{"id":4937,"date":"2014-04-04T00:43:18","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T07:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/?p=4937"},"modified":"2021-03-17T18:54:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T01:54:58","slug":"ultimate-blog-party-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2014\/04\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultimate Blog Party 2014 – Why I Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>
\nI look forward to the Ultimate Blog Party<\/a> every year. I love making new connections, and I make a few new friends each time around.<\/p>\n

I started my first blog in 2001, and this one has been going since 2004. That’s a decade. It’s hard, at times, not to compare myself to the celebrity bloggers, and wonder why I haven’t hit the big time. But their stories are not mine, and my story is not theirs.<\/p>\n

So, what is my story?<\/h2>\n

The answer to that question is continuously evolving. Right now, I am the mother of a 5 year old, wife of a 38 year old, former cancer patient in the midst of reconstruction, and a full-time college student who will, if everything goes right and I actually pass these classes, graduate in 6 weeks with a Bachelors degree in social sciences.<\/p>\n

Blogging hasn’t been my top priority lately.<\/p>\n

But I love blogging. I cherish the friendships I made through this medium. I cherish the product, this collection of stories, that resulted from these years at this blog. I didn’t start out with this intent, but when the reality of my own mortality was shoved in my face, I was comforted with the knowledge that I had at least something of myself to leave behind for my then infant daughter. I don’t plan on dying any time soon, but that idea stays with me as I write. So in the 4 years since my cancer diagnosis, this blog has become something more. It is a love letter, to my daughter, to my husband, my friends, the world, to life itself.<\/p>\n

Want to know more?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Here are a few posts to get you started:<\/p>\n

Cancerversary<\/a> – thoughts on the anniversary of my cancer diagnosis, and my life right now.<\/p>\n

The Camera Bag \u2013 and an epiphany<\/a>\u00a0 on photography and being the recipient of a random act of kindness<\/p>\n

A relearning how to dream after cancer blog<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Cancer trauma is more than physical<\/p>\n

Bloggers at Work<\/a>\u00a0– a day in the life of a Mommy Blogger<\/p>\n

Living in the Gap<\/a> – “We don\u2019t get practice time, and then go out and live our lives after we\u2019ve perfected ourselves. We go out and try things, see if they work, we fall down, we get up, we embarrass ourselves, we don\u2019t die of embarrassment \u2013 but we don\u2019t get to practice life without an audience.”<\/p>\n

Just Breathe<\/a> – \u00a0“As long as you have breath, you have this moment.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let’s Connect<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/a> . \"\"<\/span><\/a> . \"\"<\/span><\/a> . \"\"<\/span><\/a> . \"\"<\/span><\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0\"\"<\/span><\/a> . \"\"<\/span><\/a> . \"\"<\/span> . \"\"<\/span> . \"\"<\/span><\/a><\/span>
\n\"Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love blogging. I cherish the friendships I made through this medium. I cherish the product, this collection of stories, that resulted from these years at this blog. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[763,770],"tags":[490,661,601,489],"class_list":["post-4937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creating-a-living","category-writing-blogging","tag-5-minutes-for-mom","tag-business-of-blogging","tag-ubp","tag-ultimate-blog-party","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?fit=600%2C300","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?fit=600%2C300",600,300,false]},"categories_names":{"763":{"name":"Creating a Living","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/creating-a-living\/"},"770":{"name":"Writing & Blogging","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/creating-a-living\/writing-blogging\/"}},"tags_names":{"490":{"name":"5 minutes for mom","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/5-minutes-for-mom\/"},"661":{"name":"Business of Blogging","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/business-of-blogging\/"},"601":{"name":"ubp","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/ubp\/"},"489":{"name":"ultimate blog party","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/ultimate-blog-party\/"}},"comments_number":0,"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?resize=300%2C300",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?resize=305%2C207",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?resize=400%2C300",400,300,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?resize=600%2C300",600,300,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?resize=600%2C300",600,300,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?resize=130%2C95",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ultimate-blog-party-2014.png?fit=600%2C300",600,300,false]},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fDeG-1hD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":236,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2008\/06\/17\/the-partynot-to-party-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":4937,"position":0},"title":"The Party\/Not to Party Debate","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Most days, the fact that Mr. H and I go to different schools with different schedules is not an issue. This week has been a different story. As I mentioned earlier, Mr. H graduated from UW on Saturday which has had him in party mode since he turned in his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Creating a Living"","block_context":{"text":"Creating a Living","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/creating-a-living\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"005","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3160\/2588869976_09923d02a9.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":136,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2006\/07\/29\/max-and-ilonas-visit-party-animal\/","url_meta":{"origin":4937,"position":1},"title":"Max and Ilona’s Visit: Party Animal","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a9 Copyright Judy Haley 2008. All rights reserved.","rel":"","context":"In "Daily Life"","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/daily-life-living-well\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ilona","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/74\/201015570_7c4a80f02a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":231,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2008\/06\/12\/ive-been-tagged\/","url_meta":{"origin":4937,"position":2},"title":"I’ve Been Tagged","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"1.) What were you doing ten years ago?-ten years ago I was 27. I was living in Alaska working on a job that I absolutely loved. The interesting thing is that the subject matter of my work, telecommunications (packet switching, LATAs, BillingEdge, blah, blah, blah), completely bored the living daylights\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/creating-a-living\/blogging-creating-a-living\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":223,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2008\/06\/03\/historic-moment\/","url_meta":{"origin":4937,"position":3},"title":"Historic Moment","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Barack Obama has clinched Democratic Candidate for President. For the first time in my life, I will be able to vote for the presidential candidate of my choosing rather than against the presidential candidate that I think will do more damage. \u201cBut what you don\u2019t deserve is another election that\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"politics\"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":108,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2006\/05\/14\/mothers-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4937,"position":4},"title":"Mother’s Day","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"My dad finally emailed me these pictures from Grandma's 95th birthday party, She turned 95 January 11, 2006. I thought they were fitting pictures to post on mothers day.She's amazing. The day after these pictures were taken she set off on a road trip across the states.I hope I look\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Daily Life"","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/daily-life-living-well\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"grandmasbday2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.flickr.com\/45\/147984340_77d0b2eabd_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":54,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2005\/11\/07\/dinner-with-mom-and-grandma\/","url_meta":{"origin":4937,"position":5},"title":"Dinner with Mom and Grandma","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"We had a great visit this weekend with Mom and Grandma. It's so good to see the two of them doing so well. On Saturday night we went to dinner at the Caspian Grill for Persian food. Bill's Judy joined us there as well so we had quite the little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Daily Life"","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/daily-life-living-well\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4937"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9891,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4937\/revisions\/9891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}