I'm speechless

I told myself I wasn't going to get all sappy today, but darnit, it happened anyway.

Today I hit 1,000 followers (and a huge thanks to HeyItsJ for being my 1,000th follower! Yay!). If you're not into Google Friend Connect, either as a blogger or as a reader, this might not mean much to you. But if you do use Google Friend Connect, I hope you can understand that I'm really blown away and it feels like a pretty big milestone.

But I don't want this post to be about me today. Because really, it's not. It's always been about YOU, my readers. You're what keep me going, you're what give me the incentive to wake up and write new posts, and you're the reason this blog even exists.  I know that I've been horrible about responding to comments over the last few months, and for that I really want to apologize. I realize it takes effort to leave a comment on this blog, and I appreciate your comments more than you will ever know. I only wish I could respond to each one every single day, but sometimes life gets in the way and makes it impossible. But hopefully I'll be more on top of it soon because I absolutely adore chatting with each and every one of you.

Which brings me to Twitter! What a great, diverse beauty community we've got going on these days on Twitter, right? There are so many amazing beauty bloggers and readers who have reached out to me on Twitter over the past year, it makes me giddy! If Twitter didn't exist, I would never in a million years have the friendships I have today with so many amazing women (and men). It has enhanced my blogging experience (and my life in general) tenfold. So if you ever want to chat or ask me a question, and you don't get a response here on my blog, please, by all means follow me on Twitter and chat with me that way! Hopefully I'm better at responding to tweets because I can do that anywhere on my phone. :)

It's so weird how things come together in life.  The entire reason I started this blog was because a dear former colleague of mine urged me to start one. A group of us girls used to chat about makeup at work and I became a sort of "go-to" person for makeup and beauty advice. So this one friend in particular kept urging me to start a blog, and if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here writing this post to you today, so thank you from the bottom of my heart, dear friend (you know who you are!).

And speaking of the strange ways in which life works, in the past two weeks I've written my 1,000th blog post, hit my 1,000th blog follower, and also hit my 1000th follower on Twitter.  How bizarre is that? I sort of like to think of it this way:  In every blog post I write, I pour my heart and soul into it. So maybe I earned a single follower with each blog post.  I know that's not how it really worked, but it's a nice thought. :)

So for whatever reason you have chosen to follow me and read this blog, whether it be because you like to know about coupons, or sales, or new drugstore makeup, or nail polish, or maybe you just like the combination of things I present to you on a daily basis, I thank you.  From the very bottom of my heart, I thank you. I've had some tough times in my personal life over the past year, and the one shining thing that always seems to get me through it all, is that I know I can come here, write about silly makeup, and know that there's a group of people who are just as interested about it as I am. It warms my heart to share so much in common with you, because you are AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and INTELLIGENT and KIND and GENEROUS, and I learn things from you every single day.  

You bring me such happiness--I could never begin to think of a way to repay you.  But OH! That's right! I mentioned this on Twitter so I need to mention it here as well: In honor of my 1,000th follower I've got the mother of all giveaways that I'll be posting tomorrow--you do NOT want to miss this. It will be open to followers of this blog only, since it's a reader-appreciation giveaway. I know I've hosted some pretty great giveaways in the past, but this one is REALLY special because I was lucky enough to select the products myself from an amazing sponsor that you all know and love.

Thank you from the very bottom of my heart for making me a small part of your lives for the past year and a half. I love you all (except for the trolls who occasionally leave pointless, mean-spirited comments--you, I can do without. LOL).

G. xoxo