I wish we could go for yogurt.
I wish you lived right around the corner and I could just call you up for a little soft- serve and conversation.
And of course, I would order chocolate/vanilla swirl with reese’s and when I got to know you better….I might even top it off with hot fudge.
And you would order your favorite flavor and we would sit and talk and talk and talk for hours.
About our lives.
About our imperfections.
About our latest projects.
But most of all, we would talk about our dreams and hopes and plans that we have for our blogs.
And even if you don’t live around the corner and we can’t go for yogurt (a fact that does make me truly sad)….can we still talk? Can we still discuss our blog dreams?
You see, I have a little blog (you may have noticed). A blog I started in December. But I really want to grow my blog. And to grow, you need to know where you want to go. Goals are a big part of that. And to be successful, they should be specific and purposeful and attainable.
So put down your yogurt and listen.
Here my top five things “I Want My Blog to Be When It Grows Up.”
(1) I want my blog to be pretty. I mean, my blog is fine looking and all….for right now. It’s clean and simple and (hopefully) easy to understand. But I want to streamline it like this or this or this. These blogs are definitely still in the running for America’s Next Top Model.
(2) I want to join Twitter. I see the tweets and the re-tweets and I want in. I want to be part of the action. The only hurdle I can foresee is that I know absolutely nothing about Twitter. Really. Tweets are about the extent of the Twitter knowledge I have gleaned from watching the E Entertainment Channel.
(3) I want to set up a house tour page. A truly wonderful blogger who knows far more about these things than I do, suggested it. It’s a briliant idea. I wish I could take credit for it. I probably should have pinned this idea under my “Why Didn’t I Think of That” Pinterest board.
Actually, if you came to visit, I would give you the “yard sale” house tour. Trash to treasure tours are my favorite. So instead, maybe my goal should be to create a Yard Sale House Tour page. 🙂
(4) I want to improve my photography. This is a big one. Sometimes, I feel this goal is almost insurmountable. But there are so many photography tutorials in blogland right now…..like these great tips from Centsational Girl or this incredible photo series from My 3 Boybarians. Photography is an art and I am in awe of photography artists like this or this.
*sigh*….maybe one day….
(5) I want to be authentic. Someone once told me. “Your blog is exactly like you….except written down.” What an incredible compliment. I think authenticity is the most important goal to me. I want to tell you about….
….my favorite things and
….my projects that didn’t exactly turn out and
….my dustbunnies and tarnished silver and bingo cards and burlap and all about my extremely imperfect self.
But enough about me….what about you?
What are your dreams?
Will you share them with us this Friday, March 2? Grab a button and join our linky party. I am co-hosting with:
Kelly from Ecletically Vintage
Linda from it all started with paint
Karah from the space between
Andrea from The Cottage Market
We are inviting you to write a post about the five things “You Want Your Blog to Be When It Grows Up” and link it up at the party on Friday. Tell us your goals, your dreams, and your aspirations. We can’t wait to hear all about them.
Do you want to host a linky party? Tell us.
Do you want to generate sponsors? Share it.
Do you want to write a blog series? Let us know.
Do you want to sing the national anthem in pig latin standing on one foot? Maybe keep that one to yourself.
…..and let me know if the yogurt thing works for you 🙂
PS Don’t forget….it’s this Friday! So grab a button and let’s go.
PSS All photos of my imperfect book labels were taken by RTM Connect. (Now can you see why I need Goal #4)
Thistlewoodfarm 
Sigh!!! My list is so long. I want to continue to have fun with my blog and keep on meeting great new friends like you.
Hugs,
Laura
Hi Kari – so glad you wrote this post and doing the link party – will def be joining! So needed to have this motivation – I seem to be bogged down with other things this week and been stressing about my blog as Im trying so hard to grow it. I need to let go a bit and enjoy the process, dont I?
xx Nat
SO great Kari! I would totally have swirl with fudge…or maybe caramel on top. Great goals, I look forward to watching them all come true. 🙂
Karah
Woo hoo! Of course, I’m in!
