The beginning of Aspen Real Life began in 2009 when I decided that I wanted to be a SAHWM.

I had read about the pioneer of Mommy Blogging, Heather Armstrong, who was making a million + dollars for her “reality” stories about life, religion and parenting. She was doing so well that even her husband was able to quit his job to join her on her career path. “I can do this,” I thought to myself. With a background in film production and publishing, I knew that where I didn’t have the same brazenly raw tones as “Dooce,” or her attractive story of growing up a Mormon and leaving the church, what I did have was my own quirky and positive voice.

We were in financial distress and I needed to brush off the professional dust that settles when raising babies and try my best to help stop our ship from going down. I had always felt that raising children was my calling and had to figure out how to work from home.

I was setting up a website, writing stories, juggling family life and trying my best to keep my relationship with my husband strong, and throughout the transition from working 12-14 hour days in film production to being a mom with three boys it came to me that perhaps I had been over mothering our children. The tough love began and they miraculously readjusted. Without my waiting on them hand and foot they blossomed into beautiful beings, attacking their chore list, learning how to cook their own eggs, how to grill their own dinner and how to find that elusive enormous white milk jug in the refrigerator. Nevertheless, the house was a mess, the kids felt neglected and I fantasized about stealing away to Mexico with my laptop to indulge my neurosis and do nothing but write in peace with nothing on but a large floppy hat, a pair of enormous dark sunglasses, a sarong and a skimpy bikini (yes, I’m delusional).

Instead when Wade was home to manage the boys, I plugged away in my office. An occasional little face would  peak in to check in on me to be met with a Rottweiler mommy foaming at the mouth and bearing sharp teeth to warn against the interruption. Wade would then appear. I would look up acknowledging his presence, my fingers still typing on the keyboard, and he would smile, blow the smoke off of his imaginary gun and say, “Don’t worry Mama, I’ve got this.”

I applied to be an advocate for Colorado tourism and received an assignment to go to Wolf Creek and don, dada, da, I began travel writing, providing the incentive I needed to keep going. I wasn’t making any money but at least I was taking my family on trips that we would never be able to afford otherwise.

As I delved further into the journey of blogging, I kept envisioning myself, and my family, sitting on a plane on the runway. With each progression the plane would start moving and slowly creep along in preparation for takeoff.

Through my travel writing I became a freelance luxury travel contributor for Inspirato, Quintess and the St. Regis Magazine, Bespoke. I also became the Roaring Fork Examiner. But blogging is a lonely world and like the tale of Miss Piggy who visits her mailbox every day hoping for a letter to arrive to show that somebody cares, I checked my analytics obsessively. “Is it kind of like weighing yourself every day?” my Search Engine Optimizer asked me staring into my eyes with a subtle innocence.

It’s was always my readers who kept me going, but it got to the point where that just wasn’t enough for me. I needed to monetize everything I was doing; the podcast, the radio show, the blog. It often felt as though I was swimming through cement without a soul out there to help me through. I was completely on my own.

What kept me going was the mantra playing in my head from Malcolm Gladwells book, Outliers, 10,000 hours for success, 10,000 hours for success. There are often times I didn’t sleep, eat or work out and the fur grew on my teeth, my legs and in my armpits, and all the while the joke in the house was, “Guess how much money mommy made today? Nada cent.”

Nevertheless, my plane kept moving forward on the runway with an occasional hump to get over, Jet Blue style, where I would become encased in my own tomb for eight hours, but that only led me to reevaluate my path, resulting in necessary changes.

As my stats grew predominantly from readers out of town I decided it was time to connect with my community even though I preferred the anonymity that gave me greater freedom to write from the heart.

Social media became my MO and instead of treating it as a mundane requirement, I embraced it. This new paradigm shift was bringing the bartering system back, Davey Crockett style, and it was a beautiful thing, discovering that my writing and interviews could help bring business to my friends and in return they increased my audience.

At around the time that parenting transitioned from wiping bottoms to jail prevention, Aspen Real Life had a mid life crisis. I was running out of time and money and kept hitting walls with finding partners to take Aspen Real Life to where it needed to be. The good life came to a screeching halt. I had teens to parent and bills to pay. I needed to do something fast and stop living the good life to actually make some money. Hitting the pavement running I explored all stones unturned. It was time to get a real job, and so Aspen Real Life was placed on the back burner and I went to work for a hot digital marketing firm in Aspen, directing all of my energy towards promoting other businesses through social media.

Three years later I am back, returning to my passion with new gusto from my digital marketing job, and I’m ready to take Aspen Real Life to the next level, and monetize it with the belief that if I am passionate about what I do; taking adventures and exploring new places; connecting people and businesses together, I will wake up every morning excited to begin my day, and soon it will all finally begin to happen. It has to.

Soon we have to move, yet again, so the rest of our boys can be in the Aspen School District and sooner than that, all of my creative side projects will be running smoothly and THEN, and only then, the nose of my airplane will lift off of the tarmac and I will fasten my seat belt as I soar into the air….

Update: We did move to a tear down cabin on Red Mountain and had four glorious years with the most incredible views you’ll ever see.

The Story of Success"]Those three things - autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward - are, most people will agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying. If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires It's not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five. It's whether or not our work fulfills us. Being a teacher is meaningful." 
Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers

https://youtu.be/y4FngO2dfwo?si=dNwj0vA1Tk7fAhDF

INTERVIEWS

1. ASPEN FILM
2. POWDER MAGAZINE
3. KENYON MARTIN
4. RAMONA BRULAND PLUM TV ASPEN
5. PAM SWEENEY
6. NICK DEVORE
7. JAKE SAKSON
8. KEN QUERICONE
9. COLE TAMBLYN
10. MICHELLE MANNING KOGLER
11. DR. JEFFERSON ROTH
12. STAN CHEO
13. CAMERON SCOTT
14. TERRY BUTLER
15. COSBAR
16. ANTON UHL
17. LAURIE CARNEY & WILLIAM GRUBB
18. SHERI GAYNOR
19. SUMMERS MOORE
20. KATALIN DOMOSZLAY
21. CHRIS DAVENPORT
22. NATURE CONSERVANCY
23. THEITRAVELER
24. BLACK SHACK ARCHITECTS
25. WALFORD WILLIAMS

PRODUCT

1. VIZZIBL CLOTHING
2. COLUMBIA SPORTSWEAR T
3. WO LEAVES AND A BUD
4. TRANSPACK