HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

in Random Crap

I promise I’ll write about Japan later this week but not today because I was just looking at the calendar and turns out today is special because I started this blog  exactly 12 years ago today.

TWELVE YEARS.  That means this blog is officially an awkward, moody pre-teen and who doesn’t love those?

I just want to say thank you for sticking around whether you’ve been here from the beginning, or if you’ve joined this strange and wonderful community somewhere along the way.

And since it’s our birthday, we should get presents.  I can’t afford presents for everyone so instead I’m asking you to do something wonderful for yourself.  Take a hot bath, read an amazing book, send a letter to someone you love, adopt a puppy, make a hat out of the stolen hair of your enemies…whatever makes you happy.  And that will make me happy.  So that’s a present to me too.

Thank you for being you.  Here’s to the next 12.

141 thoughts on “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!”

Read comments below or add one.

  5. Happy anniversary, Jenny! Yours is the only blog I follow. Thanks for sharing your life with all of us who love and appreciate you and your adventures. Here’s to many more to come!

  6. At my house, we’re eating cheese and napping. It’s the perfect birthday activity. 🙂 Happy birthday, Bloggess!

  10. Your baby blog is a pre-teen! Amazing. In honor of this, I have placed my first curbside-delivery food order, to be placed “gently” into my trunk by the loving hands of Wal-Mart employees. At any rate, it will save my knees the agony of trudging around, looking for stuff till I want to cry in their overheated check-out lines. So, thank you.

  11. Jenny thank you for your books and also this blog. It’s the best. And you follow me on Twitter which is amazing. Hugs!!!

  12. Happy bloggiversary! Just hearing from you makes me happy. It’s a WIN-WIN!

  16. You’re my hero. Happy blogiversary! Here’s to dozens and dozens more years of this crazy, wonderful communion between The Bloggess and her fans – of which I am definitely one.

  17. Whoa! I just did the math and it looks like I’ve been here the whole time! I bought myself a mini bundt cake today for no reason, so I’m gonna pretend it was for this!

  18. Happy blogiversary! I’m going to heed your creed and celebrate by doing something nice for myself. Absolutely nothing – all evening!

  20. I vividly remember turning 12 and excitedly announcing to everyone that I was now a pre-teen. Happy Anniversary!

  21. Happy blogiversary from Stockholm! Not that I happen to live in Stockholm, I just happen to be here.

  22. Hooray!!! I shall celebrate in style – on my couch in my jammies with some popcorn watching Twin Peaks. Also, I dyed my hair purple – and since it just happened, that is now ALSO in commemoration of this fantastical day!!

  23. Happy birthday! 🎈 Felix cumpeanos 🎉🎉 I send you a robot 🤖 Because it’s a robot. Your blog brings such joy and comfort and causes so much Dr Pepper to shoot out of my nose. Thank you for creating this space and thereby creating this tribe. Happy happy joy joy. Also glad you went to Japan and glad you’re back safely 😎

  24. Happy blogiverserry (it’s not a word and I know I still spelled it wrong. :/) this is a wonderful place in the Internet!

  26. Ooh, happy anniversary! I think I’m going to order a pizza (with garlic!) to celebrate! And play online 500 rummy and listen to podcasts. (The party never stops here, y’all.) Jenny, thank you for sharing your wonderful self–your kindness, your humor, your struggles, you family, your pets, and of course your writing–with all of us!

  27. Happy Annibirthday! Yeah it is a word! I learned from listening to your book this is allowed. I’m proud to say that you were recomeded to me as an author by a friend. In you I feel I have found a kindred spirit! I can’t wait to see were your journey takes you next!

  28. Happy birthday to us! I’m so happy to have found your blog and to feel part of something special!

  31. If this blog was a dog it would be pretty old. Happy blog birthday! It was a true birth of a notion.

  34. For the 12 year birthday I got a cortisone shot in my arthritic shoulder. It hurts like hell!

  35. my gift to you, Jenny, is a big THANK YOU! the blog where we could leave our address to get mail – i cannot tell you how sweet it was to receive random pieces of mail that made me feel so not alone. my son even thought it was cool. i got about 7 pieces of mail at random times. i sent a few as well. i hope everyone got a lift from that. i thought it was amazing. thank you!

