I have redesigned my blog in conjunction with moving to a new hosting company.  I hadn’t even looked at what could be done on a blog since I started mine in January 2008.  Oh my!  I am amazed at all the new and exciting technologies that have sprung up in the last 18 months.  

Blogging was such a foreign concept and felt very hard when I started but it has since grown very comfortable and has been a wonderful joy and outlet for me.  However, I realized that I was settling into a rut of familiarity.  Once I learned about some of the new options, I had dozens of ideas of how I could take my blog to a new level and expand in several possible new directions.  It is very challenging for this middle-aged brain to have to learn all the new programs and concepts behind them, but it is very invigorating as well.

We all love feeling comfortable, but I’ve discovered that when I grow comfortable and at ease I’m often just a step away from becoming stale!  In my art, I work hard to fulfill my artistic mission statement which is “I constantly strive to attain a style that is recognizable without becoming predictable.”

As I shared in an earlier post, the empty nest is upon me and I am wrestling with the incredible grief and disruption that this change brings to a very “comfortable,” and treasured pattern that my life had settled into.  So I am trying to embrace this change and see just where it might take me.  I’m trying to use this as an opportunity to stretch and grow in my home life and in all the other areas of my life as well. 

With my new host company, Host Monster, I will have the capability of having a “Blog Store” where I will be able to sell my digital art kits, printable kits and other items such as custom elegant wedding invitations that are digitally downloadable and customizable.  I will also have the capability of having video and audio files, though I don’t know how to do them yet.  But imagine my being able to do a tutorial and show you how to create a project — Wouldn’t that be fun?!

So to all my “old friends” I’m inviting you along for the journey as I see where this next phase of life will take me.  As I promised my husband 15 years ago when he asked me to marry him “I’m not sure where life will take us, but I promise you that if you hang around with me you definitely won’t have a chance to get bored!!”

 Audrey Jeanne Roberts