Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Half-Way to One Thousand!!!


Hello everyone and welcome to Candid Karina’s 5ooth Post Celebration.

This is an event of monumental proportions, so we couldn’t let it go by without throwing a grand Gala in its honor. There will be something for everyone here tonight, so please, check your coats, grab a drink and take your seats, the evening’s festivities are about to begin.

I’d like to welcome you all, and take a moment to thank you for coming by. I didn’t want to forget anyone or anything, so I wrote a little something, and hope you’ll bear with me while I go through my thank you’s. I’ve got it here somewhere…ah, yes, here we go.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank God, because how blessed am I to be able to share a piece of me with all of you and have you come back for more? Trully amazing, I think. Next, I want to thank Wil Wheaton, because it was through his blog that I was introduced to the world of blogging. He most definitely does not even have a clue who I am, but it’s all his fault I do what I do here, so a big fat thank you to him.

Next, I want to thank my loyal readers. I’ll start with the ones who have been with me for quite a while now, who’s names I know as well as the ones of my IRL friends, and who have become true friends, regardless of whether we’ve ever met in person. To my “She Who Blogs” buddies, especially our amazing leader Frances, HOLLA! You girls ROCK and gave me my first sense of “community” within the blogging world. I’m so proud to be a part of the gang. I’d also like to give a very special shout out to all the lurkers, you know you’re out there. I know you’re out there because even though I don’t average very many comments per posts, my stats tell me you’re out there, reading. So, thanks, I’m glad you’re here. And finally, a warm welcome to my new readers. I do hope you’ll be back.

I’d like to kick off the festivities with a bit of a look back, a retrospective if you will. It might be fun for those of you who’ve been around to relive some of our best times, and for the newbies, maybe it’ll help you get to know me a bit better.

A quick note to the first timers, anything you ever wanted to know about me can be found in any of these posts (which are also on my sidebar under Candid Close-Up).

Let’s take a look at the highlight reel, shall we?

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? While I compose myself and wipe the tears from my eyes, let’s move on to the next part of the evening.

This is the part you’ve all been waiting for. It’s time for the games and prizes. I hope you will all play, it’s so much more fun when everyone participates. For you lurkers, this is your chance to come out of the woodwork, even if just for one night. And anyway, there will be prizes. Two of them to be exact. Here are the rules of the game:

For the first prize, a trio of Body Shop Lip Butters, in Mango, Grapeseed and Coconut, you simply have to leave a comment, letting me know you were here celebrating my 500th with me and answer me this question: How long have you been blogging? That’s it. I will pick a commenter using a randomizer, and they will be the prize winner.

The second prize, a nice gift set from Yankee Candle (with a Gingerbrad and a Christmas Cookie candle...yes, it's a Christmas set, you can start your shopping early), will be yours with a little more work on your part. Now, don’t get nervous, it’s easy enough. Leave a comment, letting me know you were here, celebrating with me, and then let me know what it is you like about my blog. This is important, because I’m fine tuning the way things work around here, so your input will help me tremendously. So, in your comment, I need some positive feedback about your favorite types of posts I do, or even a particularly favorite post, or I will take constructive criticism about posts I may do that just don’t strike your fancy. Tell me what you would like me to write more about, something you would like to know about me, or what makes you come back, or would make you come back more often. Give me ideas, suggestions, and friendly criticism, it’ll all be taken into account. For each “individual” piece of feedback you give me you get ONE entry into the drawing(meaning that if in your comment you give me three suggestions, etc. then you would get three entries. Get it?).

So there you have it…fun and games.

What a fun time we’re having tonight, I sure hope you’re enjoying yourself as much as I am.

Unfortunately, the evening is getting late, and soon it’ll be time to say good night and go our separate ways. But before we do that, it’s time to look to the future. I mean, 500 posts is incredible, no doubt, and throw in two other blogs, with Creative Karina, and Café Karina, and guests appearances at SheWhoBlogs here and there, and wow, I really do have a reason to celebrate. My career as a blogger has been blossoming rather well. I’m very happy with my limited success thus far, and just glad I’ve been able to share myself with you.

BUT, things are getting bigger by the moment. There are grand things on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share them all with you. So, I thought tonight’s celebration was the perfect moment to do so.

First up, a new meme is launching at Creative Karina next week. I’ve been neglecting that blog, so I thought I needed a little something to get the creative juices flowing. More info. will follow, but I hope you’ll join me, because I think it could be a whole lot of fun. It will be a photo and poetry meme all rolled into one. Click here for all the details.

Next, because Café Karina is also being neglected lately, starting next week I will be featuring more book reviews, movie reviews and now that the new television season has kicked off, you can bet there will be some tv show reviews as well for your reading pleasure.

And finally, the most exciting of all new ventures, is my involvement with Inspired Bliss. You can read all about that in this post, and click on the pretty little "Inspired Bliss" button on my sidebar to be taken to that site. My first post wil be up on Friday!

Sadly, we’ve come to the end of our program. The hour is late, and it is time to shut the lights. I do hope you’ve enjoyed yourself, and please, don’t be a stranger, the door is always open, and we are always happy to see you here. No invitation required. Bt wait, before you got...we have fireworks...

Okay, have a good night, drive safely...Until the next 500th, stay Candid!

27 comments:

Teena in Toronto said...

Congrats on 500! yay!

