“Happy Blogiversary to me, Happy Blogiversary to me, Happy Blogiversary to me-e, Happy Blogiversary to me” (sung in my best singing voice)!
It was exactly this day, one year ago, that I wrote my very first “Life’s like a Cupcake!” blog post. I never imagined, at that time, how much joy this “phenomenon of blogging” would bring. A creative outlet, a way to free all the thoughts that spin around in my mind, an avenue for meeting some beautiful people from near and far, and a door to opportunities that would never have come my way if I hadn’t hit that very first magical “PUBLISH POST” button!
To celebrate this day, I thought I would reminisce about some of the special things that have happened through blogging:
- I blogged for the very first time here.
- I got to share my story here, here, here and here!
- I got to join an amazing team here and here.
- I have been gifted with many lovely blogland friends, this beautiful person being just one of them.
- I’ve been published here.
- I was considered a “new friend” here.
- I gained the confidence to do this.
- And I am blessed to have met two wonderful women who didn’t know me from a bar of soap, but believed in me anyway! This is how it all began and now I get to do this every week!
On 22nd September 2010, just a few short weeks after writing my very first blog post, the gorgeous
Carla Gee Schneider reviewed my blog on Sydney’s
Hope 103.2FM Radio. Here is what she said:
Life’s like a Cupcake is a blog by newcomer, Jennifer Reid, who lives in Sydney. Jennifer began taking a cake-decorating course this year, and during the process, she started to see how making cakes and decorating them related to the lessons that we can learn in life. Jennifer shares her cake decorating lessons and her life lessons in her blog. Jennifer’s blog is just as sweet as a cupcake, with colourful photos and sprinkles of God’s word.
How I found “Life’s like a Cupcake”:
Recently we started asking listeners at Hope 103.2FM to email us their blogs – thanks everyone! We read all of your blogs. It’s great to see that so many listeners are out there and blogging! Jennifer sent in her blog address. Her blog really stood out with its unique idea and her joyful writing.
What I liked about the blog, and more about Jennifer:
Jennifer writes in a really genuine and sincere way.
Jennifer’s blog is so uplifting to read. She writes with a lot of joy.
I was amazed by her happy, hopeful attitude towards life, because in May 2009, Jennifer was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Blogging has been part of her healing process – she loves writing, and she finds that writing is a way to nurture herself by doing something that she enjoys. But what’s really lovely is that her blog has nurtured others!
Jennifer told me that her friends and family wait with “bated breath” for every entry. They find her words to be really encouraging. She says that each time she blogs, her husband sits her down that night and asks her to read it to him, as they have a cup of tea and some cake! She’s really brought her family together, as well as anyone else who reads her blog. Jennifer’s happy attitude is irresistible.
How is life like a cupcake?
In her first post in July 2010, Jennifer wrote about how she has noticed that cupcakes always look better when someone else has made them, like if she’s seen them in the window of a fancy bakery. But she’s found when she eats the cupcakes, they don’t always taste as perfect as they look. She says that we can often view other people’s lives in that way – their lives always look better and more delicious, than ours. But since having breast cancer, Jennifer has decided to really love and enjoy her own life – she says it’s the only one that she’s going to get, so she wants to make the best of it.
In a recent post, Jennifer wrote about how she has struggled to find the perfect cupcake recipe. She can make the cakes look good, but they don’t often taste so good. She said that recently, she made some cupcakes that were so rubbery that she and her family tried to bounce them off the plates, and they bounced! Jennifer said that she realised that following a cupcake recipe is a step-by-step process that required practice. She said that this was similar to her experience with cancer – it was a step-by-step process of recovery, with steps like having faith in God, being positive, nurturing yourself and living in the moment.
This might sound mean, but I hope that Jennifer never finds the perfect cupcake recipe. She writes in such a funny, real way about her experiences with dodgy recipes – I want her to keep blogging about her experiences!
Even though Jennifer’s cake decorating course has finished, she’s still going to keep blogging. She has so much to write about. She’s worked in finance and business banking, she’s been a beauty therapist, she’s a primary school teacher and mum to two children, a 13 year old daughter and a 12 year old son. She’s got so much good material to write about! I can’t wait to see what she writes about next.
Evangelism:
Jennifer writes about God in a way that is gentle and kind. She told me that she doesn’t want to preach at people – she wants to plant little seeds of faith in people. I like to think that she dusts people in faith sprinkles!
I interviewed Jennifer this week, and this is what she said: “Being a Christian, the Lord has taught me so much on this journey and has helped me get through so many tough times. I really want to share what has helped me along the way, in the hope that it may just encourage or help someone else in need”.
Dearest Carla & Katrina….you don’t know what it meant to me that day that you reviewed my blog. I was sitting in a hospital room having chemotherapy for breast cancer, and I had two people who had never met me speaking such beautiful, encouraging words over me. Your words that day gave me such joy and hope. I will always remember it. Thank you xo
To all of my dear and loyal blog readers….I truly treasure you and thank you from the bottom of my heart. The fact that you would spend some of your precious time reading what little old me has to say blows me away beyond words. Thank you and bless you all xxoo
