So no one reads my blog yet. Actually, it is very likely that no one ever will (does my mom count? :-/) Which makes explaining why I am starting a blog a little awkward. 

                     crickets.

Let me make a tiny confession. At first, like most social media, blogging, to me, seemed foreign, strange, and even a little narcissistic. (Don't hate me yet long-time bloggers! Let me finish) I thought to myself-what reason do I have to start a blog? I'm not really an expert in anything. Who could possibly care what I have to say? 

In this train of thought, of course, I was missing the point of blogging all together. Blogging isn't an "all about me" or even a "look at me!" activity. For most people, at least, blogging is about contribution. In some blogs, these contributions come in concrete forms. Maybe recipes, or DIY activities, or new music. Some blogs offer more abstract contributions, like advice. Luckily, despite my stubbornness, some of my girlfriends pulled me over to the dark side. Both with their own blogs, and others they followed.  After crossing over to the dark side, finding myself reading blog after blog on every subject from cocktails to cockatiels, (okay not really, but that sounded pretty poetic. Actually to be honest, birds kind of freak me out-thank you Alfred Hitchcock.) I realized that the dark side wasn't actually dark at all. In fact, it was just the opposite. 

Every blog has something to offer. Because every blog speaks to the experience of those writing it. With every experience we encounter, we thread a connection to someone else in the world with a similar experience. We become more understanding, more open, and in my opinion, more interesting. 

So NOW, after all that RIF RAF, I can finally explain why I am starting a blog. (even my one guaranteed reader might have nodded off by now-MOM ARE YOU WITH ME????)

As a 22 year old female (I hate saying girl or woman. Both sound wrong. Luckily Britney Spears already stood on top of a mountain and articulated all of my feelings on this subject http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlV7RhT6zHs) I am navigating the difficult/awkward/exciting/terrifying process of figuring out who I want to be. I have an idea of what that person looks like and am going to try and chronicle the ways I am working to get there. So anyone who stumbles upon this blog, that is what you are going to be dealin with. But this is more for me,  a reference point to look back on and sometimes probably cringe, other times laugh, and maybe, hopefully, even be kind of proud.