Thank You

I’m hoping that the little thank you note that I drew out above is explanatory enough, but if it isn’t, I want to share my reasons with you for writing this post. Originally, I wanted to give a thank you note to those of you who kindly voted for my personal style blog in the Monogram contest that I entered (I won by the way, thank you so much) as it meant the world to me. Knowing that I had so many peoples support for my blog and myself was overwhelming and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to receive that kind of encouragement. Most of the time I still see myself as that little blogger from the countryside of England and I don’t ever think of myself as important or successful at all and am always looking for ways to try and make my blog more popular, but I think sometimes, usually after I receive so much support from people, I realise after having forgot for a little while, that success doesn’t necessarily need to be measured on how much money you receive or how much traffic your blog gets on a monthly basis. Success can be determined in many ways, sometimes even as little as inspiring a reader in one of your posts. I’m not saying that I now think my blog is super successful, because I definitely don’t, but I am saying that sometimes I think I need to take a step back from how engrossed in blogging I get and just appreciate that I do have a lot of wonderful readers and support behind me.

I am such a busy person as I run three blogs and have a listings job just to keep me afloat, so I often get caught up in the blur of life as it’s whizzing by so quickly. I am definitely always grateful to all of you for reading Raindrops of Sapphire and leaving me comments and saying your opinions, as reading your comments really gives me enthusiasm and want to make me carry on with blogging. Sometimes I don’t feel like I say it enough though, which is why I wanted to make this post to honestly thank you all from my heart for supporting me.

When I first started Raindrops of Sapphire back in 2010, I never expected it to turn into what it is today. It’s been really really hard work though, as I’m sure a lot of you other bloggers will reiterate. It’s a 24/7 job that requires a lot of patience, time and hard work just to keep things ticking over, then extra on top to try and make things as good as they can possibly be. Knowing that all of my hard work and time spent on my blog is appreciated by all of you, really does help me and it may seem a little bit shallow saying this, without intending it to be, but reading your comments about my outfits and if they look good, does give me that little bit of happiness inside, as many people feel when they receive compliments.

I am aware that I have had some not so great looks in the past, having experimented or after having a quieter day, and you still give me positive comments, but honestly I appreciate honesty from everyone and I am never offended by it if it’s done in a constructive way or politely. Granted I wont be over enthusiastic if I receive abuse just for the sake of it about my body or something else, like I have done before, I will just tend to ignore it, but overall, honesty is so important to me. I’m a very honest person in life (I actually can’t lie as I’m riddled with too much guilt and it’s not right to do so) so I always try to say what I feel in a polite way to help said person improve on the issue if they need to, so I appreciate the same back to me. I respect and admire it in people, even in person. Not long ago, my grans friend was looking through my blog photos and said that they liked a few of these outfits, but they really didn’t like the one with the black and white stripes, it didn’t look good to them, but that didn’t effect me in a negative way, I very much appreciated the honesty.

I guess I may have gone a little off track from the original thank you intended, but what I am trying to say is that I am just a regular person, a 25 year old girl who works super hard 24/7 in order to be able to save up for things she wants and I’m also just normal, slightly insane, but definitely an average Joe, so if I go a little off course sometimes, or you don’t like something I post or write about, please tell me so. I started Raindrops of Sapphire as a place to share my loves in fashion and it’s grown into sharing my personal life and outfits with all of you, so I’m always thinking about what I can write for you to read as well as what I’m writing for myself. But, I do feel like it’s not just ‘my blog’ anymore as it’s become somewhat of a little community. I always recognise the regular usernames and names from comments I receive on a weekly basis and I know a lot of you feel like you know me quite well from what I write, so I think that gives you reason to treat me like a friend. I’m always very open and honest, nothing really phases me and I have tough skin, despite looking ‘young and adorable’ ha ha. So if you don’t like something, please do let me know, rather than not commenting or pretending to like it. Constructive criticism is something I always welcome with open arms!

But genuinely, a huge thank you! I was wondering if some of you might be more interested in a few sort of diary style entries here and there, some posts where I might talk a bit about what I’ve been up to, how I’m feeling, stuff on my mind etc? Let me know!

Written by Lorna Burford