It's My 1st Blog Anniversary!! + Giveaway!!

Happy Birthday to The Bottom of the Ironing Basket.....one year old today!!!

I really can't believe it's been a whole year....time obviously does fly when you are enjoying yourself as much as I have been.

I started so cautiously, really not having any idea what direction I was going to go in....and gradually a style emerged and it all became clearer.....I was a real blogger!

One of the best things about blogging sometimes is surprising yourself, creating something that you had no idea was within you....and that certainly applies to me. We all tend to label ourselves, consciously or subconsciously, and think that we can't do certain things or that we aren't very good at them. When I look at my blog today, I feel really proud of it - mainly because I really never thought that I had it in me - and if you had told me a year ago that I had, I would have thought you were quite mad!

Having so much encouragement and support along the way has been just fantastic, it would be quite impossible to thank everyone and to say just how wonderful it has made me feel....

My blog would never have begun without the inspiration of my friend Kim, hers was the first blog I had ever read, or seen, and it was she, along with my good friends Lori, Ziz and Marj, who told me to just give it a try. 

I have to also mention some other bloggers who have been with me since the very beginning....Tracy , Millie , Jenni , Caroline and the lovely Jackie....

Simone , DustjacketAttic, Meredy and Becky were right behind them and they continue to be my constant cheerleaders!

So many people have been very kind to me and I hope that I have been supportive and kind in return....that, to me, is what blogging is about....giving credit and praise where it is due, spreading the word, being positive and offering a friendly word (or twenty....I am not very good at writing short comments!!)

I could go on but suffice it to say that I love my blog, really love it.....I will touch on some of my favourite blog-posts later in the week....but I love that it gives me an opportunity to share something of myself and of the things that I love.  It has definitely given me a clearer sense of myself and my own style.....best of all, it has given me something that I didn't know I needed - but now that, I have it, I realise that it was missing all the time! If that makes any sense!! 

As I have already said, so many people have said some very touching and lovely things to me but one which really stayed with me was from the fantastically funny and clever JennyMac over at Let's Have A Cocktail.....Jenny simply said to me (on my birthday a few weeks ago)

"You are your best work so far Simone"  

Life is a work in progress....and these last  few years have seen some changes for my family and I, with some more to come......and actually, Jenny's words meant a great deal to me.

Isn't it amazing how words from someone you have never met, the other side of the Atlantic, can be so exactly what you needed and had been waiting to hear....Jenny knows it meant a lot to me because I told her so....but thank you again.

Anyway....

It is a celebration soooooooo......EACH AND EVERY DAY this week, I shall be giving away something very lovely to one lucky winner!!  Woo hoo!! Sometimes 24 hours is just not long enough so I am making a week of it!

To win you just need to be a follower of my blog and to leave me a comment - you can blog about it on your blog if you want or you can keep it to your own special little self :)

Winners will be drawn next Saturday and I will announce them next Monday 24 May....

Monday's Giveaway will be.....

....a set of these GORGEOUS "LOVE" pillows from Cox and Cox*

Thank you to everyone for reading, commenting on and enjoying my blog, it has been an enormous pleasure meeting you all.

Happy Monday!!

*(remember also that Cox and Cox are offering all readers of my blog a 10% discount until the end of May, quote SA05 at checkout)