And I’ll have a chocolate vanilla swirl with m & m’s please. 🙂
xo Heidi
This sounds like a great idea…I have a simple aim behind my blog but I do want to make changes to improve it, so what a great prompt to have! I will be there on friday! sarah.x
Happy Monday, dear Karianne.
Yes, yes, yes. I do want to grow my blog. I want it to be prettier, more interesting, better, bigger, etc. My problem right now is time. I keep telling myself that I’ll do more when I retire. It’s good to dream. Right?
thanks so much for using my little blog in an america’s next top model reference. wow. i want to keep improving my blog and continue having fun with it. i can’t decide how hard i want to work to grow it. i think twitter would certainly help, but it intimidates and confuses me. let me know if you tackle that one.
Karianne … Let me know too! 🙂
Bj
Oh my..where do I begin..Not sure if I have enough “gigga-bites” (ya see.. that’s a number one wanted improvement–computer knowledge) to say what I want my blog to be “when it grows up”….The list is too long for this person who started a blog just to share pictures of Christmas decor to friends and family…then it just grew legs..
Karianne, I shall take you up on the conversation over yogurt in June…I have no shame as to have it with “the works”…
Now this will be somewhat difficult for me as I live in a home with a person who never wants to “grow up”..and it sort of rubbed off after so many fun years…
You come up with the greatest creative and inspirational ideas…Looking forward to Friday!
Love your goals … and, yes, the House Tour is a must. And a must I need to put on my list too!
Do you think if we get to know each other even better we could make that destination Dairy Queen? A hot fudge Sunday with whipped cream and nuts on top?
🙂
Linda
You started your blog in December and you already have tons of followers??? I’d say you’re doing alright! I’ve been blogging for a year and have hardly any followers in comparison… I must be doing something dreadfully wrong!
Oh and your blog, in my opinion, is much more attractive than any of the ones you’ve cited. I like the clean look and the layout.
Order me a strawberry, but only if I can have granola on it!!
Have a great week.
xox
I want my blog to be the one place where I can really be me and it’s okay.
amen sista!!
My preference is a banana split with the cherry and I will share the cherry with sonm deserving grandchild – ooo – I will have to rethink that- all of my grandchildren are deserving. But onto the other topic -goal setting. On my last flight I read about a tiny book entitled, “It Works”: The Famous Red Book that Makes Your Dreams Come True”. It is a $3.00 paperback that has changed many people’s lives because it is all about goal setting, writing the goals down and putting them into action, one by one. It stresses having a goal and believing it can be done – then doing – so the party sounds like the first part and then accountability for the next party.
Oh, hon, please don’t grow too slick and all that. I like your blog, just the way you are! 🙂
(I have hardly any followers, but that is truly not why I started blogging. It’s more therapeutic, for me.)
Ok, first of all, I think your blog is just as pretty as the samples you gave. But, I know how you feel. I have been shopping around for a blog designer and trying to decide if I can afford it. I know I need to make the WordPress jump at some time, but I am askeered. 🙂
My goals this year are to get a new look, grow, and possibly get some sponsors, too. But there are millions and gazilions of blogs now and the competition is stiff.
I know what you mean about photography. Bottom line, you gotta have a great camera. Again, more $. Sigh, this free blog is starting to cost me buckeroos. haha
I say you just keep on keeping on. You have a gift of writing and I enjoy every single post. Thats why I can’t wait to meet you at Haven. I just know you will be a HOOT.
I will be in Biloxi stuck at some slot machine, or I would join in. But can’t wait to see all of the posts. Happy Week, Barb
How sweet you are to include me! Me? Your blog is one of the best, loved it the first time I put my eyes on it. 🙂
jennifer
I want to join in on the fun! You’re so inspirational! I’ll have the chocolate/vanilla swirl with butterfinger pieces on top!
