Day 31: A Supposedly Fun Thing That I'll Never Do Again

 
Well friends, the date today is July 31st which means that my 31 days are up, all blogged on and accounted for. The challenge is over. I did it. 

To celebrate the end of the first short-term goal I've ever successfully achieved, I compiled a brief, statistical look back on my (sometimes excruciating) 31 Days of Diva challenge:

• I wrote 27 blogs total with four guest blogs from my extremely talented guest bloggers (Thank you Adam, Tescha, Emilee and John! Knowing that I had a break once a week did more to keep me sane than you will ever know. You guys rock).
• Between me and my guest bloggers, we wrote 29,347 words (including this blog), which roughly translates into 59 single-spaced pages. I suddenly find the idea of writing a book significantly less daunting. 
• Total blog page views for the month of July (Not including this blog): 2,921 (but more on that later)
• Number of times I wanted to quit the Challenge: 31 (I'm dramatic)
• Number of times I actually, seriously considered quitting: 2 
• Number of Facebook friends I lost: 3 (you can't win 'em all)
• Number of Twitter followers I gained: 11 
• Number of Twitter-verified rappers who followed me because they liked my Trayvon Martin blog: 1 
• Number of people who told me they would never be able to look at Martha Stewart the same way because of me: 13 (sorry guys)
• Number of panic attacks I had because I couldn't think of a single thing to write about: 4 (not bad, actually)
• Number of hoaxes I believed: 1 (almost 2, but I Googled him and Jackie Chan is still alive)
• Number of blogs I wrote that I hated and wished I could take back: 3 
• Number of days I felt overwhelmed with gratitude and love for everyone who was reading Triple D on the daily: 31

It's important to note that none of these lovely (and sometimes strange) statistics would have been possible without all of you. Thank you.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to read my blogs every day. I really can't tell you how much the support has meant to me. I was terrified at the beginning of this challenge that I was going to alienate myself from everyone I know by bombarding them daily with every thought that entered my nutty little brain. I saw a lot of begging people to read my blog (even more so than usual) and feeling like I was working my booty off for no reason in my future, and it was intimidating. And while I did have a few of those days (and I did manage to alienate myself from at least a couple of people), the majority of my 31 days were a blur of pleasant surprises. You guys were reading, sharing, commenting and coming back for more. When I saw my page view numbers for the month, I did a cartoon-worthy double-take. This number (2,921) means that my little blog got about a hundred hits a day, every day, for the entire month. That number blows my mind and exceeds my wildest, most optimistic expectations. I can't thank you guys enough for all of your support.

And thanks for being there on the rough days too, the days that I couldn't stop critiquing myself, my mind echoing the harsh ways that the celebrity chef panel on "The Next Food Network Star" (my latest and most pressing obsession) critiques its potential chefs. You're making a bold statement, but not connecting with the audience. You're not getting out of your comfort zone, be braver. Pack up your knives and go home, you suck. Well, you get the idea. Thanks for being there to tell me that I don't suck. There's probably a much more eloquent way to say that, but there's nothing more redeeming than being told that you don't suck when you feel like you do. In other words, thanks for being my little army of anti-Bobby Flays, guys. It meant a lot to me.

I went into this challenge hoping to find the motivation and self-discipline to write every day and I'm proud to say that I did. Actually, what I really discovered is that those qualities have probably been here all along, but were lying dormant, waiting to be woken up. I may come out of this whole experience with a desire to write more than my usual 2 blogs a month. While I'm not sure that aimlessly writing about nothing everyday is my "thing", I think I may finally be ready to turn all of my nothing into something.

Well, eventually. Right now I need a break. Right now, in the immortal words of Popeye, I've had all I can stands and I can't stands no more.

But don't worry. The world is a shocking place filled with interesting characters that are sure to either inspire or piss me off, not to mention the fact that I have the kind of kids that are always doing funny, blog-worthy things.

I'll be back.

