Yard sales to me are like food for my clutter loving soul. Who can beat purchasing little dust collecting items for small change? My neighborhood hosts semi annual yard sales and instead of walking the neighborhood collecting more things I didn’t need I decided to throw my hand in the ring and host my own yard sale.
I chronicled the mess that ensued prior to me putting out all of my once loved things. I was hoping to haggle with other clutter loving souls to get the best price for my stuff. I made a little change, considering these items would’ve been reconciled on a donation receipt from the Goodwill.
….then while I’m out there wheeling and dealing, I ask my son to bring my camera. It took him 15 minutes to bring it and when I went to edit this video I now know why. He took it upon himself to vlog…He’s a character. Check out the Scarletts on this weeks Weekend Vlog!!
August 10, 2010 I clicked publish on my very first blog post. I know you can add, but I’ll state the obvious, today marks 10 years of me being in the digital space.
TEN YEARS.
THAT’S A LONG TIME.
When I published that first post, which you can find here. I was 31 with a 3-month-old, a 4-year-old, and a 9-year-old. Again, I’ll do the math for you, I am now 41 with a 10-year-old, a 14-year-old and a 19-year-old. At that time I was dealing with the realities of being a SAHM having left my career and just looking for a space to connect with anybody outside of my house.
As a result, I have connected with some of the most amazing people that have since become family, and quite frankly I can’t imagine my life without them. While I think it is healthy and necessary to have friends outside of the computer, some of my very best came into my life because of my willingness that day to sign up for a Blogger account never in a million years thinking I would be dedicated and consistent enough to keep up with it enough to be writing this 10 years later.
Fast forward, I’ve undergone a brand change from Lipgloss and Binky to Unlikely Martha, which is hard to believe will have happened five years ago next month. I’ve poured out my heart in words regarding my wins, losses, and life changes. I feel like I literally shared the journey of me finding myself and becoming who I am on these virtual pages. Domain changes and technical difficulties may have caused me to lose a few images, but the words are still here. The words that remind me of what I’ve overcome and who I’ve become.
I never regret sharing all that I’ve shared here because I can go back and look at my growth and hopefully inspire or have inspired you through my trials and tribulations over the years. I often go back and watch our weekend vlogs that I seem to have been ahead of the curve on years ago, and while we’re not huge vloggers at this point, I am thankful that I have those videos to watch of us as a young family.
The industry has changed so much, that over the years I’ve pondered many times on whether or not to shut this place down. As the focus moved from community to more do whatever was necessary to earn a dollar, my desire to stay true to what I originally intended this place to be kept me from moving too deep into what everyone else was doing. I kept this space open because it has carried me through so much, and I won’t lie and say it hasn’t been hard for me to process some people moving ahead of me utilizing practices that I wouldn’t because they undermined my integrity, I wouldn’t buy followers or follow the industry trends because I felt a strong pull to stay authentic even if that meant getting left behind. The funny thing is I’ve actually ended up right where some that rushed to get ahead are. They stalled and I kept growing. There is something to be said for being authentic and doing the work… for the long haul.
As I step into the next decade of what my online presence looks like, I can’t help but believe the first 10 years were a sort of preparation for what’s to come. I can’t say what that is exactly, but walking into it having a confirmed sense of self, I hope and plan to inspire folks in a way that looks a lot different from what’s being done in these internet/influencer streets. I’m a creative, and I want to create content that speaks to my heart and shares inspiration in an authentic but strategic way.
You can expect to see the same me being more transparent about what working full time, building a business, keeping a house, a family and trying to look good while doing it looks like. It’s never too late to go after that dream no matter how many other things you have going on.
I feel this is the time for me to take Unlikely Market where I’ve always intended it to go. Now that I have the wisdom, focus, and a small dream team behind me, it’s time to make that happen. Content will look the same and different at the same time. I’ll be sharing more frequently and would love your support in sharing the content that resonates with you to your friends and family.
Outfit Details: Dress / H&M | Bracelets / Unlikely Market | Shoes / Target (affiliate links) | Earrings/ super old from Forever 21 | Necklace/ thrifted
I feel like I’m rambling, but I’m so excited for what’s ahead. For my tried and true followers that have been here since day one… Thank you for being here and not having me write to myself all of these years.
To my new people, connect with me, leave comments, email me, I try to be as responsive as I can. I value the connections and the community that comes with this space, and there’s always room for more… although it may take me a while to respond!
