Personality Feature - The Apron Goddesses - Julia

The Apron Goddesses - by Julia. If you have not had the opportunity to be introduced to the blog: The Apron Goddesses - then here is a good time to not only get acquainted with the blog but also with Julia the developer of The Apron Goddesses concept!

"My blog, the Apron Goddesses was inspired by a few factors. I needed an apron since I was getting destroyed in the kitchen. I saw a few other blogs where the authors were showing their aprons. So I knew I was not alone in my appreciation of aprons. I wanted to find some great aprons makers. Hence, The Apron Goddesses was born."

The Apron Goddesses promotes apron wearing and sharing. In Julie's own words, "I want this blog to be the place ladies come to find hand crafted aprons from high quality seamstresses. With apron give-a-ways every week and features on ladies wearing aprons there is something new going on all the time." It is a very informative and fun site - and hey, we can all join in the fun and send Julie a picture of ourselves wearing a favorite apron.

Julie also has another blog called Our Simple Life. This blog consists of written and/or pictorial essays about life on our property in California. Since we live on five acres in a rural area there is lots to do. We have horses, chickens, cats, dog, fish and five very active kids running around. Since my brother-in-law's family lives next door there is always something afoot.

I ask Julie how the got started in blogging. "The first blog I read was The Natural and Green Parenting blog I was looking for safe bottles for my kids and found it there. After that another friend shared her blog with me in the fall of 2008. I started up ny own blog a few months later because I had to keep up my writing."

Julie graduated with a degree in Botany in 1993 from U.C. Davis and worked in environmental consulting for the past 13 years. The jobs in environmental consulting had dried up with the slow economy. I was extremely motivated to write in a format that was creative and basically uncensored with the blog Writing for consulting is dry and scientific and after more than a decade of formal structure the freedom with blog writing was a blessed relief.

Just a little more of Julie and her family .... Julie has know her husband, Mike, since she was 12. She bought her firt horse from his mom when she was in the 8th grade and was friends with her now mother-in-aw before she even had a glimmer of Mike as a future husband.

One of the major influences on Julie which lead her to her love and interest today as an adult, was John Ramos, the owner of the horse stable where she boarded her horse when she was a kid. She has horses and has ridden competitively at the State level for years. Julie said, "John had confidence in me and gave me huge responsibilities as a young adult. This made me independent and self sufficient. When I fist met John he was in his late 60's. He was a tiny Spanish man with a quick temper but kind heart. John 'assigned" me horses to ride in exchange for boarding my horse."

Julie's goal for 2009 is to earn her Bronze medal in dressage. This is a national award dressage riders earn through competition. One must qualify with scores at different riding levels - she is only one score away from her medal!

Julie expressed that being outside riding horses when she was young gave her an appreciation of the vegetation on the trails. She attributes this early exposure to the natural environments at a young age helped prime her to major in Botany in college which led to working in environmental consulting.

She was also encouraged in her writing by several English and Literature teachers recognizing where her strengths were and guiding her in the right direction.

Currently her biggest supporter is her husband, at times a sarcastic tease, but for the most part she knows he is proud of her accomplishments!

Julie admits to being a creature of habit, liking structure and a definite routine. There is an order to her day with the kids and she likes to keep on a schedule. She finds that her kids are best when their days are structured. They know what to expect and are happy that way. I want to give them the support and confidence to be highly effective people.

You ask me why did I choose to write about Julie? Beside being very interesting as an individual, she is unique, she is special, she is one of a kind.

Do yourself a favor and pop on over to her blogs to learn even more about Julie...
The Apron Goddesses and Our Simple Life. Enjoy!