Happy monday my dears! How was your weekend? The Kiwi is finally on the mend it seems and not a moment too soon. Oktoberfest kicked off this weekend and, while neither of us were up to a Maß, we certainly were up for a wander around the Wies’n and some Hax’n-semmeln—{pork} knuckle sandwiches complete with cracklin’. Yum!

Clearly things are looking a little different around here. Obvs I want to share all the brand spankin’ new features with y’all, but I also want to talk a bit about blogging with intention.

This design is so much closer to my original vision for the blog and, in general much more reflective of my style. Aesthetics aside, it should be much more efficient and resources should now be much easier to find. Looking for some inspiration for dinner tonight? Our recipe tab has you covered. You can now search but meal or course, by ingredient, or search specifically for vegetarian dishes and dairy free treats. {If you’re looking for a specific recipe the search bar on the sidebar is still probably your best bet.}

If you’re looking for one of our DIY tutorials check out The How-To Series button on the side bar and all of our food guides can now be found in the {wander} page. You should also probably check out our new about page.

You know, when I started thinking about getting into this blog game I tons of ideas about how I wanted to blog. The two best pieces of advice I read were to stop waiting for everything to be perfect and just take the plunge, but also to continuously examine your goals.

Following the first piece of advice, back in May I took the plunge and launched. Talk about a learning curve. I’ve learned about my strengths and weaknesses. I’ve learned what stuff I love to write about and what makes me feel proud and like I’ve accomplished something. As I continue to learn, I’m examining my goals for this space and as always trying to be transparent and authentic. In that vein, I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned so far about myself and what I want for the blog.

I can learn new skills and develop new passions {and the blog will evolve with my passions.}

Photography has always been the Kiwi’s thing. When I started thinking about the blog he gave me a quick run down of the camera and set me loose. I expected to be overwhelmed. {I was.} I expected to ask him 100 million questions every day. {I did.} I expected to get frustrated and end up officially dubbing him the Kiwi+Peach photographer. {But I didn’t.} I actually found that I love the photography part almost as much as the cooking part. I love the creativity, I love the aesthetics, and I love seeing improvement. {I mean, it really couldn’t have gotten much worse.} Am I great? No, but I’m improving every time, practicing, understanding and capturing light in better ways, and being more creative with the props and staging. Will future posts have more photos? Probably.

I should write what I love at a quality I am proud of even if that means not posting every day.

One thing I know is that that I want this to be a marathon, not a sprint. I set out with the mind set that come hell or high water I. will. post. every. single. day. damnit.

Kudos to those of y’all who do it, but it’s not for me. The posts I feel the proudest of are recipes that I’ve made over and over again and that I know are going to work for you 100% of the time. I simply can’t crank one of those out every day, but more than that, I don’t think I should. In the future I think its safe to say that y’all can look for one or two new, quality recipes a week {with lots more photos!}

What else have I learned I love posting about? I love sharing my favorite bands with y’all. This is the stuff that’s playing pretty much non-stop in our house. This is the stuff that inspires us and I hope it just might inspire you too. {If you love folksy music with great lyrics too, we’d love to hear some of your favorite bands!}

I also really love sharing articles about food, food science, and the food movement in friday links. I read a lot of articles. I mean lots. and I want to encourage discussion. If you have an opinion about an article I post, let’s chat!

Which brings me to the next lesson I’ve learned {and one of my biggest weaknesses}…

Connecting with others and forming genuine relationships is the reason I blog.

This might be obvious to most folks {why would you put this stuff out there if you didn’t want to connect} but it’s actually the hardest lesson I’ve learned so far. I’m not an out going person. I’m friendly, I’m kind, but in social situations, I don’t tend to seek out strangers to initiate a connection. {Does that make me a wallflower?}

Blogging a strange thing. Here we are, pouring time and energy into our little creative corner, sharing our lives, our passions, our knowledge and hoping that people {strangers} identify with you and your voice. But it also does a wonderful thing–it connects us with people we feel are kindred spirits. People on a similar journey. People with shared passions. People we admire. People we feel like we can learn from. People we want to be BFFs with.

Here’s the thing though, I’m crap at the actual connection part. I’m terrified to send that message or tweet that would allow a real relationship.

I’ve followed the same few blogs for years and I can count on one hand the number I’ve ever commented on. It’s not because I don’t connect with what they’re saying–the exact opposite actually, and I’m scared of that a comment from a complete stranger saying “Yes, yes, yes to everything you just said.” comes across as a bit strange.

This blog world is a strange one though, and having experienced the other side of things, I would venture to say that most bloggers really want genuine relationships with their readers, awkward as the beginnings may be. I know I do. I want to know you. I want to know what makes you tick. I want that connection. I’ve learned that comments can make your day. I think it’s high time I start commenting, messaging, tweeting, messenger pigeoning these ladies and let them know that they inspire me, that I, too, think their child/home/dog is just the cutest thing, that their recipe was a hit with the Kiwi, or maybe just say hi. Who knows where this openness, kindness, and honesty will take us?

Josh knows what’s up…