Bossy's blog is one of my favorite kinds - wryly funny, a slice of life, about everything and nothing in particular. A brush with Bill Clinton here, an analysis of Oscar Helmet Hair there, and oh, right, a road trip with some other wonderful bloggers and Saturns and a terminus at BlogHer, the world leader of she-ra woman-power blog conferences.
Visit i am bossy.
Here are “Snippets of Me”, from Brenda Kula, author of The Brenda Blog, a site filled with pictures, posts, family and pets, favorite books, sites, and hobbies, and just about anything that completes her life. There are the trials and eventual rewards of doing a home remodel, a relaxing moment (complete with beautiful photos), home décor projects, even an online cup of coffee. A live traffic feed shows you where Brenda’s readers are hailing from (and they make up a diverse audience). That's an important feature, as Brenda has taken the "connectiveness" of personal blogging one step further: as she says, “women write to me often about how my blog has somehow ‘spoken to something’ occurring in their lives. Whether it be an entry about grief or longing or happiness they write to introduce themselves…(and) if it’s something I can’t identify with, I hook them up with another blogger who is going through (the same thing). And they can help one another.” And surprise! Brenda is currently writing a book about the way blogging has transformed her own life; titled “Blogging My Way Back Home”, it’s tentatively scheduled to be finished at the end of the year.
One of the wonderful aspects of blogs is their ability to communicate – and by doing so, connect people across interests, ages, and distance. Case in point: Enjoy Life, the site of Lauren Gick, a 26-year-old product developer living in Orange County, CA (south of Los Angeles). In the pages of her blog, you’ll get to know Lauren’s fiancé, family, and environs through her posts and pictures; in addition to work and friends, Lauren plays tennis, makes jewelry, decorates, crochets, paints, and more. In short, she enjoys life! These daily details paint a portrait of a young American woman making her way through life, and you can follow her work day, look at her art projects, and meet her friends and fiance. She also gives you a peek at what she’s listening to and reading at the moment, making her blog a vibrant slice of life - and demonstrating why it’s also titled “love, trust, listen.”
Sandoval Family is an “electronic scrapbook” documenting “the journey of Steve, Amy, and Olivia…covering family, hobbies and the blog-worthy life moments.” So says author, wife, and photographer Amy; her words and pictures do indeed freeze time and capture the all-too fleeting moments of summer, holidays, childhood, and life. There are trips to take, photo sessions to do, and precious moments that will resonate with mothers everywhere. (Hubby Steve gets covered too, don’t worry.) Links to sites, books, and music lets us see Amy’s favorite “to see/hear/read” list, and the rest of the Categories allow us to check in on the Sandoval family, home, and hearth. This is a wonderful example of a blog’s ability to mark family moments, both big and small, and to capture them in a way that other media cannot.
Proof that blogging is a family pastime comes from today’s site, Raindog Blue. Raindog is the name of the site’s author, and his writings cover his life as a police officer; he is also the husband of yesterday’s Featured TypePad blog author, Heather of Marsbarn. This is a revealing site, for every time an officer dons his or her badge, they are faced with moments of high tension, life-and-death decisions, periods of routine - and you'll encounter them all in these pages. Raindog's posts on fights, patrol, calls, and life off duty capture life in and out of the squad car, the station, and the streets. The posts under 1234 will keep you riveted, too. This is an in-depth look into the work, experiences, and lives of those pledged to protect and serve, and it’s written in the sparse, terse style of someone who has seen much and puts his life on the line every day. This is one “police (b)log” that gives us a taste of the immediate decisions that must be made, the constant vigilance that must be maintained, and indeed, what life is like for those who wear a badge.
Katherine Harris is 21, a senior in college, and ¼ Creole, ”with a freckly face…(who) loves photography, enjoys talking about my horrendous dating experiences, and loves sorority life to the fullest.” She recounts all this and more in the pages of Creole Wisdom, her “outlet to have all my visual aesthetic OCD tendencies become reality.” Reading her blog is like sitting down with a favorite girlfriend or aunt: lots of gossip, thoughts, opinions, and coffee-talk. Fun stuff abounds, as Katherine recounts her day baking and cleaning (complete with recipe for cinnamon rolls), plans a trip to her “2nd favorite city in the world,” talks about her favorite web princess, and asks your opinion on a personal matter. Her stream-of-consciousness posting on subjects like Dating, Problems, School, and Friends (all found in the Category section), make for fun summer reading; many of her posts are accompanied by her own photographs, and offer an engaging peek into the energetic, fascinating world of a young TypePad blogger.
Welcome to La Petite Belle, a funny, insightful, and topical spot on the web and the home of a “twenty-something girl on life, love, motherhood, and everything in between.” Born in Chile and living in the Northeast USA, the author is a young wife and mother “with strong values although easily swayed,” who “loves to ask and loves to know.” Her snappy, smart posts cover whatever’s on her mind, and let you in on her opinions on pet peeves (of one sort or another), marriage, and her thoughts on a subject that should interest all bloggers. She’s included a fun "meme game" too. Additional links to blogs she likes round out this little bit of online life.
TypePad bloggers really are a worldwide community, and one of the great things about that fact is that you can get a glimpse into the lives, interests, and day-to-day activities of the posters, wherever they may be. Crafty Girl With Ruffle is a perfect example of this, as it offers the experiences of Ann Marie Holt from Brunswick Australia. A knitter, mom, and wife living down under, Ann Marie’s posts and pictures let us see new places, share in her skills, and understand her position on issues of the day. Or you can put your feet up and pass the time like old friends. You can see what blogs and books Ann Marie’s reading, and a fun “Frugal is Cool” button will provide simple tips on how to economize. It’s provided by Australian sources, but some things need no translation (like saving money)!
Silicon Valley, California is just south of San Francisco and is home to a thriving high tech community, world-class industries, and the Silicon Valley Moms, a blogging group that offers “a byte of …Valley life…where 40+ moms write about being CEOs at work and CFOs at home.”
This month, the moms are taking a road trip from Washington D.C. to San Francisco. The trip is sponsored by Chevy Tahoe Hybrid and the SUV is loaded with wireless internet access, a GPS system, cameras, video recording equipment, and more – which means you’ll be able to follow “these hilarious and irreverent women (as they) drive coast to coast picking up their fellow Silicon Valley Moms Group Contributors and blogging about it on the road.” Right now, the group is somewhere between Omaha and Denver, and you can follow their progress and get a closer look at “5 blogging moms, 7 days without kids, 1 car without carseats…and 2000 miles to drive”.
This group is actually part of a nationwide “Moms” blogging group, with members (mombers?) in locales such as Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and 50-something land. This very active online community illustrates the ability of blogs to gather people by interests and lifestyle; readers can enter this neighborhood and read about the universal themes that connect moms everywhere.
Examined Lives explores “mindful living for complicated times.” The authors are two writers who “juggle family life, work, and friendships” across similar philosophies and divergent lifestyles (one lives in the city and one in the suburbs). These and other topics provide them with rich subject matter for their blog; they offer their respective opinions on episodes drawn from the news, from real life, and from the world around us. Their different perspectives are evident in Categories that range from Current Affairs to Lifestyle and Parenting, and offer a wide-angle view on matters both large and small. This site may expose readers to environments and mindsets that may be different from their usual situations - but as the authors say, “being mindful is sometimes a challenge. but we try. Perhaps you’ll want to try with us too.”
