RBJello’s 2nd Blogiversary!

Jumping for Joy

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of my blog! It’s been a big milestone in my life. What started out as a hobby has turned into a real part of my life and a piece of my identity. I started my blog with no expectations, but I’ve gained so much from it. It has been a wonderful channel to journal my past year abroad in Paris and my experience in ESSEC’s MBA in International Luxury Brand Management.

I think my biggest surprise was the wonderful network of fellow bloggers I met in Paris. I had never met random strangers through my blog before, but I met a wonderful group of women whose blogs inspire mine. Much love and respect go out to Diane, Grace and Edna who supported me during my MBA this past year. It’s always great to find like-minded, adventurous people who have so many great stories to share (plus, it doesn’t hurt that we’re all super into food).

I thought I’d share a few of my favorite posts from the past couple of years:

1. Bordeaux: The Amazing Châteaux Race. I’m actually most proud of this post. I took a ton of notes while I was visiting five different châteaux and did a lot of follow-up research afterward. It may be the blog post that I spent the most amount of time writing. The post was atypical in the sense that it was more “educational.”
2. Celebrating my Birthday at the Louis Vuitton Family Home and Workshop. Speaking of birthdays, it was incredible to celebrate my last birthday in Louis Vuitton’s family home. I don’t know if any other birthday will ever compare.
3. Yumberry/Yang Mei Picking in Ningbo. While maybe not the most thrilling post, it was such a unique experience to go yumberry picking in China. It’s a fruit that is only season for two weeks out of the entire year!
4. Exploring Montmartre and Basilique du Sacré-Coeur. This was such a wonderful day that I spent with friends and this post actually got me published!
5. 24-Hour Layover: East Bay Edition. After living in San Francisco for so long, it was really fun to traverse the East Bay with my friends and see how many delicious things we could try in a day.
   

   Me with the Biebs in Dubai

6. How Justin Bieber Started Following me on Twitter. I know J. Biebs is doing some crazy things right now, but I still think he is talented and this was an unexpected boost to my “Twitter cred” (in all seriousness, I don’t actually think I have any).
7. Exploring China’s Zhu Jia Jiao. I don’t claim to be an expert photographer, but I really love the photos I took that day. It seemed to capture a snippet of Chinese life that not everyone gets to see.
8. Your guide to Mars & Murrie. One of my earliest blog posts when I really don’t know which direction my blog was going to follow (side note: I still believe that I don’t have any real theme). It’s one of my few posts that I attempt humor. You can judge for yourself on how successful I was at it.
9. Let Them Eat Cheese! Who doesn’t appreciate a good post about cheese?
10. SF: Jackie’s 100 Things to Eat Before You Die. This post is completely representative of the reason why I started my blog. So many of my friends and co-workers told me I should write a food blog because I was their unofficial critic for restaurants in the Bay Area. After much coaxing (and some could argue coercion), I decided to start blogging.

I really want to thank each and everyone of you who actually read my blog. I notice and appreciate every single page view, like and comment. I can’t believe I’ve consistently blogged for two years, but I’m so happy with the end result. These past couple of years have been fabulous and I can’t wait to share what comes next!

“I don’t know how to put this, but I’m kind of a big deal… I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.”