Five Blogs I Love and Why

Five Blogs I Love and Why

In no particular order, and just the first few I randomly found in my reader:

A Mad Girls Lovesong - I love Sean's blog because I've been following since before she was pregnant, and I love watching her little girl grow up. She's adorable. And because she seems like the kind of person I could really get along with it. My favorite part of her blog is when she pulls out the occasional curse word. It always makes me laugh a little.

 

Because Nice Matters - I love Noelle's blog because she really knows how to tell a story, and has lots to tell. Her daughter Emily has heart problems (long story short) so I always love hearing about how she's doing too.

 

Our Tiny Place - So many of her blog posts have me in tears laughing. So many.

 

Loves of Life - There's just something about the way she writes that I just can't miss a post. I don't even know what it is.

 

The Baby is Fine - Funny stories, cute baby, very relatable. One of the newer blogs on my list but definitely a favorite.

These are my Pregnancy Friends

I was thinking just yesterday about where most of my blog followers come from. At first I didn't know. Some just found me randomly, but then I realized there was a common thing among a lot of my followers, and a lot of the favorite blogs I follow: pregnancy. I discovered a lot of your blogs when I was pregnant, because a lot of you were pregnant around the same time. 

Nicole - Pampers and Pumps

Katherine - Irish Italian Blessings

Sean - A Mad Girl's Love Song

Shannon - From Match to Marriage

Noelle - Because Nice Matters

Shelley - Hand in Hand

Kaylee - Moore Kaylee*

Valerie - Next to Heaven*

(in no particular order)

(* means they stopped blogging shortly after baby birth)

All those babies are going on two years old this year. 

I've been following Katie at Loves of Life since the day she wrote about her first daughter being born. Her second baby is about 8 months old now. I've been following Jess at Wrangling Chaos since before her youngest was born. Her youngest is older than Chloe. 

It's just so strange yet amazing to me that I'm watching these children grow up. Children I've never met, and probably never will. Which is sad, but hey, I'm Canadian. But because of blogging I know about these kids, and so I wonder and care about them. 

None of my real life friends have children (until a new addition was born March 17th) so I don't have this in common with anyone else. Just a bunch of my favorite bloggers. 

It's really kind of cool if you ask me. 

So thanks for letting me be a creeper and follow along with your life. And thanks for sticking around and following mine. I know how boring I can be. 

And if you're not one of the bloggers who was pregnant at the same time as me, how did you find my blog?

Blogs I Love: Story of My Life

I stumbled upon a really great blog earlier this week. 

The blog is called Story of my Life, written by Jenni, who is apparently close to my age but who seems so much wiser. I was first pulled in by reading the adorable love story that unfolded between Jenni and her husband. 

I only fell more in love with this blog upon reading a new post called If You Don't Ask, You Don't Get. 

It's the perfect advice really. It especially hit home with me after my slight issues with boyfriend earlier in the week. Where I expected him to know what to do without asking, and to know what was wrong without telling. 

So visit this blog. Or at the least, visit If You Don't Ask, You Don't Get.

Do it for me. 

Blog posts about sex and kissing

I was browsing through this blog, A Cup of Jo, not long ago and came across some interesting posts. Most are just short and sweet, but the topics sure suck you in. Plus, she makes such good use of interlinking her previous posts, that I got stuck on the website clicking away for over an hour. 

I don't mention sex much (or at all) in here, so beware of the slightly dirtier than usual content. 

Sex Tip: Paying the babysitter
Sex Tip: No kissing or talking
Keep the relationship sparks flying
What annoys you about your significant other
(I see a post on this in my near future :p)
Article: How hard it is to make friends after 30
(Or, you know, 20)
How long do you wait to sleep with someone
(Reading some of the comments was pretty interesting!)
Kissing checklist
Kissing checklist (x2)
10 Guys confess what it's like to kiss a girl


Which did you find the most interesting?

Blogs I Love, and You Should Too

With more time to blog lately, I've had a little bit more time to read blogs and have picked up a few new ones along the way. These are some blogs that I've recently discovered and have been loving lately.

Don't worry, I still love all my old favorites.


 

The first post I read was Why I Never Let My Children Drink 100% Fruit Juice, and I was immediately a new follower. This short post was a close runner-up favorite.

 

Meghan loves books, like I used to I do, and she plays the game of Eff, Marry and Kill on her blog. You know, where you pick which guy you'd like to marry and kill, and, uh, stuff.

   

One of my favorite posts of hers is 10 Signs You're Too Young to Get Married. Also, Kristen's blog designs are gorgeous. 

What blogs are you loving lately? Share some links.

3 Blogs You Should Be Following

Whether you're a crafter, regular ol' family blogger, or whatever kind of blogger you are, there's always a few key blogs you should be following, whether it's for their tips or for your own exposure. Here are a few that I've found to be the most helpful in some of these situations.

