Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Today marks the two year anniversary of The Flower City Fashionista.  Wow!  Part of me feels like I've been doing this forever, while the rest of me still feels like a newbie without a clue.

So much has happened since I started this blog in April 2011 only to find out I was pregnant with baby #2 (aka Cooper) four short weeks later.  The blog took off faster than I ever could have imagined, but I was so sick during my pregnancy that my it had to go on the back burner.  Time ticked on, Colten was diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech and before I knew it I had a baby, and a special needs 3 year old, and a blog.  I moved forward, kept writing, my audience grew, and before I knew it, this space could no longer contain all the local Rochester buzz in additional to my personal style ramblings which were garnering the attention of a national audience.  In August 2012,  Flower City Fashion and Beauty was born and I became the author of not one blog, but two.

Blogging has quite possibly been the best thing to happen to me.

It got me writing again.  It gave me my sense of self back (easily lost in the sea of motherhood) and it allowed me the creative outlet I so desperately needed.  Without my reawakened passion for writing, I never would have pitched myself to Lori Perkins for Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey.  I never would have met so many incredible bloggers, business women, and entrepreneurs, who challenge and encourage me every day.  And let's be honest - I'm a stay at home mom - without this blog, I would have nothing to call my own.  It has allowed me to stay me, what better gift is there than that?

This blog has become a little slice of heaven for me; an escape.  I can't write as often as I'd like or do all the networking and collaborating that I want to.  And even though I hear myself say "no" an awful lot more than I would have hoped - I'm here.  I'm writing.  I'm promoting small businesses, local designers and American-made brands.  I've started my own business as a stylist and personal shopper.  I've taken on freelance writing jobs, edited two novels, and become the Fashion and Beauty Blogger for Rochester A-List.

I feel alive.  I've discovered than I can be more than a mama.  I'm a writer.  I'm a woman.  I'm the Flower City Fashionista.  And I love what I do.

In the spirit of nostalgia, I've included links to my some of my favorite posts from the past two years.  Enjoy!

1. My First Post 

2. My Eye Brow History

3.  An Homage to My Mama and Me

4.  My Runway Modeling Debut  + More Runway

5.  Announcing My Pregnancy to the World

6.  Some Bad Hair (Mine)

7.  Me Pregnant

8.  Coopy is Born 

9.  My Dirty Thirty

10. What I Believe

Thanks for reading.  Stick around.  Spread the word.  Without you guys, none of this would be possible!

Love you all more than you know!

xoxo

Jenny

PS- What's your favorite fashionista post?  I've love to know.