December 26th, 2018

New beginnings, sort of

Hello and welcome to Paper Stars! Over a year ago, I said that I was going to move my blog, Silent White, to a new domain, and here it is finally. I originally wanted to have this up early this year, but I ended up pushing it off. With all the pregnancy and baby stuff I was dealing with, I sat down and made a list of priorities. Moving my blog was just not at the top of the list nor anywhere near the top.

As mentioned before, part of the reason was to somewhat start anew. All entries from 2017 and 2018 have been moved over. Some entries from 2014-2016 are here, but I deleted many of them. All entries from 2008-2013 have been removed.

I wanted a new domain name too. I love the name Silent White, but I didn’t originally choose it for a blog. It was an art site at first. Silent White is also not a very personal name since I took it from a song title. So, when thinking of a name that meant something to me, I thought of origami – something I’ve loved since I was young. Then I remembered the origami stars that a couple coworkers and I made for our team and how everyone on the team now has a jar of stars on their desk. (The one in the header is mine.) Thus, Paper Stars!


Now let me catch you all up on what’s happened since my last post:

  1. My 3 month maternity leave ended, and I am back at work.
  2. My husband has settled into full time stay-at-home dad life.
  3. My daughter Talia is now 4 months old.

At around 1 month old, Talia was noticeably easier to care for. I mean, she still needed a lot of time and attention, but I feel like around that time was when she was able to entertain herself for a period of time, and she became a lot less fussy. As she gets older, it seems to get better, and I’m able to get some time to myself. (Not to mention, we’ve been super lucky that she started sleeping through the night fairly early on.)

On weekdays, I only get about an hour each day to myself since I’m at work, and then I try to spend time with Talia before her bedtime. On the weekends, I have more free time, though of course, not as much as I used to before having a baby. This limited time really makes me focus on which hobbies I prioritize.

  • Video games – Surprisingly, this is the easiest hobby to do right now, and we usually play while Talia is playing or napping nearby. My husband and I have returned to playing games that can be easily paused (so nothing online). We even bought a PS4 Pro recently and bought a few new Switch games!
  • Photography – I haven’t returned to doing cosplay photoshoots yet, since they’re time consuming, and I’m not sure which convention I’ll be going to next. However, I am very active in toy photography! I post almost every week to my Tiny Teabox account on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
  • Cosplay – I’d like to return to this soon, but it’s still in the backlog. As mentioned, I’m not sure which convention I’ll go to next, and I don’t think I have the time to dedicate to this right now.
  • Baking – Going back to work has re-ignited this hobby! It’s tough making 3 dozen cookies just for yourself, you know? Now I have people to eat them 😉

And finally, blogging. While I’m back, I’m not 100% back. I’m probably not going to post as much as I used to (which I guess wasn’t even that much), and I may not be the best at keeping up with everyone’s blogs. I’m looking forward to catching up though and seeing what everyone has been up to!

11 Responses to “New beginnings, sort of”

  • Holly says:

    Congratulations on the new domain! I kind of want to change mine but I’m struggling to come up with another name I like.

    I completely understand why you might not be blogging as much now Talia has arrived. It sounds like you are super busy!

    Talia is such a cutie! I had a lot of hair like that when I was a baby.

  • Ashley says:

    She is ssoooo cute!!! I have been keeping up with you on the Toy photography on instagram. They are awesome! I really need to get to work with my hobbies.
    I love the new domain and look, so simple but elegant. I think you made a good choice.
    I need to get back into baking and stuff too, only with gluten free options. I made brownies not to long ago and no one new they were gluten free, mwhahaha.
    I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

  • Kirsten says:

    Oh my gosh, Talia is sooo cute! I love your new domain and I love your toy photography. I have never seen it before. I stumbled on your new domain looking at comments on Claudine’s blog. Congrats on the new domain and on being able to get back into some of your hobbies and getting back to work. I have not thought about getting a new domain name for a while now. I don’t think I will ever give up mine but I might look at starting another blog or two for hobbies eventually and keep the one I have now personal.

