My blog is my outlet! My outlet to be creative, to share, to laugh, to cry all on the other side of a computer. If you have been reading my blog for awhile now you know I am all about getting to know the “real” me! I love for my readers to actively engage in my life, get to know me, ask me things, tell me their hearts, etc! I have been wanting to do a “get to know me” kind of post for awhile so I finally had some free time to create a form where all of you could chime in and tell/ask me things announmously and get a straight forward answer! So here we go with some of the questions, I may not be able to answer all of them in one post but I will do this more often and maybe even do a live q&a on my Everyday With Bay Facebook page so make sure you are following along!
(Pictures provided by Kingdom Come Photography)
1. How do you juggle kids & getting housework accomplished? — Oh dear, let’s just be glad my husband isn’t answering this question because he would probably say “SHE DOESN’T” haha Bless his soul, he is the most laid back, giving and helpful person I’ve ever met. He doesn’t care that we have laundry backed up for days, that our floors are constantly sticky, or that our sheets might not have gotten washed recently…It’s hard y’all! Staying home with 3 little people who don’t ever leave me alone leaves very little time for cleaning. I try to pick up when Huxx is napping and then make them have quiet time during the afternoon so I can blog then but if you ever feel like you aren’t up to par on your housework….please just snapchat me and I’ll instantly make you feel 100% better because I can guarantee mine is a wreck! 🙂 The days are long but the years are short and I just keep telling myself, someday I’ll miss the laundry piles from my little crazy 4 year old fashionista, and the cheese all over the floor from my sweet boys pretending it’s spiderman’s web pieces…are you catching my drift here? #alwaysmessy You can read some of my tips for a clean-ish house here!
2. How do you budget? Well once again, gonna brag on my dear hubby! He totally takes care of all of our financial things. He’s a numbers guy to the core so he actually loves the bill paying process, finding where we can save/splurge, and he always recommends using this solution for mortgage leads. We also use waste free products, the best laundry stain remover cost so little and has the least negative impact on the environment. I’m seriously so lucky, he pretty much takes care of my life!
3. How do you keep yourself looking so put together? — Um…so I guess I need to start showing more of the real/not so pretty moments of my life because y’all if you saw me out running errands you would not be asking this question! I do love to get dressed up when I can/have time but goodness my usual is a big t-shirt, yoga pants & barefoot running ragged chasing my kiddos!
4. Do you workout? — Blahhhhhh….I wish I could say something totally motivational here about how I love to workout & eat right but the truth is I don’t! I literally only ever work out if I know we are headed on a trip somewhere I’ll need to be in a bathing suit! My height (5’10) definitely helps in this area because I’m all stretched out! HA! It is just not something I enjoy, it’s pretty much a form of torture…and *ding* my cookies are done as I type this. Ya feel me?
5. Favorite meals to cook? — Hubby for the win again…I mean I knew I was lucky but after writing all about him in this post I truly hit the jackpot. He cooks 90% of our meals if we aren’t doing take-out! He is a phenomenal cooker and actually enjoys it, so I keep the kids occupied, he cooks and we meet at the table! #winwin
6. How do you split time between families for the holidays? — Thankfully we both have very laid back families who aren’t so wrapped up in a certain day defining the holidays. We just talk schedules and make it work when we can!
7. Do you use any store bought makeup? Favorites? — Oh yea, I’m a cheap makeup girl at heart! I sold Younique for awhile, loved everything about it but when I started trying to take my blog further I just couldn’t keep up with all of it! I’ll do a makeup video soon on Everyday With Bay so make sure you have “liked” that page to follow along!
