Ladies in Navy Turns Two!

Dress: Gap (on sale!); Flats: Gap (on sale!); Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

It's Ladies in Navy's 2nd birthday today! Two years ago, I posted my first, quite terrible style post back when this blog was a joint-venture between a colleague/friend and I. In honor of the terrible twos, I thought I'd share a bit about the blog's history and what I've learned. I'll also be sharing some look-back posts over the next week!

Ladies in Navy was started in reaction to discovering Classy Girls Wear Pearls. I got really excited about the pretty photos and classic style and after spending maybe a week scrolling back through the archives like a weirdo, my friend Chelsea and I decided we had to start a style blog. Hah! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I think we were pretty far off base.

About three quarters of the way through our first blogging year, Chelsea got into grad school in Information Sciences and left the blog. It was then that poor Ben got recruited as my photographer and started honing his skills. Shortly after, we got a new camera and started playing around with better, bigger photos and a better blog design. Six months later we moved to PDX!

Over the course of the blog I have had three different jobs, lived in two different states, Ben got into medical school, and we got engaged! How times passes so quickly! I like to think that I've learned a lot since starting to blog, and though that could simply be attributed to getting older, I think many of the lessons are blog-specific. Here are a three of the big ones:

1. Photography! Ben and I have used two different cameras on the blog - a Canon Rebel XT and a Canon T4i. We have used a fixed 50mm (f/1.8) lens for almost every photo-shoot and I couldn't recommend any other lens to bloggers or casual photographers without a ton of cash. We've gotten better at manual shooting, I've gotten better at editing (I had some weird filters phases). It has been an awesome way to turn photography into a serious hobby. (We've also gotten really good at taking photos that include the whole body and don't cut off the feet in every shot like some of the early posts.)

2. Blog themes. I've created all of my own blog designs and themes since starting out. That may be why my blog doesn't look the chicest of all the blogs, but it's certainly helped me learn how to better use Photoshop, fonts, and minor HTML. It's been an awesome way to save money on a blog-design and put on my thinking cap. Much can also be attributed to the A Beautiful Mess course on blog design (no longer available).

3. Be social! The blogging community is an awesome community of lovely, stylish, and friendly people. I've mad e-friends (I'm looking at you, Alissa) and real-life friends (Jane!). I've expanded my comfort zone out to blogger meet-ups and blogger courses out in the community. I've gone to events I'd normally never have attended. It has been eye-opening!

Thanks for reading all of you lovely people. :) This blog has sustained me in times of boredom, bad jobs, sadness, and it has kept my fidgety hands busy. Wouldn't trade it for the world!