Grateful



Not only is today my birthday, but it marks the anniversary of an adventure I started on a year ago to share my thoughts, my moods, my stories and my life with the world.  One year ago today, I started this little blog...and what a year it has been!

The past year has marked a lot of struggles and many triumphs, and sharing that, even tiny little bits of it, has been therapeutic in ways I never imagined.  When I started this blog, I thought it would be a great way to put my weirdness out there and to keep a rolling update of my life for my friends and family that I don't see nearly enough.  But there was one thing I never counted on...and that was you.  Yes, you.

I truly did not know that there were other girls (some of them right here in my town) that were out there, just like me...sharing their stories.  The blogs I have discovered in the last year have made me laugh, made me cry, made me think, and most importantly - they have made me grateful.  I grateful for every bit of blog delight I have stumbled upon...every tale you've told, and tip you've shared, every lesson you've learned and shared with your readers.  Many of your posts inspired me to think differently or gave me inspiration for my own musings.  Many of them just made me smile or let me know where to shop for my next cute outfit or eye shadow palette. 

I realize that I don't post as often as many of the blogs I read, and I don't have any special crafting or design skills.  I can't offer you fashion advice or show you the latest amazing product I've bought for myself.  I only know what make-up looks good on my face, and I couldn't begin to tell you how to apply it.  I don't live in an exciting city (except for maybe this very moment since our Cats are playing in the Final Four) and I don't do many note-worthy things on the weekends that would be worth sharing.  I travel pretty much nowhere, and despite being in the middle of wedding planning, I am too exhausted by it to spend much time blogging about it.  But for some reason, you have read my silly little blog anyways.  You even bared through entire posts about reading The Hunger Games, my obsession with Skittles, the dangers of swimsuit shopping, and on instance where I tried to ride by lab like a miniature horse.  For reasons unbeknownst to me, you have read on, and sent me messages and left me comments that mean more to me than you know.  I literally cannot tell you how many times in the past year I was knee deep in the middle of the worst day ever when I would hear a little *ding* on my phone and find a sweet message waiting for me or an encouraging email that put a smile on my face.  Sometimes those little things were the only thing that got me through the day.  Thank you for that. 

Thank you for sticking with my sporadic posting habits.  Thank you for keeping your thoughts to yourselves when you didn't like what I had to say, and thank you for your comments that let me know I was doing something right.  Thank you for clicking that little "follow" button and joining me on my strange journey for the pursuit of chocolate.  Thank you for the last year. 

Happy birthday to me.  Happy birthday to my blog.  Happy Friday to you :-).