My Mission Statement

Note: The topic of this post was very much intended to reference Jerry McGuire. I’m a goofball and if you know me personally, you know I am acting out that scene in a very dramatic fashion while typing.

Dear friends,

I started this website one year ago. What started out as an Instagram experiment to see what a business on social media was about very quickly turned into a passion and love for me. I found fulfillment in creating and sharing. My entire life I have taken videos and photos, written down thoughts and been an open book with my life to my friends and family. I am not a very private person! Quickly after joining Instagram as bluegraygal I decided to blog because it just felt like a natural fit, and most importantly – I was having fun!

My intent for my blog wasn’t all the way clear. I knew I wanted to share what I loved and share my thoughts; but I didn’t have a clear plan or path to what I wanted my website to reflect. Over the past few weeks it’s hit me like a lightning bolt over the head of what this website is. It’s a chance to express me.

Here’s the deal. I’ve been sharing me in that I’m posting my photos, writing the text and working only with companies I truly love. It’s been authentic since the beginning. What it wasn’t doing was truly translating what I represent as Kelly, the whole person.

My daily prayer is “Dear God help me, forgive me and thank you.” I believe all of us need help with everything – from patience to how to hang picture frames. From little tips to be a better Mom to tricks to keep a house clean. We need help. Asking for help is a sign of strength and seeking help means you are one tough (&$@#@.

Asking for forgiveness is even harder. And we all need to ask over and over and over. I end my prayer with a thank you. This serves as a reminder to myself that I am blessed and to be aware of that and to not get too caught up in what I don’t have, what I didn’t do well, or what isn’t going right in my life and to pause and think that life is really darned good.

Here’s who I am:

• A lover of communication in all forms.
• A sharer of information – sometimes too much information!
• A documentarian. I see, I capture, I share.
• Pretty darned happy in front of a camera. I’m not shy!

It dawned on me I wasn’t fully using my skill set to translate to my website, nor incorporating my daily prayer and what it represents into this website. I’ve been following so many bloggers who all do great work and to an extent, mimicking them. I’m done with that. Follow me, don’t follow me – but going forward, this website will represent me.

Here’s my new plan.

I’ve come up with five categories that all my posts will fall into:

1. Help – this is where you’ll find tips, how-to’s, product review and more. Everything will be a variety of helpful tips. There may be a funny tip about how I clean my dishwasher, or a tip on how I decorate a Christmas tree. You may not agree with all my tips, but I welcome that. I am hopeful for comments about ways I could improve, or hear tips of your own. This will be a great forum for us all to share things on the given “help topic” of the day.
2. Pretty – this is where I’ll share clothes and beauty items I love. I really enjoy sharing these items and being able to let you know where I find things that make me feel pretty!
3. Smile – Motivation. We all need it. I certainly do. This category will house uplifting thoughts, imagery and even links to articles someone else wrote I want to share with you.
4. Live – This is where I’ll keep all of my home inspiration topics or travel and food. You’ll find blog posts like How to Create a Designer Room for Less, to my favorite throw pillows, to holiday décor here. It will have recipes and general “living” topics. I want to share where I live and how I live for inspiration for you to follow along with.
5. Love – What I’ve left out this past year (somewhat on purpose) is where my heart lies, which is with my family. My husband and I have a family agreement that I won’t share too many personal images of our children or stories about my personal life. He’s a far more private person than I am, but I’d like to find a balance because part of who I am as a person is sitting with friends and listening to their stories and sharing in the “the struggle is real” mentality! I say that laughingly because I am not a person in real life who pretends to have it altogether and sometimes I worry that my images of clean, pretty things lead you to believe I have a perfect life. I do not! This category is where I’ll share my current passion of the moment, whether it be what spring flowers I’ll be planting, ramblings of parenthood or family moments my husband and I have agreed I can share.

Within this context I plan on using what I think is my best skill – talking to a camera! I am absolutely happy as a clam sitting down and sharing stories, thoughts and opinions to a camera and plan to incorporate video as much as possible in 2017. I really want to do product reviews, how-to videos and general thought and motivational moments. They may not all be edited perfectly, but they will be real, they will be honest and they will be all me, full throttle!

You will continue to see (I hope) me work with companies. I have a business background (in addition to a TV and marketing background) and I love working with companies. I will not work with a company or represent a brand I don’t like. I don’t have to so I won’t. I will help promote and spread the word, however, of companies I like because I believe in promotion and supporting people/companies/things I love.

The online shop where I sold my exclusive collection of Plush Pumpkins is temporarily on hold, but not ending! I’m taking the first half of the year to focus more on my website and will be working towards revamping my online store with more Plush Pumpkins for the fall, and possibly new goodies. You never know!

I have a standing invitation to appear on the NBC morning show in Atlanta which I am grateful for, and have been fortunate enough to have been hired by Kodak for a one-time spokesperson job where I was able to appear on numerous top morning shows across the country. This tickles me and makes me smile so big I can’t tell you! I plan on continuing and pursuing TV because it fulfills me.

In the meantime, I thought I’d take this blog to say this – Hello, again. I’m Kelly and I call myself bluegraygal. Blue and gray are my favorite colors and to me are elegant, light, clean and calming. All things I aspire to be! Ha! I hope you’ll follow along with my journey. I’m a 38-year-old married mother to three who has found a love for this. It fills a part of my soul I didn’t know needed filling. So sign up for my newsletter, check back often, follow me on social media and let’s have some fun. Learn more about me here!

Love and hugs,

Kelly