19 Jan 2017
Thoughts for Thursday

Blogger Spotlight | Willow Crowns and Olive + Tate

Gals, I’m so excited for today’s Thoughts for Thursday.  I have a very special interview for you guys with not one but two, beautiful and talented ladies.   I started this series last year called, Blogger Spotlight, and loved getting to know fellow bloggers better.  I think everyone enjoys reading these interviews too.

Today we have Stephanie of Olive and Tate and Megan of Willow Crowns and blogger at Willow Way.  They are the talented duo behind the adorable Willow Crowns company.   Willow Crowns offers the most adorable hair pieces for young ladies and their Mama’s and even sneaks in precious pieces for the little boys in our lives.  These ladies are witty, beautiful and the type of girls you know you want to be friends with!  They are both Mommy’s to one and each have a little girl on the way!! How sweet is that?  #bestiesinthemaking.

I hope you enjoy their interviews and getting to know them each a little better!

Stephanie of Olive and Tate

1. How do the two of you know each other?

Stephanie: The honest answer is through blogging! The story goes something like this: I was living in a small town in Northern Maine and Megan stumbled across my blog, started reading and realized that I was blogging from the town where she grew up! Meg’s family has lived in that little corner of Maine for generations and she was shocked that I wound up living there through my husband’s job (it is literally in the middle of nowhere). She came to town to visit her family for Christmas and asked if I wanted to meet for coffee. In all honesty, I’m not huge into meeting strangers and was 10 weeks pregnant at the time and feeling all of the first trimester feels – so I almost canceled. I remember sitting at the stoplight, waiting to turn into Starbucks thinking “I really do not want to do this” but sucked it up and went in anyway. A few minutes later, Megan walked in (having just become a brunette, if I remember correctly!) and I hopped up, hugged her, blurted out that I was pregnant and BEGGED  her to tell me that it would be ok if the baby was a girl. The rest is an amazing history that includes major ups (she was the first person after my husband to hold our baby, I was there when her daughter turned two), some wild lows (we were once in a terrible car accident together and have experienced losses with each other by our sides) and major successes for both of our businesses.
Megan: See answer above


2. Tell us a little bit about you, your family and where you’re from.


I am married to Justin and mama to 2 year old Gray. Justin and I met when I was living in Charlotte and he in Greenville, SC and I moved to SC to be with him. That move started a tidal wave of moves and we’ve now owned three homes in 4 years. We moved from SC to Northern Maine the day we got home from our Honeymoon and lived there long enough to get pregnant and have our son. We were thrilled to move back to SC after two Maine winters. When we moved back to the South, we found our home and tackled our first total home renovation. We love to travel (we took Gray on his first international trip at 4 months!), try to seek adventure and live for college football.

3. What made you decide to start a blog?


Our move to Maine! I started the blog so that my mom and mother in law wouldn’t call me every single day after our move. I knew I couldn’t answer the question “is it snowing yet” twice a day, every day, so I started documenting our adventures. I genuinely never imagined it would turn into a career for me or open as many doors as it has, but I am so grateful for the path I’m on.


4. You both write blogs, but you also work together at Willow Crowns.  How did this decision come about?


She made me work for Willow Crowns! Just kidding! Meg will tackle this one!

5.  They say working with your best friend can be really tough sometimes.  How do the two of you handle the tough stuff (pay, hours, launches, etc)?


Ha, this one is all Meg!


6. What are your best tips for handling it all? (work, blog, kids, family, cooking)


Oh God, I have absolutely no tips for handling it all, mostly because I don’t consider myself someone who “handles it all”. Most of my writing/blogging highlights the fact that I don’t have it all on lock and I think it’s cool if you don’t either. With that said, I think knowing your own strengths and weaknesses is a huge asset to surviving Motherhood. For example. I really, really need alone time to re-charge and center myself. I’m not sure why, but when we lived in Maine, I didn’t ask for or plan for any alone time for myself and it took a toll. When we moved South, I signed Gray up for Mother’s Day Out a few days a week and we are both so much happier – he loves his school and I take some time to decompress and settle my thoughts without a two year old begging for popcorn in the background.


7. You both have beautiful photography skills.  Are you self-taught or have you taken a photography class?


Oh, Meg will totally have a better answer than me on this question! Ok, here’s the truth: I shoot on a Cannon Rebel DSLR but I shoot in auto, no flash! Anyone who even remotely cares about the quality of their images is cringing right now. I don’t really have a desire to shoot in manual and am generally happy with my images, but my friends (including Meg!) totally want to disown me for not learning my camera! Needless to say, I am self taught! I am a huge proponent of using a real camera and not your iPhone when blogging because I know you can score amazing images even with little knowledge – so put down those phones, ladies!


