Facebook memories are always good for reminding you what you were doing on this day in 2008. For me, bringing up a snowy weather forecast on the week before Christmas in 2009. Another was spotting the joy in everyday situations during the pandemic year of 2020.

In today’s blog, I’m going back to 2019. It was a time when I had big plans for my newly launched platform. I put together a list of ten things people should know about my blog as a PowerPoint presentation. I didn’t do this as a speech but for my own personal records. My blog was new and I should learned early on that everyone starts small. That’s what I said in my speech when I commemorated the five year anniversary on my blog in my speech on November 20.

Just as I got excited about 2020 and hoped that it would be a repeat of the previous year, life happened. COVID hit and everything was cancelled. I still blogged but I came back down to earth and cut my content down to 15 or 16 posts a month. That’s still a lot of content but in early 2020, I was on cloud nine. By the end of the year, I was doing very little content.

The excitement that I built up in 2019 was fleeting and I should have seen the warning signs. No one knew a pandemic was coming though. I was excited and a little too overconfident. I shot too high in January and February and got myself burned but I was still determined, nonetheless.

Even though I didn’t stick to the original script, I’ve been very successful with my blog. It’s more of a day in the life platform though I’d love to do other things as my life isn’t that interesting. That makes it hard to find good content to post sometimes.

This blog was developing while everything was shut down. One thing I could have done with it would be to provide an encouraging word or write a blog post once a week. I’d do this just to remind people that it’s OK to be afraid.

I went through my seasons during the initial stages of the pandemic. These coincided with my Toastmasters journey just after I achieved my Distinguished Toastmaster award. These also tie in to my journey as well. If you know you know.

Five years and 700 blogs later, I’m pleased with how this writing journey has turned out. Can I do better? Absolutely. Is there anything I wouldn’t change? Well, they always say to be true to yourself and not to change for anyone.

As I prepare my speech Wednesday, I’ll take that feedback and apply it to make my blog stand out more.

700 blogs and writing!

Saturday, I had a night off. So, I took advantage of a free night and the forecast, which was rain-free, and drove to Ligonier. I wanted to see the Ligonier Diamond all lit up at Christmas. I made my way towards town on PA 711 and driving up Market I was pleased to see the beautiful white lights adorning the gazebo.

The Christmas Tree was up and the presents were underneath it. I missed light up night on Black Friday wasn’t too disappointed. I’d been to Ligonier earlier in the Fall to walk around town.

It’s a treat to come up here during the holidays, whether it’s during the day or at night. I was up here a lot during COVID and spent a lot of time in the Diamond. Here is a small photo dump of Ligonier from Saturday and from past trips over the years.

The Top Ten of 2024 will be out next Saturday Coincidentally, it will also be my 200th blog of the year. I have begun listing some of the events in my life that made news for me in 2024. There is a change from the previous top ten countdowns that I’ve done. I’m not writing a detailed post for every event. If you want to know more, then I’ll post either the link or the day that the blog post was published.

The Top Ten post will be pictures only. They do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and so I wanted to try this instead. I’ll write a sentence or two describing the “event”

Thank you for your time and continued support of my blog.

Through the power of social media, I pick up quite a bit when it comes to Toastmasters news in my District. Even when I can’t attend.

On Wednesday night, District 13’s oldest club celebrated a huge milestone during their meeting. The Pittsburgh Toastmasters club 144 turned 85 years old. They meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month in Mount Lebanon. The club has had much success, including finishing Select Distinguished in 2023-24. They had met in Bridgeville at the library but due to changes, relocated to Mount Lebanon. Pittsburgh is a hybrid club that meets in person and online. Some of the district’s best were also in attendance including a Past International Director and some Past District Governors/Directors. Many past and present members attended and lots of stories were shared. There was a lot to celebrate looking back at the past, present, and future. I wasn’t able to be there, but I was there in spirit.

In other news, the penultimate Holiday Baking Championship was as good as advertised with great challenges and amazing twists. Jesse Palmer is quite the comedian, having greeted the six remaining bakers in his Christmas pajamas. The judges wearing their PJs was also gold, especially Nancy Fuller, who slayed it in all red.