I too started new (in October) last year. I am frustrated for the most part put in love the rest. Does this make sense? I love the doing things around my home to make it a better place to be cozy and enjoy but … the blogging part, ACK, making it an easy, fun and pretty place to be is … excuse my tears … so time consuming! The more I learn the more I do not know. Bless you for keeping my focus. Hugs,
Bj
Try blogger, you can get a pretty blog in five minutes with no coding at all. Super easy. Not everyone (like me, ahem..) is cut out for wordpress ❈
Oopsie 😦 You are already on blogger. Should have checked first… I wish I could pop over and run through it with you… there is def. a light bulb moment when you go “ohhhh so that’s how you do that”. 🙂
Jen,
You made me laugh so hard! Thank you … I needed that 🙂 I do have blogger and that part is basically easy but I also want to do the linky party and such and I totally messed up my first party ever last Sunday. I feel like I need a great big” L” on my forehead somedays … It will be better 🙂
Should I break out into song right now? “The sun will come out tomorrow … (are you singing with me? 🙂
K gotta run … Hugs,
bj
I so badly want my blog to grow. I didn’t start “seriously” blogging until October, but even from there it’s been a huge learning curve (like learning what the heck a link party was, or the important of good pictures, or a nice layout, or…). It’s a total work in progress. I’ll never be a “big” blogger, but I’d be thrilled to be mid-sized, haha.
Ashley,
We need to talk! 🙂
Bj@Joy2Journey
I can’t talk about it right now…I am too busy trying to REDO my blog look after seeing all those you featured.
I am in LUV with Freckled Laundry….love the no header photo to keep going out of date…love the font she used (where the heck can I get THAT?) LOVE HER and am now following. :)))
busy busy busy
I absolutely love your blog! I wish you did live around the corner and we could go for yogurt!! I’m not sure what I want my blog to be? Where I want to go? How much do I really want to put into it? I don’t know??? I will join the party though!
Girl, you know we are all reading your blog anyway…we love what you do. I would love to join in writing a blog, but can’t make that first step, You already have jumped in, you’ve taken the step. Now about that ice cream, I love me some chocolate and vanilla twist maybe with some M&M’s to spruce it up a bit.
Hey Claudia, it’s ok to have a small tiny blog that only gets 10 hits a day from friends and family (like mine, ha!). If it makes you feel good to journal and post pics of your life then you should do it! Sometimes “growing your blog” simply means that you yourself are growing through the process of writing it. ❈
I LOVE this sentence: “Sometimes “growing your blog” simply means that you yourself are growing through the process of writing it.”
OK, I “ran” over to the blogs you highlighted and honestly I don’t like them. They aren’t nearly as interesting as your blog. As far as the “look” of them, they are bland. Please don’t try to be that, I love your blog just the way it is! Keep sharing your ideas and personality, that is all you need to make your blog grow.
How did you know I secretly dream of singing the national anthem in pig latin!?
Love your goals – and you’ll easily accomplish them! Especially like #5 and that’s why people love you and are reading your blog (again and again). We really get a sense of who you are – and we like you, we really like you!
Maybe you can get yogurt in TN and I’ll go in NJ and we’ll have yogurt over the phone – or we can blog about all the great flavors and toppings!!
Kelly
Um, wait, what? December? December of ’08? Oh, that makes more sense. Your blog is be-u-T-ful!
But mine could use some work. Maybe at the end of your Blog Growing Up party, every blog will be completely fabulous and people will view mine as “that one quirky girl who keeps her blog all random-like just to be different”. Yeah, that’s my new angle! Great idea! ~Lori
Hey Karianne, Just so you know – the hardest part of being a good photographer is learning composition. If the color isn’t right, adjust it. If the lighting isn’t right, adjust it. If the exposure isn’t right, adjust it. This comes with getting out there and practicing. But if you don’t have the nack for composition your pics still won’t look pretty. Guess what K, I’ve seen your home. You’ve got composition nailed down tight. TIGHT! Now all you need to do is shoot, shoot, shoot! Digital cameras are SO awesome. Now we can see our mistakes in the moment and correct them right in the camera guilt free. Photographers with beautiful pics take loads of pics. LOADS, Just get snapping, it will come – you’ll be awesome. (PS, don’t forget the tripod – for still shots it’s a life saver.)
Hello,
I look at the number of “followers” you have, consider when you began your blogging adventure, and am astounded.
Every now and again, I pop over; in the interest of growing your blog, it’s time to hit the follow button.
-Karen
Karianne,
Great goals, but I can promise you that if you continue to keep writing unique informative, entertaining, beautiful and caring posts…. you will continue to soar!
