Joanna Fowler

Are Blogs Dead?

Joanna blogger
I just took a picture as I made the decision to do this… hi!

So are you an influencer? I get asked that one A LOT. Especially lately since I am meeting a lot of new people in my boyfriend, Ben’s life.

What I do is unusual… well unusual for my age group. I am 38 and spend most of my time with friends who range from 36 to 45 or older. So for us, what I do is unusual and hard to understand.

I typically explain what I do to my peers (generation x, generation Y or ahem… geriatric millennials… who the eff came up with that term? lol) by giving them a quick Nesting Story origin story; Nesting Story began as my Interior Design and mural painting company after I left the design world in 2013, and I loved blogging with that.

Then boom… surprise twins were on the way, had to pause and then during my pregnancy was encouraged by some new mom friends (including a very famous blogger) that I should switch Nesting Story to a parenting blog since I was already a veteran mom and put their minds at ease with my relaxed, problem solving parenting style.

So, when my babies were a few months old in 2014 I did, and by 2015 Nesting Story had exploded and gained world wide fame.

I was able to monetize Nesting Story by partnering with brands I trust and bring in an income by doing something I love. YouTube came naturally to help tell some stories and then Instagram in general became a big deal to the entire world and the rest is history.

So does that make me an influencer?

I honestly hate that term. I prefer Content Creator or Digital Storyteller.

It’s eight years later and I’d consider myself an OG. An OG that misses blogging. I love writing. Did I ever go to school for writing? Nope, I have a fine arts background. In fact I still google the difference between lose and loose, and I’m sure every post is riddled with mistakes. Do I really care? Nah! Done is better than perfect.

I am a story teller.

Quick funny story… I went on a date, actually it was a second date during my brief single days, with a guy a little older than me. He told me he was an aspiring novelist and I said I was a blogger and I riddled off all of the big websites my writing has been published on. He didn’t take that comparison well and I didn’t like how he acted like it wasn’t a big deal. Needless to say there wasn’t a third date. Byeeeeee!

But… last year I was hanging out with a friend and his partner who is a really big deal in the media industry when it comes to approving manuscripts and he told me that he had read some of my writing and that he thought it was really good.

That meant the world to me.

Most writing pieces online these days can be found on Instagram and I cannot seem to start there. It needs to be here and then I can share pieces there. I love this little corner of mine on the internet.

So here’s what I want to do… I want to blog… a lot.

I want to treat this as a bit of a journal. I’m hoping to blog every weekday. I’ll take an excerpt and post it to Instagram, but if you want the whole story you’ve got to come here.

I’ve got so much to fill you in on…. *takes a deep breath* in the past few years my marriage ended and I have had to navigate the co-parenting ups and downs, there was a pandemic, I was single and dated, I am now coming up on one year in a serious relationship with an amazing guy and how we’ve decided to break a lot of traditional rules to put our relationship and our kids first, my kids are turning into teenagers, I moved out of town into a new house that is adorable and I am having a blast decorating it, I am moving my family and I into a healthier lifestyle after derailing during the pandemic, my career has taken some zigs and zags and I am about to launch a new company with a partner, and all of the little pieces in between.

I want to let these stories trickle out as they come up. I can’t do the over curated thing. I can’t niche. I am just me, a person who likes to share their life.

Like always my stories will be through my lens and with the over-arching theme of resilience, a fresh start, keeping my own identity and living a life full of love, wellness, beauty and creativity.

So, I guess this is day one. Welcome.

Sincerly,

Joanna Fowler…. yes, I will be changing back to my maiden name over the summer!

How To Nail The Casual Curly Hair Trend

and noticed a Jennifer Grey circa late 1980’s layered, shag, casual curls trend was catching fire.

Curly long hair

Last week I fell down a rabbit hole of luscious, casual, bouncy curls. I have always loved big hair. In fact, I always joke that I like to have big Texas hair using my hot rollers. But then I started to watch Allegra Shaw’s Instastories and noticed a Jennifer Grey circa late 1980’s layered, shag, casual curls trend was catching fire.

Then I watched totally engrossed as Christine Dovey debated on her stories if she should get a perm… I voted yes!

Pins ensued and I quickly decided this was a trend I MUST try! Honestly, this is my entertainment during lockdown (I live in Southern Ontario, where we are in a current stay-at-home order).

