HAPPY 4TH BLOGIVERSARY EAST WILLOW GROVE

Happy 4th birthday little blog you! I could have chosen a more flattering photo of myself but that wouldn't be fun! I was having issues with my manual focus and shooting by myself if you can't tell #bloggerprobs

Happy 3rd Blogiversary East Willow Grove

The title is a lie, I'm sorry. September 26th was my official 3 year blogiversary. You're like, right Chelsea, that was almost 3 weeks ago, COOL. Like a lot of things in life, I'm late chatting about them! My excuse? I was high up in the sky trying to throw back a couple cocktails and not have my children climb all over the plane at 10pm on Sep 26. You can watch the whole video here! Who thought a red eye with kids was a good idea?

Happy 2nd Blogiversary East Willow Grove

Hi.

It's been a while. Some of you are new so let me introduce myself.

My name is Chelsea and I am a 29 year old mother of two. I'm a boy mom with a beauty room and a love for coffee and brunch, preferably together.

I'm a girlfriend of 11 years and fiancé for almost 1, our wedding is exactly 6 months from today in beautiful sunny Mexico! I work full-time in the Detroit auto industry while managing this blog, our daily lives on Youtube and running an Etsy shop. Recently I started shooting wedding videos and have developed a love for long boarding.

I make frequent trips to Target, am obsessed with finding things on sale and don't require a ton of sleep to function, I guess that's where the coffee comes into play. I have a dog who drives me crazy but can't imagine our house or life without him. My heart beats for relationships with family and friends as they are one in the same to me. I thrive on to-do lists and schedules but sometimes make big decisions on a whim.

I enjoy giving gifts much more than receiving them and have a hard time saying no to candy. I love social media, a good dance party and sleeping with the fan on. I could talk to anyone and rarely do I feel uncomfortable in awkward situations. I love adventures and the unknown but crave the security of home base.

I'm an open book, a filterless mouth and a passionate women. I am, East Willow Grove, a place where I come to document the good, the bad, the uplifting and the sad. I try not to hide in my struggles or relish in my fears because you only get one life and this is mine.

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Today is not really my blogiversary, Saturday the 26th was, but it was also our Pre-ception party and I decided to hold off writing this till after it was over. My brain has been running a mile a minute and my body can't keep up. I've started posts, filmed videos but have been too twisted around to know what side is up to click publish on anything.

I'm sure you could tell because this place has been a little scarce if we're going to be honest here. While traveling for work,  I've been planning a wedding, parenting and playing house with Jerek. Life has been nothing of boring or basic around here! This past year goals have been met, tears have been shed and new lives have been created. Jerek and the boys have been my light through the forest of unknown adventures and the reason for more laugh lines on my face.

My hopes for this next year on East Willow Grove are big. I want to travel more and showcase these adventures near and far with the boys. To post more outfit ideas from a mom's eye view and display looks for less. I want to archeive milestones while commemorating the everyday happenings on video through my YouTube channel. I want to shoot more weddings, births of new babies and time spent with loved ones.

Sharing it all here is something I enjoying doing, it's never a chore, never something I get sick of, in fact, I wish I was here more, even full-time dare I say. East Willow Grove is a place where all are invited, a place where I hope other mothers nod their heads and smile or can lift themselves up as I too try to navigate parenthood along side of them. It's a place where I had kids first, bought a house second and get married after, a place I am proud of, where I can be creative and a place where I've met new friends. East Willow Grove is more than just a dropbox for my thoughts, an external hard drive for my photos it's a place I come often to clear my head, to remember the moments and to engage with others.

Welcome, you can stay as long as you'd like.

Happy 2 years East Willow Grove, you are so loved. 

How I named my blog + Giveaway

How did you come up with that name? 

I get this a lot. 

I get this from my dog's name Ducati, 

my sons' names Tracen and Skylor 

and also with this blog.

None of these names were thought up over night. In fact I'm so crazed about naming such things that it took me months to think of dog names, baby names and a hell of a lot of blog names. Since this is about how I named my blog, I'll shy away from the other boys mentioned.

