One Year of Blogging...

Sunny - Hi 112 Lo 87 for Baghdad, Iraq
Partly Sunny - Hi 82 Lo 63 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: Beautiful Day, U2

Ramble:

My first post was on 4 June, 2005 – a photo. In that time I have rambled about several things, among them: my husband, family, patriotism, our military, art, music, mini road trips, work, politics, my inability to understand the technical aspect of blogging and Halliburton.

I have found I really enjoy blogging. The commitment I made to myself was to post once a week on Sundays. I am pleased to report other than the two Sundays I missed because our computer crashed and burned, I have stayed true to my goal. My writing ability is still below par and any English teacher would surely have this blog completely marked in red—I suspect even my margins are offline in some browsers. Each week I find myself still apprehensive about coming up with a song and topic, but once I decide, I let my emotions take over and I will torture anyone that reads this blog with my stream of conscious. I have found blogging to be therapeutic. I have explored some very painful experiences on these pages. Just about every song I have selected over the past year has been meaningful to me in some way.

This week’s post is really more of a retrospective for me, so humor me as I look at the past year.

The most popular searches run that brought folks to my blog were:
Ann Coulter (and my husband)
(Busy) Boobs -- I did a post on the "trauma" of having a mammogram...
On Behalf of a Grateful Nation
A Marine’s Prayer
Afternoon Delight (All my traffic from Sweden... came looking for this)& Will Ferrell

I also received countless hits from people doing searches on soldiers and marines that I have mentioned on this blog.

A few of my favorite songs that have appeared here:
Learn to Fly, Foo Fighters
Angry American, Toby Keith
Sunday Morning, No Doubt
Kind and Generous, Natalie Merchant
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), Talking Heads

I have played:
U2 three times
Dave Matthews, Sting, Natalie Merchant, Foo Fighters, Trace Adkins and Toby Keith two times
Dixie Chicks never


I found the following quiz. Coincidentally, Beautiful Day was the first song I selected to put on my blog. Maybe there’s something to these little quizzes…

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like It's a beautiful day Don't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments. And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's Your Theme Song?


The following is a list of my favorite posts and probably my most passionate writing that I have done over the past year.
4/23/06 A Marine’s Prayer, Lance Corporal Justin Sims
2/19/06 Home
2/5/06 I Had Forgotten How Angry I Was
11/29/05 How Do I Tell Liberals to F Off on a PG Rated Blog?
10/16/05 On Behalf of a Grateful Nation
9/18/05 Celebrities and Mocha Soy Lattes
9/11/05 Four Years Later
8/7/05 Anger & Hope
7/10/05 Reflection

Traffic:
I have yet to hit 10,000, so, I'm not joking when I said I average about 20-30 visitors a day. But I can say this... I never padded my numbers and the counter doesn't count me... I think maybe I'll post something when I get my 10,000 visitor... and maybe a little something in the mail to the person that is my 10,000th visitor...

Favorite blogs and Links:
I was going to do a list of my favorite blogs and links this past year, but I already have a great list on my left sidebar that I try to go through at least once a week. If you are interested in what I read... check out my blogroll. And of course I have the VIP Lounge on the right... Notice I added another one...

Tomorrow and Beyond:
My goal for this year is to continue posting on Sundays and exploring my thoughts on various issues. I plan to continue discovering new and interesting blogs and listing them here... There is so much talent out there... who knew? I will continue to show support for our men and women in uniform. I will continue to strive to become more of an optimist.

Final Thought:
One thing I have decided after one year of blogging is that I am going to leave Blogger – free is nice, but you get what you pay for. Since I am still doing this, I think it is time to move on to something better. I have no idea what I'm doing and I don’t know if I did the right thing, but I already purchased a domain… I am open to suggestions, so technical advice is welcome. My intentions are to leave everything the same… but find a nice design and layout- I have one in mind... know anyone that can help?

Have a great week everyone!