Today marks my 100th blog post on Stylish. That’s nothing new for me, but the countdown is officially on. That is, the countdown to my thousandth blog post. The milestone shall be set sometime before the end of the month.
This blog posts looks back on when it started. It’ll highlight some of the events that took place during that time. Finally, I’ll talk about my plans going forward once I post the big one.
I started to post regularly in November of 2019. It was in a hotel room on an overnight trip for my old job where I began posting regularly. I launched my current platform on New Year’s Eve and spun off a few blog posts from my original site (The Slippery Rock Toastmaster). It was a nice name but a little dated as I’d been out of college for a long time by this point. The blog underwent several name changes before I settled on Stylish.
The blog started off big in 2020 before life happened. I think you know what went down that Spring. I posted an entry every day in January and February. That number drastically came down in March but by about half. The lockdown and the pandemic eventually caught up to me. The adrenaline high that I was on wore off and I came crashing down as 2020 went on. I was getting used to the new normal in my workplace, in Toastmasters, and in life.
The next year brought with it some crazy events in my life. None moreso than the health scare I had just before Easter. It was one of many changes I dealt with that year, ending with me getting a new job close to home. I’ve talked about the events of this year so many times that they don’t need mentioning anymore. That Fall was the end of an era as I left WIS after 13 years.
2021 ended with me posting my 300th blog that Christmas Eve.
I posted a lot less in 2022, mainly because I didn’t have a better way of posting blogs. I didn’t want to wear out my phone and was in the market for a laptop. Thankfully my Allentown cousins learned of my plight and that Christmas I was gifted with a used laptop. To reward them, I gave them a Starbucks gift card with Chick-Fil-A for the boys. Even though I didn’t write as much, my mood improved as the year went on. I was getting used to Giant Eagle and I even got my first paid week off during the holidays.
That year was the start of the Children’s Hospital Era for the Somerset Gaffrons. We became familiar with the place as we were visiting quite often in the Summer of 2022 and most of 2023 and part of 2024. It was a new normal we had to get accustomed to but there was a nice Starbucks at the hospital so I got my coffee fix.
Content was small in the spring and I had a fixed amount through November. I hit 500 blogs in November and celebrated by talking about the recent Friendsgiving event I went to in the South Side.
Those early years of the blog coincided with the pandemic and getting used to terms like social distancing and having to wear masks. I recently got my Distinguished Toastmaster and wasn’t able to celebrate as the conference fell victim to the world shutting down. I was reluctant to do meetings online, though I did get the hang of zoom once I had my laptop. I just needed a webcam.
2024 was the breakout year for the blog. There were months when I posted 20 or more days. I ended the year with exactly 200 blog posts. That year is known for President Biden stepping down and his vice president was the one who would be running that Fall. I was so happy to vote for Kamala Harris. If you read that and want to unsubscribe from my blog, that’s fine. Of course the election didn’t go the way I wanted.
I was bent but certainly not broken. I spent that Friday after the election in Monroeville. I had my Gobblerito at Mad Max, checked out the Christmas trees at Michaels, and even went to Gabe’s to see what deals I could get. This busy season would eventually catch up to me in 2025 as I posted a little less. Still, I posted more than I have.
With the milestone blog post coming before the end of the month, it’s time to make a name change. I still have an amazing sense of style, but the journey has stalled. I have decided to touch it up by calling my blog and Instagram “James The Lifestyle Writer”.
It brings together a couple of the things I like to write and talk about. I’m excited to write about my upcoming Cape May trip and to share some of the best parts of my vacation.
Stylish 🍒 