A Very Happy Un-iversary

Melody and me, performing a complicated dance routine known as Let's Cross
Arms and Clasp Hands and Look Coordinated For a Picture.

So I'm really, really late with my post commemorating three years of blogging.

In fact, it has now been three years and three weeks and two days.  If anyone's counting.  Which I bet you weren't.  But if you're one of those people who wants accuracy at all times, it's been three years and three weeks and two days.

That's a little less than one-sixth of my life, which when you think about it is a pretty significant figure.  As long as you ignore the fact that I'm only nineteen and hopefully have a lot more years ahead of me.   

The point is that I've been blogging for rather a while now, and it's become rather a big part of my life, and you've all probably noticed by now that I tend to overuse the word "rather."

Belle, me and Ally posing against a February-snowy backdrop

In the past I've written a blog post commemorating each anniversary (here and here) and of course if you want to see the original First Post I Ever Wrote On This Blog, you can go here.   This year I was at somewhat of a loss as to what I should write about.  I thought about sharing my favorite posts and whatnot of the last year, but then decided that was better suited to New Year's.  I thought about sharing stats, but though we're currently clocking in at 405 followers (WHAAAAAAAT) and about 477,000 pageviews at the time of this writing, with "Defending Mr. Darcy" STILL the most popular post of all time, there isn't really enough information in the stats to make for a worthwhile anniversary post.  Plus, it would be boring.  

So I thought and thought and took a few breaks to rest my brain because thinking is hard work, y'all, and thought some more and took a few more breaks, and finally decided to kinda-sorta copy my post from last year, but not really because I'm taking the same topic in a different direction.  Last year I talked about friendships and all the lovely people I'd met through blogging and how much fun it was, and blah blah blah.  Today I want to dig a little deeper and talk about how much my life has changed through the friends I've met through blogging.

Petie and me, getting our drama on

When I clicked "create blog" on my brand-new dashboard on that Monday morning in 2011, it was with some trepidation.  I could see the possibility of several scenarios unfolding-- one was that no one would read this new blog, because after all I didn't have any friends who wrote about this kind of thing.  Another was that a few people here and there might read it, but wouldn't like it, and I'd be so embarrassed that I'd have to take it down.  (This was part of the reason for my initial pseudonym and extra-special-care not to reveal anything about myself in case the Internet decided to hate me.  That, and privacy and caution and all the jazz that goes along with it.)  Yet another was that a few people might decide they liked what I had to say, and would follow my blog, and would leave comments and say friendly things, and maybe I'd become friends of a sort with some of them, or pen pals even.  I had a couple of daydreams about how cool it would be if I "met" some girl from Australia or something and we got to know each other well enough to talk on the phone, and then I'd get to listen to her really cool accent.  (Yes.  I'm shallow and I like people with interesting accents.)

None of these things happened.  Obviously.

Melody and me, telling all our most appalling secrets

The closest real life came to my imaginings is depicted in the third scenario.  That is to say, people found my blog (generally after I found theirs and left comments, and they'd come along to take a look at mine because they were nice that way), and they left comments and said friendly things, and I did the same on theirs, and before you knew it, I was actually emailing some of them (Melody, to begin with, and others soon after) and then bam, one day I realized I wasn't thinking of these people as "blogging friends," but just... you know... friends.

And at the risk of sounding cheesy, my life opened up in a way I never could have dreamed of.  Because of the friends I've made through blogging, I've come to understand what it means to meet a really-truly kindred spirit.  (Not to say I haven't met kindred spirits outside of blogging.  Because I have.  Heehee.)  I've been incredibly blessed with have the opportunity to travel around the United States and visit some of the people who've become very special to me (and have some of them come and see me, in turn).  I've been introduced to so many books and movies and music and recipes and games and who knows what-all.  I have so many more memories to cherish today than I did three years ago-- so many inside jokes, so many remember-when's, so many emails and letters and postcards and birthday cards to remind me of good times past.  I've gotten so close to people who used to be random strangers on the Internet (okay, that sounds creepier than it is...) and I never could have imagined that, three years and three weeks and two days ago.