Florinda said...

I usually just lurk here, but I wanted to congratulate you on post #500! (For the contest - I've been blogging for a year and a half, and will publish post #671 tomorrow morning.)

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

Woohoo! Congrats on your 500th! It's been such a pleasure getting to know you better...hooray for the blogosphere :)

Karin said...

Congrats on post 500! That's a lot.

One quirky little item I like to know about people is: how their parents met.

(Useless info--but somewhat interesting) lol
Tom Brady's great-great grandmother's name was Karina.

Anonymous said...

happy 500th! and on your many blogger ventures!

Anonymous said...

Wahoo!!! Congratulations on your milestone post!!

Now...what you asked for:

[1] I just celebrated my 3-year bloggiversary a few weeks ago (though I was totally anonymous for the first six months.

[2] Constructive suggestions: a larger font for your post texts :). I like how uncluttered your side bar is, even though you have a good bit of information there. Your design is very clean. Another suggestion is to add a "subscribe" feature. Unless I just missed it, you're missing out on an easy way for your readers to add you to their readers.

[3] Congratulations on joining Inspired Bliss! You'll definitely have a voice that represents a group not otherwise written for in our channel, so I'm glad you wanted to be a part.

With that in mind, I have IB posts to review, so I'd better run!!!

(BTW, I'll retweet your post for ya.) (Heck...I'll Stumble it, too!)

:)

PastormacsAnn said...

Congrats on 500! Wow!

Started blogging two years ago last June.

Musings of a Housewife said...

congrats on your 500th post! (here from Pensieve's tweet.) :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm here by way of Robin@Pensieve - congrats on your 500th post!

Jeni said...

Happy 500th post!! Yay!
1. I've been blogging for a little over a year. I somehow missed my own 1st Bloggaversary.

2. I'm a fairly new reader, but I like you so far - you have an interesting point of view. One suggestion I would make is to make your posts a bit shorter, or at least make the individual paragraphs shorter. Long posts can cause your audience to lose interest, even if what you're saying is truly interesting!

Again, happy 500th post! I look forward to working with you on IB!

Beckie said...

Congrats on 500!!

Donna J. Shepherd said...

Congrats on 500! I always appreciate a candid person. Nice blog.

CPA Mom said...

Here from Pensieve....congrats on your milestone!!!

Joyce Anthony said...

Wow 500 posts--great job, Sweetie!!!!

Lisa said...

Congrats on 500 -- that's fantastic!

I'm about to hit both one year and 150 posts on my blog. That's cuz I'm a big ol' bloggy slacker.

I love the colors and subtle patters on your blog -- distinctive and "you." Also, the picture of the spike-heeled boots. You just don't see that kind of thing. I'd have to echo Robin's wish for a slightly bigger font though. My eyes are not getting any younger!

Can't wait to see your first IB post, although I'll have to twitter you a comment unless something changes. My computer is balking at commenting there for some reason (says Javascript is disabled, but it's not).

Anonymous said...

Congrats!!!!!

BK said...

CONGRATULATIONS on # 500 !
I wish you many more to come. :)

Dianne - Bunny Trails said...

Congratulations! I can't even fathom 500 posts - that's awesome. While I haven't been here before, Robin (you know, the Pensieve one, twittered me on over. It's been fun checking out your blog and learning more about you.

As for your question - I will celebrate my 2nd blogiversary on Saturday. I have somewhere around 300+ posts during that time, I believe. Maybe almost 400.

Great to meet you and again, congratulations! :D

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Hey Karina - congratulations on half-way-to-1000! That's crazy! I've enjoyed your celebration, especially the links to your earlier posts and your other blogs. I've posted my 393rd post as this week's Thursday Thirteen, and I've been blogging for a year-and-a-half.

I really enjoy your photo posts, and add my voice to the 'fabulous layout' chorus.

A Spot of T said...

HOLLA right back at you!! Congrats on the big 5-0-0!! I lurk most of the time but I'm always reading. It's been great getting to know you through your blog Karina :o)

The Ex said...

Congrats!!!

Lora Lynn @ Vitafamiliae said...

Congrats to you! I've been blogging for over 3 years now. Wow.

Jana said...

Hooray for 500 posts! I just hit 1000 recently. I've been blogging about 3 1/2 years now. Where does the time go?

Anonymous said...

Congrats Karina!

I love the gifts (I'm a sucker for candles) but unfortunately this is my first visit here. :\ Can I comment on design? Fab boots at the top - they add personality and attitude the second you land on the page. :)

Me - I've been blogging publicly since November 06 - but there was more before that, where only friends and family could see. I can't remember how long I did that. :) I just looked at MY post count and noticed I'm five away from 500 myself! I didn't even know! :)

Anonymous said...

Congrats on 500 posts!

I just celebrated my 1 year blogging anniversary in August.

Kathleen said...

Congratulations!

I've been blogging for 5 years and have come a long way!

As for your blog, I come back because it feels like I'm sitting in your bedroom and you're my teen friend and we are just having a chat. Does that make any sense? I like that you talk about all kinds of things, observations, reviews, work, love, anything. My only suggestion would be that some of your posts are just too long for me. I prefer shorter posts and will stop reading if it's too long.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Isn't it wonderful when you get to that point! The time flies so fast! I've been blogging for three years (I've got two blogs!)