A few weeks ago this site got a makeover and at the same time I added Window Mistreatments, Content to Rent and The Nest files.  Wanna know how I plan to run them all?

I’m going to run four blogs all wrong.

I gave myself permission to do it all wrong as soon as I decided to start a few more blogs.  Sometimes, that’s the only way I can do something~if I’m ok with not doing it 100% perfect.

Normally, when people start any kind of business or new website they make big plans for a big launch complete with a big parade, bands and a wardrobe malfunction.  Maybe they call Kate Middleton WhateverHerLastNameIsNow to see if she can smash a bottle of champagne across their new logo.

I’m starting three new blogs and then hoping to slow down my schedule just a little for summer. What?  That is the wrong way to start a blog. It sure it.  But it’s the right way to have sanity during the summer.  My goal once again is to Do Less and Be More and I cannot even tell you how agonizing it’s been with the timing of these new sites.

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How can I run four great blogs with great content and be home with my boys every day this summer?

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I kind of can’t.

Remember why I started Window MisTreatments and Content to Rent? Both came from the idea of an ebook.  But I didn’t like the finality of finishing an ebook and then not being able to include other great ideas and links to you all who come up with creative new ways to do things on a daily basis.  So back in February I decided I should start three more websites.  Nest Files is the third but it’s just an extension of what I was already doing at my tumblr blog.  I figured I’d have those sites up and running at the end of March and truck away at them for a few months while my boys were in school.  Naturally, the design for those blogs was done the last week of school.  And we only have 18 summers~they aren’t something I’m willing to compromise in order to start other sites the right way.

The site you are reading right now, Nesting Place will always be the main focus and my baby.  Here you will get the same kind of posts you have for years, hope, encouragement and lighthearted decorating and housey thinking.  I always post less during the summer at Nesting Place, and this year is no exception.  I’m not willing to let those other blogs get in the way of what I want to do here. If something is ignored it’s not gonna be my kids or husband or Nesting Place.   It will be those other sites.  Poor things.

Window MisTreatments and Content to Rent are designed to be more resource type curation sites.  Both will have pillar posts, for example window mistreatment will have post like How to Buy Fabric, What’s a Window Mistreatment, Common Mistreatment Weapons Tools.  And Content to Rent will feature posts like How to Find a Rental Home, 10 Fast Ways to Cozy up Your Rental but, both sites will also heavily feature projects from you.  I’m not planning on writing every day for C2R and Wm.  I hope to write there once a week~once school starts.  And go ahead and expect sporadic, inconsistent random posting this summer. Again with the all wrong blogging.  I’m ok with that.

Also, I have a new secret weapon to help keep me sane…

Her name is Caroline and she’s my mentor in organization.  And she’s really pretty.  And she’s one of my dearest friends. Many of you already know her because she’s active online and has a reputation for being incredibly encouraging. I mentioned Caroline to Gussy while she and I were talking on the phone yesterday and Gussy was all, “Caroline {insert last name}? Oh, she sent me the nicest note in the real mail!”.  See what I mean?!

I’ve known for a while that I need help at Nesting Place but the thought of trusting someone scared me.  I never guessed that the someone who would rescue me would be someone I already knew so well.  Caroline told the whole story of how this came about at her blog. She has already taken over billing and communication for the private ads here at Nesting Place.  She also formats the posts at Window Mistreatments and I’m planning on her being the editor for the guest posts at Content to Rent.  And then I would like to move to the mountains and have her run my life because she is that intentional and amazing.   If you are going to Relevant this year you can meet her, we’ll be rooming together~we’ll be the ones hyper ventilating after the plane ride.  I just called it a plane ride. Makes it sound like the Wright Brothers will be our pilots.

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And for the record, besides Caroline, I have a few other people who help behind the scenes: Darcy the amazing, long-suffering graphic designer who makes Nesting Place pretty {I still think she might be a mind reader}, Daisy Olsen, WordPress developer and Genesis theme framework specialist…I call her the coding genus who makes Nesting Place work,  she also updates stuff and does backup so I don’t have to think. And then of course my husband.  Nesting Place simply wouldn’t exist without him and his encouragement.  And my dad and my sister put up with me all the time talking through how I think about the Nest and what I’m planning and on and on and on.

Anyhow, I think it’s important for you to know that I’m not doing stuff by myself.  And I’m purposely allowing myself to be slack with those other sites. And if you don’t know this about me, I’m kind of business minded so in some ways it kills me not to attack these new sites and launch the heck out of them.  In some ways, slowing down was a hard decision.

So yes, those other sites are live and you can visit them, there’s links up at the top of the blog, teaser posts in the sidebar and I’ll link here as well: Window Mistreatments, Content to Rent, Nest Files. I’m still tweaking the design and as soon as I figure out how you can subscribe to each one separately, I’ll let you know.  In the meantime, thank you for putting up with me while I do things slow, wrong and my own way.  And happy summer to you. I hope you find the perfect balance of intention, purpose and rest during these long but fleeting days.

 

Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.

~James Dean