I'm THANKful for the Blogoverse!

Today's Challenge is I'm THANKful for the Blogoverse.  And really I am!  The first time I'd ever heard of blogging was right before I left for the Peace Corps.  Some volunteers were talking about setting up a blog to keep their families up to date on their adventures in Honduras.

I had no idea what they were talking about.  What's a blog???

I kept in touch with my family and friends the old fashion way - through mass emails.  And it worked just fine.  I didn't know what a blog was and in my non-internet town of 1700 people, I wasn't about to try to learn.  Having to pay per minute of internet use in the big city was not conducive to learning new internet things.

Now that I sit here and think about it, I'm not sure how I got into the blog world and why I decided to start a blog.  I think the idea of a blog actually came from my cousin, Erika, who was living over in Singapore and started a blog.  She didn't continue her blog but I thought it sounded fun so started one too.  I just wasn't sure what to write about.  But then I read a book called The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner and my idea came to me (read my first blog entry here).  So, I started my first blog 365 Days of Happiness. 

Then when I got engaged and started planning my wedding, I decided to start another blog: Maple and Mud.

This blog was about our wedding and then morphed into our life after our wedding. 

And then this past spring I decided to run the Marine Corps Marathon with Leukemia and Lymphoma's Team In Training in honor/memory of my Uncle Dave so I started my third (and FINAL) blog called In Honor Of...

Yup - I have three blogs.  And I'm horrible about updating them.  But I love them all.  I actually have plans to merge them all into one blog in the very near future.  So maybe one day you'll return and they'll all be together instead of long-lost friends.

Here are the things I LOVE about blogging the most:

    ** I LOVE the amazing people I've met.  I've never met any of my blog friends in real life, but I cherish our blog-relationships.

    ** I LOVE blog swaps and fun challenges like these.  I have given and gotten some really fun things and met new blogs and their owners.  

    ** I LOVE learning about new things and new experiences.  I feel like reading so many blogs helps me see life in different perspectives.  I love reading blogs about running, traveling, marriage, children, cooking, healthy living, and everything in between.

And here are some things that annoy me about blogging:

    ** Although it hasn't happened to me, I am saddended when people get mean comments or get bullied by other bloggers.  Not very nice.

    ** I am annoyed when people do thousands of give-aways and to enter you have to do 90 things that include Twitter, Facebook, selling your kidney, and friending five people who you aren't interested in really being friends with.

Ok, so not many things annoy me about bloggins, which is why I still do it.

So, that's my blogosphere update. 

You are my #1 reason for blogging!!!

What do you love/hate about blogging?  Why did you decided to start a blog??