Moms (On the Internet) Who Inspire Me

Not too long ago I dove into the world of inspiring "internet people." Usually, they are moms, since that is the season of life I am in (and will be forever...) and thus who I connect with most. They put out valuable content to attract readers and followers, and some of them have enough of these readers and followers to make a living off the content they put out into the world. I have learned a lot from these people and have gained so much information and inspiration from their blogs, emails, podcasts, videos, and everything else they put out into internet land. Here are some of my favourites!

Kendra Tierney from Catholic All Year

Catholic All Year is the first blog I ever became really interested in (excluding my friends' blogs). I remember when I first started reading it after it was recommended to me, I sat in the bath for so long in the vortex of her posts. I find them so interesting! I think they definitely speak to the niche group of Catholic moms, but if you are one or both of those things you might enjoy what she has to say.

Kendra Tierney is a mom of 8 kids (pregnant with her ninth) and as the title of her website gives away, is a strong Catholic. I love how she is so opinionated and wise. She says it like it is and isn't afraid to say what she thinks and believes! Even if it's controversial :) Some potentially controversial and interesting posts include:

Hey America, Pregnancy: You're Doing it Wrong

How To Be the Boss of a One Year Old

Have a Baby They Said... It Will Sleep Like a Baby They Said...

Dear Newlywed, You're Probably Worried About the Wrong Thing

I love her blunt and honest style. She is taking a break from posting while she writes a book, but there is so much gold in her archives! Her blog really captivated me and I still will go find new-to-me posts in her archives to read every once in a while, and I'll be so excited when she starts posting regularly again.

She was also interviewed on a couple podcasts that I've enjoyed listening to (again super geared at Catholic moms). If you want to give any a listen, here they are!

Fountains of Carrots Podcast:
- Navigating Social Media as a Parent and a Blogger With Kendra Tierney

This Inspired Life Podcast:
- Kendra Tierney from Catholic All Year: Talking to Kids About Sex
- Advent and Christmas Traditions with Kendra Tierney From Catholic All Year

Allie Casazza from alliecasazza.com

I know, I always talk about her. I love her though! I enjoy her blog posts as well as her podcast, The Purposeful Home Podcast. I've realized I enjoy (and get the most out of) following people with strong opinions who aren't afraid to say what they think. Even if I have a pretty low-key approach to the whole minimalism thing, I love getting inspiration from people who are more "all in" and really feel passionate about it.

She talks about making motherhood more simple and manageable (through minimalism, among other things) and gives out a whole bunch of strategies and inspiration. I actually have found that following her has helped me a lot. I got rid of a lot of stuff (quite a few garbage bags full and I honestly can't even remember what was in the bags...) and it's made a big difference in how I feel in my home and how overwhelmed I feel about cleaning. I've also just integrated little bits and pieces of strategies she has for simplified "homemaking," and I've found they make a difference. Even just the mindset shift in regards to stuff and cleaning, and knowing that there is a solution if stuff and cleaning are overwhelming me, has helped me a lot.  Her approach really speaks to me.

Some of her blog posts that I've enjoyed:

The 10 Steps I Took To De-Clutter My Entire House

Stop Saying You Don't Have Time + Start Owning Your Life

Why Mothers Need Minimalism

How We Are Giving Our Kids A 70's Childhood In A Technology-Obsessed Era

Grace Patton from Camp Patton

Grace Patton has 5 kids and is pregnant with her sixth, and I want to say her kids are each only a little over a year apart. She has a blog I love to skim through and I also love following her on Instagram. The main reason I follow her is for the adorable and hilarious pictures of her kids and her awesome sense of humor about mom life. Her blog posts are super informal and lighthearted and they are hilarious, and again, are full of adorable photos of her kids.

My favourite posts of hers are her About Page where she describes each of her kids and it is so so so funny, and then the story of how she and her husband met.

Sarah Nourse on Youtube

Okay, she is not a mom, but she is worth mentioning! I'm not a big youtube person, but Sarah Nourse is one of the only people I ever watch on youtube. Where do I even start describing her? She does have a channel trailer which probably describes her channel better than I can. She is an American living in Europe who married a Swiss guy. The two of them currently live in Berlin. She talks about minimalism (minimalism is a way for them to be able to up and move all the time and travel a lot), saving money, life abroad, and a lot of other stuff. Her Instagram feed is full of beautiful photos of her in beautiful European places with beautiful braids in her super long hair.

Okay now to Instagram. 

Before giving up Instagram for Lent, I was seriously so addicted to Instagram and spent a surprisingly large amount of time on it. I'm now a week into Instagram-not-restricted-to-only-Sundays, and so far that crazy twitch to constantly check Instagram hasn't come back in full force, but I'll have to keep an eye on it. Anyway, I realized that part of my problem was that I was following so so many Instagrammers who had beautiful feeds - thus a never ending vortex of images for me to scroll through. I got the number of people I follow down to half of what it was, that way I'll spend less time on Instagram and also actually see all of the photos from people I'm truly interested in keeping up with. Here are some Instagram ladies who made my ruthless cut hahaha!

Allie Royall - 3 extremely cute kids who wear ridiculously stylish clothes - each photo she posts is a masterpiece in my humble opinion.

Melanie Burk - 3 girls who often wear matching dresses and a baby boy. She's super open about her life in her captions and seems like a genuinely great person.

Kristen Rogers - Homeschooling mom of two daughters with a  really cool life and awesome photos.

Emily Meyers - Ah, this lady's story is so sad. I've been following her for quite a while because I loved seeing photos of her five kiddos (five kids in five years!). Then one day she posted about her husband having cancer, and he recently passed away. Following along with her story broke my heart. She is a super inspiring person to follow, her photos are beautiful, and her kids are adorable. She talked about her story and handling the grief in this podcast episode, I can't even imagine how difficult it would be but I'd say she is a super inspiring person. She also has a blog called The Freckled Fox which is definitely worth checking out!

So those are some women on the internet who inspire me. Let me know if there is anyone you love following! I'm in such a blog/podcast phase of life right now and always love finding new people!