A Year Flies...And 7 Things I've Learned

Friday was my blog's First Birthday!  One year.  Wow.  Time Flies.

Ginny, me and Corrina

My first post was about my title, Sofas & Sage, and in that first post, the sofa images came from Villa One Twenty in Newport, RI.  How incredibly ironic that one year from the date of that first post, I was having dinner in Newport, with Corrina, the owner of the Villa, and my friend Ginny, who introduced us!  This dinner was a total coincidence, and when I realized it, I had to have our picture taken!!

Last summer, in the heat of early July, I decided to start this blogging thing, to see how it would go, what I would learn, practice my writing, and mainly to share my passion for design and for cooking.  Well, if you've been with me for most of this year, you might ask what happened to the food part.  Umm.  Found out those two subjects are too big for equal billing in a week.  My passion for design, as it is also my profession, bullied food right off the page.

So, what have I learned over this first year?

1.   If I didn't have a passion for my subject, I wouldn't have endured the incredible amount of time blogging takes!

2.   I've learned that it's easy to let blogging get out of balance in my life.  Too much, and other things suffer.  The right balance, and I love it :)

3.  I've re-discovered my love of photography.  What a joy this has been.

4.   I've become a better designer.  There is no doubt that the constant reading to research for posts has made me continue to grow creatively.  What a bonus!

5.  I've learned that the blogging community is sometimes like high school.  There are blogs that are popular, those that are quiet "sleepers" just waiting to be discovered, those that are brilliant but hardly get noticed. 

6.  Regardless of  #5, I've learned that bloggers are among the most generous people around -- they share their advice, secrets, opinions, talents and time and ask for little else than your comments, to let them know that you are interested in what they are saying, or just to get a conversation started.

7.  Most importantly, blogging has taught me that it is possible to make great new friends whom I would never have otherwise found.  And that has made it all worth it!

So, to my readers and my followers...  Thank You!  I appreciate that you take time out of your day to see what's up at Sofas & Sage, to comment, or to send me a quick email.  I love hearing from you.

As I start year two, is there anything you'd like to have me address, a topic you'd like covered, or questions you'd like me to answer?

Talk to you soon and thanks again,
Carol