Happy birthday, blog!

The Barn Chic Antiques blog just turned 1! The first post, cleverly titled "My First Post! ",was published on September 5, 2011. It is actually hard to believe that this is just the first birthday; I can't really remember what I did on Sunday evenings before the blog. Blogging has added so much joy to my little hobby/business endeavor, and I truly enjoy writing about my adventures as a novice junker.

Here are my favorite things about having this blog:

1) my 'original' readers were lots of childhood friends, people from my hometown, and my family. I was able to reconnect with several folks with whom I don't often get to see or catch up, and even though a lot of our dialogue is about junk, hey, it makes me feel closer to my roots.

2) I have met amazingly sweet and talented blogging/junking friends through this online tool. I don't make a dime from blogging, but I sure have made great connections and friendships along the way. There are several bloggers whose blogs I read, who in turn read my blog, and I feel as if I know them personally...though I may never actually meet them. But wait - I just might meet them at Theresa's blog party on October 2nd at Marburger Farms! Who's gonna be there?! I can't wait. A chance to make new connections, put faces with blogs, and shop at one of the best antique shows in the country?! Sign me up!

Anyway, there is definitely a sense of community in this industry and I feel blessed to be a part of it. It makes shopping a heck of a lot more fun when you get to visit with newfound friends who share the same passion for junk. And when I meet a blogger who I have been following for awhile, I feel as though I just met a celebrity. I apologize in advance for all the geeking out I will do at Marburger!

3) Readers! You! Your reading of my blog makes me so happy. It is wonderful knowing friends and family are reading, but it is equally exciting knowing that complete strangers across the country (and computer zombies from places like Maldives, Malaysia, Latvia, and the Ukraine) visit Barn Chic Antiques. BTW, if you are a real human in any of those countries and you are actually reading this blog, I would love to hear from you so I can dismiss my thoughts that you don't really exist. But for those of you who do exist and visit often to read my wordy rants about shopping for junk, thank you!!!

You are nearly half way through this post, so you deserve to take a break from reading and see the new cabinet that I put in the booth this weekend:

4) Blogger provides all sorts of useless stats for me that I find ridiculously interesting. Here are some facts about my readers' devices and locations:

-41% of you read my posts on Internet Explorer, 22% on Safari, 14% on Firefox, and 11% on my browser of choice, Chrome.

-as for operating systems, 62% of you are using Windows, 13% Macintosh, 7% iPad, and a tie of 6% for both the Android and iPhone.

-while it isn't a surprise that the country from where I have the most pageviews is the United States, the country that comes in second is Russia. So a special shout out 'привет' to all my Russian readers (or computer zombies). [The link even gives the pronunciation in case you want to learn a Russian word -it sounds like privet.] I would also like to acknowledge the more-likely-to-be-real people in Canada who are reading; Canada comes in 3rd on my list. And not that you are wondering but I will tell you anyway, the remaining top ten countries are Germany, the UK, Ukraine, Australia, Indonesia, France and Latvia. A big thanks to all you international readers (or your IP spamming computers).

5) Comments! I absolutely love to hear feedback on a post and whenever I get that email that someone has left a comment, I get all happy and can't wait to see what they wrote. Just the simplest of words can put me on cloud 9 knowing people are a) reading and b) moved to respond. Ok, maybe moved is a bit dramatic and not the right word...but I am moved by reading the comments, so thank you!

6) I get giddy as a school girl when I discover any one of the following occurred:

-a fellow blogger lists my blog on their 'side bar'

-my blog or post gets a shout out on another blog

I have to give major thanks to the woman whose blog led me to start reading blogs, and whose encouragement led me to start my own - Theresa of Garden Antqs Vintage. Back before Barn Chic Antiques was born, I spent many hours online to get ideas about how I could get started, where I should shop, and what was in style. This was before Pinterest blew up, so blogs were (and will remain) a great source of inspiration. I stubbled upon Theresa's blog, and then started reading most all the blogs she has on her side bar.

When I first met Theresa, she encouraged me to start my own blog and told me that she would add me to her side bar. She indeed did, and over 1200 of my pageviews have come to me from her blog. Thank you to Theresa for supporting me, and thank you to her readers who stop by.

The other blogger who has really contributed to my growing readership is Jeanine from Chippy! Shabby!. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a comment on my Country Living and Junk Salvation post from Jeanine. Not only did she read and comment, but she then put my blog on her side bar! She has over 1,000 followers and has accumulated nearly 500,000 page views!!!! Since then, the readership on my blog has grown tremendously. Jeanine lives in WI and I am from IL, so one day I know I will get to her roadside sales at her home! The Midwest is a mecca for great junk and great bloggers.

7) I have discovered that writing outside of assignments, on your own terms, and about something that you love is actually fun! I look forward to my writing my posts and am always thinking of what I can write about next. And then I always love to see how many of y'all read it. Blogging has become an outlet and somewhat of an ego boost. And sometimes I crack myself up at the nerdy things I say. Perhaps my favorite post to write was the one about the Cool Bus. What does it say about me when my blog is my entertainment?!  

Alright, so over the course of the last year I haven't improved on brevity (guess my wit has no soul). But I will take one last minute to say thank you for reading. Though most of the pictures on this blog are of 'stuff,' the reason I love blogging has nothing to do with material goods - rather it is connections with readers and the shared experiences that make it meaningful.

I'm definitely still a baby in the world of blogs, but this milestone was worth sharing so I can say thank you for reading.

Have a chic week,

~Sarah