I always find it incredibly difficult to talk about myself, but here it goes...
My name is Elizabeth and I am the hurricane behind the chaos. I have been cooking since I was a kid. I love the creative process that comes with cooking. Even when making someone else's recipe, I almost find a way (or a few) to make it my own. I love the way that food brings people together.
I live in Oregon with my family; my husband, Adam, my two daughters, Moira and Keira, and my Sadie-pup, an elderly Australian Cattle Dog/ Blue Heeler mix (we think).
A Bit of Blog History
In 2009 someone suggested that I start blogging the recipes I was making so that I could easily share with those around me. I thought 'Sure, I could do that'. I began my blog journey and blogged EVERYTHING I made. Good. Bad. Ugly. I wrote it all down. But then I couldn't ever find anything when I needed the good and the great recipes. I took blogging from a more journal-style approach and as a result I began to over-think everything and blogging felt more like a chore and less like part of the creative process. So I took a break for a couple years.
In 2012 I picked up the blogging idea again. Only this time I wasn't going to over-think the act of blogging. It wasn't like a journal this time. I was only going to blog the recipes I liked. And at this point I was following a TON of other food blogs, which provided me with great ideas for how I should structure my blog. So, what happened?? Again I over-thought and over-process the entire blogging experience. I was constantly comparing myself and my blog to everyone else. To other food bloggers who were making a career out of blogging, when all I was doing was more of a hobby. But I was trying to accomplish it on a professional level. I constantly thought 'My pictures aren't good enough. My blog template isn't great. I'm not posting new recipes frequently enough. My food blog social media presence isn't there. Every post needs to be witty and have a tons of pictures and big long story before getting to the recipe. EVERYTHING is lacking'. Unfortunately I was my own worst critic. Plus at that time my oldest daughter was only 2, so I was trying balance motherhood, household duties, and two different jobs. And ultimately I had over-stretched myself. I felt like I was constantly coming up against failure after failure, but in reality that was just what I kept telling myself because I was constantly comparing myself to others.
Today I'm in a much better mindset. I mostly have this motherhood thing under control, especially now that my kids sleep through the night and there is no more potty training happening. Also, I am able to look back at my previous blog attempts and see what things didn't work and how I can approach things differently. I'm going to take things slow. Fit things into my schedule instead of having the idea of blogging dominate my already established schedule. And absolutely NO COMPARING myself to other bloggers. Everyone is out there just doing their own thing, why should I be any different? This whole blog thing for me is to keep track of the recipes that our family loves. And that's what I gonna do.
My name is Elizabeth and I am the hurricane behind the chaos. I have been cooking since I was a kid. I love the creative process that comes with cooking. Even when making someone else's recipe, I almost find a way (or a few) to make it my own. I love the way that food brings people together.
I live in Oregon with my family; my husband, Adam, my two daughters, Moira and Keira, and my Sadie-pup, an elderly Australian Cattle Dog/ Blue Heeler mix (we think).
A Bit of Blog History
In 2009 someone suggested that I start blogging the recipes I was making so that I could easily share with those around me. I thought 'Sure, I could do that'. I began my blog journey and blogged EVERYTHING I made. Good. Bad. Ugly. I wrote it all down. But then I couldn't ever find anything when I needed the good and the great recipes. I took blogging from a more journal-style approach and as a result I began to over-think everything and blogging felt more like a chore and less like part of the creative process. So I took a break for a couple years.
In 2012 I picked up the blogging idea again. Only this time I wasn't going to over-think the act of blogging. It wasn't like a journal this time. I was only going to blog the recipes I liked. And at this point I was following a TON of other food blogs, which provided me with great ideas for how I should structure my blog. So, what happened?? Again I over-thought and over-process the entire blogging experience. I was constantly comparing myself and my blog to everyone else. To other food bloggers who were making a career out of blogging, when all I was doing was more of a hobby. But I was trying to accomplish it on a professional level. I constantly thought 'My pictures aren't good enough. My blog template isn't great. I'm not posting new recipes frequently enough. My food blog social media presence isn't there. Every post needs to be witty and have a tons of pictures and big long story before getting to the recipe. EVERYTHING is lacking'. Unfortunately I was my own worst critic. Plus at that time my oldest daughter was only 2, so I was trying balance motherhood, household duties, and two different jobs. And ultimately I had over-stretched myself. I felt like I was constantly coming up against failure after failure, but in reality that was just what I kept telling myself because I was constantly comparing myself to others.
Today I'm in a much better mindset. I mostly have this motherhood thing under control, especially now that my kids sleep through the night and there is no more potty training happening. Also, I am able to look back at my previous blog attempts and see what things didn't work and how I can approach things differently. I'm going to take things slow. Fit things into my schedule instead of having the idea of blogging dominate my already established schedule. And absolutely NO COMPARING myself to other bloggers. Everyone is out there just doing their own thing, why should I be any different? This whole blog thing for me is to keep track of the recipes that our family loves. And that's what I gonna do.