Reel Country Co

Happy Independence Day!

It feels fitting that the very first post on this blog is arriving during Independence Day weekend. While you’ll probably find me avoiding the fireworks, I still enjoy taking a moment to appreciate the history behind the holiday and the men and women whose sacrifices helped make the United States what it is today.

Since this is the first post, I figured introductions were in order.

My name is Laura. I’m 33 years old, originally from Alabama, raised in East Tennessee, and currently living in Kentucky. I work in mental health, recently started graduate school, run a small business, and somehow still find ways to fill my free time with a rotating collection of hobbies, projects, and plans.

I also share my home with two four-legged supervisors who have very strong opinions about how I spend my time. Az, my dog, is generally content as long as snacks are involved. Hala, my cat, firmly believes that whatever I’m doing would be improved by her direct involvement. They both keep life interesting.

I’ve always been someone who enjoys learning and staying busy. I spent sixteen years as a competitive swimmer and several years coaching, so sports and movement have been a major part of my life. These days, I’m working on improving my health, building sustainable habits, and figuring out what that looks like in this season of life.

When I’m not working or studying, you’ll usually find me reading, cooking, journaling, planning, working on a project around the house, or dreaming up my next project before I’ve finished the current one. I’m the kind of person who enjoys creating systems, which is probably why I’ve spent an unreasonable amount of time Frankensteining together what I hope is my perfect planner. I also journal regularly, and this year’s journal has a summer camp theme because apparently my brain likes turning ordinary organization into a full-scale creative project.

There is a good chance future posts will include book recommendations, planner experiments, journal spreads, home projects, recipes, and the occasional update about whatever has currently captured my attention. This weekend, for example, I’m planning on grilled steaks, homemade macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, and grilled corn on the cob, which sounds like a pretty solid Independence Day meal to me.

I’m also a Christian. While this isn’t intended to be a faith blog, my faith is an important part of my life and who I am. It will naturally show up from time to time because it’s part of how I view the world, make decisions, and navigate life.

Another thing worth mentioning is that I’m autistic. That’s not the entirety of who I am, but it does shape how I learn, communicate, organize information, and approach the world around me. It’s probably also one of the reasons I enjoy long-form writing and blogging more than trying to keep up with the constant pace of social media.

Which brings me to why this blog exists.

I wanted a place that felt slower.

A place where I could share life as it happens. Some posts will be about Reel Country. Some will be about books, recipes, graduate school, pets, travel, journaling, planning, home projects, or whatever else happens to be going on. Most will probably be a mixture of several things.

Social media is great for quick updates, but everything seems to disappear almost as soon as it’s posted. A blog feels different. It feels more like a conversation. More like sitting on a front porch and catching up for a while.

Since I should probably mention it at least once, I’m also the owner of Reel Country. If you’ve found your way here through the shop, thank you. If you’ve somehow found the blog first, Reel Country is my Etsy shop where you’ll find handmade products inspired by country living, patriotism, the outdoors, and the things that make life a little more personal. The recently released Freedom Collection is my latest project, and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

Whether you’re here for the business, the books, the recipes, the planners, the pets, the projects, or simply because you stumbled into this little corner of the internet, I’m glad you’re here.

Thanks for stopping by, and welcome to the beginning.

— Laura