I knew that I wanted to document this journey, but I wasn’t sure in what form. Here is how the page you are viewing came to be.

I first thought about posting video blogs, or vlogs, on YouTube. However, being the perfectionist that I am, I scratched that idea knowing that I would always need just one more take to get it right. I would try to memorize and recite my thoughts, like at a bad movie audition. If I were to try vloging, I would want it to come off like I was talking to an old friend, instead of feeling extremely awkward in front of the camera. Maybe some day ?

Another option was to record my thoughts in a personal journal. Personally, I love the romanticism of putting down feelings in written hand, but my chicken scratch just isn’t the affect I wanted. I also thought that posting on a public form would provide me with more accountability. If others were able to track my journey, then I would be more likely to stick with it.

As you can tell, I decided to create a website. This form allows me to craft my thoughts carefully, but gives the reader the freedom to find their own voice with my words. Rather than watching and hearing me verbalize a thought through a vlog, my hope is that the reader can get lost in the rabbit-hole of my mind. Reading allows you to pause, reflect, and draw parallels between your life and my words. My hope is that my thoughts encourage you to find more happiness and passion in your life.

Deep stuff said and done, let’s talk about my experiences creating a blog.

I knew what my subject would be: my journey to finding happiness after quitting my corporate job and moving back home. Next, I needed a domain name. I pulled out a pen and paper and started brainstorming. After unsuccessful attempts at creativity, I sat myself in front of a mirror. I knew that I wanted people to see the authentic Tess when they visited my website, so I needed to see myself when creating my name. It came to me right away, From Brown Eyes. I wanted this blog to be a documentation of my perspective, it only made sense that my domain name reflect that. Luckily for me, FromBrownEyes.com was available for purchase. I swooped it up and purchased a one month website builder from GoDaddy.com.

I have never be known as “techy” so building a website was daunting, and I made plenty of mistakes. My biggest tip is to find help. It was easy to get frustrated when trying to create new pages, but I would often find a solution to my problem by watching a video on YouTube. I also have to give a shout out to the GoDaddy tech team, they have provided amazing help over the phone during the month I worked with them!

I was feeling pretty proud of how things were looking on my blog and was receiving good feedback from friends and family, but I needed to submit my website to Google. A very close friend of mine has been doing Search Engine Optimization for years and offered to take a look at my blog’s stats and get me verified on Google. When I met with Hannah to show her my blog, she promptly told me that I in fact had not created a blog at all. What I had created, she said, was a website, not a blog. I thought they were the same thing…Like I said earlier, not techy…

Well I took her advice and created a new website, and this time it is a certified blog! Go me! In between my recent travels, I took some time off posting new subject matter and spent it instead transferring over all of my old content and pictures. This is the first official post on the new website. As a surprise bonus though, I have revamped some of my old posts, so go treasure hunt for some new photos!

Teaching myself how to create a second online platform is a little more than I originally desired, but hey, I wanted to learn a new skill!

I hope that this new format makes your time at FromBrownEyes.com more enjoyable. If you have any feedback or advice, leave it in the comment box down below. I am still learning and can use all the tips I can get!

-TM

On a side note, I am thinking about a Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule. How does that sound? Let me know.