Twenty years ago today, on July 10, 2001, I published my first ever blog post. Not that I called it a blog then. Each month was a page on my website (not sure what the URL was back then, because I didn’t register pyjammy.com until March 2002) and I would update the month’s HTML file every time I posted an entry.
I added a splash page at some point. How 2003 of me!
Sometime around 2003, I moved it to a real blogging platform (okay fine it was Blogger.) And then in 2008 I moved it to WordPress.com (and it was self-hosted for a while, but after I started at Automattic, I moved it back here to WordPress.com.)
Over the past 20 years I’ve blogged about running, weight loss, wedding planning, pregnancy, raising triplets, and sewing. This is the 4092nd post.
Back when it was on Blogger :shudder:
My stats don’t go back prior to 2009, but since then I’ve had over 2,000,000 views and 300,000 visitors. 2010 was my zenith of blogging, when I posted 541 times (that’s when I started the first 365 project, back when the boys were little and adorable.)
I am a pandemic cliche. Not just the puzzles I put together, the shows I binged, or the sourdough I started and baked with. No, it was the purchase I received one year ago today:
Yeah, I laughed at the commercial just like everyone else did. I took a spinning class once and hated it. But I guess I have enough friends that raved about it, so I reasoned that I could always return it if I hated it.
But I didn’t. I loved it immediately.
And all of the aches and pains that I’d gotten from four years of Orangetheory went away. The tendinitis in my ankle, the knee pain, the back pain, the shoulder tendinitis. I used to love running on the treadmill. That was my favorite part of OTF. But until I stopped, I didn’t know how much it was hurting me.
Longest ride was 75 minutes, 35 seconds during a work call (I have a tray for my laptop)
I could go further into my stats, like which instructor I took the most classes from, but that’s boring if you don’t have a Peloton so I won’t.
Anyway, I’m not going to talk about things like the number of calories I’ve burned or inches lost or anything like that because that’s not why I’m doing this. I’m doing this because now I have really amazing leg muscles and it’s good for my cardiovascular health. I do need to get better about taking advantage of all of the other classes especially upper body strength training and stretching. Maybe that will be my goal for the next 365 days.
First, it’s our 15th anniversary. That’s a big deal, yeah? Multiple of 5?
George got me a new Apple Watch, which is very exciting since my last one broke in January. And he got Apple Care on it so if it happens again I can get it fixed! 😀
Look how pretty! The only problem is now my steps are being counted again. I mean, there wasn’t any point in doing them if they weren’t being counted, right?
I can’t tell you what I got George but I will tell you tomorrow. And I can guarantee he will like it. Maybe.
The other good thing about today is that the boys went back to school. Of course it’s also a little bit anxiety inducing, but I just hope everyone stays healthy. At least they’ll get to see some friends for a little bit. That’s good for them.
And of course they didn’t even try on their uniforms until yesterday (even though I’ve been asking them to for weeks) and I now have a pile of about 12 pairs of shorts and 12 shirts that no longer fit, some of which I bought in February. Sigh. So I will now be doing laundry every night until the uniforms I ordered last night get here.
PS The Zyia activewear party I’m hosting is still active! You can order here or join it on FB.
One year ago I walked into Joann’s, picked out a pattern and some whale fabric and painstakingly sewed a skirt.
Backing up a little…a few days earlier, I posted on Facebook somewhat reluctantly looking for recommendations for an inexpensive sewing machine. I was reluctant because I knew my mom was going to bring up the old machine she had given me years ago. That machine scared me. It was old! It needed oil and stuff. I wanted something shiny and new that would have videos on YouTube and lots on online resources.
But I’m also impatient and cheap so I figured I’d just pull out the machine and give it one more try, and this time with the manual, before ordering something online.
Okay, this story is getting too long and I have a feeling I told it all before. So let me just cut to the chase. On February 18, 2018, I sewed my first item of clothing, and an obsession began. It didn’t turn out all that great. I didn’t know about finishing seams, so after I washed it, they all started fraying. Oops.
Derp.
I made shirts, more skirts, pajama pants for the boys. I was pretty fearless. I discovered the world of indie sewing patterns and bought a serger off Facebook Marketplace so my seams stopped unraveling. In May, I participated in Me Made May and wore an item of clothing I sewed every day for the whole month. And I kind of never stopped. Even now I try to wear something every day that I sewed. Sometimes I forget, but it’s not a big deal. My wardrobe is probably 80% handmade by now, so it’s almost inevitable.
Back to that old sewing machine – I love it. I now realize that any sewing machine I could have afforded would have been a cheap plastic wobbly thing compared to this tank. Sure, it has its issues – I have to special order bobbins, and it doesn’t do fancy things like automatic buttonholes and it gets cranky when the bobbin thread runs low, but I’ve learned to deal with its quirks.
So what are my favorite things I’ve sewn so far?
Seamwork Akita
Cashmerette Concord
Leralyn
Helen’s Closet York Pinafore
Cashmerette Washington
Patterns for Pirates Linen Loungers
Cashmerette Upton
Cashmerette Upton Skirt
Cashmerette Skirt
Circle skirt with horsehair
60s dress out of a curtain
But those are just the things I’ve made for myself. I’ve also enjoyed sewing for other people.
Rompers for my cousin’s sons
Pants for Ellie
Outfits for my friend’s sons
Unicorns for my friend’s daughter
PJ pants for the boys!
Mario shirt for Miles
Doctor Who shirts for George and Neil
Unicorns and rainbows for a friend’s baby
And I’ve had fun sewing bags and scarves and scrunchies and pillowcases too. Why not?
