The story behind how Cashmere Clutch got started is probably not the typical story on why blogs are started.

In March of 2007 I had some major changes in my life. I ended a 5 year relationship that really didn’t seem fit into my dream life, and there was a lot of drama and bad stuff surrounding how it ended.

For me, I was ready to move on to bigger and better things and to find out what I really wanted out of my life.

So, I went into a big self discovery phase. I really wanted to know what I liked and didn’t like and figure out how I could get my dream life. I needed to try everything! I went on dates, with pretty much every type of guy there is. I played pretty much every sport there is too. I traveled a lot, I spent time with a wide variety of people, I exposed myself to different arts, music and influences. I was really hungry to take everything in.

I drank, danced, dated and dined my way from March 07 – January 08, and I was ready for a change.

But change was slow to come, and the weather wasn’t helping my discoveries. The winter of 2008 was terrible! It snowed so much and many of my weekend plans kept on getting cancelled and I was home bound. At the time I didn’t have a tv…it was just me and my laptop. I think I viewed all 7 billion web pages…I may have even found my way to the end of the internet!

I was also in a bit of a tight spot financially – I’d bought my first apartment and spent a bit more money than I should have on things that helped me settle into my new place. That meant I didn’t have extra cash floating around to spend on entertainment. I think I may have budgeted $100 for food and entertainment per week. Even going to the movies was a stretch for me!

So, with minimal entertainment, no money, and the weather working against me I decided to start writing stories on what I discovered in the past year. And wrote I did. I had about 200 entries logged into my computer.

But I had nowhere to put them. And when I found out how much it would cost to customize a blog template it just wasn’t possible. I was quoted $5,000. And for a hobby it was way too much money!

So, I just kept on writing my stories without thinking much of it.

And then I started dating someone who had web experience. After dating a few months he offered to help make my blog dreams come true – he offered to code it all up for me, as long as I gave him all the design files to implement.

So I worked with my designer friend, Angela – whose blog is here, who did up all the photoshop design files for me (thanks darling!). Once we had something we liked I handed it over to my boyfriend.

After a few months my blog was ready to go! It was an exercise in patience that’s for sure. Since my boyfriend (now fiancé) was doing it for free, and my requirements had changed a few times I realized that I couldn’t be demanding or really even ask “When is it going to be done” more than two times a month.

But it got done in a reasonable amount of time…and I’ve changed the look a few times too, so I couldn’t really complain!

Once it was up and running I started putting stories in. It was a very interesting experience. I’m not that open of a person, and writing details about my less than happy childhood was definitely a first! It pushed me a bit out of my comfort zone, but on a positive note I feel more comfortable speaking openly with people, and it’s really helped me come out of my shell. Especially for things that are tough to talk about.

So once I got more comfortable sharing stories online I wanted to update Cashmere Clutch more and more often.

It became not only a way to update friends and family, but also a creative outlet.

Instead of it being a once in while thing, it became something I wanted to do every day.

And that’s how Cashmere Clutch got started!