Today we're talking to Nole from Oh So Beautiful Paper!
photo by Jenna Cole of Jenna Cole Photography
Describe
your blog in five words or less...A celebration of all things paper (I
know that's technically six words, but two of those words are really small!)
Aside from blogging, what do you do? Be as general or specific as possible. I
actually quit my full-time job back in July (yay!) so I'm now a full-time blog
editor and loving every minute of it. Believe it or not, my previous career was
in foreign policy! I spent over seven years working at the U.S. Department of
State here in Washington, DC.
How does your day begin? How does it end? My day usually begins with a large
cup of coffee around 9 a.m. I start off the day by answering e-mails and
checking to make sure that everything is set for that day's blog posts. My
husband comes home from work around 6 p.m., so I put the computer down for a
few hours while we cook dinner and spend some time together, but then I spend a
few late-night hours responding to e-mails and setting up posts for the
following day. I usually end my day by reading, which helps my brain turn off
after so many hours online.
What are 5 objects that you keep on your desk? 1. A tiny globe (my husband and
I collect vintage globes) 2. A calendar (or five in my case) 3. Cards and
sweet little notes from my husband 4. A vase for flowers, but that I
usually end up using for pens and pencils 5. A note pad or small notebook
for keeping track of thoughts and ideas.
What did
you want to be when you were younger? When did that change, if at all? The
first career idea I remember having comes from when I was 3 years old; I
totally wanted to be an architect until I found out how much math was involved! In
high school my career objectives mostly focused on a combined photography and
journalism career. I interned at my local newspaper in my junior and senior
years and absolutely loved it. I studied photography, printmaking, and
journalism in college before changing majors (and career paths) after
a bad experience with one of my art class professors, but I've always
maintained a passion for the arts – which is part of what led me to start a
blog!
When did you start blogging? Why? I began blogging in September 2008, just a
few months after my own wedding in late May 2008. The idea of a blog evolved
naturally out of my wedding planning process. I absolutely fell in love
with wedding blogs during my wedding planning process, and I've always had a
special fondness for stationery and paper goods. I did a ton of research into
stationers and invitation design studios for our wedding invitations, and I
remembered feeling frustrated that there wasn't a good resource for finding
independent design studios that specialize in custom and non-traditional
wedding invitations. My husband and I went to a couple of local
stationery stores and flipped through the wedding invitation books available in
the store, but I remember thinking that there had to be more designers out
there that I just didn't know about. So, once my own wedding had come and gone,
I decided to start writing Oh So Beautiful Paper largely as a way of providing
that resource to other engaged couples.
Do you have more than just one blog? Not at the moment, but I have a new
project in the works with a friend that I met through the blog community. I
can't wait to tell everyone a bit more about it!
What do you enjoy the most about writing a blog? The least? The thing
that I definitely enjoy the most about blogging is the sense of community -
both with my fellow bloggers and with my readers. I love that so many of
us have found a way to connect with other people with similar interests and
tastes across the country and even around the world. It's been an
overwhelmingly positive and rewarding experience, and I feel incredibly lucky
to have met so many amazing people through my blog.
I don't
think there's anything that I actively dislike or don't enjoy about writing a
blog, but there are a number of challenges that just sort of come with the
territory of blogging. Finding new and unique content and maintaining a
consistent editorial schedule are two big challenges. Another big
challenge is on the technical side. Although I work with a professional
developer to code my blog, I like to know what's going on behind the scenes, so I’ve
had to teach myself lots of programming code over the years.
What was your favorite part about the first B List Meeting? Getting to meet all
the other bloggers! It was so wonderful to finally put faces and real
voices (and personalities!) with so many of my favorite bloggers,
particularly after corresponding with many of them via e-mail and twitter for
so many months.
Who and/or
what inspires you the most? I'm actually pretty easy to inspire – I find
inspiration in almost anything that has a bit of personality to it, and of
course I love anything delicate or pretty. I find inspiration
across the design spectrum, from typography and packaging design to interior
design and fashion to photography. Right now I'm really inspired by interior
design and outdoor spaces, like gardens! Music is also a huge source of
inspiration - if I'm having a bad day or am feeling uninspired, the right song
or album will almost always help lift my mood and give me the motivation to
press ahead.
I'm also really inspired by my readers! I absolutely love it when readers send
in their own wedding invitations. Whether they designed the invitations
themselves or worked with a designer to create a custom invitation design, I
love seeing how readers find a way to make sure that their personalities shine
through their wedding invitations!
If you
could invite five people to dinner (living or not) who would they be? I would
most like to have had the opportunity to have dinner with my grandparents and
great-grandparents. Many of them passed away either before I was born or
when I was very young, and I never had the chance to ask them about my own
family's history or their experiences growing up.
What do you
do or where do you go when inspiration has difficulty striking? As much as I
love our online community, sometimes I definitely need to step away from the
computer and just go for a walk or out to dinner with friends. I try to do
as much outdoors (season permitting) as possible over the weekend and meet
up with friends during the week, but if I'm having a particularly uninspired
day the easiest way to recharge is usually to close down the laptop and find
something fun to do.
What is your favorite quote? "That it will never come again is what makes
life so sweet" - Emily Dickinson
If you were
to be given an award (think Oscar quality) who would you most likely forget to
thank? Oh goodness, knowing me, I'd probably forget the name of everyone I've
ever met once I reached the podium! I'd have to make a list with all the
names just to be safe.
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