Blogger Festival – Pay it forward Blogger Style

Last month, a woman named Jenni Field over at Pastry Chef Online blog posted a fantastic suggestion on a Food Blogging Group I belong to that we should all “pay it forward” for the bloggers who have helped or inspired us throughout the last year. Since 2012 was my first full year of consistent blogging, I have many bloggers to thank. I hope you will go visit any and all of the bloggers mentioned if you don’t know about them already. Not that Jenni made it a rule but I believe it was implied that you would post about food bloggers – but A. I have varied interests, and B. I’m not much of a rule-follower (I leave all that to my daughter). You are going to find many different kinds of blogs (and one isn’t even a blog) in this post but I hope to explain clearly what I love about each one of them so you will want to go visit too. This is not a comprehensive list by any means, I love all of the 50+ blogs I follow. That said, here we go:

1. Splintered Vision – Top Girl’s blog gets the top spot because she is the ONLY reason I blog, FB, Pintrest, or Twitter. She is also the only reason I have 4 eBooks (look to your right) available to purchase today which led me to my very first media request (last week) about the Taking Care of Mom and Dad eBook. A real journalist is writing a real article about caregiving and has interviewed me for a series of articles on the subject. Top Girl has drive and ambition that I can only dream about – the trade-off is that I have time to cook, blog, and sleep – three things she would get to dream about if Rocket would ever sleep more than a few hours at a time. Her posts are sporadic but they are outstanding.

2. Om Nomalicious/PaBlam – These are two blogs written by the same person with help from Jecca on O.N. Pam is her name. She and Jecca have fantastic recipes on Om Nom that are sometimes hearty and sometimes light but both keep an eye on how health. PaBlam is about Pam’s life in NJ. I enjoy that blog because I get to see a part of the U.S. through the eyes of one of its residents. Mostly I like the blog because I genuinely like Pam (as I do all the blogs that I follow consistently).

3. Lillian’s Cupboard – Lillian is a true renaissance woman. She is the elder stateswoman of the blogs I follow however, she knows more about life – and HAS more life than I do or probably ever will. Seriously – she can sew craft, write, cook, and decorate. She has a lovely collection of antiques and my favorite part is when she tells stories of times long ago, especially the one about how she met her husband. She also has an excellent working knowledge of the computer. Lillian’s Cupboard is a great well-rounded blog.

4. Confessions of a Diabetic – Dabbit is a great guy who lives with diabetes. He resides in the UK with his wife and several family members who he weaves in and out of his posts. Life in the UK and especially socialized medicine intrigues me so I really enjoy the glimpse Dabbit gives me. He has a dry sense of humor and a huge heart………..he also has a tart tongue sometimes and all of it is very endearing to me. At Halloween, the UK got Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups – apparently for the very first time. Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups are one of my favorite candies and I truly enjoyed his enthusiasm about how tasty they were – even though he really probably shouldn’t have been eating them!

5. The Renegade Seamstress – Beth lives out in Oregon where she conjures up magic – or maybe that is where Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather actually live – either way, she goes to a thrift store and purchases clothes for pennies, brings them home, and remakes them into the most fabulous clothing you have ever seen. I’m not kidding, I was so blown away by her tutorials (she even has a Youtube channel) that I began following her — and I couldn’t sew on a button if my life depended on it. I just find how she refashions things to be mesmerizing. You will love her!

6. Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate – Joan is my Sugar Superhero. In my world (I call that Kelliville) her superhero name is The Chocolate Hummingbird because she goes about her life spreading joy with chocolate in a most beautiful way. She gives me great advice and if I were to have a sister (or brother for that matter) I would want him/her to be just like Joan. She is generous with her time and her power – and boy does Joan have power! One mention of your post by her on her blog or FB and your views jump higher than you could ever imagine. She’s quick with good solid suggestions (like my sugar cookie fiasco), and whips up beautiful, tasty, and cost efficient sweets (mostly chocolate) in the blink of an eye. Go on over and visit her Thursday’s Treasures Linky Party – tell her I sent ya.

