Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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A Day In The Life Of A Blogger

Holy cats, have we really been blogging for six years?!

Blogiversary 6

It feels like Blogiversary 5 just happened, and that it was mere months ago that it was 2007 and we were posting tiny pictures and writing a few sentences each night about whatever was going on under our roof. All of the years of this adventure have been exciting, but the last 12 months in particular have brought things we never could’ve expected when we started this site: a book that somehow landed on the best-seller list, a lighting collection that we designed right here in Richmond with a local company, a short film on Oprah (what?!), and probably the most exciting thing of all to us… a new house in a neighborhood that we’ve dreamed about living in for longer than we’ve even been blogging.

Blogviversary House

For our sixth blogiversary, we wanted to start things off with a twenty piece orchestra to serenade you while you eat your Toaster Strudel and scroll through this post, but the logistics were a little tricky. So we decided to go for the next best thing: a week of blogiversary fanfare and behind the scenes banter (just like we’ve done for the past few years here, here, here, and here). And the festivities start right now. Here are a few of the things that we have on tap for this week:

  • a day in the life post full of pictures & details about an average day for us (just keep scrolling for this one!)
  • an awesome giveaway that just happens to involve plane tickets
  • a mathy medley of pie charts and blog stats about how we spend our time, where our money comes from (and where it goes), along with a few pretty intense facts & figures (some of which even surprised us)
  • a Q&A video full of answers to tons of personal questions that you guys submitted via Facebook
  • a behind-the-scenes post about our recent Oprah stint (there’s a pretty funny story about how that day started out…) along with a clip for you guys
  • a post about a side gig that didn’t work out (you win some, ya lose some, so we thought sharing something that didn’t work would be a fun pulling-back-the-curtain moment)
  • a chance for you guys to tell us about yourselves, which John can’t wait to spin into an infographic-tastic recap for everyone

So on with the show! Some of our favorite blogiversary posts to look back on are our “Day In The Life” rundowns, since it’s fun to look back at what times were like in previous years – especially to see how our surroundings and our family has changed (click there to read the ones from 2012, 2011, 2010, & 2009).

DayInTheLifeYears2

But documenting yourself all day can make an already long day that much longer (ex: setting up the tripod to capture laundry folding), so this year we instituted an iPhone pic-only policy so that our day would be less filled with camera set-ups and more, well, like a real day in our lives. So forgive the crummy quality of some of the pics. That’s real life, yo.

6:15AM: John’s up. Today he goes for a run around the neighborhood, but some days it’s the gym (and some days it’s just staying in bed). Once back, there’s even a little bit of time to respond to a few emails before us girls wake-up.

DayInTheLife 1 6am

7:45AM: Clara’s awake and she and John start the day slow with some playing in her room (they made a Lego dragon). I’m out of the shower and getting dressed, and Burger gets out of bed, but only for a second for a potty break. Then it’s back up to bed for him.

DayInTheLife 2 7am

8:30AM: Everyone’s downstairs. Breakfast is eaten in various places, including Clara’s morning cup of yogurt while she takes in some Jake and the Neverland Pirates after some magnet-doll playing with me. I get a jump on reading, approving, and answering comments that collected overnight while John squeezes in a shower & a shave.

DayInTheLife 3 8am1

9:00AM: Running a bit behind schedule for school, I get Clara dressed quickly while John tosses her snack into her school bag. John and Clara are off just in time for the 15-20 minute drive to preschool (depending on lights). I hang back to proofread and double-check that morning’s post before it needs to go up at ten – making sure links work, all the images are in, and doing some last minute tweaks.

DayInTheLife 4 9am

9:45AM: Clara’s dropped off at preschool so John runs a couple of errands on the way home, namely stopping at the grocery store to replenish the fridge. I steal a few minutes to respond to emails before hitting publish on the post at 10.

DayInTheLife 10am 2

10:30AM: John’s home from the grocery store and I’m busy doing comments on the morning post. Once the food is put away, John takes advantage of the quiet house to focus on some computer work: backing up photos, responding to emails, and starting to select and size pictures for a post later in the week. I take some last minute photos for an upcoming post since the sun finally decided to come out and then I do some emailing about the showhouse before starting on a post for the next day.

DayInTheLife 11am2

NOON: Time to pick-up Clara at school. Since we’ve got a meeting right afterwards, we both head out. Once Clara’s picked up at 12:30, we swing by Jason’s Deli to grab a quick lunch before of our 1:30 meeting.

