Blogoversary & a give away!

Happy Blogoversary to me! Hard to believe it's been a year since I started this little bloggity blog. I have officially been blogging since I started An American Girl in France back on June 3rd, but it would have been kind of silly to celebrate that blog's anniversary since that blog is on hold until my next trip to France - hence, no updates are posted to it and no one is reading it anymore. And really the only people reading that were pretty much my mom, my brother, and my aunt (thank you, my faithful readers). This blog has a much more diverse readership - which I am so thankful for! Especially when you comment - my fellow bloggers are probably nodding in agreement, it really means the world to us when we get comments on our blogs. So keep 'em coming.

Anyways, I feel like I have come quite a ways since that first book review post. By the way, if you haven't checked that book out, you really should. Especially if you like quotes and inspirational little poems. I am pretty sure something from that book will make a cameo in my maid of honor speech next month at Abby's wedding.

I have hashed out alot of topics on this blog. I've lamented about what it's like to be single and 28, I've blogged about some vacations, I've faced down the ghosts of boyfriends past, and I blogged about the passing of my Grandfather, who was one of the most important men in my life.

Some downs, but as many, or more, ups. I've made progress. Personal progress is a funny thing. When I compare my life today to my life a year ago, everything is the same, but nothing is. Not sure if that makes any sense. This blog has definitely helped - it forces a person to be a little bit more self reflective than I would have been otherwise. I've met some great new friends through this and have grown closer to my aunt & cousin who also blog. I know some of my family and friends probably scatch their heads and wonder why in the heck I do this, but they'll have to continue to wonder because this blog is not going away.

So, in honor of my one year anniversary of being a blogger, I figured it was time for a little give away. The initial reason for this blog was to review books, so it seems only right that my give away involve a book. Comment on this blog post by Monday, July 20th and you will have a chance to win one of my favorite travel memoirs!




Without Reservations, by Alice Steinbach is an awesome travel memoir. As Steinbach writes,

"I had fallen into the habit of defining myself in terms of who I was to other people and what they expected of me."

So what did she do? She takes a sabbitical from work and travels around Europe with stops in cities such as Paris and Milan. It's a page turner and will definitely make you want to drop everything and take a trip to Europe.


So come on all your lurkers - come out of the dark and leave a comment! I'll use the random number generator on Tuesday to select the winning comment!