1 Year Blogiversary!!

Hi everyone!

As of today, Ive officially been blogging for one whole year, ya'll!  I'm super happy and crazy excited.

This time last year I was going through a bit of a transitional period.  I had just decided to leave design school and was feeling a bit of a void in my design loving soul.  During a night of depression induced insomnia, I discovered the world of DIY/home improvement blogging.  I thought to myself, "Holy crap, people actually blog about this stuff! That is really cool!"  We had purchased our house not even a year prior and had big plans to change it up a bit. So motivated by the fact that all my family lives on the East coast and many have never (many likely won't ever) been to visit yet, and really needing to find a creative outlet since I put school on hold for a bit, I realized this might be my answer! I could take this as an opportunity to keep them up to date on all the changes going on in the house since they were so far away.  Plus, it felt good to know there was someone else out there who understood what it feels like to have a serious case of rearrangeitis as well!  So, I sat down and started typing.  The rest, as they say, is history.

When I published my first post I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about blogging! Hell, I still don't know much!  I was terrified once I saw the post live. I mean, to come to the realization that OTHER PEOPLE...like real people would be able to read what I just wrote was just plain scary.  What if they think I'm an idiot?...What if they hate the design choices I make,?...What if they just plain and simply don't want to get know the new girl with yet another blog?  It was pretty nerve racking!

I realized I was waaaay too far in my own head.  I took a deep breath and just let it go.  Ive honestly had so much fun.  I absolutely love it.  I get to connect with other people who love this as much as I do and that's the best part of all.  This blog has brought me so much joy and I'm so thankful for every page view and comment I receive. 

This year I do have a few goals as far as the blog goes. For one, I'm going to try my darnedest  to blog more often.  I think I got a little discouraged at times this year.  With there being so many MUCH more popular blogs out there, at times I felt like me and my baby blog were in over our heads.  Then I remembered why I started in the first place.  I realized I needed to focus on the fact that I blog because it makes me happy.  The blogosphere is huge and even if no one ever ventured onto my site, I had to be ok with that.

Another goal I have this year is to link up more often.  I'm really planning on digging in and trying to connect with as many people as I can.  I'm NOT shy in real life, so why should I be shy in blogland?  Speaking of connecting...probably my biggest goal this year is to make it the Haven conference.  I heard so many awesome things about last year's event and I really want to be a part of it this year.  Fingers crossed that I actually get to meet some of you awesome folks this summer!  Along with that, I'll be trying to hone in my photography skills (thanks to my awesome Christmas gift!) and will hopefully be creating a much much better site, from a visual perspective that is. 

I cant wait to see how my baby blog blossoms over the next year.  Thank you all for taking this journey with me. Here's to year two!

Until next time......

XoXo-Shavonda