Celebrating my second blogiversary with an open call to trade patches

Two full years have passed since I first began this wonderfully fun blog, and a tad more time than has rolled by since I began to collect Girl Guide and Girl Scout patches (and badges, and pins, and silks, and...) again for the first time since I was a Pathfinder. Over the course of those two years many things have transpired in my life. I’ve moved homes, experienced very rough periods of health, adopted an incredibly precious cat (Stella), had a marvelous visit (last spring) with my mom and step-dad who flew out to visit my husband and I here in Ontario, experienced my first (two!) operas (which I hope are the just the beginning of a lifetime of live opera performances), began a second blog (devoted to my lifelong love of the past called Chronically Vintage), become an avid photographer, and experienced many other memorable events both large and small.

In that time I’ve also had the true pleasure of meeting (in the online sense of the word) and swapping patches with many fantastic people from across the world. Getting to know some of my fellow patch collectors, learning from your years of GG/GS collecting wisdom, and sharing my thoughts on all manner of Guiding related topics with you has been nothing short of a joy. Some swappers and I have interacted only once, others several times, and a handful of badge collectors have become cherished friends. No matter the duration of our correspondence, I can say with absolute sincerity that every one of the people I’ve swapped with has definitely exuded the spirit of the sisterhood of Guiding, and helped to make me even happier that I rekindled my love of patch collecting!

On that note I am issuing a call to swap to one and all! I know that our ranks have dwindled as of late, but at the same time I know there are many people across the world who are also still actively collecting and trading patches. Whether we’ve swapped before or not yet had the pleasure, if you would like to trade, please swing by my Dupes and Traders list to see what catches your eye then zip an email my way letting me know what you available to swap.

Today, on this lovely second blogging anniversary, and always, thank you to one and all for your friendship and the wonderful swaps we’ve shared. I look forward to many more years of trading and sharing in this terrific hobby with you!

Gearing up for 100 years of Girl Guides greatness

{Official logo of the 100th anniversary of the GGC.}
It is with great pride and joy that many of the earliest countries to have respectively founded Girl Guide and Girl Scout organizations will soon reach their hundredth birthdays. In 2010 the Girl Guides of Canada will hit this centennial anniversary, and over at the official GGC website preparations for this once in a lifetime milestone and the yearlong celebration that will help to commemorate it (while also honouring the important role of Guiding into today’s world).

For more information (including dates of large events that are being held to celebrate, such as National Rally Day on May 15th) be sure to check out the official 2010 website, and also stay tuned to this blog, as I’ll try to post pertinent information regarding the GGC’s 100th anniversary in the months leading up to it and all through 2010.

Girl Guides and Girl Scouts blog turns one year old

My goodness, has a year really zoomed past since I first began this blog? It has indeed, and today is this site’s first anniversary, its “blogiversary”, if you will. While elements in my personal life have at times prevented me from posting as often as I’d like, I’m also pleased with what I have had a chance to write about.

Image from the GGC's clip art graphics gallery
A huge element of any site is its readers and visitors, and nowhere is that more true that on a blog like this one that offers an element of “real world” interaction via patch trading. I began blogging about Guiding topics just a few days after I started collecting patches (et al) again for the first time since I was a youth, and over the past twelve months I’ve had the pleasure of trading patches and pins (and occasionally other GG/GS items like scarves and postcards, too) with fellow collectors from five different continents!

I want to take a moment to sincerely thank everyone that I’ve traded and chatted with over the past year. I’ve loved shipping off little parcels of crests to places as far-reaching as New Zealand and Ethiopia, as well as to my fellow Canadians and a plethora of lovely folks from many other countries. Thank you also to all of the people who visit this blog! I hope that you enjoy reading its contents as much as I enjoy writing them.

Here’s to another wonderful year of covering Girl Guide and Girl Scout topics – and taking part in patch swaps – that lies ahead!