Why I blog. 
[Mike]
This is a great question. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been a little down. I get this way when it’s hot for an extended period of time. Being down makes it harder to find the will to post although I’ve done my best. It’s not just feeling low on its own that makes it difficult to do things; I’m more distracted in general. 

I’ve been practicing drawing a lot lately. I feel like I’ve come a long way in that department, but it takes me a long time. I’ll have a good idea for a story, and think of drawing an excellent piece for it, but it takes so darn long I can go days without posting.
It makes me wonder what is more important to me the story or artwork? I think it’s time to assess what blogging means to me.

When we first thought of creating a website I didn’t believe that we would go beyond using it as a portfolio for Crystal’s photography and my commercial art. 

We both discovered how much fun it is to post and blog itself became the focus. As I learned more about blogging, I also tried my hand at a more freehand artistic style painting software and found it to be more fun than Illustrator.

 It's been fun to learn and watch my skill improve. The problem is I keep bouncing around from drawing to drawing with few things finished. I'll spend a few days to complete a drawing, and nothing else gets posted. So what do I want from this blog anyway?

To put forth my talents. 
I have many interests and talents. I haven’t quite mastered anyone in a way that I’m super confident about, but it's important to me share my progress on the way to hopefully figure that out.

To express myself. 
One thing I did not expect when starting out on this blog was how great it felt to speak my mind on everything from odd history tales to extremely personal life stories. Often I’m at odds with writing a personal story, or one about some historical thing, or a place we’ve been, etc. That's the trouble. I fret which it should it be, and little gets done. 

To figure out who I am.
I think the fact that I’ve struggled with what this blog is about, I haven’t figured out who I am or what I'm all about. All the years we were partying I guess I never figured that out. 

I’m a guy who's pretty good at a lot of things. A guy with a lot to say. I want to be more than someone recovering from years of anxiety and partying. I want to get past my agoraphobia and anxiety and be able to use these talents of mine to provide and do something worthwhile. Rather than get frustrated, I’m going to keep on blogging

-Ad-

So why do I blog? [Crystal]

We got the website off the ground mainly for my Photograohy business and for Mike's Graphic Design work, but once I found out it had a blogging feature I was intrigued!

Honestly, I had never read anyone's blog before. I didn't know what was expected or even what direction we needed to go in, but I thought we should just jump in head first! So we began with a trip report after enjoying my birthday celebration out in Chinatown with friends. I included simple photos, captions and a brief description of what we did and I'll be honest - it was thrilling to tell our story! 

Turns out, now that we're not drinking - we have a lot more free time and a much clearer head to get more organized and blog our hearts out! I think we have a unique perspective on many aspects of our lives including "Things to do in LA", "Photography & Photoshop", "Now and Then", "Cooking & Recipes" and now our "30 Day Blog Challenge". So were seizing this time in our lives to blog about it all!

I know we are still working on finding our voices and which exact direction to go in, but through it all I think we are learning an awful lot about ourselves and one another. May our blogging journey continue to spark our creativity, and lead to nothing but good things! 

So thanks so much for reading! Our audience makes this all worth while!

-Crystal Olguin

September 26, 2017