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Celebrating My 10-Year Blogiversary {giveaway}

A decade ago—it seems crazy to say that—I started this blog while
sitting in my little shoebox in England. It wasn’t really a shoebox, of
course, but the size of that itty-bitty room was darn close to it. I was
studying abroad, and needed another outlet to share my thoughts and
feelings. As a journalism major, I always had a physical journal that
I’d write in religiously, but it just wasn’t doing it for me anymore; I
needed an audience, but little did I know that it would be years before
people (besides my mom) knew this place even existed.

The
title for this blog back then started out as “Just Another Place to Escape,”
which was apt for my ever-growing wanderlust bug, and my early 20s angst
to find myself. It slowly grew from there—very slowly—and
evolved into what it is today: a place where I still feel my thoughts
and feelings. I may not dive as much into those random thoughts as I
once did, but this is still a place I cherish and something I’m proud
of. It’s grown just as I’ve grown.

Someone once told me
that I wouldn’t continue this once I had a baby, but when you’ve been at
it for so long, it’s just part of who you are. I don’t know how life
will be with two kids (crazy, I’m sure), but this blog—this other place
for me to escape—is part of me and now it’s part of my family, so I’ll
do my best to keep at it.

Earlier this year I didn’t do one of those year-in-reviews, but I thought it would be fun now to look back on some of my most popular posts. These are picked based on statistics from a few different sources (Google Analytics, Blogger stats, and Pinterest), and it was cool to see a mixture of old posts and new posts!

1. Five for Friday: the Book

2. DIY Hot Cocoa Cone Favors

3. Tiramisu and a Birthday

4. What’s in my Hospital Bag

5. A Travel-Themed Baby Shower

6. Nove, Italy

7. The Time I Met Alex Tribek

8. Gender Reveal Care Package

9. What’s for Dinner: Freezer Meals

10. 10 Tips for Cruising with a Baby

Whether you just stumbled on my blog today or you’ve been reading this since the very beginning, I just want to thank you. Your comments and words of encouragement truly help me continue this in a way that makes me enjoy it. And to my family: thank you for putting up with me and all the crazy shenanigans I sometimes put us through because of this little blog of mine.

Celebrating 10 years of keeping up with something is pretty cool, right?! I wanted to do something special, like a
week’s worth of giveaways, or I really wanted to give away 10 of my favorite things. But
my mind and life have been a bit preoccupied lately, so I’m sort of
taking the easy way out with this giveaway; I hope you understand.

I’ll be picking not one, not two, but THREE people to win a $15 gift card to…wouldn’t you like to know! Just kidding. As long as I can send you an e-gift card to some place (Starbucks, Etsy, Amazon, Target, just to name a few), I’ll send one your way! Entering is easy, just follow the prompts below!

Thanks again for reading and thanks for celebrating with me!!
How long have you been blogging? I’d love to know in the comments below!

28 Comments

  1. Happy blog-a-versary!! I've been blogging for almost 5 years now and have never done an anniversary post. I'm glad you never stopped blogging after baby #1 came–I've enjoyed reading your posts for many years now. I think I started some time before your move to Italy.

  2. Happy 10 years!! I remember yours being one of the very first blogs I ever read…cheers to 10 more fabulous years!

  3. Happy 10 years!! I've been blogging for awhile but my first blog doesn't exist anymore… and I guess technically I had a blog back in the 90's when everyone used Xanga lol. Hmm that makes me sound and feel old……

  4. 10 years on 1 blog! Wow! I've had other blogs but not for 10 years. Although, I am coming up on 5 years with this one.

  5. Yay 10 years!! I can't pinpoint how long I've been blogging… but yeah, close to 9 years probably. 10 years? What year is it?

  6. I don't blog but I love reading all sorts of different blogs! I don't remember how I came across your site but I enjoy it! 🙂

  7. Happy blog anniversary! I previously blogged for about 2 years but have taken some time off from it. I'm really impressed with your 10 years!!!!

  8. Happy ten years! 🙂 I've blogged since I was probably 20, so about 10 years for me too. (Just not all at chambanachik and my current blog.)

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