Chicago,

Cool Cat: Windy City Wanderlust

9:22 PM Wild Night In 12 Comments

Amidst a sea of millennial bloggers, I was able to sit down with Sarah - the creative mind behind Windy City Wanderlust, to chat about what makes her Chicagoland blog unique, as well as gain some insight into lessons learned from her first year of blogging and play a quick round of 10 Random Fast Facts.

If you like Chicago, cool places, fancy photos or just appreciate awesome people doing awesome things, Windy City Wanderlust is the blog for you. Sarah is the absolute best. She also was one of the first supporters (and blog guru) for Wild Night In so you know that she is great. Check out my chat with Sarah featuring a preview of her great photos from her site. This really is one cool cat!

Quick Background on Sarah

Sarah is a twenty-something Floridian who lives in Chicago with her lawyer, high school sweetheart husband (cue the "awwwws"). She works full time in health care research for a non-profit company in the Loop and started her blog, Windy City Wanderlust, almost a year ago. Sarah has a Master's in Psychology which makes for entertaining conversations analyzing people's motivations which trust me can be hours of fun.

If Sarah Was A Cat She Would Be....

A classic white house cat with baby blue eyes who eats fancy organic canned food out of crystal glass bowls.

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So now that we've covered that. What exactly is Windy City Wanderlust?

It's a food and event review blog for the city and suburbs of Chicago. It's unique in that it isn't just limited to food or even just the city. It's a balance of life in the city as well as out in the suburbs where I live.

What made you want to start Windy City Wanderlust?

I wanted a creative outlet. As an English major, I've always loved writing. I also love food and talking about it so that part was a given. The events piece came as a way for me to explore the city more and hold myself accountable to actually follow through and get out of the house. I have to actually do things and go places to write about it so the blog has been a good way to avoid cabin fever.

What is your blog schedule?

I typically post to the blog on Mondays and Wednesdays. If I'm feeling extra inspired, I may post on Sunday as well but any more than that is just too much for me. For social media (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook), I post once a day everyday. It's less frequent for Pinterest.

How do you stick to that schedule while working full time?

As I mentioned, the blog really has been more of motivation to do things. I get to spend quality time with my husband and friends going to cool places so posting about those experiences is not seen as more work or a burden. I also will write articles about future events when I can't physically go to a restaurant or event that week. I do try not to blog after Wednesdays to give myself a break. I don't even edit blog pictures or anything until the weekend - that way there is blog/life balance. Also, though I am consistent with the Monday/Wednesday schedule I don't force myself to stick to a specific time on those days and will not stress if I just can't post  - life happens.

What are some challenges that you've found with your blog this first year?

Mixing up the content has been a challenge. I want a balance of food and events as well as a balance of city and suburbs. However, because Chicago winter lasts 5 months out of the year there aren't a lot of events, so the majority of my content has been food reviews which then causes people to assume that I'm just a food blogger which I am not. I've been working on figuring out ways to write about other stuff to add variety which I've been doing by previewing future events and doing season recaps.

Have any advice for new bloggers?

I would say that one of the first thing bloggers should do is to pick a name and then secure that name on every social media platform even if you aren't going to use it right away. You will at least have them all locked down so you can have some name recognition. A lesson that I learned as well is to focus your outreach on one or two social media outlets rather than all of them so that you can build a following. When I started I was trying to post on various social media platforms which felt as if that outreach was diluted. It was only until relatively recently that I dedicated more time to Instagram and  actively engaging users there that I was able to build more of a following.

Goals for Windy City Wanderlust in Year 2?

I want to buy my domain and move from .blogspot to a .com this year. I also want to revamp the look of my site. When I started, I designed it with the basic HTML that I knew and what I could figure out from Google so it is very simple and basic right now. I want to add some more flair to it.

I also want to take better pictures which I am working towards now. I got Photoshop for Christmas and was surprised with a Canon Rebel T5 camera from my husband for Valentine's Day so I've been experimenting with photography to make my site more visually appealing.

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Any final thoughts on blogging?

I blog because I love it and other bloggers should do it for the same reason - the love of it. Do what you want and do so unapologetically. It's your blog. It's all about the effort you want to put in and your ownership of it. So write what you want to write.

10 Fast Facts About Sarah

1. Favorite Place in Chicago: 

Garfield Conservatory. It feels like a little bit of Florida in this cold city.

2. Guilty Pleasure: 

Carbs. I love comfort food. Mashpotatoes are my favorite.

3. Celebrity Crush: 

Domhnall Gleeson and/or Jimmy Fallon

4. Celebrity You Can't Stand: 

James Franco. He makes my skin crawl.

5. Pet Peeve: 

Warming up fish in communal microwaves.

6. First Thing That Catches Your Eye When You Go To Places You Review: 

The climate of the place. I'm very observant and can pick up vibes immediately so that influences the review that I give.

7. Hogwarts House: 

Ravenclaw though I was Hermione for Halloween so my husband thinks I should be Gryffindor (he is a clear Gryffindor by the way).

8. Song To Play In The Soundtrack Of Your Life: 

The Funeral by Band of Horses

9. Greatest Fear: 

This is gonna be dark but my husband dying before me.

10. Top 3 Favorite Things In Life: 

My husband, food and the beach.

Be sure to check out cool cat Sarah at windycity-wanderlust.blogspot.com and follow @wcwanderlust on Instagram and Twitter.