8. Do you have a schedule? — Yes we do! It’s pretty much the same everyday except if we are on holiday break, have people in town, etc…Greleigh goes to school now 4 days a week for 3 hrs a day so it goes somewhat like this…7-7:30 everyone is up, we make breakfast (by make I mean pour the kids cereal & milk) we all hang out, talk, get everyone dressed, Matt leaves for work, I finish getting things ready for the day, take Greleigh, come home, Huxx naps, Kaige usually gets his cartoon time here, I clean up or blog a little, wake Huxx up, pick up Gre at 12, make lunch, all of them nap…I say that loosely because naps are few & far between with the older ones now but they do stay in their rooms so I can have some quiet/work time, they come out when Huxx is up, snack and then we all just watch the clock until daddy is home! (and by all watch the clock I strictly mean me because by this time in the day…I’m beat) We eat dinner around 5:30 or so, Huxx goes down for the night around 5:50-6:00 and then the big kids by 7:30-8:00, then it’s adult time, we usually binge watch our shows, eat cookies (or at least me, Matt is way more dedicated than me) and then in bed by 10:30 or so!
9. How do you balance your day to day life with small kids? — This. This is so hard, and I strive to be better each day. Did I play with them enough? Did I let them play independently enough that they understand that there is not always someone to entertain them? Did I do enough to make the house look presentable? Have I taken a shower? Why is there dried oatmeal on my pants when we didn’t even eat oatmeal today, or heck even yesterday?! Balance is a tough word and I think you just have to give yourself some grace, love those kiddos fiercely, and always make time for your spouse!
10. What does your husband do? — Matt is a salesman for an agriculture company. He sells cotton seed, fertilizer, chemical etc to local/area farmers! It’s a great job & we are truly blessed by it!
BLOG QUESTIONS:
1. What is your number 1 tip for finding companies to work with on Instagram? — Well my first thing is make sure companies know how to reach you! You need to have your email on your bio page so if they want to reach out to you they can. The other thing is go through your house, look at products you already use and reach out to those companies for opportunities!
2. How much money do you generally make on a sponsored post? — This is almost impossible to answer! So many companies have different ways of doing things, networks are involved, direct relationships! It varies from company to company and all depends on your flexibility to work with the company based on what they will pay as opposed to working strictly for product exchange if the product is worth your time!
3. How have you built your following? — My advice here is find your core group of similar bloggers! Blogging friends are so beneficial and truly what I need sometimes when no one else understands what it’s like to spend countless hours on a post for the brand to critique it and tell you they want everything changed! Network & share your content everywhere! Use appropriate hashtags, follow bloggers in your niche! Just be you, be genuine & don’t let others bring you down!
Based on the reader survey it looks like lots more fashion, beauty, and the “ugly” side of motherhood will be hitting the blog so keep looking out for that as well as more video! Once again, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me & loving me through this journey! The messages I received from the survey were heartwarming & I feel so blessed to touch the lives I do even if it’s only one person! I know God is letting me share my heart to all of you and hopefully helping someone along the way and for that I am truly grateful! Please continue to share my content & don’t forget to follow along on all of my platforms!
My husband does the cooking too!! Yay!!
I love getting to know you blog posts. You sound like one awesome person!
Great questions/answers! It’s so fun to read these answers of other bloggers! Love your reply to working out/eating healthy! Me in a nutshell! =)
I love this! What a unique idea!! <3 Thanks for sharing!! P.s Your photos are gorgeous!!!
I love posts like this! What a great idea!
Belle | One Awesome Momma
I love that you did a Q&A. It’s such a fun way for me to get to know the blogger behind the blog!
Loved learning more about you! We make breakfast the same way, haha:)
Always fun to learn something new about someone’s who’s blog you read. Glad to hear you don’t have it as pulled together as it looks … we all need to be better about showing some “behind the feed” stuff … makes everyone feel a lot less alone! Thanks for being real!
Such a great idea! 🙂
I am trying to get better at working out myself! 🙂 I tend to really “go for it” when I have a trip or some place to go as well, lol! Hopefully in this new year things will change. 🙂
Hi there, its really nice to meet you. It always awesome to meet the person behind a blog. I hope to see you around. xx
Great post. I think it’s important that the readers can connect with the writer on a more personal level from time to time. Love the idea of a getting to know you!