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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

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Girl’s First Blogiversary (Part 1 of 2)

November 16, 2011

It’s a day for small celebrations.

My first post on merrypad.com went live one year ago today. All I can say is… wow-zilla.

OK, that’s not all I can say. My most-optimistic goal on Day 1 was that I could earn enough through AdSense to pay my modest hosting expenses ($7/month). Anything else was icing on the cake. Not literally on the cake that Pete made for me to celebrate (tutorial can be seen here), I was referring to the proverbial cake (although, that too would be coated with $1.69 cream cheese frosting). But yes, I digress. Yes, there was actual party cake. Red Velvet, my favorite. Thanks Pete. (He makes fun cakes in his spare time, donchaknow.)

Pete makes stellar cakes.

I celebrated by splurging on a new 15″ Macbook Pro that I’ve long been saving my pennies for, and no, blog revenue wasn’t what enabled that purchase. My previous macbook was a post-college-first-job-holiday-bonus splurge, meaning that come next month, it’d be exactly 5-years old, and that’s pretty old in computer-years. This time around, I saved 25% by buying it off the Mac Refurbished section of apple.com, and used some of that savings to invest in AppleCare to cover my butt in case something backfires with buying used. (Fun fact: Pete had a laptop die after 2 years, 11-months of use, and because his AppleCare covered him for 3-years from purchase, he walked out of Apple with the same model, 3-years newer, on the spot. And that’s cool. Household rule: Always get AppleCare. Blog rule: Always recommend AppleCare. Blog rule #2: Always brush hair and put on a little makeup, missed in this next photo.)

Unbrushed hair, jammies, no makeup, I look like a kid on Christmas morning.

A lot has changed over the last year; I couldn’t have planned it, I took it as it came. I also maybe took horoscopes at the Starbucks counter too seriously. This appeared to me one day last spring, and not that I condone taking things literally, especially mass-generalized horoscopes, but this struck a nice chord (and then I walked into work and quit my job):

Taking things seriously. With daily horoscopes.

All aspects of my life are different. Some because of the blog, some because of life itself.

In April, Pete moved in. In May, I left my job (next week will be the big 6-month mark!). In June, I attended #DeltaDIY2011. In July, I started freelancing project management + ghost blog writing for a few companies; it supports personal blogging more than my 9-5 ever could have. In August, I surprised Pete with a trip to Mexico. In October, we escaped to Boston. And this month, I was able to announce my first real (huge) contract project with DIY Network. My mug was on the homepage of diynetwork.com for god’s sake (top right).

Whoa, homepage action blows my mind.

My home itself is different too. Mostly because I’ve really pushed myself to try new projects, learn more about tools, and experiment with decor and paint and, well, everything I could afford and get my (now-calloused) fingers on. The driveway is smaller, siding is much better, and the dog is much calmer (the 3rd birthday maturation). An office was created, the kitchen shelving was expanded, a sunroom was painted (and repainted), and a stained accent wall greets me happily every morning.

I have a second post planned for this afternoon to make the party last a little longer. There is no cake in the second post, but I still think you should check back for some other special little surprises + tidbits on my blogging lifestyle.

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Business-y  / Casual Celebrations

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

18 Comments


Emily @ Our Waldo Bungie
November 16, 2011 at 8:49 am
Reply

Happy Blogiversary! You sure have accomplished a lot in one year! Now I feel lazy….



    Emily
    November 16, 2011 at 8:51 am

    Thanks Emily! No way have you been lazy!

Elisa @ The Self Life
November 16, 2011 at 8:57 am
Reply

Wow, only a year! You’ve accomplished so much! Congrats! :D



    Emily
    November 16, 2011 at 10:02 am

    Thanks Elisa! A year flew by…

John @ Our Home from Scratch
November 16, 2011 at 8:58 am
Reply

Congrats Emily! May you have many more years of success!



    Emily
    November 16, 2011 at 9:02 am

    Thanks John!

Mark Winters
November 16, 2011 at 9:39 am
Reply

Best wishes Em…..we’re very happy for you. The time has flown.



    Emily
    November 16, 2011 at 10:13 am

    :) Thanks

Cait @ Hernando House
November 16, 2011 at 10:00 am
Reply

Congrats on your bloggiversary! You’ve accomplished a lot in such a short time!



    Emily
    November 16, 2011 at 10:14 am

    Thanks Cait! And thanks for your support from almost-day-1!

    Cait @ Hernando House
    November 16, 2011 at 11:55 am

    Of course! :)

Taylor
November 16, 2011 at 10:56 am
Reply

Yay Emily! You should be so proud of yourself! That’s an amazing list of great stuff you’ve done! And the DIY network?!? Doing a happy dance over here for you! Awesometown!



    Emily
    November 16, 2011 at 10:58 am

    Thanks Taylor! We’re still happy-dancing over here too!

Condo Blues
November 16, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Reply

Congrats on an awesome first blogging year!



    Emily
    November 16, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    Thanks Lisa!

Kate
November 16, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Reply

Happy blogiversary!



    Emily
    November 16, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    Thank you, Kate! :)

Ashley@DesignBuildLove.co
November 17, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Reply

couldn’t have been a more amazing adventure! Congrats Em!!! So much accomplished in so little time!



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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

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    Highly recco mining those #herkimerdiamonds ✌️ Highly recco mining those #herkimerdiamonds ✌️
    Pt. 2: Well before Halloween, the last of the garl Pt. 2: Well before Halloween, the last of the garlic went into the home garden: 10 rows [L>R] 6 whole Nootka Rose as an experiment, 3x8 Mennonite-grown cloves from Aman’s, and 6x8 (and, I think, total 112? notes are cryptic) “normal.”
#gardennotes #growinggarlic #garden2023 #whatisnormal #merrypadathome
    Out of sight but [documented so it’s] not out of Out of sight but [documented so it’s] not out of mind! #garden2024 kicks off with my favorite biennial: elephant garlic! 15 cloves planted from small, to medium, to enormous. #gardennotes
    Annual garlic notes for #garden2023, pt. 1: this i Annual garlic notes for #garden2023, pt. 1: this is getting ooc, and I love it. 👩‍🌾🧑‍🌾

🧄 65% of the planting is in a new plot in the country. 🧄 Seeing if NR grows bigger with more sunlight. 🧄 Big @chasefarms cloves from 2021 were really productive in our home garden; can’t wait to see how they can show up next year in the new space. 🧄

Hand-turned a small bed, but big thanks to my sister, who rolled into town just in time to help me double its size (and did not complain once).
    One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stal One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stalks and 7 scapes, and I can’t wait to see this mammoth looks like when it’s pulled next month. #garlic2022 

Also, fierce springtime performance by parsley, chamomile, and self-seeded cilantro.
    Annual garlic notes #garden2022 ~315 cloves total Annual garlic notes #garden2022
~315 cloves total
50 in new, unfenced garden
Still need thick mulch on everything
Did a terrible job tracking varieties when I harvested, so it’s all a mix of hardneck now 😒
Added some big cloves from @chasefarms and look forward to adding some @fruition_seeds in #garden2023 when @porterfarmscsa delivers.
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