Happy Birthday, The Girl In The Check Scarf.

It wasn't until I woke up this morning that I realized that I missed our anniversary. How could I? Darn you, college applications. On November 29th, The Girl In The Check Scarf turned a whopping 3 years old. Three years is a lot of time. It's hard to believe that I started this website in my freshman year, and here I am a college-bound senior. Crazy, right? I've changed so much, but it's not so much changing as it is finding out who I actually am. I still wanted to be a fashion buyer when I started this blog. After starting this site, my interest in fashion really started, and I was able to grow and learn more about fashion than I ever thought previously possible. The blog helped me to foster and develop my love of technology and ideas, and that has changed my life and career path. I started falling more and more in love with ideas, and today I can't wait to be a trend forecaster/ industrial designer.

I honestly don't know what I would be doing if it weren't for this blog. I would just be average. This blog has made it so that I get to be a regular kid, but I also get to have crazy adventures in fashion. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. I've already been able to have three years in the fashion business, and I'm not even out of high school yet.

I am so deeply in love with this blog and all of you. My readers mean so much to me. I've gotten so many encouraging emails from young women telling me how my blog has inspired them to go out and do great things. That totally blows my mind! You guys keep me going, and I appreciate you more than you know. All your kind tweets, emails and comments over the past few years have encouraged me and inspired me so much. Thank you for all your love and support. I'd like to thank my family for encouraging me to do what I love and for supporting me every step of the way. Thank you for listening to my rants about every Balenciaga collection, thank you for loving me, thank you for texting me every half hour while I was at fashion week to make sure I was still alive, and thank you for always believing in me. You've never doubted my passion, and you encouraged me to work hard at what I love. I love you, mom and dad. I'd like to thank my grandfather for sharing his amazing stories of his fashion days with me, for asking me 'how's the fashion going?' every time I see him, and for printing out every article I've ever written. That means so much to me. Thank you, Poppu. Thank you to my best friends who have encouraged me to never give up. Thanks to Onswipe for giving me my iPad. It's completley changed the way I blog and work. Thank you, HVmag.com, for believing in me and taking on a 17 year-old as a guest editor. Being able to write for such an awesome magazine with such a great team has been a dream. Thank you to all the PR agents, brands and designers who have believed and me and worked with me over the past few years- I couldn't do this without you! Lastly, I'd like to thank my father in heaven for his love and guidance. Every time I got an invite to a show I wanted, I said a prayer of thanks. Every time I got a bit lost at fashion week, I said a prayer and he helped me find my way home. Whenever I had to make a tough choice, he has guided me and helped me see all that I could become. Knowing that God has a plan for me has helped me keep my feet firmly planted on the ground, not loose sight of what really matters, and not become too materialistic.

It's been a difficult year for me (you've probably noticed that by my lack of posting), but it's also been my most exciting year career-wise. I did TEDYouth, I had two jam-packed, awesome fashion weeks, I started writing for hvmag.com, and I've been able to do things that I didn't think were possible. I really hope and pray that in a year from now I can be here again, writing a post just like this one. A year from now I'll be at college, but I hope I can keep the blog going, and I really hope all of you will keep reading. Thank you so much for all that you do.

Much love, Sarah