DayInTheLife Noon

1:00PM: Back in the car to make the 30 minute drive to our appointment, which is photographing the Massey Street of Dreams for the quadruple House Crashing post we shared last week. This is already starting to feel like one of those days where we live in the car.

2:15PM: John’s photographing the homes while I gather info from our guide, Justin. I also steal away to publish the afternoon post from my phone at one point. Justin’s 10-year-old daughter was there so Clara spent most of the time playing with her new friend, although they eventually both ended up resting since we were close to Clara’s nap time, and Justin’s daughter was under the weather (hence not being in school and tagging along with us).

DayInTheLife 2pm

3:00PM: We leave the Street of Dreams to make the 40 minute drive home. I use the car ride to catch up on the comments that built up while we were touring. Clara reads a book in the backseat and John checks in with her periodically to make sure she hasn’t fallen asleep. Can’t lose a real nap at home by letting her drift off for ten minutes in the car!

3:45PM: We’re home and Clara is down for a nap. This is usually prime project doing-time, but I have a phone interview in a few minutes related to the Super Soul Sunday clip, and a showhouse call with the builder and his team afterwards. John gets changed into work clothes so he can caulk the sunroom’s trim & nail holes while I juggle two phone calls, a few emails, and attempt to finish the post I started earlier that day.

DayInTheLife 4pm1

5:30PM: Clara’s up from her nap, so I go up there to grab her and we play in her room for a little while.

DayInTheLife 5pm

6:00PM: Family walk time! We don’t get one of these every night, but this weather is too gorgeous to skip one today. We talk about Clara’s school day, the upcoming posts we’re both writing, and what projects we each hope to get done the next day.

DayintheLife 6pm1

6:45PM: Home from our walk and time for dinner. Tonight’s a family favorite – chicken squares (update: here’s the recipe). Clara puts her mixing skills to work with me while I check in on comments again and finally finish the post I’ve been working on sporadically throughout the day. The thing about sharing 7 posts in a 5 day period is that we’re always working on finishing some that are already written, writing new ones, and answering questions for the ones that are already up.

DayInTheLife 7pm

7:30PM: Dinner is ready so we sit down to eat together. Clara gets her tomatoes and veggies down with minimal encouragement and even eats half of a chicken square. I clean up after dinner while John tackles a few emails that have built up throughout the day. Then Clara and I snuggle on the couch for a few minutes, finishing up the episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates that she started before school.

DayInTheLife Dinner

8:15PM: Bedtime for Clara. She votes for a different mix of helpers each night, but tonight it’s Mommy on teeth brushing and PJ changing duty while Daddy is in charge of reading the story.

DayInTheLife 8pm

8:30PM: With Clara tucked in bed, it’s time to squeeze in a few more hours of productivity before we stow our laptops for the night. John finishes the post he prepped pictures for earlier in the day while I catch up on any questions that came up on Facebook or Instagram during the day along with sending some book outline stuff to our publisher (yes, we’re officially working on Book Two! Ahh!). Eventually the TV gets turned on and we’re sort of half watching as we finish up some last minute emails, comments, and miscellaneous computer work. We can’t believe other than John’s sunroom caulking, we haven’t done much DIY at all, which means tomorrow will probably be a project-heavy evening (after Clara’s all tucked into bed) to make up for it.

DayInTheLife 9pm

10:00PM: To resist the urge to keep working, we clean up and turn the lights off downstairs, put our computers away, and head up to watch TV in bed. Our current routine is trying to catch up on old Scandal episodes on Netflix (John’s 70% into it and I’m about 120% into it thanks to his sister getting me addicted).

DayInTheLife 10pm

11:30PM: John has already fallen asleep a couple of times mid-Olivia-Pope tirade, so the TV goes off once that episode is over. With teeth brushed and contacts out, John has a second wind and reads a few pages of a book while I decompress with some Pinterest browsing on my cell phone along with some late-night texting with Katie Bower and Roo. Burger finally comes under the covers to snuggle between us, and the lights are out by midnight.

Comments

  1. bridget b. says

    I just had to say, I watched your segment on Super Soul Sundays yesterday and it was too sweet! I just about swooned when Oprah (herself!) said your names. Congrats on the show and on 6 years of blogging!

