happy three year blogiversary!

Happy Third Blogiversary, everyone! I can’t believe it’s that time again. This blog began as a sort of fashion/home decor blog and has morphed and settled into something quite beautiful—a positive, passionate, vulnerable place where we can grow and change together.

In the past year I have taken two photography classes, had my most prized possessions stolen and then replaced by the most generous work family on the planet, moved out of my sister’s into my own apartment, got back into yoga, experienced love and loss, and found a new church family where I can grow in Christ.  Let’s take a few to look back on the best-blog moments from this year.

Here are the top three most viewed posts from the year:

1. We were Grinched. The tale of a very classy and endearing individual breaking into our house and stealing all of our favorite things.
2. Where have I been.  Still topping the charts. Announcing a divorce will do that. Let’s move on.
3. What are you doing with your life?  If you’re anything like me, which you probably are, you get asked what you want to do with your life a lot.

Okay, those posts may have grabbed the most traffic, but what are my personal favorites?

1. the wedding // home part four. I flew home to Portland, Oregon for my high school best friend’s wedding. She was gorgeous, the wedding was phenomenal, and I really like the way I wrote this post.
2. october in the smoky mountains part III  Have you ever had a legitimate mountaintop experience? This was mine.
3. meet lola. The epic retelling of the biggest surprise of my life—when my work family got me Lola, my baby—my Canon camera.

What I love more than writing is photography. Here are my personal favorite photos I have shared with you this year.

october in the smoky mountains part ii

november randoms and favorites

a Dickens holiday

january randoms and favorites

but first, coffee || storm jonas

the lake house revisited // days one and two

Let’s finish up this celebration with some tokens of wisdom from yours truly. Here are my top three favorite quotes:

1. “Go climb a mountain. Conquer the part of yourself that says you can’t That says you aren’t good enough. That says people don’t choose you. You are everything you are meant to be.” –october in the smoke mountains part III
2. “I will always shoot for optimism, because I know that this year has been TERRIBLE, but I will not let it break me. I will not let awful things and awful people make me ignore the beauty and the smiles and the experiences the have also made this year WONDERFUL.” –We were Grinched
3. “Things are not always better somewhere else. Sometimes we are exactly where we are supposed to be. Nothing is permanent, so embrace what makes you happy, work on what doesn’t, and realize that this too shall pass—the good and the bad. You are valuable, you are loved, and you are worth it.” –goodbye 2015, hello 2016.

Alright, friends. That’s it for this trip down memory lane.

Until next time,
❤
Jamie

If you want to read last year’s blogiversary post, click here.

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Let’s celebrate our two year blogiversary!

The other day I decided to figure out when my blogiversary is, only to realize that I had missed it by a couple weeks!  Disaster.  I have been blogging for years, but this past August 20, 2014, to August 20, 2015 has been my most consistent personal blog yet.  Happy two year blogiversary, everyone!

With its ups and downs, highs and lows, this year has been like none other.  Over half of you started following my blog this past year, which is perhaps due to my 178 posts, endless wit and charm, and your incredibly good taste.  My favorite stat is having over five thousand views from this year, which to a big blog might seem adorable, but I’m pretty proud.

Let’s remember some good times, shall we?  Here are the top three most viewed posts from the year:

1. Where have i been.  No surprise there.  You can’t just publicly announce that you are getting divorced and expect people to ignore it.
2. you are worth it. I’m kind of excited about this one making the list.
3. big hair, don’t care.  This is also sort of appropriate.  When you go through major life changes, you can’t keep everything the same.  “Rebranding” happened, and it was magical.

Okay, so those posts grabbed the most traffic, but these are my top four personal favorites:

1. New York City || day four, the tourists and the thai food.  I mean, this trip was incredible.
2. Kait’s baby shower.  This may be more personally nostalgic for me, although I am also pretty proud of my photography.
3. My first time // in the atlantic.  I really enjoy the way I wrote this post.  Also, dipping your feet in a whole new ocean for the first time is kind of monumental.
4. portland and powell’s // home part two.  Again, I enjoy how I wrote the introduction to this blog, and I love home like nothing else.

We can’t take a look back and ignore what I love most–photos.  Here are some of my personal favorites:
Tanbark ridge overlook, blue ridge parkway Family marshmallow night The empty lake My new bed Starbucks by the sea, best friend lauren day 3 How to make pumpkin spice coffee creamer

My last moment of reminiscing is my top three favorite quotes:

1. “You will still have bad days and hard times.  Everything won’t be perfect and you will still have flaws and weaknesses.  Admit those things to yourself, but don’t let them define you.  You are awesome.” – My fitness journey.
2. “I have realized that happiness is a choice and even though there is no controlling other people and their actions, I can exert a reasonable amount of control over how I react.” –Where I’m At
3. “No matter what happens to you or who judges you or who stops talking to you, they don’t determine your worth.  You do.  God does.”-you are worth it

After two years of blogging, here are two things that I have learned and that I would tell new bloggers.

First is that consistency is king.  Pick a day, or days, that you can post, and then maintain that schedule.  Everyone likes to know when they can expect to hear from you.  I’m not the best at this, and we all know life gets in the way.  I will always tell you to choose happiness and quite frankly, if your blog or your schedule doesn’t make you happy, fix it.  But if you want people to read your blog, make sure you post more rather than less, and keep the quality up to par.

The second thing I have learned is that posting what you want and posting what your readers want is not always the same thing.  That’s why you need to know why you’re doing this and who you are doing this for.  If this is about money and followers and getting your name out there, then you need to put your everything into growing your audience.  You need to give them what they want.  If that isn’t your “why,” then you need to understand that posting what you want with no thought toward what your readers like is going to keep your subscriber count pretty small.  We can all get caught up in the numbers, but I would recommend figuring out your “why,” and then making that your driving force.  Be genuine.

Last, but not least, thank you to every one of you who has read, liked, commented, and subscribed to my blog.  For something that is mostly just a glimpse into my life and a sharing of my highs and lows, I love it a lot and find this way of sharing my life to be rewarding and creatively fulfilling.  I appreciate every one of you and I can’t wait to see what shenanigans we will get up to next!  Here’s to five thousand more views, 178 more posts, and some fabulous adventures that have yet to be determined.

Until next time,
❤
Jamie

*if you happen to get confused about the chronology of my blog, I started out on Tumblr in August, 2013 and then transferred everything to wordpress beginning in June, 2014.