AUGUST 31, 2014…

Two years ago, for my 35th birthday, after going through my bi-annual identity crisis, I created I’mperfect Life.net. (this website, uh-doy) The site was to serve two purposes. First, it was a way to get all of my recipes, ramblings, and rants in one place rather than spread out over seven different blogs scattered around the internet.  Yes, seven– none of which were managed very well, imagine that.

Second, I had been writing a fiction novel that I hoped would get published. I mentioned this to a friend and she told me the best way to make that happen is to create a blog following to prove to a publisher that I could captivate an audience– I have yet to complete that novel, maybe someday…ah, the elusive, “someday.”

It took 3 weeks to get imperfectlife.net from being an idea in my brain to becoming a live site built by my very patient husband who was in school for web design at the time. (The following semester he switched to Database Administration) I hand-drew all of the artwork (see the image above) and he built every page from scratch.

The name “I’mperfect Life” was the brainchild that came out to me (I’m like a seahorse with both sex organs) back in 2010 when Oprah was calling for people to submit pitches for show ideas for the OWN network. Thanks to my file hoarding habits,

Though there’s never been a “master plan,” I always wanted I’mperfect Life to be about more than just me.  In fact, there’s a Time Hop picture that showed up on my phone just the other day. It made my heart so happy to see that even though I’ve just been going along with daily life, doing mah thang, something that I stated two years ago is coming to fruition. Funny how when something is so deep in your core, somehow it makes its way to the surface.

ANYWAY, now referred to as “IPL” by die-hard Lifers, I’mperfect Life continues to evolve which brings me to the whole point of this oh-so-enlightening blog post…

Monday is my 37th birthday and after the most recent biannual identity crisis, complete with feeling overwhelmed, confused and being all kinds of whiny, I now present to you, my 37th birthday present to myself…and hopefully an every day present for you, too!

Dun duh duh dun…the new an improved I’mperfect Life!

You may have noticed when you got here that I’ve completely revamped the look of the site. It’s still kind of messy right now as it needs some work done to organize things and make it easier to navigate, but my hope is that it will quickly become your favorite inspirational resource for real food, real fitness, real life and real success!

In the coming months you can expect to see lots of new and exciting features including…

• More recipes with LIVE online cooking demos
• Quick & simple (but not easy) at-home workout videos
• Helpful articles with ideas on how to create your own I’mperfect Life
• Some awesome new IPL merchandise like shirts and stuff
• Regular blog posts from IPL contributors who will be documenting their process and progress as they work on letting go of perfection to embrace their I’mperfect Life
• And of course, MORE ramblings and rants from ME!

I AM SO FRICKEN EXCITED ABOUT THIS I CAN HARDLY STAY IN MY PANTS! Or skin…or…??? Wait, what is it that you have hard time staying in when you’re jumping around with excitement? (I seriously need a book of sayings and cliches to reference for moments like these)

I hope you’re excited too! Though I recommend keeping your pants on if you’re in public.

This post is already too long but I can’t end it without saying THANK YOU.  I don’t know if I will ever be able to put into words how much I appreciate my readers, fans, supporters, friends, followers, whatever-ers. You are the reason IPL exists. You are the person who makes me want to DO MORE and BE BETTER. If it wasn’t for you, I’d…well, let’s be honest, I probably would have finished writing that novel by now and would be rich and famous having had a NY Times Best Seller 78 weeks in a row. Maybe that should be my 39th birthday present following the next biannual identity crisis….

ANYWAY! Thank you! Thank you for reading! Thank you for sharing! Thank you for being a part of my I’mperfect Life and thank you for letting me be a part of yours!