Time flies when you’re having fun. (+ a giveaway!!)

Hey everyone!!

Whew, what a busy day!  It’s been go, go, go since shooting out of bed at 8:30 this morning after somewhat catching up on missing sleep from the birthday extravaganza!

I  probably could have slept in a bit longer but wanted to get up in time to say goodbye to my parents before they left for work.  See, today marked the end of my summer vacation; at least for the next month, anyway. I’ll be taking one “minimester” of summer school and classes start Thursday, so the majority of today was spent packing my things…Saying “see you later” to Shadow…Finding Chloe…She knows it means we’re going somewhere when I start packing my things and immediately hides.  (She hates her crate.)

And lastly today’s been spent driving, driving, and driving some more…Four hours of road time later, I was home just long enough to unload my car, grab a quick snack, and head right back out the door for a quick gym session.  I missed it so much I couldn’t wait to get back to working some weights an cross-training. And ohhh did it feel good!  I had wished there was more time but it had to be quick in order to make it to this evening’s yoga session.  It’s been two weeks since teaching so I was worried I had fallen out of the groove…but class went great!

So yes, it’s been a busy day, but it’s also a very special day.  Because today (technically, yesterday) marks…

My 1 year blogiversary!!!

To celebrate, I had a very special breakfast before hitting the road.Of course, breakfast had to be in the form of cake in some way, so I went with an oatmeal bake.  Only, I didn’t have a candle…so a mini umbrella took it’s place. I honestly can’t believe it’s been a year since writing my very first Hello, World! post…but it’s definitely been one incredible ride.

Even though I had followed blogs for years before finally starting my own, I was still hesitant at first.  I couldn’t help but think I wouldn’t be able to keep up with it or that it’d be strange taking pictures of my food and writing about it.  But those doubts paled in comparison to the hopes of what food blogging would bring me: new friends, new confidence, maybe an adventure or two…

Little did I know just how much it would bring to my life.  It has honestly taken me a long way from where I was one year ago.  Every bit of credit may not solely lay with blogging, but it does deserve some serious kudos for brightening my life- as corny as that sounds.

If it weren’t for blogging (reading and writing)…

• I would probably still been underweight and unhappy, as well as overtraining.
• I never ever would have had any desire to run a marathon.
• I wouldn’t have my beloved Nikon SLR!!
• Have friends all around the world?  Nope.
• I’d be studying pharmacy, going towards a career I didn’t love or was passionate about.
• I would have never had the extra push to complete my yoga certification.
• Most importantly, I wouldn’t have met or gotten to know any of you!!

And since all you amazing readers were the ones to make this such a great year, I’d like to return some of the love with a giveaway!!

This one’s fun, too (as if they ever aren’t).  But you’ll have a chance to win a ton of goodies.   Check it out:Yeah, a bunch of stuff!! Two winners will each win a collection of:

• 1 ramekin for baking delicious treats like oatmeal bakes.
• 7 mini Clif bars (Cool Mint Chocolate & Crunchy Peanut Butter)
• 7 Accel Gels (Chocolate & Vanilla) <—they’re like pudding (and healthy too).  Yum!
• 2 Nature Valley Granola Bars (Peanut Butter & Oats and Honey)
• 3 bars of Clif Shot Bloks (packed full of electrolytes)

All that is up for grabs! And all you have to do enter is:

1. Mandatory: Leave a comment telling me your favorite snack.

Optional entries (separate comment for each):

1. Leave a suggestion of anything you would like to see more/less of on my blog.  ((This would be greatly appreciated!!))
2. Like my Facebook page.
3. Follow me on Twitter (@bitesandbliss).
4. Tweet this: “@bitesandbliss is having a 1 year blogiversary giveaway!!http://bitesandbliss.com/?p=8329” or something along those lines.

So there you go, five whole chances to enter!! I’ll randomly select a winner Friday, May 20th.

Good luck!

RYou might alos like:

Tagged as: Accel Gels, baking, blogging, blogiversary, breakfast, cat, Chloe, Clif Bars, Clif Energy Bloks, dog, driving, Giveaway, Life, Nature Valley, oatmeal bake, packing, ramekin, road trips, Shadow, Snacks