  38. Something wonderful for myself brings to mind things like:
    1. Done enough chores today. Stop now!
    2. Call computer tech to fix computer … tomorrow.
    3. Dinner? Phoning that in.

  42. MY BIRTHDAY IS FRIDAY! I’ll be some number of years older than 12 – actually a lot closer to 6 times 12 – but it’s the thought that counts. But with today being your blogiversary / birthday, I’m now just going to give up on all responsibilities until next week. I’m sure the credit rating companies will count that as a valid reason to postpone paying any bills.

  43. Isn’t your blog 12 years old in taxidermied raccoon years, which makes it… um, how long do trash pandas live for? They seem eternal, at least around here😊

  44. From the first day I found this blog, I felt such a connection. Now I know why: your blog and I share a birthday! Thank you for all the years of weirdness, love, honesty, and lessons in self-acceptance.

  45. Happy Blog Birthday! I’m a newbie to your blog site and feel like I’ve missed so much. But anyway I’m glad I found you now. I read Furiously Happy on my daughters Kindle account and have been laughing with all of you ever since😁

  46. Happy Blog Birthday! I’m a newbie to your blog site and feel like I’ve missed so much. But anyway I’m glad I found you now. I read Furiously Happy on my daughters Kindle account and have been laughing with all of you ever since😁

  47. My husband and I now and again pursue Barnes and Nobles like overly caffeinated punch drunk teenagers…something we’ve always done since we first dated 11 years ago. Usually we just comment and or admire the cover art and never really buy anything… our reasons being financial but also because I’ve never been a huge reader. Years ago during one of those aimless trips I found a signed copy of “Furiously Happy” at a local Barnes and Noble.

    I had no idea who you were at the time. I didn’t even know what “Furiously Happy” was about…but Rory on the cover of the book made me laugh really hard out loud. The book was incredibly unabashedly itself…Rory’s little face smiled
    brightly at me while his dead eyes pleaded with me to buy this magnificent book. The book was already relatable to me.. simply the cover art! I said to my husband “I have no idea what this book is even about… but I MUST have this.”

    Now I know why! Low and behold I found a treasure of a read..a treasure of an author. I found true inspiration in those pages and in this blog…and in this tribe! Thank you for being truly-joyfully-authentically you. By doing so you give us permission to do the same. Thank you Jenny and happy blog-birthday!!

  48. Hope your blogaversary is effen blogdacious! Just don’t forget to blow out the candles before eating the cake.

  50. My God…has it really been that long? I know I remember falling in love with you (platonically) and your blog (not-so-platonically, sorry) back in 2010 I think it was… Now I have your signatures on your multiple NYT Bestsellers and I’m SO proud to say I knew you back when…

    In fact, I remember when you were in the middle of writing LPTNH and we would pop on twitter every so often and ask if anyone had spoken to you and reminded you to eat something.. 😉

  51. Happy 12th Birthday! What a fun ride it’s been and I’m feeling shabby today, perfect timing!! 😁😳

    I’m sitting here petting “Hank Meowdy “ she, yes SHE adopted us during our winter from hell, and she’s lovely! I wish I could post a pic for you. Hank Meowdy looks like a thick aka chunky Blue Russian/tabby mix boy, and he/she had been slinking around the neighborhood, so I thought what better name than to name him/her after Hank Moody from Califorication. The best neighborhood slinker ever (yes I just made up a word,‘slinker,’ autocorrect – quit yelling at me it’s my birthday! 🤦‍♀️) Anyway the vet even thought she was a boy at first, surprise! It’s a girl! 💕🤣

  52. Ugh!! Stabby not Shabby! Autocorrect is ruining my life. Lol

  54. Happy Bloggessiversary!!! I’m having an extra-long therapy session in about 4 minutes, so I’m celebrating right! 😜

  55. I’ll be puppy-sitting a corgi puppy this week. He’s the nephew of one of my corgis and the half-brother of the other. Its a furry family reunion! Plus I get short term puppy breath. <3<3<3

  56. Happy blogaversary! Stuff it, spellcheck. Hugs to you and yay for a reason to do something fun!

  57. Many happy returns! This calls for cake!! I’d suggest one with The One Raccoon on it, but I don’t know where you could get a raccoon-flavored cake on short notice. If not hugely overpriced, go to the local supermarket and see if they can decorate a cake with a recognizable freehand raccoon.

