The View From Here: Four Years a Blogger

Why yes, the View is a day early this week, thanks for noticing.

The reason is, I figured I might as well commandeer my own series for my

Four Year Blogiversary!

Which is today. I set up this here blog on April 30, 2010.

There was my husband's health, the kids, we were in escrow on our house. Big changes were coming for us. .....why not set up a blog? I had no clue what was looming in my life, nor in my journey as a blogger.

Setting up my catchy but lamely named "Just Jennifer" was easy. Too easy, one might say. It's definitely been a work in progress.

So where am I at with blogging four years later? I'm glad you asked.

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Four Years a Blogger

I absolutely love, love, LOVE blogging. It has been the best thing I've ever done for myself.

I could stop right there. That's all I really need to say about it.

But I know there are still many people who don't quite get it. So I will elaborate.

Three Years Blogging

On this day in 2010 I hit publish on this blog for the very first time.

It was not at all momentous. Like I've said before, I had no idea what I was doing, and continued in the dark for the entire first year. I got into more of a blogging groove about six months in when I wrote The First Step, but didn't discover the fabulosity of the blogosphere until the summer of 2011.

Since then I have been on a roll. I have completed two November NaBloPoMos, written to prompts, linked up with other blogs, started a Facebook page, redesigned my blog a couple of times, posted some product reviews, given some things away and learned how to tweet with the best of 'em.

I've learned a ton and made some new friends. I've laughed and cried. I hope you have too. I mean, I'm sorry if I made you cry. But then again, not really. Because if you did, that means I made you feel something, and that's pretty cool.

Becoming A BLOGGER has been so serendipitous that I marvel at how it has changed me, and probably the reason I have a pretty zen attitude about it. Sure, I want to be good at it, I want to have a following and a community and I love when I'm able to make a little money because of it. I can't deny that what I'm doing here makes me feel proud. But I haven't forced any of it. I have simply written and shared and learned. I explore possibilities and I'm open. Just open.

I feel like blogging was placed in my lap for me to pick up, mold and make my own, with only the slightest of encouragement from a friend (when I said, "sometimes I think about journaling", she said, "you could start a blog..."). I love how I get to blog for both selfish and self-less reasons. That I can work on my issues and enlighten people about those issues at the same time.

Because that's the most amazing thing about blogging -- enlightenment.  From mundane daily life stories that illustrate all the ways in which our paths are the same, to "light bulb moment" epiphanies that inspire, to giggle-inducing ridiculousness. There is something for everyone; infinite possibilities through which millions of people's paths can cross. Lives can be changed.

I am changed. In such great ways.

This is why I wanted to celebrate all month long and invited you all to celebrate with me. Fifteen awesome bloggers shared a post from some April. It was fun to see what they chose, and apparently they enjoyed going back through their archives and remembering some of the stuff they've written about.

My 5 favorites are (in order of submission):

• #2 Innocence Lost by Robbie at Fractured Family Tales, because she bravely wrote about a scary thing that happened when she was a child.
• #5 Here's Johnny by Stacie at Snaps and Bits, because it's funny!
• #8 The Land of Empathy and Wonder by Kristi at Finding Ninee, because it is a beautiful, amazing idea that should grow (and which she's started a guest series for).
• #11 The Story Of &%^* and The “Thing” by Kristi at The Robot Mommy, because she came up with the perfect way to explain tragedy to young children in the wake of the Boston bombings.
• #13 Metamorphosis by Rach at Life Ever Since, because she so eloquently expresses how motherhood changes us.

Also, I simply must give an honorable mention to Les at Time Out for Mom because she submitted a post she wrote last year about blogging. Les and I tend to agree on many things, and one of which is that we both describe our blogs as "my precious". I'm pretty sure I have literally said that before.

Er, blogging is nothing like being Gollum. Ahem.

So, yeah, three years of blogging under my belt! Thank you all so much for coming along on the ride with me. Thank you for reading, for sharing and most especially your kind comments on my most heartfelt posts.

Fourteen Years of Marriage

Today is my 14th wedding anniversary. Yay us!

I have such a hard time with saying only that, though. Because we've been together a total of 18 years. Those first 4 years were nothing to sneeze at!

I mean, we met at a school for the blind and moved in together after less than than 6 months. Mark's kidneys failed, he got a dual kidney and pancreas transplant, and then had cataract surgery and could see well enough to drive again. We both took college classes and worked.

THEN we got married.

So to honor those 4 years, I wanted to share the first portrait of us EVER. Try not to laugh....

No, your eyes do not deceive you. Mark does indeed have a mullet and a mustache. And I thought my hair looked so good. It didn't.

But I still love this picture. As you can see it is in a frame and it hangs on our bedroom wall. It's us in our very first year and that makes it special.