    Reply

  4. Colleen says

    Love getting these insights into your day! Do you ever consider letting go of some control over the comments? I know I have my blog set up that only first-time commenters need to be approved. It seems like a lot of your day is taken up with approving comments, especially since your blog is so popular.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Colleen! The reason we like to moderate comments is that a lot of questions roll in each day. So if some comments were auto approved, we’d miss those questions. One of the things we think got us here is engaging with you guys (we love to chat with you guys and help people by answering their q’s) so we’d never want to give that up.

      xo
      s

    • Theresa M. says

      Colleen, this is exactly why they are so popular. John and Sherry respond to questions (sometimes repeatedly!) I find it annoying as a reader to not have questions answered by the author. I usually don’t return.

  6. Manda Wolf says

    Just like a regular day! I feel so lucky for Clara, she gets to have both her parents home with her at this age, this has to be a wonderful thing for her. It is so interesting to see how packed your days are. Any more details on book 2 you can share?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’re not quite approved on the concept yet, but hopefully in a few more months we can share some basic info about it. We’re really excited about it! It won’t come out for a few years (books take forever!) so we won’t really get into nitty gritty details for a while!

      xo
      s

    • Manda Wolf says

      That’s good. I still have a bunch of paint chips in your book for projects I want to do but having got around to yet. I think the next one that is going to be tackled will be to wall paper the ceiling in our living room. I even have all the supplies for it, I just have to do it. *smiles*

    • Teresa @ wherelovemeetslife says

      I think it’s awesome you guys are getting another book opportunity :) I have to ask though, do you worry that the concepts or ideas you write about in your book will be dated by the time it is published? I know you could keep it to the timeless stuff, but the trendy stuff is fun, too. Just curious!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s rough! We killed so many concepts because we didn’t think they were long-lasting enough! We finally came up with something we think is fun and sort of a classic concept – at least we hope it is!

      xo
      s

    • Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

      Items that people might perceive to be fact or fiction about the blog or other self related content. Myth or No Myth would be another way to put it.

      e.g. Fact- We’ve spent x number of hours remodeling our kitchens.

      Fiction- The average post gets y number of comments.

      They don’t all have to be quantifiable, but John might enjoy the potential to do a really cool infographic with it.

      Just an idea…

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s fun! So would people have to guess if something’s true or false, or would we be revealing it up front by saying “fiction: my middle name is Eminem”

      xo
      s

    • Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

      It all depends on how you want to structure it. You could lead up to it the week before Blogiversary with the statements and then reveal during Blogivesary week whether they are fact or fiction.

      You could also just share during Blogiversary week in text and graphic format (e.g. “fiction- my middle name is Eminem.”) You could also link them to (or include them in) the Forums.

      It’s all what’s best for you, your perspective, and the time you have on hand, etc.

    • Heather says

      Is is bad that despite the fact you guys are already swamped and super busy I love the idea of people putting their own Fact or Fiction in the commons and having other people guess on them? The amount of comments that would cause for you guys to moderate would be ridiculous – but I also imagine responses could get totally out of hand in a hilarious way.

  11. Danielle F. says

    Book two!!! Well that just made my day!
    Scandal is so addicting, I also got my sister addicted to it. Happy Blogiversary!

    Reply

  14. Melissa says

    This was a great post and congrats on the blogiversary!

    Now for a seriously important DIY question. What are chicken squares and will you please share the recipe?? They look awesome! :)

    Reply

  15. Katy @ The Non -Consumer Advocate says

    Happy anniversary! I was just thinking about how I meant to do something special for my blog when it turned five in May, yet somehow never did.

    And I love that you’re watching “Jake and the Neverland Pirates.” Captain Bogg and Salty are a Portland kids’ band that we love. We started bringing the kids to see them when they played library concerts and *maybe* a dozen kids would show up. Its been so fun to see their popularity grow through the years, and we even hired them to play at my sister’s wedding. My mother got Captain Boggs’ father his first job in journalism, and even changed the captain’s diaper a few times back in the day! (I hear he was a big baby.)

    I miss the days of preschool Pirate rock.

    Keep on bloggin’!

    Katy

    Reply

  16. Kathryn @TheLifescape says

    Yikes! I mean- I sort of understand the amount of work that is involved in running a website – but I always wondered how you guys got – what seemed to be an infinite- amount of things done!

    If everybody had your drive and determination- the world would be a better place!

    Ps your Oprah appearance was adorable!