  59. A very respectable amount of time, achieved one day at a time. Be well, Jenny and family. And fellow Bloggess tribe readers.

  60. Been a fan for 5 years. So glad I discovered you, thanks to a dear LIBRARIAN and friend! Love from a grandma on the East Coast…

  61. Happy Blogoversary! I feel like I’ve been around since the beginning, but it’s not quite that long – maybe a year shy of the 12. Thanks for keeping me enthralled for all this time!

  62. Right, I should totally get myself Chinese for dinner. Glad I already anticipated your suggestion and ordered it. Oops, gotta go pick it up. 🙂 Happy Anniversary!!!

  63. Happy all of it to you! Reading your blog has been the best weirdness ever. I’m going to watch The Great British Baking Show (ONLY the British version, don’t you know) in your honor. Not only is it wonderful, but I learn all kinds of useful phrases! Like, “If I don’t get my wriggle on, I’ll run out of time and my pie will be a bit pants.” And, “Be careful of that lavender flavor in your cake, too much and it turns knicker-drawer on you.”
    So here’s to a blog that is never even a little bit pants!

  64. Happy Day to all!! Even more exciting that today is my actual birthday! 😊

  65. I’m pretty certain that I found you and started following you during the Etsy shaming time. I have never stopped. You make me feel seen. It’s wonderful. Happy Birthday!!!!

  66. I didn’t really need another reason to consume many wines tonight – my coworker generously gave me all the reasons I need – but this historic event gives me a much happier reason. Cheers, Jenny and all the tribe members!

  67. Happy, Happy, Joy, Hoy! Love this tribe! Happy Bloggiversary, Head Weirdo! We love you, Jenny!

  71. Happy Blogversary to all of us! I celebrated by eating a handful of Lucky Charms and the little marshmallows were everything I thought they’d be. 🌈🍀🦄⭐️💗

  74. i finished “furiously happy” and what struck me the most was that one line near the end: you turn to Victor and ask him if it would have been easier if he had married someone else: and he says, “Easier, probably. But not better.”
    He’s a keeper, lady.

    oh, damn, I’m getting all snuffly again.

    Glad you’re back.

  77. Happy birthday to us indeed as today is my actual birthday!!!
    Thank you for creating this wonderful place of misfits.

  79. I am sad that you’ve been blogging for 12 years, and I only found your blog three years ago. But at least I found you, or us, or whatever. Happy Birthday!!

  80. Um… so this is gonna be weird, but are you sure it’s 12 and not (at least) 13? Because I would swear on something holy that I started reading this when I was pregnant with my 12.5yo… 🤷‍♀️

  81. Happy 12 years of fabulous blogging. I just joined you a year ago and wish I had found you sooner. Your’s is the first and only blog I follow. You both inspire me and make me smile or laugh out loud, which I don’t do nearly enough. Thank you for your courage, strength and absolutely bat-crazy sense of humor. My son was severely depressed, had PTSD, and was in pain mentally and physically for too many years. He lost his battle for sanity and happiness almost 3 years ago and I miss his crazy humor every day. I wish he could still be here but I find comfort and wisdom in Victor’s words: Life is easier but def not better. Thank you for the good things you brings to me and many others. Keep on keeping on!

  82. Happy Blog-iversay! I played with my dog and ordered some cool Japanese office supplies tonight so I’ll count that as my presents. 🙂

  84. Ermahgosh today is my actual real life birthday too! How awesome to learn that I share it with your blog!! I came to this Tribe a few years back and I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing community of misfits. Thank you for all you do, Jenny! Cheers to you and all of the others who make this blog, and really, the warped adventure we call life, so awesome!

  87. No one can say it better than Fred and Barney;

    And my Father’s Day present that my family didn’t know they got me finally arrived!

  88. Thank you for giving a piece of yourself to the world through your writing. Your contributions make the world a better place. Happy birthdayversary!