So what’s next? I have bins and bins of fabric and probably a dozen patterns that are waiting to be used. I’m most excited about the Cashmerette Ellis denim miniskirt – I even have rivets! And a bathing suit pattern that I’ve been sitting on, but definitely want to make it for this summer. And a pretty border pattern fabric that’s probably destined for a skirt, but I kind of want to make something more unexpected with it, but I’m just not sure yet. And that pink art deco sequin fabric that I bought almost a year ago but I’m terrified to mess up, oh and there’s the silk brocade that I bought in Singapore…and on and on.
So yeah, I think I have plenty to keep me busy for another year of sewing at least!
All in all, I’m pretty proud of how far I’ve come in a year. I’m not scared of knits or zippers. I have come to embrace my shape instead of being ashamed of it. Instead of dreading trying to find a dress or a skirt, I can just make one! It’s incredibly freeing. I was in Real Simple! I helped bring attention to an amazing online community! It’s been so great, and I can’t wait to see how much I can do in the upcoming year. (Let’s see if I can tackle that bathing suit…)
I’ve been waiting for this for four years. This is what we get when we’ve been at Automattic for that long. A customized MacBook Pro. Ain’t she beautiful?
Well, you know I love an anniversary. But this is a big one! No, for real this time. After you’ve been at Automattic for four years, you get a new custom laptop with a lit up W (or Jetpack logo, or Automattic logo. I went with the W.) It’ll be a while before I actually get it, since it’s custom made and all that, but it’ll be worth the wait.
And next year is even better – a three month paid sabbatical after five years! I have already started planning how I’m going to use my time (organizing every inch of the house, rocking NICU babies, cooking a lot, you know, the usual.)
I was thinking about how Automattic has changed since I started. We have stats for everything, and I found this one:
You started on 2013-11-18. Of the 632 other Automatticians, 166 (26.3%) started before you, 2 (0.3%) started on the same day, and 464 (73.4%) started after you.
Wow! Yeah, we’ve grown quite a bit in the last four years. (And I hired 38 of those!)
I think there were about 45 Happiness Engineers when I started, and now there are over 200. We hadn’t yet acquired WooCommerce, Calypso wasn’t a thing, heck, we were barely offering live chat to our customers! Now users with the Business plan can upload themes and plugins! (Trust me, this is huge.)
I have traveled to at least 18 cities in the last four years for work – from Dayton to Auckland. I’ve been up mountains and dipped my toes in the sea. I’ve seen the sun rise in Utah and in Spain. Okay, I’ll stop being poetic now.
I’ve met amazing people, made amazing friends, learned so much. I can’t wait to see what the next four years holds.
Ten years ago today, George and I got married. Crazy. I wrote this post for the New Orleans Moms Blog, a letter to our younger selves. Check it out!
But life goes on. We already really celebrated in June, when we went to England, and we’re hoping to have our anniversary dinner on the cruise in a couple of weeks. May as well, we’ll have plenty of babysitters around!
Miles got sick on Friday, then Oliver on Tuesday, and today Linus woke up with a fever. This is the life I couldn’t have predicted ten years ago.
Today is our three year anniversary. My, how much has changed in those three short years. The time, it has gone by SO fast. Some wedding pictures, for fun…
And for fun…on our first anniversary(-ish – we were travelling back from my friend Anne’s wedding in Mexico on the actual day)
And last year. Heh. Boy, THAT was a fun anniversary! 30 weeks pregnant. Ouch.
On the other hand, I did get some cute ultrasound pictures that day…
Miles, I think:
Linus, I think:
Oliver, I think:
I don’t think we’re doing much today to celebrate, but on Friday, we’re going to dinner with some friends at our favorite steak restaurant, which only recently reopened after Katrina. Wooo!
Six years ago, I was v nervous. I had a date with this goofy guy named George that I’d met at a pub a few nights before. Eeep, a boyyyy!
I’m so glad I have been blogging since 2001. It’s funny to go back and read my posts from way back when. Like my bitter diatribe about Valentine’s Day, which just happened to be my last single Valentine’s Day.
Sorry I haven’t been posting much. Kristina is in town and between work and hanging out with her, I haven’t had much time for anything. But we’ve got the house in a state of high organization. It’s v exciting.
Today is our 2nd anniversary! Yay! We didnt’ do anything since we went out to eat last week, so it’s kind of anticlimactic. But still. Yay us! Hee.
I also had an appointment with the MFM. Dare I say it was slightly…boring? But only in the best way.
Took the glucose test (don’t know the results yet, dear god I hope I passed!) and then went in to see my doctor. Babies look good (didn’t get their weights, I forgot to ask, but he didn’t mention them, so that’s good), my cervix is “a role model cervix”, nice, long, and closed (sorry to the squeamish, but this is a big deal), my blood pressure was fine, etc, etc, etc.
Babies are so cute – we got some great face shots. All babies are head-down (which makes not a whit of difference in my circumstances, just saying) but some of them have their feet by their heads. Silly kids. 🙂 I will have George scan the pics we got later so you can see. We saw hair on Baby B, which doesn’t surprise me at all – George and I are both pretty hairy, after all. Heh.
I guess that’s about it…I go back a week from Friday, but just for a checkup. I won’t see them again on u/s until December 10 – if I make it that long. That’s 34 weeks! Yow! I hope I make it that long!
Oh yeah. Happy Anniversary to Jenny and Rob! I think. It’s either today, yesterday, or the day before. I’m terrible with dates.
Although I really shouldn’t be wishing my sister Happy anything after she sent me an evil, evil picture of Emily getting wrapped up like a mummy for her helmet. Poor sweet pumpkin, the picture looks like she’s being tortured! 😦
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