East Willow Grove began in my head while I was pregnant with Tracen, writing in a baby journal that I will give him when he's older. It began in the glider in the nursery as I was projectile vommited on and crying. As I rocked him to sleep I thought about the day, the things we did and the pictures I took. It began when we went to cider mills and pumpkin patches, dinner dates and early morning brunches with friends. It began in bathrooms waiting for pregnancy tests to show two pink lines to house hunting, lots of house hunting. It began after disappointments, hospital visits, tears, after loosing house after house after house. It began after birthday parties and anniversary celebrations, after first heard heartbeats and laughter. It began after drives to church and snowstorms, after births of babies and nights of screaming toddlers. The funny thing is, it began years ago, before I hit publish.

I've been reading blogs for years now, and always thought I would love to have my own, but never took the plunge. This was most likely because I was in college, always working three jobs, maintaining a long distance relationship and trying to figure out what the hell I was doing after school. It wasn't until I was pregnant with Skylor that I thought, 'hell, I'm going to do this, I need to start thinking of a name!' I use to write names down in my phone and and go on namechk.com to see if the name was available. I wanted to make sure that I could have the website as well as all social media accounts under one name. To me it was important as I hated finding bloggers and YouTubers that have all different names on social media. I also Googled, how to name your blog and read every article there was. I'm not kidding, I honestly read tons of articles on 'What's in a blog name' or 'How to name your blog.' What I got out of it all was it needed to be short and sweet, something that people would remember easily and that could not be spelled wrong {or in a way that people would get confused.} It also shouldn't have the word 'the' or 'blog' in it, such as www.chelsealovespizzablog.com or thechelseablog.com.

I also started thinking what I wanted my blog to be about or what 'category' I would consider it to be. I read blogs about fashion, finance, babies, DIY, beauty and lifestyle. I knew that I wanted it to represent me and my life and everything that I'm interested and involved in. Because if I'm sharing my life with the world, I want the world to see it through my eyes. This is why you will find beauty and hair posts, fashion finds and coupon deals, mommy moments and toddler meltdowns, real life confessions and photos, lots of photos. East Willow Grove is simply a lifestyle blog that focuses on life, imagine that!

Now to the part of where the name came from, which I'm sure that's why you're reading this {minus the fact that I have a big giveaway, right? right.} Now as I mentioned before I had notes in my phone titled 'Blog Names'. I remember thinking that I loved how short and simple Pink Peonies and Ivory Lane was and I had been thinking about the name 'Sequins and Sippys.' While the name was available I thought about it and in 3 years now from now I may hate sequins and sippy cups may no longer run my life. I also had the word willow written down. I can't remember when or why but it was there and I just loved it.

On Sundays I usually would go to church with either all the boys or sometimes just one. This Sunday was weird, Sky wasn't up from his nap, Jerek wanted to do things around the house and Tracen wasn't feeling like leaving the house, so I hopped in the car and took full advantage of going solo. I also needed some alone time. While I had actually left early, I took a route that had so much construction I was actually 10 minutes late. Sitting in traffic behind a kajillion cars turning left into the parking lot, I glanced over and saw the street name from the picture. Looked at it and realized it had willow in it. I wrote it down and went to church. I had never been to church alone and it was a totally different feeling. I told myself if by the time I got home, looked up the name, if all of the social media sites weren't taken, that was it. When I got home and checked I was pretty disappointed. The website was taken as it was a resort in Tennessee. I started thinking I was never going to find something that I liked. I'm not sure why I kept looking and trying to make it work but I typed in East Willow Grove and boom. NOTHING was taken, so I took it. Every account that I thought I would use.

And there you have it, the story that started it all! Sorry that was so lengthly! 

With next Wednesday being my 'actual' 1 year blogiversary {since pushing publish} I'm having a big giveaway with some of my favorite things as a huge Thank You! I would love to personally thank each and every one of you that has read, commented and shared East Willow Grove but that would cost a lot in gas and as you remember, I live in a house full of boys with very large stomachs. All details for the giveaway are below and it will stay open for one week. The winner will be announced next Wednesday, the 25th in the "one year" post.

{Everything was purchased with my own cash flow & this is in no way shape or form a sponsored post}

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