This month marks the start of my fourth year of writing A Pretty Penny. [Note to self: order celebratory cupcakes.]

When I think of how long it’s been, part of me feels a little panicky (where is the time going?!) but a bigger part is impressed that I haven’t thrown in the towel! Besides 8 years spent with a violin glued to my chin — I was first chair in high school; hashtag: humble brag — this is the longest I’ve ever committed to a creative outlet. Considering my short attention span with other artistic ventures (scrapbooking, beading, and guitar, to name a few off the top of my head) it’s surprising that I made it past the first 12 months. But incredibly, I haven’t had a moment yet when I thought, “maybe it’s time to put this thing to bed.”

Over three years and about 650 posts, I’ve documented hundreds of outfits, a several-year-long awkward hair grow-out, lots of DIY projects and recipes,  some personal stories of highs and lows, and probably too many photos of my dog.

Blogging is a funny thing. In real life, I’d never stand up and give a speech to thousands of people; but here I am spilling my guts and plastering images of myself all over these pages on a semi-regular basis. Over the years, no matter how “big” the blog gets, I’ve tried to keep things light and stay true to my original intent for A Pretty Penny — a space to share my love of real-life style on a real-life budget, without putting a ton of pressure on myself to post every day or go broke trying to recreate editorial outfits.

I’ve been really lucky to do fun collaborations with huge companies like Target, jcpenney, and HTC, my mug was featured in InStyle magazine, and I’ve worked with lots of great brands and start-ups over the years. I’m so grateful for every opportunity that’s arisen from this blog, and for the friendships I’ve made around the world because of it.

Mostly, I’m thankful for YOU. I remember how exciting it was to hit my first 100 subscribers, and then my first 1000. Now we’re featured in WordPress.com’s Recommended Blogs for fashion. I mean…

Thank you for reading A Pretty Penny. Thank you times a million. Here’s to year four!

{ Wearing: LC Lauren Conrad polka dot skinnies (SIMILAR) | Target high-low top | Seychelles loafers | Romeo & Juliet Couture bag }