Y’all guess what.

Come in real close so I can tell you because it’s a secret….

Well really it’s not so much of a secret because the title of this blog post kind of reveals what I’m about to tell you, but we’ll just disregard that for right now. Okay? Okay.

So come in real close y’all because I have something to tell you…something big…something fantastic…something worth celebrating….

The Never Ending Book Basket is officially 3 years old!!!

*insert confetti toss and simultaneous twirling here*

Can we all just take in the fact that I have somehow managed to keep this blog alive for over one thousand days?!?!?!

This is coming from a girl who somehow managed to kill a plant that’s not even supposed to need water. (Though in all actuality I think all plants need some kind of water, so that might’ve been where I went wrong with that one, but I digress…) You heard that right, I killed a cactus. A mother effing cactus that barely needs any maintenance, and yet I still managed to kill it, so the fact that I have kept this blog going for 3 years now is something I’m pretty damn proud of.

You heard that right, this book blog turned 3!!

So I guess this is really like a thing now. Like this whole book blogging thing is really going to stick. Like for reals y’all, and I for one can’t say enough how happy that makes me because I truly don’t know where I’d be without this blog and what its brought to my life.

Now once again I must admit that this blogiversary post is a bit delayed for the second year in a row since The Never Ending Book Basket’s actual blogiversary is November 7th. Last year I spent my blogiversary at the Indies Invade Philly book signing with two of my best friends, which was ahhhmazing in so many ways. This year I got to spend my blogiversary adulting at the car repair shop and writing a paper for my grad class, which was so not as much fun as Indies Invade Philly.

But if I’m being 100% honest, I’m actually kind of glad I was delayed in writing this post because its sentiment fits the time of year just right. You see the biggest thing I feel right now, as I write this third blogiversary post, is thankful.

I am so damn thankful.

I’m thankful for the unforgettable experiences and people and books this blog has brought to my life.

I’m thankful for my friends and family accepting and supporting my little blog in any way that they can, and for their understanding that my book obsession is literally never going away.

I’m thankful for what creating, running, and writing this blog has shown me about myself, my passions, and my dreams.

I’m thankful for the authentic and cherished relationships this blog has allowed me to create with other bloggers, fellow readers, and some of my all-time favorite authors, who are all literally some of the best people on the planet.

I’m oh so thankful that when my little blogging world was turned upside down this year, I found I had the best kind of support system a girl could ask for.

Like I said, I am thankful for it all. So. Damn. Thankful. 

When I started this blog I had no idea how it would literally change my life in so many amazing ways. I had no idea how it would bring some of the most phenomenal books into my life that I will literally never forget or stop feeling. I had no idea that it would allow me to cultivate the most amazing friendships with people all over this great big world. I had no idea that it would allow me to help and support authors in ways that I didn’t even know were possible. I had no idea that it would fulfill me as much as it has, but fulfill me it does.

What started as just a little idea, bloomed into something I never could have expected, and I am grateful every day that I have this blog and this amazingly wonderful community to be a part of.

Through all of life’s craziness, this blog, this community, and all the book love have grounded me. They have helped keep me sane-ish *heavy on that ish*, and have shown me that this community of readers, authors, and bloggers is where I want to be as long as humanly possible.

Don’t get me wrong, this blog and everything that goes along with it is work, but it’s the best kind of work a girl could ask for, and I wouldn’t trade a single second of it all. This little book blog of mine makes my heart happy on a daily basis, and I truly don’t know where I’d be without it.

So THANK YOU!

Thank you for supporting me and my crazy book loving self, thank you for supporting this blog in every way that y’all do, and thank you for letting me spread the book love in every way that I can.

You’ll never know how much it means to me. If I could give you all bookstore gift cards, hugs, and copious amounts of coffee as a thank you, I would because y’all are the best and you’ve made me the happiest book blogger on the planet with the support I’ve received.

So now while I can’t hug you all, or give you gift cards and coffee, I can give you my annual list of things I’ve learned in the last 3 years of book blogging, which is pretty much the same thing….right? Right.

(It’s sooooo not the same thing, but let’s just go with it!)

What I’ve learned in the last 1,095 days of book blogging:

• Amazon, you hit like a bitch. If you’ve followed this blog then you know that this year I was banned from reviewing on Amazon, and had all of my hundreds of previous reviews removed. *insert middle finger to Amazon here* It’s funny that in my 2^nd blogiversary post last year, I wrote about being worried that that very thing would happen, and just a mere 3 months later it did. And you know what, it fucking sucked. Like a lot. But you know what happened too? I realized that being banned from Amazon wasn’t the absolute worst thing in the world. I also realized that there was no way being banned from Amazon was going to stop me on my book loving, book blogging brigade. Sure it changed the way I go about blogging in some minor ways, and it still pisses me off that I literally can’t post a review for anything on that damn website, but it in no way stopped me from being the kind of book blogger I want to be. It also led to my most viewed blog post ever, with that oh so catchy title that I’m kinda really proud of, which to this day gets viewed almost daily. Sure getting banned from Amazon was so not in the plan, but the support I received from this book community when that happened, and have since received since being banned, is something I will truly never forget. Ever. So fuck you Amazon, and goodnight.
  

