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This morning I realized that it's been two years since I started Paper Doll World. I'm not really good at marking anniversaries and I'm crazy busy since the semester ends next week (!!!), but it was the motivation I need to get back to blogging since I've maintained radio silence for the past month. Nostalgia and displays of emotion aren't really my thing either, but to me this is a milestone and I intend to mark it with a rare bit of sentiment.

This past year has been really hard physically and emotionally in my off-screen life, so blogging and paper doll creating have taken second priority. Yet the fact that you readers have stayed with me this whole time and put up with all my absence is something special for which I'm profoundly grateful. I remember the struggle to get five subscribers in January 2013, and now Paper Doll World has just hit 40. To say I'm floored, honored, and humbled is an understatement. Even beyond the numbers, the comments you've left have been so kind and supportive, and show me that I'm not just shouting into a void - that there are other people who find this simple art form as fun and captivating as I do. Thank you all so, so much. 

What better way to end this than by answering the Grateful Blog Award prompt? Thanks to Blaire and Cora for being so gracious and nominating me. I'm so behind on these things that I don't know who has and hasn't been nominated yet, so if you haven't and are interested, then consider yourself nominated. 

I'm thankful for:

1. My family, whom I adore beyond everything.

2. My father in particular, who has been my number one supporter from the beginning.

3. My friends, both in person and online, whose support and encouragement mean the world to me.

4. All of you wonderful readers, without whom Paper Doll World wouldn't exist.

5. My art teachers, whose instruction in drawing and craftsmanship has been indispensable.

6. Emily of Toy Box Philosopher for giving me the incredible opportunity to share my review of Ophelia. 

7. Bella and Lulu for all the opportunities they've given me to share tutorials for the Doll Mag.

8. Penny, Nora, and Maple, for Isla and all the subsequent joy and creativity she's brought me.  

9. Nethilia, whose sharp and hilarious posts have made me more conscientious and sensitive as a person, blogger, and paper doll designer. 

10. The ability to do what makes me happy - to share my love for drawing and find other people who share that love.

Thanks for seeing Paper Doll World through a second year! Here's to an even better and more productive third.