8. What is your favorite thing about the blog community?


The amazing opportunity to be inspired by insanely talented people! I’ve learn so much from our community and our collaborations – Megan and I have had the pleasure of working with amazing businesswomen like Esther of CuteHeads Kids and Meredith of Cake and Confetti through Willow Crowns and I am just in awe of all that they accomplish and their talents. Collaborating with other bloggers in my town also makes the list – and here’s a post I wrote thanks to so many successful meetings with other bloggers. The fact that I met my best friend through blogging ranks up there, too!


9. You both have a beautifully curated instagram feed. What are your best tips?


Focus on your photography but don’t forget your captions! My Instagram feed drives tons of traffic to my blog and I want to be sure that readers who find me through Instagram know who I am, know my voice and are drawn to read my blog because of my Instagram presence. As far as my feed goes, I happen to like a bright, crisp feed so I make sure to only spend time grabbing shots that I know are bright and white. I actually don’t use filters – the only edits I make are to brighten and sharpens, so for me, I’ve learned what will make a great Insta shot when I see it through my camera. I don’t force an image – if it isn’t my style, I’ll use it in a blog post – no need to jam it into my feed. I’m also a huge fan of purging my feed – if I don’t like the way an image looks, in my feed I delete it, simple as that! I’ve written two posts (and spoken at a Blog Conference!) on Instagram and how i make it work for me and you can read them here and here!


10. What does a typical day look like for you?

I without a doubt think Megan’s day is more exciting than mine, so I’ll let her take this one! My day looks a lot like many of yours, complete with coffee runs, grocery store adventures, a toddler who loves to snuggle, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, endless laundry, even more dishes and an occasional office day. Add in never ending blogging and social media and you’ve got my day nailed!

 

Megan of Willow Crowns

1.  How do the two of you know each other?

See Stephanie’s answer above 🙂

2.Tell us a little bit about you, your family and where you’re from.

My husband and I were born and raised in Maine and after spending the first couple years of our marriage wandering around Boston, we picked up and moved to Houston, TX and have been here for over three years! Ryan and I are high school sweethearts, and are having fun parenting our very spunky almost four year old daughter, Olivia. Our second daughter is due this winter after a struggle with recurrent miscarriages and we couldn’t be more excited to finally meet her!

3.  What made you decide to start a blog?

While I don’t blog very much anymore, I remain a loyal reader and lover of blogs. I started mine/continue to avidly read others because I love finding sources of inspiration. Especially when it comes to motherhood, I’m nosy and want to know what other mothers are wearing, feeding their kids, doing to manage the witching hour, and how they decorate their homes. I also think it’s a fantastic way to connect with other like minded people (just look at how Steph and I met!).

4. You both write blogs, but you also work together at Willow Crowns.  How did this decision come about?

When Steph and I first connected WC was brand new, like months old. She was really newly pregnant and as our friendship developed, I was always asking for her opinion on new pieces since she was in the nesting mindset of a mom to be. She was always honest, I think she has impeccable taste all around, and her feedback came to be really important to me.
Around the one year mark for WC, we were having phone calls dedicated to seasonal collections and since I had been telling her for months that one day I’d pay her for her opinions, I asked if she wanted to come on board officially. The rest is history!
Now she’s not only my sounding board, but runs our website like a top and keeps our launch days running smoothly.

5.  They say working with your best friend can be really tough sometimes.  How do the two of you handle the tough stuff (pay, hours, launches, etc)?

This is such a good one! When we first started we promised each other one thing: that no matter what, our friendship came first. We are both moms with husbands who have demanding jobs and to a large extent, our sanity relies on one another – that sanity cannot be compromised!
Steph is very tell it like it is, and I can err on the sensitive side, so we really have to rely on our friendship to get us through times when I don’t always like what she has to say or she might feel like I’m too attached to a product that just isn’t working (it happens).
Logistically, we follow a pretty relaxed schedule hours-wise. We both have families that come first and we just find the time to get everything done. We both trust we’ll do our jobs and as our roles have evolved, we’ve adjusted things like pay, just talking it out as we go.

