Blogiversary Guest Posts! The Complete List

For the last twenty weeks, I've had guest posts on my blog leading up to my big anniversary celebration. I feel so much gratitude for each of these people who took the time and made the effort to write these posts. I love that my readers got to hear all these different voices on my blog and hopefully all of my readers have found at least one new blog to follow (and love!).  Huge thanks to all these wonderful contributors! The amount of time each of these posts took to put together cannot be understated and I truly appreciate how much time everyone spent from emailing me back and forth to actually writing the thing to collating photos for it. 

I have learned so much from doing this project. When I originally sent out emails in April, I was so surprised when not a single person said no to my request. I mean, it was a big ask! Twenty is a lot of things and these posts were a lot of work. I was shocked by the responsiveness and how excited everyone seemed to be about doing it. Doing this has really reiterated to me that my blog space is  quite important to me and this blogging community is a vital part of everything. 

Anyway, here are the final twenty guest posts and what I learned/will remember from each of them!

#20: 20 Questions by Dr. BB - Here I learned that my husband was first attracted to my tshirt and jeans look. Huh. I sort of wonder what he thinks these days when I think denim is a bad word!

#19: 20 Favourite Horror Books by Allison - I have a serious dearth in my horror knowledge. So many books here for my TBR!

#18: 20 Random Things About Feelings by TJC - My IRL friends are so supportive of this weird blogging thing I do even though they are all better writers than I am. TJC's hilarious and unhinged post* is a reminder that I am so lucky and honored to be surrounded by such talented people. (*quote from Allison)

#17: 20 Things about Being a Doctor's Wife by Suzanne - Suzanne sometimes forgets she's amazing and super important to everyone!!

#16: 20 Things I'm Grateful For by Kaelyn - Kae's grateful for her challenging volunteer role. I should probably learn something from that instead of being so bitter about mine. :) 

#15: 20 Things about Me and What I Blog About by Birchwood Pie Project - Birchie is a wizard in the kitchen, but we knew that already!

#14: 20 Favorite Mantras/Motivational Quotes by San - San says athletes don't exercise and diet, but they train and fuel. Well, I'm clearly NOT an athlete because I 100% exercise.

#13: 20 Places I Have Been (and Loved) in France by J - You can still get bad food in France. J assures us of this fact. 

#12: 20 Operas That I Love by Diane - There's an opera set in an animal shelter. And some opera requires a live horse on the stage. Diane's life is so different from mine. 

#11: Knit-Read-Cats-Hockey by CCR - CCR claims you can knit a sock inside another sock. Simultaneous sock-making! Witchcraft!

#10: Top Twenty (er - Twenty Four) Favourite Things to See/Do in Nova Scotia by Elisabeth - Elisabeth wrote about the Bay of Fundy and my supervisor then went on a vacation and talked about how cool it was and I was able to contribute to the conversation!

#9: Wayback Machine to 2004 by Anne - Anne used to run, eat meat, and she didn't even live remotely near me!

#8: Insights on Being Single in Your 30s by Stephany - Stephany is worried that a partner might steal her snacks. This has never once been a problem in my world. I literally think about this fact at least once a week and it never fails to make me giggle to myself when I'm reaching for my favorite snack in the cupboard. 

#7: 20 Ways Blogging Has Made My Life Better by Lisa - Lisa knits!! Her blog name refers to knitting, not telling of tales. My mind is blown.

#6: 20 Madison Things She Can't Live Without by Sarah - Dream parks in Madison suburbs! I had no idea they were there and now I know exactly where to take my small human friends when they come to visit. Thanks to Sarah for that find.

#5: 20 Running Favorites by Jenny - Jenny regularly sees wildlife on her runs, but doesn't always tell us about it!

#4: Poetry 101 by Maya - I now follow the Instagram account Poetry is Not a Luxury on Maya's recommendation and I stop to reflect on a poem whenever I see one now. A tiny bit of puzzlement/beauty/reflection on a regular basis. 

#3: Best Reread Books by Nicole - Nicole rereads a lot more than I do, but A Little Princess will always bring us together. 

#2: 20 Interesting Places to Visit by Kyria - We all want to go to Slovenia because Kyria sold it so well.

#1: The Top 20 Ideas for a Top 20 Post that I Considered Making about NGS by Bestest Friend - Bestest Friend still holds a grudge about that blinking red light thing.

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Some facts about this blog:

• My first post was published on September 8, 2004. In it I complained about allergies. I do not recommend reading my really old archives.
• I have recorded so many milestones on this blog from starting dating my husband to getting engaged to getting married, jobs and more jobs, moving, adopting first Zelda and then Hannah, buying our house, and every thing in between. Most especially the mundane things like how many scarves I own, what's in our linen closet, and how much I spend on beauty products. 
• I have published on the blog at least once a month since that first post. 
• I have published over 3300 posts and have had roughly 22,000 comments published, which is shocking since hardly anyone ever commented at all for many, many years.
• Over a quarter of the posts I've published have been about books, which is by far the largest label on the blog.
• I've participated in several blogging challenges over the years, including writing descriptions of people in my life in 45 words for a year, writing every day for a year (June 2014 - June 2015 and November 2022 - November 2023), and NaBloPoMo 2020-2024. 
• I have run three editions of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, My Brilliant Friend, and I Capture the Castle. I'll try to run another one in February or March. 
• In the last couple of years I have met up with several bloggers IRL: Anne, Kaelyn, Kyria, Birchie, and Maya. If you're ever in southwestern Wisconsin, let me know. I'm always up for an adventure.
• For the reviewing of popular culture I do on this blog, only two times have content creators chimed in. I had reviewed a podcast about a missing girl and suggested that I was uncomfortable with the podcast naming the suspect who had never been charged and the sister of the missing girl wrote a comment saying she was unhappy with my review. I stand by my review. Also, everyone knows that Sara O'Leary commented on my review of The Ghost in the House and thank goodness that was a positive review because otherwise I would have felt horrible. I hope Stephen King never reads my blog. 
• I have made a slight modification that you might be interested in. I have added a Blog Roll to my header (up top) because there have been so many issues with Feedly recently. I will be using that Blog Roll to check blogs from here on out like an old person because I feel like I can't trust the RSS feeds. If you have a blog and I haven't added you to the list, LET ME KNOW. I am, as you all know, sometimes not as detail-oriented as I should be. Also, if you are on the list and the link is wrong, let me know. I promise I'll fix it all ASAP. You can email me directly with the widget on the right sidebar. 

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And that is a wrap on this anniversary project.

Sincerest thanks to all of you who wrote a guest post, all of you who read all the silly lists I've written in the last week, and to all of you who make this community happen. I'll be back to publishing about books, Hannah's inconsistent training, and what new adventures in software have come my way.