Who Are You, and What Have You Done with My Blog!!

Hello blogging friends. 

Are there any of you still left out there reading I'm a Nola Girl? 

I appreciate you if you are.  I know I haven't written in a while, and several times now I have said that I will be back to blogging regularly. 

Here's the thing...

When I started this four years ago, it was my creative outlet.  It was my connection to New Orleans.  It was a way to express myself.  To share my interests and my thoughts.

In the last two and a half years, a lot has changed.  For starters, we moved home.  So rather than needing that feeling of connecting to New Orleans from afar, we are right here experiencing it.  I sometimes feel like I think more about documenting my life than living it.  Do you ever feel that way?

I started a new job when we moved home that, while fulfilling, is incredibly demanding.  I come home sometimes and feel completely and utterly drained.  It requires me to give so much of my self to succeed - whether it is developing and nurturing client relationships, increasing my technical skills, coaching and mentoring staff, or being actively involved in the city.  I have only begun to find ways to balance everything in my life, and sometimes the "me time" I used to have is absent.  Hence, when can I sit down and put interesting, creative, or humorous thoughts together.

In November of 2011, we welcomed our Sweet Baby Jane into this great big world.  It is often hard to remember life without her in it.  Where in the past my brain was filled with thoughts of Paris or fine dining, fashion or decor, it is now filled with thoughts of child rearing and development.  I remember when I was connected to a blog, and then the writer would have a baby.  All of a sudden, the site would be filled with anecdotes about milestones and endless streams of pictures of the baby.  I would think, "what happened to the writer?"  "Is she no longer the same woman?"

And I think that is my biggest struggle with my blog at this point.  I have always made a point of being as true to myself in writing as I am in person.  And now, I am a MOM.  No, it is not the only thing I am.  I am so many things, but when it comes down to it, my world is no longer filled with glamorous images of Paris.  Instead, it is filled with children's songs sung in French.  And no longer do I find my apron splattered with coconut milk and saffron broth, but instead it is caked in a healthy dose of peanut butter and snot.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have tried so hard not to be the girl who only posts about her baby.  But in doing so, I often feel like I am faking it.  Like I am trying so hard to be this uber cool mother who can keep it all together and still have several hours to find amazing pics and clever ways to link them all together.

What ends up happening is that I don't write at all.  As you can see...

Well, no longer.  I miss my blog.  I miss connecting with you.  But, most of all, I miss sharing my thoughts with the great big world.

So I am going back to where I started.  I am going to write about what I am inspired by.  About what I am missing.  About what I am living. 

I hope that you will continue to visit and comment.  I hope that you will still find something here you can connect with.  Most of all, I hope that you can understand that where I am in life, you just might have to see a reel of pictures of my baby.  She's a pretty cute kid if you ask me!

Thanks for listening. 

Jen