If you want more exposure for your blog: 

The Sits Girls

The Sits Girls are (and I quote from their website): a group of 40,000 women bloggers dedicated to supporting one another by leaving comments & learning about blogging. They feature a blogger every day, they share tons of amazing blogging tips, and their main goal is supporting bloggers and helping them gain exposure. I've found a lot of amazing bloggers through their daily featured blogger.

If you want to become a successful seller on Etsy:

Everything Etsy

Everything Etsy has more tips, tricks, tutorials and advice than you could ever ask for when it comes to Etsy. From packaging, to advertising, to creating your shop banner, to product photography, everything is here. When I first though about opening my Etsy shop, I got stuck on this website for hours reading articles. I may not have yet put to use a lot of the advice, but I still couldn't seem to get enough.

If you're a huge crafter / DIY fan: 

Tip Junkie

Tip Junkie is a gold mine if you're into anything crafty. There are a million tutorials, featured projects, recipes, etc. Every Tuesday she hosts Tip Me Tuesday, where literally hundreds of people link up their projects and recipes. 

What are some blogs you've stumbled upon that have helped you along your way? 

I Love Being a Lazy Mom

Every now and then, I like to share with you some of my favorite blogs, and why I love them. That way you can benefit from them as well. The first one I want to share is 

I'm a Lazy Mom

It is the pefect blog for me, because I am quite lazy, and I am also a mom. The blog is filled with quick little tips on parenting, super easy recipes (all separated into easy-to-find categories), and to top it all off, she's funny. Have I convinced you yet? Maybe you need a little more to go on. First off, are you a lazy mom?

Here are some of my favorite 'Lazy Mom' tips:

Gaining computer time by doing chores

5 Lazy Mom Tips for all Stages

Lazy Mom Sock Laundry Tip

And a recipe: Lazy Pita Pizza

So take my advice and visit Lazy Mom right now!

Ps. Have you 'liked' me on Facebook yet? I'd love it if you did. 

A Post About Being a Blogging Husband

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I read this hilarious blog post in a blog called 'All in my Twenties'. The post was by 'So Shay', and her husband. This is where I first heard the term 'blogband', which basically stands for blogging husband, aka husband of a blogger. 

The post is half written by the husband, and he lists 5 things he's learned about being a blogband. 

It made me giggle, and I can relate a little even though I haven't incorporated boyfriend too much (personally) into my blog yet. He only knows it exists, and I don't know if he's taken the trouble to find it yet. Maybe now that we're sharing a computer. Who knows. 

My point? Check out that blog post, especially if your boyfriend/husband helps you out with you blogging duties every now and then. 

What I Love and Hate In a Blog

I'm sometimes guilty of following too many blogs, and thus not being able to keep up with them all. So many blogs are just that good. There are also so many blogs that turn me off. I might get a little hate for this, and some are super picky things, but here are a few things people do when blogging that turns me off of their blog:

• Captcha. They're getting harder to decipher, and after the third attempt in a row I'm tempted to unfollow. 
• Too many giveaways and reviews. I'd rather read a real blog about a real person, and not a bunch of products. Do it in moderation and I have no problem with it. Same goes if you're only ever doing linkups. 
• Kids only. If every.single.post that you write is only about your children without ever writing about you and your opinions, I get bored. I have a kid, I know how great they are but there still is life around them. 
• Too-Long paragraphs. Break it up. If it's too long, I start skimming, then I might lose sight of what the post is really about. Then I have nothing to comment. And I click away and go on with my day. 
• Too much happiness. If you're super happy, good for you. But if you're blog is nothing but sunshine and rainbows and you never write about one negative or bad thing that happens, then it just feels like you're a lie. I mean, sometimes your car breaks down or your kid gets sick. Complain, dammit. 

While I'm sure I could go on, I'd also like to dive a little bit into things I absolutely love in a blog:

• Realness. If you write about real life - the good and the bad, I'll love you for it. 
• Humor. If you can make me laugh, I'll never leave you. Even if you don't constantly make me laugh, as long as I can tell you have a great sense of humor, I'll still never leave you.
• Nice photos. Of cute babies and stuff. And a photo of you somewhere. If I can't find a photo of you, how can I be sure you exist?
• Blog design. If you're blog is super tidy and organized and pretty to look at, I'll look longer. No fancy blog design required. 
• Variety. If you're blog is full of random stuff, I will love you for it. 

Last but not least, here are 5 real blogs that I absolutely love, only 5 for now because I could probably go on forever. 

• Because Nice Matters
• A Mad Girls Love Song
• Wrangling Chaos
• Loves of Life
• From Match to Marriage

Now tell me - what do you love and hate in a blog, and what are some of your favorites to read?

Ps, want to vote for me in TopMommyBlogs? I'd love you forever.