So today Nuffnang is celebrating Blog Day 2011 & everything bloggy that goes along with that.
If you are a new reader to my blog, HELLO!! I've noticed many new readers since attending Blogopolis 2011 and have a new post coming soon all about me & bringing you up to speed about what you can find me blogging about.
So, blogging.... well I've been blogging since 2005 when Georgia was only a few weeks old. All my 5 children have had snippets of their lives recorded on my blog and I absolutely treasure that aspect of blogging. Unless you are a scrapbbooker, blogger or prolific journal keeper - who else has these memories so intact?
Having a major fire at my parents house several years back makes me only too aware of how easily memories can be wiped out. Huge tubs of photographs, childhood artwork, school bits & pieces, certificates etc, all lost. Thank you goodness for the digital age! Mind you, if its all on computer, you need to be backing up or keeping external har drives external to your house!! Hurry up iCloud!
Anyway, I know there must be many people who wonder why on earth people would write about their lives, their hobbies, their passions, their good days & bad, for the world to see on a blog.
For me, its simple. I'm a writer, a thinker, a talker, a story teller, a memory keeper, a list maker, an over-analyser & I also like to have an outlet to share my creations too. Amazingly, its also therapy.
The connections I've made from all corners of the planet really have been amazing. The support and prayers & well wishes for us when one of our babies was having a horrendous first year of life with 2 open heart surgeries, surviving necrotizing enterocolitis & eventual bowel surgery - will never be forgotten - and the blogging helped me immensely by just writing about our challenges when I was quite unable and far too emotional to speak about it.
I cannot tell you the number of emails I have had from all over from people who have followed my blog, watched my kids grow, enjoyed my artwork and/or wanted technical help with their own art & crafts, supported or been inspired by my health & fitness struggles and who have written to connect when they have endured similar journeys to ours. Its been amazing.
We have this whole wide world [and world wide web!] - why not have a voice? why not have a space? why not connect with all the corners of the world and share...?
I often wonder why everyone does not have a blog!
So anyway, I wanted to share some blogs I've loved for a long time....
Let me precede this by saying I rarely read other blogs! Eeeek!!! I love blogs, I believe in blogs and its really only time constraints that prevent me from reading more. There are lots that I have RSS feeds for but I only check on a few regulars per week and then if/when time permits I'll scoot around from one to another of a huge pool of fabulous families, friends & fabulous arty types to see what else is going on in blog world. I have lots of friends who blog & I do check in on those too.
My absolute fave blogs are the ones which are about families, mothering, artwork & living creative & meaningful lives. More than that, they have an indescribable special ingredient that makes me want to come back & check in on them. The ones that do that best in my eyes are:
Emily Falconbridge
The ultimate earth loving mumma. Lovely family, always beautiful photos. Fabulous & resourceful with upcycling, making crafty goodness out of simple supplies. A free spirit, one with nature, funny, fabulous mother & life philosophies but also humourous about the imperfection of it all. I'm inspired by her resourcefulness and trapsing around America & Australia with 3 kids in tow. I love a little bit of gypsy & I wish I could live a little bit more like that instead of the inner city hustle & bustle of where I am.
Mentor for living life resourcefully, purposefully & responsibly. Throw in crazyness of life, kids, craft & food & its a beautiful crazy life.
Kelly Rae Roberts
Always inspired by her artwork, I loved her book and she's been very hardworking & clever with making an artful career work. Very inspired by that. She also has lots of heartfelt stories to tell & a great perspective on life. She's optimistic in nature & positive - I like that. More recently I am enjoying posts about her first baby & her being new to motherhood. Its been wonderful to reflect on that special & wonderous time again by following someone else's journey. And she has fab fab taste in clothes, house & even cowboy boots - she bought the exact same ones as meeeeeee! I think we were meant to be besties haha
Mentor for arty business & fabulous life perspective.
Stephanie Nielson
Survived a near fatal plane crash a few years back & has endured surgery after surgery for burns to 80% of her body. She is the ultimate loving mumma with a home she makes beautiful & 4 kids she absolutely adores. And she's finally pregnant again, a dream come true for her. So wonderful!
Mentor for dealing with challenges & struggles whilst holding on to hopes & dreams - if she can survive all she has been through, I can do anything with the very few little niggles I've had.
And finally there's a couple of young bloggers who I've been following for a much shorter time. These girls are amazing young, resourceful, crafty, Blythe collecting fabulous online role models for my own children & even me, an adult, loves flipping through their blogs when I can. Blogging future, watch these girls - they are amazing!!
Craftygirl
and
The Adventures of Bella & Blythe
{I also love each of their mothers blogs too!! Fellow crafty mothers...}
Some other blogs that I like to check in on every now & then for beautiful art:
Rebecca Sower [who happened to write the foreward to one of my books just quietly!!],
Sleep & her Sisters,
DJ Pettit,
Sarah Ahearn Bellemare,
Misty Mawn
and Ali J.
So there you go, if you don't have a blog, why not give it a go!
Kate xo