My Story, Part Two: College & Starting My Blog

Photo Credit: Em the Gem 

If you missed Part One of my story last week, you can catch up on that post here.

Once I decided I was definitely going to pursue interior design in college, I began searching for schools that would accommodate my career goals, but also one that would fall in line with other things I valued. I toured a bunch of schools in California, because I was certain I would never leave the state. (If you know where I live now, you are laughing along with me!) 

I toured FIDM, The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, just for fun with my family one summer. While I thought the school was absolutely amazing and had secret dreams of attending one day, I also just couldn't see myself going to Los Angeles right after I graduated high school. FIDM is not for the faint of heart and in my opinion, it's not suited for girls right out of high school for many reasons.

So, my search continued! One of the guidance counselors at my high school suggested I check out the school her sister went to in Seattle. It offered an interior design program, was a Christian university, and was only a 2 hour plane flight away from home. I checked it out online, absolutely loved what I saw, so my family and I went for a visit to Seattle Pacific University. As soon as I walked on the campus and saw those beautiful, old brick buildings, I knew almost instantly this is where I would go to school. The people were friendly, it was a quaint area of town, there was a ton to do in Seattle, and one of the best churches in the country was down the road. Guess what?! There was a bonus. The head of the design department let me know I could participate in a transfer program to FIDM my 4th year of college, and obtain my bachelor's degree from SPU and my AA degree from FIDM, all in 4 years. I was totally sold!

I remember the day my acceptance letter came in the mail, my parent's had a friend over and I screamed in my room of shear excitement. They were a little alarmed, until they realized what the scream was all about!

After a whole summer of preparing my dorm room decorations with my roommate, we moved in to our dorm in the fall of 2009. After the initial excitement faded, I realized it was tough to be away from home. As a true homebody and a gal very close to her family, moving away was much harder than I expected. The first few months of school I would call my mom a few times a day. One time I was so homesick, she flew up to Seattle and surprised me after I got out of class. My mom is the best :) After months of calling home, missing everyone, being "trapped", as I called it, without a car, and getting a little seasonal depression over all the rain and gray days Seattle so kindly gave me, my dad made a suggestion for me.

"Michaela, maybe you should start a blog! You read blogs all the time, so why don't you start one and just blog about your design projects and things you're learning in school." 

I thought about it for a while and at first thought, who would read what I have to say?! But after a few months of trying my best to design my own blogger template (ha!) and reaching out to some of my favorite bloggers for advice, I finally hit publish on my first post in July of 2010. (I can't believe I'm linking to it, but if you want to read it, here it is!) I began chronicling my journey through school, a lot of my design projects, my apartments and college houses, outfits I would wear, random design musings, baking recipes, Seattle adventures (or posts about all the rain and how no one uses an umbrella), and my post popular and most pinned post to date: Almost No Heat Curls.

This really did get my mind centered on why I was there in Seattle, braving the rain and being away from family. Blogging reminded me about my passion of design every single day. I was and still am, continually inspired by other blogs I read, and hopefully I have inspired some young gals to pursue design as well, or just encouraged someone out there to create a home they love. Blogging regularly has also done some other incredible things and presented unique and amazing opportunities along the way. 

I will be sharing those next week in Part Three of my story!

How did you decide which college to go to?

Happy Wednesday!
xoxo

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