Who Are You? Reader Survey Results and Friday Facts

Does anyone else have The Who stuck in their head now? Anybody? Nobody? Are you nobody too? Then there's a pair of us!

Okay, quirky old references that Millennials won't get aside, I wanted to share some insights with you all from the reader survey!

It was pretty fun seeing the results from the survey in terms of who is reading and what you want to see on the blog. In case you're curious, I've picked out a few interesting things that came up in the survey to share with you, so pull up a chair and let's chat!

Pull up a chair and let's chat, you little monsters.

Demographics

Here are some stats from the demographics pulled from the survey and from analytics, which blessedly were in accordance:

Most of you are female (hooray for courageous female adventurers!)

Most of you are around my age (25-40) - hi friends!

A huge majority of you are from North Carolina (again, hi friends!), but there's a smattering of readers from across the US. Fun fact: according to my analytics demographics nobody from Wyoming seems to look at my blog. I've got every other state represented, but where are my Wyoming people?!

Most of you like traveling, sports, photography, green living, and the outdoors. Which is a good thing, because you'll find that here!

What you love seeing

Red-faced, sweaty, freckly, squinty-eyed, and laughing at something. Yup, that's about right for me.

An overwhelming majority of you said you most enjoyed posts about my "life/personal" - and of course you would! Personal posts and information please! Here's my Social Security number, run along now and have fun!

Just kidding. You can't have my Social Security number.

I had almost considered not including that as a category you could choose on the survey because I don't particularly like talking about myself (crazy, I know, I have a blog but I don't like talking about myself, what's wrong with me?!) and I couldn't really figure out any posts that were specifically about me or my personal life that would be a good example for this category. But then I went back and realized that even if I'm not specifically talking about myself in my posts, I'm still talking about my experiences and perspective and inserting myself into the story. Hopes, fears, vulnerabilities, and that incredible sense of awe upon finally achieving something or discovering something in the world...this is how I see the world and I can't help but permeate my posts with a bit of that each day. Hopefully that's the content you enjoy seeing and that you like the stories that come out of those experiences and emotions, because there's plenty more where that came from!

What you want to see

The categories in highest demand for 2018 include:

Travel
Outdoors/adventure photography
Backpacking adventures
Life/personal

So basically I need to save up my PTO and $$ for some big adventures! No promises yet, but luckily for you the posts you're interested in seeing are the activities I always want to do.

Besides these categories, you all also asked for more Ryder pics and just more content overall, and I can promise you that and more!

Extra tidbits

There were definitely a few things that came up in the survey that I wanted to address directly, namely:

To whomever offered to be my guest vegan cook...YES PLEASE! I need all the vegan recipes and more this year, so if you want to come over and help me with some vegan recipe posts then yes, let's do this! I'd reach out to you, but the survey was anonymous sooooo...chat me up!
To whomever said, "You're awesome!" - no, YOU'RE AWESOME-R! 💛
To whomever said, "I love you!" - awwwww I love you too! 💛💛💛 We can all do with a little more love in the world and I'm glad to help spread it around. (Spreading love >>> spreading the flu. Just so we're on the same page.)

Fun facts about me

Because it's Friday and because we have a bunch of new faces around here and because we're having a little fun today, here are a few fun facts about me!

I am an only grandchild. Yup, it's just me. The holiday parties don't start until I walk in. 🎉
I have died. (omg I'm Moaning Myrtle! 👻 Just kidding, read on to find out who I really am.) When I was a little girl some drunk driver ran a red light and completely t-boned the car I was in. I had just upgraded to a booster seat instead of a car seat, and apparently it's a good thing because the car collapsed exactly enough to trap me and require the jaws of life to get me out. If I had been in a car seat with all the extra padding and plastic I would have actually been crushed. I went into shock, flat-lined, and had to be airlifted to a children's hospital in Atlanta. Also a fun fact: I was released from the hospital that same day. (This was before any concussion protocols.) I had no broken bones or anything: just a lightning bolt scar on my knee. (Logical conclusion: I'M HARRY POTTER! ⚡)
I speak German. I come from a long line of German-Americans all the way back to 1750. These German-Americans apparently liked to marry fresh German immigrants, since we kept getting an influx of Reifingers and Konrads and Pflegers and so on in the family. My grandmother actually immigrated to the USA from Germany in the 1930s (uh huh..for good reason) but she never spoke German in the States. I finally learned German in high school and college, mostly because I didn't want to take Spanish 101 for the fourth time after switching schools a bunch (why don't grade school credits ever transfer??), and partly because German literature is weird and awesome and was much more interesting than my college pre-med classes.
I went to boarding school and my high school mascot was a unicorn. That's right - not only am I Harry Potter but I'm also a freaking unicorn. 🦄 I went to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, which is basically public boarding school for nerds (#proudnerd).

Alright, but that's enough exciting news for today. Here are some takeaway thoughts for you:

Do you feel well-represented by the demographics of my reader survey? Are there any post categories you're especially excited about? Or are you the person who offered to be my guest vegan cook?! Let me know in the comments! And if you're a regular reader who's never commented, please feel free to leave a comment and introduce yourself!

(PS don't forget you can always sign up for the weekly newsletter so you don't have to worry about missing announcements on posts on Facebook!)