green sydney window light by lightroom presets

you might be asking yourself, “why is this woman staring out the window?”

it might be because she’s in that melancholy mood that follows a marathon session of reading design, craft, and lifestyle blogs that are just to pretty for words. the kind that make you realize that your house is messy, full of junk you don’t need, and doesn’t smell like cut flowers and gluten-free baked goods.

also the kind of blogs that made me make a statement on twitter to the affect of, “i’m convinced that all indie biz owners live in homes full of beautiful gray-ish natural light.”

i came across this jezebel post yesterday that sums it up just so:

Because, whereas Martha and her ilk may have preached a gospel of aspiration, this world is all about attainability. All these folks are young, on a budget, and, presumably, have day-jobs — or at least have the motivation to busy themselves with the less-glamorous end of their creative jobs (like uploading stuff, and bookkeeping) some of the time. Theoretically, you could do all this — you, too, could (and should) be living a beautiful life. But most of us are simply not skillful enough, or committed enough to beauty or, as I always end up morosely chastising myself, pure enough of heart to attain it — let alone make it look so good online.

yes, the blogs we read are hopelessly attainable. we really could be living those lives… and dear reader, if you think for one minute that i lead that kind of life, i’m so sorry to disappoint! yet, even as they disgust us with beauty and thrift and grayish natural light, we keep reading – in fact, we’re always hungry for more!

so what is it that keeps us coming back? what have you changed in your life because of a blog? answer: using the macro setting on my camera. a lot. why do these windows into others’ lives hold such sway over our day-to-day?

tell me in the comments. please!