7. Noelle O Designs – Noel lives in Utah and she is truly one hip woman. Not a hipster, who in my day was called a poser, Noel is really hip. She sews, crafts, cooks, decorates, and has children and a husband ** husband produces/films/writes documentary films and he has the most wonderful feel-good films on his YouTube channel**. They seem to be a very close family – oh yeah, and she teaches skiing in between all that! This is that young family you see on TV (in many different versions) who can make an outdoor patio out of a shipping container, plant their own food, has family game night and genuinely sees the good in others – all while looking bright and shiny as a new penny. Her posts ALWAYS, without fail, make me feel happy – go visit her, you won’t regret it.

8. The Hungry Couple – There are three things that stand out about this couple and the blog that keeps me coming back for more: A. her recipes never sacrifice taste in order to be healthy, B. She seems to be a person who always gives the other person the benefit of the doubt, and C. She has a killer macaroni salad recipe………..hands down. It cannot be beat in my book. She also has other great recipes that I have replicated but that macaroni salad rocks!

9. Chocolate Chip Uru – This young woman lives in Australia and is in her senior year of high school – she is the youngest person I follow. She inspires persistence in me because if she follows you, she reads and comments on every single post you write unless she has tests – and they sure have lots of tests over there! But she makes very specific plans for those times and has guest posters. She loves chocolate and not only does she post wonderful recipes, she also goes undercover at eating establishments reviewing their service, food quality, and overall experience. She could easily be running Australia one day!

10. Back Road Journal – The people of my state would say that Karen “lives the fancy life”. She has a beautiful home that looks like This Old House recently completed a season there, a peaceful summer home that has a garden envied by the fairies of the forest, travels extensively with her husband, throws the kind of party that everyone wants to be invited to, and takes spectacular photographs – did I mention her culinary skills? She is second to none and at the same time the most hospitable, down-to-earth and generous blogger I follow. Must have been that Texas upbringing. Visit her blog and let her take you with her on her next elegant adventure.

11. Food Lust People Love – Stacy has lived everywhere I think – but her grandma is from Louisiana so you may have to follow the family tree a ways, but she’s a southern girl. Right now, I believe she lives in Dubai – such an exciting life. She has a really big heart and talent for making hard recipes seem easy. She has a lemon curd recipe that is sublime! She even moved not too long ago – not across the street but to another country – and really didn’t miss any blogging. I love her tutorials so you must go visit her and read about her exciting life.

12. Eliot’s Eats – EE lives in close proximity to me and visits all the cool places I used to go when I was young and could stay out all night and then work all day. She makes amazing food – there’s a French bread recipe you will love – putting together ingredients that I wouldn’t normally associate with one another. She also makes me laugh a little when she talks about “throwing” something together. When we see it on the blog, it looks restaurant-ready. She gardens, cans, cooks, and boy does she rock!

13. Solid Gold Eats – Sarah cans and cooks too. She lives in Indiana where she makes amazing food. I want to recommend the Maple Bacon recipe she posted recently. She’s a breezy girl about the age of my youngest child. She is smart as a whip when it comes to social marketing – I have learned several things just by reading her blog and you can too!

14. The Giant Lima – My newest favorite blog is this one – she is a thrifter and you know how I love recycling and repurposing – she does it with style! She shows you pictures of her latest finds and is a personable narrator of her adventures in thrifting. If you have any interest at all in thrifting, yard saling, repurposing, or vintage finds please go visit her blog.

15. The Country Cook – Brandie is the sweetest woman living in West Virginia. She is one of the hosts of the Weekend Potluck Linky Party. That is the very first Linky Party I participated in and she will feature a recipe of mine she likes and the next thing you know my traffic increases by 1,000 views in 3-4 hours! She’s so humble and her recipes are something I can get my husband to eat and you all have heard lots of Mr. Picky Eater…Go visit her if you aren’t already a fan!

16. The Hungry Little Girl – This is a very sweet woman who recently married and moved to the United States from Germany. She works very hard on her linky party called Wednesday Extravaganza and I always enjoy her comments and sweet demeanor. She is very health conscious however, today’s post was Kit Kat Strawberry cake that looks sinful!! She has great recipes that I enjoy trying and you will too!

I think Jenni suggested 10 – obviously I chose 16. I hope you read my reasons for reading and will visit each one finding something new you like. I follow SO many more blogs than this but these are the ones that are inspiring me right now. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. See ya soon! KK