Blogtober day 4 - favorite instagram photo

So Day 4 of #blogtober14 is favorite photo you posted on instagram...

Let's be real here. I'm a bit obsessed with insta. I didn't have an iphone or android until December 2012, and as soon as I got one, I jumped on the IG bandwagon. I'm an #oversharer to the max, so I have a ton of pictures! I'm going to limit myself for Day 4 to favorite photo on instagram for THIS YEAR only. And because I couldn't pick just one...

...I picked my top 9! Here they are (in really no particular order except for my #1)

#9

car selfie with my hubby on the way to my favorite thing - dinner!

#8

Girlfriends by the Austin sign!

#7

Morning bike ride with my pup! 

#6

I just posted this last weekend, but I love this casual selfie!

#5

Again, another from last weekend! Girlfriends and I at Cowboys Stadium. 

#4

My sweet littlest niece and I at my birthday dinner!

#3

My biggest niece being silly for the camera!

#2

Another candid shot from a walk around WRL with my baby girl doggie!

#1

My husband, my house, and my tree! Love this one and the perfect lighting. ;)

Join us here for #blogtober14!

Our year in review, Insta-style!

I'm a little behind in my game, but I wanted to do this recap for you guys as well as for myself to look back on next year! It's so fun to remember what happened in a year's time, I can only imagine what will happen in 2014!

I don't have a good camera of my own, so I rely on Instagram to store my data. Follow along with me in 2014!

January

We said goodbye to my 2002 Chevy Cavalier as it met it's demise late one night...

Spent countless hours with girlfriends watching Sean on The Bachelor!

Took lots of walks through Winnetka Heights with my best girl by my side.

February

Bought my first car and accepted an interior design job!

Saw Madea face to face at the grocery store...

...and celebrated a night with the girls for Emily's going away party!

March

Mark and I explored our sweet little neighborhood at Hunky's burgers,

spent time with family for Easter...

...and I soaked up the fun at my new job.

April

I took my first (of 5) trips to Las Vegas,

had a fun girls night for Terra's bachelorette party in Houston....

...and visited New York on a business trip!

May

Mark and I spent time at the ballpark with Corgan, 

I had girl time at a favorite local spot, Joe T. Garcia's....

....and we went to Terra and Daniels' beautiful wedding!

June

Corgan had a fun bi-annual party at the Perot Museum, 

I traveled to the client's home in Las Vegas once again....

....and we surprised everyone when we bought our first home!!!

July

We explored the outdoors,

Had girly date nights at Urban Crust...

....and started this here blog. :)

August

We revamped and moved into our house, 

Packed up the apartment....

...and had lots of pool time with these people as well as others!

September

Mark and I made the trip to New Orleans for a friend's wedding, 

bought a new sofa...

...and met my cousin's baby, Kate!

October

We got sweet seats to a Cowboy's game,

Rachel visited for a week....

...and had the first annual scarf exchange!

November

We celebrated our first year of marriage on November 10th, 

went camping as much as we could...

....and gutted our kitchen!

December

We had a fun time at home during 'icemaggedon', 

bought our first REAL Christmas tree...

...and revealed our kitchen renovation!

We had a TON of fun this year and I am so excited to see what 2014 brings us. Let's hope I can recount next year on this very same blog! Thank you everyone that has been reading since July, I'm so proud of myself for making it this far! Here's to 2014!!!

My first 'day off' and another Blogtember post

I'm putting aside the worries that I'll sound like an old diary post and saying that I'm sorry I haven't written! I only missed one day, but I know how miffed I get when one of my favorite bloggers (not that I'm anyone's favorite blogger by ANY stretch of the imagination...) skips a day or - God forbid - goes on vacation. It's not a good feeling. So, here I am, and I'll try to make this post extra good!

I'm joining up with Jenni today through her Blogtember linkup and sharing how blogging and social media has changed me.

Granted, I've only been blogging for about 2 1/2 months, but I can already tell the effect it's having on me. I started this blog with the intention of sharing parts of our home renovation, and look how far I've strayed in two short months! I have to say, though, that I'm happy with the organic change my blog has taken on. I like being free to write about what I want without the guilt of not sharing a DIY or house update every day. When I have them, I share them, and when I don't, I just use this space of the internet as my little place to share my thoughts! Pretty pictures, too.

I never thought of myself as the writing type. I've sworn up and down that I'm a more math-centered brain, and I still stand by that, but I won't shut out the creative writing side of me, either. I might feel like I'm stretching and trying to form decent sentences every time I write, but I think it's good exercise and I think this little bloggy here has helped me to come out of my shell a bit and just write what I'm feeling and thinking.

Blogging has also given me purpose throughout my day. I take more pictures, find a story in the little things, and even try to dress better in the rare chance I participate in a WIWW. I hope that the adventure continues to inspire me, because I need that to keep me going, blog or no blog.

Social media has played a HUGE role in my life over the last oh....8 years. Yep, I joined facebook when I was 18, before I even went to college. My sister was already in college and kept talking about Facebook and as soon as I got my acceptance letter and email from SFA, I signed up. Yes, children, those were the days that you had to be in college to use Facebook. After that it was MySpace, AIM, words with friends, and now Instagram. I chose (wisely, I think) to skip the whole Twitter thing. I know a lot of bloggers use it but luckily I haven't felt the need to fold to it, yet.

(one of) my first photos on Facebook. This was about a year in. I think I deleted multiple other albums, phew!

...and according to Facebook, this was one of the first pictures I was tagged in. Marked October 27th, 2005! Baby Diana...times two!

One of my favorite things about Facebook was having all of my photos on my profile and using it as a virtual photo album. That, of course, turned in to a massive amount of oversharing but I'm able to look back at a lot of photos and laugh or remember good times. My love of photos of course transferred over to Instagram: the perfect app for me. No, really. I love me some Instagram. It's easy to use, browse, and navigate and I LOVE IT. I do, however, mostly post photos of my dog and food, but it serves its purpose.

My first Instagram post! Yep, only been with this game for 40 weeks. 

Just editing a 'selfie' (new word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, check it) to post a teaser for this very blog post! Talk about cheap advertising...

I think social media and blogging in general is starting a whole new generation. Everything is now literally in the palm of our hands and we tend to be adapting well to the never ending change. I can't wait to see what's next!