Erin Akin Carroll

an olympic-sized brain dump

Aug12012

One

Thank you all so much for your encouragement and your honesty yesterday. I’m working through this transition and just trying to get myself back to a peaceful place so I can enjoy it! In the interest of full disclosure, I wanted to share that I still have a few obligations to fulfill in the next few weeks and you’ll still see a few Huggies posts every now and then, including one later today. These opportunities help my family and I’m thankful for them.

Two

We are in the midst of Olympic mania around here. I kind of get the impression that Todd just watches to humor me, but I can tell he enjoys watching, too. Maybe not the women’s gymnastics so much, but he does enjoy it.

He especially loved watching Aly Raisman’s parents react to her uneven bar routine the other night. And then we cast Kristen Wiig as Aly Raisman’s mother.

I was so happy for the Fab Five last night! They looked so so happy, especially Jordyn Wieber. The smile that lit up her face during her floor routine was just radiant.

And MacKayla Maroney’s vault? Holy flying teenager, Batman! Incredible!

We were also super excited for Michael Phelps and his record-breaking medal count that he achieved last night. He’s just such a once-in-a-lifetime athlete and he’s been incredible to watch.

Todd has completely tolerated my constant bickering about NBC’s Olympics coverage. They tweet the results and hold back all the coverage for us in the evenings, which I understand, so I’m just staying away from Twitter. Except when NBC finally shows us the events, they take up so much of that coverage time with fluff pieces and awkward interviews.

Three

We’re leaving for vacation on Friday. I really cannot wait. I have lined up some really great ladies to guest blog while I’m away. I’m excited to turn over my little space on the internet to them to share what’s on their hearts.

Four

My Kindle is all set up for our trip. I’m looking forward to having lots of opportunities to read. But with the Olympics going on, I have a feeling we’ll all just be huddled in front of the TV every night on vacation because we refuse to miss a night of Olympic coverage. We just can’t get enough!

Five

Can we go back to 1996 and just watch the gymnastics Olympic Gala again? Anyone remember when the Magnificent Seven did “the macarena?” Classic!

Can we also discuss how crazy it is that the Fab Five is too young to really know what happened in 1996 with the Magnificent Seven unless they watch old VHS tapes (remember those?) or You Tube videos. I feel so old!

Six

Can y’all believe August is here? Where did the summer go? There are kids that are having their first day of school today. This baffles me. Time goes too fast.

straight from my heart

Filed Under: Faith

Jul312012

*This is one of those posts where I’m about to ramble. And I really do hope you’ll stick around and read the whole thing, but if you don’t, I understand.

I’m going to ramble and I’m going to humble myself enough to admit some major flaws.

Have you ever read something that put a lump in your throat and a knot in your stomach? Did it cause your brain to spin and leave you stopping and jotting down your thoughts throughout the rest of the day? Or the rest of the week? Or month?

Have you ever read something that really opened your eyes and helped you see things so much more clearly?

I just finished reading Jessi Connolly’s eBook, “Be Quiet And Say Something.” And girls, (guys?) you need to read this eBook.

I’ve been blogging for nearly five years. The first couple of years I was just kind of wading through. I’d update a couple of times a month and I don’t think my own parents even cared to read it. I thought it would be fun to update on life and occasionally “journal” about what it was like to be an engaged girl.

In those early days I wasn’t on Twitter. I don’t even think Twitter existed. Did it? I don’t know. I only read a handful of blogs and they were all written by women who were in very similar life stages. It was so much fun developing and growing such a great little community of newlyweds.

My blog grew, my readership grew, I got a new blog design, I had a baby, I started staying at home. And I realized how much I would come to rely on that community. I trust these women (you). They are my friends. We’re all going through life together and we’re spread out all over the country.

So all of a sudden there are people that are reading and coming back every day to see what I have to say. And the idea that I had any kind of opportunity or even responsibility was lost on me.

Eventually there were people who wanted to advertise their small businesses on my blog. So I wanted to help them do that because it seemed to be mutually beneficial for both of us.

