Cooking Up Whatever the Heck I Want

The past twelve months or so have been chock full of change for me. New city, new home and a new mother-in-law when you think about it!  When all this change hit me I was smack dab in the middle of this personal growth thing that I have been working on, well my whole life. However, recently I have really been trying to apply myself. Things like how I react to people, keeping my thoughts positive, setting goals and accomplishing them. You know, easy stuff like that. Ha!  If only.  I have accomplished many things I have set out for myself and for that I am really proud. I quit smoking. I stopped drinking. I am losing weight. I am even working on my reactions to things and not being such a drama queen! For all that I give myself one big pat on the back.  The one thing I haven't bee able to get a grip on is my blog. That is one big challenge for me.

I started by blog way back in 2008.  I started it as a way to share recipes with my friends. I had just discovered cooking and Rachel Ray and just started her 30-Minute-Meals show. I was cooking up a storm and my friends and I were sharing recipes a lot. This was a perfect way to do it. I really didn't think much of it. I just got on blogger and set one up.  I never posted all that regularly, but that was enough for me and at least my friends could get my recipes.

A few years later a friend of mine, Shelly, jazzed up her blog Momfiles.com and I was motivated to jazz up mine as well. I found a great template and figured out how to implement it with the help of this great developer from Spain. It the same one I have on there now. I like it. Still, however, I was a bit irregular in my posts.

As time has gone by tons and tons of food blogs have popped up on the internet.  With all these foodies posting recipes for things like Wild Boar with Simmered Napa Kale and Brazilian Lime Infused Creme Fraiche my recipes for things like Pudding In A Cloud seemed pretty pathetic. I became really self-conscious about my writing. How could I keep up with these people?  To make matters worse someone decided that my blog would be fun to attack and left some really nasty comments about a recipe I posted. That really hurt me and pushed me further into my shell. I just started thinking that I had nothing to offer.

The last few months I have been making some feeble attempts to post on my blog. I actually have been forcing myself to do it. You see, I do write every single day. I have been for over a year.  I have written for 300,000 words for 378 days straight.  If I can do that, why can't I write in my blog?

Well, I will tell you why. I am self-conscious. I feel that I don't have anything to say that anyone will be interested it.  Also, I don't want to just write about food anymore.  While I may poke fun at those folks that can turn Pudding In A Cloud into a 25 ingredient recipe with every ingredient in the title, I do admire them and I am learning a lot from them. I can't compete with that.  Aha! That's the key. I don't need to compete.  This isn't a competition, it's a blog.  It's MY blog. I can honestly write whatever I want to.  Cooking with Sean & Joey can be more than cooking in the kitchen. It could be cooking up life.  Cooking up design.  Cooking up adventure.  Right now I am into celebrating my life and I want to share it.  I do have something to offer - my experiences. I am only going to be on this road once. I might as well keep a travel journal.  Who knows? It might even help someone.

So, starting Monday there is going to be a new twist on Cooking with Sean & Joey.  Each day of the week is going to be a new different theme.  I am going to keep my themes a secret right now and I intend for them to grow in their own way. Who knows what I will cook up. I do know one thing. I will be cooking up whatever the heck I want and I am going to have fun with it!