Project Marriage Challenge: Date Night

This month’s Project Marriage challenge was perfect for Mark and I because we had an easy excuse for a date night: our wedding anniversary.

We got married on July 18, 1998, 13 years ago (we’ve been together a total of 17 years). We became parents almost exactly 2 years later when our daughter Camryn was born on July 11, 2000. In the 11 years since becoming parents we have never, I repeat NEVER spent a day or night without a child.

Although I did plan on asking a friend to babysit, I didn’t think this anniversary would be any different. I thought we’d get childcare just so we could go out to dinner. I didn’t expect the offer of a sleepover. And when the offer came, I didn’t think our son AJ would want to. AJ is 5 ½ now, definitely old enough, but he’s still a big chicken about staying overnight with a friend. The difference here, was that his big sister would also be there. So when I asked, he was super excited.

Mark got off work on Sunday at 2:00, came home, grabbed the kids and took them to our friends John & Carin’s house. Once he got back home and showered, we headed out to eat. We had ideas about going to one of the nicer restaurants in our area, but let’s face it, Mark and I just aren’t the fancy types. Maybe we were tried to be at one time, but we just aren’t. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy really good food, but I guess we’re too boring practical after 13 years of marriage and 11 years of parenthood.

So we went to Outback. Mark ordered prime rib, I ordered grilled shrimp and scallops and we shared a little with each other. Romantic, right? My veggies included these awesome little mushrooms that Mark wished he could have an entire bowl of. It was all delicious.

Part of this date night challenge included NOT TALKING ABOUT THE KIDS. A really tall order! But guess what, we totally didn’t talk about them. I regaled Mark with all of my blogging/#tweeting/networking/new friend making craziness. He downloaded an app on this phone to check movie listings to see if there was anything we’d both like to see.

Sunglasses on his head and reading glasses on his face is hot, right?

Transformers 3 was the only one we’d both like to see, but decided it wasn’t a very date night appropriate movie. Yes, I enjoy the Transformers movies and Shia LaBeouf.

Remember that practicality I mentioned before? I suggested since we were close to a Bed, Bath and Beyond that we should stop in and see if they had any butter dishes we would like. Mark agreed. We have very specific features we want in a butter dish. We tried. But at 6:30 on a Sunday night they were already closed.

Mark really wanted coffee from Starbucks. OK! Don’t have to twist my arm. Coffee made me think of my teeth. What? Coffee and teeth don’t get along. So my next thought was that I really need a new toothbrush and toothpaste (so did the kids). There’s this shopping area near where we live that has a Target and a Starbucks (actually, there‘s a Starbucks IN Target). So that’s where we headed to next. Perfectly logical right?

At Target I grabbed a new light blue t-shirt, a toothbrush and toothpaste for both me and the kids. Mark grabbed a hose sprayer and a new travel cup (because I lost his last one while selling Girl Scout cookies in the freezing cold).

Married for 13 years and all I get is a t-shirt. Haha!

We ultimately decided not to get Starbucks at Target in favor of a nicer one down the street where we could sit in comfy chairs and chat. Remember how I said it was Sunday night? We got to Starbucks 5 minutes before closing. No bother. We ordered our drinks and took them home.

I’ve had "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" from Netflix for a couple weeks now, waiting for a night when both of us could watch it. Date Night! We sat down with our Starbucks and turned it on.

Well, a little ways into it Mark felt his blood sugar rising. Upon investigation he discovered that his insulin pump connection was DISconnected. Joy. Pause. He got himself hooked back up and we pushed play.

While I enjoyed the movie (got some Shia LaBeouf after all), Mark thought it lacking. He remembered that the first one was a bit more of a nail-biter. I said I don’t think every movie has to be exciting to be good.

Sorry. You’re not reading this for a movie review. Moving on….

There’s not much more to tell. Next came a glass of wine and back scratching. Wine for me, scratching for Mark. The man LOVES having his back scratched! It’s apparently one of the things he loves most about me, and it’s something I’ve done less and less since our kids were born. We did this while watching Top Gear on BBC America. What? That show is cool.

And then it was time for bed. I’m not telling you about that.

So that was our date night. Impressive hu?

It may not have been the most romantic date, but it was all about us, and that’s all that matters. I enjoyed every minute of it. I told Mark that I love how we simply enjoy each other’s company and genuinely LIKE each other. Mark is my very best friend, my love, my husband, the father of my children and just a great guy. Our life isn’t perfect, whatever that means. But we love each other and we’re happily married.

Thanks so much to Life Without Pink for urging us old married types to celebrate marriage!

"A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year."

~Paul Sweeney

PS: 7/22/11 - I am linking this post up with Bees With Honey for "Let's BEE Friends" as my favorite post of this week. So welcome to anyone who comes over from BWH!