Coucou all and welcome back to Sammyfaces!


First of all a very Happy, healthy and peaceful New Year 2017 to y'all.

Long time no see, you might say? way long due time for a catch-up!

Back at it with so many questions in my head and some answers on my hand.

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To blog or not to blog?
The sempiternal question. On repeat.
In between moving countries or to our new place, work travels and other personal commitments; on days when I'm catching up with life, family, friends yet still find myself spending a scary amount of time on Instagram.
Do I still have anything left to say? I wonder. Do you fear over sharing with insta stories and the likes? actually with insta-anything do people still find time to read blogs ? does anyone still read your blog anyway? Wait if people didn't read blogs what about the ever growing medium.com? does that count as blogging too?  Has the word 'blog' lost its appeal? or has it only started to be real? for it is now a chosen career path for many (and some success stories at it!) and a way to make a decent living for a few.
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Pause
Let's step back for a moment.
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Why did you blog in the first place?
Where? How? When? Remember?
2011. I was living in London, single lady, 100% working girl, having survived 3.5 years working in investment banking M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) after graduating school. I had recently been promoted to Associate. Woooohooooo!! I was saving money and spending some of it on things I thought I desperately needed with no time to enjoy them. With a longstanding love for designer things (Yes I was born this way) I could finally afford things I loooved and was gradually building my Carrie Bradshaw-esque wardrobe with my every woman must-haves checklist: Chanel bag check, Cartier watch check, painful but pretty Louboutin shoes check, Hermes bag OMG I SO need one....

(>insert Kanye West voice - single black female addicted to retail)

I was proud, I was an independent woman and I was happy mostly under alcohol influence.
I was tired and exhausted and  miserable.
I felt lonely in a sea of equally ambitious men and women.

I needed a RESET.
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I was no longer satisfied with the recurring work allnighters, weekends of sleeping all day to recover and the occasional yet predictable Saturday clubbing followed by yet more sleepless nights of work during the week. I had lost the drive for another year of sweat for that bonus.

I wasn't quite sure if I still liked my job enough to go on with the sacrifice of hobbies and quality time with friends and family. I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to quit that well paid job, go scubadiving in the middle of Costa Rica (I can't dive anyway) or become a yoga teacher or whatever I perceived a better paid yet equally tiring job in private equity or hedge fund as some of my peers. I wasn't quite sure if  there was any other job in the corporate world which could allow me to travel and challenge me intellectually. I had managed to stick around during the tough years so what if I was good at it ? I needed a place to pour in all those emotions and conflicting desires, the constant chatter in my head, of a young professional lady girl gradually becoming the woman I no longer recognised. I wanted to take back control of who I was, and where I was going, what I liked, what I didn't like, my wants and needs and  the self love and appreciation that had gone missing for too long. I wanted to dream again, I wanted to feel great again, just like the bubbly, driven, carefree, life loving and once upon a time slender girl I was after university.

I needed a break and fortunately a break is what I got in the form of two amazing months in NY to tutor those who just like me 4 years before them, had chosen to embark into a career in finance at the Bank.

And that's how  I started this blog as a diary, a place to write down my inspirations, my man crushes, thoughts of the moment, a white canva to paint on everything and anything of my liking and a collection of pictures that soon I would go back to. What a journey I'd say- looking back  into memory lane to see how my taste in everything  fashion, music, food, basically how my life had evolved over time. However I didn't want anyone to know about this blog - God forbid anyone at work- so I kept it for myself. Deep down  there was this silly thought that being a banker and having a blog didn't go well together, and could make me pass for "unprofessional". After all I was supposed to dedicate my life and soul to my job and blogging, as it turned out demanded lot of time too! and so blogging became a hobby during that "work" free summer in NY.

That summer, I discovered so much about myself writing and reading other blogs,  filling and feeding my creative soul. That summer I started breathing again and meditating without even knowing I was meditating.
That summer I found selflove and found a way back to myself again.
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So why did I stop blogging?
Coming back to London. I had a new found energy and a new position that allowed me (with the great help and use of some more juniors at work) to find time to somehow continue writing. But as more and more blogs poured in, skinny models turned beauty gurus, fashion bloggers turned entrepreneurs, or  fashionistas with lovely pictures turned into brand ambassadors, I realised there was something that was indeed worth pursuing to the extent you have the time to dedicate yourself to it. But time is what I scarcely had,  nor did I have the "photogeny" to take it to the same level. I also hadn't quite found a "niche" in between beauty, fashion, travels etc... and why would I care if no one but me was reading anyway? There was no way I could get the required audience to make this hobby and my profound love for fashion yes, but also travels and everything basically, into something a bit more "serious". And in the midst of all this and (maybe thanks to it) I found love in a different city! So slowly but surely I drifted to the occasional posts in between work, travels and commuting in between 2 cities.
Fast forward and my blog became less frequent writing mixed with a convenient repository of pictures to inspire my daily life choices be it travels, fitness, food, home décor or fashion.

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Now what?
And questions kept coming back. Why go on? when will you find the time?
Until it hit me hard and clear: Reset priorities.

Truth is I missed writing more than I missed "blogging" and just like reading and watching Netflix, or Instagram, writing is a hobby that I still enjoy. I never intended to become a fashion blogger, but I always wanted to blog about all the random things that I like and coming back to read what I was up to months or years before. So here I am again,  enjoying that creative spur on a bright yet chilly Sunday afternoon. A day I have chosen to give it another try and to keep blogging with some purpose for as long as it gives me joy (from time to time) even if that means putting the efforts into writing for no reader, well technically at least one single reader-myself  :)

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What do I want to write about?  what would people want to read?
2017. Consider this a period of transition, as I'm torn in between quality and quantity, pouring my heart out or keeping it short and sweet, sharing things a bit deep and personal (am I truly the only one reading?) or keeping it light and fun. Yes it will be tempting and easy to continue leaning on the insta for the "efficiency" and that is fine too. And if my below Instagram best nines are of any indication, the lovely people who choose to 'follow' would like to see relationships, travels, and some fashion but mostly they would like to see me, or is it just a reflection of what I have myself chosen to share?

2017. Here I am again, now living in my work in progress home in Geneva, a little bit wiser, a little less single and I want this year of "questionable" blogging to be about personal growth, from things I wish I knew 5, 10 or 15 years ago to things I'm discovering and still learning everyday at work, at home, through my marriage, my friendships, and introspectively through myself.

2017. Somehow I still got lot to tell but not everything at the same time. And I'm very thankful to you, yes little kind soul still reading these lines, who might be a little bit inspired along the way. I also still got lot to show my future older self or my old younger self, the many faces of me...
For a little less than 2 years ago, I moved from London, a city that had become home to Geneva, a city I'm growing into with the help of my love, changing jobs in the process, from investment banking to corporate finance (ha major change I tell you!).
For a year now I embarked on a Marie Kondo type of journey to shop more wisely and build wardrobe capsules for work and play and trust me I haven't reached the destination...
For 6 months now I moved into our new place and everything home related have taken over my life, with its fair share of marriage threatening choices and decisions  ;-)

So I hope to share some of these topics and more with you all...

2017. Day 15. How time flies. Let's continue to love and be kind, to read and travel more, to inspire and be inspired, to be healthy, to meditate and generally appreciate what my body allows me to see and experience thus far.  Let's also continue to dream big, think bigger and enjoy all the beautiful things that makes life worth living...


2017. Let's make it a great one!

till next time

-S, with love