My GBGV Life Blogiversary! We Start Our 8th Year With A Big Thank You!

Today is the My GBGV Life Blogiversary! Emma started the blog with her first post on November 8, 2011. At the time, she was just five years old, her desk was pretty bare, and she was snacking on MilkBones. The blog started as something just for fun, but grew and grew to where we are today. Compared to many blogs, My GBGV Life is still small, but for Emma it was big enough. She always said it was about the fun, not the numbers. Her goal was to make people happy, and provide some useful information for other dog owners.

My big sister Emma told me almost from day one, that one day I would take over her empire. She felt I would be responsible, and reliable. Bailie isn’t really that way at all. Did you know Emma was going to call the blog Emma The GBGV, but decided on My GBGV Life when Gramma told her someone may want to take it all over one day. At the time, it was unimaginable, but it happened. Emma groomed me on the finer points of posing for photos, and doing product reviews. Unfortunately, she never taught me about cooking and baking. None of us planned on Emma leaving us so suddenly, so I’m left in a bit of helplessness taking over the reigns. Bailie is kind enough to help me figure out how to move forward with Emma’s empire. Neither of us want to disappoint her.

Emma knew she was a big deal. Sometimes I think she wondered why other dogs were even on the planet! She always loved to be the most important being, no matter where she went. I heard stories about how people would recognize her at the dog park, or other events, and it made her so happy. Despite her fame, inside, she was just happy to hang out around the house, and do as many mommy and me things as Mom had time for. Bailie and I were simply too wild and crazy for her liking.

No one, not even Emma knew she would leave us so soon. Her blog was her work, and she had already planned out several reviews and giveaways for this month. Companies loved working with Emma because she was good. Her photos improved so much since 2011, and she could write too. It’s hard to believe in the beginning no one sent her anything to review! We have all benefited from the many products she had sent to us to review. Through all the reviews, Emma told me how our lifestyle changed for the better. We now have what we feel are very healthy treats and foods, not the junk she used to have before Mom knew better. There are plenty of toys in the house, and many super useful products for our every day lives.

I’ve heard stories about how Emma had about two readers for months on her blog and 49 followers on Facebook for almost six months. Her social media accounts took so much work to grow to the thousands of followers she has now. She invested in an IPad so she could work on social media anytime. Reaching ten thousand Twitter followers was a huge personal success, for which Emma was so proud. It’s fun having a blog and social media accounts, but if no one sees any of it, it is not as much fun.

One of the hardest things about taking over the blog for Emma is that her fans loved her so much. I sure hope you will never forget her, but learn to love me and Bailie for who we are. People would be upset when there was a “lack of Emma” on the blog, so she tried to always have the right mix with us. For the time being, the blog will stay the same. In the new year, we may update the look, and change some things around to make it a better fit for me and Bailie. First we need time to heal, and sort out our plans going forward.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. My GBGV Life may receive a small commission for products purchased through the links.

Emma worked as a #ChewyInfluencer for almost four years. We all love Chewy.com because they not only have everything we need, they are fun, and funny. Chewy.com is a perfect fit for our blog. Yesterday, we got these beautiful flowers from them, along with a sweet card. They always loved Emma’s product reviews because of their creativity, and level of fun.

All of you reading this are our fans. So many of you have warmed our hearts so with your outpouring of sympathy over the loss of our sister Emma. We wanted to offer a thank you, something that Emma would love to give to the winner. She would want to celebrate starting the eighth year of her blog. Chewy.com has graciously offered to give one winner a $100 personalized box of goodies ( Me and Bailie are not included). The winner has to be in the contiguous United States, but can choose the items she would like, or have Chewy.com choose for you. This means, even if you only have a cat, or a bird, or, God forbid, a wabbit, you would be able to use the $100 to choose items you would like.

To make it easy for everyone to enter, simply use the Rafflecopter below. Enter your name and email so we can contact you if you win, and get bonus points if you answer one question.

I’m only two, so this is a big job for me to take on, but I know my sister Emma will be proud of me, and I know she is so happy to know how truly loved she was. Huge GBGV hugs to you all for being our friends!

No purchase necessary. Giveaway is open to 18 and over continental US residents only. Giveaway will run from Thursday, November 8, 2018 through Sunday, November 19, 2018. One (1) winner will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter and notified via email. The winner will have 24 hours to claim their prize; failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize. Participants must read and agree to Rafflecopter’s and My GBGV Life Privacy Policy before entering and participating in this promotion. Prize is provided by Chewy.com and My GBGV Life is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We are thankful for the time we had with Emma, and for how much she was loved by people all over the world. Today we join Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!