Blogger Girl’s Trip at The Beach Cottage

Hi Friends! I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since my blogger girl’s trip at the beach cottage and I haven’t blogged about it yet! Where does time go?? This trip was incredible and special to me in so many ways that I couldn’t pass up sharing it all with you!  Let me take you back to last year where these friendships all began! This post may be a little more “wordy” than my usual posts, but I can’t help myself!

This time last year, I hadn’t even started The House of Silver Lining blog.  The desire burned in my heart but I was really struggling with learning how to operate a blog and technology.  So I kept putting off making that dream happen because I was finding some fulfillment in the world of Instagram.  When I say fulfillment, I mean, I was connecting with other like-minded creatives and was rapidly getting caught up in their world through the squares of Instagram.  Really?? Friendships through Instagram? Is this for real?? I know these thoughts are crossing your mind.  I would have felt the same without ever going through this journey.  I can honestly say that the best thing to come from all my efforts on Instagram is truly these friendships.  Yes, all the blogging opportunities and sponsorships have been great, but to connect with people who live, breath, eat, {obsess} all things design like yours truly has been so much fun!! I connected with all these gals around the same time which was almost one year ago.

Who Came & What We did!

Bree first caught my eye through the beautiful photos she would post of her stunning Texas home.  She likes modern, I like modern.  Not full-scale, sterile modern, but more modern transitional.  I loved her style and soon I began to see her heart and kindness with all the sweet comments she would leave on my posts. I’ve shared the journey of being a new blogger with her and have enjoyed seeing her new blog ZDesignathome that she launched this year take off!  I call her my sweet southern belle friend! I remember following Erin’s Instagram and blog, Sunnyside Up, and thinking she is just the downright definition of happy and cute all wrapped up into one!!  I have a megacrush on her San Diego home, but even more, I love her genuineness and the positivity she shares.  When I first stumbled upon Brittany’s Instagram page, I was completely in awe over her whimsical use of color in her beautiful Georgia home!  I became an avid reader of her blog Addison’s Wonderland. Little did I know that I would actually get to meet her in person and hang out with her and her sweet sister, Maghan later in September in NYC!  Better Homes and Gardens had invited both of us to the annual Stylemaker Event {that story HERE}.  That trip is where Brittany and I became fast friends and talked as much as we could in between sessions at the event and afterwards walking the streets of NYC and exploring some new restaurants. We had so much fun and really just hit it off!

It was right after I was contacted by Better Homes and Gardens in May that I first connected with Tana.  Until this point, I was staying so busy with networking on Instagram that I had put starting my blog on the back burner.  Well when Better Homes and Gardens invites you to a blogger event, you become a blogger ASAP!  I had seen Tana’s name, YourMarketingBFF, surfacing on Instagram and decided to give her a call to help me get my blog up and running.  That day marked the beginning of a wonderful friendship!  It was because of her that I was able to launch my blog in June.  Couldn’t have done it without her! She took the time to really explain blog lingo like SEO, google analytics, and all that good stuff (it’s all Russian to me!).  I thank the Lord for her every time I’m having a blog “issue” because she has always been so helpful.  Through that process, we became fast friends, sharing life’s stories and realizing we truly enjoyed chatting for hours (literally HOURS!).  We actually have to set the timer when we pick up the phone to call one another, otherwise we will forget the point of the conversation and get lost in hours of good ol chit chat.

These girls are part of a bigger network of blogging/Instagram friendships I have made and I can’t imagine continuing on in my blogging career without friends like this who truly get what it looks like to be a blogger.  We support, encourage, and lift each other up. I’ve become very used to people getting the glazed over eyes, head cocked, confused look when I try to explain blogging.  Many don’t know what a blog is or think it’s just a hobby.  I thought that too (a year ago, admittedly). Now I know better and am realizing that blogging can be a career and has become this for me and these friends as well.  We support one another and completely GET each other.  I’m really so thankful for them.  These girls followed along with me during the whole renovation journey of the beach cottage and I even remember snapping photos of grout color options for the bathroom at one point, asking them to help me pick a color.  Sometimes, the design decisions can get overwhelming with big projects and I loved having my girls to bounce ideas off of!

