hi. welcome to poppystock, the blog that I initiated…2 years ago? back then I was a new-ish first time mom to a son who enjoyed his naps and so i thought what the hell, let’s start a blog. I’m convinced I must have been fresh off a viewing of Julie & Julia. romanticizing a time I never got to live where someone would curl up in a likely non-aesthetically pleasing office chair with a mug of coffee and open the family shared desktop computer to read their favourite blog. the time would feel intentional. becoming a mom really made me assess my relationship with screens – how much I was using them, yes, but also how and why. I read a book (How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price), and the author talks about asking yourself 3 questions before you pick up your phone – what for? why now? what else? using this exercise really forced me to examine my reliance on screens. it was endless googling that felt urgent in the moment, falling into the vortex of facebook marketplace, and of course, doom scrolling through shortform content and reddit. and it was almost always taking place on my phone, sometimes while I had another screen on. I didn’t want my son to grow up inundated with screens and normalizing heavy usage and reliance on screens, so as many others, I wanted my son to grow up just like my husband and I did in the 90s. calling grandparents on the landline, watching a movie, reading, sitting with a question (this is so much harder that I thought it would be), and using screens not mindlessly, but intentionally, as something to enjoy. I wanted the slow life. enter poppystock. my submission into throwing back to the old days.

as soon as I got the domain, the classic over analysis leads to paralysis set in, so poor little poppystock sat barren. and then I went back to work. and then I got pregnant with our second son. and now here I am, back on leave, feeling the very way I did back then (and yes, also fresh off another recent viewing of Julie & Julia). so slow down with me for a bit, I’m going to write about all things you might find in a martha living magazine (goat), heavy on the house and decor end of things. we live in an 1870’s house and are chomping at the bit to move somewhere that would provide us with some more space. this is taking up a lot of mental space at the moment. I also love a diy, crafting, whipping up something good in the kitchen (I have a voracious sweet tooth), beauty, and I’m working on feeling good in this postpartum body. anyways hello, hi, welcome, hope your coffee is warm.