  89. Happy blogiversary! I spent several hours this evening working on paintings as a way of celebrating this auspicious occasion. I’ve been reading your blog since your days at the Chronicle and I’m so glad to have found you. Thank you for making all of us weirdos feel at home in this world by sharing your life with us.

  90. I have just decided that I am going to re-watch the new Good Omens series. I can’t think of anything nicer to do for myself.

  91. Happy 12th! So happy you are home and that you had fun like the boss you are in Japan! I cried tears of joy for every post you made when you were exploring with Victor and Hailey ❤️

  92. Dearest of All Jenny’s, I have been with you from very close to the beginning and my love for you, your family and your (our) tribe continues to grow! I wonder if you really know how many lives you have touched in a positive, honest and deliciously zany way! And by zany I mean the one with thoughts that delight, amuse and inspire us and grow more amazing with each day. And honesty. And loyalty. And the desire to spread love and understanding around the world, blog by blog. Happy Anniversary of the Birth of The Blog and enjoy the love that comes to you from the Tribe.
    Heather from Canada who met you at booksigning in Toronto when Furiously Happy came out and I gave you a dopy lamb in a mason jar in a feeble attempt to create funny art. You accepted the gift as any lady would even though I felt like a total idiot.

  93. Currently in Budapest, on our last day here, and our AirBnB has an amazing tub, so in honor of our birthday, I’m going to take a hot bath, and read a good book, and then go out to lunch and have an amaaaazing Chicken Paprikash, and then I’m going to waddle back and tell my husband to do the laundry and clean the kitchen.

  97. Happy Blog Birthday!!!! You’ve been such an inspiration. Reading your first book helped me find your blog, which then got me to start my own blog, and that has been a wild ride. Thank you.

  98. Here’s to us!!! I love this blog and our crazy community at LEAST as much as my moody teenage girl, so there’s that. Jenny, I use you as an example to her (and others) about staying weird and never giving up, even when life hammers you like a metal stake! Happy Birthday!!!!! <3

  99. I’ve been with you since Beyoncé was shared by someone on FB. I spent all
    day yesterday reading Tiffany Jenkins’ book that I had pre-ordered two months ago. I never let myself read all day anymore, so I’ll say that’s how I spent the Blogiversary and it was awesome. Thank you for being you and sharing everything. You make me laugh about mental illness and that is not easy to do. Thank you for your blog and for your amazing weirdness. It’s so nice to check and find a new post when I wake up. First thing I do every day.

  100. Yay Jenny! Congrats! That’s amazing. In a sea of Twitter trolls and aunts on Facebook, you are my pocket of beautiful weird.

  101. Thanks for 12 great years of post. Here’s to at least 12 more years. Taking Nephew #4 out for dinner.

  102. Based on personal experience, this blog now has glasses, braces, pierced ears, bright blue or sea green eyeshadow, its first zit, and a bra.

  104. Yay! We share a birthday, so Happy Birthday to the both of us. Celebrated with mexican food with the fam, then I made my kids watch Sixteen Candles with me. Oh to be anywhere close to 16 again! LOL 🙂

  107. Happy birthday!! You’re the best! Thank you for sharing your words with us. You’re an inspiration, and you’re hilarious!

  108. Happy Birthda! I’m going to my favorite Italian coffee shop for a latte and some sort of treat to celebrate.

  109. Thank YOU for being here. I check your blog every day for updates, love watching you on Instagram, and live for when you come to town with your books. So happy that you do what you do. Happy Anniversary!!!!

  113. Today I had my first session with a career coach. My mind is blown. I feel so validated. After one hour of mostly listening to this guy talk about my skills and competencies and how to market myself, I feel so confident that I feel like my career and life in general are on an unstoppable upswing.

    To everybody, take care of yourself. Sometimes it feels like self-indulgence or selfishness, but it is worth it to be healthy in mind, body and spirit.

  115. Happy Blogaversary!! OMG remember when we all celebrated those? I haven’t used that word in ages. 12 years! Congratulations and thanks for the present, I really needed that.

