Introducing The Moss and Mourning Journal, A Vintage Lifestyle Blog

Hello Misfits and welcome to the New Moss and Mourning Journal. 

"Wait," you say, "What? You have had this blog for a while now!"

And you are right of course, I have. As you probably know by now I love to write and in fact I've had a few blogs over the years. But even though I enjoy blogging, I've always sort of fizzled out with them and I've never been able to figure out why. Luckily over the last year I think I finally figured out how to make a blog sustainable for me. 

So lets go back in time a bit...if you've been following me for a while you'll be super aware of all the incarnations my social media and websites etc...have had. I'm what they call a multipotentialite. That means I have many strong interests and am driven to do - and do well - all of them. In a culture where being a specialist is valued, I don't exactly fit in. I've had various alter egos and multiple Instagrams, Facebooks, and so on. Its been a very long running frustration of mine that I could not figure out how to successfully blend all my various interests and skills into one solid entity. The vintage didn't seem to go with the horses, didn't seem to go with the more witchy, ghosty, Halloween side, didn't seem to go with the handcraft and art, didn't seem to go with the nature oriented, more Elven side.  My poor friends must have grown very tired of me whining about how I knew there had to be a way to bring all of these into one world but that I could not see the forests for the trees, so to speak. 

But then something incredible started to happen...imagine a tornado blowing in circles in front of you. Its just a mass of air and dust and debris, when magically, something solid takes shapes as it blows past you and gets sucked back into the whirlwind...then another thing and then another... That was what my mind felt like. It was like a scene from the movie Twister. Suddenly there was a metaphorical cow blowing by, then a semi truck. I was starting to make sense of the noise in my head and could see how the pieces would possibly fit together. 

And one day, the tornado was just...over. Everything had settled to earth and I could see exactly the path I needed to take. Everything, all my passions, all my creative energies, all of my favored aesthetics have always been most influenced by the seasons, and the natural world and cycles of life. My love for vintage comes from a love for history and the old ways, protecting the earth by living sustainably, and my love for ghosts.  My love for Halloween from essentially the same thing. My love for animals, the movies and books I prefer, my love for walking in nature and rain and Autumn...all of it comes down to my woods-witch ways. So taking that word, woods-witch, I began plotting my new world domination. Well, the domination of my own little world at least.  I started by creating a new social media handle, Moss and Mourning and I started fresh with new social media accounts and a new look and feel. I started rebranding my shop, bringing Toadstool Farm Vintage on board with this new direction and feel I suddenly knew was right. Now both the shop and my personal brand flow together and can share content, fans and products. 

Ultimately so far, the overhaul has taken nearly a year and will take probably another to get 100% up to speed but it's going so well. I have butterflies in my stomach as I write this because I am so excited for what the future will bring to both myself and my customers and fans. It has been such a long journey to get to this clarity and focus and I'm grateful to be able to share it with you.

That brings us to today and the next step which is this new journal. It is the first stage of a three-fold idea I have involving expanding on my You Tube Channel and possibly adding a Podcast to the mix. I am sure you're wondering what this blog will include? Well, just like its creator it will be a multipotentialite blog. I plan on talking about whatever subject matter comes to me. So think vintage how to's, some stories about my horses and animals, movie or book reviews, sustainable living ideas, craft tutorials or vintage history, stories of my road trips and adventures, and probably no small amount of ghost stories. All of the things that make up this magical world of a misfit that I've created. Yet all of it will rotate around this new focus I have of bringing vintage into the everyday and living in harmony with the seasons.

My intention is to blog much more consistently and I feel confident in my ability to do that. I am working behind the scenes writing articles and adding to the blog itself to make it more user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. In the meantime I did not want to hold off on introducing you to it and getting started because I have so very much to say!   So welcome welcome welcome!  And thank you for being such wonderful customers, fans and friends for all these years.  Lets keep building this magical world of mine and being Misfits together! I would love to hear your thoughts and impressions. Have you noticed all the changes? Do you like them? Is there anything I can make better for you? Anything you'd like to see me blog about? Leave me a comment below and as always...safe journeys to you!