Kickoff: Blog Surfin'!

I'm so excited to get the response I did about reviving the blogging community.  I plan to update my "Bloggy" links in my sidebar and delete the inactive blogs and add in you gals that are dedicated to documenting and journaling your memories as well as connecting with other bloggers/moms.

LeeAnn had a great idea.... set a timer on your phone to remind you to blog.  Awesome idea.  There is also a site called Memo to Me.  I started using it a few years ago when I planned to write monthly letters to the boys.  Well, it never happened but funny... I still get the Memo to Me email reminders each month HAHA!

Another great idea is to set up mobile blogging.  This allows you to use your phone to either email or text a post to your blog.

First go to your blog dashboard and go to SETTINGS.  Then choose EMAIL & MOBILE.  Down near the bottom there is a section called POSTING OPTIONS.  I have both set up... I created an email address that I can type up a blog post in my email and email it to that email address and it posts it to my blog.  I also have my mobile device (iPhone) set up so I can text to my blog.    You can check out this website for more details:  http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42448

So... let's get started on Blog Surfing!  I thought this week I'd spotlight the bloggers who commented on my "Blog Revival" post.  My challenge to you is to visit AT LEAST 3 of these bloggers.  Especially 3 that you don't normally comment on (because I know some of us are from the same "blogging community" and already "know" eachother).

1. KimBerly:  She is so great at always commenting on my blog... I need to get better at commenting (and ahem... reading) her blog.  I hopped on over and she had a great post (or series of posts) called 10 Post You Challenge.  I'm going to bookmark this and do the challenge in a few weeks. 
2. LeeAnn (aka... Froggyleggs): One of my bestest girls IRL (In Real Life for new bloggers...).  Wife and mama to 2 sweet boys, sewer-extraordinaire, ultrasound tech and an ambitious do-it-yourself project person.  
3. Cass:  Oh Cass.... it is so funny how we met.  A few years ago I came across a blog post on a blog I read frequently.  It was called "Things Unsaid" or something like that.  I was intrigued and thought it was a really neat (yet passive aggressive in a way) post and so I googled some sort of combination of words looking for more blog posts in that type and came across Cass' blog.  At that point she was newly pregnant, I believe, with her now 3-year old Lexie.  What a neat "blog meet up" story, huh?
4. Heather:  Another IRL friend of mine who used to live close (and used to babysit Porter for me!), and has since lived in St. Louis and now Nashville.  She has two kiddos (who are 5 and... 8? EIGHT?!? How can it be?!) and is super super crafty and creative.  She's like the Martha Stewart of gift ideas.  Seriously.  She has amazing ideas (well... ideas or ability to FIND those neat ideas online and recreate them!) Years ago, Heather and I started the Thoughts on Thursday posts that have since traveled around the blog world.
5. Jenny (aka Stickyfeathers): She has two darling little boys, Tucker and Levi.  We've been reading eachothers blogs for quite some time and is one of the gals in the "original" blog community that was created years ago. 
6. Beanski:  Aka Bean... actually Gina.  I love reading Bean's blog because she often posts very "real" posts that hit home with me.  I tend to really gravitate and "connect" more with bloggers who post honest, raw and "real" things... much like myself.  Its hard to relate to those who sugar coat real life.  Okay... TANGENT.. .haha!  Anyhow, Gina is mama to two, ALMOST 3 kiddos under the age of 4.  
7. Jennifer:  I met Jennifer about ohhh 4 years ago when I was visiting St. Louis and did some travel sessions.  She booked a session for her oldest, Ashley, and is now the mama to two little girls.  
8. Kristi:  Kristi and I met YEARS ago through Scrapjazz, an online scrapbooking community.  She is quite an active blogger and also posts on her blog, Twin Cities Restaurant Blog, that documents great places to eat in the Twin Cities. 
9. Anne (aka FatJ): Anne is related to Kim (Beejo... see below) and has two little boys and is a pretty active blogger with lots of pics of her darling little guys. 
10. Kasey:  Kasey and I met through Heather, and have met IRL both while I visited Heather a few times and at BWMRW meet up in Chicago.  She has two precious little boys that she does an amazing job documenting their life experiences. 
11. Denise:  While her blog is private, she and I have been blog buddies for a LONG time... we both met through Scrapjazz as well, long before we had kids.  She now has three little boys, two of them TWINS! 
12. Kim: (aka Beejo): Kim and I met online quite awhile ago... I can't really remember how we met but we also had the awesome experience of meeting IRL at a Blog World Meets Real World meet up in Chicago.  I hope that maybe we can do another BWMRW trip sometime!  Kim takes bee-u-tiful pictures of her darling kids, Max and Vivi.
13. Mandi:  Her blog hasn't been updated in awhile BUT that is only because she's been busy blogging on her other blog.... documenting her pregnancy GROWING TWINS.  She's planning on moving back to the "big blog" now that her pregnancy is over and they are a family of 5 (she has a 3 year old daughter, Maya, as well)

WHEW!  That was tiring!  I think that is plenty for this week.  I hope you will make an attempt to visit a few (or all!) of these blogs and leave them a comment.  Maybe even bookmark them to revisit if you feel you "connect" with them and their writing styles.

Cheers!  Here is to reviving our blog community!

(PS... feel free to link to this post if you happen to post on your blog about this little bloggy challenge)

BaToBloMo

It's like NaBloPoMo with a different name. Back To Blogging Movement... aka BaToBloMo. Heather and I were discussing how we could get ourselves back on the bandwagon and back into the blogging groove. Then we realized NaBloPoMo was coming up and we decided to do our own little spin on it.



We also thought that it might be nice to have a "daily topic" for those days that we get stuck and draw a blank. You know, kind of like a journaling prompt.

As of now, here's our conglomeration of topic ideas...
some of them area already daily memes floating around the blog world, some are ones we just made up--

Mondays: "Not Me Mondays" (blog about mis-haps embarrassments)
Tuesdays: "Top Ten Tuesdays"(make a top ten list for whatever you want)
Wednesdays: "Wednesday Works" (share something of the old "works for me" school of thought or share a project you're working on, want to work on, need help with or even share a behavior/habit you or your family is working on)
Thursdays: "Thoughts for Thursdays" -of course!- (blog about a topic of opinion)
Fridays: "Flashback Fridays" (blog about a memory or even photo from the past)
Saturdays: "Saturday Social" (share new or favorite websites or blogs you come across)
Sundays: "Sunday Survey" (random questions)

If you'd like to snag the BaToBloMo tag, the html is on Heather's post.

So.... here we go... 1 day down, 29 to go!!