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Hey folks, I was going to post this yesterday, but I mis-scheduled it. Cassie tagged me earlier this week with the Creative Blogger Award. Thanks, Cassie! She chose her creative life as a theme for her random 10 facts and although a theme is not required, I’m going to follow suit with a theme of my own: blogging.
Here are 10 facts about my life and blogging:
Fact #1:
Blogging is considered a foolish career choice in my family. My family thinks that all I do is “model” clothes on my blog (they refer to my outfit posts as “modelling”).
Fact #2:
I get unsolicited career advice a lot, such as: go to work for a big company, work for a little company, work for somebody else — get any job with any company — just get a job with a paycheck every two weeks.
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Fact #3:
I’m a blogger. I love my blogs and I enjoy what I do.
Fact #4:
Admittedly, I’m uncomfortable with the “blogger” title. As in, I feel reluctant to tell people what I do for a living. I think that will change when blogging can really sustain me.
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Fact #5:
My background is in computer science. I did well in college and graduated with honors. Some professors expressed high hopes for me in Silicon Valley.
Fact #6:
The codependent in me wants to make everyone happy, but working at a company as a full time programmer is no longer my passion.
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Fact #7:
My goals are to follow my enthusiasms, explore my curiosities rigorously and vigorously, and to share the wealth with everyone.
Fact #8:
Sometimes I question and second-guess my choices and ask myself what the heck I’m doing with my life.
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Fact #9:
When in doubt, I remind myself that Life is Short and that failure is intrinsically part of moving forward.
Fact #10:
I admire people who believe in their vision: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Lynda Weinman, Bruce Heavin, David Heinemeier Hansson, Seth Godin, Ez Pudewa, Heather Armstrong, Leigh-Ann Keffer, Elsie Flannigan, Susannah Conway, and Holly Becker.
I’m supposed to tag 10 pals (if you’re swamped – please don’t feel obligated to do this, ok? Okay!): Lisa, Jennifer, Natasha, Maddy, Adeline, Nikki, Annemaj, Diana, Cesar, Kate
By the way, these photos are not related to my 10 facts — they’re my week in photos. Click on a thumbnail to view the full versions. :)
{ 31 comments }
Katrina, I logged into Facebook and saw your post pop up and I’m glad I did… yay, first to comment! hehe
RE: Fact #3… While you may not currently have your family saying they’re proud of you, never forget that there is an entire blogging community that IS proud of you. The work you do and the posts you create are just beautiful and YOU brighten our days… keep up the wonderful work xo
Some of the links that you posted yesterday speak to this phenomenon of finding one’s place most successfully in life. They were interesting to me, because I find I am in the same position: one seeks to create beauty, which cannot exist if one is living a parallel life as dictated by others (even those who are well meaning). One of my favourite questions to ask (myself first, then) my students is: What is success?
…This is a thought-provoking post, because sometimes I feel so alone in my life choices, forgetting that there are others who are also (genuinely) trying to find their way (there is a lot of literature on this subject that rings false to me: there can never be a formula!). Thank you for sharing.
Oh and P.S. (sorry this is becoming a long comment) I was going to give up on blogging, and just at that time, I discovered your site. Because I had so much fun putting together digital art for the posts, I decided to keep posting. While I am still far from creating a place on the internet that I am happy with (viz. Ira Glass’ part three video on Storytelling, it’s in the sidebar of my blog if you haven’t seen it), I now have some incentive to keep going.
Communication is so important – and if we can help facilitate it, then I think we are doing really good and necessary work.
Love how your so honest!(:
and how you are sticking to what you believe in! ;doing the things you love most.
Such an honest post!
I hope you’ll grow more comfortable soon with being a professional blogger and thus gain the confidence to tell more people in real life.
And I can’t imagine your family not realizing what an awesome thing you’re doing with your blog and for the blogging community in general.
Just keep doing what you’re doing, you are amazing!
Have a nice weekend!
P.S. That picture with the shoes on the green and white tiles is gorgeous!
This is such an inspiring post! Definitely keep doing what you love and what makes you happy – we all love you for it! :)
I’m so glad you were able to put this together. I really enjoyed reading the 10 creative facts about yourself.
You definitely deserve this award. Congrats!
You’re such an inspiration. I love love love your “share the wealth” attitude. It’s spot on. I just quit my cubicle job (yesterday), and I’m kind of at a crossroads…..path less travelled/well-beaten road/create my own way. I love what you’re doing. Continue being a trailblazer, please.
Great post Katrina… I’m in the same position and feel much of the same things on a daily basis!
PS. I’ve just got two pug puppies :) Totally in love with them, they’re funny, cheeky, adorably cute and I could just gaze at them all day….!
such an inspiring post. I can totally relate to family pressures of finding a “better” job or doing XYZ as opposed to working towards your own goals. thanks for sharing :)
congrats on the award Katrina! i love how you’ve both incorporated your bliss into the answers. i hear you about the fams not completely “getting it”, my mom has no clue what a blog is and thinks i’m committing myself to being stalked and some dude will jump out of the bushes and axe me or something. so old school ; )
i hope your family will say those words to you too but until then you must know that we readers adore you to no end and think those thoughts all the time! your 10 blogging facts have been awesome to read, thanks for sharing.
hey guys, i appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts here and I really enjoyed reading them all — thank you.
