1 Year & a Giveaway!

A New York City Life blog is celebrating a year!! It's been one year! Can I believe it? Actually what I can't believe is how I lived my life before this blog... but maybe it just wasn't as interesting as it has been this last year! Before I go on rambling about the past year, I want to invite you to participate in my GIVEAWAY!

It's easy. Click on comments below. Tell me which photo from these you'd love to have for a print (click on the photo above for a closer look at the choices!). If I pick your name from a drawing, you'll win the print of your choice!!!! And who knows, I may get excited and do more than one drawing! Please only one comment per person... You have until Wednesday, June 24th!

Everyone is invited to participate... Family, Friends, Blog friends, New arrivals, anyone! If you have a blog, make sure to share it in the comments... and if not, make sure to check back for the announcement of the winners so you can claim your prize if your the lucky name drawn out of the hat!

So now that I have the fun news about the giveaway out there, I'll go one with my reflection of the last year. It has been a big one for me... My first post, here, was about a trip I took to the Brooklyn Bridge and a visit to the telescope with London that was temporarily visiting. Not long after the first post, I was off to Kansas to marry Seth (the lovely face in my banner...) and after that traveled to Colorado for a honeymoon trip with my new family.

After our Colorado adventure, Seth and I were back in New York, moving into our new TINY apartment, settling in as husband and wife. I spent the summer months exploring the city, loving the Long vacation I felt like I was on. I've enjoyed becoming a New Yorker, and now looking back over the posts, some things that were so new and exciting have somehow changed to normal, everyday events that I don't even think twice about on most days. I've learned a few things about New Yorkers... and although it used to shock and surprise me, I don't much get surprised anymore...

But the one thing I love most about being in New York is the way I've been inspired. Everywhere I look, something wonderful, creative, beautiful is happening, and despite what may look ugly at first, there is something more when you look deeper. Photography has become a major part of my creative time, especially street photography.

The spring here was one of the best in my life. I couldn't help but love the way I felt when I found this bud, the first sign of life in spring way back in the depths of February. And even when spring was hard to find, there were still green places to go, despite the snow, the cold, the rain. The beauty of nature in the cement city I live in blew me away.

As a former farm girl, I have quickly fallen in love with my cement fields, the city parks, and the lights that make it so the city never really does quite sleep. I haven't really driven a car in a year, and I have to say I am quite proud of this fact. I can almost always swipe my metro card through the turnstile without an issue, and I'm not terrified and unsure of how to ride a public bus (so weird to think of how nervous I would get when I first started work and had to travel daily on the bus from the subway to work.) I'm a little bit harder, which probably isn't that hard considering how soft I was coming from the Midwest. And I've learned a lot from this city... I'm no longer feeling so clueless and small in this huge city of mine.

We've been so lucky to spend the year making new friends. What an experience for someone like me, who has always been a bit scared to meet new people. I knew I just had to step up, and even if I'm still a little rough around the edges, I've met plenty of new people... I've made friends and experienced things I would never have experienced in Kansas. We've had great times playing and laughing with friends... and now, I'm not sure what we would do without these wonderful people in our lives!

Of course, we can't forget our nephew... Our favorite little New Yorker! P and his mama have taken me on some fun adventures around the city, entertaining me many times on my days off. We've all gotten together on weekends to explore and love our city. And even to enjoy the beach a few times.

As you can see, I can only begin to share the fun we've had this past year... You're welcome to explore more by clicking through the past posts of the events and thoughts of our lives. Here's to more blog years to come, and to more years filled with adventure, laughter, love, and fullness.

DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR COMMENT FOR A CHANCE IN THE DRAWING!