Can I just say I LOVE doing these interviews? It is so much fun hearing from each of you, and learning more about your blogs!!! Today we’re hearing from Yvonne!!!
Introduce yourself
Aloha! I’m Yvonne of Sunnyside Up-stairs, wife of Angelito, mother of a 3-year-old sweetheart, and teacher to a brood of second-graders. I type from the west coastline of O’ahu, Hawai’i about hand-making the furniture and finishes in our 600 square foot above-garage-apartment attached to my childhood home. I love sharing what I’m learning about filling an empty space with functionality and hope to inspire readers to make for themselves what they may not be willing or able to pay for otherwise.
1. How do you balance blogging time & Family Time?
I keep a schedule to work on projects with my 3 year old helper after I come from teaching. While I’m cutting wood, she plays in our garage with scrap wood blocks. When I am assembling pieces, my daughter loves to draw and paint. Her first abstract painting hangs in our compact hallway. When it’s time for me to glue or paint something, she’s right there painting and gluing the project too.
At night, when I sit down to code posts and edit photos, my husband is beside me, teaching himself more complex coding languages on his own laptop. He coded a little chat room where we chat (sitting 2 feet from each other) so he can show me what he’s learning, but also so we can take breaks to be silly. He’s coded some of the more interesting little touches on my blog, which is becoming our blog.
All other times, my daughter and I love making meals from scratch. Hand-made pizza has been our newest favorite together! We all love to watch movies before or after dinner and my husband always requests that I close my laptop and unplug.
2. What are your top 3 blogging goals and how are striving to reach them?
My top 3 blogging goals for my first year as a blogger are:
- Make connections and friendships
I’ve had no plan for making friends, except that I like to leave comments anfd sometimes I get comments back. It is incredibly inspiring to become a regular follower of a blogger and have that blogger become a regular follower of my content in turn! I love the “conversation” and the connection we create that way!
- Publish quality, helpful content
I observe what other bloggers do, and I consider what I know about teaching when I make tutorials. I’m still learning much in this area, and I am open to helpful feedback!
- Earn $25 before my 1-year blog anniversary
I will have been blogging for 1 year by the end of November. I’m trying to build traffic so that I will have earned $25 in Google Adsense revenue to gift to my sponsored child’s family in Bolivia for Christmas. I’m following Paula’s tips and doing three things differently starting this week: Taking a “pin-worthy” vertical photo, adding text to the photo with PicMonkey, and writing posts with the goal of helping the reader instead of just journaling my progress.
3. Do you have a blogging schedule or just write as you feel inspired? Share what works for you and why!
I schedule the next 12 months of Tuesday and Thursday posts correlated to the projects I’ll be working on in our home. I do my best to stick to the schedule, but I also revise my schedule as I go. My favorite newest addition to my blog is a page I made just for scheduled posts. It serves as my monthly project archive of posts, but it also helps me stay organized and stick to one goal and one set of projects for the month. I’m striving toward being accountable for the transparency of my goals and in turn, it is helping me reach them!


Great interview!
Thank you! As was yours, Jenny. 🙂
I love reading about other bloggers blogging schedules. That’s so cool that you try to schedule 12 months ahead. I wish I could do that!
I came home one day and had the energy to build something, but no plan. I decided to plan out my month, based on one area of my house, and things just rolled from there. 🙂 It’s nice to come home and know what I want to accomplish without having to think about it. =D
Aloha & mahalo for the interview! Was great getting to know the Yvonne beyond blogging 🙂
That is so awesome that your husband and you utilize his coding skills in a practice chatroom! Haha as a coder that literally made me “aww” while reading.
Thank you, Billimarie! I love “coding evenings” with my husband, as secretly nerdy as it seems! =D Neat to know you are a coder too. 🙂
Ah, that is sweet about your AdSense revenue!
She is such a deserving child! If I can make extra income with blogging, I hope to sponsor more children. 🙂