I shared recently what inspired me to create this blog–my daughter’s fall and subsequent head injury when she was an infant.
My first “official” property of Richmondmom.com, where it all started.
Today, I’ll share with you another difficult message–I am handing over the reigns of Richmondmom.com to new owners effective immediately, with thirty days built in for me to help ensure a successful transition.
1.5 Million page views, nearly half a million unique visitors and five years later, I feel really positive about handing over my “fourth baby” to proud new blog parents Brian Roome and Christa Donohue, owners of Carytown maternity store Hip to Be Round. They’re in the perfect spot to introduce this blog to brand-new Richmond parents and expand our readership even more.
Many folks don’t realize that I have a full-time job and juggling the two and spending time with my family have been a struggle, mainly because I try to act perky when I’m dropping balls all over the place. So this is a good thing for all of us.
You’re not rid of me yet, though. I love what this blog has become–the connections that are made, the people that have met because of it, the amazing clients who have trusted us to partner with their brands to bring our readers the very best in Richmond.
I can’t let go completely, so I’ll be staying on as a writer as long as I’m welcome.
This decision hasn’t come lightly. As I sit typing this at the very laptop pictured here–keys missing, a substance that I’m pretty sure is laffy taffy from the kids on the screen–I’m struggling to express exactly how much the WordPress world we’ve created here has brought to me.
Here are just a few treasured memories:
Going to great heights for Special Olympics
-I got to jump off buildings- 24 stories, that is.
-Forced, I had to spend an entire night with hunky men three years in a row for the Pink Tie Gala, auctioning them off for charity. It was a tough job, but . . .
-Circumcision became the center of my life for three full days while the blog was swarmed with hundreds
wheeee!
of readers weighing in on all things penis-related, and inspired the satirical post Haters Gonna Hate (Bloggers like Me.)
-Riding at full speed in a Nascar pace car. And I thought I had a lead foot.
-Writing and reading about countless Richmond women who inspire and amaze me–I love our Rockstars.
-My middle child affectionately developed his own hashtag in the Richmond Twitter community as #Devilboy.
-The Richmond Comedy Coalition asked me to do Improv with them as part of their “Richmond Famous” series–tons of LOL’s.
You’ve likely seen a lot of these little faces–they are my favorite “job”
-I was lucky enough to share my dad with you, even though he died when I was fifteen, he still kind of lives on through the blogosphere–something he never could have imagined. I’ve written tons about my kiddos and about my mom, too–super-proud of her.
-Two books! Richmond Rocks and the Spooky Sequel. I’ll be able to focus a bit more on those now, doing readings at local schools & raising funds for PTA’s and non-profits.
-Business owners started coming to me for advice on building something great–really, me? So I started another blog to share some of what I’ve learned.
-Heated conversations, lol’s and watching our readers jump in to help each other daily in our Richmondmom.com Junkies Facebook Group.
Our team at the Chevy SXSW Welcome Party, tired but accomplished!
-Getting to do a little cameo in a fun I Love RVA video.
The blogging powerhouse!
-Chevy let a few pals and I drive from Richmond to Texas on the ultimate girls’ road trip to SXSW and blog about it (super-fun video by my friend Trevor Dickerson detailing our shenanigans below).
-Getting to work with a team of creative, sassy, fabulous writers led by the amazing Rhonda Day and many clients, many of whom I’m lucky to call friends.
One of my favorite Rumi quotes reads, and I agree:
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for making this blog something I’ll forever be proud of, and for helping me to find my voice.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