    Reply

  18. cjw says

    John fell asleep during an Olivia Pope tirade? I didn’t even know that was possible! And to make this comment relevant, I wish you could House Crash her condo. :)

    Reply

  20. Angel says

    I will never understand people who say working for yourself/at home isn’t a full time job – its actually much more of a full time job than a 40hr/wk job (trust me, I know first hand).

    I loved the part about keeping Clara up in the car. I know that routine all too well! Glad to know I don’t have the only kid who only has one “fall asleep” in him per day.

    Happy Blogiversary!

    Reply

  21. Lorie Smith says

    I would love the recipe for your Chicken Squares! Love your blog have been following the whole time and I also love your book, it’s on my coffee table, can’t wait for #2 to come out…woo hoo!

    Lorie

    Reply

    • Nicole says

      They’re super easy! Here’s how I do them:

      3-4 chicken breasts. Cook the chicken breast – I usually cube it and just cook it w a bit of oil in a pan. My mother-in-law cooks them whole and then shreds the chicken.

      1 stick of cream cheese
      1 stick of butter

      Once the chicken is hot, mix w/ butter & cream cheese until everything is melted.

      You need 2 cans of crescent rolls. You’ll end up w/ 8 crescents/squares in the end. So, keep 2 of the triangles together to form a rectangle – I try to smooth out the dotted line so they don’t separate while baking.

      Scoop some of the chicken mixture on to each rectangle. bring the corners up over the top – opposite corners together.

      Bake according to directions on crescent can.

      We serve ours w/ chicken gravy, too!

  24. Megan @ Rappsody in Rooms says

    Man, I love blogiversary. It’s just so much fun to see all the fun behind the scenes stuff! It sounds like you are definitely getting your work/life balance better this year – at least I hope so for you. What a fun and busy and work filled day. Happy blogiversary!

    Reply

    • Aly says

      I’m so torn too! But it was definitely the best episode of the season. And who knew hospitals had such great parking for boats?

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha! That was the one scene I would have done differently. It would have been so much more believable if he snuck her out the side where nobody was or something, but all the people around while he walked by was crazy.

      xo
      s

    • Karen says

      If I could jump in here, too… I’m kinda with John, not sure how I feel about. I did roll my eyes at the unbelievable story change of Deb all the sudden having all these feelings for Quinn! That was a jump the shark moment right there. Sad she passed. Glad Dex is still “with us.” :-)

  26. Brittany says

    Happy blogiversary! It’s so crazy to think that y’all have been blogging for 6 years. I’m right behind you guys at 5 years, 6 will be next March. :)

    Congrats on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday. That’s so cool!!

    Reply

  28. Erin says

    I keep getting a “widgets_tweet_button.html” error message on both my laptop and ipad whenever I open your site. Anyone else having this issue?

    Happy Blogiversary! Can’t wait to hear about Book 2!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Erin! Sorry about that! It seems to be a twitter glitch that we’ve been hearing about from other people who use that plug-in/button. Trying to get to the bottom of it right now for you guys!

      xo
      s

    • Dave says

      Hi Erin,
      This “widgets_tweet_button.html.torrent” popup seems to be all over the place. First noticed it on Yahoo News webpage today, however I am picking it up on other sites as well. It seems to happen when you click anywhere on the webpage. Hope someone can solve the problem real soon!!

  30. Tasha says

    So busy! It’s cool to see how you guys spend your days. It’s hard for me to imagine since you don’t work in an office and that’s basically my only job experience so far. I’m only 25, so I guess I have some time yet before it’s too late to experience self-employment :).

    You stay up a lot later than I would expect!

    Reply

  31. LMG says

    I was thinking Blogiversary was coming soon…

    Thanks for this post! I always love seeing you guys just “live” in what looks like a showhouse for the pics. It makes me think all this DIY stuff is actually possible… :)

    And thank you for sharing Clara routines! It’s also helping me feel more normal with my hecticness! :)

    Reply

  32. Dawn Lowe says

    Even though I live in a townhome and can’t really decorate and paint and stuff, I love your blog. I really enjoy the humor with which you approach life. Reading it is so much fun and I look forward to your adventures everyday. Thanks so much for doing what you do!

    Reply

  33. heather says

    Heads up – when you come to this post a file automatically pops up saying

    “You have chosen to open:

    widgets_tweet_button.html.torrent
    which is: torrent File (301 bytes)
    from: http://platform.twitter.com”

    then it asks if I would like to open the file or save it.

