This is PART II of my story. You can read Part I here or you can listen to all 3 parts below!

WHERE WAS I?

Oh right...Blogging...or at least trying to blog...AKA going out of my mind.

WHY I DID IT

Well, I’ve always had a lot to say from a fashion standpoint. I thought blogging was the perfect outlet to do so. I love fashion; I love vintage and thrift; I love a good bargain and finding treasure. I’ve always had friends and even strangers ask me where I get my clothes and accessories. And I wanted to share all my ideas with all of you!  But blogging is HARD, guys. I have SO MUCH respect for the girls that are doing it so flawlessly. They make it look so easy, but trust me when I say, at the end of the day, it is a business, and any business requires time, and HARD WORK. 

WHY I QUIT

Aside from the obvious reasons of time (that I talked more about in part 1 of my saga)…The honest reason? I just wasn’t loving it anymore.  I have a passion for fashion, that is for certain… for fabrics, for textures, for design….but I HATE having my photo taken, and I actually have come to HATE shopping. (I know…. when I realized this, it was an aha moment for me too. I wrote a whole blog post about it here)  It all began to feel excessive to me...and in this age of excess, I had this overwhelming desire to just have less. I spent way to much time shopping for looks, I actually dreaded walking into a store and I was accumulating way too much STUFF. I wanted less stuff. I wanted to design more. Travel more. Live more. I wanted to CREATE MORE AND HAVE LESS.

WHY I SPENT SO MUCH TIME TRYING TO MAKE IT DIFFERENT

I am a graphic designer by heart and by trade and when I decided to start Platinum Penny, I almost couldn’t not try to make it as graphically creative as possible. I have an affinity for a good old-fashioned editorial. There is nothing more beautiful to me than a highly stylized fashion photo, and in this age of street style (which I also love) I had just wanted so badly to make something visually editorial…for it not to be about me, but for it to be about the clothes.

Did it work in the way I had hoped? Not so much. 

WHY I THOUGHT IT WAS A TOTAL FAILURE

Well when you do something for so long and then just quit, it totally feels like a failure. Stepping away from something you put A LOT of time into is like abandoning your baby. I wanted to be able to have my toes in all the ponds (is that even a  saying?) and when I realized and I just couldn’t do it all, coupled with the reality that it was no longer making me happy, I was so hard on myself. Accepting the failure took a minute, not going to lie. But then I got a grip and said 'ya know what? Failure is OK. I am going to embrace this and just let it lead me to my next venture.'

WHY I NOW KNOW FOR CERTAIN IT WAS A STEPPING STONE TO SOMETHING BETTER

Well, because  it brought me to the place I am now!  I did a lot of soul-searching that year. I focused on my business, I traveled, I got married, I spent a lot of time with my family and friends.  I hit PAUSE and it really allowed me to regroup and decide what was next…

So what DID I do next? I started piecing together my pipe dream.

Part 3 of this story here! 

XX

D