With Emma, Alex, Addy, Belle and Ally, at the end of a cutthroat, late-night,
beyond-crazy Apples to Apples tournament.

A lot has happened in three years.  (And three weeks, and two days... yeah, I'm just gonna say three years from here on out.)  It wouldn't be quite accurate to say I'm a different person now that I was then (um, hello, I'm still me) but I definitely feel like I've changed.  I mean, duh, I'm three years older, and there IS a difference between 16 and 19 (I actually look YOUNGER in pictures from 2011... WHAT IS THIS PHENOMENON).  Obviously I'm not the only one who's changed-- since I started blogging, a great many new faces have joined the scene, and others who used to be regulars have sort of faded out of the posting habit.  Interests and tastes have developed and evolved over time, and I guarantee that if you look at the posts of anyone who was writing three years ago (and still going today) you'll see a lot of differences-- in style, topics, maybe even opinions.  

I've never liked change.  Not much, anyway.  I like things to stay the way they always were.  I look back on memories with a lot of bittersweet nostalgia.  I don't like to think about how the past is in the past and can't be un-past.  (Wait, that makes no sense...)  I was reminiscing with Melody, when she was here a few weeks ago, about the "good old days" in the blogging world, when our little circle of friends posted quite regularly and had long-drawn-out comment wars and fangirled excessively over that BBC Radio broadcast of My Fair Lady.  (See here and here.  Good times, y'all.)

"Knock knock."  "Who's there?"  "To."  "To who?"  "NO.  TO WHOM."

But nothing stays exactly the same forever.  (Okay, maybe Gilbert Blythe doesn't change-- that's the least he can promise you-- but he's the exception that proves the rule.)  And my little blogging circle hasn't stayed the same either.  People have grown up.  Gotten jobs.  Gone to college.  Acted in plays.  Written books.  Gotten engaged and even married.  (Wut.)  Gone through incredibly rough times.  Suffered heartbreak and loss and tragedy.  Made it through all of the above.  (People are, in general, tougher than they look.)

Over the last couple of years I've gotten very close to a few of my blogging friends (whom I'd now call my best friends :D) and with closeness comes sharing.  Sharing of joys and griefs and difficulties and sticky situations.  With closeness also comes friction at times-- much as you'd like to think you have the most perfect friendship in the world, nothing in this life is absolutely and entirely perfect, and sometimes people disagree and argue and have to deal with tension between them.  In the last few months in particular I've come to realize (not that I didn't before; but to a greater degree, now) that friendship is no bed of roses.  Tears are not always happy ones.

Petie and I are fabulous majestic beings who live in constant glamour and sophistication. Sometimes.

During the past year a friend of mine was dealing with a difficult and sad event in her life.  When she told me about it, I cried over it.  Um, a lot.  (I tend to cry over things.  One of my friend's sisters referred to me once as "the girl who likes sad movies."  Heh.)  In the midst of my angst (I'm good at angst), I remember asking myself why I was letting this affect me so much.  It wasn't my problem, after all.  It wasn't even my business, beyond the fact that my friend had chosen to confide in me.

And yet that's what friendship's about.  It's about other people's problems being your problems.  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with those who weep, and all that.  It's about being there for people-- for people you might not have known three years ago.  It's about trying to understand others, and being oh-so-grateful that they understand you.  It's about accepting change and moving through it and being all the stronger for the problems you've faced.  It's about sending hugs when they're needed and knowing when to say you're sorry and calling people on the phone just to hear the sound of their voice.  It's about love, when you get right down to it.

I find it ironic that the poster behind Ally's and my heads says "Keep Calm and Carry On"--
a sentiment we do not live out when we're together and squealing about everything. :P

(Drat. I'm tearing up writing this.  Even with all the goofy pictures illustrating the post.  Ha.)  

