• About
  • Speaking
  • Consulting
  • Amber Hinds

  • Journal
  • Press
  • Contact

Amber Hinds

Georgetown, TX
Blogging, Life
/
August 24, 2020

Hello, Is Anyone Out There?

It has been 1 year, 9 months and 3 days since I last published a blog post on this website. At that time, we had just moved from Colorado to Texas and I thought that I was going to revive my blog. I wrote a handful for posts, but then life and business got in the way and I let the website fall silent again.

Over the last 642 days, a lot has changed in our world – and I’m not just talking about the craziness that is COVID-19. There have been changes in our business as we grew our team and adjusted our focus. We achieved our dream of purchasing a travel trailer and spent two fabulous summers traveling the middle and western half of the country, and even filmed an episode of a TV show, Going RV.

Perhaps the biggest change is that last November, we grew from a family of five to a family of six with the surprise addition of our sweet little Vivienne.

Chris holding Vivi up in the air while the rest of the family looks on

Once A Blogger, Always A Blogger

Parenting and entrepreneurial demands took up most of my attention and kept me from posting anything more than occasional Instagram posts, but when something big or interesting would happen, I would say to Chris, “I really should write about this.”

It was passing thought, mostly, easily set aside with the notion that there were other more important ways to spend my time. But the truth is, when you spend so many years of your life documenting things as I did, it’s hard not to feel called to write more.

In the past 6 months, our world turned upside-down and we were dragged, kicking and screaming, into the alternate universe that is Coronavirus. As 2020 progressed, I’ve found myself thinking with increasing frequency that I ought to be blogging about this unique time.

I should be documenting what is happening and how it’s impacting my family. There should be some record the girls can look back on, and I can’t help but thinking that perhaps I can bring something to the important conversations happening right now.

Redoing My Site

Finally, three weeks ago, I put the kids to bed and decided that it was time to work on my website instead of doing anything else. And so that is what I did.

Somewhat sneakily I took the website offline (or so I thought, there might have been a notification, or (gulp) 12, that spammed people when I imported demo content… oops; sorry).

Over a week and a half, I redesigned and rebuilt the theme and I adjusted page content to better represent me and where I am in my life right now. I powered through the “fast and dirty” way, cowboy coding right on the site in a manner that would horrify the developers on my team, but I got it done and pushed it live all without really telling anyone – outside of the few people who noticed my little Lorem Ipsum content import goof.

Then I spent 15+ hours combing through old blog posts fixing broken images from a previous poorly done migration years ago (I can only blame myself) and cleaning up deprecated content (like broken pins in my Saturday Surfing posts that are in an old format no longer supported by Pinterest). There are 848 posts on this website, so I’m only halfway done with this task, but I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished thus far, and I’m hoping to chip away at the rest of them over the next couple of months.

And Here We Are

The whole time I was working on the new design for the site, I mused on what my first post “back” should be. It’s hard to know where to start when I’ve been away so long and so much has changed in the world since I last wrote. On top of that, there is so much that I want to say.

Tonight, I think I’m going to leave it at this – a quick re-introduction to who we are and a promise to come back and write more, but with absolutely no promise of when that might be. In the past, I have tried to commit myself to write posts on a specific schedule. Outside the early days when I was blogging as a stay-at-home mom on Nantucket, it never worked.

Now I’m older and wiser, with 4 times as many children, and so I’m going to stick to reality and be okay with it. I can’t promise you how frequently I’ll write, but I will find my way back into the saddle, and I hope you’ll join me for the ride.

A Reintroduction

In case you’re new here, and really because it’s been so long since I last wrote, it seems only fitting to sign off with an updated photo of my family from last week. Here we all are:

The Hinds Family

Me, my hubby, Chris, and our four beautiful daughters: Nora, almost 11, Zara, 7.5, Adelaide, 3, and Vivienne, 9 months. I’m looking forward to sharing my story with you.

6 Comments
Share
  • Allena Gurley
    August 25, 2020

    I’m excited to be along for your blogging journey! I still blog 2-3 times/week and think I would miss it a lot if I stopped. My website definitely doesn’t look as nice as yours (but I’m a CPA, not a coder ha), but I do love my little internet space. I really like how the family picture turned out – the colors all go together really well, y’all look great!

    Reply
    • Amber
      Allena Gurley
      September 5, 2020

      Thanks, Allena! I didn’t realize that you blogged! I’ll have to check it out!

      Reply
  • Sheron
    August 25, 2020

    Hi Amber, I loved reading your “first” blog post in quite a. While and look forward to reading more. You have a beautiful family!

    Reply
    • Amber
      Sheron
      September 5, 2020

      Thanks, Sheron! I’m excited to be blogging again.

      Reply
  • Donna powelk
    November 16, 2020

    Amber your Blog is about the only way I know what is happening with you and your family. So hope you can continue to do it often.

    Reply
    • Amber
      Donna powelk
      April 5, 2021

      I really do hope to write more. The reality of life is that I don’t frequently find time to do it, but I am always thinking about how I can find more time.

      Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Comment

Recipe Rating




Previous Post
What It’s Really Like Working Remotely From a Fully Remote Team
Next Post
To Nora, at Eleven

Life Right Now

aucoeur

View

Feb 7

8 1
Open
I started a podcast with Chris and our business partner, Steve! We'll be releasing episodes every Monday on website accessibility and craft beverages. Check it out or subscribe at AccessibilityCraft.com.

#podcast #podcaster #accessibility #accessibilityforall #accessibilitymatters #accessible #a11y #WordPress #webdesign #webdevelopment #websitedesign #ux #usability

aucoeur

View

Jan 22

12 2
Open
It's that time again... Girl Scout cookies! And this year we have two selling. Help them meet their cookies sales goals by ordering online. 

If you live nearby, choose girl delivery and help get cookie boxes out of our garage... Otherwise we're going to be giving them Girl Scout  Cookies for birthday and Christmas presents all year.

Addie's link: https://tinyurl.com/2os3rmdy

Zara's link: https://tinyurl.com/2nev4fs3

aucoeur

View

Nov 30

15 2
Open
Bus stop selfie with Nora. This week she moved from her tiny charter school with only 18 eighth graders to the public middle school with over 200. And now she rides the bus.

The charter school wasn't challenging her enough, has a huge percentage of students who are disruptive in the classroom, and has been having trouble keeping teachers. Last year she loved it. But this year it was one thing after another, so right before Thanksgiving she and I went to go tour our neighborhood  middle school, and she immediately wanted to make the switch.

We've never had a kid in public school and I was nervous about how the transition would go from such a small school to a big one, but so far she's loving it and is glad she decided to move schools. It helps that she knows kids there already from her dance team. Hopefully she'll still be happy when she starts getting homework. Coming from a no homework school that may be a shock to us all.

aucoeur

View

Nov 16

7 0
Open
My three year old girl. 💕

aucoeur

View

Nov 1

11 0
Open
Halloween 2022. Two witches, a murderous cat, and a creepy Victorian doll. 

Zara's costume was my favorite this year - Nora did her makeup and she wore my flower girl dress from my mom and step-dad's wedding. She might have worn it better. 😂
  • Start Reading
  • Explore Topics
  • Get in Touch
  • Subscribe

COPYRIGHT © 2020 AMBER HINDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Site Powered by Pix & Hue.