Welcome to the Hardtland

In so many ways I feel like this post has been about 3 years in the making and it feels so good to finally be publishing it. As cheesy as it sounds, I've always dreamt about how awesome it would be to start and run my own blog and have such an amazing outlet to share passions and inspirations and things I love. I had my tumblr for a while and I would write every now and again, but mostly it just sat there, sad and neglected. I would always stay up way too late and read all sorts of beauty and lifestyle and food blogs. On the one hand, I was so inspired by these beautifully designed blogs full of the beautiful lives of beautiful women, but on the other hand, I would end up feeling discouraged and feeling like I could never do something like that, let alone be successful at it. I let that comparison and intimidation rule me and keep me from doing something as simple as signing up on blogger to start my very own blog. 

How dumb is that?! 

But I really would think to myself, "what if no one wants to read it? what if my husband and grandma are the only people that ever read it?" (shout out to my grandma, aka my number one fan!) and I let that fear of failure keep me from pursuing this small dream of mine. At least I did until I finally came to my "enough's enough" moment. And I realized, as one good friend reminded me today over brunch, "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take". If that's not the truest statement in the world, then I don't know what is.

So, why "The Hardtland"?

When Josh and I got married I changed my name on Instagram to @thehardtwife (because his last name is Hardt and I'm his wife.. get it!?) and I wanted this blog to be somewhat of an extension of my Instagram. That, and I liked the play on words.
A heartland is "the central or most important part of a country or area; the center of support for a belief" and that's exactly what I want this blog to be about.

A big part of what motivated me to create The Hardtland (besides constant encouragement to start writing again from Josh) was the need for a creative outlet. As I sat down to brainstorm what I could write about I realized I not only want to blog about superficial things like beauty and food and fashion - all of which I really love! - but I want this to be a space were I can be vulnerable and extend the invitation to others to do the same. The reason behind me starting a blog isn't because I have such an amazing, glamorous life full of  spontaneous and Instagram-worthy moments - that's just not my reality. My reality looks like waking up at 7am, half asleep to a very awake and ready-to-play (almost) 1-year-old, trying to keep the house from looking like hurricane Fisher-Price just rolled through, reheating the same cup of coffee 4 times before getting to finish it, all while trying to get ready and look presentable for work, only to get home, go to sleep and do it all over again the next day. It looks like living in the family apartment building on a college campus, ballin' on a budget and eating frozen meals from Trader Joe's for dinner most nights. It's just not  exactly picturesque. 

Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for the family and the life and the job that God has gifted me, and I'm even more thankful that Josh gets to go back to school and is able to be a stay-at-home dad to EJ, but at the end of the day I am a working mom that leads a very normal life. That's what I want to share with you. In a world where social media is full of over-the-top and glamorous and perfect, I want to be a voice to remind you that it's okay to just be normal - whatever that looks like for you. 

Life is messy and fun and mundane and beautiful and I believe we should celebrate every part of it.

xo Kristina

PS if you want to join me on this exciting new journey and stay up to date with all the posts to come, subscribe and join The Hardtland emailing list by entering you email in prompt in the side bar!