Then in the summer of 2011, I decided to place BlogHer ads on my blog and start writing sponsored content for BlogHer. I love to write. I only accept sponsored posts from products and companies that I actually pay good money for. And I know that this content isn’t what everyone wants to read.

I promise this post isn’t about how my blog grew or how “cluttered” my blog has gotten with sponsored content. But I’m getting there. I promise, there’s a point!

It has been my goal through all of this growing and changing to make sure that my true voice is still very present on my blog despite the sponsored posts, which are written by me in my true voice, by the way. But I can see how it can alienate people.

I’ve been praying about the direction of my blog for a while now. After many months of wondering how to slow down this fast cycle where it feels like my blog is spinning to a place that is beyond my control, I found “Be Quiet & Say Something.”

In the eBook, Jessi talks about how we all have influence. As a mother, a wife, a blogger, a church member, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a volunteer… we all have influence over the people in our lives. We have a story to tell. And it is so important to me to be glorifying Jesus in my story. It’s important to me to use that influence for Him.

And in reading that, I realized that all of this “extra” stuff I’ve had the opportunity to do has very good intentions. My heart was absolutely in the right place. And while I do very openly talk about my faith, I was missing a huge opportunity to make much of Jesus. I was just making much of Erin. And then this is when I felt like I would cry and not stop again for a few days.

So why do I blog? As an introvert, blogging is great for me. I could never stand up and talk to all of you about the things I blog about. I’d much prefer to sit in a room in my pajamas with 3-4 of you and just chat. But I can do this. I can write.

And I write to connect with all of you. I blog to share my story. And my story happens to be full of God’s grace and mercy. And you know what is so great? There are so many of you who share your story with me every day, too. If you blog you tell your story on your own blog. If you don’t blog, you leave comments or leave tweets and share it with me there. You email me to encourage me or challenge me. You minister to me.

There are days when my story sounds lame. It’s often boring and there’s no big punch line. But it’s just as much God’s story as it is mine. So any insecurity or expectation from me just need to be gone.

My boat was rocked when I read Jessi’s eBook. Just about a month ago I was feeling like Blue-Eyed Bride was getting away from me. It was becoming a place where I felt like a slave to so many other people and so little of it was fun. I was getting to write, but there are only so many hours in the day. I was losing time with my family and spending too much time responding to emails.

I want to write my stories. I want to talk to you about my heart and what I’m learning.

There will be some changes around here. That doesn’t mean that there won’t ever be sponsored posts. Because the truth is, as a stay-at-home mom, these little projects help our family, and I am thankful for those opportunities.

But I’m done with feeling obligated and I’m tired of the rat race. Because we all have influence and we all have a story. And we should all be able to tell it truthfully and without fear that it’s not good enough just as it is.

I’m working to regain the place that’s for me, where my voice can be heard. It’s a place where I’m not shouting at you about a whole bunch of nothing, but taking the opportunity to quietly show you my heart, my home, and Jesus.

via Be Quiet & Say Something

the new look!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Jul302012

A couple of months ago, you may have noticed that my little blog got a new look. My very sweet, dear blogging friend, Marina, from Penny Lane Designs, worked her beautiful magic again on my blog.

Back in December I contacted Marina and started talking to her about my ideas and my vision. I wanted everything to be more organized and user friendly.

I wanted to make things easy for potential advertisers.

I wanted to clean up the design and change out the header photos. And she did it. I was truly blown away with the end results! I didn’t have specific plans for the color scheme, but after looking at lots of paint swatches I came up with a color palette that I thought would be easy on the eyes.

In June, she let me know that she’d installed the new design. After months of brainstorming and Marina working her magic, it was done!

So here is what you can find with the new design:

A new header.

A scrolling “featured posts” section. I may update these at some point, but these are some of the more “popular posts” on my blog, so I wanted to give readers easy access to those.

I’m using categories! Finally! There’s a little box in the sidebar where you can find the archives, categories, and search feature.

Pretty little buttons for the more popular categories. These are the categories that I use most often or used to use a lot. My “home tour” is in the “from my home” section. All of my posts on faith and family are in the “faith and family” category. And the same goes for recipes, wedding, etc.