In 2011 I never could have imagined the relationships I'd be forging over the next three years.  I never could have imagined the laughter and nonsense and millions upon millions of written words (seriously not even kidding there), and the late-night chatting and worrying and crying and caring I'd be doing.  Sheesh, I was hoping to get a pen-pal out of the whole deal, at most.  I wasn't signing up for what looks like it's going to be a lifetime of friendship, and all the baggage that goes along with that.

It just goes to show that you should be careful what you wish for.  And that the Lord's plans are better than yours-- because I wouldn't trade what I have, the people I have, the roles they play in my life and (I hope) I in theirs, for anything in this world.

Thank you, all of you, for being my friends.

Melody and I share a less staged spin.  :D

***

P.S.  Couldn't end this post on too sad and sentimental of a note.  Here's Ally, Joey, Emma, me and Prissy being frogs.  Please enjoy what will now probably be my last blog post before Ally kills me for putting this picture up.  Farewell, my friends, I go on to a better place.

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

Today is not my birthday.  Neither is it the birthday of any one of my friends (to the best of my knowledge).  Of course someone, somewhere, must be having a birthday today, and if you happen to be that person, well, many happy returns!

Though today is, for me, an unbirthday, it also happens to be an anniversary.  Because it was on this day in 2011 that I took a deep breath, clicked "new post" on my newly created Blogger dashboard, and wrote an introduction, or preface, or foreword, or whatever you want to call it.  On this day in 2011, three lovely young ladies hit the "follow" button on my sidebar (Melody, Miss Elizabeth and Miss Laurie, y'all thrilled me exceedingly that day!).  On this day in 2011, a certain young lady left the first two comments on my blog, sending me into perfect raptures (because someone was READING my BLOG!).

When I started blogging, I truly never thought it would become such a big part of my life.  Oh, sure, I fantasized a little about becoming one of those Big-Name Bloggers with several hundred followers and posts peppered with comments.  But I never dreamed that blogging would introduce me to so many amazing people, that I'd make friends I can now hardly imagine living without.  I never imagined that a few movie reviews and favorite books might be the link to connect me with kindred spirits hundreds of miles away.

Here I am, standing on the threshold of my second year of blogging, and the word that first comes to mind is overwhelmed.  Because this blog has grown by leaps and bounds from what it was when it began.  I've written far more than I ever thought I would, read books I might not have tried if it weren't for other bloggers' recommendations, seen movies I wouldn't have known about if it hadn't been for y'all... and even went so far as to reveal my first name.  (I, who thought I'd always be the mysterious and anonymous Miss Dashwood...)

But following close on the heels of that "overwhelmed" is the second word (okay, two words), which are thank you.  Look, let's be frank.  If I had written that first post and no one had responded or commented or followed, I probably would have soldiered on anyway.  For a little while, at least.  But if still no one visited Yet Another Period Drama Blog, I probably would have given up.

As you can see, that didn't happen.

I'm not an art-for-art's-sake kind of girl.  I write because it makes me happy, yes, but if it didn't make anyone else happy, I might not be so enthusiastic.  It's all of you--your comments, your emails, and above all your friendship-- that have made this blog continue for one full year.  (And there will be many more to come if I have anything to do with it.)  I have lectured you and rambled at you and been silly with you, and you have borne it as no other company of people would.

You, my friends, are amazing.

Thank you.

*sniffle*

Looking back over a year's worth of posts, I can see a definite change in my writing style.  In the early days, I was rather stiff and prim and proper.  Blogging, after all, is a Solemn Thing and must be done with Proper Decorum.  At the beginning, my posts followed a somewhat-strict format-- I wrote sensible movie reviews without a lot of gushing, did a series on period drama heroines that I never actually finished (eh... heh...) and dutifully posted a Quote of the Week each and every week.  This was a period drama blog, and to that subject it would stick.  Unyieldingly.  I read lots of other blogs about period dramas, you know, and if I wanted to do well, I had to be just like them! Right?