Are you asleep yet?? lol! Hopefully not! I warned you I may be writing a novel today! Okay, let’s get to the fun photos we took because you know we all had our cameras, tripods and laptops!

Brittany hadn’t been in the house an hour before she started taking photos.

What did we do for four days?? We TALKED, took photos, ate at some of Naples best Restaurants on 5th Ave and 3rd St. S. and talked (did I mention that??).  From Left to right, Tana, Brittany, Erin, me, and Bree.  Eating at my favorite little spot, First Watch, which is a pretty stroll down the road from my cottage.

My Tank | My Shorts | My beach hat | My FAVORITE flip-flops | My Tory Burch Sunglasses

We hung out by the pool and had a ball trying to take this photo! The pink flamingo was a big hit!  Look how cute Erin is floating around with her new friend..lol! 😉

We seriously had so much fun and laughter involved taking photos!  Boy, do I wish I had these girls around every time I did a photoshoot in my home for a blog project.  They knew exactly what to do.  When I said, “hey, let’s get a photo around the table!” instantly they all jumped up, cleared the table of all our stuff, arranged the flowers, straightened chairs…they get it!! Oh my goodness having a bunch of mini “me’s” in full motion! haha!

Every night we dressed up for dinner and of course more photos were taken. We just like to document life.

My Romper |My Wedges – 30% off!| My Necklace | My Earings

Can you imagine the number of selfies we took before we ALL agreed on one photo?  You can tell the Florida humidity was doing a number on my hair! Instant frizz alert the second I walk outside.  Ummm….how come everyone else had perfectly styled curls in place??  Just sayin’!  Not only are these girls beautiful on the outside, but they truly are beautiful on the inside too.  You can only get to know or think you know a blogger based on their blog or the photos they share on Instagram to a certain extent. These girls are genuine and kind and I feel very blessed to call them friends.

After dinner, we always ended up in the family room (which had just received a big makeover) or dining room and shared blogging tips, stories, and advice.  Tana had no idea she would be educating and tutoring us every night (sorry Tana!!).  Her knowledge is so valuable and we all learned A LOT from her! This is our idea of fun..laptops and pj’s!  Not only did we share our blogging lives, we also really got to know each other and our personal lives.  The whole trip felt like a big slumber party!  The kind you never want to end.  No matter how late it was in the night (or should I say early in the a.m., like 3 a.m.) we never wanted to end the conversation.  We just decided that these gatherings will be happening yearly from here on out!

You can’t come to Naples without visiting my beautiful beach!  So we loaded up the jeep and took a one mile cruise to my little slice of paradise.  Brittany was so sweet to surprise all of us with these adorable SQUAD t-shirts.  How perfect and I do consider these girls my squad.

I’ve always wanted a photo of flowers in my beach cruiser.  No hesitation asking Tana to quickly snap this one! If I ever asked my hubby or boys to take a photo like this I’d get the biggest eye roll ever!

 

Tripod on the sand a bit challenging? Yes. The tide was rising as the minutes passed getting a good photo! What did the people around us think? lol! No one offered to help us out with a photo, probably because they were amused at how ridiculous we looked trying to pose. We sure had fun trying though!

Nothing like hanging out on the beach with your girlfriends, letting time pass by what seems like minutes but actually is hours. This was such a good day.

Our last evening…

My Shorts | My Top- 40% off! | Tory Burch Earings | Striped Light | Rug | Chairs

Never did I EVER dream that starting my Instagram would lead to this today.  I know that God’s plan is always bigger than my plan. Through it, my blog was born, these friendships were made, and I am at a point in my life where I am truly enjoying sharing my passion of design with all of you every week!  Thank you for following along! I do this because of YOU, my readers. You’re all my friends too!

I’d like to end here by saying thank you to my hubby for letting me break away from our busy life in Colorado to escape to the beach cottage for two weeks!  Bless him for juggling three boys with three busy schedules on top of his work. Love him to pieces!  Couldn’t do any of this without his loving support! This blogger girl’s trip at the beach cottage was just what I needed to celebrate the beach cottage renovation!

xo, Shauna

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