Your kindness and humor are true gifts! You are wonderful at encouraging other bloggers, including me! I’ve enjoyed getting to know you better through your posts and comments… a true gem. Stay true to you, God has given you a gift!
about that yogurt… I’m all in! a twist with hot fudge!
Happy Monday!
dee dee
Can we please stop and rewind. YOU JUST STARTED IN DECEMBER?! How did your blog get so giant so fast? Pretty please share your secret – that is some crazy, incredible growth!
Oh my! All of the 5 things you mentioned are at the TOP of my list. Get out of my head! 😉 Add to those…Need to have blog page professionally done. I did my current template, and I know next. to. nothing. about anything tech related!! Yes, it was a personal triumph, but it leaves so MUCH to be desired! I also need buttons, (again, to be handled by same hired professional) I have NO idea how to make them. 😦 And finally, I need to take pics for the house tour, that has been advertised as “coming soon” on my blog. Uh, yeah, need to get on that! I will be back for the party on the second to recap all of that! Hehe!
P.S. YOU are a rockstar for having such a great following already!!
xo-Lisa
I wish we could meet for yogurt as well! I do love a nice treat – but mostly because I think you were channeling me when you wrote this post. I actually came to your blog because of your link in the Nester’s Imperfect Monday party (or whatever it is called) I love wrought iron so I was drawn to this post. I’m thinking the linky party will be nice. I’ve been trying to not have too many expectations regarding my blog – setting very measurable goals, like how many posts I will do per week etc. anyway, in the meantime I will see you on Friday! Following you now on LF
I LOVE your blog …. if you are just like your blog, I know that we could definitely sit down and have a visit!
I like that you are chatty, and real. I think your pictures are beautiful … The ones of your dining room are to die for.
So I really don’t see the need for change.
PS … I’m not good with change 🙂
yes, let’s meet for yogurt. I’ve been in a tart frozen yogurt mood recently, do you have that there? Tart yogurt, with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, because you can’t go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate.
I love your list, I’m working on mine now…
I LOVE hearing about the goals that you have for your blog! I am new to our power blogger group and I am THRILLED to have found your place because I am in love before I even get through the first post! You sound so real and wonderful! :o) can we be friends?! I love your blog design and although I checked out your favorites that you shared I really really like yours and I would add it to my list of pretty blogs! :o) New follower here and can’t wait to get to know you better!
Jaime from crafty scrappy happy
Goals are good. Having a vision is good. I need to make a goal to make some goals… Beautiful post and wonderful aspirations. Got yogurt with ma boys today…chocolate and peanut butter with caramel cups and snickers…now I feel terrible and have to eat green things for dinner…
I love soft serve yogurt and would love to meet you for some and have a chat about lots of different things……….since I have had my blog a while it is nearly grown up but not quite……………….lol
I am going to go and check out some of the other blogs you have shared links to and see what I think of them.
Perhaps if you say Ben and Jerry’s ( phish food and carmel sutra) I might sit down and listen to your goals, which by the way are awesome! Looking forward to watching you reach them!