  I *might* have a book buying problem…and the floor beneath all those books *might* be collapsing soon…

• I *might* have a book buying problem. So in my three years of blogging I have come to the conclusion that I *might* have a slight problem with buying books…and when I say slight, I mean that I’m actually worried the floor in my room in going to collapse because I have soooooo many books. What can I say?! Books are my jam, and I will not apologize for that, nor will I apparently stop buying books no matter how many unread ones I have at home. No matter where I seem to go, I always seem to find some books that need to find their way to my home, and as much as my mother might hate that, I think she just accepts that my book buying isn’t stopping anytime soon. So I guess as much as I tell myself I won’t buy any more books until I read more of my literal TBR pile, the lie detector test has officially determined that to be a lie….and I’m kind of really okay with that because what in the world could be wrong with buying more books??? (Fun fact: there is nothing wrong with buying more books.)
• Hanging out with fellow readers, bloggers, and authors is the best. THE ABSOLUTE BEST. This year I got the amazing chance to travel to 7 book signings, in 4 different states, all while hanging out with the best people. (And also while adding to my actual never ending book basket of course!) I will literally never get enough of meeting my favorite authors, fellow readers, and other bloggers who all share the same book love. Getting the chance to talk and interact with them makes my little heart happy, and this year has given me some of the most unforgettable memories that I will cherish forever. Whether it was hanging out with my favorite people who I don’t see near enough, whether it was running into familiar faces at book signings while we all made our way through all the craziness and lines, or whether it was meeting new friends online and in person, this year burst my heart with all that it gave me. Meeting people who not only get and accept, but love your crazy never gets old. I will literally never get enough of meeting and connecting with people from this community whether it be in person, online, or anywhere in between, and I look forward to another year of doing just that!
• I still use all the words, and I still LOVE using all the words. Words are my jam. They make me happy, and I love them something fierce, which is probably why I like to use all of them. All the damn time. Yep, I am still wordy as fuck, and I am really okay with that. Sure my book reviews are typically over 1500 words at minimum, and let’s not even get started on the trees being killed by the length of my beta notes, but in my book, using all the words is okay. (Lord help me when I actually get to writing that book I always say I’m going to write. That book will probably be longer than the phone book!) And let’s be honest, being wordy is kind of my schtick at this point. So I’m going to keep being wordy, and I hope y’all are okay with that because I don’t think I’ll ever stop being wordy because where’s the fun in that?!
• Books are literal magic, and they can give you it all, if you let them. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, books can bring us together if we let them, and that is something pretty damn amazing. I truly believe books can give us the most unforgettable feelings, moments, and experiences within their pages, all we have to do is give them a chance to wow us with their magic. Books have literally changed my life. They have let me live so many different lives, with so many different characters in so many different worlds, and it honestly doesn’t get better than that. They have made me full on ugly cry, laugh to the point of my cheeks hurting, practically made me stop breathing at times, and they have pushed me and my heart to their very limit. Whether it’s a romance novel that has me melting and swooning, or the most thrilling mystery that has me dying to know what will happen next, or an honest memoir that amazes me with its authenticity and realness, or a magical world that lets me believe in magic and possibilities and what could be…books have given me it all, and then some, and for that I can’t say thank you to the book gods enough.

So there you have it folks. Three years of book blogging is officially in the books!

*wooooohooooo*

Here’s hoping that there are many more of these blogiversary posts to come in the future! I don’t know about you, but I can’t seem to get enough of this book world or the book love it contains, and I’m really looking forward to experiencing more of it in the days to come.

I know this post is ridiculously long, and I know I probably lost most of y’all when the bulleted list started, but to quote one of my favorite movies “even though I keep fumbling for the right words, all I really wanted to say was thank you.”

That’s all I really wanted to do with this post. I wanted to say thank you. From the bottom of my heart. A million times over.

Thank you for supporting this blog and for supporting me. Thank you for accepting my book loving crazy ass, and for allowing me to be a part of a world that makes me happy and fills my heart on a daily basis. Thank you for every word of encouragement, every like, every comment, and every kind and thoughtful word you’ve given me.

Thank you to the authors for creating the unforgettable books and characters and worlds we all love and need to get lost in, and thank you for letting me read and review your books because it truly means the world to me.

Thank you to my fellow bloggers for being the best group of coworkers a girl could ask for, and even though I’ve never met most of y’all, I think we’d all agree that this is the best *job* to have.

Thank you to my fellow readers for all the fantastic book recommendations, for being you and getting as excited as I do over books, and for loving books as passionately as you do. There is truly nothing better than that, or you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I truly can’t say it enough.