The Life of Bon: A good old fashioned writing post

Saturday, July 20, 2013

A good old fashioned writing post

From L to R, Aubrey, me, Kimberly, Melinda, Chelsea

It's Saturday at noon and it feels a bit weird to be writing a blog post on Saturday at noon but the facts are that my husband is playing 18 rounds of golf in 100 degree weather and I am sitting in an air conditioned home and my fingers are begging me to write.  So write I will.

On Thursday night I sat at a table with these four adorable girls and we talked all things blog.  I have been tempted to give up on the Bloggers Roundtable- at least for the summer.  Too much other stuff going on. That afternoon, when three girls cancelled because other stuff had come up,  the effort required to gather people together seemed too much for me.

But then Aubrey, Kimberly, Melinda, and Chelsea showed up and we had the best dang two hours of blog conversation, and I felt so uplifted and inspired and motivated that I thought to myself how blessed I am to have these crazy blogging opportunities.

The overall feeling I had coming away from Thursday's roundtable was that I blog to write.  That's why I started, but sometimes it becomes a bit convoluted and messy what with sponsorships and paid campaigns and all that jazz.  It felt good to re see my focus.  To write.  To tell stories.  To connect.

So today I'm going to write.  Not about anything particular, but I'm going to take to my blog and just write out my thoughts like I did in the first days and months of this blog's existence.

This week Greg and I signed a year lease for an apartment.  We have been living with my mom for the past year (what lead us to my mom's basement here and here) and it's time to live on our own again.  I never imagined that living at my mom's would be the huge blessing that it has been.  It's funny sometimes how we make plans and then God just kind of throws them all out the window and takes us down a different path. I've been extremely grateful to be closer than ever with my mom this year and to see Greg and my mom's relationship flourish.  It has indeed been a blessing.

But it's time to move on.  I do believe we've over stayed our welcome.  Greg and I found a one bedroom apartment in Lehi with granite countertops, a pantry (gasp!) and even a walk in closet (double gasp!)  It'll cost us a pretty penny, probably a penny prettier than we should spend, in fact, but we're excited.  We would have been able to resist if it weren't for what I saw in the bathroom.

A honking huge bathtub.

That was when I grabbed the contract, scribbled my name on the dotted line, and threw the deposit money down.  This apartment would be ours.  It's weird to put money down for big bathtubs, I admit, but I know myself well enough.  Come winter I'll be trudging home every day from school and soaking in hot bubble baths with my books.  Well, the books wouldn't be soaking with me, but you get the picture, right?  It's about the only thing that gets me through January and February.  We all have our coping mechanisms, people.

It doesn't hurt that the apartment is the perfect location, right next to the freeway and only 10-15 minutes away from my work.  After two and a half years of 45-60 minute commutes I think I can get used to being 10 minutes away.

Oh, and it has a balcony.  A balcony so I can get back to my people watching and sun sitting ways.  I mean, hey, it was thanks to a balcony that my husband entered my life.  I think it's time to bring balconies back into my life.  Maybe this balcony will bring a baby into my life?  No?  Too much?  Ok.

The annoying thing is we can't move in until August 27 because that's when the apartment will be ready.  I already start teaching again on August 19 and August 27 is a Tuesday.  Nothing sounds fun about moving on a hot Tuesday in August after having taught all day.  Beer me strength.  (And ten points if you know that reference.)

If we're talking about starting school up again I guess I should tell you I'm a little scared to start teaching at a new place.  After three years at Copper Hills I was friends with the teachers and the students all liked me and sometimes when I think about starting all over again, wow, it sounds exhausting.  But I'm hip, right?  Those seventeen year olds will like me, won't they?  I'll have to paint my fingernails black and wear cute shoes and then surely I will win them over?

In other news, I've been a bit frustrated this month as my blog readership has been drastically down.  I try to not care about that stuff, but how do you make yourself not care about something you so obviously care about?  I'm trying to figure out if it's just the normal summer slump or the quality of my writing has gone down or some kind of terrible combination of the two.

My mom is in Germany this week visiting my sister who just gave birth with no epidural to a nine pound baby.  Sounds miserable, huh?  My mom told my sister not to tell me about how rough the delivery was because then I would never want to have kids.  Yes, the women in my family are scheming against me.

I miss my sister.  She hasn't lived in the same state as me for ten years and she hasn't lived in the same country as me for four of those years. Wouldn't it be nice if we could make people live exactly where we wanted them to live?

My mom's dog, Buddy, is on my last nerve.  I like this dog, I do.  After living with him for one year I have grown surprisingly attached.  But then he barks when I'm trying to sleep and chews up carpet and humps other dogs and I thought I loved him but now he's driving me insane.  I wonder if that's how people feel about their kids?  Maybe if their kids chewed up carpet and humped dogs...

Tomorrow I am going to play Risk with my husband and maybe my mother in law.  Everyone hates Risk except me.  But Greg got four hours of golf this morning so I get four hours of board game domination tomorrow.  Fair trade, right?

Over and out.

P.S.  If you're into free stuff this $50 Instagram giveaway ends on Monday.  All you have to do is like @thelifeofbon on Instagram to enter.

P.P.S.  This $100 gift card to Albion Fit has way low entries meaning odds are good for winning.  Enter!




29 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:54 PM

    I ended up in that same position in life when it comes to planning events - it's super frustrating for people to bail last minute or not make up their mind about it, but then it's always a blast with the ones that show up. That's how I still keep having my annual Christmas party every year. I get super frustrated before it happens and then I have a good time and forget about the frustration until I start planning the next one. Also - interesting that you should mention the summer slump of blog reading. It occurs for me at the same time that wedding season happens. Why is this important? Because SO many people find my blog by searching "bridal shower question game." I once had a friend guest write a post on this topic and that is BY FAR my most visited page. So it counter-balances with the summer slump, but it is still SUPER frustrating, because I know people don't stick around after they find it... and that isn't exactly what my blog is about, it's just a random post. I guess we just have to keep writing for ourselves, huh? That's how it all started anyway... also, yay for large bathtubs.