For a very long time, I spent my energy in some fashion or another coveting things other people had. Be it a larger home, a nicer car, lavish vacations, and successful careers, you name it I wanted it. I tried desperately to fight against my emotions and will them to understand that things aren’t and will never be everything. Tragically the younger version of me struggled desperately to grasp the concept, leaving me depleted of joy and full of envy when ironically the goal should’ve been the very opposite.
As the years passed and I learned to be content with what I had, I was still tragically missing the point that there isn’t a material thing on this earth that could give me peace of mind until I found my happy in a place that was embedded deep inside of myself. A place that even living in my own body I had to dig deep and search for, the place that held the key to a sort of serenity that existed in lack and in excess.
The past few months I’ve been very intentional about the conversations and company I keep. One of my favorite sayings is “Timing is everything,” and while I didn’t make it up, I sure have adopted it as a rule of thumb when it comes to my personal growth. What doesn’t make sense or speak to me this week, may affect my future in a few weeks. Keeping my mind open to possibilities and new relationships has served me very well the first quarter of this year. I implore you in any season of life you find yourself in to get grounded, find some quiet time to meditate and focus on what is good and positive. Pray, repeat scriptures and affirmations that will ground you when you feel out of control. Step out of what you’ve always known and challenge those things that don’t make sense when it comes to finding your seat at the happy table. If it hasn’t been working all this time, be open to new things and ideals to get you there. Sometimes our thinking and practices of doing what mama ‘nem did may not be working and that’s fine, let’s figure out what is working. Get a therapist, exercise, do what you need to do for you.
Lawd knows I’m not perfect and I have a long way to go, and I was very vocal here about how tough the end of 2017 was for me. I came into 2018 knowing what I did last year wasn’t working and I needed to be about the business of getting my mind in a place to sustain constant positive personal growth and I’ve made great strides. In this case friends be like me and do the work to get to a happier place. I figure we all want things, but I’ve figured out they will never be enough until we find our happy, and I’m not talking about surface happy, I’m talking about a joy that isn’t dependent on the actions of anyone or anything. Just an ole nasty stubborn happy that can’t be broken.
I love sharing little bits of our family life in hopes that people don’t find the material things in them important but the love and laughter we insert into our home the true goal. Here’s to me being consistent in getting our weekend vlogs back up weekly! Here is our newest one.
I wish you all the success in making your Q2 dreams come true. If you haven’t planned out those goals yet get to it! How did Q1 treat you? Let’s chat!
I haven’t been by here in almost two weeks with good reason, much like a large portion of the United States we’ve been battling sickness off and on for the past few weeks. Thankfully, the flu hasn’t found it’s way around here *knocks on wood* but one child has had a pesky cold that went away and came back, then the other one caught it. Then there was a bout with a stomach virus and vomit. Don’t forget we thought she might have appendicitis and after a battery of tests found out that wasn’t the issue but another one of her labs came back a little elevated so heading to the Dr. tomorrow to see about that.It’s just been one thing after another.
Can a girl catch a break? Don’t answer that.
Through it all I’ve remained healthy and I have been taking extra doses of vitamins to keep it that way. I keep saying if we can just make it to March as if March is some type of magical place where sickness doesn’t exist. Well, technically March is a pretty magical place seeing as how the 2nd day of “Magical March” marks the beginning of the last year of my 30s.
I still remember my 30th birthday like it was yesterday, and then there was 35 and now you mean to tell me nearly 40 years have passed.
Moving on.
MY evenings have been for reading, the one thing I vowed to do more of in the new year and am actually doing. I’ve read 4 books so far one of which was my very first audible book. Wasn’t sure if I would like listening to a book but I really enjoyed it and was educated that I can actually get audio books for free from my local library. I’m really looking forward to taking advantage of that.
Outside of reading, I’ve been doing a little socializing and plotting and planning.
ON LOVE
So recently I’ve been organically sharing our nightly family shenanigans on Instagram stories and my DMs have been lit with people saying our family needs its own show. Primarily it’s my husband that gets the people in hysterics, he’s not that funny to me but I live with him. I sure hope the right person/brand hears or sees that and offers us a family friendly/wholesome deal, in the meantime I’m going to do a better job at sharing our family on Youtube by bringing back our vlogs. If you want to see the foolery in real time be sure to check out my IG stories, and follow along on Youtube.
I’ve been working on the gallery wall. Slowly collecting Dollar Tree frames and adding pictures of my family and loved ones to them. I have so many photos and the narrowing down process is taking some time. Be on the look out for part II of the hallway makeover in the next week or so.
Thanks for hanging in there with me. More content coming soon, as long as everyone stays well and the creek “don’t” rise!
How’s life on your end? Are you ready for “Magical March” like me?
*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you buy a book, I make a few coins*
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