I ♥ Arizona - Happy 101st

Photos by Lisa E White

February 14th marks the end of this daily blog, but not the end of I Love Scottsdale.blogspot.com.  When I embarked on this project for the Arizona Centennial, I had no idea what a commitment it would be to come up with a blog every single day. I had no one forcing me to continue, no advertising, no deadline, just a personal responsibility to follow through whether I was in Italy, Oregon, or sick in bed with the flu.  Spending the summer in Flagstaff was difficult (I'm sure you all feel my pain) as I struggled to find the right photos and events.  I definitely got by with a little help from my friends.  What I didn't expect from this project was to reach so many viewers around the world.  (Check out statistics from this week below.)  I used photos from Swiss visitor Thomas Schmied and Swedish visitor Tobe Lundgren, but never thought anyone in Kazakhstan would view this blog.  The pictures I pinned to Pinterest reached over 500 views each,  with more "hits" every day.  The two pictures today are particularly meaningful to me and appropriate for today.  The cactus pad in the shape of the heart is from my resurrected volunteer cactus in my front yard, sharing its heart after surviving a root drenching collapse last month.  And the red heart rock was a marker I passed every day on our morning dog walks.  I guess someone loved the red heart rock as much as I did, because it is now gone.  But I Love Scottsdale is still here.  I will now venture out to share some day trips from Scottsdale.  I might make it all the way to Phoenix!!!  Happy Arizona Statehood Day.  If you want to contact me, e-mail: lisa@ugottahaveart.net.

Stats on this week's viewing audience: USA 919, Canada 64, Russia 20, UK 11, Germany 8, South Korea 8, Egypt 5, Sweden 5, Mexico 4, Switzerland 4, El Salvador 4, Malaysia 1