Blow out the candle: The Learner Observer is 1!

{Image source for the candle plus a hilarious list of 10 Ways to Celebrate Your Birthday}

Oh.  My.  Gee.  Can you believe it?  It's been a whole year!  It's crazy that I have been "The Learner Observer" for an entire year now because time flew by, but also crazy how it feels like it's been so much longer sometimes.  I guess that's just how it is with all of the good things in life - you lose track of the time!So what has happened in a year?  Let's take a stroll, shall we?  Yes, folks, we're going to Memory Lane! {All images are linked to the posts if you'd like to read them.  Pardon the terrible pictures and lack of any sort of flow.}

{Note: This post is L.O.N.G., but if you read to the end you get to enter my very first giveaway EVER!!!!!}

[gallery ids="6,30,57"]The first month looked like this: one post on August 17th, and the next to follow on September 26th!  Now, before you start to think I got off on the wrong foot, keep in mind I got married in mid-September, so I was a little distracted.  The Twitter Rant is still one of my favourite posts.  It's incredibly true to who I am - an opinionated loud mouth!  I managed to get one more post out on September 30th, and it was in reference to the crazy overwhelming gratitude I was feeling after just getting hitched..[gallery ids="161,379,761"]I started the 31 Day Challenge on my third month of blogging.  It was nuts, and I only made it through 24 days.  Its ok... this will be my year, and I WILL get all 31 posts done!  I'm already planning some... Oy!  These are 3 of my favourite posts from that month.  I love those tulips and they have help up so well over the last year.  The Big Green Monster remains untouched and unpainted - miraculously! And the terrarium is basically dead.  One tiny plant has survived... It's sad, but I used soil that was just too rich for these sandy-soil-loving little plants!  Dusting it off and willing to try again!  I also loved October because I made my first ever bloggy friend - Gillian from Growing up Gillian!  She is a sweet and SUPER TALENTED writer who will have you roped in with her wit as soon as you start reading.  She is awesome and we bonded over our love of thrifting right away!.[gallery ids="907,987,1142"]In November I started to get Christmas-y and my favourite project was the succulent in a mug.  It's so cute.  Oh, but that plant died too... darn that good soil!  December is when I painted my thrifted cigar box, which I love, love, love!  It is still one of those projects I'd love to repeat some time.  I went self-hosted in January and boy, am I ever glad I made that decision!  Wordpress.com was good, but the possibilities were now pretty close to endless with .org.  Don't know what I'm talking about?  Just know this: I made the right decision for my blog.  This is also when I started reading Two Purple Couches and knew I liked Emily right away because she's totally down to earth and cool!  Seriously, go check out her blog because she always has great things to share and she's just a totally lovable gal!  Coincidentally, I also reached out to Lauren at The Thinking Closet around this time because she was undergoing some blog changes as part of her goals for 2013, and being that I was perpetually confused, but now had a little experience with Wordpress, I emailed her.  I swear it was like instant BFFs were made via Gmail!  Truthfully - Lauren taught teaches me WAY more about blogging than I ever could have taught her, and she continues to be a daily inspiration to me as a person and blogger because she's just that girl who knows how to love people in a way that makes them feel good and special and important.  Wow.  That needed to be said!.[gallery ids="1462,1374,1472"]February was a month that sort of got me kick-started on some bigger projects.  After a 6-week hiatus trying to sort out all of the self-hosted, new blog design drama, I finally did it!  The Learner Observer got a new look and I got started on working on something other than learning what the heck HTML is and what plugins to use (still learning...).  I made the now infamous sharpie bowl and updated my "About" page thanks to Lauren's influence.  She's a smartie, that one!.[gallery ids="1679,1731,1757,1784,1807,1860"]March: I got my first Liebster Award (if you want to know a little more about me, read this).  I turned an old window into a chalkboard (part 1 and part 2) and it's one of our favourite items in the house now.  I also DIY'ed some cameos and spray painted the mats which has started a dangerous trend in my house (thrift stores beware: I'm coming for all of your frames!).  The Weekend Winners was born, I wrote about my move over to Bloglovin and have not yet regtretted a moment of it, and I started a series which I am in LOVE with: The High/Low Decor series.  You KNOW how I love a bargain, so getting expensive looks for less is something I want to share with the world! Phew!  March was busy!.[gallery ids="1931,2009,2064,2096,2168,2191"]April was sloooooow.  I wrapped my iPhone's charging cable.  Yawn.  June had a bit more action with the Rub 'n Buff-ed thrift shop finds, I dyed a pillowcase and got blue on EH-VUH-REE-THING!!!  There was also the completion of my gallery wall, a chalkboard wall, and I even tried to "bake" - ok so there was literally no baking involved, but I made something sweet, which is rare and unusual for me..[gallery ids="2294,2398,2386,2473,2501,2518"]July inspired me to get all summery and make some flavoured water, it marks the birth of The Friday Five with none other than Lauren, and I had a little heart-to-heart with you all. August is only halfway over, but I managed to finish (and post about) our scary basement washroom makeover, got featured by Amy on Love on Sunday and started to tell you all about my kitchen revamp (one year later)!And that's my year!!!  Looking at it all clumped together like this makes it so real and amazing, and reminds me that although I often wish I had more time for blogging and that I was better at it, I'm doing alright.  I'm doing alright. Ok now let's get to what you're really here for.  In the spirit of turning one I decided that since I already have the best gift of all, readers who actually care about my ramblings, I should give back to you.  I wanted and needed to say thank you for actually reading, commenting, sharing, and making me feel oh so darn great all of the time!  I never knew blogging could be so wonderful and rewarding and I am incredibly thankful so I wanted to show it with a small token of appreciation.  Believe me, I WANT to have that Oprah moment when I shout out "You get a car, and you get a car, and YOU get a car.  Everybody gets a CaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAArrr!!!"  Maybe someday... So let's get to what you can actually win this week...You have seen links to Stephanie's work at least once or twice in past posts, like this one which appeared in the last High/Low:I recently ordered one of her prints as a birthday gift to a friend and I knew you'd love her work as much as I do.  Stephanie Sterjovski is totally talented and totally Canadian and those are the two reasons I picked her work to share with you!  Now, I'm about to show you the HUGE selection of prints you can choose from (get ready to scroll), and I strongly encourage you to click here and check them all out up close.You will notice there is a greater selection on her site.  Since this is not a sponsored post and (as I outlined above) I am not Oprah but would really like to have her car-giving-away abilities, I decided that rather than giving away one of the $35-$40 prints I would give away two $15 prints, FRAME THEM FOR YOU and include a few other goodies.  Sound good?  So there will be TWO lucky winners!  YAY!  Winners will be announced in one week and you have until Friday night to enter!  Here are the print choices: Here's what you need to do:  enter below by leaving a comment telling me what keeps you coming back to this little blog, what you'd like to see more or less of,  and (of course) which print you would choose if you were the lucky one.  Optional entries are also included for more chances to win (you can get more entries by sharing on Twitter throughout the week!).  This is open worldwide!  Ok, GO!a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for being the bestest readers ever in the history of readers.

XOXO