howdy! my name is james kicinski-mccoy, i'm a seventies child living in the city of houston texas, raising and home schooling my three (soon to be four) incredibly sweet children. i just married the love of my life this past november and spend most of my time building forts with my kiddos, searching the racks at the thrift store, reading, dancing to old records, and dreaming of moving to the country and living on our own little farm one day soon. thank you for visiting and welcome to my little corner of the internet.
F.A.Q.
is you real name miss james? james is not my real name, it is my nickname but it is what most people call me. it is also my grand fathers middle name. it started long ago and has stuck. but it was almost my real name... my mom wanted to name me jameson when she was pregnant but instead went with my dad's choice and named me aimee after the pure prairie league song "amie." you can call me james.
why do you share so much of your lives on the internet? i really don't share that much. we don't get too personal. i share family photos, good times and big news with my readers, highlights if you will, but in reality it is a very small portion of our lives. i keep a distance and most of our lives private, which unfortunately leaves room for assumption, but i think it is important.
do you ever get nervous sharing as much as you do on the internet? i do, but i try to keep a healthy balance.
what kind of camera do you use? currently i shoot with a canon 5d or a 5d mark ll and various canon lenses. my favorite lenses are the sigma 24-70 2.8 DG HMS and the canon 50mm 1.4.
who takes your pictures? aubrey takes the photos of me, we set up a tripod when taking family photos and i take most of the pictures of the kids and all of the others on the blog.
how tall are you? i am 5 foot 10 1/2 inches tall.
are you mormon? no, i am not mormon, but i get asked that question quite often... ::scratches head::
how do you stay in such great shape after having four kiddos? this question makes me laugh. because i am so tall, i hide my weight well but i wouldn't go as far as to say that i'm in great shape. truth is, i have cellulite like most other women do. i need to work out. i don't and i should.
are you planning on having more children? not sure about that one. we are pretty busy with four children, but it's hard to imagine not having another baby some day. we may add another one to the nest in the future. why such a big family? i was an only child and always dreamed of a big family. being a mother is what i do best.
how do you pronounce your daughter milla's name? it is pronounced mee-lah. not mill-uh.
how do you make money from your blog? this is a FOR PROFIT blog. i am fortunate to be able to stay home, raise my children, home school them and help support my family by blogging. i work closely with my partners/sponsors to develop relationships and help expand their brands and share some of my favorite things with my readers. i sell banner advertisements as well as host paid giveaways and use affiliate links to make a small commission from sales purchased through those product links. i only post items that i genuinely like, have and highly recommend. they are not influenced by advertisers. rarely i will take on a sponsored post so long as it fits the aesthetic of my lifestyle and my readership. if and when i do a sponsored post it will be clearly noted for all to see.
when are you going to update the bleubird vintage shop? i miss your updates. i don't think so. i have closed the shop indefinitely. i can always pick it back up one day if i chose to do so.
are you designing another clothing line? i have a line in the works but am taking my time.
when will you post a new mixed tape? i have been meaning to for the longest time. i will try to get back to monthly mixes one day soon.
how old are you? i am 33.
how old is aubrey? he is 28.
how old are your kiddos? julian riley is 12. milla plum is 9 and gemma bird is 2.
what program do you use to edit your photos? i use photoshop CS6.
do you use facebook? no, i do not. i had a page that was set up for my old vintage shop by an ex-employee (it may still exist) but have no intention of using it myself. twitter and instagram are already pretty tough to keep up with these days.
what does the c/o mean in some of your posts? do you get all that stuff for free? c/o means courtesy of. when something is noted courtesy of on my blog that means that it was sent to us free of charge. many companies send products to review in hopes that we will blog about them and share them with our readers.
how long have you been blogging? four years.
are you really a natural blond? yes.
do you dye your own hair? i do.
how do you manage such a busy schedule with three kiddos and a shop and blog? you seem to "do it all." you're like super woman. the truth is that i don't do it all. i do what i can, when i can. i am the most unorganized person i know. i am terrible at answering emails in a timely fashion and have piles upon piles of work and other important things that i need to get to. i have come to terms with the fact that it can all wait. my children come first, everything else i will get to when i can.
whats your skin care regimen? i will be posting an updated skin care post soon.
favorite beauty products? i answered this question here.
how do you find so many great vintage pieces? i have been thrifting and collecting for years. i think you learn to develop an eye for treasures after so long.
do you co-sleep? are you still nursing? i do co-sleep although birdie has been in her own bed for over six months now. i just recently stopped nursing her at 20 months.
can i send you my unsolicited advice? no, you may not.
why are you exploiting your children by posting photos of them on your blog? i don't think that i am "exploiting" my children by including them on my blog. this blog is about my life and they are a GIANT part of it. my kids are happy, outgoing, self determined, self thinkers and they love to be apart of everything i do, including this blog. my husband is a photographer and always has his camera in hand, so we take a lot of photos and in turn many of them wind up here. if my children ever decide that they no longer want to be apart of this blog, i would of course respect that.
your life looks too perfect. are you really that happy? to be honest, life is pretty good. i really can't complain too much. aubrey and i argue sometimes and we do have bad days just like every one else but other than that... life is pretty good. so yes, i am really that happy.
why have you not responded to my email? i am terrible at keeping up with inbox. i get many, many emails a day. if i answered every one of them then i would have no time for anything else. i will try to do better.
do you ever sleep? i try, usually some time between the hours of midnight and 7am. i could probably use a nap right now.
why are you homeschooling your kids? you can read a bit about it in this post here and a more recent post here that addresses my decision in greater detail. you can follow along with our homeschooling adventures here.
who created your blog design? i did using typepad's theme builder and design tools.
how do you manage such a great relationship with your ex husband and why did you get divorced? why we got divorced isn't really a topic that i will dive into because it is irrelevant, but we do have an incredible relationship. that was a choice that we made. to be grown ups and to remember that we do love and care about each other even if we are better off as friends and mostly we love and care about our children and want to raise them together.
what blogs do you read? there is a list of my current reads here.
i want to have a successful blog like yours. can you give me any advice? keep at it. it is time consuming but also very rewarding and a lot of fun. my biggest piece of advice is to be yourself. don't try to be that other blogger. be honest, original, blog what YOU like and have a ball.
what is your favorite shop? the thrift shop of course. okay, okay, i love madewell too.
if you'd like to see an answer to your question, please email it to hello@bleubirdvintage.com.
reminder: please understand that what you read on a person's blog is never their whole story. i share a lot of happy times and try to keep this place here online a mostly positive one. it's a place for me to reflect on our days and put down memories into words and photographs to look back and reflect on with a smile on my face. it's an outlet for me to share things with family, friends and all of you. it serves as inspiration and encouragement for myself and others. i am aware that having a public blog and sharing our lives with all of you can bring judgment as well as praise, but please remember that we are real people with feelings just like every one else. we are not trying to portray a perfect life, we are far from perfect. we have giant messes in our house, piles of laundry waiting to be done, arguments, overwhelming to-do lists, financial hardships and "those days" that are full of challenges, chaos, frustration and emotion. i know that this blog can seem, at times, all "sunshine and rainbows" if that is how you choose to read it, but please remember that this is a very small part of our lives. just a glimpse, a part of our story, not the whole story.
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