It's hard to believe it's been eight years since this site stopped being posted on, and close to five years since I stopped blogging. Time seems to go by unnoticed until you look back and realize that it's absolutely flown by at breathtaking speeds. I mentioned The American Girl Spot to my mom recently, and she said ''Oh, it seems like just last week you were doll blogging. How are you nineteen already?''
Yup. I'm nineteen now.
When I was younger, it always bugged me when bloggers would post a goodbye message and then disappear. I mean, granted, that's why one posts a goodbye message, but I would always wonder where they ended up. Where were they now? What were they doing? Finding an abandoned blog is like finding a time capsule full of moments frozen in time. An internet ant in digital amber, if you will. You can get such a deep impression of someone's personality through their posts, to the point where you almost feel like you know them in real life. I think bloggers assume people will forget about them soon after they stop posting, but at least in my experience, I still think of them even years later. So just in case any of y'all were wondering about me, I thought I'd come back just to say where I am now. Sadly, the WordPress site I migrated to no longer exists because angsty 15-year-old me decided it was ''cringe'' and then lost the site backup, but luckily, this site remained unscathed.
In many, many ways, blogging shaped the person I am now. I did it for fun, but looking back, I learned so many things and developed so many skills that sometimes I think I got more out of it than I did from all of middle school. In middle school, I learned scientific notation (haven't used that once). Through doll blogging, I learned website design, developed organizational skills, became a better writer and built something I was proud of. I had a thriving blog before I could legally drive. Not to toot my own horn here, but that's kinda epic. There's so many random skills that I didn't even realize I was learning- like writing emails and working with people digitally- that have come in so handy as I've started my adult life. On top of that, learning and using those skills was a huge confidence boost. By blogging, I learned that I could do things.
(funny aside- I once broke up with a guy because he had a youtube channel which he was convinced was just going to magically blow up and become his full time job one day without any kind of marketing, networking, etc. I kept trying to explain that you need to do those things, but he wouldn't listen. Eventually I got so annoyed I just ended things. Pretty sure he still has five subscribers total. Lovely guy, but not real practically minded.)
The fruits of this little project aren't limited to communication and management skills. I french braid my hair every night, which I learned to do by practicing on Ellie (she didn't have a part, which made it easier). I'm no Vogue model, but putting together outfits for my dolls certainly helped my develop my own sense of style, especially combining colors. Many of my dolls' outfits were handmade by me, which taught me pretty complex sewing skills like french seams and darts. When I decided to try making my own clothes, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't much harder than doll clothes- just bigger (though more tailoring is necessary...it's really convenient that all AG dolls are exactly the same size!).
So, where am I now? I'm a sophomore in college studying theology and philosophy. I love thinking about huge, cosmic things and wonder at the very fabric of reality. I like to step back and feel small against the sweeping breadth of the world, visible and invisible. So naturally I chose to make this strange pastime into an academic career for four years. And even though burnout, boredom and college growing pains are very real (Ptolemy. Please, please, if given the choice, do not study Ptolemaic astronomy. Just don't, you'll thank me later), I'm glad I chose it. I also have a pretty sweet job writing articles for my school's website (another opportunity doll blogging made possible). Post-graduation, my current plan is to go into marketing or graphic design, but we'll see where I end up. Ultimately, I want to get married and stay at home with my kids, so if Mr. Right shows up, I'm more than willing to adjust my plans.
I play guitar, I crochet and I bake. When I'm home from school, I love taking long naps with my seven cats and spending every spare moment with the little miracle that is my youngest sister (after over a decade, my mom had a seventh baby in 2022, with a whopping gap of 21 years between my oldest brother and youngest sister). After 11 years with no new little siblings, I can't tell you how thrilled I was to have a baby in the house again. My mom and I carefully saved and stored all my AG stuff for Little Sis to play with when she's old enough. I absolutely love the idea of her playing with the dolls and accessories I loved so much. Dolls shaped my childhood in a beautiful way, and I hope she will have the same experience I did.
I wasn't allowed to show my face online when I was a kid, but now that I'm an adult and thanks to modern technology my face is already all over the place, I thought I'd share some pictures so you could finally put a face to my name.
~Xyra