I totally get it… using Instagram to grow your business can feel overwhelming. You feel like you’re screaming into the void and getting little-to-no engagement. But, it doesn’t have to feel like this! Here are some Instagram hacks to decrease the dread. Pre-blogging and working to grow Sam Macy Designs, I loved Instagram. It was […]

Ask and you shall receive, everyone;) After sharing more about the bookcase Sam built me for my birthday, I got a lot of questions about what books were takin’ up the shelves, my all-time favs, and my 2021 TBR list Maybe I’ll start doing a book review post once every 3 months? A little “here’s […]

Building a business is hard and we’re not trying to pretend it isn’t. We’re figuring it out as we go over here but we’ve definitely learned a few things in the process;) Here are our Top 5 Beginner Business Building Tips from 2020! We don’t have it all figured out… …and we’re not pretending that […]

“I think I just need to write about it”. These were the words that finally came out of my mouth – out loud, by myself (well, with a sleeping dog in my lap), sitting in bed, feeling slightly like a crazy person. The second I said them, I took a deep breath out and at […]

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is Christmas Tree shopping the weekend of (or the weekend after, this year) Thanksgiving. Then, we come home, put on a Christmas movie while we wait for the branches to fall… and put on movie #2 or a bangin’ Michael Blubé Christmas playlist while decorating. Our movies of choice? […]

Thanksgiving is around the corner and even mid-pandemic, this time of year can be tough if you’re focused on your nutrition. Having a “healthy Thanksgiving” feels and sounds like an oxymoron, don’t you think? So, I’m republishing (read: copy and pasting from my own blog – so it’s allowed, people!) an article I wrote for […]

I would say “sorry it has been a few weeks” but I’m not really that sorry;) We’ve been spending every second with our brand new pup, Blue (or, Blue Boy), since bringing him home just about a week ago. It has been quite the transition back into puppy-parenting (the last time we did this was […]

Are you ready for the official Life Outside the Shop COVID wedding recap?! “Do you feel so different!?”“Do you have a bit of post-wedding letdown?!” One week and three days after “I do” I can give the same answer to both questions: “No!” A glorious, abundantly happy, extremely grateful, “no!”. Okay – maybe that is […]

I almost started this post with, “this is long overdue” but I don’t think that is actually true. First, Life Outside the Shop hasn’t been around for long so “overdue” doesn’t really exist yet. Next, loss feels almost impossible to verbalize when you’re in the thick of it. And, writing things down feels vulnerable, permanent, […]