July 28 was an incredibly important day at the Haus of Gina. Yesterday we celebrated the first birthday of Here Comes Gina! We were so busy getting drunk and fielding press calls that we we didn’t have time to get this post up before midnight yesterday.
I nervously launched this site one year ago with a post about my summer ‘09 skinny drink of choice, kombucha. I wanted to launch with my open letter to Dairy Queen, but I decided that starting the blog with so much anger would probably be bad karma.
Over the past year I’ve written about things that changed my life, went to New York Fashion Week (with help from my friends Dana and Dara), hated on and loved Target and shared my biggest purchase to date. In honor of this momentous occasion, I thought a look back at the first year of Here Comes Gina would be fitting.
Most Commented Post: It’s Girl Scout Gina Time
It’s always surprising to see which posts receive the most comments, but I wasn’t totally shocked that my long time battle with thin mint Girl Scout cookies resounded with readers. After all, every normal person has one food she can’t resist, right? The post with the second highest number of comments: The Cure for a Gossip Girl Hangover. What better summarizes Here Comes Gina than Gossip Girl + thin mints?
Post that Changed the World: An Open Letter to Dairy Queen
A summer of stalking my local Dairy Queen store and its broken chocolate ice cream machine eventually sent me over the edge, and I fired off a hateful open letter to Dairy Queen lambasting it for allowing a franchise to go three months without chocolate soft serve. After I tweeted to DQ linking to my open letter, the company’s corporate consumer relations group jumped on the situation and alerted the new owner Brian, who ordered 40 gallons of chocolate soft serve and offered me a free Blizzard. If that doesn’t make you believe in the power of online media, I don’t know what will.
Post that Garnered the Most International Attention: H&M: The Garden Collection
The comments section of this post about H&M’s organic collection quickly morphed into CraigsList for people from the U.K. searching for Garden Collection pieces. I even received e-mails from shoppers who wanted to purchase the red rosette dress from me (which I never bought). Note to self: buy up lots of H&M’s next designer collab and sell on eBay. Note to H&M: stop allowing your Times Square store employees to knife unworn clothing before throwing it away.
Favorite Series of Posts: WCYK09
Our 2009 pilgrimage to the Woodbury Common outlets in New York was years in the making, and we worked hard to share the experience with the HCG readers. We created a logo for the trip, shared our plan of attack and followed up with a detailed rundown of our journey and purchases. Don’t worry, we’re already gearing up for WCYK10!
Post that gets the Most Google Hits: DIY: Fabric Headboard
Apparently I’m not the only person who struggled to find a decent online guide to making a basic fabric headboard because lots of people Google “how to make fabric headboard” and end up at Here Comes Gina. Even more surprising, someone Googled “bed bugs in fabric headboard” and was directed to HCG thanks to JMJR’s witty comment on this post. We can always count on Johnny to spice up the comments section.
My most sincere gratitude is owed to certain people without whom Here Comes Gina would crash and burn. Joe, CF and MR are constant sources of support, inspiration and creativity (even if they do battle over what their respective titles should be), and they fool me into thinking HCG is just as important to them as it is to me. There would be no site without the über talented JDF who never ceases to offer design and technical help whenever needed.
Special thanks are owed to anyone who has ever read HCG or suggested it to a friend (Little B, Ski, KB, A & C, the Bywood girls, the entire Maxwell/McGann family, my mom – even though she didn’t have my business card on her when she mentioned HCG to Oprah’s bf Stedman Graham). Nothing makes me happier than sharing a great beauty find / recipe / book / pair of flats or jeans with someone, and this site offers me a larger platform to do so. If you have spoken to me in person about HCG, then you already know that my eyes light up like Christmas trees when I discuss the happiest thing in my life. I am incredibly excited about year two, and I promise as many amazing posts as I can possibly publish!
Giant birthday cupcake courtesy of CF
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Happy Birthday, HCG! The burning question is – did CF make that cupcake in the Giant Cupcake Pan?! And, um, when did your mom meet Stedman?!
Dear Team HCG,
We can’t thank you enough for spending this monumental occassion playing celebrity photographers for SAS’s portfolio. Happy 1st Anniversary! Looking forward to many more shenanigans to come in year 2!
PS: Best. Cupcake. Ever.
Good stuff. Bueno. Feliz Cumpleanos!
Happy Birthday HCG!! thanks for all the good tidbits and laughs!
HBD, HCG!
Happy Birthday HCG!!! Looking forward to another great year of fashion tips and exciting news!
Wow! What a great year, HCG! I love you.
Congrats…WHOO-HOOOO
Time flies when you are reading and learning about awesome things on HCG!!
Looking forward to another year of Awesomeness!!!!!
PS—Congrats on the new casa too :)
Woo Happy Birthday HCG! Can’t wait to see what year 2 brings!
Happy b-day, HCG. Reading it is one of the best parts of my week! I personally loved the GAP skinny jeans post. I would have never purchased a pair and now can’t live without them.
CONGRATULATIONS HCG! I’m particularly excited that the post with the most google hits includes a picture of you as an impromptu ninja ;)
Happy birthday HCG! By the way Gina, where are you standing with that amazing looking cupcake? Is that your new crib? It looks awesome with that chic door in the background.
Thanks so much everyone!
C: Yes, CF did bake the cupcake in a giant cupcake pan. She is a very talented baker. My mom ran into Stedman a few months ago outside a restaurant in Cape May. They had a lovely conversation during which my mom (1) asked where Oprah was (New York), and (2) was so kind to bring up Here Comes Gina.
JH: You are very observant :) Yes, I am standing on the back patio at our new place – we love it!
Happy Birthday! That is a really beautiful picture.
Wow! I knew it had been close to a year but I didnt realize that me and HCG share an actual birthday! How fun. Also, that cupcake is really fun! Nice work, Christine! Here’s to many more years of HCG!
Just got chills re-living the year HCG fashion. Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, HCG. You are my go-to-for-everything everything. I love you.
Happy Birthday! Though I’m still not sure I totally forgive you for convincing me and members of my family to try and pretend to like kombucha.