Best of 09: Stationery

December 28th: Stationery. When you touch the paper, your heart melts. The ink flows from the pen. What was your stationery find of the year?

I don't collect "stationery", like for writing thank you notes on or anything, but I am a total whore for school supplies and journals.

I LOVE the look and feel and excitement of a new, blank notebook.

(It's the little things, people.)

(I think that I should go back to school so that I can get new supplies.)

(That may not be the *best* reason... but it's still appealing.)

(Does anybody else really want to make a trip to an office supply store? Just me?)

I found this journal the day after my grandma died, a time when I felt particularly c-r-a-z-y.

The cover says:

"My Dysfunctions:
A journal for chronicling my immeasurably fascinating dysfunctions, neuroses, emotions, inner children, moments of shame and doubt, projection, self-loathing, misanthropy, and completely normal insanity, because the only difference between me and the rest of the population is that I acknowledge how crazy I am and they're all in mind-numbing denial."

It's filled with quotes from some of the most awesomely dysfunctional people in history and each page starts with "Why I Am Dysfunctional Today".

Needless to say, this journal really spoke to me.

(Not literally...)

(Really...)

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you."
- Rita Mae Brown

Best of 09: Social Web Moment

December 27th: Social web moment. Did you meet someone you used to know only from her blog? Did you discover Twitter?

2009 has been all about social web moments. I met my blogging hero, I became an active member of the social web community, and I even got a job in the social web.

Specifically, being featured on the Men's Health Blog, Working out the Details, was a great opportunity and a cool thing to be involved with.

Best of 09: Aha! Moment

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Mine was filled with laughs, family, food, and a Snuggie!

AND I was quoted in The Colorado Daily!

(My quote is the last line in the article... I actually said it's "too damn crowded", not "... crowded".)

(You know, because I'm classy.)

December 26th: Insight or aha! moment. What was your epiphany of the year?

That blogging is fun and that I could make friends doing it!

And that I should be a professional advent calendar maker.

That was a big turning point for me.

Best of 09: Christmas-y Edition

December 24th: Learning Experience. What was a lesson that you learned this year that changed you?

That I can do things that I didn't think I could do.

And? How to make BBQ Pulled Pork. It's changed my life.

December 25th: Gift. What's a gift you gave yourself this year that has kept on giving?

I continued buying books. Even though I stopped buying many "luxury items" (like haircuts and eyebrow waxing... 2009 was not my *hottest* year), I kept getting myself books, because they make me so very happy.

Merry Christmas!

Best of 09: Web Tool

December 23rd: Web tool. It came into your work flow this year and now you couldn't live without it. It has simplified or improved your online experience.

I've already told you about my love for Lijit here.

Another great online tool is Hootsuite. It allows you to schedule tweets, which is really helpful when you manage a corporate Twitter account, or have a post scheduled to go live over the holidays and want to send out a message when it's published... hypothetically...

Finally, I LOVE Picnik. This is the site that I use to take my pictures from "okay" and "normal" to OH EM GEE THAT IS AWESOME, like this one:

(Was the snow effect too much? Or just awesome enough?)
(I'm going with just the right amount of awesome...)

Plus, I got to hang out with some of the beautiful ladies that work there at BlogHer this year, and they were some of the greatest girls I've ever met (which always helps).

Best of 09: Startup

December 22nd. Startup. What's a business that you found this year that you love? Who thought it up? What makes it special?

I'm not just saying this because I've been doing some social media magic for them, but I've gotta give props to Zwaggle.

If you're a parent, you need to join this site. It's an online marketplace for parents to swap their gently used kids' gear, for free. It's a green, free, awesome way to get the stuff you need, and share the stuff you don't.

Another company that I found this year? Lijit is a local Boulder business that offers an awesome search engine for your blog. I met their social media mastermind, Tara, at Blissdom, and she has been an awesome mentor and friend to me ever since. I think that every blog should have a search engine, and with Lijit you get that along with awesome statistics about who's visiting your site on a weekly basis.

On top of that, they have amazing customer service. Recently, I was having trouble with my search results. I told Tara about it through the Lijit twitter account, and she sent it to their support department. Within a few hours I received a very nice email telling me exactly what was wrong and how it's being fixed.

(In fact, I just got another email confirming that my search results are working! Love it...)

Finally, I discovered Etsy this year. Etsy is a site that allows users to post their handmade goods to sell. It has an amazing amount of cool stuff, and by buying from there, your supporting actual people making their own products, rather than corporations.

Best of 09: Project

This is my 200th post! Throw streamers! Glitter! Presents all around!

(Except not.)

(But yay.)

December 21st: Project. What did you start this year that you're proud of?

Honestly? This. This crazy, month long Best of 2009 Blog Challenge.

This past year I've gone back and forth between writing several times a week and writing once or twice a month. This is the first time that I've not only committed to blogging everyday, but actually done it. The prompts from Gwen help immensely, but the fact that I've written something - anything - even when I really didn't feel like it or want to... that's pretty cool.

Instead of saying "maybe later" or just ignoring the many, many tweets about this project, I actually joined in. And that isn't something that I usually do.

The posts might not always be amazing or inspiring or hilarious, but at least they're here... and I'm proud of that.