Happy Blog-iversary!

Well this is exciting.  Today is our anniversary! Yours and mine,  I mean. Can you believe I've been writing to you for exactly one year today?  So it's a good day to look back and see what worked and what didn't and be happy for the time together.

Initially, more than one friend contacted me worried that I might expose too much and maybe embarrass myself. Little did ya'll know that embarrassment would become our favorite topic. Good news was it turned out there was plenty of that for the year.

If you'll remember, I've managed to fall more than once, get and cure a staph infection through a visit to what may have been a vet clinic, wander into at least 2 retail store altercations and set fire to one small business.  All's well that ends well, I guess.  I looked back at the stats on what you viewed most and what you didn't and here are a few apparent favorites. I'm posting the link to them - one for each month of our time together.

1. You Have To Get In Front of These Things 
2. In The End - The Obituary One
3. Spinning and spinning and spinning
4. Resolved
5. I Know How to Pick a Friend
6. In All Fairness
7. You Have To Do This With Me
8. I'm No Mother Teresa
9. In Which I learn how to spell Czechoslovakia
10. Turtle Mama
11. I Wanna Be Like the Big Girls
12. Dear Brad

After I dug around a little I realized there are some general themes.  One is my humiliating stumbling through the day. That's something you can count on here at StrangerLori.  Another is my frequent discovery that just about any damn thing can happen and then there's the recurring theme of people I admire.  I got a lot of love on the Mr. Rogers tribute (For Mr. Rogers) and on the old marathoning sheepherder (You Like What I Like).  I've mentioned my trainer (Let's Be Friends), my sister (Tis the Season, my friends in the band O/A (I'm With the Band), and frequently my sweet daughter (Have You Ever?).  

My favorite video is this one: BEST DAY EVER, but I can't decide if this is my favorite photo:  

Or this one:

  But I'm leaning towards this one:

Anyway, I've shown you just about as much as a girl can show about herself without taking her clothes off (but we do have some porn visitors according to the data so WELCOME! We don't judge here!).  It's been such a great year talking about the world and people in it and things that happen. I can't thank you enough for the time you spent reading and the encouragement I get through your comments both here and on Facebook.  I've learned so much about myself and about you.  I see what a treasure it is to have folks in your life you can have a good laugh with, people that you sincerely trust, and people who grieve your losses with you.  I believe that this blog has been one of the most liberating and fulfilling experiences in my life and I am so incredibly grateful to you for letting me be the clumsy, foot-in-mouth, open hearted, curious enough to follow trouble friend to you. Happy happy blog-iversary!

Let's see what we can get into next...
L