Laura
Well here is my speel, not that I matter nor count, I’m not as young as you or the majority of your followers. My blog the orginal began in Feb of 2006, I made it pretty, displayed my life, crafting, and collecting, and much more for several years. As a result I gained a tremendous amount of friends all over the world. Years later in 2009 I began to be harassed and criticized by a peculaiar groups of overzealous (super religious, yet still not sure what their religion was) ladies. For a period of over a month I recieved comments and emails that mentally worn me down, hence I deleted my entire blog! Post by post, took forever! After sometinme, I was lost! Blogging came back and “some” friends returned. Last March when my 27 year old son was tragically taken from us by a reckless driver, blogging once again left me. Well…my point, in all these years I have watched some people who have had some of the most incredible blogs go commercial so to speak. Gone was the original warmth, family recipes, family stories/parties, great crafts, etc. Replaced were perfect photos, crafts that advertised the newest product they recieved to use and endorse/demonstate (yes I get times are tough, yes I get Moms like a little cash). Those incredible bloggers who just seemed so homey,creative and fun, you know the kind you want to share a yogurt with! Instead, I found women who became so competitive to be published, endorsed, make money etc. Blogging has changed so much, just like T.V, neighborhoods and sadly famlies. I miss what blogging was. Sure a litlle blog polish is fun, exciting, but when does it become a job, a compition like some board room? Anyway, out of all the blogs, tons I still read even though I no longer blog (well still thinking about that) there are three of the say 60 or maybe more I follow, that I check on very frequently. Guess what? Your one of those three! Know why? Days still are such a struggle for me since loosing my son, we are approaching one year. However, your humour in daily life, your freshness, sincerity, your YOU bring me to you! I hope that even though you want to grow I never have to loose you, and the originality of this blog you created! Blogging growth so sadly seems to sweep people away to another platform, tarnishing the old! So Karianne, dream your beautiful dreams, grow as you deem necessary for your self satisfaction but never loose the incredible charm you now bestow on your friends who admire you just the way you are! Love to you sweet one, Lori
i think you are on a road to glory! your blog is fabulous and just keeps getting better and better and better if that is possible! i wish you a wonderful journey and i will have my yogurt with hot fudge…health bar crumbles and whipped cream!!! hugs…
I’m lokking forward to watching you achieve your goals! Ilove your blog.
Debbie
you know i would love to have a Fro Yo with you! you have some good goals there and i am sure will achieve them all! i don’t know what i want my blog to be when it grows up, but i have been thinking about what i would like to be when i grow up, so i may be writing a post about that soon…
i do know that being authentic is the most important goal any blogger can have and you, my friend are very authentic! 🙂
I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up let along our blog! LOL! Seriously though, I think this is such an awesome topic and fantastic idea for a linky party. I just put it up on our Facebook wall to help spread the word!
Vanessa
My blog has “grown like Topsy.” But maybe I should think about it some more. I have some ideas, and your list is making me ponder other things. Authentic is important. And pretty. But I hope there’s some takeaway value for the reader, too. Hmmm. Ponder, ponder. I’ll have some yogurt, too.
I totally enjoy the way you express your feelings in your blog! Keep doing what you’re doing! For me…I just want a place where I can share what I’ve been doing with my friends and family back in the States!
I just love you. That’s it, all I’ve got to say.
~Bliss~
Totally on spot……twitter scares me! And my new blog is all set up and and just a little tiny thing. You should have a workshop where we all get together and work on blogs!!
Bristol
See I leave a post and I don’t even know what account to use… here I am
How fun! I am going to join in. I’ve been really quiet on my blog for the past month, but I really miss it and need to get back to it. Writing this will help me refocus I think.
You should definitely join Twitter and follow me! @gloriafox
I could totally go for a yogurt. 🙂
Re: #1, I think your blog is absolutely gorgeous! I was totally struck by the beauty of it the first time I visited. One of my blog goals is not to try to be someone that I’m not. If that *weren’t* a goal of mine, I would love to have a blog that looks just. like. yours.
~Elena
Thank you so much for thinking by blog is pretty! 🙂 I love yours too!
I didn’t post a home tour until my blog was six months old…so if you are working on that now you are ahead of most of us! Plus you have a WordPress blog so you are already way more grown up than us Blogger girls. Actually that’s one of my goals…to migrate to WordPress. I will try really, really hard to get a post together and link up on Friday. What a great idea. :o)
I’m so excited to launch a brand new blog tomorrow with my old blog partner, Victoria 🙂 The timing with the blog party is perfect! Looking forward to reading about everyone’s blog goals 🙂
I am posting again… So glad I did the linkey party… not sure what I have shyed away from them~~~
Happy Friday~~~~
Bristol
I would be having peach yogurt with fresh peaches and strawberries on top. Not because I’m all into fruit or whatever, but because we always buy the chocolate and candy stuff for home, and I like both. And you’d be telling me all these goals, and I would be saying, “Yes, me too! Yes, me too!” And I would say, “thank you so much for linking your mantel up at my spring mantel party because I love the way you covered your books and I have been thinking about doing the same thing…” And everyone in the yogurt place would think we were crazy. We should do this sometime.