    I can choose to cancel out and it does nothing – but I thought I’d let you know. This happens only on your site and it never has before.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So sorry about that! It seems to be a twitter glitch that we’ve been hearing about from other people who use that plug-in/button. Trying to get to the bottom of it right now for you guys!

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We disabled the tweet button that we thought was causing the issue, so Heather, is it happening for you anymore? Tara, Im so sorry about the pics not loading. That sounds crazy and possibly unconnected. Anyone else have that issue? Don’t know what that could be other than a bad connection. Or sometimes virus blocking software blocks our photos due to a glitch and they come back the next day.

      xo
      s

  34. Kelli@littlecottageofmine says

    Ps..I just wanted to say that my much later started day :) starts with a cup of coffee and your 10 am post! My day just wouldn’t be the same without a check in with the petersiks to see what you crazy kids are up to. I love blogs but y’all’s is the one I do not miss reading every single day!! You are just not allowed to retire even if this was your 30th blogoversary!! :) xoxo

    Reply

  35. Holly says

    Love this post. And congrats on Super Soul Sundays. I am a little intrigued by the chicken squares. What are those all about? They look yummy :)

    Reply

  37. Jess says

    Fiiiiiirst of all, I think we all need that chicken squares recipe. That looks crazy delicious and hopefully not all that complicated.

    Second of all: AAAHHHHH A SECOND BOOK!!!!

    So excited for all that is coming up in the next year for you guys! Thanks for taking us on the journey with you :)

    Reply

  38. Stacey says

    Happy 6th Blogiversary guys! Love reading about an average day in your house. Those chicken squares sounds awesome. And welcome to the Scandal-addict family ;-) We all could use some Olivia Pope in our lives!

    Reply

  39. Courtney says

    OK I haven’t even read the entire post yet, but I just HAD to leave a comment. I love love love this week every year, and I got a little overly giddy when I saw it’s blogiversary week! Yippee!!

    Reply

  40. Vickie says

    The mom in me says John needs more than six hours of sleep a night. He’ll wreck havoc on his body doing that for the long term.

    Okay, I’m done mommying now …. Happy Blogiversary!

    Reply

  41. Brenda says

    I’m always amazed at how much stuff you get done in a single day! I know this particular day you didn’t get much DIY done, but it’s so easy to forget how much work goes into maintaining the blog apart from actual projects (comments, new posts, etc).

    Reply

  42. Kelly says

    Do you ever pre-schedule the posts to go out at a certain time or do you always press schedule even if you’re out and about?

    We only do 2 posts a week on my biz blog and they’re nearly all pre-scheduled which saves my team so much time.

    (p.s. in year 7 y’all need team!)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I always push publish since questions come in pretty quickly after a post and if we leave the post up without approving/answering comments we tend to get the same one over and over again (so if we squat the post and answer the questions that come in for the first half-hour it tends to cut down on a lot of duplicate questions that might pop up if people don’t see the comments getting approved/answered). Hope that makes sense!

      xo
      s

  43. Isabel says

    Happy Blogiversary! I’m currently up to blogiversary 3 in my YHL-from-the-beginning-catch-up so it’ll be really fun to go through both at the same time. Here’s to 6 more years times five!

    Reply

  44. Laura says

    I love how you guys manage to accomplish so much every day while devoting so much time for Clara. I’m on such a productivity kick right now (just started my own business) and seeing how you organize your day and how you divide and conquer is awesome. Congrats on 6 years!!

    Reply

    • Elyse B says

      Ditto! I have two sons, one is 4 and one is 2 and Clara sleeps probably 3 hrs more per day than my 4 yr old and 2 hrs more than my 2 yr old… crazy jealous here.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, we’re so grateful about her sleep. It’s one thing we usually can count on (well, a few nights ago she was sick all night, but most times we can!). My only tip (because I’m pretty sure it’s mostly nature and not nurture anyway) is that we swear by blackout shades and a sound machine. Blocks out the light and the sound of us hammering, haha!

      xo
      s

  47. Lisa Champlin says

    Great post! Makes me sleepy just reading it! I think I looked at the pic of your dinner for way too long! Recipe please…

    Reply

  49. Carmen says

    Congrats on your blogiversary! I taped, then watched later in the evening, the Souper Soul Sunday segment and really enjoyed seeing you guys in motion. Also, great news on Book 2!

    Reply

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