Curly Hair
Curly hair

So, I armed myself with what I had on hand and got to work. I should say, I have LOTS of hair. So I knew it would take way to long to curl all of my hair with my thin curling iron. So instead I took all of my smallest hot rollers and tightly rolled them into my hair sporadically, leaving the top layer and other parts free for me to hand curl.

Shop all of the products shown above here in my Amazon Store.

I did have to go back and clean up some of the hot roller pieces, but the mix of the two methods gave this very casual, less uniformed look I was pleased with. I then went back and sprayed my hair with hairspray and used smoothing product to tame the entire look.

I am thrilled with the outcome and definitely plan on doing this look a lot more in the future. Also, I should mention that by the next day I had really beautiful beachy waves.

Curly hair

This has now tempted me to add more layers to my hair… hmmmm šŸ˜‰

How Are You? You’ve Been On My Mind.

I’ve been getting a lot of texts and messages from friends lately asking me how I am. You see, where I live in Southern Ontario my kids have been moved from in-person to virtual school and as of yesterday my province went into a Stay-At-Home order, complete with a loud, unexpected and jarring Emergency Alert on my phone from the government yesterday.

It’s meant a lot, people checking in. It has taken me a second to realize that people are thinking of me because of my circumstance, a solo parent with four kids. It’s not like I have been having any kind of public meltdown on social media to worry them.

So, I asked myself…. how am I? I am writing this post on Friday January 15th. Today I am good. I feel solid. I have created a routine, lowered my own expectations and have been loading on self-care. But on Tuesday January 5th I was not okay. I was totally overwhelmed.

So I began waking up super early to fit even more into my day.

Parents, doesn’t it feel like we are being asked to be superhuman? We are asking to be spread thinner and thinner. I’m like a very dry piece of toast right now.

All of those statistics of women having to take a step back in their careers is really becoming a reality for me. But as a solo parent I cannot just stop. I also can’t drop my self-care (workouts, hot baths, pulling myself together) because I tried that one and had zero patience for anyone.

I can’t just leave my kids to do school completely solo… tried that one too and I quickly realized that two six-year-olds need me right at their side during virtual school. Luckily they have an extremely understanding teacher who lets them take lots of breaks and knows I am helping them get through the work and take big steps away from their screens while the teacher spends most of her time walking half the class through the technology because the reality is, most parents do not have the job flexibility I do to sit their with their child.

What about my two big kids? They have totally amazed me with how engaged and self sufficient they are the entire day with their online school. In fact, I basically don’t see them all day. BUT, the evening comes and they both spiral. The screen time, isolation and being cut off from their friends rears its ugly head and they need me. All of me. This one by the way is next week’s problem to solve… I’m thinking after school outdoor walks reading after dinner and early bedtime routines with more structure. This one will definitely come with pushback from my two pre-teens. But I’m the parent and they need this.

These are just the biggest things, the balls I am juggling that are made of glass. That cannot break. There are 50 other balls that are in the air. Some others are glass, most are plastic.

I am juggling, constantly.

Right now I’d say I’m swimming. Not drowning, not just trying to keep my head above water, or even treading water.

I am swimming.

Don’t get me wrong, I have my hell zone moments everyday. You know, those moments where you are going along fairly well and BOOM… you’re hit with this strong feeling of depression and it all washes over you…

When was the last time I was able to hug my parents? Will we get sick? I miss going out. I miss my friends. I’m worried about my kids. Will this isolation impact them long-term? If I get in a car accident can my local hospital take care of me properly, or is it too overwhelmed? Will my friends that own brick and mortar businesses lose everything? I feel claustrophobic.

Those moments.

Luckily something I learned from the first wave is that these hell zone moments are common for a lot of people and they are just that, moments. In those moments I acknowledge my feelings, I validate them and remind myself that these are big, real, normal feelings.

I don’t fight it.

I let the wave wash over me. Then if I can I step away from whatever I’m doing and switch it up. The moment moves on and I begin swimming again.

After talking to my friends, (funny enough the ones who have been checking in on me), I’ve realized just how good I have it. I have friends whose houses are mid-renovation and they are trying to do virtual school with the constant sound of a nail gun in the background.

I have friends who are full-on extroverts (I am not. I am an ambivert and homebody) and they are not built for this. They are not able to spread their wings right now and I cannot imagine what that must feel like.

