Tia's 50th Duo Diaries Post!

it's me and I'm amazed!

TIA HERE and I can hardly believe it. We are a few months away from DD's first birthday, and I have already hit a milestone of my own when it comes to the blog. This is my 50th post! Who knew that my relationship with this crazy website would last this long? (I did, or at least I hoped it would.)

Before realizing I was about to hit this mark, I was going to make my 50th post about advice I wished I had known as a Cornell freshman. Don't worry, that's still coming, but I figured it would be better to take a little time out of my day to appreciate how far this blog has come. Although it hasn't even been a year, I feel like so much has changed since I began writing posts and editing videos for DD. Owning a blog that publicly displays your face and personality for all the world to see demands a type of bravery that I didn't think I had. Unlike with vlogs, which I've been throwing together since high school, a blog requires confidence in one's own writing ability. When you're an English major, writing is the most important thing in your life—and therefore the most terrifying. Working on this blog has given me the strength not to fear mistakes and immaturity (at least in my skills), and has given me the opportunity to look back and see improvement—to learn.

Perhaps most importantly, this blog has given me the amazing opportunity to share. I heard once that what we do as an adult is really all an elaborate homage to our childhood selves. Creating this blog makes me believe that's true. As a lost, nervous, little middle schooler and high schooler, I would have loved to see the kind of blog I've created today. I would've admired the videos and eaten up the advice and scoured each page for a little more detail on what the future could be like for me. (Regardless, of course, that my past-self would have known that the blog was laying out her future to come.) I hope the scattered advice and writing I've put together on this blog helps at least one person feel a little happier, or a little more certain, or a little more excited for the future. That would be an amazing impact to have.

But let's not get too sentimental. This is not the end of DD—in fact, it's pretty much the beginning. I have so much planned for this summer, from videos, to posts, to anything I can think of, and I can't wait to start writing, editing, and sharing my experiences and opinions with the internet yet again. So whether you come from Facebook, Tumblr, or Google (I see the stats! I know where you've arrived from!), I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I've enjoyed making it.

So here's to better and better posts, and the bright sunny future of Duo Diaries! To see all of my posts in one place, click here, and shout out (as always) to Janabeth, our number one fan. (And Q, in close second.)

For more, check out Tia's new blog!

Much love,

T.