  • Tara says:

    I am loving your new online home 🙂 I am totally with you on the not as blogging as much before. My own blog has taken a back seat as well, and I’m fine with it. I’ll make time for it when I want to and am able!

    How’s the PS4 working out for you? I’ve not done much gaming as well. Thought about getting PS4, but I still haven’t found much games to play and with my PS3 working fine, I can’t justify it yet.

    Talia is so adorable! She’s gonna grow up fast! Raising a kid is not easy, but I can see you guys are doing great! ^^

    Blog when you can, and know that I’ll read when you do! Happy New Year to you and your family!

    • Cat says:

      Aw thanks Tara! 😀

      I was the same way with the PS4, in that I didn’t feel like there were enough exclusives on it to justify it. God of War and Detroit convinced me to go for it though, haha. I haven’t played it much yet, so I don’t really have an opinion yet!

  • Kayla says:

    I love the name Paper Stars, and the photo of yours looks so cute! I want a jar on my desk!! haha 😛
    Talia is just too cute. So good to hear that you’re all settling in and that you’re getting some time to yourself and to focus on some of your hobbies.

  • Nancy says:

    Sometimes, we fall out of love with our domains and that’s totally fine! I love the new name of your blog. Paper Stars is perfect for you!! Welcome back to work – Talia is growing so fast! Glad you still get to do some hobbies – one step at a time! Priorities shift and that’s totally fine. Talia is so adorable. Hope you had a great Christmas and happy new year!

  • Kassy says:

    I love the new domain name! It’s a very creative and whimsical title, that I feel captures your many talents and interests. Wow, I can’t believe that Talia is already 4 months old!!! I am glad to hear that as she gets older it has been easier and you can have more time for yourself.

    Awwww, those photos made my heart explode. 😀 I hope you all have a great 2019. :’)

  • Rezina says:

    Happy New Year Cat! Also congrats on your new beginnings. I like the new name!

    Congrats on also rocking the mom life! Talia is sooo cute! I think it’s okay to not being able to catch up on everyone’s blog or even being able to blog that often. You’re doing great!

    I hope the end of 2018 was awesome and that 2019 is even more awesome~!

  • Jane says:

    Congrats on the new name! It sounds cute. c:

    Also, I don’t know if I’ve said it already, but congrats on Talia! I’ve seen some posts about her here and there, but have been so MIA I hadn’t really caught on to her gender or name. She’s so cute! I love how you formatted/made this post to include a bit how your life has changed, because it’s not something I often see and allowed me some perspective on your experience. <3

    Marry belated Christmas & happy new year!

  • Georgie says:

    Cat! 😍 Talia is gorgeous, seeing her brings tears to my eyes! I’m very happy for you both, and bless your husband for taking on the duties of being a stay-at-home dad. I’ve enjoyed seeing the updates of little Tali on social media ☺️ And I just read through your birthing story – thank you for being open about it and letting us know how it went. ❤️

    Having a blog name that means something to you is important I think! I remember struggling to make paper stars as a kid. I loved origami with square paper but the paper stars were a struggle. I think it was literally just the part where you had to pop the star to be 3–D that I would always squish the corners of the pentagon and screw it up majorly. 😜

    I find that a lot of people feel more motivated to blog and a bit more inspired when they have a fresh change and feel that they can connect more with their blog (even though it’s not a very tangible thing).

    Can’t say I blogged very much in 2018. 😆 You won’t have much to catch up on from the past few months from my end! But I feel like I’m going to go full steam ahead in 2019, as its my goal to blog twice a week 😂 I know you said you are not “fully back” but I don’t think you were ever “gone”, if you know what I mean. Recently I started thinking about my almost unintentional “breaks” from blogging but I never saw it as a break. I always had the intention of writing my next post, it just so happened that some were a month apart. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone’s blogs too because I have been super slack on that!

    Happy new year darling!! ❤️❤️

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