The Story Behind BrightonTheDay: Introduction + How and Why I Started Blogging
Hi! Welcome! My name is Brighton Keller, and I’m the voice and creative behind BrightonTheDay (BTD). In “real life” (aka all day every day), I’m a full time CPA and spend most of my days crunching numbers, reading financial statements, and doing other auditing awesomeness (I know, you’re SO jealous!). But when I’m not auditing (I prefer to say, providing assurance – auditing is just a scary word), I spend a lot of my free time writing and crafting this little blog. BTD is primarily a fashion blog, but I like to think that it’s more than just your average “personal style blog”; well, at least I hope that’s the case. Yes, I do write about fashion and do “outfit posts”, but I try not to get too wrapped up in the world of material things and consumerism and do my best to keep things in perspective. Because at the end of the day, although it’s fun to wear cute clothes, there so much more to life.
I started BTD in December of 2011 shortly after my mom, Dee Keller, launched her Italian shoe line. Naturally, I wanted to do all I could to help and thought blogging would be a great way to spread the word. Plus, I’d always had a knack for and interest in coding (computer programming + web development); building a blog from scratch sounded like the ultimate challenge and project for me to, excuse my cliche, kill two birds with one stone! On one hand, I could play with code, experiment with all the awesome Adobe software (woohooo!!) AND justify it (to myself, of course) all as a way to help mommy Keller.
Behind the Scenes: How Things Really Went Down from the Get Go
Full disclosure here. I’m not holding anything back, so don’t judge me. K? Great (big nerdy smile). I actually spent my finals week (of my senior semester at UT-Austin) teaching myself (ah! or trying to at least) the ins and outs of web development, HTML, CSS, and on and on and on. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I probably only slept for 5 hours the entire week (promise, this is not a hyperbole!). But hey, what can I say…passion breeds excitement, which pumps the adrenaline, which in turn compensates for the fatigue (to a certain extent…granted a little insanity and a few delusional moments). This crazy chemical reaction (the adrenaline, I mean) coupled with a lot of tenacity and a within-walking-distance-starbucks, I somehow managed to graduate without any physical or career/life-threatening injuries.
Looking back, I have no idea what the check I was thinking, and I’m pretty sure my roomie, friends, and professors thought I had gone off the deep end (under eye concealer can only disguise so much, you know?)! But, in my defense, that week was actually one of the most valuable and revealing weeks of my life; and I wouldn’t take it back for anything (okay, except maybe better timing? finals week was a little inconvenient).
What to Expect: What is BrightonTheDay in a Nutshell
BTD is a personal style blog (well, for the most part) about fashion, life, and other randoms, with an underlying objective (duh, how could I not?!) of promoting my mom - Dee Keller Designs. If you read above, you know that helping my mom was the main catalyst for starting this whole adventure. But over the months (can’t wait to maybe says years one day!), I’ve grown to really love blogging and doing what I can to shine some “bright” (ha!) light on YOUR day…or at least entertain you with some pretty pics or silly ramblings. For me, this little corner/space on the world wide web serves as a creative outlet that allows me to express my creativity, style, and passions amidst the structure and routine of everyday life. And if you were wondering, I’m a full time (sometimes SUPER full time – #busyseason) employee for one of the major accounting firms. I guess you could say that coding and numbers are a similar logic game of sorts?
As a disclaimer for myself and and FYI for you, I’ll go ahead and inform you that I don’t (although I could! I promise! ha) write in complete sentences and often manipulate grammar and punctuation in ways that would send your high school english teacher (and her red pen!) through the roof. No joke. I excessively use “slashes” and invent strange ways to punctuate that may or may not make sense (fingers crossed). You’ll find that I typically write exactly what I’m thinking and try and punctuate in a way that helps translate my tone and stream of consciousness (i.e. the stuff running through my head).
Content Areas: The Stuff I Ramble About
Fashion: Like most girls, I love getting dolled up in pretty clothes and fun shoes. That’s normal…right? As I mentioned above, I started BTD to promote my Mom’s company. You’ll find pictures of moi (sometimes awkwardly) smiling/posing for the camera in an outfit that “styles” or shows off DK shoes. I’m more of a self-proclaimed nerd than I am a fashionista, so I hope I don’t come off as anything other than a normal girl just like you (well, maybe you’re not as all-over-the-place as me – but you get my drift…) All in all, I hope my sense of style and take on the world will serve to inspire you in some way or another. If anything, I hope to simply introduce you to the Dee Keller Design brand and/or brighton your day.
Life: Nothing too personal of course, but you might find me occasionally documenting/rambling about life’s happenings and excitement. I don’t plan on boring you with updates, but I’m sure certain events will call for discussion. And then sometimes, when I’m distracted by a certain fear or mental block of sorts, I might vent or share those feelings with you (in hopes that someone, somewhere can maybe relate). I tend to do a lot of thinking and analyzing…so you might hear about some of my random revelations or realizations too.
Randoms: I absolutely love to learn (this might be an understatement…). Ever since I was a little girl, I have been quite the curious cat, constantly asking questions to anyone who would listen (but really though – I’m pretty sure it was quite annoying). Given my addiction to learning–and spending my time behind a screen/book–I am usually out of the loop when it comes to all things pop culture. I’m totally working on this, though. I’ve been making an effort to be more in the know with all that stuff people talk about at parties. But hey, if you’re interested, I could tell you all about HTML/CSS, my favorite philosophers, and excel macros.
