Friday, November 30, 2012

First Blogiversary Favorites

When it comes to my own personal selections, I'm terrible at ranking things. Anything. Nearly everything I passionately like (or dislike), I do for all these weird, inconsistent, arbitrary, deeply thought out or remarkably superficial reasons. I'm like a fickle teenage girl that way. 

So, no one's getting some tidy Top 5 Fave Posts or anything like that. I can't even keep the list to posts, but had to include other things. I went minimalist on this post's title, but I think the real post title is "A List of Posts and Other Stuff That I Like About My Blog's First Year, At Least for Today." See? That's just crazy talk.

So here is my unranked list of favorites from my blog's first year:

This desk: 


My son Noah, now 13, asked for an orange desk when he was eight years old. His Uncle Rusty took a paint sprayer filled with a paint color called something like "Autumn Squash" to the old pine catalog mail-order desk that was mine as a child. He still likes it, and I'm glad because I love it too. This desk got repinned on Pinterest 54 times. It's taken me years to warm up to orange as a color for interior design. It always seemed too daring to me. Now, I like it. Please also note the awesome starburst on the awesome vintage lamp. You can read about Noah's room HERE.

This pair of posts: 

In May my sister, my friend Kristy, and I went to an enormous flea market. We had so much fun and found so much awesome stuff:





You can read about those adventures HERE and HERE.

The home's history:


I've got little clues and bits and pieces of this house's history, starting with this photo above, taken in January, 1942. I plan to delve more into its past in the coming year. I am a huge history geek, so I promise to bore you with all the details of whatever I find.

The "blog ladies:" 

I'm not exactly sure what I expected when I first launched this blog. I think that when I started, I believed blogging to be a mostly isolated and solitary endeavor. There are times when I am wrong and glad of it, and this is one of them. I've met a bunch of funny, thoughtful, and tasteful women through blogging, and I couldn't be more pleased about it. They all bring something different and well, necessary to my life, and for that I'm grateful.

Eartha Kitsch, over at Ranch Dressing, is droll and quirky and sentimental. Her humor and innate kindness are evident in every post.

Sara and Ruth over at No Pattern Required have been friendly and supportive, and I love their enthusiasm for what they do.

Rita at This Sorta Old Life has an honesty and reflection about life that is refreshing and courageous.

I am so glad to have met all of you!

No friend like a sister:

I still cannot believe it, almost a year and a half later. My sister came to visit me and sanded black gunk off my bedroom floor.

Let me repeat that.

My sister Dyan, with a little orbital sander, took the better part of a whole day sanding black gunk off all of the approximately 225 square feet of my bedroom subfloor. On her knees. Wearing a sweaty face mask. On a day hotter than the surface of the sun.

We also teamed up for a drywall project. We didn't forget to sign our work:



I called her a super heroine. She'd better not let it go to her head.


I'd say that I'm not sure I could do the same for her, but of course I CAN'T say that now that she's done it for me. It would make me a schmuck. Let's just hope that it never comes to that, and I can distract her with margaritas and cheesy foods. I think we'd both prefer the drinks anyway. The only thing I CAN say is thank you, my sister. Your kung fu is righteous. And y'all can read about it HERE.

Thank you too, readers and friends. Because of you I'm looking forward to the second year of On the Doorstep, and a whole new list of favorites.







3 comments:

  1. You're welcome! And that is one of my favorite posts too, because the sister team got so much done that week. We rock!

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  2. So, so glad I met up with you too, even if it is only through the inter-webs! You seem like such a kind and genuine person, who knows, maybe one day we'll meet in person. And gosh, everyone needs a sister like that!

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    1. Aw, thanks Sara! It's been a fun year getting to know you, and I look forward to another!

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