God, I love birthdays!
The food. The drinks. The all-day-long attention on Facebook from people who you are only vaguely familiar with. In fact, I think one of my favorite things about having a blog is the fact that I get to have an internet birthday in addition to my real life birthday, and this is it!
As of today The Rheel Daze is one whole year old!
Yay!!!!!
Too much?
OK, well maybe. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of exciting things going on around here. My little blog is celebrating its very first anniversary and in honor of that I’ve made some major changes and entered into some really cool relationships, all of which I’ll get to in a minute.
First I just want to say what a cool experience this has been. A year ago I wrote a post called The Whole Three Yards which adorably labeled the process of developing this website as “an experiment in getting everything you want, without having to work too hard.” My intention was to ultimately build a blog so popular that I could live off of the income that I made from its ad revenue. Oh! And I didn’t want to kill myself doing it either. Isn’t that cute?
I actually wrote this:
I want to make a series about not giving one hundred percent, because really, the idea of “giving it your all” is ridiculous. Minus Oprah and Lance Armstrong, are there many people out there who actually do this? On second thought there probably are, but I’m just not one of them. So where does that leave me? I’m smart, I’m creative and I want to be rich too, I just hate working. So what if instead of one hundred percent, I gave an extra thirty? If every week I just tried a little bit harder to be wildly successful, like where I could still go to the beach and have too much to drink without feeling like a loser because I spent those hours goofing off instead of relentlessly pursuing my dream, where would that leave me in a year?
It’s weird. I think I know why I had that attitude now. I had always worked for assholes. So I just assumed that I hated working. I didn’t think I was capable of giving one hundred percent to anything, so I made fun of the people who did. But what I didn’t realize is that I wouldn’t mind working so hard if I was doing something I loved. And while I haven’t dedicated every waking moment to this blog over the last year, I’ve given way more of myself to it than I ever thought possible. I hate to say it, but my little experiment kind of back fired. Instead of sticking it to all those go-getters, I sort of became one.
Don’t worry. I’m not a total asshole. I still methodically clear my DVR space before any vacations so I don’t lose a single episode of The Soup and the liquor store down the street is resting securely at number four on my speed dial. But starting this website and posting every week has been a major accomplishment, one that’s taken a lot more effort than I ever could have imagined. And I don’t mind. In fact, I’m really looking forward to the next year.
OK, now for changes!
If you hadn’t already noticed, my web designers Liz and Tadeo have put an amazing amount of time and love into streamlining and freshening up the aesthetic around here. It’s crisper, it’s cleaner and it’s more organized. For someone who repeatedly walks into a room after she’s cleaned it to admire her work, just looking at my new page is like snorting a heaping pile of Xanex. I imagine.
From now on I’ll be posting slightly more often, but not on any set schedule. Having specific Monday and Friday deadlines often has me rushing to complete and publish articles that aren’t ready yet. I feel like the content will be much more readable if it’s not still being edited once it’s up.
And finally for the biggest and most exciting addition to The Rheel Daze; I have sponsors! One of the things I’ve loved the most about writing in this form, is the community of bloggers that I’ve become immersed in. There is so much talent out there and so many worth while reads that it’s hard to keep up with and sort through them all. However there are a few that have stuck out over the last year and I’ve been lucky enough to have them team up with me and be my very first supporters. Please check them out because they are full of good fun. Allow me to introduce this month’s line up:
Also, Halloween (my favorite holiday) is almost here! So check out the unbelievable creations of Marc and Chris at:
If you’re interested in advertising on The Rheel Daze you can visit my brand new ad page right here for prices and packages.
Finally, I want to say thank you
I’ve pretty much had an Oscar acceptance speech prepared ever since I could write more than two consecutive sentences. However, I’m starting to question whether or not I’ll ever be able to use it. Especially since my last acting gig was as the evil queen in my 2nd grade class’ production of Snow White. I killed it, needless to say, but I’ve been in a bit of a slump ever since. So I’m going to have my Sally Field moment right here and now.
Thanks first of all, to my mother who has tirelessly harassed all of her friends to “look at what Tinkerbell wrote!” every time so much as a blurb on Twitter goes up. She reposts every single article I write and I would say at least 80 percent of my page views are from her alone. (Just kidding advertisers!)
Thanks to my Oma, whose hilarious comments (and the responses to them) have often made me question whether or not she should start a “block” of her own. It’a called a “blog” Oma. And you should. I love you.
Then all these people: Dad and Joanne, the Jeffs, Lisa, Rochelle, Nicole, Vanna, Jackie, Denise, Michelle, George and Marjorie. Your comments and “likes” were invaluable in getting this thing off the ground before anyone knew what the hell it was. Plus, thanks to Philip for taking this shit international and also Carmen for being such a tremendous sport and allowing me to exploit your personal tragedy for my own personal gain. I still owe you!
Plus the readers out there who I’ve only just gotten to know recently. You don’t have to be here and you swing by from time to time anyway. I love that. I can’t tell you how excited I get when there’s a new comment on a post from someone who isn’t bound by family or friendship to put it there. I hope you’ll keep coming back.
And last but not least, thank you so much, to the love of my life, my bestest friend, my companion on more Friday and Saturday nights than I care to admit: the little Kitty! You’ve begrudgingly sat for more ridiculous Instagrams and photo shoots than you’d care to admit, all in the name of a good laugh. Or because you’re a cat and you don’t have a choice. Either way…
You’re a good Kitty!
Fun photos from all of these websites: www.lecoollondonblog.com, www.likeable.com, www.sportshdwallpapers.com, www.thedailymail.co.uk, www.childrensministryonline.com