Growing Pains

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Ice cream!"

I wish I could say that that incredibly adorable exchange was between some adult and myself as a wee one, but I can't. It's actually from a talk show like Ricki Lake or Sally Jessy Raphael. This particular episode was focused on child beauty pageants.

Moving on from that awkard and essentially unrelated segway...

The ever delightful and incredibly kind Kerriann of Thistlewood Farm is co-hosting a really neat little link party: What Does Your Blog Want to Be When it Grows Up?

Before I dive into blathering about my goals for the blog, let me tell you that I have a "history" of running into things head first and becoming a wee bit obsessed. In highschool it was sports. In university it was drinking having fun. After university it was fostering death row dogs and learning everything I could about training and behaviour (my very first blog was a dog blog). I wanted to be a dog trainer/behaviourist less than a year ago - but then I clued in that it was more about training people as opposed to dogs and I got sort of turned off. Then a little while ago I was enthralled with figuring out how I could have a goat farm one day. Sometime in there I had a chicken phase, too.

My head is all. over. the. place.

In case you haven't guessed yet, my current obsession is my house and this blog. The beautiful thing is that my house and this blog can encompass so many of my dreams and aspirations. I can produce maple syrup from the trees we have on our property, grow veggies in our garden, keep chickens, and then blog about the process. I can practice Rally-O with Tahsis in the driveway, and share videos of her being a total goof. I can brag about unique hundred year old details of my house and not feel guilty about it, because only those who are interested have to click and read. I can show everyone my lovely little rural part of the world, so close to an incredible wetland that is home to hundreds of unique species of animals.

Yeah, this blog lets me do a lot of things.

But what do I want it to be as it grows up?

1. A reflection of me, my passions, my hobbies, and my life - whatever that turns out to be. At only 25 and recently engaged, I have a lot of growing to do myself.

2. A place to fall in love with writing again. Highschool english and four years of writing snore-inducing research papers in university killed my interest in writing. I'm slowly re-learning the joy of creative writing, of letting words flow a little more freely, and being a lot less monotone.

3. My place to brag and share discoveries. Rather than bore those in my "real life" who just don't care about things like how many broken pieces of china I found in the dirt in our backyard, only those who are interested in what I have to say have to read.

4. A source of inspiration and encouragement. I want others to know that you don't have to be an interior designer to have a beautiful home. Of course, my house is far from beautiful now, but it has so much potential and I love sharing our progress as we muddle through.

5. A place where people can learn about old houses and their quirks. Houses aren't built like they used to be, there's no doubt about that. I hope to let people see that old isn't bad, it just might need a little more care and attention. That's a tough job, in an instant gratification, new is better world.

With all that out there in the open...have a good weekend!