photo by Cortnee Brown
My name is Elise. I live in San Diego, California with my husband Paul and our two young daughter, Ellerie and Piper.
When I started this blog in December 2005, I was a single girl in the middle of her junior year of college at USC. I was a business major and surrounded by a gaggle of great girlfriends. Today, my business major has come in handy and my girlfriends still surround me. Only now it's through email and sadly, we don't still live in a big sorority house.
After I graduated college I followed my heart to the east coast and moved in with my then boyfriend, Paul. It was the best decision I ever made. We lived together for a year and a half and then, in our kitchen, while wearing pjs and making dinner, Paul asked me to marry him.
We were married in April 2010. I would not change one thing about our wedding day. You can read all about how I DIYed it up here.
Amidst the falling in love, deciding to make a lasting commitment bits and cross-country military moves (Paul is a doctor in the US Navy) I kept blogging. And kept crafting. Soon my blog and my shop became a business that allowed me to forsake all other day jobs (and there were a lot before I found the right fit) and just do this (you can read my 15 part small business story here).
photo by The Goodness.
In June 2013, Paul and I welcomed Ellerie to our family and my heart burst and my life flipped upside down (in the hardest and the very best ways.) I currently split my time between being a full-time mama (to two special girls! Piper joined our family in November 2015) and a full-time business owner and I am grateful for the chance to do both. My biggest business project right now is called GET TO WORK BOOK, a day planner + goal setting journal and tools that help you get to work. My biggest personal project right now is keeping my garden alive.
Over the years, I have talked a lot about blogging and running a small business, (and I currently host a weekly podcast about it) but here are a few posts that really cover it.
- on self-employment
- on motivation
- Q & A on the shop and small business
- elise talks college
- the difference between goals and to-do list items
- taking blogging and creative work seriously
- how I develop blog content
- how I go from idea to reality
I could not be happier about what I get to do for a job.
photo by Cortnee Brown for Creative Start
The one piece of information that I would want a reader of this blog to take away is everything is what you make of it. Have a goal? Write it down. Then set a plan and make it happen.
Thank you for visiting this space. I am no longer posting daily (you can read more about this decision here) but I do hope you browse the archives. 9.75 years of blogging = many, many posts.
With so much love, elise
p.s. got a question? check here.
