When I Was One...

*Picture heavy post*

It's Miscriant's 1 year birthday today. 

Of course the above statement is purely dependent on the acceptance that a webpage is allowed to have a birthday, and you know what, it's my website so I say it can.  Mainly as that means I get cake.

That is a full year of me lugging a camera around, trying my friends' patience and serving dinners a little bit later than they should have been on the table because I needed to photograph the finished product (or worse, saving leftovers just to photograph them the next day).

A year of Sunday afternoons spent writing blog posts and editing pictures and cursing at the internet for taking an hour to upload 10 pictures.

A year of getting utterly confused by social media and being defeated by trying to link my damn instagram account to the facebook account so that the photo's appear in the facebook pages photo stream.

A year of foodie experimentation with new recipes.

A year of pinterest.  One particular pin appears to have gone almost viral.

A year of blog post planning and dragging friends to places and events we haven't been before as I 'would really like to write about them'.

A year of self-doubt.  Why am I doing this? How much does it annoy Steve? Am I a good writer? Is anyone even reading this? How much do my friends hate the fact that I do this? What is the point? Are people sick of my camera? Why do I spend so much time worrying about this blog? What is blog etiquette?

A year of self-belief.  I am doing this for me, for future children, as an online diary, to learn new skills, to connect with new people, to experiment, to express myself, to be creative, to write on a regular basis, to find my voice, because I want to and as long as my friends and family don't mind, who cares what the rest of the world thinks about my writing.

 A year of numbers.

166 blog posts

8000 pictures.

25,000 page views

Countless hours of dedication.

When I first set up this blog I wanted somewhere I could document our lives, remember all the fun we have had year on year, remember the good times and the bad times and, in the future, look back and remember where we are coming from.

I think that I am achieving that with the blog.  I look back through old posts and each and every one brings back happy memories.

 I like to think that my photography eye is getting better and that I am becoming more skilled at framing and editing my shots (especially compared to some of the early photo's!) 

I do notice that the blog voice keeps changing and I think that is ok.  The blog changes because it is a reflection of me and I am constantly changing.  

I write for me but I suspect that I do have some regular readers out there.  Trouble is, I have no idea who you are!

So, as a birthday present for Miscriant I am asking a favour from you all.  I'm about to do something I never do and ask you to make yourselves known to me.

Could you please say hello at the bottom of the page and tell me what your favourite memory of your year was? 

Miscriant does have a facebook page as well if you fancy dropping a cheeky little like over there?

You could even follow on Twitter if you are feeling particularly brave (although you are likely to meet banter between Miscriant and The Demon Gin.  It's all in good taste though. Mostly).

I'm also on Bloglovin'  and Instagram and of course you can follow the blog using the Google Friend Connect link in the sidebar.  I have to admit there are days when all this online activity leaves you feeling a bit like a rash. 

Thank you all so much!

So in true end of season finale style, here is a recap of the last year on Miscriant with a *small* selection of my favourite pictures (I did once warn you I was useless at making decisions).

You may want to grab a cuppa before diving back down memory lane and helping me celebrate Miscriant's one year birthday.  Every picture links back to the original blog post if you spot one you may have missed or just want to re-read nostalgically!

What is your best memory of your year?

It has been quite a year.