Blogging is weird. You can write posts about Brad and Angelina’s French Chateau, Jennifer Lopez’s nursery, and Reese Witherspoon’s country house in Ojai and get a few more visitors, but all in all, pretty much the same number of readers as usual.
And then you can do one about the neighborhood you grew up in, and stick a goofy old picture of yourself performing a daring feat on a bicycle, and you break a record for most visitors in one day, ever, in the history of your blog.
I don’t understand you people. Why was that the one you all went for? I nearly fell off my chair tonight when I checked my blog stats and saw that more of you stopped by today than in all the days I’ve been blogging. It’s crazy. I mean, not just a few more of you visited. WAY more did. It makes no sense. There has to be a mistake.
My six-year old daughter Lily was so excited for me. “You broke a record! Yay!” she screamed, and gave me a big hug. “That means people like your blog!”
Wow. Yeah. I guess so! Imagine that!
She tapped her head for a minute, like she was thinking real hard about something. Then she said, “Hey. You know what you could do to break another record again tomorrow?”
“No,” I said, all ears. “What?”
“Well,” Lily said. “All you have to do is take a picture of the prettiest thing in our entire house and put it on your blog. Then everyone in the whole wide world will come to see it!”
Hmmm.
I looked around. And then I realized that the prettiest thing was standing right in front of me.
So that’s why Lily–wearing a “Sweetheart” hat that she made for a recent project at school–is at the top of my blog today. It doesn’t get much prettier–or sweeter–around here.
{ 29 comments }
Lily is *so* adorable. Records are going to be shattered!
Your house is beautiful, but it doesn’t compare to sweet Lily. She is definitely one of a kind. I love your blog. I must say when I saw that you did a post about your old neighborhood I was very interested.
Congrats on your new record. – Andrea
Awwww…she IS a sweetheart! Look at how sweet she is!
Did you check what your referring pages are??
The only time I get “extra” visitors is when I give something away. No sour grapes, just the facts, ma’am.
Janet
PS. Lily is certainly very cute and obviously very smart.
Oh, she is so sweet. What a wonderful picture. Congrats on the great stats!
Yep, she’s a cutie!
Here’s to hoping you hit another record!
Oh, she certainly is beautiful!
Your visits may have soared because a prominent blog linked to you – that would be my guess.
She’s a cutie.
She is very pretty and, apparently, very smart as well.
You do have a great blog! She’s so sweet to have been so excited for you.
Like the others have mentioned, I would certainly check your referring stats to see if another blog linked to you yesterday. Congrats!
Too cute!
Thanks, guys. I couldn’t resist an excuse to post a photo of my little Sweetheart. I got such a kick out of having her give me blogging advice.
She has her own blog that she pretends to write in her room, and it’s all about her Littlest Pet Shop animals. A different one is featured every day, and she types on one of my old keyboards. I’ll hear her talking to herself, “This raccoon sleeps all day and comes out at night to play!” She’ll occasionally call out, “They’re gonna love this post!”
Obviously, she sees me working on my blog a lot. Both kids like to come in at night before bed and tell me to check the blog stats. They study all the numbers and the graph to see if trafic went up or down that day. They go “awwww!” when it goes down, and get more excited over a big day than I do! It’s like a family project around here.
Anyway, to answer your questions, yes, I checked who was referring to me, but it was all the usual bloggers. No one place sent me a lot of people yesterday. It was just high general traffic, which was why I was so surprised. Even when The Guardian newspaper in London wrote that review of Hooked on Houses and I got so much traffic, I was still 1,000 visitors short of what I had yesterday. It’s just bizarre.
But am I complaining? No. No, I am not. I’m very happy to have all of you here! Thank you for being my blog friends!!! -Julia
You write a lovely blog, which I use to reward myself for a job that I don’t want to do ie…as soon as you clean that litter box, then you can read the blog…is it bribery when you reward yourself??
Last day of school for my kiddos, I am looking forward to a wonderful summer!
Congrads on your blog, which in a world of “naval gazing” is a wonderful addition!
Melanie
Not only is Lily adorable she’s smart as well!
)
Congrats on the massive amounts of visitors. I have NO idea how/why that works or how to check. I’m really quite clueless to the whole thing. lol
This comment is for pretty Lily. Lily, thanks for posing for your Mom because all her blogging friends like to see your picture. And your “Sweet” crown is adorable. I know that someday you will be a famous blogger just like her.
Aw, that is too sweet. Isn’t she the cutest ever!?!? So glad your blog broke a record, though it doesn’t surprise me… you always have great stuff over here:)
Happy Tuesday!
Lily, oh Lily, I think she’s right! Actually, regular readers want a glimpse into YOUR life and that’s why blogging about your old neighborhood and showing us what you looked like back in the old days has such appeal for us regulars. And then there’s the whole “bungalow” thing. I often just do searches on bungalows to see what’s new out there.
In that case, I’ll start working on lots of posts about bungalows–and about ME–for the future. I hope you’re all prepared for that. -Julia
Oh…okay…are you trying to make me cry over here? Because I just got a huge lump in my throat over the sweetest post ever.
I love that you posted a pic of Lily, and yes, she’s gorgeous. how fun that you had such a high-traffic day yesterday! and so cool your kids get into it too! Mine are still way too young to understand (although my three year old does at least recognize my site – “hey, mommy, that’s YOUR website!”). So fun that it’s a family affair!
oh…and PS…I second Bonnie’s comment…i happen to live in a bungalow…love those!!
Julia, It must be in the genes. Lily is a genius to suggest that you shoot the most beautiful thing in the house and post it. And, no wonder your kids are so interested in your blog. You take their advice and treat them like “real” visitors and critics.
She is beautiful! And hip-hip-hooray for breaking records!
I seem to get record hits on my blog whenever I have a giveaway! LOL I love the name Lily, that was my Mom’s name so it’s special to me and I never had any girls, boo hoo!
She is so dang cute!
Believe it or not, we had even more visitors today than yesterday. So Lily’s post broke yesterday’s record. She’s so excited. “I told you it would work!” she said. Now she wants me to take a picture of the bulletin board in my study that is covered with her artwork and show that to you next. I’ll get right on it! When it comes to blogging, Lily knows best. -Julia
How cute is she??? I love her name my Mum’s name is Lillian and when I had my daughter I thought of Lily or Jillian………she ended up being Jacquleen………go figure !!!
Lily I would love to see your artwork !!!
Mom hop to it…..LOL
Kathy
What a cutie!
I love this post and your daughter Lily is adorable and smart. It makes me smile to think of her writing her blog about her Littlest Pet Shop animals. So darn cute!
My cute cousin!
Love you guys!!
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