Category: Well why not?

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5 new faves

For the past couple weeks I’ve been doing a 31-day blog-improvement challenge hosted by the SITS Girls. It’s proven to be a lot to take in and I haven’t been the best at keeping up with all of the tasks on the days they are assigned, but I have found some most excellent bloggers in the process.

And why keep their magic all to myself? I’m no blog hoarder, despite what that list that grows daily in my Google reader may say.

So today I want to share the love with youse guys. (don’t start sending hate mail – NO, i don’t really talk like that. just thought i’d throw in a little Sconnie-accent humor)

Here, in no particular order, are 5 wonderful blogs that you should totally go check out. And don’t forget to tell them I sent you. ‘Cause I’m cool like that.

*****

Blairadise – Blair is a girl from the good ‘ol U. S. of A. now living in South Africa with her most beautiful family. I’m not even kidding. Her darling daughter just turned 1, so I love following her stories with a little girl pretty close to D’s age.

 
 

The Kids Are Alright – Seriously, this girl has it goin’ on. Angie lives in Madison (gold star right there!) and writes about it all – toddlers, fashion, balance, and blogging. She is full of the awesome, like this post of tips for new bloggers. And yes, I etched them all in my memory.

Angie also writes for Mama’s Gone Madison, a fantastic group of Madison mamas sharing resources for families in that Badger-loving area (which will always hold a special piece of my heart!).

 

Ramble Ramble – Ginger is simply wonderful, and I adore her blog. I mean just look at her header – it’s a box of candy! What’s not to love? This marketing mama is driven to have her own little creative space on these crazy interwebs, and she does an awesome job sharing tips and stories she’s found along the way. What first drew me to her blog was this tale, wherein I discovered that they, too, lived in Jersey City and loved losing themselves in the streets of Manhattan and the surrounding area. Small world!

 

The Wine{a}be – Suzanne has been a great help during this bloggy challenge we’re both undertaking, and her blog is beautiful. She’s all about the ins and outs of life in SoCal Wine Country (lucky girl!), and I hope that someday I, too, can explore all the magnificent places out there that she gets to experience daily. Oh, and I like wine too! Duh.

 
 
 
 

Little Green Bow – Deanna is one super cute girl with one super cute blog. She’s a DIY maven who loves a good challenge and even started her own software company! She also lives near my sisters, so I just automatically kinda feel like she’s part of the family. Except she doesn’t know me or my sisters, but that’s not creepy at all. Ahem. She also has a fantastic Etsy shop!

 
These beautiful ladies are all on Twitter and some are on Facebook too, if you’d like to follow them, so go have a few good new reads. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
 
 

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Oh well, I got a story

I’m not sure what it is about me and R, but it seems like bizarre things always happen to us. Always. It’s as if our lives are governed by Murphy’s Law of Whiskey.Tango.Foxtrot?!

And never do things go “just right” or “as planned”. Never. There are always wrenches flying into our spokes, causing us to go veering off in some wild direction and usually crashing. Or at least ending up at our destination with a nasty scratch.

Fortunately this story I’m about to tell falls more into the weird stuff category than the painful crash category, but it made me laugh and think “yeah, that’s about right” when I heard it nonetheless.

Hopefully you will too. Laugh, that is. Not shake your head at the oddity that is our existence. Ahem.

This conversation transpired one afternoon last week over IM. R had been looking to buy a juicer for a little while and finally found the one he wanted that morning. He had just returned from making his purchase when the following was relayed:

R:  pretty sure I just bought a stolen juicer

Me:  wha? uh-oh

R:  dude was sketchy as shit

Me:  yikes

as long as they don’t track you down

R:  showed up in a beat down mini van

smoking a swisher

very “eccentric”

definitely not someone who “has two and is selling one for his fiance”

Me:  ha!

is that what he said?

R:  yea

Me:  dang. yep, totally stolen

R:  I overpaid knowing that

oh well, I got a story

 

Now let’s hope we don’t get a knock on our door from the cops looking for that hot juicer.

