Post Number 1000!

Whew! This is an exciting week! If you haven't already seen it, make sure you check out yesterday's post to enter for your chance to win $100 worth of gift cards. Today is exciting because what you are reading right now is the 1000th post I've written here! I started blogging seven years ago over Christmas break. Back then I had only had two kids and I was not very consistent about writing. Around two years ago, I decided to take my writing more seriously and work harder on this blog. Things got much more fun then! I've made tons of new friends who I keep in touch with regularly through posts and social media. I honestly can't believe what a great outlet this has been for me. I've got a great record of our life, as well as friendships I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Blogging can be complicated sometimes. There are a lot of things to think about: post topics, promotion, social media stats, etc. There have been a few times when I've have started to get really stressed about all the pressures that come come along with maintaining an online presence. Those are the times that I make myself take a step back and re-evaluate what I'm doing. If it's not fun, I don't want to be here. That's one of the reasons I took a long break over the recent holidays. I didn't necessarily plan it, but when I realized that I hadn't posted in a while, I decided to just let it go and not worry about it.

Now I'm back again and ready to kick off 2015. As I said yesterday, I've got lots of goals to accomplish this year. Some are personal and some are blogging-related. I'm excited for all that 2015 has to offer me! I hope you'll stick around and we can travel it together!

As a side note, one of my blogging goals is to increase my social media following. If you aren't already following me, I'll put those links here so you can get to them easier.


And don't forget to go enter our #TuesdayTen birthday giveaway!

This post is also part of Lisa's One Word Blog Challenge. Each week she provides three words and bloggers are encouraged to choose one to work into a post. This week the words are: again, complicated, and believe. I'm an overachiever, so of course I included all three this week. Can you find them?