Celebrate.

All over blogland I've been seeing bloggers celebrate their page view achievements. A few weeks ago I added the page view counter to the bottom of my blog but didn't pay attention to the number. A minute ago I noticed that it is over 20,000! Now I know that's not a lot compared to the blogs that I read daily, but for my little family blog, it's kind of a big deal. I think.

I started this blog almost a year ago when I began to challenge my spending habits. I wanted a way to keep myself accountable and as a Journalism major writing comes naturally. I posted about my monthly grocery budget and the meal plan for each week. It wasn't exciting and I didn't expect anyone to read it, but a few did. Then I discovered coupons and couldn't wait to share the great deals I'd find. And after reading more and more blogs I thought, "I do some pretty cool stuff, I should blog about it." So I did. And do.

I really enjoy blogging. It's not about the pageviews or number of followers. At the end of the day when everyone is asleep and I'm catching up on The Bachlorette it's nice to have an outlet. I love having a place for myself. Something for me. To write. To learn about myself. To reflect. To capture memories. To share. To inspire.

Although I must confess, I rarely tell people about my blog. My family, however, tells everyone. My sister (hi, sis) put it on her facebook and when I saw her post I buried my head in a pillow. I don't tell friends because I wouldn't have much to talk to them about if they read my blog daily. I can hear the conversations now:

"I saw that you went to the beach."
"Yep. Noah fell asleep and..."
"Read that."

Which is why I don't spend much time on Facebook. I like to hear it from people. I'm not referring to the "I'm folding 5 loads of laundry" posts (do they think people want to know that?), it's the milestone posts that I try to avoid reading. I'd rather share the joy with the person in person. I hate that many conversations start with "Did you see my post about...."

Well, this really went a different direction than I was planning. What I'm trying to say is -

To my readers, thanks. I'm glad that you are here. I hope I inspire you in some way. Also, a big Thank You to Kortney from Korntey's Krazy Life for awarding me with the Butterfly Award. You made my week :)

And to my stalker who googles "Amanda Gardner blog" several times a day - HI! bwahaha.

It's probably my mom.
Hi, mom.