  116. Happy Birthday! Thank you for all that you do and for making the world a better, funnier place!

  117. Happy 12th Blog-a-birthday! What an amazing accomplishment! Thank your for your witty, insightful, and wonderful space you have created for us all to come together. And, thank you for sharing yourself and your family with us along the way. <3

  119. Happy Blogthday!? I rarely comment, but I’m always a-lurkin’. Congratulations and thank you for all of the smiles and sometimes tears that you’ve spread along the way.

  120. I still remember the very first time I read your blog (it was the post about getting a bunch of weird Lego parts in the mail) and I just checked and that’s from August 2008. So I haven’t been following from the very very beginning but I think it’s pretty close. And I never comment, but I thought that was worth sharing. Also, one time I was reading Furiously Happy on a plane and I was laughing so much a total stranger wanted to know what it was. This is totally unrelated, but I never comment, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share.

  121. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Favorite Super Lady!! Love ya Girl, THANKS FOR BEING THERE AND DOING WHAT YOU DO it means so much to sOOOOO many of us out here in lala land!

  122. Haven’t been here since the beginning but have been here a long time. Yours is one of the two blogs I pimp out. And one of the only places one dares to read the comments.

    Thank you!

  124. Happy Blogiversary!! I can’t believe it’s been that long already! So in honor of said occasion, I am taking a nice bath with a bath bomb and a snail mask on my face! #selfcare

  125. I love you and this blog so much Jenny. I don’t remember exactly when I stumbled across this beautiful, weird tribe, but I love it with all of my heart. I listen to the audiobook of Furiously Happy whenever I need to remember to breathe and laugh. You’ve helped to pull me out of a lot of depression spirals, and you’ve taught me how to teach others that depression lies and that we’re all strange and magnificent. Thank you for giving so much.

  127. i wish you lived next door, but I will settle for your blog and your books!

  128. I remember finding out about your blog from Guy Kawasaki. So it must not have been that long after you started it. You’ve brought much laughter to my life since then. Happy blogday to you!f

  129. I found your blog many moons ago at a particularly difficult time of my life, and it legit changed me. I mean, in an enhancing way, not in a sent me on a downward spiral sort of way. I re-read your books and laugh til I cry, or just cry, and then I pat the covers and put them back on my bookshelf til I need them again. You know how you’re one person and then you discover an author (King & Gaiman were big ones for me) or a band (Dead Milkmen {wait, other people are this weird?}) or whatever and now you’re a slightly altered version of who you were because your worldview now includes them? Yup, you’re one of those for me. Genuine thanks, and happy fucking birthday 🙂

  130. Congrats! Another reason to celebrate….your book was featured in my Zuilly email this morning.

  132. Just wait till your blog wants a latter curfew! And to go out drinking with its friends.

  133. Thank you so much for all of your writing! Thank you for sharing your life, your struggles and your beauty. You inspire me. Because of reading your books, I wanted to write a book. Your book broke all the rules I thought I knew about books- which made me feel liberated. I also wanted to write a book about mental health- but mine was going to be a fiction book- to help with the stigma of mental health that is out there. The book I planned to write didn’t happen- but instead I ended up with a different book. In this book- the main character dies on the first page- and then body jumps into someone else- who is still there. It is about mental health, and a whole lot of other stuff. And I just want to say thank you again for inspiring me to write. I self published on Amazon this month. Here’s a link- if you are curious.https://www.amazon.com/Day-After-I-Died-ebook/dp/B07SLKNZ9L/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=L.C.S+Gabriele&qid=1561079004&s=gateway&sr=8-1

  135. Happy Birthday!
    and thank you for this safe and understanding and loving space.

  136. Happy Birthday to us! I know I’m late.. but if I was on time and had it together I wouldn’t be a very good member of this community… I know that’s not everyone. But it is me. Happy Birthday everyone.

    Jenny

  137. Hi Jenny. I didnt know exactly where to put this so im putting it here. You have helped to save my life in a way that doesnt just mean ” hey you kept me from wanting to kill myself as hard today”. It also means … Well that your hilarious books made me feel slightly better during a really.. Really rough time. So thank you. Thank you for .. For making me laugh until i was crying then making me cry until i was sobbing cause sometimes thats just fucking cathartic.

  138. Please excuse the mispellings and grammar mistakes. I was typing while crying.

  139. Happy bloggy anniversary a month late! I’m glad to have had you around for so many years <3

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