A Huge Thank You

(If you came for more Christmas DIY, my apologies, all will be back on track tomorrow.)

I am taking a moment today to say something really important,
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
Yes, I am speaking directly to you, the one reading this right now.
This little blog with the funny name, at times atrocious spelling or weird text with numbers(sometimes it is autocorrect & blogger, honest), and slightly interesting posts :P, has had more than 18,000 visits!
I wanted to let all of you lovely people know, how blessed I feel that you take time out of your busy days, to stop by here at The Kinky Coconut.
I know people want followers and tons of comments, which are nice things that I hope will happen here too some day, but I know that this blog is still in it's infancy stages, going through growing pains, has many changes ahead, and has been sporadic in the past when I was injured and unwell.
I am really moved that people find it and even come back.
I began this blog as a way to cope with the crushing heartbreak of being forced out of my profession as a Chef because of permanent injury. I was in a bad place, went through depression, suffered from serious anxiety, and lost my confidence and center.
I loved being a Chef, working hard in professional kitchens was a joy, so much fun, crazy, busy, intense, familiar, felt like home, helped my problems melt away, I trusted myself there, and it was a huge comfort as well as an exciting place to learn and grow.
I needed a way to work through that painful loss; I still do.
I may always need to, some part of me yearns in a way that I sometimes feel ashamed of because I feel like I am not appreciating the blessings that God has gifted me with at every step in my life; including the present. I am not always proud of it but to deny the longing would be a lie and I prefer brutal honesty. It stings, sometimes offends, and shows us things we do not like or want to face, but we are better for it.
More truth?
I have almost dropped this blog, several times because I didn't think anyone besides my Poppa Bear was reading any of this. (Thanks babe for being my biggest fan and vocal cheerleader, mwuah!)
When I saw that number, I was over the moon because I realized that the silence in the comments did not necessarily reflect the actual traffic to the blog.
Writing/blogging is a pretty lonely and quiet endeavor, which is precisely why I thrive on it(as I am an introvert) but it's important to me that the words reach someone, and at times it can be discouraging on those days one feels more sensitive.
May I tell you something?
I had a goal to hit that 18,000 number by February, March or even April of 2016, I never thought I would be able to do it before then. Then I opened blogger and saw that goal had been reached and even gone beyond, I was amazed.
Christmas came a little early, it's heart warming and because of you.

 As we are not all able to fit in my baby cocoa nib of a house, I am sending a slice of cake to celebrate through the interweb, to each and every one of you. It is in the form of a blue frosted, silly, Cookie Monster cake. I don't think I ever told you but Cookie is and has been one of my favourite muppets along with the Swedish Chef since childhood. He brings a smile to my face the way all of you have.
I hope you feel the huge hug of gratitude I am sending to all of you and...

 To quote Sam N. Hampton:
"Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind."

Once more & God bless: