Currently 04: Home, Life, and Blog Updates

Hello from the ChasingDreams.net headquarters, and by “headquarters” I mean our bed. I mean, isn’t that where dreams happen? Lol.

Kidding! Well, not kidding. I am literally on our bed as I type this, wearing the usual pajamas. I wish I could say I was writing this from a hotel suite in a posh city somewhere or on a secluded island with an Instagram-worthy view. Uhm, NOT! :)

The reality is, I am working 50 hours a week while helping out with our small business and raising 5-year old twin girls at the same time. Just keeping it real guys, there really ain’t much time left to go anywhere, to be honest.

That said, this is going to be one of those update posts that is not optimized for your reading convenience, lol, so thank you in advance for giving me and my run-on sentences your kind consideration. ;)

First, life updates!

Sometime last year, my husband and I decided to let go of our apartment (and about 80% of the stuff we acquired over the past 6 years) to move back home and live with my Mom. We’ve outgrown our old place, not to mention, we couldn’t take anymore the fact that we’re spending so much rent money on a space that will never be ours, in a city that has lost its charm by our standards.

Naturally, we were aware that there were empty rooms in my Mom’s place, the same ol’ house that my brothers and I grew up in. The twins always looked forward to staying at “Lola’s house”, plus they love that they have more space to run and that the ref is always fully stocked—I mean, priorities, y’all. I won’t deny. To our 5 year old girls, being here at Lola’s is a major life upgrade.

As for me, the girl who moved out when she turned 21 years old, being back home now, at 35, with my husband and two kids, is something that feels comfortable and humbling and strange all at the same time. There were a lot of thoughts (and feelings) that went into this decision but looking back now—and considering the goals we’ve laid out for the next 2-3 years—being here has been good for us.

Five years ago I never would have imagined this scenario; but now, it gives me a great deal of peace (and a little nostalgia at times) to see Dawn & Rain experience the same humble childhood I had. To grow up in Lola’s care. To wake up to birds chirping by our bedroom window. To experience childhood in this place firsthand and not just hear about it from their mother’s folk tales. I just know that years down the line we’ll look back and remember this season with profound gratitude and fondness.

Other than this major thing, everything I wrote here still applies.

In retrospect, we’ve become really good at living with whatever fits our suitcases, unpacking, and setting up camp wherever God places us until it’s time to pack up again. There’s much to be said about what God has been oh-so-patiently teaching us in this season, but I’ll reserve that for another post.

Second, blog updates!

If you’ve been watching this space (because yes I am fully aware that I dared some of you to, ehem, watch this space), why thank you fam! :)

But if you’re really really watching this space, you probably saw various website changes over the past couple of months. I’ve been hard at work at setting this space up to have room for both life stories and the geeky resource stuff, which has to be translated in the website design, first and foremost.

One thing I realized during my blog downtime is how much I love creating content, which may sound weird because you hardly saw any content published here for a long time. (I’ve been keeping everything under wraps until the website is ready.)

If you’re here for the first time, I thought you should know that I’m a survivor product of the “dear diary” blogosphere era while also being a proponent of modern day blogging. On one hand, I miss the times when blogging was about writing stories (oversharing!) and being totally random online. On the other hand, I also know how blogging should be strategic, and purposeful, and sometimes without the unnecessary fluff if you want it to be profitable.

ChasingDreams.net for so long may be categorized under the lifestyle blog umbrella, this space being where I share stories about my life as a wife, a mother, a creative, and occasional traveler.

But outside of this space, I have published countless articles on highly technical topics like Digital Marketing, SEO, Content Creation, Social Media, Email Marketing—don’t you fall asleep on me now, this is important!! >.< Admittedly, these topics have also become a huge part of my career, my life, and dare I say, my passions.

I had to make room for both, without making this space too cluttered and the topics too broad. Readership wise, I know some of the readers of the original Chasing Dreams may not be interested in digital marketing, and vice versa.

That being said, I do see where chasing dreams and digital strategy overlap. The former being the way of life, and the latter as one way to achieve it.

After all, we do live in an era (oh what a time to be alive!) where the first step to chasing dreams can be as simple as launching a website or starting a blog.

Lastly, the role of blogging in chasing dreams

This blog was an important tool that got me through my life’s changing seasons—still is! It serves as a creative outlet where I tell stories and document milestones, while also being the hub where I showcase my work, offer my services, and gain unique income-generating opportunities.

Through this blog, my career adjusted to my seasons in life, not the other way around. It allowed me the flexibility to travel when I was younger, and gave me unique opportunities to work from home when I needed to raise babies.

In other words, this blog has become a channel, a tool, a hub, that allowed me to chase my dreams.

And now I want to teach YOU how to do the same, and I dedicate an entire section of this website to do just that!

If you want to learn the process of starting a blog, creating content, growing your readership, and turning your blog into a profitable channel, then the Bloggers’ Hub is for you! See you there!

If you’re here because you’ve been following my journey from Day 1, or if you want to see more of Dawn & Rain who seem to be growing their own loyal fanbase, lol, then we’re back to regular programming around here. Thanks guys for sticking around! :)