The San Antonio Mom Blogs’ Featured Blogger is back! This week’s San Antonio mom blogger is Veronica Rouse. Want to be selected as a Fan of the Week? Like San Antonio Mom Blogs on Facebook and participate!
An avid thrifter, book lover, and mama to two young children, Veronica Rouse blogs at Seven Lovely Things. Veronica’s passions extend to conscious living, sewing, crafting, and children’s literature (she’s an ambassador for Barefoot Books, a line geared towards creative and inspiring titles for kids). She’s got great taste, DIY skills I envy, and she admits to searching for things on Pinterest before using Google (the true sign of a great pinner!).
What is your inspiration for Seven Lovely Things?
My inspiration for the blog was really the amazing local bloggers here in San Antonio. I was also at a point in my life where I was re-transplanted to Texas from the East Coast, and I really longed to connect with others who had similar interests, but with a newborn and a 2 year old, it was hard to get out and really connect and have coherent conversations face to face. So when I learned from Amy (who writes Maker Mama) about blogging…I was excited to find connection here in the community. As one who is online frequently, blogging was a great way to write more, to be accountable to an audience, and not bore my Facebook friends with my mini posts that my status updates were turning into.
Have you always been a lover of thrifting? What is your favorite thrift shop in San Antonio and why?
I haven’t always loved thrifting! My mother always dragged my brother and me with her to the thrift store as far back as I can remember. I remember being bored until around 8th grade, when something “clicked” and I started recognizing brands and books that interested me. Being able to afford “new” books was such a huge treat for me. As I grew older, my love and obsession with thrifting grew! My favorite thrift store in San Antonio is Goodwill on Austin Highway because it is small enough that I can look in every department in one trip and my house is only a skip away. And I can’t deny the fact that it is loaded with treasures!
What is Barefoot Books and how did you get involved with it?
Barefoot Books is a small independent children’s book publishing company started by two mothers who wanted high quality art and stories to be accessible to their children. I became an ambassador after realizing that my son’s favorite baby book (gifted to me at a baby shower) was from Barefoot and that I could sell them! I recently did a school book fair/fundraiser and the positive response from both parents and children is just so exciting for me to see and reinforces everything I believe about reading and sharing stories. I have a Barefoot Books shop and a Barefoot Books Facebook page.
How old were you when you first learned to sew? Who taught you? What are your favorite things to sew?
I was probably 8 or 9 when my mom showed me how to thread a needle and how to piece fabric together. I have always been a stickler for rules and needing to know the correct way to do things, but I never knew where to go to learn to sew properly. What I knew up until college was from my mom’s limited sewing experience or books. Once I went to UIW, I finally learned how to sew properly from an amazing professor who was meticulous in her sewing and instruction. My favorite items to sew are children’s clothes, the most notably of which is a silk dupioni christening gown I made for my son.
What three blogs can you not live without?
Wow, this is such a hard question. I have a million and one on my feedly list…but I cannot live without Maker Mama, Apartment Therapy, and Smitten Kitchen.
Find Veronica: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
Nice to “meet” you, Veronica!!
Thanks for commenting, Sara!
Thanks for the feature Colleen!! So exciting! Hi Sara!
Veronica, I’m thrilled to feature you. I love your site and now I want to learn more about Barefoot Books for my kids. 🙂
Colleen, you will love them. They make my heart and mind smile, if that makes any sense =)
Veronica is awesome! Love her and glad to learn more about her 🙂
She is awesome, isn’t she Alvina? Thanks for stopping by. I love our supportive blogging community.
<3 Thanks Alvina!
Veronica, It’s so true. When you move from one state to the next it’s a little difficult to feel apart of something. Especially when you have a family. The blogging community diffidently makes you feel like one of the girls. So nice to meet you 🙂 can’t wait to start reading your blog.
Nice to “meet” you too, I just stopped by your blog, I like! Our blogging community here is amazing!
Clicking over to your blog right now….instead of sleeping. Cause I will sacrifice sleep for a good read any day. Ok, maybe not Tuesdays. I’m tired in Tuesdays.
Thanks, Melly!