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  3. I really like it when you just write!! Congrats on your new apartment :-)

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  4. When my husband and I first moved in together, having a large soaking tub was the number one priority, so of course we picked the apartment that had not one, but two soaking tubs! One in the master, one in the guest bath. Then we went house hunting and at that point I felt I deserved a soaking tub that was separate from the shower. It was my one and only requirement. You can imagine my disdain when he tried to convince me to put an offer on a house that did not have this...until he promised me we would remodel the bathroom. Luckily though that offer fell through and we bought a house with the most ginormous bathtub I have ever seen. It is amazing and you will not regret this decision.

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  5. Congrats on finding an apartment! Too bad we have one car and my husband still has a year left. I will be making the 45-60 minute commute from Provo to north West Jordan this year...fun. But, I'm excited to teach!
    Our Fairy Tale

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  6. I love when you just write! And I would give anything for a place with a huge bathtub in it where I could just relax with a book and maybe some candles. Also, I have not played Risk in forever, but I remember as a child getting so into it!

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  7. I've been feeling the same way about my blog. I feel like my readership has been down and it makes me sad. I know I shouldn't worry about stats and such... but I do. But maybe we both need to get back to why we do this in the first place. WRITING! Just as you said. It's so easy to get caught up in the commercial part of blogging. Giveaways, sponsors, cool link-ups, etc. But, we'll both get back to it. And yay for your new apartment! It sounds delightful. I'm jealous of your bathtub.

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  8. Congratulations on the new digs. Bummer about the day of the week though. Hooray for a writing post. :)

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  9. surely it's that it's summertime. don't worry.

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  10. I love posts like this, posts where you just write. I found your blog probably 2-3 years ago before you were 'big', and I have to say that I miss all of the writing that you used to do. Guest posts and sponsors and giveaways and all that jazz are fun and whatever, but I won't lie and say that that doesn't turn me away from reading a blog. Am I allowed to say that without sounding like a total snot??

    Anyway =) Congrats and finding a new apartment and how freakin cool about the huge bathtub. That would've been a total selling point for me too =)

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  11. hey friend! yea for writing! great post. refreshing and wow on the new apt!

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  12. I only started following your blog a couple weeks ago and I have found it to be very refreshing this far. Even if there is a slump, people are still stopping by who plan to stay!

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  13. Anonymous7:48 PM

    Like others said, I like reading your stories. Those are the reason I follow your blog. Much more entertaining than blogging about blogging or sponsors. Good luck at your new school!

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  14. You know I love you too! Just like the others.

    You have inspired me to write a blog too about "just writing" x

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  15. Hi Bonnie,

    LOVE reading your blog!
    Is it possible that your statistics drop because of Googlereader > Bloglovin? If I read your post in the app I'm not sure you will notice this...
    Don't worry! Good luck with the apartment and teaching!

    XO Lizette

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  16. Hi Bonnie,

    I just wanted to say that I *love* reading your blog! It is so interesting, ingenious, and full of quirkiness. You are an amazing writer, so easy to relate to & laugh with, so keep up the good work. The blogging world would be a sadder place without you!

    Many thanks!

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  17. I love playing Risk. Except my husband is awesome at it, so it steals he the joy out of the game. ;)

    Congrats on the new apartment! I'm jealous about the bathtub. Our tubs here SUCK. You can't lay in them, seriously, because there's nowhere to put your head. Disappointing.

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  18. I love reading your stories too! They are my favorite part about your blog. I feel I get to catch up on your life, especially I don't get to carpool with you anymore. :( You are such a good writer and know how to keep me reading till the end. :)

    Your apartment sounds perfect! I am honestly a bit jealous of your short commute. Mine will be shorter than last year, but not that short. I miss you! I would love to get together with you sometime soon!

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  19. Love this! I'm glad (well, not really, but reassured...) that I'm not the only one seeing really low summer readership. I was wondering if it was me, or summer, or....what? I think I'm going to see what the sumer brings and bring my A game back in September. I also agree about writing and the importance of doing what we love on our bogs. If we don't want to write it, WHO will want to read it?

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  20. A big bathtub is great I have a good size tub and love it but I love a hot bath in winter and since I am a big woman I need a big tub.........thankfully I live only 8 minutes from my siters all three of them and we see each other often.

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  21. I have been feeling the same way about my blog! I used to just sit down and write whatever I wanted, and it was SO much better. I need to stop thinking so hard about it. And I also feel the same way about teaching! I'm about to start my first year teaching fourth grade, and I am so nervous. I have to keep reminding myself that I do actually know what I'm doing... but it's not working that well! So anyway, we're on the same page, and I love your blog. Thanks for writing!

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  22. My favorite posts are when you "just write". Congratulations on the new apartment and the short commute!

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  23. Your new apartment sounds great. Long commutes are terrible. And thanks for the Albion Fit giveaway. They have great sports clothes.

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  24. Yay for a new apartment! Yay for a short commute! Yay for new exciting adventures for the two of you!

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  25. Replies
    1. Man, I skimmed the comments and I'm like, "yes! I'm going to be the first one to point out the reference!" But you beat me to it. Good game, good game.

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  26. I bet you saved soooo much money and that is truly awesome!! Housing expenses is a huge expense; unfortunately. Pure writing posts are awesome!

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