for me in my life.  It is my creative outlet.  I often lose track of the basic reason for this blog, and that is to write and to express myself.  It's not about giveaways, having a huge following or even making money.  I've noticed that when I divert my attention from what this blog really is, I'm less satisfied with the result.  But, when I'm true to myself and write about things I love {even when they don't generate a lot of comments or attention}, I'm overall much more content.

Thanks to all of you for your comments and support.  It has really had an impact on my ability to CREATE.

P.S. For anyone who is interested, this video is based off of a talk that can be read here.
Learn more about my faith here.

my ROOTS...

As this year comes to a close, and we welcome 2012, I feel inclined to make some changes to my blog.  I'm working on organizing it and focuses my posts on the topics I love most:  relationships, parenting, every day observations and pictures.  In all honesty, my blog won't change too much, but I feel the more consistent it is, the more "theme-ish" it is, the better it will be.

I've also spent some time reflecting on why I began this blog to begin with.  Examining my roots, if you will.  I was inspired by this video, which is where I got my blog description, "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul."  The message from this video, which is based on an address specifically written for women, is that we all have an inherit need to create.  I have felt that need before, and this blog has helped me feel more fulfilled, more creative.

I absolutely love this video and I hope you will take the time to watch it.  You have less than 2 minutes to spare, right?

I hope I can continue to invite readers to my blog and that you can learn from my experiences and that I can learn from yours.  Let's be creative together!