happy birthday poverty luxe!

happy friday guys! as you can clearly see, i am super happy right now. why?

because today is a very, very special day. today it has been exactly one year since my very first blog post. if youre a long time reader you may have read my six months of blogging post (which I'm guessing you probably didnt, seeing as how i had about 11 followers back then) where i talked about how this little piece of the internet almost didnt even exist and in six months had grown and changed into something id never expected. which is something that, as ive gotten more and more involved in the blog world, seems to be a pretty common phenomenon. 

well, its been another six months and poverty luxe is one year old! and boy have we had some ups and downs since then. really, in september, when i wrote that post about all the life lessons id learned from blogging, i had JUST doubled my traffic and followers and was totally stoked on blogging. but then after that it was october with mine and alices birthdays and then the holidays started and we were super busy and i had started trying way to hard to be "bloggy" instead of just being myself and i got severely burnt out (and not to mention, traffic took a HUGE nosedive). but, in a completely uncharacteristically mature and ambitious move, used those really discouraging statistics as motivation to drastically improve this little blog and make it into what it was supposed to be. 

and starting in january, i did. and so far, its been pretty dang awesome.

so, long story short, my second six months of blogging were a lot harder and crazier than the first six. but, all things considered, the things ive learned (and am still constantly learning) are more or less the same. 

so today im not going to write about what I've learned from blogging and how its changed my life. because honestly, i wrote basically the exact same post six months ago.

today want to take a few minutes to say thank you. 

thank you to all my readers, who are somehow still here after reading rambly, overly wordy posts like this one, and witnessing my terrible, terrible food photography. im sorry this blog used to suck so bad, you deserve a medal for sticking around. 

thank you to everybody thats been kind enough to leave a comment to let me know that im not the only person who hates being gluten free, or that refusing to buy baby carrots really isnt that weird, or even just stopped by to say hi or tell me that my hair looks nice. you guys are way too nice. 

thank you to each and every person thats sponsored this little blog and gave me your hard earned money even though i have no idea what im doing and feel like i mess up my sponsor stuff all the time. seriously, youre awesome. 

thank you to all the super sweet blogger ladies ive met over the past year who have become friends that i can talk to about not-blog related things and think the things i say on twitter are hilarious. you guys have been really great for my self esteem. 

thank you to my family and real life friends who are still willing to be friends with me even after they find out what i do with basically all of my free time. you guys are gems. 

i especially want to thank all of the real life folks who have told me in person that theyve enjoyed reading this little old blog, even if they dont leave comments/we dont know each other that well. you sure know how to make a lady feel special. 

but mainly, thank you to my dearest husband for putting up with this totally insane little hobby of mine, for still taking pictures of me even though i usually just make him take them again, and for listening to me talk for hours about things that he has no idea what im talking about. youre the best. 

so happy birthday, little blog baby of mine. heres to many, many more.