Happy Blog Birthday!

Hat tip to Sandy Renshaw and ImageChef for this celebratory image!
Celebrations of happy milestones - like births, graduations, weddings, store openings - tend to be a big deal. Not only from a personal perspective, but also from a larger perspective.

The birth of Flooring The Consumer took place on June 27, 2006, and - as when my daughter was born - I have been keenly aware of each monthly milestone. Twelve months originally seemed so far into the future, and, yet, here it is.

As with my daughter's, I have learned from Flooring The Consumer's milestones -- especially since so many of them happened because of YOU who helped, encouraged, contributed, challenged, commented, subscribed and read!

This blog's latest milestones - happening on the heels of Diva Marketing's Biz Blog Profile Series: Flooring The Consumer, Wear-Dated - include becoming:

+ A Successful and Outstanding Blog SOB, and
+ A QaQnA Mug Club Winner

Thank you, Liz Strauss and Tom Vander Well. Flooring The Consumer is in unbelievably company! I proudly display your badges!

This blog journey has been filled with the unexpected. Yet, I think it has only just begun!

I expected it to be anonymous, rather than personal as Toby Bloomberg, Liz Strauss, Harry Joiner, Matt Dickman, Mark Goren, Lori di Magno, Marijean Jaggers, Kristin Gumper, Mary Hunt and Yvonne DiVita demonstrated.

I expected it to be distant. But, CK, Valeria, David Reich, Steve Woodruff, Fard Johnmar, David Polinchock, and Lewis Green proved otherwise, making it quite local.

I certainly didn't expect it to be so global as Reshma Anand, Laurence Helene Borel, Katie Chatfield, Daria Rasmussen and others have made it.

I never expected to find as much early encouragement as Mike Sansone [get better soon!], Maria Palma, and Drew McLellan shared with me.

I never expected the Bathrooom Blogfest '06 to be as much fun. Thanks, Stephanie Weaver and Susan Abbott. Anyone [especially women bloggers] interested in participating in the upcoming Bathroom Blogfest, please let Stephanie and Susan know. I guarantee that it will be a blast!

I hoped for inspiration, but found much more than I ever could have hoped for from Tammy Vitale, Elizabeth Perry, Robyn McMaster and others.

I only dreamed about roping in my associates, and yet Marianne Cone willingly contributed multiple articles and photos, as did several of our Wear-Dated Representatives.

And, then, there have been unusual blog experiments [e.g., the Z List and the 2000 Bloggers], as well as serious ones [Todd And's Power Marketing 150, Viral Garden's Top 25 Marketing Blogs, the Graduates E-Book and the soon to be released Age of Conversation project that Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan have masterminded].

I expected this to be a solo journey, and have instead discovered a vibrant community that stretches around the world like a silken spider's web.

I expected this to be somewhat of a chore. Instead it is a source of constant delight, adding dimension and additional perspective, for example, to MarketingProfs.com webinar sessions with David Armano and Greg Verdino, and many others.

And - although I hoped - I wasn't sure whether the flooring community would embrace Flooring The Consumer, and yet it has. In fact, in the same issue of FCW that 'Welcome to My Home' appears, Chris Ramey from the Florida Luxury Marketing Council identifies me in his article as a 'thought leader' alongside several others in the industry I respect greatly. Wow!

This has been an awesome first blog year. It sets the stage for the next one during which I promise a flooring related meme! Intensely jazzy flooring toe taps of delight underscore how happy I am to be involved in all of this.

Thank you one and all!

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