some words.

        September 6th was the last time I posted on this little blog of mine. That was 4 month ago. I thought I was doing a pretty good job updating and feeding you photo candy.

Well, things have changed since then (blogger wise).

Back in April of 2012, I hastily clicked the "Publish" button, and let you all read about how I found my Niche. I explained in one of the paragraphs, "My niche is expressing myself through my own simple thoughts and photos." And it was. That post was honest and real. I posted throughout the summer, thoroughly enjoyed giving you all the "biggest scoop" on what was going on, and loading new photos for your anxious little eyes to see. I posted just a bit during the school year, and posted once on September 6th. After that, things changed.

I did not intend to take such a long break from blogging. In fact, I wanted to blog, I just could not find the time for a while. Along the way though, I figured out something -- I did not want to blog anymore. Why? Here is a little story for you:

I don't feel like I'm in a community of bloggers that is truly....erm...how should I put this? Real? Themselves (I only see a few sprinkled out there)? Blogger comments, blogger follows. You comment back on their blog, you follow their blog. Blogger doesn't get enough comments from you. Blogger unfollows. Blogger really just wanted you to follow their blog and really was not interested in you (true story, bro). Blogging seems to be all about getting followers, posting things that are merely eye candy, staying popular, staying fresh, staying new, keeping up with every single blogger trend (read my sarcastic yet sincere guest post here), and doing everything to avoid being yourself. Everyone and their brother's purpose is to "express themselves through photos" (there's nothing wrong with that, but it does seem a little fishy that 50+ bloggers are doing it), everyone posts about how they are a thrifter and prefer things vintage, everyone suddenly "finds their niche", everyone suddenly rebrands, everyone talks about "how to be yourself" yet they are being nothing but hypocritical, everyone thinks there is meaning in a photo of your grimy feet, shred of grass, piece of dirt and cover it up with, "I like to find beauty in the smallest things" (Let me say -- I used to be incredibly guilty of that. Sounds like a legit excuse though, so why not use it?).

 Now, I am not pointing fingers at any certain blogger and I am not saying that any of that is "wrong" -- I'm going based on what I have seen as a whole, myself included in many of those categories.

Basically, I'm going to be blogging again. However, I have no set "theme" for my blog. It is no longer a "telling stories through photos only" blog, etc. It will now be more of a journal. Whenever I feel like posting, I will post. I may post 5 times in one day, I may post once every 3 months. I will post whatever I'd like though. I know we always say to "be yourself and post what you'd like", but really, secretly, there is the expected type of post that readers look for. If you plan on sticking around -- don't count on a menagerie of photos, a few creative sounding words, and maybe a witty sentence for every single post. This blog, as I stated before, will be more of a journal -- I will post whatever I feel the need to post, whatever is on my mind, whatever issue has been tugging at me, whatever God has told me to post, etc.

And yes -- there is a new name. Why? #1 The name "Anna Gray" for a blog seemed way too self-centered. It's not like I'm Paris Hilton and can use my name as everything. #2 I used those 2 words in a tweet and it sounded like a nice little blog name. Nifty, huh? ;) The design is rather shoddy, but that's okay. It works, it makes it feel homey enough, and I like it well enough.

xoxo