FAQs

(If you’d like information on working together, you can find more information on our Collaboration Page)

Here’s a few random questions we frequently get asked – maybe it’ll answer a burning question you have, or at least entertain you for a few minutes!

So how exactly do you two know each other?
We probably have one of the oddest/most interesting blogging partner relationships – Manda is Caitlin’s step-mom. Yup, you read that right! Manda’s husband, Mike, is Caitlin’s dad. And yes, there is a bit of an age difference between Manda & Mike (they’ve been married going on 13 years and live quite happily ever after). Caitlin & Manda are 8 years apart in age, not your typical stepmom/stepdaughter age difference! We’re thankful that we get along so well and actually enjoy working together and spending time together!
If you like reading about our personal lives, some of those posts can be found here.

Why the name The Merrythought and what does it mean?
Coming up with a blog name was tough! We wanted something fun, not too long, not too short, somewhat easy to remember, and something a little different. While spending time researching names, laughing ourselves silly over suggestions and debating and defending suggested choices, we stumbled upon merrythought – which means wishbone. Our logo illustration (done by our friend Andrea) hints at the meaning – did you notice that? We thought it was a lovely word, love the hope and fun of wishbones and went with it!

What cameras/lenses do you use?
We both use a Canon 6D. Caitlin’s current go-to lens is a 50mm 1.4. Manda’s current go-to lens is a 50mm macro lens.

How did you start this blog?
We both had our own personal blogs for a number of years before we started The Merrythought in February 2013. We found that we were often coming up with similar ideas that would be perfect for working on together, and could each share things in our own niche that would all together make one, well-rounded blog! After talking about starting one together for months and months, we finally quit talking and made it happen!

Do you have jobs outside the blog?
Yes, we currently both have other jobs outside the blog. Caitlin works part-time as an administrative assistant at a church and part-time as a waitress. Manda is a mom of three boys, and also does part-time secretarial work and helps her husband Mike run an Etsy shop.

How does a blog make money?
This is a question we’re always slightly amused to hear – I mean, how many people do you go up to and ask how they make money and if it’s enough to live on? So it’s a slightly awkward question to ask someone, but bloggers seem to hear it a lot! We’re always happy to answer though as we know blogging is a newer thing to some and not always easy to understand. The short & sweet answer is, we make money by advertising for and collaborating with companies.
Blogging is not as magical as we’re sure it appears 😉 ; it’s a lot of hard work, with years of little to no pay while you build and develop your platform. But it’s somehow gotten into us deeply. And while some days we swear we hate it and should give up, really, we’re so in love with creating, sharing and the relationships we’ve built through this, that we can’t imagine life without it!

Did you design your own site?
Yes, but with quite a bit of help! We know very basic web coding, so we’ve worked with a web developer to help us with the things that give us a headache! We give him a guideline/template of what we’re looking for and he takes care of the nitty-gritty details. A friend we met through Instagram, Andrea, illustrated our logo for us – she’s insanely talented and an all around great gal who we feel blessed to have met!

Can I use images from your website?
We’re happy to have you share an image from our site as long as you follow these guidelines: we allow for one photo be shared, with no part of the text/tutorial/recipe shared. The image shared must give credit (to The Merrythought) along with a link back to the post.

You can read more about us on our About Page too!

Have another question? Email us at hello(at)themerrysthought(dot)com.