Makeover!

I have made a big decision. I am planning a makeover for The Kitchen Prep. Sort of. I guess it depends on you.

Not that this is much of a secret, but I'm pretty new at food blogging {read: I just started this blog in January}. But guess what? I'm completely hooked.

I love the idea of sharing recipes with everyone "out there". In fact, I get pretty giddy when I get a new comment {especially from strangers. I know, "Stranger Danger" still applies. It is ingrained in my head. That's what happens when you teach elementary school kids for a while. But this is one case where strangers are welcome for the most part.} It's just very cool to me that I can be sitting in my apartment in my own little world, and then suddenly come up with a delicious idea that I think the whole world should know about, and voila. From my brain {or oven. or skillet. etc.} to your computer screen. Amazing.

My husband's perspective. This is what I look like when I'm blogging.
And yes, I do have bottoms on. They are elephant printed pj shorts and I'm not ashamed to say it.

Anyway, when I started The Kitchen Prep, I had this image in my head of what it would look like. I'll let you in on a little secret: It didn't look anything like what you are looking at. Not that I am snubbing my little project here, because I have truly grown to love it in all its raw and undeveloped glory. But as I imagine people feel about their offspring, I picture great things for my little blog. Whether I have 5 readers or 5,000 readers {Though, I'm not gonna lie, the latter sounds much more enticing}.

In starting my own cooking blog, other people's cooking blogs have become even more appealing to me because I look up to them much like a kid looks up to an older, cooler sibling {though I'm pretty sure that quite a few of the bloggers that you'll find in my Google Reader are actually younger -and far more talented-than I am}. And let me tell you, there are some GREAT blogs out there! {Just take a look at my Inspiration tab for a few of my faves.} Seeing just how fabulous some of these are makes me want to strive for perfection for my own blog. Ya know?

I promise, all this endless blabber is getting to an actual point. And here it is.

I have a hard time justifying purchases for myself. I am known to stalk an item for weeks, even months, and monitor the dropping price until I find it acceptably low enough to spend my hard earned pennies on. It's not a bad thing. You save a lot of dough this way, and sometimes even realize that you don't actually need the item you thought you couldn't live without. I do not, however, have as difficult of a time justifying purchases for others because I like to give!

So, I've made up my mind to treat myself to a blog makeover upon reaching 2 important goals: Getting to my 100th blog post and having at least 50 followers. That way, the purchase is a little bit for me and a little bit for others, which seems like a win-win to me. :)

I am so grateful for everyone who has clicked on my TKP Facebook posts {I know it can get a little obnoxious, I'm working on it.}, and for my friends and family who became followers before I even had any recipes up! I'd love for you to spread the word about The Kitchen Prep to anyone you think would enjoy it, or anyone who'd be willing to help a girl reach her goal of beautifying her blog. ;) And I'd love to hear from you!! So please comment, comment, comment away even if it's to tell me that it doesn't matter how you cook your Brussels sprouts, you still hate them. Or to correct me on an ingredient measurement {I'm still working on that, too!}. Or to criticize me on my ridiculously excessive & incorrect use of curly brackets {sorry :P}.

Thanks for making my hobby all the more enjoyable by letting me share it with you!

xoxo,

Dianna