Monday night is the Finale, which we’ll watch on Thursday night as my family and I have things going on next week. There couldn’t be a better Baking Fab Five to root for as they compete for the title of Holiday Baking Champion. There’s two I like who are in the Final, and one whom you can’t get rid of. She continues to stave off elimination and is a dark horse to win the Holiday Baking final.

After a busy stretch, it’s back to Christmas movies this week. I want to watch The Santa Clause since I missed it last year as well as both Christmas Story films. I may watch the original on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Of course, I still have some shopping to do as well before I begin the process of wrapping next week.

Last night, our Laurel Highlands Toastmasters group had a different approach to their meeting. Instead of our usual agenda, we had a brainstorming session to think of ways to grow membership. It was like a round table and different clubs were represented including Laurel Highlands, Western Maryland, Greensburg, and Monroeville. We talked about ways to promote Laurel Highlands (and our clubs) including having chili before our January 14 meeting at Laurel Highlands. I talked some of the refreshments we had at socials following our Campus Crusade meetings (a blast from the past). We have speaking roles lined up for January at Laurel Highlands.

I finished my Dynamic Leadership path in September. In one of my speeches in level 5, I talked about some of the seasons that I experienced after I earned my Distinguished Toastmasters award in 2019.

If things were always meant to be easy, then they aren’t worth the trouble. I say that about my Toastmasters journey and also my fashion journey. It’s so easy to give up when either things don’t go the way you want them to or when the critics have their say. One thing that I’m still learning is that I need to validate myself and not depend so much on approval from other people. I think I had a breakthrough on Saturday at Club Officer Training though it all depends on me too.

Queer Eye is back and starting their ninth season. This season, the Fab Five is in Las Vegas 🎰 and they are welcoming their new design expert, Jeremiah Brent. I think that Jeremiah will be a welcome addition to an amazing group that I’ve been watching since 2022. The show began in Spring 2018 and is the sequel to the original 2003 Queer Eye that aired on Bravo. Jeremiah replaces Bobby Berk who has moved on to other projects. He and his husband Nate Berkus are well known in the design community. As always, I’ll watch one episode a week. With ten episodes for season nine, I will be watching into February.

Finally, it’s the last two weeks of the Holiday Baking Championship with the Finale set for Monday. We’ll watch it later in the week but I am hoping for a great end to the baking season. So far, it’s looking very exciting as the heat is on (no pun intended) to see who the Holiday Baking Champion will be.

Monday night marked the end of my holiday vacation. Fall will be over soon. The trees are bare and Pumpkin Spice has given way to Peppermint Mocha. So now what do I have to look forward to? With the Hershey trip and Trans Siberian Orchestra in my rear view mirror, the Countdown to Christmas is on!

Schedule permitting and weather permitting because it is December, I hope to attend a few end of year parties at a couple of the clubs in the District. On Monday, Cranberry High Noon will have their yearly Tastemasters meeting. This is where the members bring something to share and talk about it. I attended last year as well as the year before COVID. Johnstown is having a Christmas party next Tuesday. They won’t have a meeting on the 24th because it’s Christmas Eve. If I’m available next Monday or Tuesday, I might go to one of the parties.

My home life is busy right now, as we’re getting ready for Christmas. Mom is baking cookies and I’m thinking about making Chex Mix. With a lot of sweets on the lineup, I plan on making mine savory.

I’ve been invited to Christmas dinner again this year. Last December my adopted family asked me if I’d be interested in eating Turkey on Christmas. Jumping at the opportunity, I said yes. We had a great time last year and everyone was happy to see me. I won’t have to rush out like last year and I might buy something nice that I’ll slay in.

Finally, I’m closing in on 200 blogs for the year and, at the rate I’m going, I’ll have it done before Christmas. Coming into October, this feat still seemed impossible to get. While getting to 140 would have been good enough, I wanted to make 2024 an exceptional year.

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with enough content to fulfill my goals on. But, it’s safe to say that I got this.