Blog Crushes

I fell into the blogging world last year, and one of my favorite parts about it is the seemingly endless amounts of inspiration I can glean from others in the community. Whether it's photography, DIYs, or simple thoughts that expand my perspective, I've fallen in love with several blogs along the way.

Dear friend, 

Not only is Rebekkah Seale an amazing artist with a very distinct and unique style, her posts in the form of letters make you feel like you've just made a trip to the mailbox and returned with an armful of loot from really thoughtful pen pals. Her photos from around Tennessee make me miss the South, and her knitting adventures push me to get better at the craft.

One Sheepish Girl

Meredith is adorable. If only every weekend could look like her weekend plans! Her sweater challenges and cozy apartment make me miss my college days and wish I'd spent more time crocheting between classes. I love the idea of blogging for confidence, and honestly, her photos are just plain fun to look at. So grab your knitting or crochet needles and head over for some inspiration.

The Wild and Wily Ways of a Brunette Bombshell

Sometimes Meg's writing makes me stop in my tracks. She doesn't hold anything back. Her writing challenges me to write more from the heart and to listen to the urge to write more than I do. Her photos are always a fun glimpse into Manhattan life, but her words, well, they're the meat of it.

 

People Webs

I recently discovered this blog, and I devoured it in about three days. She crochets the most adorable sweaters and bows and directly inspired me to try my hand at crocheting a pair of slippers.

Where do you get your inspiration these days?

It's my birthday, and I'll blog if I want to.

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Denise on Pinterest

One year ago today, I wrote this.

And my goals--write more, write everyday--have started to become realized. I still don't know where it's going, where I'm going for that matter, but I'm content just tracing its trajectory. Thanks for coming along.

The deepest convictions of our heart are formed by stories and reside there in the images and emotions of [a] story.... Life is not a list of propositions, it is a series of dramatic scenes. As Eugene Peterson said, 'We live in a narrative, we live in a story. We have a beginning and an end, we have a plot, we have character.' Story is the language of the heart. Our souls speak not in the naked facts of mathematics or the abstract propositions of systematic theology; they speak the images and emotions of story. 

 --Brent Curtis

(365 Chances) #1: Tomato & Rosemary Focaccia

Full disclosure: I started another blog. I even posted a photo on it, and started writing my first post. Then, as I started customizing the template, I realized that it looked strangely similar to this very blog. I guess I'm not immune to New Year Fever, to new beginnings, clean slates, fresh starts, etc. But one of my goals for this year is to exercise perseverance, to put in the time that doing what I want and getting better at what I do takes. I am easily distracted and discouraged, so this is the year of focusing, of figuring out, of improving. I'm afraid that I'll become a "jack of all trades, master of none," so this is the year of mastery, for better or worse. Even if I never own a bakery, I still love the craft of it, the art and silence, the intimacy with food, the generous rewards of breaking a bread that I have made.

My other blog, it was called 365 Chances, because what is a year if not that? 365 chances to invent, to discover, to do, do, do. To read and write letters, to share and commune. There are so many things this year can be, so many chances.

The first chance I've taken is to start making my own bread. Inspired by Emma's goal to bake a loaf of bread a week, I've decided to get a jumpstart on my dream of owning my own bakery by learning the trade of breadmaking. I have to say, my first attempt was a hit. Here she is:

This recipe is from Vegetarian Bible:


Tomato & Rosemary Focaccia 


You'll need
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, extra for garnish
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
6 oven-dried tomato halves
1 tsp sea salt


 Do this
Sift together the flour and salt, then stir in yeast and rosemary. Make a well in the center and pour in 4 tbsp of the olive oil; mix quickly. Stir the lukewarm water in slowly. Turn onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 2 minutes.

Now brush a bowl with oil. Shape the dough into a ball, put it in the bowl, and cover with a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

Brush a cookie sheet with oil. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and punch with your fist, then knead for one minute. Put the dough onto the cookie sheet, cover with a damp dish towel, and let rise for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Cut the tomatoes in half. Whisk the remaining oil with a little water in the bowl; dip your fingers into it and poke dimples into the dough. Place the tomato halves into the dimples, drizzle with remaining oil mixture, and sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary sprigs.

Lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake the bread for 20 minutes.

