Happy New Year, and happy anniversary to ME

Times Square New Years Eve Ball, by LeSimonPix ★ on Flickr.

I launched this blog a year ago today, New Year's Eve 2010. My what a trip it's been.

I had no idea whether I would keep it up, or abandon it like so many other half-finished (half-baked?) projects I take up and lose interest in with alarming regularity. My goal was to publish at least once a week. Well, I didn't quite make that--this is post No. 45--but I came pretty close. This past month I've averaged two entries a week, trying to compensate for the long spells in the summer and fall when I posted only once or twice a month.

I've loved becoming a part of a blogging community, and communing with fellow artists in cyberspace.  Even though I've only met one or two of you in person, I feel like I know so many of you through your craft and your writing. When you had cause to celebrate, I felt buoyant. When some of you suffered misfortunes, my heart panged.

Thanks to this blog, I've participated in bead swaps and been challenged to step out of my comfort zone. I've begun to learn photo editing. I've learned how to embed widgets and create a favicon. (Thank heavens Blogger makes the writing part of blogging pretty painless.) I've been driven to complete some projects just so I would have something to blog about! And blogging has led me to become more comfortable on Facebook and Twitter, both of which have opened me to new communities and reconnecting with long-lost friends and distant relatives.

I hope you weren't expecting me to segue into my resolutions for 2012. I don't do resolutions. I just want to say thank you, and that I am richer for having this experience.