Blogs you should visit: Part 1

I thought I might start a little series on other people’s blogs. There are A LOT that I follow. Sometimes my Google Reader overwhelms me quite frankly. But I, like you, got my start somewhere. So I thought that I would highlight a few of my favorites and frequently visited sites over the course of the next few weeks. (If  you know I know about your blog and you aren’t mentioned here, be patient, you certainly will appear soon).

In the beginning. . .

I had Isaac last August. Prior to his birth, I was on modified bed rest for 6 weeks. For a busy body like me this was something next to torture when it began. By the last few weeks I was actually wishing it would never end. I was working part time from home and spent a majority of my days on the couch “playing” on the internet when I was wasn’t working. I started with researching baby stuff and progressed to regularly following the blogs of family and friends. These were mostly family update blogs. Then, one day, I read my cousin Jessie’s blog (yes family, but more of a blog blog) and things began to change for me. I suddenly realized there was a hold world of great “stuff” out there.

Here are a few of the very first blogs I ever followed:

Jessie AKA "Vanderbilt Wife"

Vanderbilt Wife

This is my cousin Jessie’s blog. It does have family updates as she has a baby but it is mostly great dialogue about her life, the musings of this world and cooking. I was always impressed by the menu plans that Jessie published every Monday called Menu Plan Monday. I was SO impressed! I was also greatly humored by her tales of pregnancy and the woes of trying to get work done in between bathroom breaks. She is a funny gal.

The Grocery Cart Challenge

I think that Jessie must have linked to this site one week in her Menu Plan Monday because I am certain I didn’t find it on my own. I probably went looking for a recipe and stuck around in awe. This fabulous lady sticks to a budget of $60 a week for her family of 6! Seriously? Seriously! Seriously? I couldn’t believe it and it fascinated me all in the same moment. I remember telling my husband about it and he commented about the glint he saw in my eye when I even thought about it. It was perfect. I love to cook. I love to grocery shop. And I LOVE a challenge. I was ready! Oh yea, I was on bedrest so hubby was doing the shopping – okay I will just dream for a while longer.

The Organizing Junkie

While on The Grocery Cart Challenge I keenly observed that she too did a Menu Plan Monday. And then it clicked. Maybe this was more than a one website sort of thing. So I clicked over to Menu Plan Monday to see about all of the commotion. And low and behold! A treasure trove of meal plans EVERY week. What an amazing idea. Not only that, there were organization tips, tricks, advice and giveaways. I was certain that I had found heaven in a blog. I, obviously, am a huge fan of Menu Plan Monday and visit regularly.

$5 Dinners

Again, I am pretty sure that I found this website through Menu Plan Monday and a search for new recipe ideas. I was impressed with the concept and thought “If I could make $5 dinners I could actually maybe meet the $60 grocery challenge.” So I began planning and began following. How surprised was I to find out that Erin, author of $5 Dinners, lived only 5 miles away from me! CRAZY! I was so excited to find this out and actually meet someone from a blog that I was following. I have since had the pleasure of meeting her for coffee, shopping with her, driving with her to BlissDom ’09, hanging out at meet-ups and in general, calling her a friend. What a small world.

Emily and Jenny from Mommin' It Up

Mommin’ It Up

When I started telling my friend Cortney about these websites that I was following she was excited too. She also mentioned that she knew a girl from high school that had a blog and that lived near by us, I should check it out. I did. I LOVED it. Seriously. I now know Jenny and Emily which makes reading the blog even sweeter but I can’t tell you how many laughs I have had over at their site. I appreciate their wit, candidness and cry your eyes out humor.

Rocks in My Dryer

Oh, I can’t forget this one in my “beginning blog” overview. I am not even sure how I ended up on the site but I am sure glad that I did. Again, I have had many a tear-jerking laugh because of Shannon’s well written and illustrated stories about life. I can honestly say that the reason I signed up for BlissDom ’09 was because I saw that she was a panelist for several of the sessions. I figured it at least had to be entertaining if she was going to be there. And no, I did not actually meet her. You know when you take your 2 year old to see Mickey and they are so enamored but so embarrassed/terrified at the same time? Yep. That was me. Oh well. I heard her speak and saw that she is just as funny and “real” in person as in her blog. That is all I needed.

Okay, that finishes it up for this first week of “Blogs you should visit”. Join me next week when I take a look at some other great blog sites. Here is a question for you – Do you remember the first blog that you ever followed and why? If so, I would love to hear about it. I am anxious to see if it is in my upcoming list.

And don’t forget to vote for the February lunches in the right side bar or submit your grill recipes here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Chatter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.