TypePad Featured Blogs

do not adjust your sets

We've got a new way (among loads of other ways) to feature our favorite TypePad blogs and bloggers over at Everything TypePad. If you're subscribed here in a feed reader, don't worry - you're all signed up for the Featured category, so you can still read about your favorite blogs without having to lift a finger. You might want to sign up for the full feed of Everything TypePad so that you can stay in the know with all of our tips, tricks, and other good stuff about your favorite blogging platform.

Visit Everything TypePad.

Large Fella on a Bike

Large Fella on A Bike is the blog of a man on a mission: he's gone from 501 pounds (and was told he would die without surgery) to 181 pounds without that surgery. By changing his lifestyle and riding a custom-made bike, this fella has changed his whole life, and that of others around him. He grew out his goatee until he broke into the 100's of pounds (to his wife's amusment and chagrin.) He's still getting used to the new body he calls home.

Check out his progress photos from his journey, too. (And the progress of the bike itself!) Whoever says they can't do something, you may want to rethink that whole philosophy.

Visit Large Fella on A Bike.

Some Girls Wander

Some Girls Wander is one of my new favorite blogs, and not just because I covet everything in her wardrobe. A well-thought out fashion blog that's just fun to look at is the perfect antidote to working too hard. Especially, I'm fond of the post about: the otherwise perfect dress, (because  and that's there's a whole category for "stuff I just love."

Visit Some Girls Wander.

The Corkdork

The Corkdork reviews lots of wines, and tasting more than 1000 wines a year. He does a fabulous job at rounding up some of his favorite discoveries. He likes to keep his wine reviews on the positive end of the spectrum, so that you're not wasting your time reading about a wine you won't like.

He's even got a wine list from his family in 1861.

(This is usually where we'd put in a bad oenophile pun, like "we'll drink to that".)

Visit The Corkdork.

Smithsonian 2.0

Smithsonian 2.0 is the behind-the-scenes blog for an event being held right now to re-imagine the venerable institution (and my hometown favorite) for the 21st century. Their TypePad blog is serving as a focal point for helping to establish a new plan to grow the Smithsonian's "virtual visitors", and our own David Recordon is at the conference right now! Check out the recent posts from inside the conference.

Visit Smithsonian 2.0!

January the 20th

The plan: coordinate a massive journalistic project to document Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The bloggers behind January the 20th are reviving "Mass Observation", a movement founded by a group of 1930's intellectuals intent on observing the minutiae of society, painting a larger picture by reporting on the small details. With the help of TypePad, the January the 20th blog is able to cast a more expansive net. Using blogs, Twitter and email anyone can post an observation directly to the blog.

The authors say: "as with the Mass Observation movement of the 1930's, we do not want snarky or political statements, and no plugs, just observations of the minutiae happening wherever you are."

Tweets with hashtag #jan20th will appear in the "Live Twitter Feed" sidebar on the blog.

Going to the inauguration? Wish you were? Want to read the observations for yourself?

Visit January the 20th.

Indie Business

We've had a lot of indie-ness around here as of late, and the DIY spirit is one we wholeheartedly support. Indie Business Blog is about helping independent business owners be successful in both life and business.

The author, Donna Maria Coles Johnson, is a small business advocate, using the Indie Business blog to collect thousands of signatures in opposition to a new proposed federal law that would put thousands of artisan, handmade and independent business owners out of business. "I continue to fight for the rights of very small companies to complete effectively on a level playing field in this new global economy," says Donna Maria.

I asked the author what her blog means to her, and her reply was:

"Last week, the US Department of Labor reported that unemployment now stands at 7.2%, the highest it’s been in 15 years. Never before in recent history has there been a time when so many people NEED to start a business, at the same time as they also WANT to start a business, at the same time as the CAN start a business. My passion is to use my blog to help people take advantage of this exciting time in history when the Internet makes it possible to be successful in business so you can indeed live our motto: Enjoy Your Life! Build Your Business! Have your way!"

Visit Indie Business.

Fitspott

  Fitspott's blog is an interesting and innovative way to get people excited about a launch through the use of their TypePad blog. The Fitspott blog is a way to ramp up excitement for the beta of the Fitspott community, keeping people abreast of the development progress there. It's also a fascinating look behind the scene of the company culture, and a way for the company and community to communicate.

They've also got interesting reportage from what it's like inside a fitness industry trade show, what it means that "childhood obesity" is now a top search term on Google, and how viral video is becoming a new trend in innovative sports marketing. There's even some new possibilities for listening to music while you work out, the a new year's post about how the government is targeting obesity rates.

Visit Fitspott's blog.

This Date, From Henry David Thoreau's Journal

Simple in structure, but at the same time, refreshingly unique, each post on this blog corresponds to the day with an entry from Henry David Thoreau's journal. Day by day, a new entry reveals just a bit more of Thoreau's world and wisdom.

Ultimately filling 47 bound volumes, Thoreau began journaling in 1837. Much of the great thinker, writer, and naturalist's body of work is inspired by or taken straight from these daily notes: on the weather, on the plants and animals around him, and on writing itself.

"Essentially your truest poetic sentence is as free and lawless as a lamb’s bleat. The grammarian is often one who can neither cry nor laugh, yet thinks that he can express human emotions. So the posture-masters tell you how you shall walk,—turning your toes out, perhaps, excessively,—but so the beautiful walkers are not made." January 2, 1859

Visit This Date, from Henry David Thoreau's Journal.

Vintage Indie

We've written about Gabreial Wyatt’s blog Vintage Indie before, but I am just loving the redesign.  There's loads of great new photos of treasures like this copper canister set, or organizing with a Glassbake piece that I just know my grandmother had.

Speaking of family, Gabreial is blogging more personal posts on Fridays, including her most recent about getting her mom started blogging a TypePad blog!

Not sure you're ready to go full vintage? There's a special Monday section on mixing the modern with the past.

Visit Vintage Indie.