Looking back at one year as a Splendorita

So it's been a year. Yes, 365 days. Exactly one year ago, in this same spot (Palm Beach) for the same vacation (Thanksgiving) I woke up one morning to find a peculiar email from a person I had never spoken to before- Gina Pell.

"Dear Ariel", this email read, "I was browsing the internet and came across your fashion blog. I was wondering if you'd be interested in writing for Splendora" (or something like that). Frantic, I ran into the other room, immediately grabbed my mother out of bed yanking her from her slumber, and typed www.splendora.com as fast as I could into my Firefox browser bar.

Needless to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

I had never thought that my little, unknown, totally obscure fashion blog I wrote during the summer of 2006 would get me one reader, let alone to the Teen Editor position at Splendora. After contracting mono on my fifteenth birthday, I had read every magazine and book in my house, and watched every DVD, and therefore decided I'd combine the two things I love most- writing and fashion- and turn it into my very own site. Basically a collection of spastic ramblings on fashion and life in general, Le Chic Caniche is not necessarily my best work. I got a few comments, from girls I'd never known or spoken to before, but I had assumed about 3 people in total had read what I had written over those three or four weeks of bedridden illness and online luxury perusing. I guess I was wrong.

Apparently, Gina had found Le Chic Caniche (the totally cheesy name I had come up with in my fever induced state of mind- it means The Chic Poodle in French...) while searching for Christian Louboutin boots on Google. To this day, I send praise and thanks to the Google gods for giving me such good luck and fortune.

Gina liked what she saw, hence, 'The Email'. I think I still have it saved somewhere- my dad made me print it out and keep it so I'd always remember how randomly I was chosen and lucky I am to be able to be a Splendorita.

Since that 2006 Thanksgiving, I've endured many a scandal. My first piece for Splendora, an introduction of who I am, why I love fashion, and how it came to be that Splendora was aligned in my stars, caused (to say the least) a bit of a ruckus at my all-girl's school. Once one person found it, it had spread through the entire school, and copies were posted all over the under and upperclassmen lounges, with girls left and right getting in my face and saying nasty things. All of this culminated with a visit to the Dean's office, where I wound up staying for the remainder of the school day until my mother picked me up- at 12:30- I didn't even finish out the three hours I had left- laughing at the debacle I had gotten myself into. What caused such pandemonium you ask? Apparently, my comments on how '"some teenage girls tend to dress like they've raided Anna Nicole Smith's wardrobe" (note, this was written before her untimely and strange death) and some snide remarks about Hollister offended many students, even though my comments weren't directed towards anyone in particular in any way, shape, or form. But I gave up on fighting that battle a loooong time ago.

Writing for Splendora has helped me grow as a person and become more confident in my writing, my ideas, and myself. Getting through scandals such as the initial "Splendora Cyclone" at school have made me become the girl I am today and helped me realize that no matter what anyone says, your ideas and your thoughts are yours and yours alone, and you should never feel pressured to change them for anyone else- ever. Adding to the shift in my mindset is my shift in style- I've taken more risks in my wardrobe as a Splendora girl than I ever have before. Heidi's chic, structural, austere picks and Karen's usually whimsical and fun ones have filtered somehow into my brain and caused me to gravitate towards things with a little more punch. So what if I'm the only girl in school wearing a technicolor hoodie, or an actual dress on dress down day? I have the confidence to rock it, and that's all that matters.

And I haven't been the only one changing. Since I started writing for Splendora exactly one year ago, the site has undergone a MAJOR transformation. The addition of user "What-To" lists, Star Diaries, and member profiles have taken Splendora from a fabulous blog about the good things in life to an even more fabulous network of incredible girls and women, who share interesting ideas- be it about style, music, or life in general. I look forward to reading everyone's "What-To's" on a daily basis, and always am interested when someone posts a paticularly clever or intriguing diary entry. Splendora is truly a little community of 'likeminded women', and I'd even go as far in saying that it's a family. When I was on summer break in Rome, I got a phone call from none other than Karen Bard, who, besides informing me about Splendora stuff, also was genuinely interested in how my vacation was going, how my summer program in France was, and just how I was doing in general. I'll never forget that. This system of networking is only going to get better and I can't wait to see what Splendora will look like in another 365 days from now.

On another note, all of this change and these fabulous things couldn't happen without the help of Gina, Amy, Heidi, Karen, and everyone else on the Splendora team.

When I met Gina and Amy for the first time at Del Posto in the Meatpacking District one April evening, I was a bit nervous before we got there- what if my outfit is totally passé? What if they think I'm stupid?, the list went on and on- until I finally met two of the coolest, most stylish, insanely chic women I have ever met in my life. Gina and Amy treated me like family and I'll never forget our four hour dinner that went to almost 1 o'clock in the morning where we discussed fashion, school, music, life, and just being a girl in general. My mom also fell in love with the two and to this day she still raves about how sweet Gina and Amy are and how she still can't believe what fluke of nature it is that they found my website and how insane the entire story is. I couldn't agree more.

So, on this one year anniversary (and I hope there are many more to come), I want to thank the stars for giving me mono, thank Blogspot.com for giving me the tools to create Le Chic Caniche, thank the Google Gods for letting Gina search for Christian Louboutin boots on that fine day, once again thank the Google Gods for directing her to my page, thank the internet for being as thorough as possible in searches, and, most importantly, a HUGE thank you to Gina Pell, who took a chance on me and, although it got me into many a predicament, allowed me to express my opinions to the world and be who I am today.