With the 1 year anniversary of my blog drawing near, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ve learned over the past several months. I’ve been kicking myself because I’m not going to finish within the year. But when I read the posts from the beginning of my blog, I realize that my point wasn’t to achieve the goal of cooking all the recipes in Simply in Season. It was to have fun doing it; to learn something along the way. I definitely have! When I started this project, I didn’t even know what a blog was until I heard about Julie & Julia. It began as a way to keep track of the recipes, to keep myself accountable for actually finishing (not sweating it too much if I didn’t meet the deadline). It has definitely been a learning experience. Here’s what I’ve discovered:
- I love to write. Growing up, I wanted to be a journalist or a writer. Then, in college, I was drawn to public relations. I ended up in marketing and then fund raising after college. For the first part of my career I wrote a lot of marketing copy, but now days I really don’t get to write that much. I had forgotten how much I love it.
- I love to read. I love getting books to review. I love reading other people’s blogs. Now I have an excuse to do it.
- I love to cook. OK not the super complex recipes, but the simple ones that taste great and don’t take too much time. Surprisingly enough, I put baking bread into that category. Actual hands-on time isn’t very much when you let the KitchenAid do the kneading.
- I love living in Michigan. I have always loved the four seasons, and now I am able to celebrate them by eating the vegetables that ripen at certain times. The diversity is incredible.
- I love making new friends. DH used to tell me that I was a hermit. But I have met some great friends through blogging; many of whom I get to meet up with once a month at our West Michigan blogger meetups. I also go to the Slow Food Book Club meetings when I can, even though I didn’t know a single person when I started. I thought it would be good for the blog, so I went.
- I love Twitter. I used to think it was the dumbest thing ever. I would tell people it was pointless; that I really don’t care what people eat for breakfast. Now that I’ve discovered HootSuite and how to search so it’s not just a jumbled mess, I LOVE it. Someone compared it to a cocktail party; I tend to agree. It’s a great way to meet new friends. (See #5. Many of my new blogging friends are on Twitter and it’s a great way to keep in touch).
- Portion Control is key. Despite eating much healthier foods, DH and I have not lost any weight. I realize it’s due to us eating pretty much the whole recipe, no matter what the number of servings is. This is something we definitely need to work on.
- You can make money blogging, but it takes a lot of work. And a lot of time. And a lot of luck. I’m definitely not going to quit my day job any time soon.
- What vegetables and fruits are available in which seasons. I know, it seems so simple. But I never really paid attention before.
- More than I ever wanted about HTML and the technical side of things.
So what’s next? I’m not going anywhere, but I am looking forward to expanding the sources of my recipes.
This post linked to Gratituesday, Top 10 Tuesday and Works for Me Wednesday
Jules - Big Girl Bombshell
Awesome! It has been a great journey following you…and yes, I am learning to cook too!
The Local Cook
Thanks Jules. Love reading your blog too. Except Chrome doesn’t let me comment 🙁
Andrea
I so agree with #6!
Christine (iDreamofClean)
I’m right there with ya on #7! Portion control!! My husband and I are constantly working on that!!
I’ve seen you on twitter but haven’t looked around your blog much until now. Love it so I’m subscribing 🙂
The Local Cook
Thanks so much! And yes, I’ve seen you on Twitter. LOVE the Twitter.
oh amanda
Love this list! Congrats on 1 year! I love the concept of your blog and *I* learn a lot whenever I’m here!
Thanks for linking up!
a
The Local Cook
Thanks for hosting Top 10 Tuesday! I look forward to it all week. Glad you enjoy it.
Julie Bagamary
Blogging has taught me a lot too.
Sado
hahahaha those reasons are pretty much mine tooo…well, except for the fact that i dun live in michigan and im still in college 🙂 just stopping by from SITS
Karen Peterson
This looks like a great blog. It’s kind of hard to believe you’ve been at this less than a year.
I blog for a lot of the same reasons you do. And I’ve had the chance to meet a bunch of bloggers this year, which has been awesome. But I really need to participate in some kind of more regular real-life activity.
And I really would like to learn the fruit and vegetable seasons, too. I live in California so most things are available most of the time. But I know they’re a LOT cheaper when they’re actually in season locally.