Sixteen Candles

12:13 am this morning marked my birth 16 years ago.

Being the 80's movie lover that I am, would you expect any less? But actually something like this had better happen today...

As usual, I'll spend the day at band camp collecting birthday wishes from my fellow band geeks as well as processing the overwhelming response that I'll get from my facebook friends. I'll get to have dinner and cake with my family and spend the day with my best friends and, honestly, what more could I want?
The very idea that I'm turning 16 scares me a bit. I'm pretty sure the last time I checked I was 10 so what happened to make me so old and teenager-y? I used to always watch movies and see sixteen-year-olds and think that they were so old and mature and now I'm about to be one of them...where does time go?
I bet my parents are wondering the same thing
xoxo
HBM

Happy Birthday to Twirl

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of this blog.
I really want to limit how much reading you all will have to do but i can't make any promises...

happy birthday to us!

Originally, this blog was a virtual magazine. Before "Twirl" mag, it was "Ruffles and Wallpaper" mag, and even before that, it was "(In) Parenthesis" mag. (read more history on the about page)
This blog has been the most successful. Although this seems like almost nothing, we have 13 followers on GFC which hasn't even been up for most of the time, get at least 1 comment on every post, have 5000+ views on the blog, and more followers on our other forms of social networking. You may not think that it's a lot or even something to be excited about, but i always get excited when i see we have a comment or a new follower. It's just nice to know people out there are actually reading and seeing the work that gets put into this blog.
Even more than the actual blog, i feel my style has matured as well as my writing. I am more able to get my thoughts across to you readers and i am more confident about the outfits i put together on a daily basis. Do i still envy the women who can go shopping on a daily basis? I probably always will, but i am steadily building up my wardrobe anyways.
Likewise, picture quality is much improved from this:

to this:

preview for a future outfit post

Which is a big improvement...
Blogging has also introduced me to the blogs of very talented people. Everyone i follow (bloglovin has my everyday reading list) is extremely talented with their style and/or DIY projects and/or recipes. They are inspiring and by reading something inspirational, i am therefore motivated to continue to improve or come up with new post ideas. It's a lovely cycle that i hope to continue for a while.
Speaking of which, i'm sure that those who remember the infant days of the blog also remember C.C and Aspen who had a lot going on this year and couldn't blog too much as well as Sky and Amour who continue to post here and there but are also very busy. Much more busy than i am. I promise you haven't heard the last of them...really. Amour is in a lovely country right now probably lounging on the beach and Sky is taking midterms and finals for the AP Chemistry summer course along with the other torturous work the school gives us over summer "break".  I have to get to that work at some point but as you can see, i procrastinate by posting on here.

Last Note:
I don't really know what google reader is, but it shut down today. I'm pretty sure that just means the RSS feed is gone so one would have needed to back up the blogs they follow via RSS on a different site. You can always follow twirl on bloglovin, instagram, and pinterest (which i am super behind on). I don't know most of the details on this whole "shut down" thing, but i'm trying to make the transition as easy as possible!

I may have forgotten something, i doubt it, but if i did, i will be sure to include it in a future post
thanks for a fantastic year!
xoxo
Birdy on behalf of the entire twirl team