Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a lovely break over the holidays? I arrived home in NYC from Norway late last night. My heart mate and I had an incredible vacation there between Christmas and New Year. You may have seen some of the pictures I shared on Instagram? Oh my, I just fell into love with Norway alllllll over again. I think it’s one of, if not the most, beautiful countries I’ve visited. It was so nice to travel for pleasure vs. work – it’s been a long time since we took a trip that was just for us. We hiked, we talked, we read, we cooked, we laughed, we cuddled. It was the best! I also had the time to practice my photography without pressure or guidelines, and it felt amazing to have the space and time to do that. Photography has always been one of my favorite parts of the content creation I work on for Bright.Bazaar. I can’t wait to share the content with you in the coming weeks and months. First, I’ve just gotta get through the shortlisting and editing of the 4,500+ photos I took…! See, I wasn’t joking when I said how much I loved photography!
I have big plans for Bright.Bazaar this year. Plans that make me feel equal parts ecstatic and equal parts terrified. But if I’ve learned anything, the decision to do the things that terrify you the most are often the most rewarding, right? The past three years have been so busy setting up life here in America, and now that we are settled I’m energized into building the business alongside my heart mate (he’s been the Business Manager at Bright.Bazaar since we gained our Green Cards in 2016 and is an incredible asset to the business).
I also hope to make Bright.Bazaar even more personal this year. I felt like I went through a phase were I felt scared to open myself up too much. However, in 2017 I found more confidence to share some more personal stories, such as ‘My Story So Far: Reflecting On The Last Decade’, ‘The Real Reason I Learned To Appreciate Home’ and ‘Love Over Bias: My journey moving from the U.K. to the U.S.A.’. The responses were incredible and reading many of your own experiences made me realize how we are all human, how we all have our faults and flaws, and how its those very aspects that make us, well, humans. No matter who we are, how many readers one has or what our background is, we all have stories and experiences that we can share to inspire others. So, here’s to more opening up. More sharing of what went well, and of what didn’t go well and documenting what I learned from it. Here’s to life, and being grateful for everyday we get to live it. Even on the crappy days.
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I’m thrilled and grateful that we get to kick off the year with an incredible feature on ABC7NY that covers how I started Bright.Bazaar, and how I built the blog into a business over almost a decade. I hope you guys will find this inspiring as many of you often comment or write to me to ask for advice about starting your own blogs. Click here to read the feature. Thank you so much, as always, for your continued readership and support. Here’s to an incredible 2018!
30 Comments
This is fantastic! I’m so looking forward to reading your blog over the next year and seeing where it all goes!
I hope you’ve had a great Wednesday!
Michael
https://www.mileinmyglasses.com
@Michael – Thank you so much for your readership, Michael. Looking forward to following your blog, too!
Feeling so inspired after reading your interview Will! Congratulations! I’m looking forward to following along with your blog again this year.
@Justin – So glad you are feeling inspired. Thanks for following along and Happy New Year! 🙂
Can’t wait to see more photos from Norway…. I’ve dreamed of visiting for years.
@Susan – Yay! There’s so much more to come. I’m editing today, in fact!
STUNNING!!! It really does look like a winter wonderland. Thanks for always sharing your world with us all, it’s a pleasure to follow you! Congratulations on the well deserved press as well! Leah xoxo
@Leah – Awwww thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such a sweet comment! Norway is so beautiful, I can’t wait to go back!
HI Will. New reader here. I honestly don’t remember how I came across your site, but I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the word “bright” in the title. LOL. Decided to stick around. Love the pics, so far, of Norway. I bet that place looks amazeballs during the summer.
@CeCe – Welcome! And I love that the word Bright is what made you stick around – yay! Norway is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve only ever seen it in winter but I would love to visit in summer to see the fjords!
Excited to see more photos from your trip and the new things you have coming for the year! 🖤
@Austin – Thanks, Mr. Can’t wait to get them edited!
What a great post! As someone getting into the blogging world, I have appreciated your candidness this year and the inspiring work you’ve done! It’s great to have positive examples like you out there doing great things and helping motivate others to take risks, be creative and follow your passions! You’re helping people (me included) more than you realize!
-Cody
themysticavenue.com
@Cody – Appreciate your kind words, man. Thank you! Grateful to have you following along, and all the best with your new blogging journey!
Came in to be inspired by styling, going back with astonishment from your photos.
Happy new year!
@Eunjae – Love that! Thank you 🙂 Happy New Year!
I just stumbled across your Instagram and found your blog from there. Your photos are amazing and you are an inspiration to me, both as a blogger and photographer.
@The Wild Ones – Thank you so much and welcome along!
Is the ABC feature not available to read in the UK? Link takes me to a home page with no option to click through (and google search for feature does the same).
@Clare – I think their site must be down as I’m having the same issue here in America. The video I embedded to this post is still working for me so if you are able to watch that then that covers a lot of the points! 🙂
Will, I love the bookcase you have in your beach house …can you tell me where you bought it? Thank you!
I am new to your blog!
@Patricia – Sure thing! It’s from One Kings Lane. Thanks for stopping by the blog!
I’m so happy for you and your husband! 🙂 I remember following your site when you just analyzed room designs. I started an art blog around the same time and was also always afraid to make the posts personal. The stories turned out to be informational but dry. I love that you’ve opened up on your site and share your life with us. It’s wonderful hearing about all your success! I’m still waiting for the day you announce your own HGTV design show hehe
@Matthew – Thank you so much for following along and supporting my blog and work for so long! Truly grateful.
Happy New Year to you Will! You are so inspiring! Love that first image of Norway. I experienced Norway for the first time this Christmas with my family skiing. Beautiful friends invited us up north to join them for Christmas and I was blown away by the beauty. It felt like I was visiting a fairytale. I have some similar frosty images and am also still working my way through them all. Wishing you all the best for this year, may it be filled with joy and happiness. 🙂
@Rochelle – Thank you so much! I’m glad you had a wonderful time in Norway, too. Hope 2018 is off to a great start for you!
Hi Will,
This blog post is incredible. Love the images. I am actually planning a trip myself to Bergen. How did you get to Alesund? Did you take the bus / train or drive up there? 🙂 Keep following you, amazing work!
Adam
@Adam – Thank you so much! I flew from Alesund to Bergen but I believe you can take the train, too!
Brill, thanks so much Mr 🙂
Will you’re a legend and I love your blog, keeping smiling my friend