Day 25: Beauty And The Mom

Before I begin with today's blog, I just want to say thank you. After yesterday's blog, so many of you reached out to me, offering kind words and well wishes for my big reunion with my little brother. I'm happy to report that everything went well beyond my best expectations. My little brother turned out to another slightly varying version of me and my older brother. Within ten minutes I felt like I had known him my whole life. Turns out I'm not so unlovable, and thanks to all of you who were kind enough to take the time to remind me of that. I've got nothing but love for each and every one of you.

We look so much better when we're not all crying our eyes out!

 Now, back to business.

As I have mentioned (many times over), I am a Twitter fiend. As far as I'm concerned, social media is a disease for which there is no cure. And even if there was a cure, I wouldn't want to be treated. I would be crawling under the barbed wire fence of Twitter rehab, desperate to escape.  I don't want to quit! And  you can't make me!

A pleasant side effect of my addiction, however, is that I have discovered some incredibly interesting people and things that I may not have ever discovered here on Mom Island, where I typically reside. But out of everything I've been exposed to, I've surprised myself by liking beauty blogs the best.

It's not because I'm particularly into fashion, trends or keeping up with a strict beauty regime, but for almost the opposite reason. Maybe once upon a time, back in a life that doesn't really feel like it was ever mine now, I was moderately concerned with being stylish, but now I'm mostly just concerned with being clean and awake. Mine is almost a scientific fascination that stems from looking at things that I can't possible comprehend or figure out how to fit into my own life. I'm a mom. And while that doesn't make a difference for a lot of people, for me it does. I have approximately thirteen seconds to myself everyday and if I'm not hastily trying to scrape out a blog or emptying a dishwasher that is somehow, inexplicably, always full, I'm sleeping. Beauty tends to rank pretty low on the list. False eyelashes? Lip stains? Make-up primer? Ain't nobody got no time for that. But cargo pants and strawberry chapstick? I'm all over it. My utter lack of glamor isn't depressing so much as it is a simple fact of life. I wouldn't know how to look pulled-together if pulled-together smacked me upside the head. Sad, but true.

And yet here I am, completely obsessed with beauty blogs.Yeah, I guess I don't really get  it either.

My favorite beauty blog (there are many, many to chose from) is a great little nugget of joy called Into The Gloss.If you've never checked it out before, what are you waiting for? I highly recommend it. It's a beautiful blog (sounds like a no-brainer considering it's almost exclusively about beauty and beauty-related things, but you'd be surprised by how many ugly ones are out there) but the best part about Into The Gloss is the writing. Words can't express (ironically) how great the writing is. It manages to be relevant and informative, but also hilarious and...human. And really, the thing that's held me back from liking beauty blogs all this time (aside from my aforementioned momness) has been the writing. A majority of beauty columns, blogs, or articles have always seemed rather dry and humorless to me. Not to mention mind-numbingly boring.  Do I want to read a dry, mechanical twenty-two step process  to get your nail polish to dry faster? Not especially. Do I want to hear about how a famous NBA player is oddly, inexplicably, obsessed with a ridiculously expensive face cream usually reserved for people like Sharon Stone? You bet I do. You'd be amazed by the things I'm willing to read about, if they're well-written. All of the lovely people at Into the Gloss seem to realize and embrace this fact. It's obvious that they are people who love the beauty and fashion industry while at the same time not taking themselves too seriously when it comes to the things that they write about. It's a beauty blog, not a cure for cancer, but it's fun and feel-good. Two things that we could all use a little bit more of sometimes, in my humble opinion. Even the sloppy, slightly out-of-touch mamas of the world.

And who knows, maybe I'll read enough of it so that some rubs off on me but if not, that's cool too. In the romantic comedy of life, I'm more of the funny, slightly frumpy best friend than the dazzling, stylish Kate Hudson-esque protagonist. But don't worry, that's completely fine with me.

Cargo pants are wicked comfortable.