Then, as more people began following my blog and I in turn began discovering new blogs, I was introduced to the concept of lifestyle blogs-- people who journaled about what they did and how they did it, with several scoops of Random thrown in the mix.  What fun!  So I tried putting some of that into my blog.  Because everybody likes a random person, and if I wanted to do well, I had to be just like them, right?

Shortly after that was when I became aware of the dizzying number of blogging genres out there. Photography blogs!  Sewing blogs! Fashion blogs!  Cooking blog!  Movie blogs!  Book blogs!  Let-me-tell-you-about-every-single-little-detail-of-my-life blogs!  (I didn't follow any of those.)  And my head began to spin.  Because I couldn't decide where my blog fit in.  Was it, strictly, a period drama blog anymore?  I didn't think it was.  So I set up a poll and asked y'all to help me choose a new name.  "Shelves in the Closet" won the poll, but many of you told me that you preferred the name I already have.

In case you hadn't noticed, I ended up keeping this one.

Why?  Because I like it. That's why.

And because after a year of blogging, after a year of scrambling to fit in, it's hit me like a thunderbolt (a thing that does not exist, by the way.  It is lightning that arrives in bolts.  Also fabric.) that I don't have to fit in.  I don't have to be part of a genre, to squeeze Yet Another Period Drama Blog into a box and market it to the General Public.  I'm blogging about what makes me happy, and if it makes you happy too--well, how swellissimus!  Let's get to know each other!

Now, never fear, I have not become a representative of the International Discover Your Inner Cuckoo Clock Foundation.  I'm not going all "be real! be YOU! don't conform!", don't worry.  I'm just saying that I'm looking forward to this next blogging year with incredible excitement.  Will there be movie reviews?  You betcha.  Will there be tons of period-drama-related stuff?  Of course.  Will there be other things totally unrelated to all that?  Indeed there will.  Is that okay?  Indubitably.

So... here's to another grand and glorious year.  Here's to you, and here's to me. At the shrine of friendship never say die--

--all right, all right, I tried.  I really did try to make it through this post without sticking song lyrics in anywhere.  But I didn't make it.  And you know what?  Bursting into song randomly is what I do.  In my head, and on my blog.  So be it.  Join me, won't you?

 (And though that would be a delightfully fitting way to end this post, I simply can't do so without making record of some of this year's stats.  Because I always consider that sort of thing great fun.)

Summer Header:

Autumn Header: (yes, it doesn't look autumn-ish, but it's Emmer-ish, and that was the theme I chose--and I've been trying to change the background image to match, but it doesn't seem to be working.  I appreciate your patience with the odd color scheme at present!)

Posts: 207 (including this one)
Pageviews: 74,943
Followers: 198
Most Popular Post: Defending Mr. Darcy
Most Popular Traffic Source: Google Images
Most Popular Search Keyword: "jane eyre"
Most Ridiculous Search Keyword: "philip quast caterpillar eyes" (Not kidding on this one.  Now I'm just waiting for someone to arrive here from "colm wilkinson grasshopper nose.")
Movies Reviewed: 18 (see list here)
Books Reviewed: 4 (see classics club list here)
Events: Jane Austen's Birthday, Anne of Green Gables Week, Les Miserables Week (co-hosted with Payton)
Contests: Birthday Cards for Jane Austen, Captioned Pictures, Keep Calm With Jane Austen 
Friendships Formed: too many to count or try to do justice to here!

And as I read over this post once more before publishing it, I'm realizing that it has a sad lack of jokes.  Hmmm.  Pity, that.

--Ooh! I know a joke.  A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, "I forgot to store nuts for winter and now I am dead."  HA! It is funny because the squirrel gets dead.

*sits back and twiddles thumbs while waiting for the animal rights activists to foam at the mouth with rage hard to surpass*