I Love You 3000 (and 1): The Full Story of AGDN

I noticed that my birthday post for Emily was my 3000th post on AGDN.

3,000 posts. That's just amazing. So I figured for my 3001st post, I'd post all about the story of AGDN for everyone who hasn't been here for seven years.

I first got interested in blogging when I was very young- I was 6 years old when my first blog launched. It was a mundane blog- all about the life of a first grader, and later second grader. But by the time third grade hit, I barely used that blog anymore. But I did set up other blogs, including a blog about Lalaloopsy dolls. (Didn't Lalaloopsy dolls just come back? They were my first dolls that I loved.)

Also in third grade, I had a routine on Fridays. My best friend (at the time) Madison would come over every Friday after dance class and we'd get food and do whatever until around 9 pm. One day, we were in the playroom of the house I lived in at the time and Madison saw a pile of 10 American Girl dolls. She asked, "are those American Girl dolls?" I nodded, but said "I barely play with them." She asked to play American Girl, and after she convinced me with the fact that she didn't have any AG dolls, we played with the dolls for hours. I don't know why, but I just felt very happy with them. After Madison went home, I knew that I was an American Girl fan.

The months that followed were a blur. I learned from a classmate that there was an American Girl store coming to town the following year. I found out about the leaking community from a blog called Doll Diaries, which already had a photo of Isabelle, who was the upcoming Girl of the Year. (I'm aging myself here!). I discovered the American Girl Wiki, and loved reading all about each doll- some dolls I didn't even know about, like the Girls of the Year before Nicki and retired historicals. I identified my sister's so-called "Rebecca" as Nicki. And, on New Year's Eve 2013, I went to the American Girl store for the first time ever- the one in Los Angeles.

January 5, 2014. I rediscovered my Lalaloopsy blog and decided to change it to an American Girl blog. I posted something stupid about a Girl of the Year comeback petition, but there was something on my mind a few months later- leaks.

I loved it when I found out about Isabelle before everyone else. I wanted the same feeling for everyone!

I used the site Trademarkia (I now prefer Justia) to find 2 trademarks. The first one I don't remember what the trademark was, but the second one was Grace Thomas.

"A first and last name? That's totally the Girl of the Year for next year."

I posted it on my blog, and my little third grade mind was BLOWN when I saw that summer that my blog got 100 views a day.

The rest is history. There was lots of drama, a divorce, moving house, bullying, the discovering of my love for girls, and the creation of the movie that kicked off my true directing career, but if I explained all of that this post would take forever to read.

To simply put it: My blog got me through it all.

I love you guys 3000.

And one.