With Christmas in the rear view, I’m feeling very thoughtful. My Christmas was hit and miss to be quite honest. I have enjoyed the season this year but the actual day kind of flopped. Marriage is hard sometimes, life gets overwhelming and kiddos really don’t react well to getting present upon present showered upon them in a span of 2 days! The true meaning of Christmas got lost and gluttony was in excess. So in all my Christmas hangover glory, I’m a bit blue.
You might be wondering why I’m telling you this. I feel the need to get more personal this year. This blog means everything to me. I put my heart and soul in it and truly feel so incredibly blessed to have found a voice. But, “jenni raincloud” hasn’t been too forth coming in a personal sort of way. The truth is, I long to be understood and to connect. Friends are few and far between in this season of my life and you guys seriously make my day with your support.
I want you to know that even though I selectively pick the best picture of myself out of 500 ugly ones and reveal only the cute outfits on Instagram, my life is messy and far from perfect most of the time. As I set here and write this, no makeup, sweats, and a needed shower are my m.o. today and no, I won’t document this “look” on Instagram! Us bloggers have quite the knack for making things look perfect when behind the scenes it couldn’t be farther from the truth.
I’m excited to kick off my 2nd full year of blogging and am loaded with ideas of posts to come! I’m excited to continue to focus on natural beauty, fashion and health and hope to talk candidly about my life a bit more. I would absolutely love if you all would leave me comments on future posts you would like to see or any other thoughts you might have!
I hope you all can accept me being “real” and I seriously can not wait to dig into this new year! I wish you all the happiness during this holiday season and just please know, my readers are my friends and even though I tend to reveal only the pretty sides, I truly just want to be authentic.
Love everyone bunches!!!
Jenni
I prefer you “real”. How can you expect to connect with your audience while maintaining a facade of perfection? Be yourself – we’ll love you anyway and because of the inperfection!
Ellen-Thank you!! I agree, being perfect is boring. I’m excited to connect!
Can’t tell you how much I loved this post. Makes you so much more relatable (and you already were relatable). There are some bloggers that actually piss me off because I feel that they are speaking in such a condescending tone, and making their lives sound so beautiful and perfect. Yes, life is beautiful but far from perfect. And many times the beauty lies in the imperfection. Thanks for opening up. I look forward to the coming year!
Elizabeth-Thank you so much for saying this! It means so much! I really appreciate it!
This post was wonderful. When I read blogs or watch youtube videos, I find myself comparing all aspects of myself to their seemingly perfect selves. I always come up wanting and then feel I’m not good enough. I think there’s only two ways to go, complete authenticity, or staying strictly to the subject with no personal aspect. Personally, I prefer authenticity. After all, if I don’t see the pimples, how can I know if the pimple serum really worked? I’ve followed you since the beginning and I very much enjoy your blog. I think I would enjoy it even more with more of Jenni included. Two young ones and working from home limit interaction with other adults and minimize your chances of making friends that can support you in this season of your life. Reach out however you can.
Jennifer-I know what you mean-I follow a lot of fashion bloggers and sometimes just marvel at how hard it must be to get so many perfect pictures in the perfect places with perfect people! On certain days it gets frustrating! Thank you so much for your support and kind words!! It means so much!
Sorry you are blue, or what I call the mean reds like Holly Golightly. I’m feeling it too a bit, like, all this work, and it’s already over? But then I get this feeling of renewal with the New Year coming up and it makes me realize that I can do things differently this year, better in some cases and it gives me energy. This was a great post.
I know what you mean! I love the renewal a new year brings! The mean reds!! I forgot that line! Thanks so much!!
I agree, the holidays can be overwhelming! We keep things pretty simple here. I always WANT to spoil my kids but I don’t. I remember to keep it simple. I want them to grow up remembering the times we send together, not all the stuff they got.
Andrea-AMEN!!! I so hope my girls are making wonderful memories rather then focusing on Santa and gifts!! Great advice, thanks!
I love your blog but only discovered it a few months ago. I always feel a bit sad at Christmas, although I do love it. We have become so disconnected from the real meaning of Christmas (and I also mean the spirit of love and compassion whether someone is a Christian or not) and with it some of the magic is lost too. So many people struggle at this time of year for whatever reason but we all keep pretending don’t we? I find it really hard to get the balance right but that’s what make us human. I hope your New Year really is merry and bright and I for one will continue following your blog. Too many fake blogs out there and they have lost their appeal. None of us are perfect but that’s makes for a much more interesting person, imho 🙂
Colette-Very wise words-Balance is so hard to find during the holidays!! I had a great New Year and so glad to start a new year-I hope you had a good one too! Thanks for follwoing my blog!!