One Year in Blogging: Heart to Heart~*

June 2011 marks my blog's first anniversary, hard to believe it has been a year. All those posts and countless hours rambling, venting, complaining and chatting aimlessly, I have found my precious and quiet sanctuary within this small corner of blogsphere. A place I call "another home for my soul".

Some of you may remember that I started this blog in a hope to temporarily escape from motherhood. After almost 17 months into a new role of being a mother, I couldn't handle my 24 hour motherly life any longer. I needed some kind of a break, emotionally. I do not have a luxury of having my parents, in-laws or a nanny to help whenever I need like some lucky moms out there and to top it off, my husband works in shift and we NEVER have the same days off in 6 YEARS. Kudos to all single parents, stay at home moms and military wives out there, I don't know how you do it - you are my heroes/heroines!!

Being a mother, you lost this big chunk in your life called "freedom, sanity, good night sleeps, romance and yourself" literally - but at the same time you discover the most amazing, one of a kind feeling called "an unconditional love". The kind of love you will NEVER understand or experience until you become a mother. You love someone so much that a single drop of her tear can break your heart...a small giggle can brighten your day. You feel guilty that you can't afford to be a stay at home mom and had to rely on a complete stranger to take care of your 6 week old baby and was worried all day long. You feel bad about not being able to stay with her to witness her new milestone everyday but you feel like you can't handle her terrible two behavior for another 5 seconds.

It truly is a "BIG" trade-off. An unrealistic mentality of "I-can-do-it-all" also put me in distress. I was completely lost, confused and couldn't find the right balance. I was a mom and that was the only identity I knew and wanted to be the best mom I could be. I could care less about fashion, makeup, my hair, purses, what Kim Kadashian is up to, vacation or the world around me. All I wanted to focus on were taking care my baby, making a marriage work, constantly keeping up with a never ending chores at home and working as a full time career woman while struggling to maintain my sanity. There are countless emotional breakdowns along the road but also laughter, happiness and joy - it is "life full of different flavors". I can say that I hate motherhood at times but I love my daughter every second if that makes sense.

A year later, I wish I could tell you I finally found the balance I was hoping for but I have yet to successfully get to that point, but things have been better than what it used to be. I learn to make a little time for myself even if it is just an hour and let go of things. It has been a fun and rewarding journey to say at least. I discover who I used to be and all the fun things I used to enjoy doing along with new found passion in photography and writing. The best part is to have found some of the sweetest bloggers who continuously pour the kind words of encouragement and support. So "thanks" to you for being here and taking the time to leave your comments. It means a lot, your presence and interaction sure makes blogging much more enjoyable than a one-way communication.

I have really enjoyed doing a secret giveaway and stop advertising it in a subject line. Hopefully, I will get to know new followers who are genuinely interested in my blog rather than the items. I am hosting my one year anniversary mini giveaway here, there are 2 items: two Smashbox pallettes (one for eye and one for lip). In fact three items, there is also an eye liners pallette but I wanted to keep that one for mysef - haha. Both are brand new and this giveaway ends Friday 6/24/2011 at midnight US central time.

Mandatory: You must be a follower of 52newdays to enter this giveaway, open internationally (1 point) - no need to leave your email. A winner will have to email me to claim her prize within 2 days or I will leave a comment on your blog upon an announcement.

Extra points - optional:

-Place a below banner on your blog and link back to this giveaway if you think my blog is worth spreading the word (1 point)

- Become a follower at my "Blog Sale by Nelah" (More items will be added soon, both clothes and makeup) (1 point)

Thanks for stopping by, as always