So, how am I?

Today I am swimming.

How are you?

Basement Bathroom Renovation Reveal And Life Update

Why hello there!

It has been a hot minute since I have blogged. Honestly, I think I barely kept my head above water this past fall.

It wasn’t terrible. I want to make that clear. A lot of amazing things have been going on in my life. But it was A LOT!

A mix of kids being back at school in a pandemic, being in a really amazing relationship (possibly more on that eventually), finding my rhythm co-parenting, working two jobs… Nesting Story and the Marketing Manager of the Realtor team I recently joined (more on that soon too), and I am also in school (I’m getting my Realtor license).

Yeah… a lot.

But the biggest would be parenting.

One of my kids has needed me more than usual and I am committed to showing up. I wouldn’t say we are completely out of the woods, but I would say there’s room to breathe again.

Because guys, parenting is f*$@ing hard at the best of times, but add on a global pandemic and a divorce… holy smokes. But I am here, on the other side of the storm.

So that’s the broad strokes of where I’ve been. I know I am being super vague, but give me a bit of time and I am sure I will be showing up here more.

In the meantime I really wanted to show you my recent home project.

Years ago I had a bathroom roughed-in in my basement that would eventually be finished when Holden’s room moved down there. Well that day arrived. Holden is a pre-teen and it was time to give him his own space away from his little sisters. It was important to me to do it right.

Now, I am not going to be sharing his room, because I am trying to give my kids more privacy, but I was so excited to show you how the basement bathroom turned out.

You can watch the full bathroom tour here…

Health and Wellness for My Entire Family ā€“ How I Donā€™t Get Left Behind

This post was created in partnership with GSK.

When I became a mom of four, life always felt like I was going a million miles a minute. I tried to carve out time for myself here and there, but I sometimes thought that the days of feeling really healthy and fit might be behind me.

Today I am healthier now than I have ever been in my life. Itā€™s pretty wild to think that after having four kids and at age 37 I have really found balance when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle, getting daily exercise and really nailing the healthy eating habits thing.

I must say, I am pretty proud of myself.

I have always had a fairly healthy lifestyle, but after struggling for years with digestive issues, it became really obvious that I needed to make it a constant focus daily. Adapting intuitive eating habits partnered with focusing on nutrition-packed food for fuelā€¦ it was like everything fell into place.

When it comes to exercise, that too has fallen into place ā€¦ finally! 

I was never a joiner and definitely had zero interest in any team sports. I would exercise here and there, but it never really became something that Iā€™d look forward to or set goals towards. 

Last fall I tried CrossFit, (something I thought Iā€™d never do because it looked too intense), but it has not only been the perfect fit for me in terms of pure joy when working out, but I have also joined a fitness community and conquered my social anxiety surrounding fitness.

To have these two extremely important wellness pieces fall into place while parenting four kids, running my own business and balancing it all during a time in the world that is already chaotic is a feat in itself is kind of amazing.

What is my secret? Drop the perfection and put my own and my kidsā€™ health and mental health before everything else, as well as having organization in place so that there is space for wellness and selfcare.

Keeping my kidsā€™ wellness front of mind and organized has been a system I have developed over the years and seems to really work. We have ā€œexpectation guidelinesā€ pasted to our fridge. This includes everything from manners and daily personal hygiene to how we treat each other as a family. I have also split yearly wellness check-ups into seasons. Late winter is eye check-ups, late spring is yearly physicals and the fall is the dentist followed by vaccinations for flu and a check of when other vaccinations may be needed for myself or the kids in the coming year. 

Which brings it back to me. While taking care of everyone else, us adults can tend to fall through the cracks. This includes our own wellness check-ups and adult vaccinations, because they are not just for our kids, so talk to your doctor about what might be recommended.Ā For more information on what vaccinations may be right for you at what age and for a customizable vaccination tracker, visit vaccinateforlife.ca.

Because hereā€™s the thingā€¦ in a world where weā€™ve felt like things have been shaken up a lot, lifeā€™s real priorities have floated to the surface. Forget the material things or the superficial life before 2020, what really matters most is our mental health, our physical health and the deep connection we have with the people in our life.  

Take good care of yourself.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by GSK. While compensation was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of GSK. This post will not be monitored by GSK. If you need to report an adverse event for any GSK product, please call 1-800-387-7374.