Easy ways to connect via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, email, and RSS feed.

You can subscribe to my blog via email if you’d like.

A new “Facebook like” button in the sidebar so we can connect via Facebook.

A sponsor information page. This is very user friendly. If you are interested in sponsoring my blog, you can just click there and the whole thing is very self-explanatory. Cuts down on a lot of email back-and-forth.

So if you’re reading in a Reader, come visit and click around. I’d love to know what you think! I hope it’s easy to use and fun to read.

my thoughts on "getting old"

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Jul302012

I’m a 1982 baby. I have lots of friends who are 1982 babies. And we’re all turning 30 this year.

My thirtieth birthday is in November, and when I was asked, “How do you feel about turning 30?”, I could very honestly answer that I was excited.

I’m looking forward to a new decade. The things I experienced in my twenties included college, turning 21, graduating college, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, meeting my husband, getting engaged, planning a wedding, buying a house, and having two babies. It was a big decade.

But somehow it feels weird to still be “sharing” a decade with my 21-year-old self. I’m excited about 30. I’m excited about it because I feel prepared. It’s a good mix of optimism and preparedness. I’m not necessarily the picture of health. But we know so much more these days about the environment and about what we eat. We know the things we can do for ourselves to live longer, healthier lives.

I want to pass these habits onto my children. I want to be a good example. I want to be a healthy mom. When my own mother was diagnosed with melanoma in 2010, I vowed to be even more careful than ever about my time in the sun. I’ve seen the effects it has had on her, and I am determined to protect myself and my children from that kind of hardship.

We have so much information, and we’re about to do things with that information to age well. We can be active. I think 60 is the new 30! Turning 30 is just going to be another day on the calendar, but I feel like I can enter this next decade with hope. I can plan to travel. And play with my children. And create memories and fulfill dreams.

So how do you feel about getting old? I’m optimistic. I’ve learned a lot in my (almost) 30 years. I’ve changed; I’m a different person than I was just 10 years ago. Time helps us and changes us.

I visited GetOld.com and registered on the website so I could read the stories and testimonies of others. Pfizer’s campaign is dedicated to helping people of all ages come together to share their feelings and tips about growing older in a positive, fulfilling way.

Everyone has a different thought that stands out in their mind as they get older. Many people think about their own health. Some think about their kids’ health or their parents’ health. Some think about the legacy they have left on their children.

I imagine there is a good mix of people who feel optimistic and hopeful and then the people who feel regret and worry. For some, getting old means a new day. And for others, getting old means there are only so many days left. But the truth is, getting older means we have another day — hopefully many, many days. But each day is a day where we can live and make the most out of that time we’ve been given.

I’m not old. I’m a long way from it, but I’m ready to take on each new year with a great attitude and a commitment to health. And most of all, a commitment to making memories and enjoying the ride with my family. Share a comment about how the aging process makes you feel, and you will be entered for a chance to win one of three $500 SpaFinder gift cards, courtesy of BlogHer and Pfizer! Entries will be pooled across participating blogs and three winners will be chosen

For your convenience, here are highlights from the Official Rules for the Sweepstakes. Please note by submitting an entry you are agreeing to the full Official Rules, available here.

No duplicate comments.

Please do not mention or imply any pharmaceutical products in your posts. Posts that mention or imply a pharmaceutical product will be subject to removal.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt at the bottom of this post.*
b) Read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
*Note: if you want to comment but either (i) are not eligible or (ii) do not want to enter the giveaway, please include something similar to the following statement in your comment: “I do not wish to enter the sweepstakes.”

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Medical professionals who are licensed (or are otherwise authorized) to prescribe medications are not eligible to enter. While BlogHer encourages you to share your thoughts and experiences about getting older, comments discussing medical conditions and/or medical products are not permitted, may be deleted, and are invalid entries. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

This sweepstakes runs from 7/30 to 8/31.

Be sure to check out the BlogHer.com Get Old page to find out more about the Get Old platform and read how other bloggers feel about aging!

«Previous Page