 

 

 

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(Semi-)Blacked out to stand against SOPA/PIPA

Why the black bars up in the corners today? you may be wondering. A day of mourning? Not exactly.

Without completely blacking out my site (i wanted you to still be able to see me! well, and to give a little explanation of what’s going on, too), I’m joining thousands of others to put the Internet on strike for a day in an act of protest against the proposed Internet censorship bills SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act in the House) and PIPA (Protect IP Act in the Senate). SO-what?

Essentially these 2 controversial pieces of legislation aim to put control of the Internet in the hands of the government and corporations, namely the entertainment industry. They claim it’s to try to crack down on rogue foreign websites and Internet theft, but a core goal of these bills is really to get people to maybe buy more Hollywood movies. What the what? Yeah, I know, that’s what I thought too.

There are, of course, many more intricacies to and repercussions of these bills, and my synopsis above barely scratches the surface. Please watch this video for an excellent recap of what may happen if this legislation does pass.

If you’d like to join me in the protest, head on over here and here for details and to email Congress to stop the bills. For the sake of retaining my freedom to keep my blog as I know it, thank you!

 

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Resolutions? What resolutions?

So in all the catch-up blog reading I’ve been doing since getting back from Hawaii, I’ve noticed a resounding theme from this past week. What? No, I didn’t read any blogs while I was on vacation. Why would I do that? There were way too many hours to be spent lounging by the pool and sun rays to be caught. Duh.

But as I was saying… It seems the thing to do this time of year is post either a year-in-review recap or a list of resolutions for the year ahead. Or both. For the overachievers out there.

As I read more and more of these posts, I keep thinking maybe I should do the same. But the more I think about it, the more it just doesn’t sound right for me. I mean, I just started this blog last spring, so I don’t have much of anything to recap there. Just a bunch of my random thoughts spilling onto this screen with a few site redesigns thrown in to keep you guessing.

In my non-blogging life nothing too exciting or noteworthy happened either. You’ve heard about most of my days here, and to be perfectly honest, I really can’t thing of anything magnificent that stands out to relive. 2011 was a decent year – some good trips, one of my sisters got married (which was awesome), and we are all healthy, so I’m thankful for that. But other than that – eh, not a whole lot to report. Just another year in the time books.

And as for resolutions, I’ve never been one to make them. I don’t really see the point of resolving to do something for the entire year on the very first day of it, when you really have absolutely no idea what’s going to come your way during said year. I mean maybe it’s kind of nice to have a general guideline in mind for yourself if you have certain areas of your life you really want to work on, but I kind of like myself as I am. I’m happy with most things in my life right now and don’t really feel the need to change much.

So call me a party pooper, but New Year’s resolutions aren’t my bag. And maybe it’s my over-inflated ego talking when I say I don’t have much I want to change, but it’s the truth. Sure some things could be tweaked a little to really make me ecstatically happy, but I’m not crying and whining without them.

I will say, however, that I think 2012 has a much nicer ring to it than 2011, so maybe that’s a sign of good things to come. Either way, a belated Happy New Year to you all!

The last sunset of 2011 that we saw (pardon the iPhone blur)

 

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Beauty in giving

Remember a few weeks ago when I asked you to help one of my blogging friends Kelli and her family? I mentioned that, among other things, she was holding a Thirty-One fundraiser, with proceeds going to aid her niece and her family. Well I ordered a scarf from that fundraiser to help out, and it arrived yesterday. I love it!

It’s a fun, bright pink silk scarf with a design of circles. Being on the shorter side, I had to come up with just the right way to wear it so it didn’t look like a choker. Please remember, my creative skills are severely lacking, and unfortunately this applies to fashion, too.

Now for a little styling:

Not bad, eh? I paired it with that white v-neck tee and a casual black blazer, all worn with dark trouser jeans today.

Thanks, Kelli! My thoughts continue to be with your family, especially little Delaney.