I hope everyone had a very happy holiday!
Today, I have some bittersweet news. This news comes after months of soul searching and deciding on my next path. I have decided my time blogging as The Legal Duchess has come to an end. I started blogging back when I started law school as a creative outlet and a way to fill a void in the online market as there were very few law school specific bloggers out there at the time. It was so fun to document as I went through that transformative experience and I created so many amazing connections through this blogging experience. After graduating law school and passing the bar exam, I just felt so lacking in inspiration for that blog. As I am sure you have noticed, the blog has been inactive/sporadically active for a long time now. I have been limping along for about a year and a half before finally being ready to make the jump into a full rebrand and launch of my new blog, The Stylish Homestead.
Why the rebrand you ask? The Legal Duchess just didn’t feel like a fit to my life anymore. Yes I am a lawyer and I will always be heavily invested in all things legal but it is not the sole focus of my life anymore… my life does not revolve around law school anymore. Since graduating and passing the bar, it just hasn't felt right to to have my blog focused almost exclusively on law school content. I had been wanting to rebrand for a while but I just wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to go. It was not a decision I wanted to make lightly. I have SO many interests and things I love to share but under what blanket should all of that fall? It took me a while to figure it out but I finally landed on homesteading as my overarching theme.
Why homesteading? Because it is what I am currently living and plan to live for the rest of my life. We moved in summer of 2020 to a small farm and immediately jumped into all things homestead. We have chickens and vegetable plants and we are planning to do some major canning next summer. It is no surprise that we have landed here. My husband and have always joked between ourselves that we were born in the wrong century. My husband has always held a deep rooted interest in all things agriculture and I grew up on a farm. All of this meant that they minute we had a little bit of land, we jumped into all things homesteading without a look back. We are thriving on the lifestyle of growing our own food, living close to the land, producing instead of merely consuming, living a simpler life rooted in the ways of the past and surrounding ourselves in nature and animals. Now, I am not spending every day in overalls chasing chickens… I still go to work at my law school and get to be my “lawyer” self for 40 hours a week. I still love fashion and home decor and shopping for deals. I still read voraciously and watch too much TV. This new blog will encompass all the things I am passionate about while remaining rooted in the homestead lifestyle we have so embraced. It feels like a natural transition and I am already feeling so inspired to get creative.
What can you expect over on The Stylish Homestead? As I have already hinted, it will be a little bit of everything. I will share our trials and lessons as we embrace our homesteading adventure. You can expect the occasional recipe for easy meals that fit into everyday life. I will still share my favorite fashion and beauty finds, especially the deals. Budget home decor and organizational content might make an appearance. There will be cute pictures of my 4 dogs, 4 barn cats, more chickens than I can count and of course my horses too. Someday, god willing, there will be some motherhood content too. While there will be a variety of content, it will all be guided by the old fashioned, simple, homestead life we have embraced on our little farm.
For my followers here on The Legal Duchess, thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me and engaging with me over the last 4.5 years. It has been such a pleasure to connect with law students all around the country and use this platform to help many to be successful or pick themselves back up after a tough semester or a failed bar exam attempt. I will not be deleting The Legal Duchess blog- it will remain here on the internet to help future law students for as long as it is relevant and helpful. Though I will no longer be active here, I will always be happy to answer a question or encourage a law student.
If you plan to follow me over to my new blog and continue following my rebranding social media, thank you for continuing on this journey with me. If this is where we part ways, please know I hold nothing but gratitude for my followers and I wish you nothing but the best in all that you do. Thank you for this experience and I am so excited for my new beginnings.
All the best,
