I’m so excited for the debut of the new and improved Somewhere in Middle America! What do you think? I love it. A big thanks to Aaron C. and Abby B. for their help. I couldn’t have done it without you guys. Seriously.

These past couple of weeks have been quite busy. J returned home from his second deployment in the middle of the month and immediately caught the cold that I had been fighting the week prior. Then I re-caught it from him. Needless to say, we spent his first week back in Omaha doing not much more than napping and being lazy.

In the time I’ve been away I also started a part-time job at a chic lifestyle boutique in the Old Market. I’ve only worked two days, but I can tell it’s going to be a blast. The merchandise includes high-end shoes and handbags and home accessories — my favorites! It’s good to get out of the house for a couple of hours a week even though I’ve been doing a bunch of writing for Lemondrop this past month. One of my articles is actually the second-most commented post on the site right now!

By now you might be wondering if anything else has changed on my blog besides the layout and color scheme. Well, the categories have been streamlined a bit. I have a new tagline, “Playing House in the Heartland,” and I’m going to try to keep my posts centered around that theme. I might start telling more stories about my home, work and play lives rather than highlight products or other things that don’t fall into those three categories. My home life includes decorating my house, cooking (on occasion) and other activities that take place in the home. My work life includes blogging, freelance writing and now spending time at the downtown boutique. Finally, my play life includes all of my hobbies, from watching TV and going to the movies to crafting and reading.

The category “my photography” will be posts featuring my original photographs, of which I’m going to start taking more. “Military wife” will be posts dealing with deployment and the other joys of being married to an Air Force officer. I’m sure you can figure the rest out!

I’ll also be featuring more guest posts and special series, the first of which will premiere this week. If you have an idea for a series or are interested in being a guest blogger, please contact me at pj[at]somewhereinmiddleamerica[dot]com.

Oh, that’s another thing that’s changed–my email address. And I’m now accepting sponsors, so if you’d like to advertise on Somewhere in Middle America, please get in touch with me. Rates are extremely reasonable, if I do say so myself.

So that’s about everything that’s new or different on my end! How about you? Fill me in on what you’ve been up to these past couple of weeks. I’ve missed you!

xo,

PJ