Today is my little blog’s third anniversary! Thank you so much to all the loyal readers and fans of The Siren for supporting this endeavor of love!

In truth, I’m amazed that The Siren has gone on so long and has had the success it has. I appreciate and thank all the people behind the scenes who have supported me and helped me over the years!

But it doesn’t feel like three years! It’s flown by!

And somewhere in all this I have managed to stay true to my core agenda and even do a little good from time to time. A few months ago I decided to list all the work The Siren has done or supported in the “About” section. I have to admit, The Siren has done more than I thought. In a good way. And again, I thank everyone who has ever helped me with a Siren cause or project. I thank all the people who support The Siren!

Thinking about the good stuff helps me realize that I do meet at least a few of the lofty goals I set for The Siren every year. Usually around this time I start thinking about all the work I want to do with The Siren. All the goals and hopes and projects. Ever the over-achieving perfectionist, I am always falling short of the potential of The Siren. I always feel like I could be doing more. I always feel like there are projects left undone and opportunities missed. And maybe that’s how you motivate yourself to keep doing the work — the potential to do even more. I still hope to incorporate more voices, through guest bloggers. I continue to work toward partnerships with other blogs and organizations to do good work.

I have never made a penny on this blog (ad revenue goes toward operating costs). But that’s not the point. I started this blog three years ago today with the mission to highlight feminism in Las Vegas. That’s not exactly a money-making scheme. (*If you are interested in buying ad space on The Siren, please e-mail me.*)

It’s probably only natural that in celebrating my blog’s birthday, I think about everything that has happened in the last year, too. The Siren is my work but it’s also part of who I am. I think about The Siren all the time, even when I’m not working on it. And it is impossible to not have my private life enter into this realm, too. When I think about my past year it has been a fabulous and crazy one! This time last year I had just done my second 5K (the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, with a Siren team raising nearly $500). I was preparing for a vacation in Hawaii, easily the most extravagant and amazing trip I have ever taken. I was nearly finished with the first-draft of my first book, which I finished in July. (Still working on it and trying to find a publisher.) I was also preparing (health-wise, financially, etc.) to start trying to have a baby. And in September I found out I was pregnant! Now I’m two weeks away from my official due-date (May 21)! And in the midst of all that I was doing activist, feminist work and The Siren, too. It’s been a busy, wonderful life for me!

Now as I look toward the future of The Siren, I find it’s harder to map where it’s going to go and what I’m going to be doing. After all, my immediate plan is to have this baby! And I will be taking about a month off when that happens. As much as I love The Siren and enjoy the interaction I get with readers and my fellow activists, it just can’t match my excitement and joy to be having my first baby. I hope that in the mean-time, my guest writers will step up and help keep things going in my absence. (In fact, if you would like to be considered for a guest-writing spot, please contact me ASAP.) But the truth is, things will sit a little bit idle while I’m gone. For all my plans over the years to get more writers involved at The Siren, it hasn’t quite gotten there yet. I hope it will. But for now, I hope you will be patient with me while I’m on maternity leave from blogging duties. I’ll be back, so please don’t leave!

And, of course, as I take on the new and dynamic role of motherhood, I’m just not going to have the time I used to do all the volunteering, activist stuff I normally do. I hope that a few months down the road I will be back at it. But I can’t predict how I am going to feel or what motherhood has in store for me. Again, I just ask that you be patient with your dear old Siren. (You never know, I may get back in the saddle faster than I expect!)

Thank you for celebrating another year of The Sin City Siren with me. Thank you for being one of my readers! Thank you for supporting my labor of love.

Take care of each other out there,

Emmily