Please, I can't stop recapping. You can read my personal thoughts on 2012 here, or see a year in pictures.
Three years ago today I started this blog. I had been blogging quietly, privately, before that, but the idea for HH swirled around and around in my mind for months before I finally just did it.
In the past three years, I have learned so much while creating this space. Most importantly, I have learned that a writing life is a long-end game.
The thing about blogging in particular is that there is no end in site. You don't finish a project, like a book or a movie. You just keep pluggin' on and the medium changes you and changes with you.
Today I'm unveiling a new site design, the third in three years. I do the designs myself, tinkering way out of my skill set until the wee hours of the morning. I hate stuff, I love stuff, I wish I was better with coding and Photoshop, but mainly I just wish I could make the space something that reflects and inspires so I can get on with it.
As you can see, I'm craving simple these days. It goes along with my new year mantra to set the tone. Not that anyone ever craves clutter, but I've been stripping down everything around me to brass tacks. I cook better and more when my kitchen is clean. I'm hoping to write better and more with a simple layout.
Welcome to my clean kitchen.
But first, a look back on HH in 2012:
Over 150,000 unique visitors from over 175 different countries
Over 680,000 page views
Top referrers in order:
Kotirouva Lontoosa (where did you go, Blog by Miss M? I love looking at your pretty pictures.)
Most popular posts in order:
Don't tell me how to use facebook
Most Important:
My Sri Lanka trip with World Vision, particularly A Picture
My personal favorites:
Raunchy Sex Scenes Do Not Make Women More Authentic
In the Parenting department, I wrote about:
Discipline (and got, um, quite the response)
My body at 33 in Ungracefully
Personally, I wrote about
In 2012, I started writing for other sites. My weekly column at allParenting and becoming a contributer for Simple Design were particular highlights. My best posts elsewhere:
Make Inexpensive Clothes Look Pricier
Home Trends I'm (still) Not Over
The HH facebook page grew by leaps and bounds, and it's become one of my favorite places to interact with readers.
As I do love a fresh start, I'm really excited for the new year and all that it holds. I like to shake things up a bit, though this design is hardly what I'd call finished. But nothing's every really finished, is it?
I'll stop there.
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