Blog Changes in 2015

Blogging for me has not only been a way to document life events, it's been a place to connect with other people, seek advice, share stories, and reflect on life experiences.

Since becoming a stay at home mom, I've come to appreciate the community aspect of writing this blog even more.

While many of my posts are still "for me" (#Nelsendays posts, Ryan's monthly posts, documenting holidays and family gatherings), I have also come to really enjoy writing posts that are more "for others" too (favorite finds, ten on the 10th, last week's meals, etc.) because in those posts I often feel like I'm connecting with other people outside of my immediate family and friends.

In 2015, I would really love to build that community and connect more with those of you who take the time to read what I write on here each week. Because while I would still write this blog for personal documentation purposes if no one read what I wrote, it's definitely more fun to feel like there are other people out there connecting with what I'm sharing, whether personal or not.

With that in mind, I'm going to be making some changes to this space in 2015.

First, I'm really excited to be partnering with Elizabeth Chapman this year.

Elizabeth writes over at Teaching Sam and Scout, but you may know her from her previous blog, E, Myself and I.

She is a working mama who teaches high school English, is expecting her second little love in March, and writes in a way that makes you laugh and cry and feel like you are her actual friend connecting with her over coffee or wine when you read her posts.

Ironically, we both went to Clemson and had mutual friends, but never actually knew each other until we "met" through blogging a few years later.

There are lots of reasons why I'm excited about working with E this year, but the biggest is because you can sense her authenticity in every single one of her posts. She is real. She is funny. And she is a great writer.

Elizabeth and I started emailing each other back in September and found that we have a similar desire for our blogs to contain quality content and foster community with other women. Her previous blog was quite successful and she's managed to build another one from scratch after losing her domain last year, so she has been a huge resource for me over these past few months.

It is our hope that by working together this year, we can connect with more people and provide quality content for you to read.

That being said, we will be collaborating on two monthly posts:

First, we'll be bringing back a blog hop that was super fun on E's original blog. The blog hop will be called Mid-Month Confessions now because we're both mamas and a monthly hop feels a lot more doable than a weekly one. :)

This link up is intended to be a safe place for us to come together and share those moments when we've totally failed but were able to get back up and maybe even laugh about what just happened. It's a place for us to connect with other bloggers and put our non-highlight reel out there so that we can all make ourselves feel better. Because let's be honest, it's kind of encouraging to read about other people having less-than-stellar moments in their lives too, right?! Right.

The first hop will take place on January 15th, so start a running list in your blog drafts or on your phones of the confessions you want to share and get ready to link up!  We can't wait to meet new people and laugh over our failed attempts at being perfect mamas and successful women in the workplace. (Graphic coming for you to use on your blog soon - stay tuned!)

Secondly, at the end of each month, we'll be sharing our Favorite Finds for the month. I have loved writing these posts and y'all seem to enjoy reading them, so now you'll have two posts to read at the end of each month, and we'll invite you to share your favorites in the comments too!

Along with these two posts, you can expect to see me linking to E's blog more (maybe you've noticed this already?!), and hopefully we'll be working together to host some fun giveaways and connect our readers more throughout the year too.

Aside from working with Elizabeth, I'll be posting monthly goals (like these that I posted yesterday), weekly recipes and last week's meals posts, continuing with my Ten on the 10th posts, and will begin #nelsendays2015 posts, where I take one picture a day for a year. If you don't already, you can follow these on Instagram @hmnelsen, or see the recap on here each week, just like last year.

I'm excited about having a more consistent blogging "schedule" this year and hope that you'll enjoy hanging around a little longer in the mornings with your coffee or in the evenings with your wine. :)

Lastly, (almost finished!) I would really like to take on more affiliate/sponsorship opportunities this year to -selfishly enjoy more of a monetary response to the time that I'm investing on this space, and -unselfishly provide more frequent and better quality giveaways to you sweet people who make me feel like what I'm writing on here each week is worth reading.

That being said, I promise to disclose if a post I'm writing is paid and will give honest feedback on products I've tested whether I like them or not.

Okay, I'm finished. Thanks for taking the time to read this and don't forget to start keeping track of your confessions for the January 15th link up!