happy birthday!

my beautiful wife has a birthday today. 

i love you!

three

three years ago this blog began as a way to give me an artistic outlet while i worked on my mdiv program at fuller seminary.  we figured it would be a fun three years in california.  i could complete my degree, work on getting to know pasadena through this blog, and move on when three years were up.  one year arrived, then a second, and now here is the third anniversary of the sky is big in pasadena.

since then, plans have changed.  my three year degree has stretched beyond its original timeline, and surprise-surprise, we are still in pasadena.  we like southern california more than we ever imagined.  we even took some time to add to our family.

in the meantime this blog has continued to truck on.  at times i've wished i didn't make such a lofty commitment to posting a photo every single day, but all in all, it has been an incredible journey.

we don't know how much longer we'll be in pasadena (at least another year, then who knows?), but this blog will continue to roll forward as it has since day one.  i couldn't do it without the love and support from all of you who follow this blog on a daily basis and who give me your comments - almost always, constructive and positive.  thank you all.

over the past three years this blog has seen almost 60,000 visitors and almost 100,000 page views.  and although my daily visitors have reached a plateau and are no longer rising every month, the popular website traffic monitor, alexa, ranks this blog as the 171,034th most visited site in the usa.  some websites even claim theskyisbig has some cash value.

i thought it was fitting to post a palm tree sky.  both palm trees, and the pasadena sky, have been featured hundreds of times on this blog.

turning two

today marks two years since the creation of the sky is big in pasadena (an odd choice of first photo, don't you think?). this blog continues to be bigger than i ever imagined. while it may not have the largest following ever, each month brings new visitors and connects me with new people. i've been amazed that i ended up sticking with this idea for this long - what began as a side project during my first quarter at fuller seminary has changed into something i hope to stick with as long as we live in pasadena. as i said after year one, there continue to be some pictures that i'm really proud of, and some... not so much.

thank you all for your support!

a few stats from the first two years of posts:

almost 35,000 visitors, and over 54,000 page views
photo postings from at least 9 u.s. states (CA, NV, PA, VA, DE, MD, AZ, WA, OR)
visitors from 6 continents and countless countries
increase in visitors from the previous month's total in all but four months
starting with 144 visitors during the month of october 2007 to 2,558 during august 2009 (including 260 visitors in ONE DAY on august 31, 2009!)

52 friday neon posts
44 skywatch friday posts
20 theme days
98 posts of the lovely pasadena sky
38 pictures of city hall
24 photo requests (keep them coming!)

birthday spread

oh man, what a birthday. september 19th was good to me this year! the day began with a trip to the homebrewing store, lunch with friends, and a lovely bike ride. it concluded with plenty of good eats, lots of laughs, and of course - good friends. this photo is our fantastic build-your-own burrito birthday bar. i'm still full!

happy birthday!

today is my wife's birthday.

she is the most important person in my life and i can't believe how lucky i am to be her husband. i can't wait to explore another year with her.

the sky is big in pasadena turns one!

today marks one year of daily photo posts. i've been amazed that i ended up sticking with this idea for this long. there have been some ups and downs, some pictures that i'm really proud of, and some which i'm embarrased i decided to post them. people have shown me more support than i ever thought possible, and i've been introduced to a new kind of community.

thank you all for your support!

a few stats from the first 365 posts:

almost 12,000 visitors, and over 18,000 page views
photo postings from 4 different countries (usa, canada, mexico, morroco)
photo postings from at least 6 u.s. states (CA, NV, PA, VA, DE, MD)
visitors from 6 continents and countless countries
increase in visitors from the previous month's total in all but one month
starting with 144 visitors in October 2007 to the highest visitor count in July 2008 (1731)
46 friday neon posts
7 theme days
38 posts of pasadena sky

surplus

but i'm not really sure what there is a surplus of... i've been by here several times but it looks like they either do most of their business out the backdoor, or they are closed. i love this classic old neon sign look, pasadena's got a good suply of them.

don't look now, but i turn 26 today! breaking beyond that quarter century mark. i'll be celebrating up in sonoma valley with some close friends, should be great.