Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The End

To my Hamsters,

I remember when I first started Polish Ham over five(!) years ago to document my European travels, I was secretly worried that no one would read my little blog. I was even more afraid of putting myself out there. What if no one liked what I had to say?

I was surprised to discover how much I loved blogging and how well people responded to it. I felt connected to my friends and family in a way that I never had before. I had always planned to quit after the trip was over, but my audience urged me to move on, and so I started Everyday Ham where I wrote about my everyday life in New York--from my cooking adventures to photo projects to funny Dan stories.

I do admit, as the years went by, my interest in the blog started to wane. I enjoyed documenting my life, and I liked sharing that with people. But also, my interests were changing, and I was growing bored of writing in a "dear diary" entry style. I felt stuck in a rut, and it started to feel more like an obligation than a creative outlet.

This past year, with my move to Los Angeles, I decided it is time to switch things up. I had already changed my life, now it was time to revamp the blog.

I thought about what made me love blogging in the first place. Polish Ham was so much fun because it was great to travel to new places, try new foods, meet new people and share those experiences. I also thought about what I wanted for myself in LA.  I realized, in my new city, I had the chance to do all of those things if I carved out the time and made the effort.

That is why I am saying good-bye to Everyday Ham and launching Navy St.--a new blog about my  West-Coast life. Navy St. will still be about me, but rather than a diary, it will be more of an inspiration board of travel, food and lifestyle ideas.

I have already started dreaming up posts that I am anxious to experience and share, and I am getting excited about this whole blogging business again. My New Year's resolution is to devote myself 100% to the blog and making it great. (That means posting regularly again, yay!)

Again, I feel a flutter of nerves of putting myself out there in a different way. For those of you who are reading this, thank you for being so loyal to Everyday Ham until the end, and I hope you will continue following my little journey. You are the main reason why I never quit.

You can find my new blog at www.navyst.com

I look forward to this next adventure.

Yvonne