And then sit down and eat warm bread that you just made.

Gone kite-flying.

Someone once told me that there are people who make a living entering contests on the internet. AP Economics taught me that nothing is free, and the time these people spend entering and losing contests probably grossly outweighs what they actually win. So while I don't make a living from entering contests, I love throwing my name in the ring to see if I actually win. Despite the depressing ratio of entries to wins, I recently added another notch to the "wins" side. Thanks again to Campfire Chic for hosting a giveaway from the talented Khara Ledonne. Finding the tiny, adorable, hand-painted "Go Fly a Kite" locket in my pile of mail yesterday really eased the blow of coming back to the real world after such a kick-ass weekend.





Go check out Campfire Chic's blog and Twitter for more great giveaways. And spend a good hour or two perusing the adorable, impressively detailed lockets at Khara Ledonne's etsy shop!

(Also, my birthday's coming up and this is officially on my list.)

An invitation...

Won't you... follow my blog with Bloglovin?

Changing things up.

I'm new to this daily-life-blogging thing. I have a blog about writing and reading. I contribute to a blog of fiction and poetry. I also write for a book review blog. So this whole journey-of-me thing without a specific focus has been throwing me off. I just started and I'm already undergoing an identity crisis!

So what I'm going to do is slow it down a bit. I'm going to write for me. There are so many wonderful blogs/bloggers out there whom I admire and read religiously, and I think that I was trying to emulate them. Instead, I'll do us all a favor and start something new.

That said, here goes.

So I've decided to take a couple weeks off of my writing group. I just haven't been writing anything I'm particularly proud of, and everything I send in feels like a waste of time for them to read. With family craziness and other things occupying my head, I think it's best to take a step back and let myself absorb for a while without churning out. We'll see how it goes. I started a spreadsheet in my Google docs today to keep track of my writing submissions, so hopefully that will start to fill up as the summer progresses and I start to get my shiz together. We'll see!

I've been reading voraciously, though, which I plan to keep up. I'm in the middle of Volt, a collection of short stories by Alan Heathcock right now and enjoying it. I also have a book on photography that I checked out from the library but have yet to crack open. Even though I'm no longer in school, summer still represents a time to slow down and enjoy the little things in life like being outside, riding bikes, lying in the grass and reading. I'm excited for that mindset to get into all the other crevices of my life.

We'll see what comes of my daily dreaming.

I tweeted yesterday that some days I just want to quit my job and become a lifestyle blogger.

"What's that?" Crunch asked.

"You know, people who are married or parents or obsessed with fashion. They blog about it."

"You're none of those things."

That's when it came to me: Letters. I'm a letter-writer. Whether it's to people I know or complete strangers via my stories, I'm always writing letters. Enter my new project. It's a brain-project at the moment, but someday soon it'll be more.

Why the sudden interest in so-called lifestyle bloggers? Because no matter how much I don't want to be married or "Mom" right now, I'm fascinated by others doing things I'm not doing. There are some truly creative and thoughtful women out there blogging about their so-called ordinary lives, making extraordinary impacts on other people. I can appreciate that.

One of my new favorites is TodaysLetters.com, where a married couple writes letters to each other and pretty much shares their secrets on how their marriage not only works, but flourishes. There are some great lessons in all kinds of relationships: Learning how others feel loved and communicating how you feel loved. I recently learned that lesson in one of my great friendships, and it's one I guarantee I'll probably have to learn again in the future. I appreciate all of the help I can get.

The Writles meeting last night boosted my confidence in my submission to Redivider and generally reminded me that I love reading things and then discussing them. Let's find a job like that, shall we?

Currently figuring out if my brain-project mentioned above is worthy of Kickstarter.com, or if I'm kidding myself. I'm usually kidding, but we'll see.

Heading to the Lud tonight to hang with my sweetie and Nicole and Jay. Nicole said it's like an explosion of her two lives, something I've been having a lot of lately with so many visits on the docket, so I can relate. We should teach the atom bomb to make those kinds of explosions.

Haven't done my 5x500 post, am trying to write something time travel themed as has been the theme so far this week. Friday is my dailygenoshan review day, and I have no idea when I plan to do that. Haven't read a book in a while, so I may have to refer to the vault. Again.

Goal for March: Get my shit together.