All The Live Long Day is 1 today!

Woohoo!

 Throw some confetti! 

Bring on the marching band! 

Have a little dance around the room in your slidey socks! 

It's been a year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY! 

I can hardly believe it's been a year since I properly started out with this. My first post last year was about what Marco and I did for Valentine's Day in 2011! And I have posted nearly every weekday since then. Me and my blog are thick as thieves by now. Probably means I can strike through the "Write a blog with regular entries" item on my life list. Yay!

I first attempted to start blogging in early 2010, but back then, it never really took off with me and this space. It needed a 9-month gestation period and inspiration via this blog, which I read from beginning to end one week and which finally made me realize that I did not need a specific theme to create a blog. I could just go and share the things that touched me and that I was passionate about! Turned out these things were mostly food, photos and music. 

I created this word cloud from my post titles across the year, and it gives a pretty good view of what my blogging was all about.

 

These are a few of my personal highlights from the last 12 months:

1. For the first time: sharing travel pictures from Paris.
2. Discovering my love for Whitstable and trying oysters.
3. Documenting my honeymoon in Madagascar. 
4. The first swap I took part in.
5. Being awarded not once, but twice!
6. Recap of my hen weekend during Wedding Month.
7. These cushions I made for my Papa.
8. Writing the story of how Marco proposed to me.
9. Taking part in 30 Days Of Lists.
10. A long essay about what cooking means to me.
11. Organizing a recipe swap with Fiona.
12. I listened to this album on repeat all through December.
13. More travel photos, this time from Vancouver.
14. Snow!
15. Hosting this awesome giveaway. (There is still time to enter!)

And these were the most popular posts according to the statistics:

1. Polaroid guestbook from my wedding.
2. How Marco and I met.
3. A collection of printable recipe cards I curated for the Winter Warmer swap.
4. Souvenirs from Madagascar.
5. My new stitched iPhone case.
6. Gushing about Melissa's blog, Tiny Happy.
7. A bird's eye view of the Rocky Mountains.
8. I won cupcakes!
9. I shared these Christmas fonts.
10. The deer rut in Richmond Park as documented by me. 

The best thing about starting the blog was being welcomed into the blogging community with wide open arms! I felt really apprehensive when I started out, and I was convinced that All The Live Long Day would be a wholly private venture. But then people began reading and commenting! When these strangers decided to take an interest in my life, I was in shock at first. Now, I am so happy  every time one of you takes the time to comment on a post. Strangers have become friends. Heck, some of you have been in my life for almost as long as this blog now!

I love the new blogs I have discovered during the year and I love seeing how some of the big, established ones still manage to change and evolve and come up with something fresh. Each blog I read is an inspiration, and I feel humbled by the fact that so many cool people have invited me into their worlds.

I have opened a Twitter account, am busy pinning all the things, and have started posting photos on Instagram. I am embracing the social networking culture. It can be a time-consuming obsession at times, but it's so much fun! Thinking about the content of my blog, editing photos, or writing last-minute posts has given me sleep-deprived nights and odd looks from the husband, but it also has made me more disciplined in a way.

I was disillusioned some days, I felt like I was ready to call it quits and do something more valuable with my time. But you know what? I think blogging is making my time more valuable already. I have become more contemplative, a little bit craftier and definitely more passionate about my photography over the course of the year. I have met some amazingly clever people that I admire for what they do and how they live their lives. I have worked on my writing style. And I have a diary of the whole past year. That is pretty neat!

So, for the time being, my blog and I are going strong! Thank you, all the people who come here to see what I've been up to! The long-time followers and the newbies. You make blogging fun and you are enriching my days! Let's find out what the next 12 months have in store! And remember to believe in what you do, all the live long day!

 © Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).