Happy Monday! This is a particularly fantastic Monday for two reasons: 1) This is a short week because of Thanksgiving and 2) today is the 1 year anniversary of my blog. First, I am so pumped for Thanksgiving. I really love that it is a lay around and eat kind of holiday. It is all about good food, good family and gratefulness. The gratefulness is always a good reminder. Especially with everything in the world, a little time to be grateful is always good. For the anniversary I have to be honest, it kind of snuck up on me I had to look it up the other week. I cannot believe it has been one year already. It has been a really interesting journey so I wanted to take some time out of my regularly scheduled programming to share a few lessons I learned and some of my greatest hits.

LESSONS

1. Be short and sweet
I have a tendency to be wordy. Using more than less has always been an issue. One of the most common critiques I received on papers in high school and college were about helping me re-work sentences. In grad school they practically beat it out of me and I improved. When beginning to write blogs I struggled again to be succinct. Within a few months I learned that the less I wrote the more hits I got. Then I started to think that when I see long winded blogs I never read them. So I try my best now to keep them short and sweet. Less is more.

2. Good photos are key
This is another lesson I learned while being reflective on the blogs I read. I started by using pictures on my iphone. Big mistake. On your phone pictures look great, on the web not so much. They get blown up, look pixelated and the colors are not beautiful. Who wants to read a fashion blogger with unattractive photos? The goal is to get people to want the look and build your credibility as a somewhat fashion authority. As much as the average blogger is anyway. A huge piece to this, and to differentiate yourself from the millions of other blogs, is beautiful photos. After a couple of months I got a nice camera and things definitely started to change. Invest in a good camera!

3. Plan Plan Plan!
When I first started I would prep the blog the night before, take the picture in the morning before work and then upload it and post. Well that was way too difficult to keep up with so I started writing blogs a couple of days ahead. Recently, I started making plans weeks in advance so I can schedule photos ahead of time too. It has made my life way easier.

4. Blogging is hard
Blogging is hard. It is way more work than I expected and keeping up on trends and interesting pieces is a lot of work. There have been a few times that I thought maybe I should stop, especially while I was studying for  my license or stressful times. But what kept me going was I love doing this. It is such a fun outlet for me and it's fun to see who is reading. I am surprised at how many family and friends read it and will talk with me about it. I am far from the most popular blog in the 'sphere, but for those of you who have read it, texted me, commented and supported me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 FAVORITE POSTS

As part of celebrating my 1 year I thought it would be fun to take a bit of a retrospective on some of my favorite posts from this year. Enjoy!

This is a favorite because it's where I started. I thought about posting the second blog which shares more about me, but I could not have that without the first. This post is me trying to set the tone for what I hoped was to come. Plus a pretty fantastic picture that I think gave the reader a bit of my personality. 


This was one of my first posts with the new camera and I love these pictures. This is also when I realized that my porch room was a great backdrop for shots. I had to manipulate the bag a bit to get a pretty shot and I learned that it often takes more than just point and shoot.



What I love about this is this was the first post to me that felt like a true fashion blog. I believed this was a unique look and was proud of myself for mixing patterns in a way that was interesting an unique. Also, when I wore this look to dinner a very hipster girl gave me a genuine compliment and I was pleased.



I tried one time to film a video and it was kind of awkward and I said "um" a lot. I was a bit camera shy, no pun intended, to try it again. I had been venturing out into more make up and had been given lots of compliments and wanted to share. Overall I am happy with how this turned out and was excited to share it with everyone. Maybe I will do one again....maybe.



I love this one because it provides my profile picture. I frequently say this on the blog that writing this has pushed me to try things I normally wouldn't. This look was a sequined crop top and skirt. Felt like it was appropriate for New Years Eve and I took the plunge. I think it paid off.



Last but not least this jumpsuit. I love a jumpsuit and mentioned it repeatedly on the blog. I took the chance with this one because, c'mon. Look at it! I loved it and it was so fun to wear to my friend's bachelorette party. I am still waiting for another occasion to wear it.



So that's it! Again. Thank you so, so much for all of you who read. I always joke when my friends or family tell me they read my blog that "thanks, you are one of the five people that read it!" But truly if only five people read and enjoy it I will be happy. Although, I would love it more people read it so....tell your friends ;)

Cheers to another year!

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