Celebrating Six Years in the Blogosphere (MBFCF Giveaway WEEK!)

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you already know that I love any occasion to celebrate. So, you're probably asking, "What are we celebrating today, Marta?"

Let me tell you. Today marks the 6th Blogiversary of My big, fat, Cuban family on the Web.

GUAT? I know. Shut up.

That's right, people! SIX. YEARS.

I sat down in front of my computer screen on October 1st, 2006 and started over-sharing about being Cuban in the O.C. and how difficult it was to get decent Cuban food and so I just started cooking for myself and my family. And I took pictures every day anyway, so I started sharing my recipes.

And isn't it fitting that my October 1st Blogiversary is right smack dab in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month? Coincidence? I think not.

I was amazed when I hit the One Year in the Blogosphere mark in 2007. So I celebrated.

Encouraged by your great response to this little Cuban corner of cyberspace, I kept writing, and picture-taking, and documenting and before I knew it, two years had gone by. And so I celebrated again. And designed a faux magazine cover, and I gave stuff away.

Blown away by your support and because I apparently had a whole lot more to say, I continued to write and lo and behold, in October of 2009, I celebrated My 3 Year Blogiversary. (<--is that even a word?) By that time, I had gotten into a groove and I was totally loving the whole faux-magazine-cover thing and I really enjoyed giving stuff away, so I did it again.

I was having SO. MUCH. FUN! I did stuff. I took pictures. I wrote about it. This space had become a living, breathing, photo album of my life. And I just kept writing, and picture-taking, and over-sharing right up until it was time to celebrate Year Four of Blogginess.

To be perfectly honest, I was still amazed and surprised that anyone even wanted to read what I was writing about. I kept doing it because, well, it is my life. And it should at least be of interest to me, right? Plus, when I look back at the hundreds of posts that I've written, it tells a really nice story about a really nice life and that makes me really, really happy.

I had some health challenges in 2011 and the thought crossed my mind that I had probably told all my stories and said everything I wanted to say about my family and my kids and all that. And I actually toyed with the idea of stopping this whole documenting-my-life-for-the-world-to-see thing. I took a break for a while and went back and read some of what I'd written and decided that even if no one else was following, it was an excellent record of my life (or at least the last few years of my life). And it made me happy. So when I got to Year Five in the Blogosphere, I really felt like I had a lot to celebrate.

Now I'm six years into telling, not just my own stories, but sharing some of yours with the Cuando Sali de Cuba series. I'm very proud of my little cyber-home here at My big, fat, Cuban family. I've made some lovely relationships with some wonderful people and generous sponsors.

As of today, my 6th Blogiversary, I'm happy to report that I have 4,491 followers on the MBFCF Facebook Fan Page where I get to over-share every single day in real time, but that's not important right now.

I want to thank you all.

You read. You share. You come back. You write to me. You leave comments. You make me laugh out loud. I love writing about the "relajo" that is my life and I'm humbled that you keep responding so positively every time. I love that you get my Cubanisms.

{A very special Thank You and shout out to Val & the rest of the Intransigents over at Babalú Blog for their unfailing friendship and support and for putting MBFCF on the Blogging World Map. Gracias!}

So, about that whole celebration thing.....

I'm going to be celebrating ALL WEEK. That's right. For the next SIX days, I've lined up some fabulous Cuban sponsors and I'll be hosting a very cool giveaway every single day for the ENTIRE WEEK to celebrate each of my SIX Bloggywonderful years.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ;-)

To kick things off - here's MBFCF Blogiversary Giveaway #1:

My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cookbook