when?

April 15, 2011

wear?

dress: Anthropologie Mullany Dress

shoes: Steve Madden

It’s my 1 year blog anniversary! Actually it was a few days before this but I missed my own anniversary, I guess I’m not very good at these kinds of things. I surprised myself at how excited I felt at having stuck at this for a whole year. When I started I didn’t have much of a plan, just an idea to document my outifts, like so many other inspiring bloggers, but to add my daily coffee outing to the mix. It has been a fun process overall and pushed me to care even more about how I present myself to the world.

One of the highlights of this past year has been interacting with other bloggers and readers. The most special of which just happened 2 weeks ago. I haven’t talked much about my regular job on this blog, as I thought I wanted to keep them separate and keep this a light and fun outlet not dealing with anything too serious. While that has been a fine policy for myself, I realized, through another lovely blogger, that maybe my two worlds can coexist nicely. Two weeks ago I spoke at UNC Chapel Hill. This is what I do, speak with my husband about HIV and how it impacts our lives, how to prevent the spread of it and how young adults and really all people can live healthy lives. Why is this my job? Because we have a unique perspective on this issue as Shawn (my husband) is HIV positive and has been since he was a child. I, for the record, am HIV negative. We have spent the last 10 years talking to college students on campuses all over the US about this issue. We use our own lives as a springboard for open and honest discussions.

How is this related to this blog and what does UNC have to do with it? Many months ago I submitted an outfit photo to the Weekly Reader Outfits that Kim of Anthroholic hosts. I was wearing my favorite dress (the Anthropologie Monochromatic Corset Dress) and was actually at a charity event raising money for an HIV service organization. Months later I was reading Dea of The Dea Diaries blog and saw that she was moving to Charlottesville, where I live. I commented on her blog post. She read my comment, clicked over to my blog and recognized me from the photo I had submitted to Kim. She scrolled through and then looked up some more info about me and sent me one of the nicest emails I could have received. She thought me and Shawn’s message could be a good fit for her school and proceeded to make an event at UNC happen. I was shocked and thrilled that a blog about what I wore could result in educating more people about HIV. I am so thankful to Dea for making this event happen and even more so for making me realize that I do not have to keep my two worlds separate, that clothes and education can go together.

With all that said, I do not plan on making this blog about my work. I still very much love it as on outlet for me outside of the HIV world, but I may talk once and awhile about that part of my life.

Thanks to everyone for all of the great comments and thoughts over the past year. I can’t wait to see what everyone is wearing in the coming year!

Also, a huge thanks to Shellie (my favorite barista) for making me this incredible latte art for my special blog anniversary day!