After two years of doing launches together, we’ve got a pretty great system worked out to the point where launches kind of run themselves (I know Steph is rolling her eyes, because she hustles on launch days!). Seriously though, the longer we work together, the longer we work out the kinks and we just get things done!

6. What are your best tips for handling it all? (work, blog, kids, family, cooking)

I’m an early riser, it helps my day just run more smoothly. I get up before the rest of my family, get my caffeine flow started, and mentally organize my day. Every day looks different but every day has a plan. I’ll often work in my studio until Olivia gets up and while she’s at school/doing quiet rest each day. That mostly covers the work part, and my husband is amazing at really playing mom and dad on weekends leading up to launches when I need to dedicate extra time to WC.
Outside of the hours working detailed above, I really try to be as present as possible with family time. I’m not throwing together gourmet meals every night, but most nights Liv is in the kitchen cooking with me, we’re sitting at the table as a family, and spending the evenings (and weekends) together. It’s little things like that that make me feel like we stay connected and have time together as a family and keep work from creeping in and taking over.
As far as tips:
I keep a short daily to-do list going to keep myself on track.
I have a cleaning schedule (cringe). I really do. I tackle certain chores on set days of the week so that I don’t end up feeling overwhelmed at the end of the week. Especially with laundry. Laundry is my nemesis.
I keep a bunch of frozen meats and veggies on hand all the time so it’s simple to throw together a quick dinner if I’m running behind.
I cut myself plenty of slack. Sometimes we order pizza and my to-do list just doesn’t get 100% done. When you run your own business it’s easy to try and take on every single thing, every minute of the day, but my family comes first and sometimes I just have to let the little things go!

7. You both have beautiful photography skills.  Are you self-taught or have you taken a photography class?

Self-taught and still allllways learning. I love to shoot in manual now that I have it figured out and I’m super excited to be finally ugrading to a full frame camera body this fall. I’m also lucky to be friends with some super talented photographers who are always willing to give me tips!

8. What is your favorite thing about the blog community?

It really comes down to the inspiration for me! The sharing of ideas and the sense of community is really fabulous.

9. You both have a beautifully curated instagram feed. What are your best tips?

Take TONS of photos. You never know when one random shot might be just the one you’re looking for weeks down the road. I’m also a big fan of pro photos since mine is a business account.
Mostly, just trust your gut. I naturally gravitate towards certain images and when I continue to only choose the ones that really speak to me, my feed stays consistent and on brand.

10. What does a typical day look like for you?

 Nothing too exciting! I get up early, do a Starbucks run, and try to get emails and some social media handled before Liv is up for the day.
A few days a week she’s in preschool and that’s my time to really crank out orders, work on seasonal stock, and product flat lay photos.
If she’s home for the day we’ll usually have a play date, hit the grocery store, and try to get out for a walk to burn some energy! Depending on the day, I’ll take a shop inventory and prep materials for our awesome production assistant to take home and work on!
Afternoons are for quiet rest and catching up on work that didn’t get attended to that morning and trying to figure out what the heck I’m going to do for dinner!
We eat dinner as a family, and dedicate our evenings to time together. Once the kiddo is asleep, I’ll catch up with my husband, try to mentally sketch out my social media plans for the next day before calling it a night!
Steph and I will text all throughout the day bouncing ideas off each other, catching up on inventory/website issues, and anything else bar might come up!
Please be sure to say hello to both of the girls!  We were so glad to have them.
Link up with Natalie and I below to share your Thoughts for Thursday.  We are also super excited to add another host to our weekly link-up!  Welcome fellow Mom,  Julie from Borm and Co.  We are so excited to have her.


Thoughts for Thursday
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5 Comments

  1. Julie Borm wrote:

    I have always loved reading Olive & Tate and her photography is absolutely stunning all the time. I’m going to take her advice to put down the phone and start using my camera once and for all. So glad to be a part of the link up!

    Posted 1.19.17
  2. rosie wrote:

    such a great read lovely ladies

    Life is just Rosie
    Instagram

    Posted 1.19.17
  3. Sarah Bell wrote:

    Such a fun post! I love reading about other bloggers and their background stories – thank you for sharing and for hosting!

    Sarah Bell
    Trendy & Tidy

    Posted 1.19.17
  4. Laura wrote:

    Love these two ladies!

    Posted 1.20.17
  5. Owen Davis wrote:

    Great post!! I LOVE WC and can’t wait for my little girl to be decked out in their pretty pieces!!

    Posted 1.23.17

Comments are closed.