I love that you’ve chased after your dreams and followed your heart! You are so very talented that I love spending $5 a month to have access to the fruits of your labor! THANK YOU for being you!
Hi Katrina! I really loved reading your list — especially where you said that you want to “explore my curiosities rigorously and vigorously” — that is awesome. And, I totally know where you are coming from when you say that people don’t get blogging. But then, they didn’t get computer science jobs either (at least for me). :)
Thanks for the tag, wow! I can’t wait to do it, will be fun. :)
NEVER ever second guess your choices! i loved this. and your photos knocked my socks off. if i were wearing socks! happy happy sunday wishes!
xo
Hi Katrina! I’ve been a long time reader and subscriber but a new poster on your blog! I just wanted to say thank you for such an inspiring post! I really appreciate what you do and really enjoy all of the web design resources that you share! I can totally relate to MANY of the points in this post – I just graduated with my illustration degree. It’s really helpful to know that others struggle with these things too!
:-)
Dearest Katrina,
I think you are amazing. I admire you so very much. YOU are on my list of people to admire. Thank you for doing all that you do. You, my dear friend, makes this world a better place…with your talent and passion.
hugs,
Fritzi Marie
Of course you graduated with honors! I wouldn’t expect anything less from you :) I look forward to the day when “what do you do?” is not just another way to put someone in a box. I hate when people as me that question because no matter how I answer it (unless I’m saying Dr. or Lawyer or in other words….$$$$), I’m being dismissed right there and then :o/ You keep doing what you’re doing. Not only are you a blogger…you’re a FABULOUS one at that!!
First, Domo!! How cute. :)
Second, I really appreciated this post. I love when anyone is truly honest in a post – it helps your readers connect to you. You are one inspiring lady, Katrina. Keep chasing your dreams.
what a lovely post. thanks for being so candid with the answers.
you are a truly an inspiration. there is no profession or career better than the one that makes you happy. questioning what you do is a good thing, i think…to me it is a symbol of someone who does not conform, someone who is willing to try new things & evolve. :) thanks for being the awesome blogger/designer…artist…that you are.
Piff to the people who don’t get what you do!
As some of the other people have said…in my eyes you are a wonderful blogger who inspires so many people each day. Not many can say that they reach out and inspire people around the world…you do! BEAT THAT! :-)
x
I love this post. You are a constant inspiration Katrina! I constantly second guess myself and question myself, I think its normal.
Oh I am sooo with you on so many of these thoughts! Sometimes it’s hard to keep your shields up on those days when the dogged arrows of social perception strike. Still, I think you’re totally onto something here at Pugly Pixel and want to encourage you to keep going!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. You truly love what you do. ::inspired::
i love this! thanks so much for sharing your facts! it has made me breathe lighter knowing that all of us that are unwilling to give up on what we want are out there. thanks!!!
i think you have to do what’s right for you and believe me when i say a lot of people wish they didn’t have to work their 9-5 jobs and could be doing what they love. i hope you don’t regret the decisions you’ve made because i think you’ve really found your niche and this is a path you’re meant to be on. you’ll only continue to grow and be more successful from here!
xoxo
this is such an inspiring post! i for one am glad you are following your passion and not just doing something because other people had expectations of you. that’s not what life is about!
Hi Katrina,
you have to know that I admire you so much!
I have read some of the comments to this blog post and I feel better.I want to share my thoughts with you… I have a dream, a dream really hard to realize here in Italy,I try to work in the scrapbooking insustry here in Italy and to teach around the world scrapbooking but this is really hard and many times I feel sad, frustrated and I think that I’m losing time believing in my dream and trying to realize it!I think also, from the other side that we live just one time so we have to belòieve in our dreams and try to realize them…. even if it’s hard!What do you think?Thank you for all your work, thank you I am more able with the digital world for my blog and I feel satisfied of what I create for it:) I love my blog more thank you!!!!I appreciate your skills and I love your blog :)
Love
Lory
Yknow Katrina, I’ve used you and your blog as a good example of people making it step by step a few times now, in conversations with my friends and my boyfriend. I think what you’re trying to achieve and have already achieved is amazing! I’ve always admired the way you’ve created a community for people like me who crave beautiful aesthetics and enjoy the beauty in design, supplying them knowledge along the way. Kudos to you my friend!
i love this katrina! i don’t know why but i’m just seeing it right now! thank you for tagging me!! hopefully i can crank it out this week!
j.
I can totally relate to a lot of what you wrote here even though we studied to be in different fields. I am a culture reporter now, but in college I was basically told that writing anything that wasn’t somehow related to politics or public policy was a waste of my analytical skills. My blog about Taipei is about daily life, but the Taiwan English-language blog scene is very politicized and I’m sure some of the other bloggers think I write about \fluffy\ stuff.
For a long time, I struggled with my personal interests and what I should do… but then I realized that just because someone says I am good at something is not a strong enough reason to pursue it. I follow politics and policy issues as a personal interest, but it’s not what I want to write about. As soon as I admitted that to myself, I was able to really focus on my career path (and I do still sometimes write about policy in relation to culture).
So inspiring! Loved this post.
To be honest I’m almost finishing my computer engineering degree and I don’t see myself programming everyday at a job. It scares me a lot that I might be miserable in my future job. I hope I actually like it or as you, find something else that fullfills me and pays the bills :)