3 years, 3 cupcakes. Get in my belly.
It’s been a great year here at Life After College. Better than great. SO GREAT that I was going to skip doing this round-up post because it feels self-indulgent, and I much prefer to give you thought-provoking new content.
However, my blog turned three years old this month and without my blog, my life dream of being an author would not be realized. So it’s only fair that I celebrate this little corner of the Internet!
By the way – I think blogs age in dog years – 3 years feels like a lifetime…in a good way. I can’t even imagine my life without this outlet and the friends and readers I’ve made because of it.
For more “best of” content: see the Happy Blogiversary posts for Year 1 and Year 2, or check out my shiny brand new “New Here?” guided tour.
Personal Milestones:
I am humbled by everything that made the items below possible. I still have to pinch myself, and I only hope that I can give back to the world in equal if not far greater amounts for the gifts I’ve received.
- March – Attended SXSW for the first time
- June – Got a BOOK DEAL and signed the contracts
- July – Traveled to Brazil for work; Completed my life coaching certification 2.5 years after I started CTI’s coach training program. I’m now officially a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC)! Revamped coaching programs coming soon.
- September – Made my first TV appearance in a 30-minute interview for my friend Gopi’s Change Makers program.
- October – Completed Yoga Teacher Training at the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara.
- November – sent the book to press after two years of writing and editing
- December – got the first galley copies of my book (Check-out the “collector’s edition” cover that serves as a reminder to fight for what you believe in!)
- Other – Completed a one-year term on the Board of Governors for the International Coaches Association, hosted Pam Slim and Chris Guillebeau for Authors@Google talks, delivered coach-training to dozens of senior-level managers and launched a global drop-in 1:1 coaching program at Google – a long-time professional dream in the making.
- More 2010 reflection on travel, memorable moments and highs and lows on my Tumblr for #reverb10.
My favorites and the most popular posts of 2010:
- January – 10 Reasons I Love my Cubicle
- February – SUZE ORMAN KNOWS WE EXIST!!! (Video), and Empty Spaces and Moving Past Loneliness
- March – Domesticating Jaguars: Let’s all learn from my crazy dream, Career Development for Gen Y (Video)
- April – Memo: You are not your job, Promotions: 10 Tips for Moving up the Corporate Ladder (Audio), Life is Like a Box of Cupcakes + Outtakes (Video)
- May – What if I was just myself?, My Sandboxed Life, 8 Ways to Organize your Life with Google Docs
- June – Success Demons…and a Signed Contract (+ Video), Guest Post: How I Outsource my Life to Over 13 People
- July – The Sweet Sting of Rejection, 20 Life Lessons I Learned on the Rogue River
- August – Live for the Dip
- September – An Open Letter to Love: It’s Not You, It’s Me (most commented/re-tweeted post of the year)
- October – Overwhelmed by your inbox? The case for email parties
- November – Book off to press!!! Blogger Speechless, On Limerence…and a Break-up Template
- December – A Letter from my Future Self
Blog Stats:
- Visits - In the last month I received 11,580 visits (20,532 page views) from 110 countries — up from last year’s 7,000+ visits (13,500 page views) from 97 countries. The total visits for 2010 was just over 100,000 uniques (200,000 page views).
- Top Keywords - In 2010, the keyword “life after college” sent 8,773 visits. “Jenny Blake” was the next highest search query with 1,199 visits.
- Quirky keywords (a personal favorite stat) – bad cubicle position, can limerence be broken? (don’t I wish!), can you rent a real live jaguar?, do you stop having fun after college?, it’s not you it’s me letters, I’m too sexy for my cube, limerence is a bitch, running with cupcakes, tell myself I love my job, and possibly my favorite – it hurts to throw away an empty box of Sprinkles cupcakes.
- Best “Jenny Blake” keywords - jenny blake cover model (I’ll take it!), jenny blake engagement ring (looks over both shoulders – none here), jenny blake exercise videos (nope, sorry!), jenny blake sexy (okay I like that one), jenny the cat woman secret lives (damnit, I liked the sexy keyword better).
- My most popular content in 2010 (according to Analytics) – 8 ways to organize your life with Google Docs (6,054 pageviews), How I Stay Organized (5,869 pageviews), A Day in the Life of My Paycheck (3,096 pageviews), and the Life Checklist Template (2,576 pageviews). I think many of these made it to StumbleUpon, which really helped drive traffic.
- Most Popular Templates – Four-Step Budget (2,285 users), Professional Development Strategy (2,158 users), Life Checklist (2,255 users), Job Interview One-Sheeter (2,333 users)
Last but certainly not least, THANK YOU.
Thank you for:
- Being here
- Being awesome – the best readers I could ever ask for
- Reading, engaging, commenting
- Making all of this possible
One of my mentors, Chris Guillebeau, often says he gets paid in nice emails. I feel exactly the same way. I am richer every day from amazing reader emails, new friends, community, and gratitude. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart.
You'll get my 
