HAPPY 2ND ANNIVERSARY TO ME

And just like that, another year has quickly gone by. Three years ago my sister, published author of Last in a Long Line of Rebels and Hope in the Holler (available as a pre-order) tried to talk me into starting a blog. She was the writer of the family and I had no real expertise in any area so I basically ignored her. She kept on and on trying to talk me into doing it and even went so far as to buy me a domain name in order to get me started. Still, I did nothing. For some reason though she had planted a seed and I kept thinking about getting up the nerve to start a blog. I mean, how hard could it be? Lol!!! Talk about naive, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.I decided one weekend that it was going to gnaw at me until I at least gave this blogging thing a try so I sat down and went to work. The first thing I did was to buy a domain name since the one my sister had bought for me a year earlier had expired. I wanted something easy to remember and easy to type since I knew I would have to type it over and over again. Then I signed up for the free version of WordPress and started looking as themes. All weekend long I watched YouTube videos and searched on Google how to do this or that. It was pretty hard since I was trying to do it all by myself. I finally called my sister and confessed what I was up to and she helped me by showing me what all the widgets and plugins did. This is my very first picture that was published on September 6, 2015, and here is my very first post. Don’t blink or you will miss it. Gracious, that was only a paragraph but it probably took me forever to write. I had no idea how to “link” to clothes or even how to find them on the computer. I couldn’t believe that people actually found my little blog! I hadn’t told anyone, not even Joe, about the blog. I was afraid that people would laugh at me and make fun of me. It was probably some time in November when Joe demanded to know why I was taking pictures of myself in the mornings. He was dumbfounded when I said, “I might have a blog.” I brought it up to show him and I told him that I actually had ladies who were looking at it. I don’t think he was very impressed at the time. Lol! Especially when I told him that I wanted a pair of Hunter Boots since all the “bloggers” were wearing them. Hahaha! I tried to be like everyone else who blogged, I wanted the boots and I wanted to wear clothing like they did but it just wasn’t me. I finally settled down and just decided to be me. Amazingly, I started getting comments that said, “I like that you are a real person.” So all that time I had tried to be like everyone else was for nothing, you gurls saw right through that. Back in February 2016, I was already starting to push you gurls out of your comfort zone. I can’t believe I waited until I was in my mid 50’s to start a new career. I didn’t know that blogging could be a career or even how to make money from the blog but I knew that I was looking for something that I could do from anywhere in the world. I wanted to be able to retire one day and still have an income and this was an avenue that I wanted to pursue.I started introducing you to color. I had no idea that so many of you were living in a black, gray, and navy world. I probably should have known that since I am describing my sister. I love wearing color and I am not afraid to push the boundaries sometimes. Granted, there have been times when I look back at some of my photos and thought, “what in the world were you thinking???” This is one year ago. Things have changed and yet things have stayed the same. The biggest thing I notice is that I didn’t have any eyelashes back then. Lol!!! Of course, I would notice that. Hahaha! Here are the stats that I posted from last year.

I just want to share with you a few stats after one year:

• I have now had 9,630 comments left on the blog
• I average over 200,000 pageviews a month
• My pageviews for the year is now 1,558,515
• I have done 362 posts

The stats for this past year have changed just a little:

• I now have 24,068 comments left on the blog
• I average over 300,000 pageviews a month
• My pageviews are now at 4,822,115
• I have done 727 posts

I have introduced you to my family and invited you into my life. I hope you have enjoyed being a part of 50 Is Not Old as much as I have enjoyed bringing it to you. I look forward to celebrating many more years with you if you will have me.

You know that I have to have a giveaway to celebrate this occasion. Since I am so enamored with Alex and Ani bracelets I thought you might like one for yourself. This is the Key To Life Charm Bangle and here is what Alex and Ani say about this bracelet:

Life is a series of experiences, leading us on a path that ultimately defines us as individuals. When we realize we have the power to unlock our destiny, we hold the key to life. Use positive, conscious thinking and the decisions you make will express your personal power.

To enter the contest just comment below. I would love to hear “why” you follow the blog and maybe how long you have been a reader. I will announce the winner of Saturday’s post.

If you are enjoying my blog I would appreciate you signing up for my daily emails. You only get one email a day and it is just to let you know that a new post is now live. Also, please share my blog with others that you know. There are ways that you can help me and some of them are by making sure that you “pin” something daily or that you “share” my post on FaceBook. I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for making two years fly by and for becoming my friends.

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