This past year on the blog has been anything but terrible!

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Two years ago, I started out on this blogging adventure. Say what?!?

I still remember the conversation I had with my friend Carolyn when she popped the idea of blogging into my head since I said I was going to craft my way through Tom’s deployment.

I thought she was nuts. I don’t share my personal life that openly with people I haven’t taken the time to know, so really a blog? I wasn’t sure I was wanting to put myself out there like that.

After pondering on our conversation, I realize that she was not as nuts as I may have first thought. So I decided to jump in the blogging world exactly two years ago to be a distraction.

Here we are 24 months later, and I have to say that this blog has been such a great gift.

Since moving to KY a little more than a year ago, this space has been a go to place.

It was a place I could find support and give support.

It was a place to show my creativity and gain insight for new things.

It was a place that gave me a voice at times when I didn’t think I had it.

So here are some of my highlights from this last year:

• I co-hosted a link up for the first time with my friend Elizabeth (who I met through blogging). And while Autumn on My Mind wasn’t a smashing success as we had hoped, it was a fun experience to learn through as we developed the series. Plus, I think it made a great platform for Elizabeth and I to create a great bond!
• I was part of the Cara Box Exchange organization team for a couple of months. This was a great gift exchange for so many people! This gave me an opportunity to reach out to even more women in the blogging world. Plus it was a unique experience to work on that initiative purely through online formats.
• I wrote about Tom and I’s love story in an 8-week series. You can start here. (They are listed in succession on my about me page.)
• I started various other series on here such as Armucation, Talks With Tom, 35 for 35, and Friday Filters.
• I shared more than I thought people would want to know and allowed myself to be vulnerable about things I couldn’t control. But doing so provided me with so much support from some of the most random places, which was such a Godsend at various times throughout this year.
• I let Tom take over the blog once.
• I posted our baby announcement on the blog and since have shared our journey to becoming first-time parents.
• I participated in give-aways, link-ups, and sponsorships….I’m hip with the blogger lingo.
• And I could go on an on…

Two years ago, I had no idea that I would enjoy it so much. It has been fun to have this documentation of our lives. As I stated Monday with my name change, this blog has evolved into something more than I would have ever imagined that day in the ISU dining center.

It’s been cathartic in so many ways.

So I wonder what’s up next in year 3?

My guess is lots and lots of baby onsies.