It’s February and that means my blogging anniversary is coming up. On February 17th, Mockingbird Hill Cottage (the blog, not the house) will be 8 years old. The house is 125 years old.

Blogging has changed a lot during the course of those eight years; some of it good, some of it not so good. Several bloggers have recently written posts about wanting to go back to the way they used to blog, before everything became about being bigger, better, and earning lots of income. None of that is at all bad, but along the way it’s easy to lose sight of what drew one to blogging in the first place.

Above all, what drew most of us to blogging was the desire to share our lives, our thoughts, and to connect with others (like-minded and not so like-minded.) That’s certainly what drew me to blogging – the opportunity to write, which has always been a passion of mine; and not only write, but create a visual journal by taking photographs that corresponded to the text.

Simple, right?

I’ve been posting daily for several years now. The discipline of writing every day is good for me. It anchors my mornings. I’m very proud of what I’ve created and I’m very proud of the fact that every post on this blog – and there have been 2,337 of them as of today – has been written by me. That means original content (for better or worse!) with no photos grabbed from other sites, no posts that originated elsewhere that I tweak for the blog, no guest posts (which I routinely decline.) There’s the rare sponsored post, and they are truly rare, but again; honestly and candidly written by me. It isn’t always easy to find something to write about on a daily basis, but I’ve stuck to my vision and I’m proud of that.

I guess I never had to ‘find’ what kind of blogger I was because I always intended to write about our life in the country in our little cottage. I’m comfortable with that. Luckily, when I first started, the blogging world was still a relatively small place. Now, it’s much, much bigger.

I often think about that. It must be hard to find a interesting and unique blog name nowadays. I don’t envy having to come up with something new.

Anyway, more thoughts on that coming up on February 17th.

I wanted to tell you about an item that I ordered and which just arrived yesterday. It’s from the shop, Lucy Jane. I read about it via another book blogger and promptly bookmarked the site, though I didn’t get around to ordering it until a couple of weeks ago.

It’s the Arrow Pencil Pouch, which comes in red, navy or black. It’s made of vinyl and is beautifully lined and the reason I bought it is because it is the perfect size for a Kindle Paperwhite. I tend to throw my Kindle in my bag when I’m on the road or traveling to NYC, and I was looking for something to protect it.

See, I’m slipping it in the pouch….

And there it is, safely nestled inside.

I really love it. I chose this bright red because I liked it and I thought it would be easier to find in the depths of my tote bag.

You could probably do the same thing with a cosmetics bag, and I have, but this is sturdy and has some heft. And it’s cute.

I’ve no affiliation with this company – just wanted to share it with you.

I just finished this scarf, it’s a special order.

It’s made from a yarn I got at my local yarn store – Malabrigo Pure Merino Superwash Rios in English Rose. Isn’t it beautiful?

Okay. I have to go take a shower and meet my friend Charlie for coffee.

Happy Wednesday.