blogiversary

i have an anniversary to celebrate today. no, not my wedding anniversary. that arrives in august along with three birthdays in the space of seven days. the anniversary i’m celebrating today is my blogiversary. yup, one year ago almost to the day I posted my first ootd and let me tell you it’s been a wild ride ever since. at the time I knew nothing about blogging other than the desire to write one. some of you might be curious as to why I even started a blog to begin with but that’s a story fit for another day. today i wanted to give you a jet tour of the past twelve months. let’s start with my very first outfit of the day that went live on tumblr where i initially set up shop March 20th, 2014 . the picture was titled <step into spring>

 our sweet english bulldog, buster, was still alive and joined us for pictures here and there. yes, we’ve always loved dogs in our family and previously owned two english sheepdogs, one bouvier, two english bulldogs, and now, of course, oscar. one manx cat named john joined the mix for many years. each one has a special place in our hearts.

my husband has been behind the lens of the camera since day one, but it immediately became apparent to my children that the photo quality just wasn’t up to par, and chipped in for a spectacular camera for his birthday in may – a canon eos rebel that has made a dramatic improvement with my photos. thank you, boys! you can begin to see the difference with the photo quality. the pictures became so good that when i posted this photo on july 7th much to my astonishment my blog was picked as a ‘trending’ blog on tumblr. thank you, tumblr!

when tumblr plucked me from the crowd and plastered my blog on the first page i only had a handful of followers . at the time i was just pretty darn happy and proud that i was consistently coordinating an outfit of the day and faithfully posting them. but after my husband phoned me back in july to inquire if i had been paying attention to my blog  i quickly loaded my tumblr account and saw that i had gained more than 1,000 followers in an hour?! i didn’t even know that was possible until my oldest son soon called and patiently explained what going viral was. that evening i finally arrived back home and saw two of my children who reside in san francisco camped out on my couch, eyes glued to my tumblr account, taking screenshots, texting their friends, and spewing social media advice in my direction. my husband on the other hand had taken a much different approach to the situation and had taken it upon himself to vet each and every one of my new followers one-by-one. it wasn’t long before he burst into the living room and announced rather loudly that i was going to shut down my tumblr account – immediately. my photos had just popped up on several, um, shall we say, x-rated blogsites. for those of you who aren’t familiar with tumblr it is akin to the wild west in the blogsphere. once your post is up anyone/anywhere can reblog your photos at anytime. it is a public domain after all. after much debate and discussion my husband grudgingly allowed ‘style at a certain age’ to move forward. whew! but now the pressure was on. i now had over 7,000 followers that were going to tune in to my next ootd, and suddenly i didn’t have a thing to wear. after agonizing through several outfits this is what i posted. 

so, after all of the hullabaloo of trending on tumblr, my husband and i quickly got back into the groove of taking my ootd, and on most days we’re having a ball. sometimes he complains that my eyes are shut in way too many pictures, but then i pop my sunglasses on and problem solved. soon i was trying out some new looks with hats, a pair of shorts from the marimekko collection, but still throwing in my favorite look of all-time – old school prepster.

after being on the hunt for a new hairstylist since january ’14 after my previous stylist became engaged and upped and moved to new york with her fiancee (apparently they’re allowed to have personal lives) and suffering through not one but two haircut disasters  –  i found a new hairstylist and sported a new do. karmen keeps me looking fab! thank you, karmen. and lo and behold my blog was picked again by tumblr as a ‘trending’ blog and once more my blog was plastered on the front page of tumblr squeezed between NBC nightly news and Ellen. wow, thanks, again, tumblr staff.

my husband and i continued to head out several times a week and shoot my daily ootd photos. we’re somewhat known around our neighborhood these days and even our postman loves to chat with us about ‘style at a certain age.’ in november tragedy struck when we lost our beloved english bulldog, buster, due to a congenital heart condition. he went on his last walk with my husband one afternoon in early november, and his heart finally gave out on him. i was so thankful i was home and had a chance to say goodbye. we miss you buddy!

right before christmas a friend mentioned a dog rescue association and when i went online to look at the pups a german shepherd litter who had just lost their mother was up for adoption. after several emails back-and-forth we hopped in the car to meet oscar, and fell in love. he is eight weeks old in this photo.

my blog was picked twice more in december as a trending blog on tumblr. thank you, again, tumblr, and i kept picking out outfits and accessories and my husband kept taking the photos while my children continued to cheer me on every step of the way. 2015 arrived and i decided it was time to take my blog mainstream into the .com arena. so with the help of my oldest son we built a new website powered by wordpress and hosted by bluehost. i’ve been on a learning curve these past few weeks since we launched the site and have wrangled with new terms such as ‘plugins,’ ‘links,’ ‘subsriptions,’ but i’m more or less getting the hang of it, and now i have the pleasure of meeting all sorts of new friends that don’t have a tumblr account. oh sure, i’m still on tumblr, and instagram, and i finally figured out how to create a public facebook page (sometimes i’m a little slow) and i’m still posting my ootd’s, i try to answer your questions and comments as they come my way, thanks, readers, for dropping me a note. but most of all i’m having Fun with a capital F with my blog! so here’s a big kiss from me to all of my readers, everywhere, that have tuned in and joined me with this crazy journey of mine. i’m looking forward to the next twelve months.

xxoo beth

Beth Djalali

is the Founder and CEO of Style at a Certain Age. She writes Sundays-Fridays on all topics ranging from fashion, health, wellness, home design and more.

She’s 65, 5’8, and size 8.

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