Thankful November: Day 15

THANKFUL NOVEMBER: DAY 15
I am thankful for my blog! Over the years, I've started a dozen journals, all with the intention of keeping track of what's going on in my life. The problem with journaling for me was, I'd write faithfully for a few days, then months would pass before I'd pick it up again. In 2010, I discovered the wonderful world of blogging! I enjoyed reading other's blogs, and found many that I still follow, but what really fascinated me was, that they were written by real people, people like me, who wanted a place to put their thoughts, their projects, their dreams, and their milestones. So I got busy, and started a blog of my own. Most of the blogs I had read had a theme of sorts, a craft blog, a cooking blog, an organizational blog, but I wanted a blog that was more of a journal. My very first blog was "The Story of Us"....which lasted all of a month. Then I decided I was going to try a cooking blog, then a trip planning blog......which I actually started called "Trip Planning" {I know, so original}. Finally, a year later, in January 2011, I got serious about blogging and I created and designed this blog.

 I pondered possible titles, but after seeing the quote, "The Secret to Having It All Is Believing You Already Do", I knew I had found the perfect title for my blog. That was almost 2 years ago, and I have been faithfully posting ever since. I actually look forward to posting, it's sort of like therapy for me.

I really loved this design...but I like the simpleness of the look my blog has now...

While I like having followers {92 to be exact}, this blog is the journal I've always wanted to keep, so even if nobody out there ever read it, I finally have a record of our life that I can go back to, read through, and enjoy. As I took a closer look at my blog, I saw that I did 288 posts in 2011, and as of this post, I've done 262 so far in 2012. Going through the archives, I noticed some posts that were very popular.
My post about make-ahead, freezer, & crock pot cooking had about 100 views,


and my post about Low Carb Cream Cheese Pancakes had 367 views,

My DIY LEDGE SHELF post had over 500 views,


but the post that got the most views, a whopping 3,539 views, was my copy cat recipe for Olive Garden Lemon Cake {which I confess, I still haven't tried!!!!} It looks delish!

I often link up with other blogs for "Linky Parties". If you are trying to grow your blog, this is one way to do it. You will definitely get more traffic, comments, and even new followers. As of now, I'm satisfied with where my blog is going. I like having followers, especially those I know personally, and I like all the lurkers {you know who you are...Mom....Wanda.....}but as I said before, if nobody stopped by to read it, it would be okay, I'll keep on blogging, because it is something I love...just for me!